Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

32 - The Entire Family

"An' that means you too!" Pear Butter captured the escaping Spike with a wrap of her arm. "Yer part of the family."

Spike blinked owlishly. "I'm a friend?"

Pear considered that. Adoptive son of who was dating her honorary niece. That family link was tenuous, but... "Yer still invited. Ya don't have to come, but it'll be fun."

Moon Dancer crossed her arms with a thoughtful hum. "If you don't come with us, I will have to find a dragonsitter."

Spike peered at her suspiciously. "That's not even a thing."

"Not a popular profession, no, but I will still have to find somepony willing to watch you. It would be irresponsible to leave you alone with nopony to help you."

"I'm not a little kid!" he whined like the still fairly young child he was. "I can handle myself a few days."

"Do you think you have reached that level of responsibility?" Moon considered her draconic ward critically. "I've never left you alone for so long."

"I can handle it." He hiked a thumb at his chest. "Have some faith in me!"

"Hm. Allowing you to demonstrate your development is part of the process... I will assemble a list of things I expect you to get done while we are away, and activities you are to avoid. If you promise to obey the list, I will trust you to watch over yourself."

Spike clapped his hands together. "I'm on the case! Just you wait. You'll come back from your trip and the library will be all clean and waiting for you both."

"Hm? How did you know that was on the list?" Moon scribbled 'clean library daily' anyway. "You can socialize with your girlfriend, but only in public places while I am gone."

Spike blinked. He hadn't even thought of that angle. "Uh... alright?" He leaned forward, hands together. "Why?"

Now, other parents would have thought of something clever, or tried. Moon Dancer was not most other parents. "Both you and her are experiencing new and heightened hormones that could lead to decisions that one may regret after the fact." She affixed the list to the fridge. "Remaining in public view will decrease the odds of this considerably."

"Oh..." But was he happy with that blunt statement of things. "Huh... Look, you all just have fun. I'll keep this place looking great!"

"Married?!" Eyes turned to Twilight, colored, facing Pear Butter. "Are you sure?!"

"No," Pear admitted. "But, apparently the odds are good. At the least, he has a steady girlfriend. Cadance?"

"Cadance?!" Twilight tried to sit down, failed, and flopped over onto the ground instead. "My old foal sitter?! Her? I..."

"She was your foal sitter?" First Pear had heard that part of things. "I didn't mean to surprise you like that..."

"It's not your fault." Twilight faught her way upright. "It's my fault for not writing Shining more often... Though he could have written me!" She huffed a moment, but it passed. "We're both at fault... Hm. Well... This is the first chance to meet her... in this light, not as her foal to watch, but a future sister in law?" She laughed, tension clear with each noise. "This is new..."

"Well, ya won't be alone." Pear Butter went in for a gentle press of her nose to Twilight's forehead, aside her horn. "And maybe we can have some fun while we're at it, hm?"

"Fun, yes... Sounds... My mother made this plan, didn't she?" She raised a brow at Pear butter. "This sounds like something she'd approve of."

"Well, yes." Pear Butter turned for the door. "But the entire family's in on it now! Applejack will be there!" And off she trotted to escape further questions.

Twilight shook her head slowly. "Mother... So, you're coming?" She was looking at Moon Dancer with that question. "I suppose... we'll have two couples." She laughed nervously. "I... didn't... This will be new. Pear Butter is a dear pony, don't get me wrong, but having... Shining Armor and my parents are different..."

Moon looked confused. "What's wrong with them?"

"They all have pretty normal views on a mare and a stallion being a family." Twilight touched her hooves together. "Not two mares, one of which, possibly both of which, are not even that worried about 'that'. A purely romantic same sex pair? This will be new, and he will ask questions." She sighed dramatically. "Not that I won't! Cadance?! How did those two get... That's a story I want to hear."

"Then you will both get your answers. I see no problem." She wouldn't. The nuances of that family dynamic were entirely lost on her. "If I can help, please advise me. I will be present as well."

"Of course! Of course..." Twilight suddenly grabbed her with one arm, hoof pressing into Moon's side. "It's just new. New things can be concerning, hm?"

"They can be." Moon nodded in simple agreement. "But they are less concerning with trusted ponies at your side."

"True." Twilight stole a kiss from Moon's cheek. As the two had learned, Twilight taking sudden initiative made both happy, as Moon's smile confirmed. "Thank you, for being with me, and supporting me."

"Of course." Moon looked to Spike instead. "I'll be trusting in your performance and will be reviewing on my return. This is your chance to show me how well you handle these kinds of responsibilities."

"I won't let you down." He saluted crisply. "So go have fun!"

---

"Got it!" Applejack clapped her hooves around the strange bud. "Woah woah hey!" She tipped over backwards, falling from the tree. She hugged the bud close and thudded to the ground. "Ow..."

Zecora hurried to her side. "That looked like a terrible fall. Ponies make for a poor pinball."

"Can say that again." Applejack slowly sat up, shaking off bits of dust from the fall, dirt falling free of her. "Ow... But ah'm alright! What was this I went an' got?" She hovered a hoof over the strange green bud. "Somethin' tasty?"

"Arguably better. A taste pacesetter. Not delicious by itself, but it deserves a place on any gourmand's spice shelf." Zecora carefully gathered the bug. "I will help others to perform their best. Those who sample your food will be quick to attest."

Applejack's pain faded with excitement. "Wooee! Now that sounds right like what ah was aimin' for! Knew it was a good idea to trust Apple Bloom." Zecora looked at her with silent question. "Oh, well, she was one of the few that saw you were a good creature an' there I was bein' a real behind about it... Shoulda trusted her then, an' I went and trusted her now. Glad I did. Yer better than 'good', Zecora. Yer amazin'! We gettin' anymore today?" She looked up through the thick forest canopy. "Not easy to tell, but ah think it may get dark soon."

Zecora turned her gaze in the same direction. "In this you are not wrong. The end of our walk along. At least for today, it could continue. When we resume, the answer is within you." Zecora headed down paths only she could see, guiding Applejack along throught the forest as if she were born there.

"Say..." Applejack pulled up at her side. "Where are ya from? Is it a forest like this?"

Zecora laughed at the idea. "I should think not. But that is a question not asked a lot. Few seem to care where the zebra came from. Where one starts does not always say what one may become." Zecora lifted a grey furred ear. "Is it something you truly wish to know?"

"If ya want to tell me." Applejack pulled her hat free to dust it with her other hoof, rearing up onto her hinds to continue walking for that moment. "Figure ah should know more about a friend. Seems only proper."

Zecora was quiet for a time, hiking through the unseen trails. "We're friends?"

"Reckon we are." Applejack thumped into the zebra. "Why else would you go through all this trouble fer me? Reckon that's what friends do."

"I suppose that depends..." She concluded her rhyme with a nod. "I did not think of it, if the truth is told. You were a pony in need, so I put my things on hold."

"Well, shoot... Just makes me wanna be friends even more then, if you threw everythin' down jus' thinkin' ah was some random pony needin' a hoof." She lifted her ears. "Now, I'm Applejack, but you know that."

"Not a name I should ever forget. I saw you first when you were very upset." She hopped up onto a log, walking along it smoothly as if it were quite a bit wider. "If my friend you wish to be, then the first hints I will give for free. Zecora is my name, a zebra you have met. I come from far away, and to rhyme I don't forget."

Applejack followed, mouthing the words Zecora had just said. "Wait a secon'... Do you not forget to rhyme, or you rhyme to not forget somethin'?"

Zecora smiled, eyes lifting in a genuine show. "That question shows surprising wisdom. I remember the past by using this system. Of old ancestors and aged ways, I weave my words in bold displays. To those who do not know, just a curious way of making words flow."

"So... Wanna tell me the real reason?" Applejack tried to scoot forward, but the log was just not wide enough to allow that. She'd have to ask from behind. "Ya don't have to, but ah'm curious, and I'll listen. If it helps, Apple family has loadsa traditions of their own. We can trade!"

"A trade of ancient habits?" Zecora hopped down from the log to a narrow path. "That would confirm our friendly status? If you wish to know, and ready to listen. Then that makes two ways I can feed your ambition. A price I levvy, small I think. Bring the food you have made, paired with a good drink." She veered off suddenly, her hut coming into view. "Travel safely home, farmer of apples. I look forward to what you make, bring good samples."

Applejack tipped her hat at her retreating new friend. "G'night!" She waved a moment and headed in her own direction. She hastened, the forest growing darker around her. "Don't want to be out here..." Especially without the zebra to guide her around threats and troubles. "How does she know so much..." For being from so far away, she sure did seem to know her way around the Everfree like it was nothing.

"Curious..." Applejack trotted hastily over the bridge, marking her official exit of the Everfree. She could see Fluttershy's cottage just there, close to the forest. "Fer bein' a shy thin', she's awful brave about that." Applejack shook her head as she walked past, her tension fled. With the forest behind her, she could walk without fear. Ponyville had nothing to threaten her with.

Author's Note:

Relationships! A lot of talk of those in this chapter. Friendships are blooming, but other things beside.

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Comments

[Tangent]

"Foalish Applejack, you have left the safety of the monster infested Everfree Forest and entered the domain of the most fearsome creatures of all: Other ponies!"

"Oh no! Whatever shall she do!?"

"Alraht, knock it off you two! Ah live here, just the same as you!"