In any other town in Equestria, the two restaurant patrons would have at the very least raised an eyebrow or two. However, after two generations of being home to assorted oddities, Ponyville’s citizens were quick to dismiss these two as actually somewhat boring customers. The mare, Oasis, wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, anyway, looking very much like an uncommonly tall batpony, though her silky pink coat and meticulously brushed forest- and lime-green mane, not to mention her striking reptilian turquoise eyes, were enough to draw not a few ponies’ attention for other reasons. The stallion, Apollo, was stranger, a light green unicorn with a single-color mane the same shade of green as his companion’s dark streaks and dazzling green eyes that betrayed his relation to the mare, the spines down his croup and the three claws on each leg that, when closed, managed to bear some resemblance to a hoof, marked him as something more than one of the normal races of pony.

“I’m telling you, Sissy,” Apollo said to his companion. “Dad’s been acting strange ever since… the anniversary. I’m worried.”

“Apollo, my dear brother,” Oasis responded, her laugh tinkling like wind chimes as she daintily covered her mouth with her hoof. “You fret for Father far too much.”

Apollo lifted his mug of cider and took a long draught before responding. “Someone’s gotta look out for the old stallion. Especially with all these young, gold digging floozies crawling around these days.”

Oasis pursed her lips as she set her tea cup down. “Still sore about Bleubelle?”

Apollo shot his sister a venomous glare.

“Really, Brother,” Oasis said with a dismissive shake of her head. “She was a nouveau-pauvre noblemare; did you really think she wouldn’t try to take you for all you were worth?” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “And she was so obvious about it, too.”

“Yeah, well…” Apollo fidgeted in his seat. “As bad as I might be, Dad’s even worse. You think I’m going to let some filching filly finagle Father?”

Oasis stared into her tea for a long moment, pursing her lips. “I… suppose you’re right. Still, Father seems so lonely lately…”

“Well, I won’t be lonely anymore,” a hulking green stallion declared as he plopped down heavily between them. He grinned, showing his sharp teeth. “Not with my two favorite foals to join me for lunch!”

“D-dad!” Apollo squeaked. “You… I… uh… how did the visit with Aunt Clarity go?”

Their father, Turquoise Blitz, shrugged his massive shoulders. “It was… good, I suppose.” He puffed out his chest, the sun glinting off of a flower-shaped jewel on his gold necklace.

Apollo froze as he recognized the design of his mother’s cutie mark. “That… did Aunt Clarity make that?”

“Yeah,” Turquoise affirmed, smiling proudly at the jewelry. “Claire’s really outdone herself with this one. She made one for your Grandpa Spike, too. Used the Fire Ruby he gave to Grandma Rarity. It was really… such a touching gesture.”

Oasis snickered. “Well, Auntie can surprise us from time to time with these little acts of spontaneous generosity.”

Turquoise belly-laughed, causing every head in the restaurant to turn toward them. He wiped a tear from his eye with his hoof-claw as he sobered and gave his daughter a halfhearted chiding look. “Now, be nice. She’s really mellowed out with age.”

"So, please do tell us all about it, Father," Oasis implored.

Turquoise launched into the story. In the meantime, the waiter delivered their meals and they continued to converse about the visit to Canterlot Castle between bites.

"No!" Oasis interjected as Turquoise's story wound to an end. "Auntie Clarity? Expecting?"

Turquoise snickered. "Yeah. Dad figured it out right away. She's... probably told Illusion by now, but..."

Oasis nodded. "Of course, we'll be discreet."

"It's going to be a bit odd, though," Apollo said. "Having new cousins that are... so much younger."

Oasis laughed. "Indeed, we'll be more like an aunt and uncle!"

"And what would that make me?" Turquoise asked, feigning scandalization.

Apollo grinned at his father. "'Grandpa'?"

"Is there something you're not telling me, Son?" Turquoise asked, his face a mask of seriousness.

While Apollo choked on his food, Oasis nonchalantly chimed in. "Well, if you think cousins with that great an age gap are awkward, could you imagine how odd it would be to have new siblings that young?"

It was Turquoise's turn to choke. "Wh-what?" He coughed again before continuing. "Why would... I mean, that's moving a little..." He stopped and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I mean... that would be pretty awkward."

"Because it's not like it couldn't happen," Oasis plied. She glanced at her brother, who had gone stiff, eying their father suspiciously.

"Well, sure, but I don't think..." Turquoise said, shifting uncomfortably.

Oasis laughed. "Well, given how long Auntie Claire waited until now, I imagine she won't be having another for a good century, if at all."

"Uh," Turquoise said, relaxing. "Yeah... Claire..."

Apollo regarded his father suspiciously. "So... have you been... spending time with any other ponies in Canterlot, Dad?"

Turquoise tensed again. "Oh, no. I mean... sure, there are other ponies up at the castle I might have run into, but it's not like..."

"Like what, Father?" Oasis inquired, a look of predatory excitement on her face.

Sweat beaded on Turquoise's forehead as he felt the heat of his children's interrogation. "I mean... listen, kids, there's... there's something I ought to tell you."

Oasis and Apollo leaned in anticipatorily. Their eyes drilled holes into their father, who cringed under their scrutiny.

Taking a deep breath, Turquoise answered. "I've just found a good friend, and I may be spending more time with her in the future. As friends."

"Who is this 'friend,' Dad?" Apollo asked.

Turquoise paused and thought back on the encounter he had after receiving his necklace from Claire. The princess who had known his family since he and their mother had been kids, who had become so close with Anthea even after a bit of a rocky start, and who had been known as an "auntie" just as much as his real sister, Crystal Clarity.

"Oh... just some royal type," he said in an attempt to be as casual as possible, but the quaver in his voice betrayed him. He winced at the lameness of the reply, evident even to himself.

Apollo's eyes narrowed. "I... see."

"Anypony we know?" Oasis asked, her eyes lidded in a sly look reminiscent of her dearly departed mother.

"Ah..." Turquoise hemmed. Face-to-face with his daughter, who reminded him so much of his wife, his resolve began to crumble. "No... yeah... maybe? I mean, she really... doesn't get out much, so..." He trailed off, unwilling to divulge any more.

Scowling, Apollo put his hooves on the table and opened his mouth to demand answers.

"Check," the waiter said as he placed a slip of paper on the table.

Oasis quickly scooped it up before either of her family members could and looked over it. "Oh... can you please apply three senior citizen's discounts?"

The waiter looked at her with a blank expression. "I'll need to see your identification, of course."

"Of course!" Oasis said sweetly as she pulled out the card and hoofed it over as her two companions did the same.

The waiter looked at the IDs and then back at them. Then to the IDs, which he then shuffled around and inspected, and then back to them. "You... don't look a day over 50, ma'am."

"Flatterer," Oasis teased with a coy wave of her leathery wing.

After the waiter adjusted the check and they paid for their lunch, the Blitz family gathered around the front of the restaurant to say their goodbyes for the day.

"Thanks for being so understanding," Turquoise said.

Oasis elbowed Apollo in the side as he was about to speak and cut in. "Of course, Father! We only want your happiness."

Turquoise flushed slightly from embarrassment. "Yeah... well... hopefully everypony can be happy."

With that, Turquoise gave them a warm farewell hug and made his way back to his home, while Oasis and Apollo headed for Oasis' cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

"Well, that settles it," Oasis said. "Father is in love."

"How can you say that so happily?" Apollo asked. "She's a royal!"

"Auntie Clarity and Uncle Lulu are royals, too," Oasis said. "Anyway, maybe he's not in love love. He definitely has quite the crush, though."

"Makes him sound like a schoolcolt," Apollo said.

Oasis chuckled. "Well, you know what they say about old stallions."

"I don't," Apollo replied with a snort. "And this just proves my point. Some royal pain is going to take advantage of our poor, widower dad. Without our help he'll be bitless walking the streets in no time. You should have let me grill him some more."

"Oh, hush," Oasis countered, sighing at her brother's rashness. "He was clearly uncomfortable. And wouldn't you be if you were in that situation?"

Apollo fumed silently for awhile, ruminating on the situation. "We have to do something about this," he finally said.

"What?" Oasis said, brows crinkling in puzzlement.

"Yeah!" Apollo said with a wide grin. "We'll find this mystery mare and reveal her treachery to Dad!"

Oasis grimaced. "I dunno about this. Shouldn't we be cheering for Father's happiness?"

"We are!" Apollo declared. "We're rooting for him to be happy with his family and not some gold digging mare!"

"Alright, Sissy, just act casual," Apollo told his sister as they walked down the streets of Canterlot. He was garbed in a tetrad of cowpony boots to hide his hoof-claws, a vest, a stetson, and a thick black mustache to complete the effect.

Oasis was walking behind him, her mane and tail a dark purple and styled into a curly coiffure. She wore an elegant, dark rose dress studded with sapphires and wore a fashionably large pair of sunglasses. “Where did you even get these disguises, anyway?”

“You’d be surprised how integral this kind of thing is to my work,” Apollo commented.

“Aren’t you a writer?” Oasis asked.

“Like I said.” Adjusting his stetson, Apollo looked back at his sister. “You’d be surprised.”

The two quarter-dragons watched their father slinking through the crowd, a burglar in the night. It wasn’t night, of course, and he was, in Apollo’s opinion, the one being burgled in this situation, but he found the imagery appealing, nonetheless. They followed as discreetly as possible while keeping him in sight.

Turquoise stopped at the entrance to one of Canterlot's beautiful parks, the setting sun giving it the perfect ambience for a romantic rendezvous. After ten minutes of waiting, a dark gray pegasus mare approached him. Her mane was dark blue streaked with gray, and on her flank was a set of lines that resembled the drawn depiction of wind. Her face was lightly creased, making her look late middle-aged.

"Huh," Oasis commented, leaning in toward her brother. "Not exactly the usual look for a young gold-digger."

Apollo snorted. "Please, Sissy, she's probably not even half his age. Dating a mare younger than your kids, Dad?"

The mare greeted him warmly, and gave him a friendly nuzzle. Though fairly chaste, Turquoise stiffened and his cheeks turned pink. This was, of course, fairly standard for the old stallion, who after a century could still be embarrassed by the slightest attention from a pretty young—by his standards—mare.

"What's her name?" Oasis asked her brother, grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him.

Apollo scowled and shook her off. "Calm down, will you? I think he called her... Jet Stream?"

Jet Stream led Turquoise into the park, taking the large dirt path through the lush green of the grass that turned ever more blue as the shadow of Canterlot Castle grew. “I’m glad to see you again so soon, T.”

“Well,” Turquoise said, grimacing with an embarrassed flush still tinting his face. “It’s not like I have much else to do, nowadays. I retired after… uh… well, I’ve been retired for awhile, so every day is pretty much puttering around Ponyville, keeping up with the kids, helping Dad out at Ponyville Castle.”

Jet Stream nodded. “It’s good that he keeps himself busy. And speaking of your kids…” She scooted closer to him, her folded wing brushing against his. “Have you… told them about us, yet?”

“U-us?” Turquoise’s voice came out strangled. “Oh, yeah. I mean, kinda.”

Jet’s eyes narrowed and her smile became dangerous. “‘Kinda’?”

He cleared his throat a few times; probably far more than absolutely necessary. “Well, I just told them… you know, that I was going to be spending more time with a good friend.”

“I’m a ‘good friend’,” she wondered in a low voice, her face frozen in a curious grin.

“Of course!” Turquoise said. He cringed at her look and coughed into his massive hoof-claw. “I-I mean, if you want to be…”

Her head snapped forward, her mouth downturned. “Of course. I mean… we should take things slow. You don’t even know if you like me like…”

“Hey, you want some ice cream?”

She paused, turning her head back toward Turquoise, who was galloping toward one of the brightly lit vendors. “Ice… cream?”

“Yeah,” he said, beaming as he stopped behind the customer currently retrieving her ice cream cone. “C’mon, what flavor do you want?”

“Hmm… I’m not the sweets connoisseur my aunt is, honestly. You can get me whatever you’re having,” she said, wrinkling her nose slightly.

He turned back to the vendor and ordered two triple scoop hay and oatmeal swirl ice cream cones, which were delivered with appropriate speed. Clouds of cold wafted from the towers of frozen dairy as Turquoise took them in his front hoof-claws from the vendor. He turned and offered one to Jet Stream, a look of innocent generosity on his face.

She took the proffered cone awkwardly in the crook of her pastern, her cheeks twitching as she tried to contain the strangest urge to grin like an idiot. She settled in beside him again as he began to walk back to the trail, leaning against his warm barrel as he licked contentedly at his treat, completely oblivious to her.

Jet Stream’s attention was suddenly caught by a small foal licking at a similar three scoop cone, though it was quite a bit more of a hoofful for him than it was for her, with every lick threatening to topple the tower. Glancing back at Turquoise to see him still merrily distracted, she flapped a wing in his direction, causing a strong gust to whip toward him.

The sudden wind put the foal off balance for a moment, and the already precariously piled pony panacea tipped too far, splattering upon the ground. The young colt stared at his ruined treat for a moment and began to sniffle.

“She’s a monster!” Apollo hissed quietly to his sister as he clung to a nearby tree trunk, mostly hidden amongst the thick foliage.

Oasis looked down from the branch upon which she perched thoughtfully. “Maybe not… look, she’s going over.”

Jet Stream approached the young foal and knelt down. “You seem to have dropped your ice cream, my little pony.”

The colt looked up at her benevolent face, but only responded by increasing the rate of his sniffling. The way his eyes were welling up, he seemed prepared for an all out bawl.

“Do not cry,” she said, her voice becoming low and soothing. The colt seemed to comply as he stared into her eyes, his lids drooping down as the tantrum he’d been building lost its steam. She extended her hoof and nodded to the ice cream cone she’d yet to even taste. “Please, take mine.”

“R-really, Miss?” he said, immediately reaching his hooves out and taking the treat.

Jet Stream laughed as she rose back to all four hooves. “Of course.” She turned back to Turquoise, who was looking at her with a proud gleam in his eyes.

“Aw,” Oasis said, sinking down to her belly on her branch. “See? She gave that little colt her ice cream. She’s nice.”

Apollo snorted. “Looks more like she’s trying to make herself look good in front of Dad.”

“That was really nice of you, N… ah… Jet Stream,” Turquoise said. He gestured back the way they came with a toss of his head. “You want me to get you another one?”

“No, that’s quite alright,” she responded, sidling back up to him as they continued their walk. “I think I’d much rather be hot, tonight, than cold.”

Turquoise blew an amused breath through his nostrils. “I have to say, I haven’t seen a mare have a calming effect on a foal like that in awhile.”

Jet Stream looked back toward her cutie mark. “Well, perhaps you can’t know all there is to know about a pony by looking at her flank.”

“Bet I could if I looked close enough,” Turquoise responded.

Jet Stream stopped in her tracks.

Oasis’ eyes bugged out of her head. “Whoa, Dad.”

“I haven’t heard him talk like that since Mom was healthy…” Apollo commented.

“Uh…” Turquoise opened and closed his mouth as he came to a halt. He sprang away from Jet Stream, his face now the color of a ripened tomato. “I-I-I’m sorry, that just slipped out.”

She burst into laughter, flapping her wings giddily as she struggled not to collapse to the ground. Wiping a tear from her eye as her outburst subsided, she closed the distance between her and Turquoise again. “Please, don’t be embarrassed, T. You just… reminded me for a moment of the only other pony who could make me blush.”

His fears allayed, Turquoise chuckled alongside her. “Yeah… I guess I forgot who I was with for second, too…”

Silence lay heavy over them as they walked on, their glances toward each other furtive and uneasy. “Ah,” Jet Stream finally said. “I think I know what will remind you…”

“Remind me?” Turquoise asked.

Jet Stream struck him hard in the shoulder with her hoof. “Of whom you are with!” With that, she took off into the burgeoning night. “Catch me if you can, T!”

Turquoise hesitated, watching her bound away, but then spread his wings and leaped into the air. With his large size, it took quite a bit of effort to get into the air, but once there he cut through the night with a speed that easily matched that of any Wonderbolt. He dove back down once he’d achieved sufficient altitude, descending on Jet’s darting form like a hawk.

Jet Stream was a bit more agile than Turquoise, however, and she slipped away from his grasp, leaving him to tumble across the grass. When he looked up from his dirt nap, he saw her sitting a short distance away, her crystal-blue eyes glowing in the moonlight as they bobbed up and down.

"Climb in," she said, flicking her eyes down to small boat in which she now sat.

Hesitantly, Turquoise rose and waded into the ankle deep water of the lake. He put a hoof-claw into the boat, and it sank deeper. "Uh... you sure this will hold me?"

"Well, you are a lot of stallion, I'll admit," she said with a smirk. "But I think she can handle it."

He hopped all the way in, causing the water to splash around them and the boat to bob violently. When it settled, he heaved a sigh. "Well, I guess you were right."

"Of course," she responded with a proud upturning of her snout. She spread her wings and began to flap slowly but firmly, the water rippling behind them as the wind propelled them out toward the middle of the water.

"Ahhh, so romantic," Oasis said dreamily.

"Focus, Sis," Apollo said as he pulled on his wetsuit. "She's obviously trying to isolate him while she goes in for the kill!"

"I thought she was a gold digger," she retorted with a raise brow. "Now she's an assassin? And where were you keeping this scuba gear? Nevermind why..."

"Just put it on and let's go," Apollo said before putting his oxygen tank's mouthpiece in and waddling into the water.

Jet Stream quit flapping when their boat reached the middle of the lake, and she leaned her elbow casually against the starboard side of the bow.

"It's... so quiet out here," Turquoise said, looking around. Though he could still see the shores, it was as if he were merely looking at a moving picture.

"Yes," Jet replied, looking into the sky. "Just look at how the stars shine."

"Sometimes it amazes me," Turquoise said as he followed her gaze to see a blazing river cutting the sky in two. "How anypony could have ever not appreciated this."

Jet looked back at him, and her face softened as she saw the sincere awe on his face. "Well," she said. "I suppose sometimes it takes awhile for something to be appreciated. Especially when it's been so cold... and scary... and dangerous in the past."

"You're probably right," he said, his focus still intently on the sparkling tapestry above them. "Sometimes ponies have to experience a lot, change a lot, before they become the kind of ponies that can look at something they've looked at for so long and finally see how much they love..." His eyes wandered back toward Jet Stream, and he trailed off.

Jet subconsciously leaned closer in anticipation, so close she could feel his hot breath puff against her face. "'Love...'?"

"Y-yeah," Turquoise said, feeling his body strangely drawn forward. "I mean..." He forced himself to stay still, his face straining as he struggled against this sudden urge to be close to another pony, one he hadn't satisfied in years.

Oasis and Apollo, meanwhile, poked their heads out from under the water, not far from the boat. They could see their father, frozen and trembling, as Jet Stream's moon-silhouetted form leaned in, mouth opening slightly, her fangs glinting.

Apollo growled through his mouthpiece and, ignoring his sister's startled yelp and attempts to restrain him, he lit his horn and sucked in a deep breath of pure oxygen.

"T, jump!" Jet Stream shouted in Turquoise's face before leaping out of the boat.

Turquoise hesitated for a brief moment, but did as she said just as an explosion erupted from the water, destroying the boat and lifting him upward on his massive wings.

Jet Stream laughed as she did a loop around Turquoise. "I didn't think I was hot enough to make you go off like that, T."

Turquoise looked back at the wreckage of the boat. "That wasn't me. Maybe we should go look for whatever caused it."

"No need," Jet Stream said. "There are a lot of little monsters in these waters."

"Do they explode often?" Turquoise asked dubiously.

She shrugged. "They do a lot of strange things every now and then. Trust me, though, it will be sorted."

At the same time, Oasis was pulling her unconscious brother back onto the shore. "Little foal!" She smacked him across his blackened face, jarring him awake. "Trying to breathe fire into an oxygen tank? What was that?"

Apollo rubbed her cheek as he sulked. "I was pretty sure she was going to eat Dad."

"What?" Oasis deadpanned.

"She had fangs!" Apollo said. "Obviously, she's one of the undead. Or maybe a succubus!"

"Don't be absurd," Oasis said. She looked above her and saw their father and Jet Stream fly by overhead. "Come, we'll tail them and you'll see that she's just a normal pony."

With that said, they quickly peeled off their wetsuits and took off together. It wasn't long before their quarry slowed and landed, but it was where they landed that gave the siblings pause.

Oasis' eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Is... is that Canterlot Castle?"

"No, it's obviously Horselando Studios," Apollo retorted.

"Do you think she lives here?" Oasis wondered. "Like... a servant or something?"

"Devious..." Apollo said, his eyes narrowed in suspicion and his lips curled back. "Probably grilled Aunt Clarity and Aunt Nidra for exactly how to manipulate our dear old dad."

Brows pinched, Oasis slunk closer, motioning to her brother to follow.

"... so big, T," came Jet Stream's voice. "Surely a gentlecolt wouldn't let a lady walk all the way to her room by herself."

"Uh... well, I guess I could..." Turquoise said softly before being grabbed by the leg and pulled toward the castle gate.

"Great!"

"Great..." Apollo muttered. "Lured into the spider's parlor."

"It's fine," Oasis said. "We can just go inside. The guards know us."

Apollo turned a sour expression on his sister. "That's exactly the point. We don't want to tip them off that we're on to Jet Stream's game."

"So..." Oasis said. "What is her game?"

Apollo folded his forelegs across his barrel and closed his eyes introspectively. "Hmmmm. I don't know." He opened his eyes and sprang into motion. "But we're going to find out!"

"Why do I let myself get dragged into my little brother's schemes?" Oasis thought aloud as she raced after him.

In a moment, they came to a stone wall covered in moss. Apollo was already pulling a curtain of green away when Oasis reached him. Beneath was a large opening big enough for a foal to walk through.

"Oh, not this old thing," Oasis said. She rolled her eyes. "Don't you think we're a little grown for this?"

Apollo grinned and pulled out a bottle and hoofed it to her. "Put that on." He took a second bottle and began to rub the liquid he poured out of it all over himself. He then shook the remainder around the edges of the hole.

Oasis shrugged and put the oily substance on as well. She sniffed the air as she did and wrinkle her muzzle. "Apollo, this smells like coconut. Why do you have coconut oil on you?"

"You'd be surprised at the kinds of things you need to have on you in my line of work," he said, kneeling close to the ground and crawling into the crevice.

"Brother, you..." Oasis said as he squeezed slickly through the hole. "You're a writer!"

"Told you you'd be surprised," Apollo said from the other side of the wall. "Now hurry up."

Oasis scoffed, but crawled into the hole as well, the oil providing just the right amount of lubrication to slide her body through. When she got up, she was inside the Royal Garden.

"Sweet," Apollo said. "Now we can..."

A clump of dirt hit Apollo in the head, cutting him off.

"Oh, my," Oasis said, putting a hoof delicately over her mouth as she traced the path of the projectile back to its source. It appeared to be coming from behind some shrubbery in the distance, and now that she flicked her ears in that direction, she could hear a rhythmic scraping and quiet grunts.

Apollo sprang back to his hooves and growled. "Alright! Who did that?"

A purple head popped out from behind the shrubs, blue eyes wide and unblinking. "Who?"

"Au-Auntie Clarity!" Oasis exclaimed. She sprang forward, smiling broadly.

"Oh," Crystal Clarity said, blinking rapidly as if waking from a dream. "Sissy! Polly! What are you kids doing here?"

Oasis hugged her aunt, heedless of the dirt smeared against her usually pristine coat. Apollo kept his distance, but gave her a fond smile.

"Auntie, what are you doing out here?" Oasis asked. She looked at Crystal's hooves and saw that she was standing in a deep hole that she had apparently clawed out with her bare hooves.

"Fighting in the trenches, Auntie?" Apollo asked.

Crystal Clarity looked down at the hole and splayed her dirty hoof claws. "Uhhh. I... don't really know." She wrinkled her brow. "Seemed like an absolutely fabulous idea while I was doing it, but now it seems a bit silly."

"How odd," Oasis said.

Apollo's face brightened. "Ohh! Nesting!"

"Pardon?" Crystal asked, her expression polite but uncomprehending.

"Oh, it's just that dragons have this nesting instinct, so they'll get this strong urge to make a nest in some quiet, hidden place so they can lay their eggs."

Crystal laughed. "Lay eggs? Me? Whatever gave you-Dad told you, didn't he."

Oasis shrugged. "Grandpa told our dad, actually, and he told us." She looked again at her brother. "And how do you know about female dragon mating habits, anyway? I know I certainly haven't enjoyed the joys of parenthood..."

"You'd be surprised what you learn in my line of work," Apollo said.

Oasis scowled. "Brother. You're a wri—no, actually, that makes the most sense out of any of this, right now."

"Anyway, speaking of the mating habits of dragons," Apollo interjected, his face becoming a stony mask of seriousness. "Our dad's here right now."

"Oh?" Crystal said with a confused cock of her head. "How odd. I wasn't expecting a visitor... and who else would he visit?"

"We think," Oasis said slowly. "He may have met somepony. A mare."

Crystal turned her head to the side, looking at them from the corner of her wide eyes. "My brother? What? Who?"

"A pegasus," Apollo said. "A manipulative, gold digging, assassin vampire pony of a pegasus! And she is apparently a servant here."

Crystal scowled and tapped her chin. "Hm. I don't think we have any assassin vampire pony servants..."

"She's a fairly tall gray mare," Oasis explained, raising her hoof to give an approximation. "Her mane is blue, with a bit of white, perhaps from old age. And she has the most distinctive nick in one ear..."

Crystal's eyes boggled. "J-Jet Stream?"

"That's the fiend!" Apollo declared. "Come, let us rescue our esteemed family member from her foul clutches!"

Laughter burbled out of Crystal's mouth, and soon she was shaking with mirth. Wiping tears from her eyes she managed to speak. "Oh, this is... this is too much... after... after all this time! Ahahaha!"

"Auntie Clarity?" Oasis inquired leaning in with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she replied loudly. "It's just... it's just..." she took a deep breath to compose herself before continuing. "Oh... you'll find out in a moment, anyway..."

"We will?" Apollo said bemusedly.

"You will," came the voice of Jet Stream.

The siblings turned to see Jet standing upon the wall, her wings spread wide and her blue eyes glowing. She laughed malevolently as she reared up and leaped from her perch. She dove right for Apollo.

"No, don't eat me and turn me into an undead pony of the night!" Apollo squealed as he threw himself backward, landing on his back with his legs flailing.

Yellow eyes were staring down at him when he opened his moments later. She was grinning, her fangs bared. Her blue mane wafted gently in the breeze, the edge sparkling like stars in the night sky.

"You wuss," she said with a laugh.

Oasis stared, perhaps more dumbstruck than Apollo, who hadn't seen the transformation with his own eyes. "Jet Stream is... my dad is dating... Princess Nidra?"