“I’m so sorry about my father.” Saffron said as she applied some special medications from her homeland to Blue Blood’s eyes, and he had to admit, when it was a pain to fight his instinct to keep them open, it really helped remove that red and dull the pain.

“While I admit that was not… ideal, it’s better than other means of attacking me.” Blue Blood said, blinking in order to rub the cream all over his eyes. “So…”

“So...what?” She asked.

“Well, I’m just assuming you’d want him to move in.”

“Wait? Really?”

“Well, Spice knows him more than me, and you’ve lived with him for so long, it only seems fair that you all still stick together. Maybe through Blue Spice I can get your father to more accept me.”

“Well, I suppose that can work. Maybe with his whole family together that might help him start to talk.”

“Yes, and as the doctor said, the more of us around the better it will be for Spice when his surges kick in.”

Coriander Cumin was still in a raged state. HE never expected the one night stand his daughter had behind his back to return, or for them to be married! Granted, he was a prince and it was Princess Celestia’s orders/request. He knew that this might be best for his grandson,but to just reappear like that! And marry his daughter, without his blessing! “Um...Sir?” The chief, Savvy spoke, gaining the angry cooks attention. “I believe you meant to add in the powdered ginger for this dish, that is chili pepper.”

Confused, he looked at the bottle, seeing in fact is was chili pepper. He sighed, putting it down. “Great,now even my cooking is suffering.” He sighed. “Sorry, it’s just…”

“I know, your daughter marrying the prince. Every dad’s dream to see their filly become a princess but you didn’t see her become one.”

“It’s not just that… I didn’t even get to meet this Blue Blood, get to know him. Have him ask me for her hand like a proper stallion does. I know it was done because the princess spoke so, but still…”

“Hmm, you don’t say.” Cumin nearly fell over in surprise, Hopper appearing seemingly from nowhere. “So your anger towards the prince stems from never getting to give your daughter to him properly. Mind if I make a suggestion?”

“Uhh...Sure?”

“Treat all this like she moved in with him, which is true. Seed in the idea that, after some time has passed and you both have some more respect and knowledge of one another, convince him to go for a vow renewal. This way, their love will be stronger, you can give her away as you wanted, and this can all be done properly. I’ve heard them admit they want this to work, so likely they will be treating this first year like a dating scene of sorts.”

Cumin’s eyes lit up. “By Celestia’s flapjack pan you’re right! Oh...and I already made a bad first impression on him…”

“So, you’re Saffron, er, Princess Saffron’s father. Nopony would hold it against you. You’re just overprotective.”

“I guess…”

“Look, the guests will be here in a little while. Go clean up, put on your best tux, and if that’s not your style, then stay in this kitchen and give Savvy here a run for her job.”

“You better not.” Savvy added in. “I quit my old job for this one.”

Blue Spice saw things differently from his family. Maybe see is the wrong word. He said things differently. Everytime he tried to speak, his lips never moved, but he swears he is hearing himself talk, and not that internal speaking either. ”Wonder why papa appeared all of a sudden. I know it had something to do with the princess and mama finally finding him.” He said, lips unmoved and voice heard in his ears. His alone.

Blue Spice was in his new room. He had his own bed, closet filled with clothes and toys, all new. Even a TV. Hils old home didn’t have one in it at all, just an old radio he liked listening too whenever something nice came on.

He sniffed his sheets, finding them smelled of Berries. ”Weird.” He ‘said’

”Oh damn it, forgot the feather duster!” A voice he heard rang from outside his room. He knew it already. It was the maid mare, at least, that’s what hs mana called her. Her name was Addie, a twin, zebra, single, desperate.

Blue knew all these cause it was things she was ‘saying’ though, like him, without moving his lips. He had no idea what ‘Damn it’ meant, so, he shrugged it off. Blue then trotted up to his newfound desk. It was a tad taller than him. Inside it’s lowest drawer however was a prize indeed. A thirty two pack of crayons! And coloring paper! Smiling, Spice took the box, then the paper, and proceed to draw on the floor. He drew simple things. Trees, houses, things of that nature.

Blue Spice often wondered why nobody would hear him, but he always heard them. Well, so long as they were within about ten of his legs length away. He counted. ”Maybe I’m just not talking loud enough?” He thought, dropping the subject for a later date.

Dr. House always worked. Even at his home he worked. Studying Blue Spices mana x-rays and MRI’s.

“The structure work here is extremely complex.” He muttered to himself. While examining the MRI he noticed a new smaller mana pathway. This one seemed to connect both to his horn and vocal cord pathways. “Hmm.” He thought, pulling out a textbook from the many on his bookshelf

“Mana pathway anomalies: Unicorn edition.” He read aloud the title to himself, flipping through the pages. He only liked very interesting cases. This was proving to be very, very interesting. Each page held detailed diagnosis of abnormalities within a unicorns mana paths. From thin pathways to the horn to extra pathways along the body. “No...no...no...no...no...n-wait.” He stopped.

The page before him held a diagram of a unicorn having a mana pathway connecting their ears and horn. The page read,

This particular pathway abnormality seems to result in an interesting higher sense of what gypsies often refer to a third eye. In all cases, when patients with this abnormality were young, they often heard what others around them ARE THINKING. While a good eighty percent seems to have grown out of this overtime, the remaining twenty percent still kept this ability. Of this twenty percent, nine out of ten of them had this pathway closed off or rerouted, as when in large crowds they often heard the thoughts of all around them, resulting in terrible migraine, panic attacks and high risk mana surges.

“... Oh fuck.”