The stone cottage was mostly quiet. Cloudy moved about the small kitchen, cleaning what was already clean, and she kept looking over at Pebble. The object of Cloudy’s desire lay on a cushion with Maud and Octavia, sandwiched in between them, and she was sleeping. In the corner, sitting on his own cushion, was Tarnished Teapot, and he was reading through a sheaf of ivory coloured papers with a scowl on his face.

Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch studied the snowflake gem together, but did so in a more comfortable setting, the pair of them sitting on a pile of pillows with one another. As for Rainbow Dash and A.K. Yearling, the two of them were out in the snow, enjoying a nice constitutional.

“I feel very bad,” Cloudy said in a voice that did nothing to disguise her irritation. “When we made this cottage, we had no idea that a princess would be staying in it. Or a whole herd of ponies, for that matter. I still don’t know how all of you fit into one bed.”

Looking up from the snowflake gem, Twilight Sparkle replied, “It’s a quaint Trottingham tradition.”

Cloudy’s worried expression intensified, and the matron of the Pie clan turned to look at Octavia. It could be said that Cloudy was still a bit unsettled about her daughter and her son sharing a bed with Octavia and Vinyl. Cloudy found it a bit unseemly, but she was trying to give it a chance and the four of them insisted that they were just the best of friends.

Who all slept together.

In the same bed.

She wished that Tarnish would just do the right thing, marry the two stray mares, and make them honest. Herds were fine, for Cloudy. There was nothing wrong with doing things the old fashioned way, but this business of coming and going, going and coming, and even inviting princesses and your boss to come and sleep with you in your marital bed… it was skeevy.

Although it could be said that Cloudy had a bit of shameful pride because her son had a princess in his bed. Out of all of them, Twilight seemed like the one that had been raised properly, and the one most likely to come around and do the right thing. If only Tarnish would do the right thing, and make everything proper. A princess would be quite a catch and a good addition to both the household and the clan.

“Is something wrong?” Octavia asked. “You’re staring… again.”

“Nothing. There is nothing wrong. Everything is fine.” Turning about, Cloudy opened up the small refrigerator to make certain that it was well stocked, and much to her dismay, she found that it was almost empty. Too many ponies in the cottage… and sharing a bed. Sighing, she had to do her part. Tarnish had the job of bringing the mares home, and Cloudy felt that it was her job to make them want to stay.

With all these mares, Cloudy could stock her farm with grandfoals—a whole passel of them—and with a farm full of foals, she could have bragging rights at the next Pie family reunion. Heaving a sigh of irritation, she wished that Tarnish would get with the program, and she thought about having a word with Maud. With a bevy of warm, willing mares all around him, how hard could it be to make a few more foals? He had lured them into the bed, the hard part was over, and now it was time to settle into the earth pony way. Perhaps Tarnish had trouble performing for a crowd. The mare let out an equine groan of frustration. Maybe Igneous could have a word with him, but Igneous had never performed for a crowd.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” Cloudy said to the ponies all around her, “but I must go and refill the fridge.”

Humming to himself, Tarnish extended his neck and nosed Pebble. The filly’s eyes darted to the left to observe him, and both of her ears perked up when he chuffed at her. After another nosing, Tarnish was rewarded with Pebble turning her head to look at him. He chuffed against her again, hoping to tickle her, or annoy her, or at least provoke some reaction out of her.

Pebble wasn’t much like other foals. She was quiet, she didn’t do much, and her favourite pastime seemed to be staring at things in a most unnatural way. After a moment, Pebble wiggled her pudgy body around, held out her forelegs, and then clung to Tarnish’s face. He rubbed his nose against the fuzz of her barrel, marvelling at what he and Maud had created.

Octavia, now looking at the papers that Tarnish had been sorting through earlier, let out a flustered whinny. Her eyes widened and she tapped on the paper laid flat upon the table with her hoof. “Over two hundred thousand gold bits!”

The clock on the mantle could be heard clicking for several long seconds, while silence had its due. Tarnish’s head fell down to the cushion and Pebble almost tumbled over. Twilight looked up from the snowflake gemstone, and Vinyl did the same. Maud’s head swivelled and she looked at her husband.

“That’s quite a lot of collateral damage, isn’t it,” Maud deadpanned.

Rolling over onto his side, Tarnish let out a moan and then nosed Pebble again.

“And that’s just the first lawsuit,” Maud added.

“We haven’t been served with papers yet.” Octavia turned to look at Vinyl, worried, and her hoof kept tapping against the table. “That streak of destruction up and down the streets of Manehattan is going to prove quite costly, I see.”

“Nopony ever talks about the cost of being a hero.” Tarnish’s voice was muffled because Pebble was smooshing his lips like clay. “And that’s just the cost of settling out of court. If I contest this, that figure will grow a good bit.”

“This doesn’t seem fair.” Octavia’s voice was now a cultured whine. “Organised crime… there were ponies trying to kill you… somepony tried to kill you with dynamite!” Octavia threw her hooves up in disgust. “He flung sticks of dynamite around like confetti!”

“Tarnish and Vinyl both used excessive magical force. There was a lot of unnecessary damage done. Rainbow Dash is going to be hit with a bill too, because that bomb that Tarnish gave her broke a lot of windows.”

“But that wasn’t Rainbow’s fault!” Octavia’s voice was now almost a screech of indignant rage. “And Tarnish didn’t give Rainbow that bomb, he was left holding it and he didn’t know what else to do with it! He saved lives! Many! Rainbow took the bomb from him!”

“She was the last one holding the bomb, and she failed to be responsible with it,” Twilight explained, sounding both calm and patient. “I don’t agree with what is going on, but I understand the reasoning behind it. Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom through central Manehattan also shattered many, many windows and did so much property damage. She’s going to get quite a bill.”

“This isn’t fair at all!” Octavia cried and she banged both front hooves against the table.

“It is what it is.” Twilight, looking calm and resolute, looked around the room at the ponies who had been involved in the magical mayhem in Manehattan. After a moment, biting her lip, Twilight Sparkle looked down and her ears drooped. “I also used my position as a princess to keep all of you from being arrested. I still don’t know how I feel about that. I mean, I gave them assurances that all of you would be responsible and pay the bill, but I made it very clear that jailing the lot of you was unnecessary.” Twilight sighed and added, “I abused my position of power.”

“That’s not abuse!” Octavia retorted. “That is the forced application of common sense! Do you know how many ponies might have died had Tarnish, Rainbow, Vinyl, and Daring Do not sprung into action?” She banged her hoof against the table like a gavel, holding the Court of Octavia.

“As it was, one hundred and thirty one ponies did in fact die that day. And it took Princess Celestia getting involved to make certain that none of you were held responsible for those deaths—”

“But we’re stuck with the property damage!” Octavia got up from the table, tossed her head back, and then announced in a shrill whine, “I’m going for a walk to cool off! The nerve of some ponies! Why, next time… we heroes should sit back and do nothing when trouble starts… I wonder what might happen then!”

Snorting with every step, Octavia flounced her way through the room, threw open the front door, stepped outside into the blizzard, and then slammed the sturdy door shut behind her. Or perhaps the wind slammed the door, it was impossible to tell.

Vinyl stared at the door for a moment, perhaps thinking about following Octavia, but then she shivered and stayed right where she was. Twilight looked at her, and she looked at Twilight, and then both of them shared a sigh. Reaching out a foreleg, Vinyl rested it upon Twilight’s foreleg, and she gave Twilight a little nod of understanding.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, apologising to Vinyl. “I wish I could do more…”

Author's Notes:

Mega-shipper on deck.