When the time arrived for the Breezie migration it's an understatement to say that we were excited. It was our first outing as a real family. We packed Seth into his little back baby bag which Gilda wore, while I had my own bag filled with snacks so we wouldn't have to buy any of the overpriced fare they'd be selling for the viewers. We went out early and picked our spot on main street just before noon, before the street got too crowded and filled up.

"Attention everyone!" The mayor of Wingsconsen, a pegasus by the name of Penworthy, spoke over a megaphone. "The breezies are about to pass through. They are fragile creatures and easily startled, so please do your utmost to remain silent, as well as take great care not to step on anyone. Please let the wind teams do their jobs, do not disturb the main parade. If a breezie lands on you, please remain still until they leave. Thank you."

With that the mayor landed at the central town pavilion and a hush fell over the crowd. Five minutes of eager silence passed before the first specks of colour came into view. Then more, and a few more, till finally the whole sky was filled with a myriad rainbow of hues. The different coloured breezies grouped together and moved in swirling lines, like an ever undulating flock of birds, but organized into their respective flavors. All in all, it reminded me of the aurora borealis, but far more vibrant, with a different temperament, and much closer.

They flock descended and filled the street, and with them came... the singing. Every voice singing the same tune, at a different tone. There were no words, rather the song was mere vocal tones. As though words themselves weren't necessary and the tones were enough to convey the emotion. As a thousand different voices blended to create the perfect harmony, only to be replaced by a thousand different voices just as beautiful but all together different from the last bunch. I looked to the group the just passed me by, and wished they would return. I looked to the group in front of me now and enjoyed their presence, then looked to the group coming up with eager yearning and unbearable curiosity. The entire event was poetic and masterfully performed.

No wonder it's such a big deal. To bear witness to such a ... beautiful occurrence even once in ones life was to feel blessed beyond compare. Gilda breathed a sigh of relief and relaxation. I watched as the stress and nervousness she'd held onto these past few months since I returned, and even longer before then, melted away. I felt the same thing as their collective hum seeped into my very bones, a kind of ringing, tingling sensation that just made me feel good all over. I turned to look at Seth, who's eyes were wide in wonder, and I smiled.

Today was perfect.

As the main group finally passed us by, a few stragglers were filing in from behind, gently flitting over to various members of the crowd, saying something in their bizarre breezie language, then moving on. One of them gently hovered over to us, then alighted on Seth's beak. Gilda and I smiled, Seth tilted his head curiously. The breezie opened it's wings, to give Seth a full view of the masterful artwork painted upon it, just as each and every other breezie had it's own pattern. The tiny insect creature smiled and made a happy chirping sound, and Seth giggled.

*Crunch*

... One moment, a happy chirping breezie. The next, a misshapen wing sticking out of Seth's mouth.

*gulp*

One of Seth's favorite snacks is butterflies.

One of the breezies who was nearby began freaking out, squeaking frantically and nonsensically.

"Oh my god Gilda... Seth just ate a breezie."

"What?" Of course she didn't see it. Seth was on her back.

"We gotta get him to the hospital. It might still be alive, and we have no idea if they're poisonous or not. They're kind of like butterflies, and I know monarchs are toxic."

"Crap!" She took off like a rocket, disturbing another small group that had been lagging behind. I grabbed the one that started freaking out when the other got swallowed, cradling it carefully in my claws as I took off after her.

"Well doctor? What's the news?" Gilda asked as one of the innumerable, indistinct doctor ponies who we recognized as being attached to Seth's case came out of the room.

"He's fine. Everything is fine. Breezies aren't poisonous. We didn't even have to perform surgery. I just used an intro-scanner spell to take a look inside him, then we pulled it out his throat with magic. The breezie, on the other hand, has a broken wing and leg, and has also had quite a shock. It will be in recovery for quite some time. I'm afraid it won't be able to make it back through the portal before it closes."

"Thank you doctor." Gilda breathed a sigh of relief. The breezie I had with me flew out of my grasp, got right in the doctor's face, and started chattering unintelligibly.

"I said they'll be fine. They're okay. Please relax." This did nothing to help calm the breezie's mood. He turned to me. "I don't think this one can understand me. Can you try and do something? You can take your son home now, but the patient can't have any visitors."

"What the heck do you want me to do?"

"I don't know. I'm a doctor, not a linguist." Neither am I. Sure I know English, French, Spanish, some spattering of italian and crude latin, but that doesn't make me some expert.... although... hmmm.

Seth happily bounced down the hospital hallway before being scooped up in Gilda's arms and climbing onto her back. He spotted the breezie who was now bawling and jumped off her, then crawled over to it in a very submissive position. Head down, almost flat on the floor, tail down, looking overall very sad. He gave the big sad eyes too.

"Sowwy." It's hard to make r's with a beak. R sounds are mostly teeth, and his hadn't quite come in yet. The breezie didn't seem to get the word, but did understand the posture and facial expression.

Hmm... that tells me a lot of their language is based on tone rather than specific words...

I began letting out a steady, moderate vocal tone, which slowly went up in pitch as a way to kind of say 'Things suck right now but they'll get better'. The breezie hovered towards me and said, "M'excusen, t'comprende'm?"

At that moment, it was like lightning went through me.

'M'excusen means excuse me, with the pronoun first followed by the verb. Me, you excuse. It's a command. T'comprenden'm. You, understand me. But the tone went up at the end. If the tone didn't go up it would have been a statement like 'You understand me.' but the tone went up, which means it's a question. The breezie is asking if I can understand it.'

"Ya, m'comprenden't. Tote's bono." I pointed towards the operating room. The breezie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Griffin..." Gilda began. "I know we're both making an effort not to swear in front of Seth, but what the actual fuck?"

"Breezie language is based on efficiency, using as few words as possible, making pronouns part of the verb and declaring them first so you know what the subject is, then using vocal tones to differentiate between statements, questions, and commands, while the placement of the pronoun determines whether it's past, present, or future tense. The verbs, at the very least, seem to be a mutation of latin. I wouldn't be surprised if breezies have incantation based magic. That's what they were doing Gilda. Their singing. It wasn't a show for us. It was to activate their protection magic, powered by the wind from the pegasi."

".... let's just go home." She said with exasperation.

As expected, the portal to wherever the breezies come from closed. The pair of them got left behind but they seemed okay with it. From what I was able to gather from Gale, the breezie I had grabbed, she and Bluster, the hospitalized one, were a married couple. Since they could no longer go home, and given that we were responsible for their situation, Gilda and I decided that we would let them stay with us. Our house was safe, warm, guarded against the wind, and given that breezies eat about a breadcrumb a day, it's not like we'd be lacking in food and lodging. The only problem was Seth, though now that he understood the difference between breezies and butterflies, everyone was confident he wouldn't make the mistake of eating one again. Given how many breezies get eaten by mundane birds on their pollen route, the couple didn't hold a grudge.

And that's how our household grew to five.

Author's Notes:

I had this chapter planned for a while. Seth, you adorable embodiment of chaos you. This one was a little shorter than normal, but it's a little bit of filler before I get back to the plot. An important bit mind you, the value of which will be explained later.

Also. I played around with the idea of Seth getting a breezie in his mouth, then a trio of breezies flying in and smacking him on the back of the neck to make him spit it out, all while the theme of 'Attack on Titan' played, but I thought that was just too silly.