Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Talking about the future with others today may lead to a realization.

Morning

It's cold this morning. My bed is warm and cozy...

I don't have anything planned today...

I decide to sleep in.

It's a quarter of ten when I finally decide to get up. As soon as I'm dressed, I head downstairs to find Cadance and Velvet in the kitchen. Sausage is sizzling in a skillet and Cadance is tending a saucepan. Shining Armor and Night Light are in the lounge watching the weather news.

"Good morning, Flash," Velvet says. "Would you mind waking up the girls?"

"Twilight and Pinkie aren't up yet?" I ask.

"Nope," Shining Armor calls from the lounge. "The rest of us just got up a little bit ago."

"It's so cold we all just stayed in bed," Cadance says.

I laugh. "Yeah, same here..." I head upstairs to wake up Twilight and Pinkie.

Twilight comes downstairs, still in her pajamas and wearing heavy socks and fuzzy slippers. Pinkie's also wearing thick pajamas, as well as a bright pink Blankeez.

"We're having biscuits and gravy and sausage," Velvet announces. "I just put the biscuits in a few minutes ago, so—"

The doorbell rings.

We all turn to stare. "Who could that be?" Twilight wonders.

I head for the door and unlock it, then open it.

On the other side is Maud Pie. She blinks once, slowly. "Hello," she says.

"Umm...hi," I reply. "Come in..."

Maud walks in. Her heavy grey coat is dusted with snow, as is her hair. She has a slate grey suitcase in one hand and a large brown paper shopping bag in the other.

Behind me, Pinkie lets out a loud gasp. "MAUD?!"

Maud sets down her things and removes her coat. "Hello, Pinkie," she says.

"Oh my gosh, what're you doing here?" Pinkie asks.

"I want to spend Christmas with you," Maud says. "That's alright, isn't it?"

"Of course it is!" Pinkie says. "But...you're not...with Papa, and—"

I've only met Maud a couple of times, but I'm familiar enough with her usual lack of expression to notice the faint anger on her blank, placid face. "I want to spend Christmas with you," Maud says. "If it's alright, I'll stay the week, then leave for Vanhoover next Sunday."

"Are you kidding? Of course it's alright!" Pinkie says happily, sweeping her sister up in a hug.

I take Maud's coat and hang it up. "We're just about to have breakfast," I say. "Pinkie, show Maud to the dining room, okay? I'll take her bags up to the third floor. She can use the room Celestia and Luna use."

"Thank you," Maud says, following Pinkie.

Maud's suitcase is incredibly heavy, as is the brown paper bag. It's a bit of a struggle to get up to the third floor with them.

When I get back to the dining room, Shining Armor and Night Light are chatting with—or rather, at—Maud. Pinkie's answering more of their questions than Maud is. Twilight is watching Pinkie with a smile.

Cadance and Velvet bring out two big pans of biscuits, a platter full of sausage patties, and a saucepan full to the top with thick, creamy white gravy. Velvet is very warm to Maud, as is Cadance.

"How come you didn't let us know you were coming?" Cadance asks.

"I wanted to surprise Pinkie," Maud says. She takes a bite of biscuit and gravy and blinks. "This is good," she says in an almost surprised tone.

"Thank you, dear," Velvet says. "You must've driven through some terrible weather getting here."

"It isn't snowing that much yet," Maud says. "Just flurries. The blizzard isn't hitting until tomorrow."

"Yeah, we just heard," Night Light says. "Canterlot's under a blizzard warning starting tonight. They say it could last clear to Christmas..."

"Well, at least we'll have a white Christmas," Twilight says. "That's good, isn't it?"

"We can build a snowman!" Pinkie says. "And a snowwoman! And snowchildren! And a little snowdoggy!"

"I'll build a snowrock," Maud says.

Daytime

After breakfast, I show Maud where she'll be staying. While she starts unpacking, she hands me the brown paper bag. "These are presents," she says. "Could you put them under the tree for me?"

"Sure," I say. I take the bag back down to the lounge. Twilight and her parents are watching television. "Where's everybody else?" I ask.

"Cadance is cleaning up the kitchen and Shining Armor went to buy salt and shovels," Velvet says.

"We really should've done that yesterday," Night Light says with a frown. "The hardware store's going to be a madhouse..."

"And Pinkie?" I ask.

"She went out for a little bit," Twilight says. "Said she had something to take care of really fast."

"Probably getting something for Maud," Velvet says. In a quieter voice, she says, "Strange girl, that one."

"She's a little creepy," Night Light agrees.

I shake my head and put Maud's presents under the tree. They're heavy...

"Hey Flash, why don't you bring your guitar down?" Twilight suggests. "My parents haven't heard you play!"

"Oh, yes, please do!" Velvet says.

I shrug. "Sure. I need to get in some practice anyway, I've been slacking off lately." I head upstairs to get my guitar and amp.

When I return, Maud is in the lounge with the others. I plug in the amp, get set up, and pause. "Any requests?"

"Oh, whatever is fine," Velvet says.

I give it some thought, then play something a little older and softer than my usual repertoire.

"Wow, I haven't heard that song in forever," Night Light says.

Velvet raises an eyebrow at me. "You know, that's the kind of stuff our parents listened to..."

I shrug. "So? It's good music."

"True," Velvet says with a grin.

"But if you want something a little more...familiar..." I start playing possibly the most famous song from when Twilight's parents would have been in college. I even decide to sing...as do Twilight's parents.

"You're pretty good," Night Light says.

"You should hear him play grunge," Twilight says. "That's his speciality."

"Well, he is from Seaddle," Night Light says with a grin. We all laugh.

"Do you know any songs about rocks?" Maud asks. "There should be more songs about rocks."

I think about that. "Well...closest thing I can think of is..." I play the first thing that comes to mind.

"Close enough," Maud says.

After that, I spend another hour playing, picking songs at random. By the time my hands are getting tired, Pinkie walks back in carrying a big canvas shopping bag and looking pretty rumpled. "Aww, did I miss a concert?" she asks.

"Just a little guitar practice," I say, unplugging the amp and packing the guitar away.

"Where'd you go off to, Pinkie?" Velvet asks.

"Oh, just had something to take care of really fast," Pinkie says. "I'll be down to make lunch in about twenty minutes or so!"

"You don't have to make lunch, Pinkie," Cadance calls after her.

"I want to!" Pinkie calls back.

I take my guitar and amp back upstairs, then return to the lounge. A short while later, while Pinkie is making lunch, Shining Armor walks back in, rubbing his arms. "It's getting colder out there every minute," he says.

"We're having lunch soon," Cadance says.

"I think I'll go help Pinkie," Velvet announces, heading into the kitchen.

"So Flash," Night Light says, "are you planning to start a band or anything? You're really good. It's amazing how you can play so many different styles!"

I shrug. "I've thought about it, but..." I look at Twilight, then think about Rainbow Dash and how she hardly ever sees her dad...and how my own parents have always cared more about their own work. "Honestly? I'd be fine doing session work, parties, stuff like that. It'd be a good living and I could stay in one place instead of going on tour all the time." I shake my head. "Not that I wouldn't like being famous and all, I just...think I'd like to stay close to home."

Twilight blushes and ducks her head. Night Light smiles. "Well, there certainly are enough recording studios in Canterlot...and Seaddle...and Baltimare..."

"Hey, you could be like, a wedding singer," Shining Armor says. "You know, like in that one movie?"

"Oh, I love that movie!" Twilight says happily.

A little after that, lunch is ready. After lunch, everybody wanders off to do their own thing for the rest of the day.

Evening

After dinner, we all gather in the lounge to watch television together. Well, more or less—Twilight is reading, Maud and Pinkie are having a quiet conversation in the corner of the lounge, Shining Armor is tracking the blizzard headed for Canterlot, and Night Light is tracking the weather in Baltimare.

It's getting colder...

Before bed, we turn on the weather news. The blizzard is going to hit by the middle of the day tomorrow...

Once the adults have all gone over to the apartment, the rest of us start to head upstairs. Twilight grabs my arm and hangs back, waiting for the Pie sisters to head up. She looks pensive. "Flash...can I spend the night with you?"

My heart is pounding. It's not like we haven't slept in bed together before, but...

She winces. "I'm not...talking about...you know," she says. "It's just...it's going to be really cold tonight, and..."

I smile and pull her close. "Go get your pajamas on," I say. "Bring Spike up with you."

Twilight smiles. "Thank you," she says.

A short while later, Twilight and I are curled up together under two heavy blankets, while Spike is curled up under two blankets of his own in his basket.