Familia 2: This is Bait.


                                            =Familia 2=


                                            >You sit back against the couch and prepare for Anonymous’s next tale.

                                            “I just find it so unbelievable that you two…were raised here.”

                                            >Anonymous chuckles and plays with his beard. “What’s so funny about that, Twilight?”

                                            “I just never imagined their beginnings being so—humble, I guess.”

                                            >Anonymous chuckles and pets Celestia who seems to stir his tea for him without even noticing.

                                            >”We all come from humble beginnings, Twilight. I did, Celestia and Luna did, I’m sure you did as well. It’s only as we age that our extraordinary purposes become apparent.”

                                            “Yes, but they’re the PRINCESSES.”

                                            >They RAN THE WORLD.

                                            >Anonymous chuckles again. “True, but they were once little girls, just the same as any others. They loved, they played…”

                                            >He reaches under the couch and retrieves a faded, worn, stuffed brown bear.

                                            >”and sometimes they fought.”

                                            >Princess Celestia rolls her eyes and turns the slightest shade of red. “By the stars, you still have that, daddy?”

                                            >”I always keep heirlooms of my little princesses.”

                                            “What is that?” you ask.

                                            >Anonymous holds the stuffed bear missing an eye up and looks at it fondly.

                                            >”This is a reminder of a time we all played together…”

                                            >You sip your tea and listen.


                                            >”It’s mine, Luna! Give it here!” you hear Celestia shout.

                                            >”NO!” you hear shouted back.

                                            >You sigh.

                                            “Hells bells, what is it now?”

                                            >You get up from your desk and walk out of the study towards the living room where the noise originated from.

                                            “Girls, girls, what is this?!”

                                            >The girls had spent a few months at your house already and had gotten a bit bigger as a result, all thanks to your mom’s old pancake recipe every morning, and were locked in mortal combat on the rug.

                                            >Celestia, still a bit older than her sister and thus towering over the toddler, yanked her head back and nearly pulled Luna across the floor as the two wrestled over the tiny stuffed bear they had locked between their teeth.

                                            >”Luna took Sir Bearington this morning and won’t give him back!”

                                            >The little blue filly in question flutters her tiny wings and pulls the teddy back a bit. “NO! WOONA BEAR!” she cries through gritted teeth.

                                            >Neither of the two little princesses had adapted their magic yet, THAT was all thanks to you not knowing a lick about it, but that didn’t stop their little horns from sparking as their emotions got worked up.

                                            >Finally you snap yourself from your stupor and step in.

                                            >In two strides you’re looming over the girls and staring into their surprised eyes as your hand swoops down and snatches the bear away.

                                            “Okay! I think Sir Bearington needs some rest before anyone plays with him again.”

                                            >The two fillies stumble a bit and scramble to their hooves, galloping around your legs as you walk away. >“What, no! Anonymous! We’ll be good, we promise! You don’t need to put him away! Luna and I are friends now, right Luna?”

                                            >The moppet princess flails her hooves towards the stuffed animal that you place on top of the pantry. “Bear! Bear!” she squeals.


                                            >You turn around and cross your arms, looking sternly at the two.

                                            “Girls, so long as you’re going to fight, neither of you are going to play with Sir Bearington. He’s staying up their until you cool off.”

                                            >Celestia hangs her head and kicks at the floor, glancing over to Luna. You follow her gaze and-

                                            >Oh god.

                                            >You just catch her little lip quiver before she throws her head back and lets out a tearful wail.

                                            >”WAAAAAAAAAAH!” she cries.

                                            >Celestia winces and covers her ears to block her sister’s powerful pipes.

                                            >You kneel down and scoop Luna up in your arms, bouncing her a bit.

                                            “Ooookay. Okay. Calm down sweetie, it’s okay.”

                                            >Tears stream down Luna’s cheeks. She reaches out past your shoulder to Sir Bearington and babbles incoherencies at you trying to plead for him back.

                                            >This called for intervention and fast. They needed to get off this bear.

                                            “He, who wants to play a game with me outside??” you ask.

                                            >Celestia’s ears perk up and Luna calms slightly as you pet the back of your head, though you still feel tears down your shoulder.

                                            >”What kind of game?” she asks.

                                            >Hide and Go Be Quiet.


                                            “It’s called Hide and Seek, it’s a game I used to play when I was little.”

                                            >Luna buries her face in your neck and you go back to bouncing her.

                                            >“How do you play?”

                                            “Well, one person is “it” and they have to close their eyes and count to one hundred, and during that time the other one goes to hide somewhere. After they’re done counting, the one who’s it goes to try and find the other, and they win if they can find them.”

                                            >Celestia quizzically tilts her head to the side. “You want me…to hide from you?”

                                            “Only for fun and games, Celly.”

                                            >Celestia quickly smiles her bright smile. “Well that sounds new and fun, let’s play!”

                                            >You hold Luna out and look her in the eyes.

                                            “Woona, does this game sound like fun to you? You can be on my team.”

                                            >Luna’s eyes are still brimmed with tears, but she looks to her bear and then back to you before nodding her head.

                                            “Alright! Out the back then!”


                                            >Luna squirms as you cover her eyes with your hand.

                                            “Now now Luna, we can’t see where she goes.”

                                            >”Are you both not looking?” you hear.

                                            “Yes, Celestia. We’re ready!”

                                            >”You PROMISE??”

                                            “Yes, Celestia. I’m going to start counting now.”

                                            >You hear the pitter patter of tiny hoovies running away and begin counting.

                                            “One. Luna? What comes after one?”

                                            >”Uhhmm…” Luna says, before she blows a raspberry.

                                            >Brilliant.

                                            “One. Two. Three…”

                                            >A bit of time passes and you relish being outside on a cool day like today drinking in the smells and sounds of the woods you lived near. You could feel the cool breeze against your face and the warm sun on the back of your neck and felt so at peace.

                                            >When you’d first arrived here way back when, you’d only settled here because it was near a river for water. But because of the turn your life took, you find yourself thanking your past self for his foresight, this place was the perfect place to bring up children.

                                            “Ninety-nine…one hundred. Here we come, Celestia!”

                                            >You hold Luna up to your face so your noses touched.

                                            “Want to help me look?”

                                            >The little filly smiles and nods her head, you rub your noses together and then lower her into the neck-hole of your shirt to form a makeshift papoose.

                                            “Let’s start by the treeline, huh?”


                                            >You and Luna waltz through the edge of the forest together looking for the splash of white and pink that would clue you in to Celestia’s location. You searched low under fallen logs and high up in tree canopies, but found nothing yet.

                                            >Luna’s little hind legs rested atop your folded arms as she peered out of your shirt, looking around. At your glances down, you saw her almost ready to dive back into the shirt and hide.

                                            “What’s wrong, Lulu?”

                                            >You both feel and hear her squirm in your shirt, not knowing how to answer.

                                            “Come now, it’s a beautiful day out, and look at all the interesting things!

                                            >You reach your hand over and let a caterpillar crawl onto it, then you hold it in front of Luna’s face. When the little bug rises up and wags its feelers at Luna, you hear her yelp through her closed mouth and withdraw into your shirt a bit.

                                            >Okay, bad idea.

                                            >You wag the insect off and fish Luna out of your shirt.

                                            “What’s wrong, Lulu? There’s nothing to be scared of.”

                                            >Luna looks you in the eye, but her gaze quickly shifts around you to all the trees and foliage, to a rabbit here or to a bird there and she starts to look more worried.

                                            “Here, come here.”

                                            >You bring her closer and let her head rest on your shoulder. She stiffens for a moment but relaxes soon enough.

                                            “You and your sister were dropped off here because it’s safe…and so long as you’re here, with me, you’ll always be safe from everything that you’re scared of, okay? Nothing can hurt you while I’m here. Okay?”

                                            >A bit of passes before you feel Luna relax in your hands and rub her neck against yours. You’d seen her and her sister do that before so you figured it was a good sign.

                                            >You smile.

                                            “Come on, let’s check again by the house.”


                                            >You sat on your deck porch with your arms crossed and Luna on the deck table unpleased.

                                            >After checking the roof, the chimney, under the porch, and around the side of the house. You still hadn’t found Celestia yet.

                                            >You weren’t particularly worried, Celestia always knew to be at home before sunset, but still you didn’t like being beaten by a child.

                                            >On the table, you can see Luna look past you and hang her head a bit.

                                            “What’s wrong, Luna?” you ask.

                                            >She points past you to the pantry. “See bear…”

                                            >You look over your shoulder to where you’d put Sir Bearington.

                                            >Ah, that made sense, Luna must still want to pla-

                                            >Bingo.

                                            >You get a sly grin and turn back to Luna.

                                            “Okay, sweetie. I think your punishment has gone on long enough.”

                                            >She tilts her head as you scooper her up and carry her inside, but quickly claps her hooves together as you grab Sir Bearington from the pantry and set the two of them down on the floor.

                                            “Okay now you have fun while I keep looking, okay?”

                                            >She can’t even hear you as she hugs her bear and you zip off into the hallway.

                                            >Luna begins concocting no doubt some grand adventure with her bear friend and you sit back and stay quiet.


                                            >After a few minutes, you see a pair of pink eyes blink and narrow from under the couch, right before a tiny white filly zips out from underneath it.

                                            >”Luna! That’s not fair! Anonymous took him away from the both of us and you were playing with him earlier and I-“

                                            >Celestia stops mid-sentence, noticing that she is now exposed, and turns to your direction.

                                            >You boop her on the nose with your finger.

                                            “Found you.”

                                            >The princess blows her cheeks out and pouts. “That’s not fair Anonymous, you tricked me!” she cries.

                                            >You chuckle.

                                            “Maybe, but it worked!”

                                            >Celestia pouts more and looks at Luna, more appropriately at the bear.

                                            >”Come on Woona, it’s my turn to play with him.” She began.

                                            >Oh no, not again. But if the bear distraction worked…

                                            “I have an idea, Celestia, since I tricked you. Why don’t you help me cook dinner and then after we eat, you can play with Sir Bearington while I put Luna to bed, does that sound fair?”

                                            >Celestia rubs her chin and considers your proposal. “Can we have cake for dessert?”

                                            “Maybe tomorrow.”

                                            >”Proooooomise?”

                                            “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

                                            >Celestia giggles. “That’s silly, Anon.”

                                            You shrug. “Go wash your hooves and come help me.”

                                            >”Okay!” she says and runs off to the bathroom.

                                            >Luna continues to play as you get things for dinner out.

                                            >It wasn’t that silly…maybe it’d catch on with the girls.