Talia sighed before pushing open the door to her house. It was a large house, but well away from other ponies. Not that she could ever be lonely, it just would have been nice to meet some others sometime, she thought. She stepped inside the large building, letting her eyes and ears adjust to the dim light and amplified volume. She reminded herself that it was her night to
“NATTY?” A voice came from somewhere inside the house.
Talia winced. Who was the brilliant being that had granted Thomas the talent of knowing whoever crossed the threshold? “Yeah,” she called back. She had to figure out what she would make for
Three small bodies pelted into her. She looked down to see Daph, Melia, and Ralph. The triplets. Oh joy. Daph fluttered her great powerful wings and pranced around. If Talia hadn’t been the one that Daph cried to, she would have thought the baby had a superiority complex. She was always showing off her dragon wings. Then there was Melia dodged under her, and only with her exceptional innate luck that all the kiins in the family seemed to have, did she keep from getting her head taken off time and again. Ralph grinned then began to climb up Talia’s leg. She just hoped that he remembered to watch his horn this time. She didn’t need another
“Tali, darling, have you seen the...? Oh!” her mother said, striding in. Her mother was gorgeous, Talia liked how she herself looked, but she was always amazed that no one else felt small and plain beside Salema. Salema was iridescent. She looked White but her coat shimmered as she walked, displaying a rainbow of colors. Her wings were the same but with a pale pink base, rather then white. Her mane and tail flowed to the floor like cloaks and shinned in the purest gold. Her wide eyes were blue and trusting. She may have taken after her Pixie mother, but she shone like her legend father. Everyone told Talia that she inherited the same shine, and usually she believed them, but she had trouble remembering she was attractive when she was in the same room as her
“Mother!” Daph cried, turning with her wings flared, nearly taking off Meia’s head again. Talia sighed and watched her sister bound across the floor to their mother. She knelt down, hoping that Ralph would take the hint for once and get off of her, but instead Melia climbed on. She sighed and stood. How was she going to
“My dear,” Salema said, nuzzling Daph before turning her brilliant smile on Talia. “Tali, sweetie, You were going to make dinner tonight, right?”
Talia swallowed the urge to scream. “I was on my way to do it, mom,” she said. How did her mother always manage to make her feel like a small clumsy child?
“Ah, that’s a good girl then, thank you.” Her mother gathered up the triplets and took them off.
Talia breathed a sigh of relief and made her way to the kitchen, trying to ignore the screaming. Her grandfather on one side was a nightmare legend, where as her grandmother on the other side was the overly proud Kirin daughter of a dream legend. Talia loved them both, but if all they were going to do was argue, she wished one of them would just hurry and move out already. She peeked around the kitchen. She seemed to be alone for the moment. Her brother, Gerone, the little demon, could go invisible, but it sounded like he was playing tackle in the back room with Grech and Charlie, so she should be fine. She ignored a crash from inside and slipped the map out from under her leg-band. Dream valley looked so promising, but Nightmare had it’s perks too. She heard grandfather Shymiondious scream at Grandma Kiaria about moving his books, and she knew that she couldn’t move to either of those places. One of her grandparents would be insulted. Of course they all would be angry when she picked up and moved out, but she couldn’t handle all this
“Ata?” Lista asked, poking her head ing timidly. Lista was her aunt. Like her Talia’s father, Lista was a unicorn Pegasus. However, unlike her father she was quiet and timid. Quiet and timid never would have landed Salema.
“Yeah?” Talia asked, shoving the map back hastily. She loved her family, but she would give most anything for a moment’s privacy. Just a moment to think on her
“Did you need any help with dinner?” Lista’s soft voice asked.
Talia could have hugged her. She smiled warmly instead, and nodded. “I’d love some help,” she said and stepped aside to pull out what was needed. “How do you survive it, Lista?” Talia asked. Lista didn’t seem the type to deal with all this chaos. She winced as there was another crash. What in the world was left to beak?
“How do I survive what?” Lista asked, seeming truly puzzled.
Talia sighed and shook her head, passing the lettuce to her aunt. “Never mind.”
Ermone poked his head in. “Lia, did you see my soap?” he asked. His usual shirt and pants were gone, replaced by a towel wrapped around his neck like a vampire cloak.
Talia once again regretted the phase she went through as a yearling of trying to fool Thomas’ power by changing her nickname daily. Now they all had a different name for her, it got confusing.
She sighed and shook her head. “Ask Charlie, he likes to hide it.”
“I did,” he grumped.
“I’ll help you look,” Lista offered and walked off to do so.
Talia sighed, torn between being annoyed at her aunt for leaving in the middle of helping, and relieved at the solitude. She heard another crash. Such as it was. Really though, what could they possibly be breaking?
So not dream valley, or nightmare, she reminded herself. She had a few rare moments alone, and she was going to use them.
The kitchen door crashed open and Ralph slid in on his back, and out the other door. Talia made a note to be careful where she stepped. At least she knew where the soap went now. She finished preparing dinner and put it all together. five trays it took to feed this family, five trays of food. And she hadn’t come any closer to deciding where she was going to go. With a sigh she picked up the first tray and headed into the main room. She made it two steps when her father came in. She should have warned him about the soap, but her mind was elsewhere, until suddenly her dad was careening towards her, unable to stop. Before she could move aside he crashed into her, sending the tray she was carrying into the air. She and her dad slammed back into the counter, toppling the other trays on top of them with a loud clash. One hit her on the head, her dad’s horn pressed into her flank, and she saw stars. No not stars, pretty little flutters circling her head. “flutter valley!” she mumbled.
“What?” her dad asked, scratching her accidentally as he tried to get up, and slipped back down again.
“Nothing,” she mumbled as the whole family raced in. She saw the trail of soap in her mind’s eye and braced for the inevitable pile up. “nothing at all, dad.”
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