The Royal Fillies REDUX

by blazikenking

Food Words

Today's breakfast is different. It's not the normal bottle of milk, but some kind of gooey stuff on a spoon on daddy's hoof. It came out of something that wasn't a bottle, it smells alright, and is mostly green. All I do is stare at it, not sure what to do.

"It's alright, Inova," daddy says as he brings the stuff closer to me. "It's not going to jump on your face."

I'm still not sure what to do. I want it and I don't want it at the same time.

"Shining, I'm going to take Skyla out back to play with her," mommy said. "She cleaned out a full jar of the foal food." She held up the jar and I didn't see anything on the inside. It was clean.

"Already?" He suddenly looked confused.

"I had to keep her from eating the spoon and the jar." Mommy picked up Skyla with her glow and carried her off to the back.

Daddy turned back to me. "The sooner you eat, the sooner you can go play with your sister."

I wanted to go play, so I slowly took a bite of the stuff on the spoon. It tasted good, and I waited for more.

As I ate, daddy talked with a smile on his face. "Your Auntie Sparkle actually thought the foal food was going to attack her the first time your grandparents tried feeding her the stuff. I was too busy laughing to remember it, but I do remember being late to school that day. That was also the only tardy that whole year across the whole school that got forgiven." I had no idea what he was talking about.

It wasn't long before I felt full and was taken to play with Skyla.

---

For a while, I've felt something vague, yet meaningful inside me, trying to get out. It's something mommy and daddy use all the time: words.

It's breakfast, and all of us are having oatmeal with apple pieces in it. It's good stuff. Mommy and daddy are using spoons while Skyla and I are just sticking our muzzles into our bowls.

All of a sudden, I felt like trying to use words. "Du."

Mommy and daddy stopped eating and looked at me. "Did she say 'two'?" Mommy asked.

"No, she didn't," daddy said.

I kept trying. "Dur. Duri."

"She's still working on it," mommy said, looking eager for something.

Finally, I felt the word and got it out. "Durian!"

Mommy's glow left her horn, her smile turned into a frown, and her spoon fell into her bowl. "Shining, did she just say what I think she said?"

"Yep," daddy said.

Mommy suddenly looked not good. "Excuse me." She ran faster than I'd ever seen her move and there was suddenly a very gross sound coming from the bathroom.

Daddy looked at me while Skyla looked at mommy's bowl. "I don't know where you learned that word, but I don't want you to say it around your mom again, got it?"

I nodded. I didn't want her to make more gross sounds like that.

---

As the fillies soundly slept one night, Shining and Cadence sat at the dining room table with an intense and epic game of Go Fish going on. "I was ready for nearly anything before the fillies were born, but I can't say I was ready for this," Cadence said. "Got a red 3?"

"Go fish," Shining said. "I think Skyla's the more normal filly, all things considered. Got a black 5?"

Cadence floated the card over. "I've never seen a foal with as much of an appetite as she does."

He set the black fives on his pile of matches. "Agent Rumor Mill's told me that most of the castle staff think it's because she's an alicorn. Red 7?"

"Go fish. That alone wouldn't explain Inova, though. She's much more curious than anything. Red queen?" A moment later, she put the pair of queens on her pile of matches.

"She's the real interesting one. Raising a fuss over drinking her milk in her first week, then suddenly being willing to drink, her feedback loop of crying, her first word-"

Cadence put a wing over her mouth. "Don't remind me. Black ace?"

"Go fish. There isn't as much talk about Inova, though. It's a pretty even split between whether she's slow to pick up on things or just incredibly patient, like no foal ever was. Black jack?"

"No, we're playing Go Fish. Also, go fish. Do you think that one came from when we got soft serve? Red 6?"

"Go fish. Inova was only halfway done with hers before Skyla took it and wolfed it down. I had the shields and bits ready, but Inova didn't really react that much. Joker?"

Cadence gave up the freshly drawn card. "Maybe being an alicorn foal magnifies some personality traits? That would explain Skyla's appetite and Inova's patience."

"Twilight would say that more alicorn foals need to be observed to make that conclusion. For all we know, there could be normal foals out there with those traits." He set the jokers on his stack. "All we can do is make sure they grow up good."

---

Out in Ponyville, Discord was reading his personal newspaper, the Chaos Wheneverly, and raised an eyebrow at an article. "Cadence reacted that way?"

"Reacted to what?"

"Little Inova's first word."

Fluttershy gasped in excitement. "She said her first word? What did she say?"

"Durian."

She paused at that. "Durian?"

"Durian."

"That really big, spiky, and nasty fruit from Indoneighsia?"

"Yes."

"The kind that made Cadence sick on her honeymoon there?"

He looked away from his paper. "It did?"

"She had a very ghastly look on her face when she talked about it and looked like she was about to get sick just thinking about it."

"Huh. That would explain her reaction in this story."

"Hm?" Fluttershy fluttered up and read the article. "Oh my." She looked at him. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

Discord produced a signed affidavit printed on construction paper. "I swear all I did was make Inova say 'durian' since I figured it would be a funny first word. I did not know of Cadence's experience with the actual thing."

She sighed as she landed. "Discord, I want you to keep that to yourself. I'll stay quiet about it as long as you do."

With a snap, both of them were suddenly wearing blue helmets and trenchcoats. "We know nothing. Nothing!" His newspaper suddenly burst into green fire, and once it died down, he swept up the ashes and dumped them into Fluttershy's flower bed, making some of the plants sneeze.

Author's Note:

I'd say this chapter is a huge improvement over the first version.

When funny things happen, it's reasonable to presume Discord is involved somehow.

Comments

[Peppermint N Swirl]

Discord...

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Go fish. There isn't as much talk about Inova, though. It's a pretty even split between whether she's slow to pick up on things or just incredibly patient, like no foal ever was. Black jack?"

"No, we're playing Go Fish. Also, go fish. Do you think that one came from when we got soft serve? Red 6?"

Okay, that one took me a moment.

[Chrome Masquerade]

With a snap, both of them were suddenly wearing blue helmets and trenchcoats. "We know nothing. Nothing!" His newspaper suddenly burst into green fire, and once it died down, he swept up the ashes and dumped them into Fluttershy's flower bed, making some of the plants sneeze.

"NOTHING?! Nothing, tra la la?"