Rise and Shine

by Skijarama

First published 12th of December, 2020

During a blizzard in the middle of summer, a mysterious mare gives away her two daughters, Celestia and Luna, to an unsuspecting earth pony family. All she leaves them with are three words... 'Rise and shine.'

Celestia didn't want very much. She was happy to spend her youth learning how to farm with her adoptive father. She was happy learning how to cook from her adoptive mother. She was happy to play hide and seek with her little sister Luna, and stare at the stars with her on those warm summer nights. But when the world began to freeze with unnatural snow and ice, and the pony tribes began to go for each other's throats, Celestia's world is undone, and all she wants is to protect her little sister, no matter what.

But between ravenous snow spirits, superstitious ponies, and the machinations of those who would use them for their own ends, Celestia will struggle at every corner. Matters only become that much harder when her little sister begins to hear a voice in her dreams, calling her across the frozen wilderness with the only words Celestia remembers her true mother saying.

"Rise and shine."

---

A special thank you goes out to my editor, Chromio.

It is best to read this story with Night Mode turned on.

Chapter and cover art were all made by me.

Prologue

Snow. A thin sheet of the white, fluffy substance decorated the city of Canterlot, illuminated by the first light of the morning sun. It was high winter, and Hearths Warming was only a few weeks away. Some ponies had already set about putting up their decorations for the celebration of Equestria’s founding, lending bright, jovial colors and lights to the city. Twilight looked down on it all from her place on her bedroom’s balcony. A chilly breeze kept her long, magically flowing mane from getting into her eyes.

She had done well by this city, or so the inhabitants kept telling her. In the four decades or so since she had assumed the role of Equestria’s leading monarch, she had applied the entirety of herself to improving Equestria. Though the nation was a picturesque utopia when looking in from the outside, there had long been many festering issues beneath the surface. Selfish ponies in positions of power, corruption, and threads of superstition and bigotry that had poisoned the waters for a very, very long time.

She had done all in her power to end such problems, and if the assurances of her aging friends were anything to go by, she had done well. She could even see it from here. Down in one of the plazas, her eye noticed a large group of children playing together in the snow, laughing and giggling as they hurled white balls at one another.

Not just pony foals, either. She saw a changeling nymph, a griffon, and a few yaks mixed in with the group as well. Naturally, being the stern, sturdy sort they were, the yaks were winning the childish snowball fight with ease. Or, at the very least, their thick fur made it so that they weren’t losing.

A visual symbol of her progress, if ever there was one…

Yet, she could not bring herself to smile. Twilight heaved a heavy sigh and tore her eyes away from the joyous scene. She stepped back into her room and closed shut the balcony door behind her, silencing the gentle whistling of the cold winter wind. She took a deep breath and cast her tired eyes across her living space.

Against the wall to her right was a large and ornate four-poster bed, complete with a purple canopy and curtains to block out the world. A blazing hearth was set into the left wall, the flames from within casting a soothing warmth and light across the room. A semicircle of cushions arranged in front of it for sitting space. In the corner beyond the hearth was an ornate round table with a tea set on top. Various other miscellaneous decorations were scattered about the room to lend some color and life to the room. To make it her own.

She had spent many years in these chambers, feeling comfortable and safe within them all the time. Yet she could not feel that way about the room now. A hollowness had replaced the warmth in her heart, a dread that she felt powerless to shake. And she had tried. Heavens know she had tried her hardest. But it just kept following her.

Twilight turned to the door that led from her chambers, her ears drooping. “Come on,” she whispered anxiously, shifting on her hooves. “Where are you…?”

No answer came. Twilight watched the door until her neck went stiff, and even then she didn’t turn away. The door gave her something to focus on. Something to pay attention to. A distraction from the pearl of anxiety worming its way into the back of her mind…

Finally, after what felt like forever, there was a knock. Twilight almost jumped out of her skin from the sudden disruption in the silence. She subconsciously made a pass over herself with her magic to ensure she was presentable before clearing her throat. “Come in!”

The door clicked open, revealing Spike on the other side. The dragon was quite tall now and had to bend down somewhat to effectively enter the room. Twilight beamed with relief upon seeing him, her eyes darting to look past him for a moment. “Spike! There you are. I take it this means she’s here?”

Spike nodded. “Yup. Shall I send her in?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied, quickly straightening her posture and putting on a welcoming smile. Spike dutifully stepped aside and beckoned for the visitor to enter. Twilight’s breath almost hitched in her throat when they passed through the threshold of the room.

Former Princess Celestia, looking just as divine and radiant as ever, emerged with the warm, mothering smile she had always held on her muzzle. Not even the surprisingly plain tan winter coat she was wearing did anything to subtract from her pristine image.

“Celestia,” Twilight greeted, relaxing at the sight of her old mentor. The older alicorn’s warm smile managed to melt the ice that had been clinging to Twilight’s heart… at least in part.

Celestia smiled and closed the distance, wrapping Twilight up in a warm, loving embrace. “Twilight Sparkle. Oh, it is good to see you again,” she said, offering Twilight an affectionate nuzzle.

Twilight returned the gesture with a content hum, a little more of the ice retreating. “You too, Celestia. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

Celestia drew back from the embrace with a tender nod. “You are very welcome, though I must admit, I am somewhat perplexed. It has been many years since you have called upon me for advice in your duties, especially with such a sense of urgency. Has something come up?”

Twilight flinched, and just like that, the ice over her heart reformed, encasing her joy in a prison of cold. She shuddered at the idea before glancing back at Spike with a barely noticeable nod. He took the silent cue without a word, shutting the door and leaving the two alicorns in privacy. Once Spike’s footfalls faded away, Twilight slumped in place, allowing the weight on her shoulders to become visible.

“...Yes. Something’s come up… I’m sorry I didn’t specify what in the letter, but it’s… personal. And sensitive. I didn’t want to risk anypony finding out about it too early,” she admitted. Twilight nodded at the hearth and went to take her seat by the flames.

Celestia’s smile became concerned. She followed after Twilight and took the seat beside her. “Twilight? What has happened?”

Twilight took a deep breath and ran a hoof over her face, trying to keep the trembling in her core from reaching her face. She was mostly successful, the only hint of the turmoil she felt inside that she showed being a slight stutter when she began to speak. “C-Celestia… Two weeks ago, my… my… M-my mother p-passed away…”

Celestia’s eyes slowly widened, her jaw falling open in realization. A moment passed before she closed her jaw and draped a wing over Twilight’s back. “Oh, Twilight… I am so sorry for your loss,” she said in a low, soothing whisper.

Twilight leaned into the embrace, but the trembling in her voice did not go away. If anything, it was growing worse. “She passed away in her sleep. She’d been fighting it for a while, but all of the strain she put on her body when she was younger and seeking all those thrills finally caught up to her… Dad’s still going strong, though. But… That’s not why I called you here.”

Celestia blinked, confusion written on her face. “It’s not? Then… forgive me, but, what is?”

Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, trying to think of how blessed to express the fear she now felt. A few seconds passed before her horn lit up. Across the room, the end table by her bedside glowed, one of the drawers opening to allow a small, hoof-held mirror to drift out. It came to a rest in front of the two alicorns, allowing Twilight to see their reflections in both. “...Look at us, Celestia,” she said solemnly. “Really look. My mom just died of old age, my dad’s probably only got another decade in him, and my friends have been showing their age for a while, now… But us?”

She turned to face Celestia. She saw the slowly dawning comprehension in her violet eyes, and she took that as her cue to press on, finding the strength to cut to the chase and speak plain. “We’re alicorns. You’re over a thousand years old, but you still look as young as ever, even with how tall you are. And… A-and I know that it’s g-going to be the same for m-me…”

“I see,” Celestia whispered. She gave Twilight a reassuring squeeze with her wing. “You fear watching your friends die around you, don’t you…?”

Twilight nodded. “I do. I know it’s going to happen, and I know it would be selfish of me to try and change that. I made peace with the fact I’m going to live for a very, very long time a long time ago. I thought I’d made peace with the fact that they won’t. But then, when I got word about mom, I… It… it h-hit me just h-how wrong I was. I’m not r-ready for that… But I n-need to be…”

Twilight blinked, realizing now that tears were starting to show in her eyes. She sniffled and wiped a hoof over her face to dispel them, struggling to reign in her emotions. She had to be strong right now.

“I understand, Twilight. Truly, I do,” Celestia whispered, giving her another, far more intimate nuzzle. “I felt the same way when my loved ones began to pass around me. As did Luna.”

Twilight took in a deep, shuddering breath. She leaned back and met Celestia’s gaze. “T-that’s why I called you here,” she whispered, her voice weak and pleading. “I want to know… I want your advice. How do I cope with it? H-how can I manage the grief? How do I make it hurt less?”

Celestia closed her eyes, a thoughtful frown marring her features. She hummed quietly as she considered the question, but all the while she continued to give Twilight reassuring squeezes with her wing. Twilight waited, her ears facing forward and her heart beating intensely. Eventually, Celestia opened her eyes, an apology shining deep within them. “I’m sorry, Twilight, truly I am. But it never becomes less painful when somepony you love passes on from the world… It simply becomes easier to bear the weight of that loss.”

Twilight swallowed heavily. It felt as if an anvil had just been dropped on her hopes for this entire visit. In all the years Twilight had known Celestia, she had only ever seen her show genuine grief or sadness a small hooffull of times. At all other times, she was a beacon of calm and stability, of serenity even when all the world was plunged into the depths of chaos.

She looked down, her eyes glazing over. “I… I see,” she choked out.

Celestia gave her another squeeze. “That being said, it is imperative that you learn how to manage your grief effectively. While it never gets less painful, the pain might not last as long if you can look after yourself in a healthy manner.”

“I know,” Twilight admitted, a tiny smile appearing on her face. “Spike brought me a small stack of books on the subject a few days ago. I just… haven’t gotten around to reading them yet… I wanted to talk to you about it, first.”

Celestia couldn’t help but smile slightly at that. “I am glad to hear you place such faith in me. Unfortunately, on this matter, any advice I can give you will be vague at best. Everypony is different, Twilight, and so everypony must carry the pain in their own way. For now, though, what I would encourage you to do is to weep as much as you need for your mother, and when you are ready, ensure the time you do have with those who remain is spent well, so that when it is their turn to pass on, you can smile at the memories you forged, instead of grieving over missed opportunities.”

Twilight smiled softly at that. She took a few more deep breaths, finally managing to take her anxieties and quell them for the moment. A calm silence fell over the room, then, punctuated by the crackling and spitting of the fireplace. The light of the sun outside grew slowly brighter as it climbed higher into the sky, and Twilight allowed her mind to wander with the warmth.

Celestia was right. She would have to make up for any time she had missed with her friends. She’d have to spend more time with her father, too. Night Light had plenty of life left in him at this point, despite his age, but that didn’t give Twilight the excuse to dawdle on the matter. She was an alicorn. He was not. She had ceased aging years ago, but she could only imagine that every morning, he discovered a new wrinkle where there had not been one the previous night.

Twilight’s thoughts then drifted to her mother. A sad smile crept across her lips as she remembered that mare’s endless energy. How she would throw herself face-first at most problems. How she had no qualms whatsoever with relentlessly teasing her entire family to the point of intense blushing. How she had lived her life with a fiery passion that rivaled the sun itself.

Twilight blinked. The sun itself… her eyes slowly turned back to Celestia, who was now gazing intently into the fireplace with a distant look in her eyes. A few moments passed as a realization came to Twilight’s mind, one she couldn’t help but vocalize.

“You know, Celestia… I don’t think I know anything about your parents,” she said quietly.

Celestia closed her eyes with a whimsical smile. “You would not be alone on that front… for I know very little of my parents myself.”

Twilight blinked, surprised. “You don’t?”

Celestia shook her head. “I don’t. And neither does Luna. My earliest memory is of my birth mother giving me away to an earth pony couple, far away from the movements of civilization. I was just barely three years old at the time, and Luna was little more than an infant...”

“Oh my gosh,” Twilight breathed, leaning back. “I’m sorry. I had no idea…”

“She had her reasons,” Celestia said a moment later. “Though I confess that they remain… vague, at best, to me, even all these years later.”

Twilight frowned at Celestia. There was a story behind those words, she could feel it. And it had been so very long since Celestia had told her one, and she dearly wanted comfort and company right now…

Celestia glanced down at Twilight, a knowing look in her eyes. “Would you like me to tell you what happened, Twilight?” she asked, predicting the question before it could be asked.

Twilight smiled and slowly lowered herself to her belly. “If you are willing to tell me, I would love to.”

Celestia hummed and settled down beside Twilight, allowing their shared warmth to chase away the cold of winter. “Well, then, Twilight Sparkle… once upon a time, before Equestria was founded, there lived two farmers from the earth pony tribe who lived alone together in the woods. Their names were Honeydrop and Sprout. They were happy together. Then, one day, somepony came to their door bearing two foals...”

I - The Mare in The Storm

“What are those pegasi thinking…?” Sprout wondered, his emerald green eyes glaring up at the sky through the window. Dark clouds had rolled in over his forested home several days ago. The clouds had brought with them an unsettling gloom and unnatural chill that deeply contrasted with the usual warmth of summer. They had rolled in quickly, far faster than Sprout would have expected from natural weather patterns and, after that, they had stuck around. It’d been several days since Sprout had last seen unobstructed sunlight. No natural weather pattern would last this long in this environment, and that left only one conclusion: for one reason or another, the pegasi had elected to roll them in on purpose.

A hoof gingerly landed on his shoulder, quickly soothing his anxieties. He turned back to see the warm, golden eyes of Honeydrop staring back at him, giving him an encouraging smile. “It’ll be fine, Sprout,” she told him, her soft voice soothing his nerves like honey soothes the throat. “You’re worrying too much. Like always.”

Sprout sighed, leaning into his wife’s touch a little. “Sorry, hon. I just can’t help it. If this cold lasts for much longer, our crops are likely to die. And then where will that leave us when the snow rolls in?”

“We’ll be fine,” Honey assured him, leaning into his side. “Your crops will be fine. The soil’s good and your crops are always strong and hardy. You’ve always found a way to push through bad luck before, too. Just try to relax a little, alright?”

Sprout opened his mouth to protest, but his wife’s earnest smile cut him off. He just could not bring himself to disagree with those kind, gentle, compassionate eyes. No matter how often he thought she didn’t worry enough, he couldn’t bring himself to sully her peace of mind with his own paranoia. She was his sturdy rock in a world constantly enveloped in one storm or another, and that was why he had married her. Why they had left the bickering of the tribes to find an isolated home for themselves in the mountains.

Eventually, Sprout managed to relax all the way. “Okay, hon. You’re right, as usual,” he said with a smile slowly spreading on his lips.

Honey’s smile brightened, and she gave Sprout’s cheek a few gentle claps, earning a snort of amusement from him. “I know I am. Now come on over, food’s almost ready.”

With that, she turned and sauntered back for the blazing hearth at the far end of the room. Sprout watched her go, slowly taking in the rest of his house’s largest room.

It was a sturdy home, albeit one lacking in flair. A stone hearth built into the far wall from the front door had been lit. The roaring flames within cast a warm, flickering orange glow throughout the home, chasing away the cold. A large dining table was at the heart of the room, littered with the various dishes that would host tonight’s dinner. Shelves lined the walls, each one stuffed with a range of supplies, ranging from ingredients to herbs, and the small stone carvings that Sprout enjoyed making in his spare time.

Sprout watched Honeydrop make her way over to the counter beside the hearth, where their food was waiting to be served fresh from the oven. Sprout smiled and followed after his wife, his mouth already watering as he wondered just what she had in store for him. “So, what’d you see fit to make me tonight?” he asked.

Honey turned and smirked at him. “Well, sit down and I just might tell you.”

“What if I don’t wanna sit down?” Sprout asked, waggling his eyebrows. He came up to Honey’s side and leaned against her with an affectionate coo, drawing an amused chortle from her.

“I could make you sit down, you big oaf.”

“Oh, really?” Sprout grinned at her. “I’d like to see you try.”

Honey rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him back toward the table. “Oh, don’t go getting frisky with me, mister. It’s too early. Wait till we’ve eaten before you try anything.”

Sprout chuckled from the shove, making a show of looking deeply disappointed. A moment later he shook his head and went back to the table to take a seat. He allowed his mind to wander while Honey set to work putting the finishing touches on their dinner. The smell that began to fill the air made his mouth water. There were baked goods in there, he could tell, though he did not have the knowledge to pinpoint what type it was.

When Honey finally came back to the table, balancing a platter with two dishes on her back, Sprout got a look at their meal, and his watering mouth almost started to drool. Hearty salads with crispy cookies set to the side. A contradiction of healthy and junk food that made Sprout feel giddy like a foal.

His excitement did not go unnoticed by Honey. “Looks like somepony’s happy,” she quipped as she slid the first bowl in front of Sprout.

Sprout chuckled, respectfully waiting for her to be seated before he dug in. “What can I say? You cook a heck of a lot better than I do.”

“Trust me, big boy, I remember,” Honey snipped back, elbowing him in the ribs as she got comfortable. “Last time you tried to cook something for me, you darn near burned down the whole house.”

Sprout’s cheeks flushed at the reminder. She was never going to let him forget that little incident, was she? About a year or two back, he had truly noticed just how often she was the one managing things in the house while he worked outside in the fields. It was a balance that had worked well for them for the years they had lived up here, but when their third anniversary came around, he’d decided to try and do something special for her. He elected to handle all of the day’s chores while she just relaxed and looked on: her special day to sit back.

And it had gone well! Until he tried to cook. Sprout still didn’t quite understand how he had managed to burn juice of all things, but he managed it.

He was drawn from his thoughts by Honey’s hoof on his cheek, and he looked over to see her smiling affectionately at him. “Oh, quit your blushing,” she said in a soft coo. “You meant well, and that day was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Your heart was in the right place, and it meant a lot to me.”

Sprout managed to smile, intertwining his hoof with hers. “Heh… thanks, hon.”

Honeydrop nodded, then nodded down at her salad. “You’re welcome. Now eat up, or the cookies will get cold.”

“What about the salad?”

“What about the salad?”

The meal had been delightful. In spite of Honey’s playful dismissal of the salad, it had proven to be just as good as the cookies, albeit in different ways. Following their meal, the two had taken time to just enjoy the calm and the quiet in front of their fireplace. Sprout’s mind had wandered, but with his wife’s warmth there pressed against his side, it could only ever wander to good places.

In time, the sun finally descended beneath the horizon, and the world was enveloped in darkness. The cold began to creep in ever closer, and eventually, Sprout and honey decided to retire to their room for the night. It hadn’t taken long before the two passed out embraced in one another’s hooves.

Sprout didn’t know for sure how long they were out before a loud sound suddenly tore him from his slumber. His eyes snapped open, a sharp gasp escaping him from the disturbance. He sat upright, looking around with worried eyes and anxiety building in his heart.

“Did you hear that, too?” Honey asked, sitting up as well, placing one hoof on Sprout’s back.

He gave a slow, anxious nod. “Yeah… I sure did. What was it?” he wondered, slowly sliding out of bed. He shivered slightly as his hooves touched the wooden floorboards, feeling the sharp contrast between the warmth of his bed and the cool air of the room. He tried not to focus on that, though and instead listened.

Whatever had woken them, it had come suddenly, but as swiftly as it had come, it had faded away. The only sounds now were the anxious breathing of him and Honeydrop, and a wind howling outside, cold and haunting. Sprout frowned. That wind did not sound right. And why was it so cold in here? He turned to his room’s sole window, squinting briefly as the moon’s pale glow pierced his retina. It was just peeking out through a gap in the clouds, an ominous crescent that reminded him of a scythe.

His jaw fell open when he caught sight of something falling from the sky. White, fluffy, and falling quickly. He lifted a shaking hoof, realizing that he could see his own breath, and pointed. “Hon… look.”

Honeydrop tilted her head and looked out the window. She went rigid, one hoof reaching up to her mouth. “Oh, stars,” she choked out in alarm.

It was snowing. In the middle of summer. Sprout wandered forward, squinting through the glass. It was practically a blizzard, or at least it would be soon with how quickly the snow was coming down. His eyes widened as he looked down at his crops. They were completely exposed. Defenseless against this sudden onslaught from the elements.

“Ah, hay! The food!” he exclaimed, turning and bolting for the door. He heard Honey calling after him, but he did not dare to look back. He had to move quickly. If he didn’t cover his crops right away, they would not be likely to survive the night. It was as he was thundering down the steps that the noise that had roused him came again. A knocking on the front door of his home.

Sprout came to a stop at the base of the stairs, his eyes glued onto the front door. He had to squint to make out details in the dim light, but with the accumulating snow outside, the moonlight had plenty to bounce off of to light his way. He could just faintly make out a sound through the door from here. His heart went cold when he realized that it was the sound of a crying foal.

“Sprout?!” Honey called out from the stairs, prompting him to turn. She was quickly following after him, their blankets bundled around her in an effort to ward off the chill. “What’s going on?!”

“Stay there, Honey!” Sprout called back, holding up a hoof. “Just stay put!”

“But-”

“Please, just hang on! Lemme look! It might not be safe!” Sprout shot back. Honey opened her mouth to shoot back some protest or retort, but after a moment she closed her mouth and gave a slow, hesitant nod. Sprout relaxed somewhat before turning back to the door. The knocking came again, loud and frantic, and the wailing of the foal on the other side grew louder. He thought he could hear a hushed voice speaking, but he could not make out any details.

With a shaky breath, Sprout made his way to one of the shelves and acquired a lantern. He lit it up, casting a flickering orange glow into the darkness that fought to illuminate every inch. With the creaking of the rusty hinges accompanying him, Sprout marched across the room. He stretched his neck a few times as he went, running through scenario after scenario on how best to defend himself should this uninvited guest prove hostile. He had to wonder how anypony had even gotten up here in the first place. They were miles away from the nearest pony settlements, and they had told nopony where they were going.

It was possible, in his mind, that it was not, in fact, a pony. The ghostly howling of the wind that had been tearing through the forest since the clouds rolled in sent a chill down his spine. What if it was a spirit? The lost soul of some poor sap who died in the cold here come to seek revenge for their resting place being disturbed by Sprout and his wife moving in? What if it was some unknown monster seeking to devour him? The world was full of dangers both terrible and unknown, after all. It could have been anything. The crying could have just been a ploy to make him-

“Hello?!” A female voice suddenly called from the other side of the door, frantic. “Please, somepony open the door! I need help! My daughters, they’re freezing! Please!”

Sprout’s fears faded, albeit only somewhat. There was a chance that it was a ploy, but then there was a chance that some innocent pony had gotten caught out in the snow. If so, it would be on his head if he denied them the help they needed. He took a deep breath, set the lantern down, and opened the door.

Immediately, a blast of cold air hit him in the face, causing him to close his eyes and shiver uncontrollably. He struggled for a second to open his eyes, seeing a unicorn mare standing on the other side of the doorway. In her hoof, held tight up to her chest, was a bundle of cloth that the foal’s cries were coming from, while another such bundle, far larger, was on her back. She had sun-white fur and sky blue eyes, while locks of red hair hung down over her shoulder. She was draped in a dark cloak that had already begun to frost over from the cold.

Immediately, the mare surged forward, her eyes pleading and desperate. “Oh, thank goodness! Please, you have to help me!” she begged, practically shoving her way into the house.

Sprout held up a hoof to keep her back, his mind racing from the sudden developments. “What the- hey! Hang on a moment!” he said, holding the mare back with some effort. “Who are you?! What are you doing here?! How did you-”

“No time!” The mare cut him off, shivering. She looked down at the bundle in her hooves and grimaced. Then, without waiting for Sprout to even process what was happening, she took the bundle in her magic and shoved it into Sprout’s chest. “Please, look after them until I return for them! I have to go back, but it’s not safe for them!”

Sprout’s mind just about stopped working there. He only subconsciously reached up to clutch the squirming, crying bundle to his chest. “What?! Have you lost your mind?!” he demanded, sparing a glance at the bundle. There was a small opening through which he could just see the blue-furred face of a filly. She couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old. “You can’t just barge in here and demand that I look after your foals! And who are you, anyway?!”

“I said there’s no time!” the mare shot back, pointing at the snow. “Can’t you see what’s going on out there?! I have to fix it, but I can’t put my foals in danger! I know I’m asking a lot of you, but please, I am begging you!”

She reached out and placed both of her hooves on Sprout’s shoulders, staring deeply into his eyes. “Just watch them for me! I can’t let them die! I’ve screwed up too much as it is!”

Sprout’s eyes widened, and a whole new surge of questions came into his mind. “Wait, hold on! Are you saying you are responsible for the snow?!” he demanded, taking a step back.

The mare winced and looked away as if in shame. “I… I didn’t… we didn’t…” she shook her head a moment later. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I can stop it, but I can’t have my foals with me. Please…” she turned to him again, her eyes shimmering with fresh tears. “Just watch them until I come back. I promise I’ll return soon.”

“And how soon is soon?!” Sprout demanded, his nostrils flaring.

“I don’t know!” The mare replied. The filly in Sprout’s hoof began to wail louder in response to her shout, and the mare’s eyes widened. She looked down and quickly lowered her head, speaking in a soothing whisper. “I’m sorry, Luna. It’s okay, it’s okay. Shh, shh shh. It’s okay. You’re okay, now.”

Soon, the baby’s wails died back down, and the mare looked up at Sprout. She looked directly into his eyes, the sheer desperation in her own giving him pause. A moment passed before she placed one hoof against his chest. She was surprisingly warm. “Please… Just look after them for a little while. That’s all I ask. I wouldn’t be coming to total strangers if I had any other choice, but I don’t.”

Sprout gaped at her, struggling to find the words. This entire situation made absolutely no sense to him. Who was this mare? What did she have to do with the snow, or the dark clouds looming over his home?

Eventually, he looked down at the quietly whimpering filly against his chest. She was so small, so weak, and there were snow and ice clinging to the cloth that she was wrapped in. She was shivering horribly, and Sprout’s own heart began to melt a little at the sight. She had deep blue fur and the beginnings of a brighter blue mane. A tiny stub of a horn poked out from her head, identifying her as a unicorn.

He then looked back to the foal’s mother. She was shivering and looked like she was on her last threads of strength. If she went back out there into the blizzard, she wasn’t likely to survive. Sprout frowned. He couldn’t let that happen. If this mare was truly as desperate to protect her foals as she claimed, then she could be warm with them.

“Nuh-uh, you’re not leaving,” Sprout said simply, reaching out. “If your foals are staying here, so are you. Come in, I’ll get the fire going-”

“I can’t, there isn’t any time,” the mare cut him off with a shake of his head. She did smile, though, appreciating his attempt at kindness. “I have to go back. I have to fix this.”

“But look at you!” Sprout shot back, gesturing at her. “You’re about to fall over! At least warm up, first!”

The mare chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’m tougher than I look.”

“That’s not exactly an accomplishment right now.”

That managed to draw a snort of amusement from the mare. She then lit her horn with a golden aura and pried the larger bundle from her back. “I know… Believe me, I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I truly have no choice.”

Sprout growled quietly under his breath. He was getting sick of this mare’s cryptic nonsense! Why couldn’t she just spill out what was going on to him? He eyed the larger bundle as they floated it over, and caught sight of the foal within. Her fur was as white as the snow outside, not unlike that of her mother, while her mane was a lovely shade of pink. If Sprout had to put an age to her, he’d say three years old. Just like her mother and the other foal, she was a unicorn.

“This is Celestia,” The mare went on, passing the foal into Sprout’s chest as well. “Please take care of them both. I’ll be back soon, I swear it.”

Sprout eyed her critically. “...And if you aren’t?”

She hesitated, looking down at the ground. “...Then do with them as you see fit. Just don’t let them die, that’s all I ask.”

Sprout stared at her, a war waging within his mind. But, eventually, one side had to win out over the other, and in the end, it was his compassion for a pony in need that claimed victory. He gave a slow, reluctant nod. “Okay… alright, fine, we’ll watch them for you. Just don’t take long coming back for them, you hear?” he said, lightly accepting the second bundle. “My mare and I aren’t interested in taking care of some other pony’s kids for too long. We’re all the way out here for a reason.”

The mare smiled gratefully at him, nodding. “I understand. Thank you so much. I’ll be back as soon as I can, no matter what.”

With that, she turned to head back into the snow, not giving Sprout any time to respond or ask questions. However, it was not him that brought the mare to a stop. It was the larger bundle, Celestia, whose tiny voice called out from Sprout’s hooves.

“Mama…?”

The mare came to a stop, going completely rigid. She turned in place, her eyes landing on Celestia. Sprout looked down at her as well, seeing her brilliant magenta eyes staring drowsily at her mother. She squirmed slightly to get a better view. “Mama?”

The mare put on a weak smile before coming forward. She leaned in and offered Celestia an affectionate nuzzle. “Mommy has to go away for a little bit,” she whispered once she drew back. “But don’t worry. I’ll be back soon, and these nice ponies will take good care of you until then. Okay?”

Celestia blinked. One of her short, stubby hooves reached up to touch her mother’s nose. “Mama go way?” she asked shakily. “Mama stay.”

The mare shook her head. “No, sweetie. Mama has to go away. She has to go help daddy,” she whispered. Sprout frowned, now wondering who the father was. He wanted to ask, but the scene unfolding before him kept him from doing so.

The mare leaned in and gave Celestia a gentle kiss on the forehead. When she drew back, she smiled down at Luna and did the same thing. “You’ll be okay… my little sun and moon. I love you both. So, so much... Rise and shine…”

“Mama…!” Celestia weakly called after her as the mare then turned and sprinted back into the snow. It seemed she was trying to run away as quickly as possible before her heart could change her mind. He watched her go, and in mere moments, she disappeared completely into the snow.

A few seconds passed. Another gust of freezing wind cut through the room, and Sprout finally had the presence of mind to reach over with his teeth and pull the door closed. He spun on his hooves and could just see Honey staring at him with wide eyes from the base of the stairs, one hoof on her chest.

“Sprout?” she asked, her eyes slowly lowering to the foals in his grasp. “What… what happened? Are those…?”

Sprout hesitated, his brow furrowing. He then turned and made his way for the fireplace. “Come on, help me get the fire going,” he said, leaving no room for argument. “Let’s get these two warm… then we can figure out what we’re gonna do with ‘em.”

Honey frowned and walked over to him, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “Are those foals?! Her foals?! Sprout, why didn’t you call me down?!” she demanded. “This isn’t exactly the kind of decision you can just make on your own!”

“She didn’t exactly give me room or time to do that, Hon,” Sprout shot back, trying to keep himself as calm as possible. “But I wasn’t about to leave a couple of innocent foals to freeze to death on my front porch!”

Honey paused at that. She heaved a heavy sigh, and when she spoke again, her tone had calmed significantly. “I know… and I wouldn’t either. But still…”

“I’m sorry,” Sprout apologized. “Really, I am. But right now, fire. We need fire.”

Honey did not offer up any rebuke. With the howling of the wind outside, and the wailing of Luna and Celestia drilling into their minds, the couple set about getting a fire going in the fireplace to keep the two fillies that had been unceremoniously thrust into their hooves warm.

It took a while, but after the flames were going, Celestia and Luna eventually cried themselves to sleep. Sprout had done his best to ignore Celestia’s repeated cries for her mama and had focused instead on just keeping the foals warm. He had hoofed Luna off to Honey once the flames were going, so the smaller foal could benefit from the blankets she was still wrapped in.

When at last silence was restored to the home, Sprout looked down at the sleeping foal in his hooves. He felt his heart wither a little at the sight of the tear stains that now marked her cheeks. He gently reached up to wipe them away but thought better of it. She was so… small. Fragile. He worried that if he placed his hoof upon her the wrong way, he might break her.

“Oh, Honey…” he sighed a minute later, finally breaking the silence. “What have I gone and gotten us into?” he asked, looking over at his wife for guidance.

Honey sighed and shifted closer to him, sharing their body heat. “I don’t rightly know, Sprout… I don’t even know the first thing about taking care of foals this young, even for a short time.”

“Neither do I,” Sprout admitted, looking away. The two lapsed back into silence after that, and slowly, Sprout felt himself starting to fade into unconsciousness. He leaned into Honey’s side, closing his eyes. “But, well… Guess we can tackle it together, huh?”

Honey nodded, carefully adjusting the blanket until it wrapped around him and Celestia as well. “Mhmm… I just hope this mystery mare of ours comes back soon. I want some answers…” she looked down at Luna and managed to smile. “And I don’t wanna keep little things like this from their mama and papa for too long…”

“Yeah, same here,” Sprout agreed in a murmur. “Now, let’s get some sleep, yeah?”

“What, down here?”

“Gotta keep the foals warm,” Sprout replied, lifting his head. “Fire and body heat’ll help with that. And if they need something, we’ll know immediately. We’ll be right here.”

Honey pursed her lips, then nodded. “Fair enough… sleep tight, Sprout.”

“Yeah, you too,” he replied. He gave Honey a gentle kiss on the lips before drawing back and away from the warmth of the blankets. At Honey’s questioning stare, he nodded for the stairs. “I’m gonna go get our pillows and mattress if I can fit it down the steps. Mind moving some of the furniture so we have space?”

Honey nodded. Without another word, the two went into motion. Before long, space had been cleared in the heart of the room, and Sprout came back down with their mattress and pillows. Soon, they were nestled together before the warmth of the fireplace. There, Sprout and Honeydrop fell asleep, with Celestia and Luna held in their hooves for warmth, all of them quite unaware of the chain of events that had now been set in motion.

II - A Foal's Tears

Sprout awoke sweaty and uncomfortable the next morning. His body was stiff, and the air around him felt… off, somehow. Like he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. His brow furrowed as he felt the warmth of the sun upon his back, seeping into his blankets and warming his skin. He tried to ignore it, but the rising temperatures eventually drove him to open his eyes.

He frowned. He wasn’t in his room. His mattress had been brought down into the living room and placed in front of the hearth, inside which the last few smoldering embers of a midnight flame could be seen slowly dying out. Curious and confused, Sprout turned to look at one of the windows, trying to get a gauge for what was going on. His eyes widened when he saw partially-melted remains of an icicle hanging from the roof just outside the window, dripping with fresh water.

All at once, Sprout’s mind was assaulted as the memory of the previous night came rushing back to him. The summer snow that had come out of nowhere, the ominous clouds that had preceded it, and the mysterious mare who had emerged from the blizzard with the two foals in her possession… The two foals that he had agreed, however reluctantly, to watch until her return.

Sprout sat upright, causing the blanket draped over him to slide down his body, revealing the mare and two infants he shared the bed with. Honey was starting to awaken now as well, her eyes slowly fluttering open. The dark rings under them betrayed a poor night of rest, while the two foals were still sleeping soundly.

“Sprout…?” she asked once she, too, was upright. She stretched and let out a quiet yawn before looking up at her husband. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Sprout replied, being sure to keep his voice down. He didn’t want to wake their new guests, after all. “Sleep well?”

“About as well as could be expected,” Honey said, rotating her head. A few satisfactory pops came from her neck, eliciting a pleased groan from her. She slowly rose, taking the time to stretch on the way. Once she was up, she looked down at the fillies, and her brow furrowed. A few seconds passed before she looked up at Sprout. She didn’t say anything, but the intent in her look was obvious.

What do we do now?

Sprout looked down at the foals as well, his brow furrowing and lips drawing into a thin line. He had only agreed to look after the foals for that mare out of necessity, and perhaps because his judgment had been somewhat impaired by his frayed nerves and the sudden snowstorm. He hadn’t given the matter much thought beyond what was happening in the moment. He hadn’t been given any chance to.

Now, though, he had time; time to figure out what to do with the foals, time to talk it over with his wife, and time to make sure they saw it through. But first thing was first. Sprout turned and made his way for the door at a brisk pace. “I’m going to go check the crops, make sure everything survived the night. Honey, you mind whipping up some food? I’m sure the foals are gonna be screaming up a storm when they wake up.”

“Alright. Be careful out there, Sprout,” she called after him.

Sprout gave her a reassuring smile before opening the door and slipping outside. At once, he was met with a very welcome change from the previous night. Instead of a freezing wall of icy wind, he was instead met with the expected ocean of warmth and light that was befitting of summer. Most of the snow had already melted away, leaving the earth damp enough to reflect the morning sunlight. Those icicles that remained attached to the rims of his roof were also melting away, unable to survive under the heat of summer.

The smothering cold that had enveloped the world for the last few days had seemingly been lifted overnight. Even the natural sounds of the forest had returned, with distant birds and animals calling out to one another. Sprout smiled. It sounded as if they were just as relieved as he was that the cold had passed.

“Huh… well I’ll be. Whatever that crazy mare did, I guess it worked,” he mused to himself with a relieved smile. He remembered how she had implied with her words that she and her husband had somehow been responsible for the ice. If it was gone now, then it stood to reason that she had been successful in doing whatever it was she had set out to do. Now all that remained was for them to wait for her to come back and pick up her foals.

Maybe then they would get some tangible answers.

Sprout spent the next fifteen minutes or so going over his various crops, making sure all was well. To his relief, they appeared to have weathered the storm fairly well. A few growths had taken it worse than others, and only a couple had been outright lost. All in all, it could have been far, far worse. Satisfied, Sprout took some time to make a few mental measurements of his plots, already formulating ideas on how to combat such weather in the future. If something like that ever happened again, he’d need to be prepared. Maybe he could make a whole new building that was there purely to house and protect his crops? If he could find a way to make that work, he could grow them year-round…

Eventually, Sprout reminded himself that there were two unknown fillies in his home that required his attention. Satisfied for the time being, he made his way back inside to find Honey at the cauldron, stirring up something inside. Judging by the smell, he assumed it was porridge.

Honey turned to him and smiled. “Well? How are things outside?”

“All in all? Not half bad,” Sprout said. He shut the door behind him and approached the mattress, his eyes lingering on the fillies. “Snow’s melted, and the ice is going away, too. Only lost a few potatoes in all of that.”

Honey visibly relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness…” she breathed.

Sprout nodded at her. He sat down by the bedside, refocusing on the foals. They were still asleep, but by the look on Celestia’s face, they would be stirring any moment. Sprout watched them for a few moments, his mind wandering. He allowed his many questions about these foals and their mother to repeat in his thoughts, giving each one momentary consideration before moving on.

Soon, Honey sat down beside him. “Any sign of the mother?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

Sprout shook his head. “Nah… none yet,” he replied, frowning. “But the snow’s gone, so I think she did whatever it was she was trying to do. Just a waiting game, now…”

“Right…” Honey nodded. She gave a quiet hum before leaning down to get a closer look at Celestia. She just stared for a while, a tiny smile appearing on her face. “Well, if nothing else, the mare’s got beautiful foals…”

Sprout chuckled, placing a hoof on his wife’s back. “Hey, now, no falling in love, you hear?” he lightly chastised her.

She turned and swatted his hoof away. “Oh, you hush. I’m allowed to find another pony’s foals cute, aren’t I?” she asked with a roll of her eyes.

Sprout opened his mouth to offer up some witty retort, but the rustling of blankets drew his attention. Celestia was stirring, her big, round eyes opening up. She looked around, her mouth open in a little ‘o’ of curiosity and confusion. Her eyes eventually settled on Sprout and Honeydrop, and she withdrew into herself with a shy squeak.

Honey smiled. “Hey, there. Good morning, little filly,” she said in a gentle, reassuring whisper. “It’s alright. We aren’t going to hurt you.”

Celestia stared at Honey for several seconds. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and if Sprout didn’t know any better, he would say that the foal was on the verge of panicking. He put on a gentle smile to try and ease her concerns, even if his own mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour, searching frantically for a solution. Eventually, he lowered himself down until he was almost on his belly by Honey’s side and reached a hoof out. “My name’s Sprout. This is my wife, Honeydrop.”

The introduction did a little to earn Celestia’s trust. She slowly poked her head forward and looked toward the door. She stared for a long few seconds, each one feeling like an eternity, before she spoke. “Where… Mama?”

Sprout’s smile faded for a moment. That was the big question, wasn’t it? He was quick to compose himself and give the best answer he could. “Your mama’s taking care of your daddy, remember?” he asked.

Celestia turned to him. “Where dada?”

Sprout hesitated. He glanced down at Honey, who in turn sat back on her haunches and shared a look with him. Neither of them had ever dealt with foals for very long, especially not this young and without their actual parents nearby. It felt almost as if they were marching on eggshells. One misstep and it could all fall apart, and that was not something Sprout wanted on their minds right now.

Eventually, Honey found an answer. She smiled sweetly at Celestia. “He’s with your mommy.”

Celestia blinked a couple of times. She then began to squirm, grunting and fidgeting with the blankets she had been tightly wrapped up in. Honey and Sprout shared a look, wondering if they should help, before Celestia managed to wiggle free on her own.

The breath left Sprout’s lungs as two, tiny pegasus wings stretched out from Celestia’s back. His mind reeled with confusion, his eyes darting between her horn and her wings in abject disbelief. Celestia, however, did not seem to mind his stares and instead turned to look at her sleeping little sister.

Sprout and Honey shared a glance. Honey swallowed heavily and leaned forward to whisper. “Sprout? What do you call a pony with wings and a horn?” she asked quietly.

“Er, I don’t know,” Sprout replied, racking his brain. He had never heard of something like this before. Everypony knew that there were only three pony races; the earth ponies, the unicorns, and the pegasi. He had heard rumors of other subraces before, like bat ponies, crystal ponies, or unicorns with curved horns, but he had never laid eyes on one, and never once had he heard of a pony with wings and a horn. It was utterly inconceivable to him.

Honey stared down at Celestia and Luna, set her jaw, and nodded. “Well… Guess we can ask their mother when she comes back,” she decided.

Sprout agreed, leaning against her side.

“Yeah, after what happened last night, she owes us some answers…”

And so they waited. And waited… and waited. Honey and Sprout did their best to take care of Celestia and Luna that day, using what little knowledge of foal care they had between them to meet the fillies’ needs. When Luna awoke, it was in tears, crying out to the heavens as foals are wont to do. It took far longer than either Sprout or Honey would be comfortable to admit to get her to calm down.

Hours passed. When Celestia wasn’t resting by Luna’s side, she was trying to get a look out through one of the windows to watch for her mother. Such was the case near the end of the day, as the sun gradually began its descent toward the horizon. Sprout had taken his leave of the inside for the time being to take some measurements. Apparently, he had plans to build some protective coverings for his crops. Maybe, he had speculated, such constructs would even allow him to grow food during the winter.

Honey sure hoped so. After the scare they had gone through with the snow last night, she wasn’t in any hurry to potentially lose out on their main source of food if another cold wave came their way. But she did her best to push such troubles and worries from her mind. She kept her gaze on Celestia. She could see the setting sun reflected in the filly’s eyes and shining on her face, giving her an almost divine radiance, despite her small size.

Honey had taken one of the end tables and put it by the window for the moment so that Celestia could look outside from up close. In Honey’s lap, Luna was curled up in her bundle and sound asleep.

Celestia shifted in place, her ears drooping. “...When mama coming?” she finally asked, sitting down on her haunches.

Honey sighed, her heart withering at the sad look in the foal’s eyes. No filly should have to be isolated from their family like this, but what could be done for now but wait? Still, she did not let those concerns show, and put on a warm smile. “I don’t know, Celestia. Soon, I imagine. You’ll probably be home in a few days, at the most.”

Celestia didn’t reply. She kept staring out the window. She jumped slightly, leaning back with a squeak when Sprout passed by the glass, his heavy hoofsteps thunking on the porch. Celestia watched the window tensely for a few seconds before Sprout’s steps faded into silence. Celestia blinked a few times, then turned to Honey. “What he doing?”

Honey looked out the window and smiled. “He’s working. Sprout handles all of the hard work outside. Planting food, building things, gathering water, that sort of thing.”

“Oh…” Celestia replied. Her wings twitched at her sides, and she squinted out into the day. Her little cheeks puffed up with concentration, and she eventually asked a question. “Where’s his horn?”

Honey blinked. “Huh? Oh, uh, he and I are earth ponies. We don’t have wings or horns. We make up for that by being really strong.”

“Strong?” Celestia turned to Honey.

Honey nodded. “Oh, yes. He likes to haul all of the wood for his building projects back by himself. Why, one time, he dragged a whole tree trunk all the way back from the stream.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in wonder at the idea, and Honey couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. It was like the filly’s whole world had been blown out of the water in one fell swoop. She turned back to the window to watch Sprout with renewed interest, even as the sun set below the horizon.

Celestia and Luna’s mother did not return that night. Or the night after. Celestia continued to watch for her whenever Luna was being cared for by Honey or Sprout, though her attention was often dragged away when she saw Sprout working. He was not oblivious to this fact, and sometimes gave her friendly smiles and waves. She would usually give him a timid smile in response and wave in return.

She was still quiet, but after a few days with them, Celestia was gradually starting to open up. A fact that was exemplified on the morning of the fourth day as Sprout got ready to head out. He had taken care of what few rudimentary tasks he had to do inside, and with Luna being taken care of by Honey, it was time for him to head out.

As he grabbed hold of the door’s handle, though, there was an unwelcome tug on his tail. He let out a yelp and turned to look, tearing his tail out of the grasp of whatever had dared to clamp down on it. To his surprise, Celestia was there, looking up at him with wide, curious eyes.

Sprout quickly eased the indignation on his face. “Heh. Ya know, you’re not supposed to bite other pony’s tails, Celestia,” he said with a weak chuckle. “It’s rude, and it hurts.”

Celestia’s ears drooped. “Oh… sorry.”

Sprout frowned, feeling just a touch guilty. He was quick to shake it off and smile down at her. “There something you need? I was about to go and do my work outside.”

Celestia looked up at him, then looked at the door behind him. “Can I go outside?” she asked hopefully, leaning to the side a little.

Sprout raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Outside? What, to play?” he asked curiously, glancing up at Honey, who was seated by the fireplace with Luna asleep in her lap.

Celestia nodded. “Uh-huh.”

Sprout frowned, rubbing at his shoulder. “Er… well, I mean… I’d love to allow that, but I’m gonna be busy, and my wife’s looking after your sister right now, so…” he muttered, hoping that Honey would hear him. To his relief, she did, and turned to look at him.

“I could keep an eye on her,” she suggested. She nudged Luna onto her back and stood to approach the door, a warm smile on her face. “I think the two could use some fresh air anyway. They’ve been cooped up inside since they got here.”

Sprout relaxed somewhat at that. He looked down at Celestia. “Alright. As long as you stay close and don’t go anywhere Honey can’t see you, I guess it’s okay.”

Celestia smiled up at him, the warmest and most earnest smile he had seen from her yet.

He lifted a hoof to slow her down a bit. “Okay, couple rules, first.”

Celestia’s frown faded, and she lowered herself to her haunches. “Rules?” she echoed in dismay.

Sprout couldn’t help but snort. He got the feeling this kid didn’t much care for that word. He nodded, though, being sure to keep his voice firm but not unkind. “Yes. Rule one, you stay where we can see you. Always. That means no hiding, no wandering out of the clearing, no jumping into bushes, no chasing bugs, nothing like that. If we can’t see you, you’re doing something wrong.”

Celestia pouted, but nodded in understanding.

Sprout lowered his hoof. “Rule two. Please don’t bother me when I’m working, and don’t step on my plants. I need them to stay healthy to feed my wife and I, and they might get broken if you step on them, so stay out of my crops. Can you do that for me?”

Celestia nodded again.

Sprout glanced up at Honey. “Alright, then. Let’s go,” he said, earning a nod from her. With that, he opened the door with a soft click.

In a heartbeat, Celestia bounded out of the house, her wide eyes sweeping across the open yard before the isolated forest home. Sprout took the chance to refamiliarize himself with the layout himself. A simple network of dirt paths had been worn into the grass in the clearing, linking together the various “posts” where he did his work. A stump for the chopping of wood and a storehouse for his tools. It was surrounded on all sides by rich, reddish-brown soil, verdant grass, and tall evergreen trees that filled the air with the powerful scent of pine.

Celestia giggled at the view, and bounded off the porch to start exploring. Sprout watched her go, then looked back at Honey with a smirk. “Well, I think she likes the place,” he said in amusement.

Honey smiled and sat down with her back to the wall, keeping Luna close to her chest. “So she does. You’ll help me watch her, right?” she asked once she was comfortable.

Sprout nodded as he stepped down from the porch. “As well as I can, sure,” he called over his shoulder before turning to head for his crops. All the while, as he worked that morning, he could hear the high-pitched voice of Celestia giggling merrily to herself as she raced around the outside of his home, becoming familiar with the space. It was a light, easy sound that pulled at his heart and drew a smile to his lips.

Two weeks had come and gone since Celestia and Luna’s arrival. As per usual, as the sun was setting, Celestia was on her end-table by the window, staring out into the yard for any sign of her mom. Sprout watched her from his place at the dinner table, a solemn frown adorning his muzzle. She had been spending more and more time there each evening, sometimes having to be physically pulled away from the window when it was time for dinner. She put on an impressively brave face for a filly so young, but it was clear she was growing more and more confused and desperate.

And Sprout would be lying if he said he didn’t share her concerns. Their mother had yet to make her return. There hadn’t been even a clue, or a hint as to her whereabouts. He was starting to get worried. In the back of his mind, troublesome concerns made themselves known. Uneasy questions he did not want the answers to.

“...Something wrong, Sprout?” Honey asked from behind him, making him jump. Sprout turned to see her coming over from the counter, where that night’s dinner was partially prepared.

He smiled and shook his head. “No, no, nothing. Just a little worried for Celestia, that’s all.”

Honey glanced past him and frowned. “Yeah… and her mom still isn’t back yet…”

Sprout frowned, looking down at the wooden grains of the table. His lips drew into a thin line as he tried to think of how best to phrase the largest concern in his mind. After a moment, he looked up at his wife. He leaned forward to speak in a near-silent whisper. “You don’t think she just… abandoned them with us, do ya?”

Honey’s frown grew stern, and she gave a sharp shake of her head. “No, I do not, and I don’t want you thinking like that, either.”

Sprout flinched back from the force in her voice. He looked down and to one side, unable to meet her gaze as he spoke again. “Sorry, but I can’t help but think that, maybe, she just didn’t want her foals, and pawned them off on the first ponies she found…”

“The big problem with that, Sprout, is that Celestia is three,” Honey countered, placing a hoof to his shoulder. She met his gaze again, having to crane her head down to do so. “Why would she take care of her daughter for that long only to then decide she didn’t want her? If she was gonna get rid of her foals, she would have done so a lot earlier, and you can bet she wouldn’t have let herself have a second.”

Sprout opened his mouth to offer up some retort or counter, but the sound of movement from the window caught his attention. He turned to look to see that Celestia had stood upright, her eyes wide and a hopeful grin on her face. She hopped up and down a few times, her wings buzzing eagerly on her back. “Something coming!” she stated emphatically, pressing her hooves up to the glass. “Mama!?”

“Oh, speak of the devil,” Sprout thought, quickly rising to his hooves. His heart was beating faster, both out of relief that he was about to be proven wrong, and out of his eager desire for some answers. Celestia hadn’t been able to give him any yet, seeing as she was just as lost about what was going on as he was.

He came up to the door and threw it open. His hopeful smile faded away when he saw no sign of Celestia’s mother. Instead, at the edge of the clearing, a lone mountain wolf wandered into the yard, it’s nose to the ground. It sniffed around for a little bit, it’s low tail wagging curiously.

Sprout heard Celestia whimpering off to one side. He looked her way, and his heart all but shattered in his chest. The look of pure devastation on her face was unrivaled, and already he could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She slid down the glass and slumped to her haunches. “N-not mama…”

Sprout sighed and shut the door. “I’m sorry, kid. We do have wild animals in these mountains,” he said apologetically.

“B-but…” Celestia babbled, her lip trembling. She turned to Sprout. He could tell the dam was breaking, and it was too late to stop it. She screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head, starting to openly and loudly cry, filling the house with the heart-wrenching noise. “W-here’s m-my maamaaaa?!”

“Oh, baby,” Honey said, quickly crossing the distance and scooping Celestia up into her hooves. The filly clutched tightly to her, wailing and incomprehensibly babbling for her mama. Honey did her best to soothe the crying filly, but all of her best efforts amounted to nothing. Sprout joined her and lent his voice, but that too seemed to be insufficient.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, Celestia’s wails died down and she fell into a quiet sleep. Honey looked down at her in her hooves, then looked up at Sprout with a truly hurt look on her face.

Sprout sighed and glanced toward the stairs. “...I think we should put her to bed,” he said quietly. “She could use the sleep.”

Honey opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came. She looked down at Celestia again, then rose to carry the sleeping filly upstairs. Sprout followed closely behind her. Soon, they stepped into their bedroom, where a freshly-constructed crib had been placed beside their own bed some few days previously, after Sprout had built it to accommodate their guests.

Luna could be seen in it, her eyes opening at the disturbance. She sat up and leaned forward, trying to get a better look at her sister. She made a few tiny squeaks of distress, no doubt sensing something was wrong with Celestia.

Honey carefully lowered Celestia down into the crib. Luna retreated into the corner as the larger mare approached, and only once Honey’s hooves had totally retreated did she come over and wrap her hooves around Celestia, hugging her tightly. Celestia stirred slightly from the contact, returning the embrace in her sleep.

Sprout stared down at the two and sagged, any good mood he might have had being well and truly dashed. Moving slowly and carefully, he reached down and gingerly brushed one of the remaining tears off of Celestia’s cheek with his hoof. She winced under his touch, but soon relaxed.

Sprout turned back to Honey. “I think an early dinner and some early sleep might do us some good,” he suggested quietly.

Honey nodded as the two slowly slipped out of the room. “Yeah… I don’t want to be too far from them right now, either,” she clarified what he had actually meant, closing the door behind them to give the foals some peace and quiet for the moment.

Three weeks. It had been three long weeks now since Celestia’s mother had dropped off the foals, and there was still no sign of the mare. Sprout was growing increasingly worried that she wouldn’t be coming back with every day that passed. As he stared off into the sunset one evening, his thoughts drifted to the mare for what must have been the thousandth time.

Though Honey had done wonders to dispel his doubts about her simply abandoning Celestia and Luna, there was also the grisly possibility that she had simply perished on the return trip to the house. She had appeared to be on her last leg when Sprout had seen her. She had claimed to be stronger than she looked, and at that moment, there had been such conviction in her voice that he had believed her. But, looking back, doing so might have been a mistake…

If she didn’t come back for her foals… what was to become of them. Sprout frowned, trying not to imagine that scenario, but doing so anyway. Celestia had experienced more than one emotional breakdown over the last few days as her mother continued to be absent. He didn’t want to see it again. Every time Celestia cried, his heart broke for her, and it took far too long to get her to calm down every time.

How many more times was that angel of a filly going to cry her eyes out before she could finally be reunited with her family? How long until Sprout and Honey could finally get some answers? Would there be any answers to be had, or would the mare simply wish to whisk her foals away into the night, just as mysteriously as she had delivered them?

Sprout heaved a sigh and rubbed a hoof against his temple. “Ugh… what are we gonna do…?” he asked himself in a frustrated whisper.

The front door to the house clicked open, and Sprout turned to see Honey stepping out. She shut the door behind her with a soft click before making her way over to him. “Celestia and Luna are asleep. I put them to bed upstairs,” she said, sitting down by his side.

Sprout smiled, taking one of her hooves in his. “Good. They doing okay?”

“I think so,” Honey replied with a nod. She turned to look at the distant horizon, a distant look coming over her face. The two sat in silence for a long time, simply taking comfort in the company of the other.

But eventually, the silence became too much. Sprout sighed and looked over at Honey, seeing the way the sunlight caught her face, how it reflected in her eyes and shined in her curly mane. He found his heart melting at the sight, just like it had the day they had first met so long ago, when he had known this was the mare he would spend the rest of his life with. The sight gave him the courage to speak his mind and air his worries.

“...hey, hon?”

“Hm?”

“What if she doesn’t come back?”

Honey glanced at Sprout with a raised eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Celestia and Luna,” he clarified, looking down at the wooden floorboards of the porch. “Their mother. What if she doesn’t come back?”

He felt Honey squeezing his hoof as she shifted to face him more directly. “She’ll come back,” she said firmly, although Sprout had a feeling she put that conviction in her voice to convince herself more than him.

He turned back to her. “But what if she doesn’t?” he insisted. “It’s been weeks, Honey. The snow was gone the day after she left the kids with us, but she hasn’t been back for them yet. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since, and I don’t even know where she came from or where she could have gone! The only proof we have that she was ever even here are her daughters…”

Honey opened her mouth to offer up some rebuke, some counterpoint to assuage his concerns. But nothing came. She stared at him for a time before turning away. ‘...I don’t know, Sprout,” she confessed, reaching up to toy with her mane. “I wish I did, but I don’t. I’ve been asking myself that same question for a while now, but I just don’t know…”

Sprout sighed, leaning into her side. “I mean, we can’t just keep them around, can we?” he asked quietly. “They’re not our foals. It wouldn’t be right of us, would it? I mean, we agreed to watch them for a while, but not much more than that…”

Honey was quiet for a moment. “Maybe… but didn’t she also ask us to just make sure they were alright if she didn’t come back for them?” she eventually asked.

Sprout frowned, thinking back.

“Please take care of them both. I’ll be back soon, I swear it.”

Sprout eyed her critically. “...And if you aren’t?”

She hesitated, looking down at the ground. “...Then do with them as you see fit. Just don’t let them die, that’s all I ask.”

“She asked us not to let them die,” he clarified. “Other than that, we could do whatever we wanted with them.”

Honey hummed in response, her eyes falling. Neither of them said anything for a while after that, each of them exploring their thoughts and feelings on the matter on their own, with the warmth of the other serving to keep the chill of their anxieties at bay. When one of them finally broke the silence, it was Honey.

“I want to keep looking after them.”

“Hon?” Sprout blinked and turned to look at her. There was a fiery conviction in her eyes.

Honey placed a hoof against his chest. “I know they’re not our foals, and I’ll happily give them back if… when their mother comes back for them. But I just wouldn’t feel right about taking them all the way to town to give them away. They’re really sweet. And besides, who would take them?”

Sprout frowned. She didn’t need to clarify what she meant by that for him to understand. The wings and the horns. Most earth pony families would only be content with adopting a pony of their own tribe, given the long-lasting tensions with the other tribes. The complications would only be compounded by the fact that Celestia and Luna had both sets of extra appendages.

“And if she doesn’t come back? Ever?” Sprout asked, a knot forming in his throat.

Honey met his gaze firmly. “Then we keep taking care of them until they don’t need us anymore.”

Sprout turned to face her, his eyes flying wide. “Honey, you do realize what you’re suggesting, right?” he asked.

“Course I know,” Honey acknowledged with a firm nod of her head. “But they’ve already been here for just shy of a month… and I wanna keep ‘em safe. You promised their mother you would, and I am not going to make a liar out of you or me by going back on that. And besides…”

A gentle smile came over Honey’s face, and she placed her hoof against Sprout’s cheek. “I always wanted to have foals with you someday… So if their mother comes back someday, then Celestia and Luna will be great practice. And if not… well…”

Sprout stared at his wife for a long time, his mind taking a bit to catch up. Then, gradually, a crooked smirk broke out across his face. “Heh… you always did have a fire in your belly, didn’t you?” he asked whimsically.

Honey smirked in response and leaned in to give him a quick kiss. When she pulled back, her eyes were practically glowing with resolve. “Isn’t that why you fell in love with me?” she asked knowingly.

Sprout chuckled and pulled her closer. “Among other things…”

“Like what?”

“Oh, you know. This and that.”

Honey giggled and shoved him playfully. “Oh, how specific!”

Sprout laughed back at her. “Come on, you know I’ve never been good at this kinda stuff!”

“Trust me, dear, I noticed,” Honey replied with a roll of her eyes. “But, for what it’s worth, I find it very cute.”

Now blushing intensely, Sprout coughed into his hoof and looked away sheepishly. He heard Honey giggling beside him before leaning over and wrapping her forelegs around him in a warm hug. He felt her head near his chest, and her breath tickling his belly. “I know it’s a lot to ask of us,” she finally whispered to him. “And I know their mom’s probably gonna come looking for them, someday… but till then, I wanna be as good to them as I can.”

Sprout nodded, wrapping his own hooves around her to return the hug. It was a tall order, he wasn’t going to lie, especially not to himself. And as long as he was being honest with himself, he had to admit, the prospect of taking care of these two foals long-term, if needed, wasn’t all that bad. Sure, he wished Luna would stop crying at him all the time, but Celestia’s curiosity and interest were endearing to the extreme, and Luna was so small and scared that he often felt the urge to join Celestia in her protective vigil over the tiny little filly.

“Okay, then,” he finally agreed, resting his chin on his wife’s head. “Whatever happens, we watch them. We take care of them. We keep our promise.”

III - Growing Bonds

Several months passed, and Celestia’s growing bond with Sprout and Honey only became stronger and stronger with time. She tended to follow Honey around the house, pulling herself away from the door more and more, and opting to spend time around her little sister whenever possible. She just felt the urge to be near her, and protect her.

Sometimes, though, when she was assured that Luna would be safe with Honey, she sought instead to go outside and explore some more. Usually, Sprout would accompany her, or she’d just sit idly by and watch him work. She didn’t understand any of what it was he was doing, even when he went out of his way to explain it to her. Her young mind just couldn’t wrap itself around the concepts just yet.

That didn’t stop her from watching with fascination. After the passing of winter, she had gained a whole new appreciation for his work, as she had previously been cooped up inside and not allowed to head outside except when under very strict supervision. Once spring came, Sprout had been even busier in the fields than she remembered, and so it was that she watched one spring afternoon as Sprout toiled over his crops. He passed between the rows of plants, sizing each one up with a thoughtful hum and quiet mutterings. Celestia kept pace with him on the other side, listening intently.

“Yeah, this one’s good… this one’s good… needs more water, probably, but otherwise good…”

It was fascinating… but also kind of boring. Celestia’s brow furrowed as the tedium of the process began to eat away at her. She enjoyed spending time with him out here and taking in the fresh air but seriously, there had to be some way to make this more engaging for her. It wasn’t like she could really help all that much.

Eventually, an idea came to her. She wasn’t sure where it came from, but it felt familiar. Restraining a giggle, she trotted ahead of Sprout a way, then dropped down so she was flat on the ground, covering her eyes with her hooves. Her ears perked up, listening intently as Sprout’s hoof-falls drew closer and closer. When she heard him stop directly in front of her and felt his curious gaze on her, she lifted her hooves. “Peekaboo!” she said.

Sprout blinked, and then belted out a full belly laugh that drew a smile to Celestia’s face. Sprout shook his head a second later and lowered himself back down. “Heh. I don’t think Honey or I taught you that one,” he said.

Celestia shrugged. “I remember it.”

Sprout’s smile faltered, and for a moment Celestia wondered if she had said something wrong. To her relief, Sprout was quick to put his smile back on and cover his own eyes with his hooves. A second later, “Peekaboo!”

He even made a funny face. How nice.

Celestia giggled again, covering her eyes and repeating the process. The two went back and forth like this for a little while, playing peekaboo even as Sprout worked his way through his plants. It almost evolved into a miniature game of hide and seek with Celestia hiding amid his plants, only for him to inevitably stumble across all of her masterful hiding places.

Celestia could only assume witchcraft. Or magic. Or maybe he could just smell where she was. Did she stink? Questions for later.

“Hey, Celestia?” Sprout suddenly asked just as he came across her again, dispensing with the playful tone.

Celestia rose to her hooves and faced him. “Yeah?”

Sprout knelt down and brushed his hoof lightly against the plant she had been hiding beside. “Sorry to interrupt the game and all, but I am trying to work, ya know?” he said, rubbing apologetically at the back of his head. “And you’re kinda distracting me.”

Celestia’s ears drooped, and she suddenly felt like a great idiot. She should have known better, she thought, backing away slightly. “Oh… I’m sorry,” she apologized, scuffing her hoof along the ground. “I’m just bored. I wanna play.”

Sprout eyed her for a few seconds, his expression torn. He let out a quiet sigh, then knelt down in front of her. “Yeah, I get how that feels,” he said quietly, drawing her eyes back up to him. “And I’m not the sort to disappoint somepony in my care… so…”

He reached into his saddlebags, pulling out a cloth bag tied with a string. He hoofed it down to her, and she took it in her hooves. It wasn’t very heavy, and she imagined she could carry it on her back easily enough. She tilted her head. “What is this?” she asked curiously.

“Seeds,” Sprout said, reaching down to lightly ruffle Celestia’s mane. “If I find any rotten plants, I’m gonna have to replant them so we can have food to eat. What do you say to helping me do that?”

Celestia tilted her head. That didn’t sound like any game she had ever heard of. Of course, she had heard of precious few games, but that wasn’t really important right now. She looked up at Sprout and tilted her head. “Is it fun?” she asked hopefully.

Sprout blinked. “Huh. Ya know, I never really thought to make it fun, but I guess it can be if you do it right…” he said. He tapped a hoof to his chin for a moment before he perked up with inspiration. He smirked down at her. “Okay, tell ya what. We’ll make a game of it. If you find more bad plants than I do, you win, and I’ll uh, I dunno, give you a treat or something.”

Celestia’s eyes lit up. She bounced eagerly in place. “Oh! Oh! I like the sound of that!” she said eagerly. “What do the bad plants look like?!”

Sprout chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Heh. Well, they’re gonna be kinda brown and droopy. Like they got all sad, ya know? If you find any plants that are all dull and sagging, that’s a bad one, and I want you to call it out to me, okay?”

“Okay!” Celestia said with a sharp nod.

Sprout grinned and ruffled her mane yet again, drawing a pout from her. “Alright. Hop to it, then!” he said, thrusting his hoof out in an ‘onward’ motion.

Celestia didn’t need to be told twice. Eager to be useful to Sprout, and to just have a chance to play with him, she turned and went galloping down the rows of plants, too caught up in the happiness of the game to actually look for any bad plants yet.

That didn’t last long, though, and soon she slowed down, keeping her eyes peeled. It may have been a game, but she knew it was a serious one. There was a treat at stake! She had to find more bad plants than Sprout did, or she wouldn’t get it!

That and she was helping him run the place, but that did not compare to a treat.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Celestia’s face twitched with every hard strike of Sprout’s hammer that reached her ears. She had been forced to endure the grating sound for what felt like hours now and hadn’t been allowed inside the house for the entire time.

It was the middle of summer, and Sprout had been adding a new room to the house for a few days now. He would routinely disappear through a new door he had installed into the living room, and she had not been allowed back there for one reason or another. She didn’t understand it, and every time she asked Honey about what the room was going to be for, she was met with the same answer. “It’s a surprise.”

So, she just had to grit her teeth and bear it. Supposedly, today was the last day she’d be forced to listen to that grating noise. She couldn’t wait to be rid of it and all of the other cacophonies that had joined it for the last few days.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

At least Celestia had something to keep her distracted. She and Honey were sitting in the grass on the far side of the house from the ruckus, watching a now one-year-old Luna pick through the grass, making little baby babbles as she went. The little filly’s short, stubby forelegs were unsteady at best, but she was making progress, and it seemed she was at least enjoying herself.

Celestia smiled at her little sister, her own four-year-old heart beating with pride at the sight. To see Luna standing of her own accord and exploring as Celestia used to was of great comfort to her. The part of her mind that had always insisted she stand guard over Luna was beginning to relax, allowing her to feel more at peace even when her eyes were off her.

Luna came to a stop at a small batch of flowers rising up from the ground. She looked at them with wide, curious eyes. She tilted her head this way and that, as if trying to comprehend just what it was she was looking at. Honey smiled and wandered closer. Celestia kept close by her side.

“These are called flowers,” Honey said in a soft voice. She touched one of the flowers to indicate it. “Flower. Can you say flower?”

Luna stared at the flower for a second. “Foo ow wah.”

Honey nodded at that. “That’s right, very good! Flower,” she praised, giving Luna a few pets to tell her she got it right. Luna giggled from the praise, and even louder when she saw a dragonfly flit down from the air and alight upon one of the flowers. She wobbled up to it, her massive blue eyes wide with awe and fascination.

And then she tried to eat it.

Celestia and Honey both let out a series of wordless exclamations as Luna’s mouth clamped down around the head of the flower and the dragonfly both. She then stood bolt upright, the color draining from her face. Her mouth slowly fell open, a disgusted gurgle coming from within, and the now partially chomped remains of the impromptu snack fell on the ground.

Celestia cringed in disgust. “Eeeew!” she protested, ducking behind Honey so she wouldn’t have to look.

Honey chuckled and shook her head, reaching out to pull a now-sniffling Luna up against her chest. “There, there, it’s okay. But don’t eat bugs, okay Luna?” she asked in a quiet, soothing voice, bouncing Luna a few times to help soothe her. “Hey?”

Luna sniffled and gradually calmed back down. Celestia looked up at her from the ground and gave her a reassuring smile. In exchange, Luna reached her hooves down, making a few wordless baby babbles in an effort to swat at her big sister. In response, Celestia reached up and grabbed Luna’s hoof with both of her own.

Once Honey was satisfied that Luna was calm again, she set the smaller filly down with a smile. Luna smiled back up at her, then turned to waddle out to examine the flowers again. Celestia watched her go, unable to hide the amusement in her eyes. Her little sister was adorable, but also just so dopey sometimes.

Another dragonfly zipped by, alighting on a flower nearby. Like before, Luna’s eyes latched onto it, and she waddled closer. For a moment, Celestia thought that Luna would try to eat this one, too, but it seemed she had learned her lesson the first time. All Luna did was sit on her haunches and watch it with wide, curious eyes. The dragonfly’s wings buzzed, and it lifted from the flower to fly toward the forest.

Thunk. Thunk. CRASH!

“OW!”

Celestia and Honey both jumped in surprise and spun around to face the noise. Honey rose to her hooves and took a few steps toward the house. Celestia kept close behind her. It sounded like something large had broken.

“Sprout?!” Honey called out worriedly.

“I’m okay!” Sprout called back, pain in his voice. “Just got bonked on the head, that’s all. Gah, son of a…”

Honey frowned, then looked down at Celestia. “Keep an eye on Luna for a little bit, okay? I’m going to go make sure he doesn’t hurt himself,” she instructed. She did not wait for Celestia to answer, cantering quickly into the house. Celestia watched her go, taking a few steps after her.

She felt torn. On the one hoof, Sprout had obviously just been hurt, even if not badly. Celestia felt compelled to go and help him out however she could. She had spent so long making herself useful with the crops that sitting back when something went wrong in the house just felt wrong to her. At the same time, Honey had instructed Celestia to remain behind with her sister and keep an eye on her.

Celestia held still for a minute longer before sighing. She just had to trust that Honey would have things taken care of. She turned around to face Luna.

Except Luna wasn’t there.

Celestia’s heart leaped into her throat. Her eyes darted this way and that, looking for any sign of Luna. The little filly had seemingly vanished into thin air. There was no sign of her. Celestia stood up, her ears folding back. Fear gripped her heart, and she immediately called out. “Luna?! Luna, where did you go?!”

Of course, unfortunately, Luna couldn’t speak yet. There was no answer. The panic in Celestia’s heart grew worse with every second that passed. She walked anxiously in place, a whole new conflict springing to life within her. What had happened?! Where could Luna have possibly gone?! She wasn’t that fast, so wherever she disappeared to had to be close! Celestia’s eyes darted this way and that before, finally, they landed on the edge of the forest just ahead of her.

And it was then that it hit her. Her eyes widened, the blood chilling in her veins.

“The dragonfly!” she thought, her ears resting flat. “It had been flying for the forest, and Luna was following it!”

Celestia said something under her breath that no foal ought to be saying and looked back toward the house. She should go get Honey and Sprout. They would know what to do, right? She turned to start heading in that direction. She stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered that there were dangerous creatures in the woods: wolves, bears, and other far more frightening beasts. The longer she spent trying to get Honey and Sprout, the further her sister could get, and the more likely something could get her!

All of Celestia’s protective instincts returned in full force. She turned on her hooves and broke into a mad sprint for the woods, all thought of going to Sprout and Honey vanishing from her mind. She had to find her sister, and she had to find her now! If she was lucky, maybe she could get Luna back before they could get in trouble.

She broke through the forest edge and immediately the world darkened around her. The fear in her chest swelled to include herself and not just her sister, and she slid to a brief stop. The grass here was thicker, denser, and there was a wall of shrubbery all around her. She became far more aware of the calls of the birds in the trees and, looking up, she felt like an ant beside an army of monoliths.

A tiny, frightened whimper threatened to escape her, but she was quick to force it down and press on. She could be scared later. She had to find Luna and get her home safely, first. She broke into a canter, sweeping her eyes from side to side.

“Luna!” she called out, perking her ears up for her sister’s babbles. “Luna, come on! We need to go home, now!”

Nothing. Celestia’s brow furrowed, and she picked up her pace. She spent several minutes searching the woods, peeking under roots, behind trees and rocks, and anywhere else she could think of to find her sister. She kept calling out all the while but kept not hearing anything.

Luna had to be out here somewhere, and Celestia would keep looking until she found her.

It felt like she had been searching forever. Celestia’s breath was beginning to come in labored gasps as she pushed herself to her limits. There was still no sign of Luna, and Celestia was finally beginning to think it might be wise to head back and get the adults. She came to a stop next to a collection of trees and foliage and slumped against a trunk to catch her breath.

She looked around, trying to pick out the shape of the house from here.

It wasn’t that way. What about over there? No, not that way either. The way she had just come from, perhaps? No, nothing that way but more trees.

Celestia’s eyes widened. She felt her chest tighten as the realization set in that she was lost. She had gotten so lost in the frenzy of trying to find her sister that she stopped paying any attention to where she was going!

“Oh no, oh no, no no no…” Celestia whimpered, tears starting to form in her eyes. She looked around, suddenly acutely aware of just how alone she was. The forest loomed over her. The branches looked ready to tear into her hide if she dared take her eyes off them. The waving of the leaves in the breeze howled in her ears like the cries of forgotten ghosts.

It assaulted her senses all at once. Celestia screwed her eyes shut and broke into a mad sprint in a random direction, a panicked, terrified scream echoing around her. “LUNA!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her thoughts were growing hazy and disjointed in her panic. Her mind raced at a million miles an hour as scenario after grisly scenario raced through her head. “LUNA, ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Suddenly, the world dropped out from under her hooves. Celestia yelped as she fell over an edge she had unwittingly run straight toward in her fear. Her eyes snapped open to see a steep slope leading down to the side of a narrow river the weaved a winding path through the forest. The slope was dotted with stones emerging from the dirt.

Celestia scrambled, her hooves desperately trying to find purchase, but nothing came of it. She cried out and covered her head as she tumbled down the slope. Rocks and dirt battered her body as she rolled down, and she knew she was going to bruise. When she struck the ground, the wind was knocked from her lungs. Her eyes bulged in their sockets as her mouth opened in a breathless scream.

A horrible ache filled her body. A few cuts had formed along her barrel and legs from the rough fall. She began to curl into a ball to protect her innards from any further harm, screwed her eyes shut, and began to cry.

This was such a stupid plan! She never should have come out here alone! She should have gone back and gotten Honey and Sprout. They were the adults! They were big and strong, and they always knew what to do! She had just been so scared of her sister suddenly disappearing. She hadn’t been thinking. She just went… and now she was lost, alone, scared, hurt, and had no idea how to get back home.

She covered her head and yelled as loud as she could. “SOMEPONY, ANYPONY! HELP ME!”

With that plea echoing through the trees, Celestia fell silent, trying to calm her frantic, terrified sobbing. She must have been sitting there, crying her eyes out for several minutes before she heard something approaching. Hooves scraping through the dirt and coming closer.

Celestia’s eyes snapped open and sat up. She wiped a hoof over her eyes to dispel her tears and looked around. She hoped it was Sprout and Honey, come to rescue her and take her home. She turned around to face the sound, and while it wasn’t the adults, her heart nevertheless sang with relief at the sight.

And also a little confusion.

Little Luna was waddling up to her with no small number of insects crawling all over her. There was a collection of at least six dragonflies perched on her head. She had a centipede chasing its own rear around one of her hooves as if it were a bracelet. There was a butterfly perched on her nose. Under the bugs, she appeared to be in fine health, if only a little bruised and covered in dirt herself.

“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, throwing herself against her sister and giving her a tight hug. The insects all scattered from her sudden arrival, earning a pitiful whine from Luna. Celestia didn’t really give the oddity of Luna’s love of bugs much thought at the moment, simply holding her sister close. “Oh my gosh, I was so worried about you! I thought you were eaten by a bear, or a wolf, or something!”

“Woof,” Luna replied, hugging her sister in return.

Celestia paused on hearing the vague approximation of a word from her little sister. She then laughed, not finding it in her to do much else in light of their current situation. She buried her face in Luna’s mane. “Yes, Luna. A woof. Woofs eat ponies.”

“Woof.”

Celestia didn’t say anything else for the time being. She was content to sit there and hold her sister, just grateful that she was okay. There was, of course, still the deeply troubling matter that they were hopelessly lost in the middle of a potentially dangerous mountain forest, but there wasn’t much she could do about that right now.

All they could do was wait. And now that Celestia had found what she was looking for, she was content to sit still and wait.

Time passed agonizingly slowly by that shallow stream. Celestia made sure to keep Luna close, never taking her eyes off her for more than a second. She made sure to drink some water and ensured Luna got some as well, to keep themselves hydrated. They were both getting hungry if the audible grumbles of their little tummies were any indication, but they didn’t have a remedy for that at the moment.

Eventually, Luna’s own adventures caught up to her, and she fell asleep snuggled up against Celestia’s side. Celestia kept them both by the water, a wing draped over Luna’s barrel to keep her warm.

Her eyes were slowly drawn to the sky. It was starting to get dark. The sun was setting, and it was taking its light with it. Celestia swallowed heavily, an uneasy tremor passing through her. Maybe it would be wiser to try and reach home before it got dark? Would Honey and Sprout be looking for her if it got dark, or would they go home and wait until morning? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to take that risk.

Her eyes wandered through the branches, barely able to pick out the orange of the sky between them. Eventually, she caught sight of the smallest trace of the sun itself, just poking out from behind the mountainside. She stared at it, pleased to find that, due to its low altitude and closeness to the horizon, she could look at it without hurting her eyes.

She stared at it for a long while. And as she did, an odd sensation began to come over her. It was hard for her to explain. It was almost as if the sun was… staring back? But that didn’t make any sense. The sun didn’t have eyes. It was just light, wasn’t it?

Well, whatever the sun was, her vision began to tunnel around it. It began to swell and balloon out, the rest of the world bleeding away like ink dropped in a glass of water. Celestia relaxed as it filled every corner of her vision, drowning out everything else and enveloping her in its warmth.

So warm… so warm...

“KIDS?!”

Celestia was suddenly snapped out of her trance by the sound of Honey’s voice calling out from the trees. Her heart leaped into her throat. The adults were here! They could go home! Celestia quickly stood up and lifted her head. “WE’RE HERE!” she shouted back at the top of her lungs, ignoring the protesting whined from Luna. “OVER HERE!”

“Celestia?!” Sprout’s voice answered. “Where are you?!”

“By the river!” Celestia answered, hopping up and down. “I’m with Luna! Over here!”

“The trees are messing with the sound!” Sprout called back. “Keep talking! We’ll come and find you!”

“Alright! We’re over here! HERE!” Celestia replied, calling out that they were ‘here’ over and over. Her voice was beginning to hurt from all the use, but she forced herself to keep shouting. If she stopped, Sprout and Honey might not be able to find her, and then what would she do?

Finally, Celestia heard movement from the slope above. She turned and looked up, and her heart soared when she saw Sprout’s face looking down at her from above.

“Celestia! Luna!” he called before looking over his shoulder. “Over here, hon! I found them!”

Celestia allowed herself to fall to her haunches and breathe. Relief flooded her system. It was finally over. She could go home now. She wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable scolding she was going to receive, but she was just happy to be safe.

Sprout slid down the slope with expert ease, stumbling slightly when he reached the bottom. Honey came after him a moment later. Sprout made sure to catch her when she landed, as she was not nearly as graceful about it. Once she was steady, Honey turned and sprinted over to Celestia and Luna.

Celestia cowered back when she saw the raw, unrestrained fury in Honey’s eyes.

“Where have you been?!” Honey demanded, coming right up to Celestia. “Do you have any idea how worried Sprout and I have been about you two?!”

Celestia screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head, already feeling her joy evaporating, replaced with guilt. She had expected it, but it did not make it feel any better. “I… I’m sorry,” she apologized, her voice shaking. “But Luna disappeared when you went inside, and I was scared that she might get eaten by a wolf or something, so I came to find her, and I got lost, but I found her, and…”

“You should have just come and told us!” Honey went on. Celestia’s ears twitched when she noticed a tremble in the mare’s voice. “Not just run off! We thought you were both snatched up by wolves, too! We were so scared that we might not find you!”

Celestia opened her eyes and looked up. Honey’s face was contorting and trembling, tears in her eyes. Sorrow and relief were fighting a war against her anger behind them, and Celestia felt her guilt grow even worse at having made her feel that way.

She looked away, unable to stare into those eyes any longer. “I’m sorry…”

“You should be,” Honey said, the last dregs of her anger fading. She then fell to her haunches, and her hooves came up to cover her eyes. “I was just… I was so worried about you… I can’t imagine what I would have done if… if… oh, I can’t even say it…”

The sound of Honey’s sobs filled the air. Celestia looked up at her again, her heart twisting in her chest. Sprout came up by her side, placing a hoof on Honey’s back. She quickly turned to him and buried her face in his chest, crying all the harder into the proverbial pillow. Sprout winced and held her close, doing his best to ease her distress.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but no words came. She lifted her hoof to reach out and do something, but she couldn’t find out what to do. She could only stare and wither as the realization set in. This was her fault. She had run off like a little idiot, and it had broken these wonderful ponies’ hearts.

But Luna… sweet, innocent Luna, did not seem to have those same concerns. She smaller filly extricated herself from Celestia’s grasp and stepped up to the weeping mare. Luna reached out and gingerly brushed her hoof down Honey’s flank to get her attention. “Mama?”

Honey’s sobs cut off with a start. Slowly, both she and Sprout looked down at the filly with wide, astonished eyes. Luna tilted her head up at them, her eyes showing with confusion and concern. She sat back on her haunches and held her forelegs up, silently asking to be picked up. “Mama.”

Honey sniffled, her eyes wide and unblocked. She mouthed uselessly like a fish for several seconds before gingerly reaching out. Her hooves trembled as she lifted Luna up and held the filly up to her chest. The moment Luna returned the embrace, Honey began to cry again, but this time with a smile. “It’s okay, Luna,” she whispered between sobs, kissing the filly on the side of the head. “It’s okay… mama’s got you.”

Celestia blinked. Mama? As in mommy? That didn’t make any sense. She opened her mouth to correct Luna, to tell her that their mom was still out there somewhere, helping their dad, but the words caught in her throat.

How long had it been since she had last seen her actual mother? It had been an entire year. She could barely even remember her face or her voice. Just her eyes. Those frightened, loving, sky blue eyes, and the cold they had delivered her from. And then she had run off into the snow, barely even a shadowy silhouette. And that had been it. She’d never come back.

It was then that Celestia finally realized it. Her mother was most likely gone. And even if she was still out there somewhere… what did that matter? The ponies in front of her had done so much for her, loved her and her sister, taken care of both of them since they came here. And she would be lying if she said she didn’t love them back.

And so, with a small smile on her face, Celestia moved forward and joined the hug as best as she could. She felt Honey and Sprout both draping their forelegs over her and pulling her close. She looked up at them with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry I scared you, mommy. Daddy. I won’t do it again.”

Honey sniffled and gave Celestia a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay… I’m just glad you’re safe…”

Not long after that, Sprout led the way back home. Celestia was placed on his back, while Luna rode on Honey’s. There wasn’t much talking. For, as joyous as their reunion was, the fact remained that all of them were tired, drained, and eager to just go home and rest. Plus, Celestia knew without a doubt that she was going to be punished in some way. It was upsetting, and seeing her new family so sad and scared for her well-being had made it sting worse, killing what little of a good mood she had been able to salvage from their reunion.

By the time they were emerging back into their house’s clearing, it was dark out. The moon was full, thankfully, affording them some limited visibility. Enough to navigate, at least. As they emerged from beneath the boughs, Luna looked up at the sky. She gave out a few wondering sounds, reaching up at the heavens as if to pluck the stars from them. The full moon was reflected in her eyes.

“Alright, we’re home,” Sprout said once they passed inside. He sighed and lowered Celestia down to the ground. She hopped off without a word. Time for her punishment. Best to take it like a mare, she decided.

Honey closed the door behind them and slumped against it with a relieved sigh. Her eyes then turned back to look at Celestia. She didn’t say a word at first. She turned to Sprout and passed Luna off to him before marching up to Celestia and standing tall over her. “Celestia…”

Celestia looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry…”

“I know you are, sweetie,” Honey said, her voice just so incredibly tired. “You scared us half to death. I am glad you’re okay, believe me, I am, but you can’t just go off on your own like that. You could have gotten hurt.”

“I know,” Celestia replied. “I won’t do it again.”

“I sure hope not…” Honey said. She sagged in place and shook her head. “And now we come to the hard part… Celestia… you… you’re grounded.”

Celestia tilted her head to one side. “...Grounded?” she asked, her young mind trying to make sense of the new word.

Sprout cleared his throat and spoke up. “Yep. You’re not allowed to leave your room for the next three days.”

Celestia nodded. That sounded fair to her. If anything, she was getting off pretty easy—wait a minute. She looked up at Sprout, confusion on her face. “...What?”

Sprout grinned at her. “What? Did you think that room I’ve been building all week was for storage?”

Celestia’s brain basically shut down at that. She tilted her head to the side, trying and failing to process this revelation. When she finally managed to find her words, they came out far less gracefully and far more derpily than she would have liked. “I have a room?”

“Well, yeah. You’re part of the family, and you’re a growing filly. You’re a bit big for the crib now, don’t you think?” Sprout asked before nodding at the new door. “It was supposed to be a surprise present. Now I guess it’s just a surprise, though, since, ya know, you’re grounded.”

A second passed. Celestia’s emotions were a scrambled mess as she tried to figure out just how she was supposed to feel about this. Apparently, the look on her face was funny to at least one pony in the room, as Luna began to giggle at her. Celestia felt her cheeks heating up, and she puffed up her cheeks in an indignant pout.

“Hey! Why is she laughing at me?!”

Sprout smirked. “Cause you’re making a funny face?”

Honey turned to Sprout and lightly swat him on the shoulder. “Really, Sprout? I’m trying to be serious, here!”

Sprout shrugged. “Hey, cut me some slack. It’s not like there’s a lot here we can take away from her as punishment, you know! And besides, with the day she’s had, I think she’s already learned her lesson, and she could use a nice, comfy bed to herself.”

Celestia’s attention was drawn back to the bed. Her eyes lit up as she spun to face the new room. “Is it ready?” she asked curiously, wondering just what lay beyond those wooden planks.

“Yup,” Sprout answered.

Celestia grinned and let out a celebratory giggle. “Yay! I’ll go to bed right now!” she declared before breaking into a sprint. She heard Honey and Sprout playfully bickering over something, but she didn’t pay them any mind. She had a new room now! All to herself! That more than made up for her being grounded!

The door swung open without a fuss. It wasn’t exactly heavily decorated yet, but already Celestia loved it. There was a bed that was big enough to house a full-grown pony against both the right and left far corners with an end table situated between them. A window was set into the wall above said end table, curtains still open to let her see the world outside. A lantern was planted on the end table in case she needed to get up in the middle of the night, she assumed.

Without hesitation, she bounded for the bed on the right, officially claiming it as her own. The mattress squeaked under her weight, and she giggled as it bounced her back up. She jumped on it a few times, feeling her stresses and anxieties bleeding away with every bounce. She went at it for a few minutes, slowly rotating in place. It wasn’t until her third revolution that she spotted Honey standing in the doorway, staring pointedly at her.

“I thought you were going to bed.”

Celestia stopped bouncing and immediately plopped onto her haunches. “Oh… right. Sorry,” she apologized. She turned and pulled the blankets back, sliding under them. They were soft and fluffy, easing even more of her discomfort and soothing the aches in her muscles as she got comfy.

Honey came up to her bedside as she was getting comfortable. She sat down beside her and set a hoof on the edge of the mattress. “Do you like it?” she asked.

Celestia nodded, pulling the blankets up to her chin and getting comfy on the pillow. “Uh-huh. I love it. Tell daddy I said thank you.”

Honey paused, her eyes widening. She then smiled and nodded. “Of course. I will… Now, get some sleep, okay?” She leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on Celestia’s forehead, right below her horn.

Celestia nodded. The bed was already sapping what little energy she had left. She’d had a busy day, and now her body demanded sleep. She let out a large yawn as her eyes drifted closed. “Okay, mommy… goodnight. I love you,” she whispered without even really thinking about it.

The last thing she heard before sleep claimed her was Honey’s voice whispering in answer. “I love you, too, Celestia… Sweet dreams.”

Author's Notes:

This chapter wound up getting split into two chapters that are both far longer than the original. Blame my editor.

IV - The Two Sisters

Celestia grunted with effort, her horn sparking with golden light. The log in front of her shifted in place slightly and raised an inch or so off the ground. A bead of sweat formed on her brow. She could feel the strain in her horn from the effort of lifting something so heavy. Her legs began to bend as if under an incredible weight, and her teeth ground together.

Sprout stood beside her, watching intently. “You sure you got that?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and a playful smirk.

Celestia snorted. “I got it, dad,” she answered. She poured more power into her horn and screwed her eyes shut. “Come on, log!” she thought, growling with strain. “Move!”

Finally, finally, she managed to lift it up to where she needed it to be. Moving quickly, she floated it over and deposited it into the wagon hitched to Sprout’s back. The log landed with a thunk, making the wagon rock and groan under the stress. The far end of the log rose up behind Sprout’s wagon. All it needed was a flag or something and it’d make for the world’s thickest banner.

Sprout let out a low whistle, then gave Celestia a far more appreciative smile. He reached over to ruffle her pink mane, making her laugh. “Well, I’ll be darned. You’re getting better with that thing!” he said cheerfully. “Good job!”

Celestia playfully swatted his hoof away, then shot him a big grin. “Heh. Thanks, dad.”

Sprout smiled back down at her. His eyes turned up to look at the sky, and his smile faltered. “Ah. It’s getting late. We should probably be heading back,” he said.

Celestia turned them to the log. It had taken all of her might to lift the hefty thing, and Celestia was beginning to wonder if Sprout could actually pull it. She turned to her adoptive father with a furrowed brow. “You sure you can pull that? It’s pretty heavy.”

Sprout answered by setting into motion, pulling the wagon back onto the path. The wheels clattered and groaned under the stress, but he made good progress. He flashed her a big grin over his shoulder. “You got the funky magic stuff, but I got the muscle!”

Celestia pouted at him, cantering to catch up. “Oh yeah? Well, I can fly!” she flared her wings for emphasis. “I got you beat by two!”

“Maybe you do,” Sprout answered slowly. He leaned down to grin in her face. “But we both know I got more experience.”

Celestia gaped at him. Oh, the nerve of this adult! She thrust her nose up in a display of mock indignity, drawing another laugh from him. Sprout reached over to ruffle her mane yet again, earning a disgruntled whine from her.

In the seven years since Celestia and Luna were taken in, both of them had grown considerably. Celestia was now about half as tall as Sprout, her horn just brushing the underside of his shoulder. Her wings were a lot larger now than they had been before, allowing her to take to the skies with ease.

Today she had left their isolated mountain forest home to harvest trees for firewood in the future. This had been the first time Celestia was allowed to tag along to help him load the wagon. It was a task she had taken to with much enthusiasm, the roots of that interest beginning with her old fascination with her father’s work around their home, and the many times she had offered to help however she could.

She eyed the big log again. It was large, albeit far from the largest they could have gone for. She had a feeling Sprout had decided to fell a smaller tree out of a desire to not overwork Celestia. She had had to work herself to the bone, strengthening her magic, just to get him to bring her along for this task in the first place.

A thought occurred to her, and she glanced up at Sprout. “So how come we can’t use this wood for firewood right now?” she asked curiously.

Sprout glanced back at it. “Ah, well, you see, fresh wood like this tends to have a lot of moisture or something in it. So when ya light it up, it makes a lot of smoke. Great for signal fires or if you wanna choke somepony to death, but not all that good for a household fireplace. We gotta let it dry out first before we can use it for the hearth. We’ll probably be using this wood next winter.”

Celestia nodded slowly in understanding. “Ooooh, I gotcha.”

The two walked on in silence for a while, following the well-worn path that Sprout had pressed into the dirt from his many trips through the woods. Celestia looked up and took a deep breath, allowing the smell of pine trees to fill her lungs. The cool air was invigorating, reminding her of the fact that they had only just left winter behind a few weeks ago.

It came as a relief to both her and her sister that the warmth was coming back. As the only ones with wings, it often fell to them to manage the weather over the land so Sprout’s crops could grow in peace. And with their altitude being so high and their location so remote, the weather was often challenging to wrestle into obedience. They had managed, but it had been challenging.

The shafts of sunlight striking through the branches told her it was getting on towards dinner time. They had a substantial haul, and Celestia was only too eager to get back and chow down on some of Honey’s cooking. A spring of excitement entered her step at the prospect, and her stomach audibly growled in anticipation. Sprout eyed her from the side and chuckled in amusement.

“Heh. Hungry there?”

“Yup. So are you.”

“I am not.”

Growl.

Celestia shot Sprout a knowing smirk. “Are too.”

Sprout laughed again, playfully shoving Celestia. “Heh, you little twerp. Okay, fine, I admit it, I’m hungry.”

The two shared another laugh before lapsing back into peaceful silence. The trees thinned out slightly, and soon enough they crested the top of a slope, and the clearing they called home came into view. Honey was on the porch at the moment, looking to just be enjoying the late afternoon quiet and fresh air.

Sprout heaved a relieved sigh at the sight of the house. “Finally,” he said. Once they were clear of the trees, he threw his hoof into the air and waved in greeting. “Hey, hon! We’re back!”

Honey looked up and quickly rose from her seat. She cantered out to meet them, her wide eyes glued onto their haul of wood. “My goodness… Did Celestia gather all of that?” she asked in shock.

Celestia puffed up with pride. “Uh-huh!” she declared, pressing a hoof up to her chest. “I put it all in the wagon!”

“She did, aye,” Sprout answered, unhitching himself. “That horn of hers is a scary thing. But I did all the chopping.”

Honey smiled at that. Once Sprout was fully unhitched from the wagon, she walked forward and wrapped her forelegs around him in a welcoming embrace. Celestia gagged in mock disgust when the two shared a quick, happy kiss.

Sprout pulled back a second later. “So, how have things been back here?” he asked.

Honey untangled herself from the hug and looked off to the side, a softer look coming onto her face. “It’s been pretty quiet. Luna spent most of the day helping me out around the house before heading to her room.”

Sprout hummed at that. “Good to hear.”

Honey nodded, then turned to Celestia. She knelt down until she was at eye level with the foal and held out her hooves. Celestia took the hint and shot forward, wrapping Honey up in a warm hug of her own. Honey smiled and buried her face in Celestia’s long, wild pink mane. “Mmm. Did you have fun out there?” she asked after a moment.

Celestia nodded eagerly. “Uh-huh!” she chirped before pulling back. “I had a lot of fun! I wanna help him again next time he goes out to collect wood or build something!”

“Heh. We’ll see,” Sprout replied, ruffling her mane for the umpteenth time that day. “Just don’t overwork yourself, you hear? You’re ten.”

Celestia pouted at him, her wings ruffling at her sides. “So?” she asked indignantly.

“So,” Sprout replied with a roll of his eyes. “You’re still growing, ya know? Don’t wanna go breaking anything because you overdid it, now do ya?”

Celestia frowned. She wouldn’t overdo it! She was better than that! A lot better than that! Nevertheless, she nodded in understanding. It wouldn’t do to go bickering with him about it.

Celestia withdrew from her hug with Honey at this point, who chuckled at the exchange and rose to her full height. She smiled down at Celestia and nudged her toward the house. “Now, why don’t you go on inside and play with Luna? I need to talk to Sprout for a second,” she said.

Celestia didn’t even think to question what her adoptive family would need to talk about. She smiled, nodded, and galloped into the home. The interior was much as it had always been. The door to her and Luna’s room was standing slightly ajar as Celestia approached. Drawing near to it, she slowed down, being sure to keep her steps quiet. She didn’t want to startle her scaredy-cat of a sister. She leaned forward and carefully nudged the door open with an audible creak. The room beyond was dark. The curtains had been drawn shut, drowning out the sunlight.

Celestia’s eyes were drawn to the bed on the right, and her smile grew. She saw no fillies, but she did see a large lump under the sheets of the bed. They were shifting slightly, and Celestia could just make out the sound of wood scraping against wood, and a quiet voice whispering to itself.

Celestia’s grin grew, and she cleared her throat to announce her presence. The bundle jerked before shooting upright, throwing the blankets off. Celestia giggled at the sight of her beloved little sister, Luna, looking back at her with her big, turquoise eyes. Her pale blue mane was a disheveled mess, and there were two of Sprout’s carved wooden toys held in her hooves.

Celestia leaned against the door frame and tossed her mane. “Hey, sis. Hiding in the dark again?” she asked knowingly.

Luna’s eyes lit up. She cast aside the toys and leaped from her bed to charge and tackle Celestia. The two fillies giggled merrily as they fell to the floor, hugging each other tight. Luna leaned back a second later to paw at Celestia’s chest. “You’re back!” she said with a wide smile. “I missed you, Tia!”

Celestia rolled her eyes and nudged Luna back. “Heh. Lu, I was gone for a couple hours, at most,” she said. “Not that long.”

“It felt longer to me!” Luna protested, pawing at Celestia again in spite of her insistent nudging. “A lot longer!”

Celestia chuckled. She wrapped her foreleg over Luna’s shoulders, pulling the smaller filly close and into a headlock. Luna yipped in alarm and squirmed as Celestia began to give her sister an affectionate noogie. “Yeah, yeah, you can never stand it when I’m gone, huh?” she asked.

Luna kicked and struggled, but Celestia had always been far stronger. “Sis! Haha, hey, lemme go!” she protested, trying to sound angry through her giggles.

Celestia waited a little bit before she relented, allowing Luna free from her grasp. The two were quiet for a moment, with Luna calming down from her giggles and Celestia just watching her. Her heart warmed and fluttered at the sight of her sister’s delight, and she could not stop the smile from spreading on her face.

As much as she loved to help Sprout out or play weird games with him, nothing gave her more happiness than seeing Luna smile and laugh. Nothing made her feel more whole or complete.

A few seconds passed before Luna held a hoof up to pinch at her nose, a mischievous look in her eyes. Celestia tilted her head. She did not like that look.

“You stink,” Luna remarked.

Celestia’s wings unfurled slightly, an undignified squawk coming out of her. She was unable to resist the urge to smell at her pits. The stench of old sweat was unmistakable. Still, Celestia shook her head vehemently. “I-I do not!”

“You stink,” Luna repeated with a giggle. “You’re all sweaty.”

Celestia’s cheeks puffed up. She lowered her chest to the ground and gave her tail a few flicks, like a cat about to pounce on its prey. Luna got the look on her face of a filly who now regretted her recent life decisions.

“Okay, let’s make you stink too, then!” Celestia declared before pouncing on her baby sister.

Luna squealed in delight as the two barreled head-over-hooves into their room. Celestia had Luna pinned on the ground and began to mercilessly tickle her sides while using her larger body to keep Luna pinned and spread as much stink as she could. Luna squirmed and fought back as hard as she was able.

Eventually, Luna managed to squirm free of Celestia’s grasp. She quickly jumped up onto her bed and spun to face Celestia. “Meanie!” she snapped in spite of her huge grin. She leaned down to sniff at herself and gagged.

Celestia grinned triumphantly. “See? Now you are the stinky one!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yuh-huh!”

“Well, you’re still stinky!” Luna barked, jabbing a hoof at Celestia.

Celestia gasped. The sheer audacity! The nerve! There was only one response to such a scandalous remark! She leaped up onto her own bed and grabbed her pillow in her golden magic aura. “I am not!”

Luna lifted hers in turn. “Yes, you are!”

Celestia thrust her hoof at Luna. “This means war, little filly!”

Luna raised her pillow up high. “Okay! CHARGE!”

The two fillies leaped at one another, pillows brandished and ready for a battle of the ages. And as the first epic clash of the filly stink wars began, Celestia used her magic to close the door to their room so they could beat each other senseless with their pillows in peace.

After a long and brutal pillow fight, Celestia and Luna withdrew from their room to the startled and exasperated laughter of Sprout and Honey. They might have possibly gotten just a little bit carried away in their little struggle. Both Luna and Celestia had emerged from their room covered in pillow stuffing, and quite messy and sweaty to boot. Not that anypony could prove it wasn’t Luna’s fault, dad!

Regardless, the two had been taken down to a nearby river to wash themselves off by Sprout while Honey got dinner ready. The two had splashed at each other, but only a little bit this time. Their impromptu pillow fight had drained them of much of their energy. It was worth it, though, for how fun it was.

Sprout looked the dastardly duo over with a skeptical look as they continued to rinse in the stream. After a few more moments, he nodded in contentment and nodded his head back. “Alright, you little rascals, let’s go. Food’s probably ready, and I reckon you’re clean now.”

Celestia turned and nodded. With a small flap of her wings, she jumped from the water and shook herself dry, Luna following shortly after. Once the two were prepared, Sprout gestured, and the trio made their way back to the house.

“What’s mom making for dinner?” Celestia asked, following alongside Sprout with an eager bounce in her step. “I’m starving.”

“I remember,” Sprout chuckled, glancing down at her. “I think she’s making vegetable stew tonight, nothing fancy.”

“Are there carrots?” Luna asked with distaste evident on her face.

Sprout shrugged. “If there are, I expect you to eat ‘em, little missy.”

Luna stuck her tongue out with a comical ‘blegh’ sound. Celestia giggled at her expense but did not say anything on the matter. As amusing as it was that her little sister didn’t care for carrots, it wasn’t like she was in any position to criticize her for it when she could barely stomach grapes.

The journey passed without incident, and the trio stepped in through the front door of the home before long. Celestia walked face-first into a wall of wonderful, mouth-watering smells, making her eyes shine and her stomach growl. Her eyes shot over to the counter, where Honey was just pouring the contents of the cauldron into a series of bowls.

“The kids are clean!” Sprout announced, closing the door behind him.

Honey set down the ladle and turned to him with a warm smile. She then looked down at the foals. “I see that. They’re a little puffy, aren’t they?” she asked, snickering into a hoof.

Celestia pouted. “Wha- hey!” she whined, but still looked down at herself. To her dismay, she was, indeed, quite puffy. She had been since she jumped out of the water and dried herself off earlier.

A collection of amused titters went around the room, causing her to blush slightly. Her horn lit up with magic and she was quick to force her fur to lay flat, making her glow like a little sun for a second or two as she worked her magic. Once she was satisfied that she no longer looked like a particularly pouty cloud, she cantered to the table and took a seat. Luna was close behind her, still snickering in amusement.

Sprout pat her on the back as he took his place to her right at the table. “Heh. Sorry, kiddo, but you’re just too easy to tease.”

Celestia grumbled, shooting him the stinkiest glare she could manage. This in turn only elicited another chuckle out of him. Luna also pat Celestia on the back once she was settled in the seat on her left. Honey came to the table a moment later, setting everyone’s plates down in succession.

“Thank you,” Luna and Celestia said in unison. Celestia’s mouth was positively watering, and she couldn’t find it in herself to wait any longer. She began to eat the moment Honey sat down across from Sprout, savoring the deliciousness of Honey’s cooking. Luna, just beside her, started eating a second later, showing far more restraint. She often sifted through the broth with her spoon as if hunting for undesirable elements to be purged.

Like carrots.

As the family ate, they talked about this and that. Sprout shared his ideas for more things to add to the house or the grounds around it, Honey shared ideas for new recipes she wanted to try, and Luna and Celestia chimed in with what little input their young minds could provide. There was the occasional round of banter and teasing thrown in every conceivable direction, drawing laughs, snorts, and agitated pouts from everypony at that table at least once.

It was nice. It was everything Celestia wanted. Her family by her side, a warm dinner filling her belly, the satisfaction of having made herself useful around the house and the surrounding land, and the joy of just getting to have all of this to begin with. The joy of having Sprout and Honey here to care for her and her sister, to make them smile and laugh and be there for them when they needed somepony to.

“Unlike some ponies...”

Celestia paused when that bitter thought crossed her mind. She shook her head to dismiss it outright. There was no longer any point in thinking about her. Celestia had waited, and nothing had come of it. This was her family, now, and they were perfect. They were all she needed.

The family didn’t stay up long after eating. Celestia and Luna had helped Honey tidy up around the house before bed, and Sprout had seen fit to tell them a story before tucking them into their beds for the night. It was a story about his time with the Earth Pony tribe before he met Honey, and about their constant bickering and squabbling with the two other tribes.

He talked about how the Pegasi was more often than not a group of elitist, militant brutes who were only kept from outright invading the lands of the other tribes by the raw physical might of the earth ponies, while the unicorns were made up of snobby, self-entitled mooks who turned their nose up at anything with a speck of dirt on it. They got so absorbed in their ‘refinement’ and ‘intelligence’ that they overthought basically everything, and the practical concerns of dealing with the pegasi were one of the only things that kept them in check.

He talked about how the three tribes, in spite of their constant infighting, depended on each other to survive. How the unicorns were responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon in order to maintain the cycle of day and night. How the pegasi tended to the sky, bringing rain and wind and snow to maintain the cycle of the seasons. How the earth ponies tended the land, tilling the fields and growing the crops that kept the ponies of all tribes on their hooves.

Celestia listened with fascination and interest, but not so much because of the actual content of the story. She already knew why Sprout and Honey had left the tribes behind to live up here in the mountains away from everypony else. She was more interested in hearing about the other ponies in general.

In all the time she had lived here, Sprout, Honey, and Luna were the only ponies she had seen face to face, and only one of them had either wings or a horn. It had never really occurred to her all that much in the past, but now that she was thinking about it, there was something she wanted to know.

“Hey, dad?” she asked, interrupting him just as he was explaining how the pegasi had once tried to extort his old farm for more crops.

He turned to her with a curious look. “Hm? Yes, Tia?”

She shifted slightly and sat up in bed, letting her wings unfurl slightly. She lifted a hoof to touch at her horn, bringing emphasis to the extra appendages. “What about me and Luna? What are we called?” she asked. She racked her brain, trying to think of the name, but she had never actually heard Sprout or Honey refer to anypony else like her and Luna before.

Sprout blinked. “Oh. Uh… well, that is the question, isn’t it?” he asked with a weak chuckle.

Luna tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Sprout shifted in his place between the two beds. “Well… see, the thing is, Honey and I don’t actually know what you two are called. You’re the only case of ponies with wings and a horn we’ve ever heard of, much less seen. We’ve kinda just taken to calling you ‘winged unicorns,’ but somehow, I get the feeling that’s not quite right.”

Celestia pursed her lips in thought, furrowing her brow at that. Winged Unicorns, huh? Bit of a mouthful, wasn’t it? There was probably another, proper name for them, but it didn’t really matter all that much. They were the only two that there were if Sprout’s assessment was to be believed. In truth, they could probably name themselves. But with her mind starting to wander off to sleep, she didn’t have it in her to think of a good name right now, and so she let her head fall back onto her pillow.

“So… does that make Tia and I snobs and brutes?” Luna suddenly asked, her eyes slowly widening.

Celestia looked over to see Sprout staring at Luna as if she had grown a new head. “W-what?!” he asked with a confused laugh. “Why would you be a snob or a brute?”

“Because pegasi are brutes and unicorns are snobs,” Luna reiterated, her wings twitching under her blankets. “And Tia and I are unicorns with wings. So are we…?”

There was a beat of silence before Sprout openly laughed. He leaned over and kissed Luna on the forehead, right above her horn, drawing a smile out of her. “Nah. you’re not snobs or brutes. You’re our little sun and moon. You’re sweet and wonderful, and we’re so glad to have you here to brighten up our days.”

Luna giggled at the kiss, then tilted her head slightly. “But… are all the unicorns snobs?” she asked after a moment. “Are all the pegasi brutes?”

Sprout paused at that, then shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly? There are probably good ponies in both of those batches, but I haven’t met many of them myself. Not that it matters,” he reached down and booped Luna’s nose, drawing another giggle out of her. “Because Honey and I are raising you two right.”

Luna giggled, then reached up to hug Sprout around the neck. “Thanks, daddy. I love you.”

Sprout returned the hug with a foreleg before pulling back. “And I love you, too. Both of you,” he said. He then turned for the window and glanced outside. He cringed. “Oh, and that moon is really high. It’s time for you two to get some sleep.”

“Aaaw, but stories,” Luna whined, then yawned in epic fashion.

Sprout shook his head. “Nah, kid. Sorry. More stories tomorrow, though. Deal?”

Luna grumbled quietly, burying her face into her pillow. A second later she spoke up. “Deal.”

Sprout nodded, satisfied. He turned to ensure Celestia was tucked in, then made for the door. “Sleep well, you two. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, dad!” Celestia called after him as he pulled the door shut, plunging the room into darkness.

Celestia lay there in silence, allowing her mind to wander as sleep slowly crept up on her. She thought back on Sprout’s words about the other tribes, and about how she and Luna weren’t like the pegasi or unicorns. She could only assume it was because they had been raised by earth ponies, and so the elitism and brutishness of the others hadn’t had a chance to take any root in her mind.

Whatever the case, Celestia smiled. She was glad to know she was just fine the way she was, and the way Luna had smiled on being told the same was heartwarming in the extreme. She allowed that mental image to fill her mind as she finally began to drift off to sleep…

...Only for the rustling of Luna’s blankets to draw her back to the waking world. Confused, Celestia cracked open an eye to see her little sister slinking out of bed. She moved slowly and quietly, so as to not make any noise, though she was failing quite spectacularly. Celestia didn’t move, merely watched as Lun tip-toed across the room and, with a flick of her magic, quietly opened the window. The room began to cool as the night air slipped in.

Celestia couldn’t help but smile. “This again?” she thought in amusement. It had become something of a ritual, and she found herself wondering when, if ever, her little sister would grow out of it.

Luna unfurled her wings and flew out through the window. She vanished from view, and Celestia could hear the subtle creak of the wooden ceiling. She lay there for another couple of minutes before slipping out of bed herself. She stretched and then took to the air, flying up and out of the window. The cool night air rippled through her mane, and her eyes closed for a second as she took it in. She let out a quiet, pleased sigh as she climbed in altitude, then opened them to begin her descent.

She looked down and spotted Luna sitting on the roof of their bedroom, her eyes upturned toward the stars. Celestia smiled softly and entered into a slow, descending glide. She alighted on the roof behind Luna, giving her wings a few final flaps to keep her steady. She didn’t say anything. She simply walked up to Luna’s side and sat down.

The two sat there in total silence for quite some time. Luna’s eyes remained fixated on the stars and, in particular, the great crescent moon that presently hung in the middle of it all. Her lips were pulled back into a small, gentle smile, and her eyes shimmered with awe, wonder, and what could only be described as love.

“They’re dancing again,” Luna whispered, nodding up at the sky. “See?”

Celestia hummed, draping a wing over Luna’s back to keep her warm. She looked up at the sky, focusing on the stars. They were shimmering and twinkling softly, as they usually did. Luna had long taken to calling their shimmers their ‘dance.’ She leaned into her sister’s side. “I see. Beautiful as always.”

Luna’s smile grew, but she didn’t say anything else. The two were content to sit there in idle silence for quite a long time. It felt like hours. The moon slowly inched across the sky. The night air grew steadily cooler as any leftover warmth from the sun bled away into that cool, inky abyss. The silence was periodically punctured by the hoots of owls or the calls of nocturnal animals.

A chill breeze washed over them, and Luna shuddered. Celestia pulled her closer and nuzzled into her mane, sharing their body heat. A thought occurred to her, and she smiled. “Hey, wanna sleep up here tonight?” she asked enticingly.

Luna gasped, pulling back. “But, but, mom and dad don’t like it when we do that!” she protested. “And what if it rains?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Please, I cleared the clouds out this morning. There’s not gonna be any rain. We’ll be fine. And besides…” she looked back up at the heavens, smiling wider. “I dunno about you, but I kinda wanna watch them dance some more. Can’t do that inside, though.”

Luna was quiet for a few more moments. She then gave a small nod and smile. “O-okay. Alright.”

Celestia beamed. She reached out to ruffle her sister’s hair, then leaped from the rooftop. Moving quickly, she gathered up their pillows and blankets from their room, along with the spares from their end table, and then came back up to the roof. In a few moments, she and Luna were snuggled up together in a cocoon of blankets, their heads resting back on their pillows, and their sleepy eyes glued to the heavens.

It was peaceful that night, and Celestia found herself falling asleep even faster than she had been in her bed. Whether or not it was because of the soothing light of the stars, or the warmth of her sister cuddling up to her, though, she did not know. All she could be sure of was that she was beyond happy that night, bathed in the light of the moon and her sister’s warmth.