Sarah Avalon was sitting at her kitchen table and looking over some forms she had received earlier that day. She tut-tutted as she looked over the results.
“Is something wrong, honey?” Adrian asked, as he poured himself a glass of water.
“I just got their results back today, Sage Heart, Life Heart, Love Heart and Sweet Heart all passed their GED exams,” Sarah showed the forms to her husband.
“Really? That’s great news,” Adrian smiled then took a drink.
“It is, but it saddens me that they’re all self-educated and home schooled and even ten-year-old Sweet Heart could pass the exams, while I’ve known tenth grade students who can’t.” Sarah sighed and set the forms aside, “But I suppose there’s no point in dwelling on it now. They’ve passed and they’ll be out to search for jobs tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Adrian gave her a kiss on the cheek, “Coming to bed?”
“In a minute, I just need to file these for later.” Sarah stood up and took the forms with her.
OoOoO
Sweet Heart Pegasus was awoken by Cassandra’s alarm clock. She grumbled and put her hands over her ears as she tried to curl up under the sleeping bag she lay in on the floor of their room until, finally, she heard Cassandra grumble, get out of bed, and shut the alarm off before heading off to shower.
Sweet Heart sighed, uncovered her ears and tried to get back to sleep but as she heard more people getting up Sweet Heart reluctantly sat up and shook her head before seeing to her wings. She had to preen any molted feathers each morning or they got caught and hurt like hell. She stretched just as Cassandra walked back into the room, still damp from the shower.
“Mornin’ Sweet Heart. Any big plans for the day?” Cassandra dug out her underwear and started getting dressed.
Sweet Heart shook her head, “Nope. Is the shower free?”
“Should be, but not for long,” Cassandra fished a bra out and latched it up at the back, “Better hurry if you want to clean up before everyone else needs it.”
Half-an-hour later, Sweet Heart was seated at the Avalon’s kitchen table, her wings and tail poking through holes that had been sewn into the back of her black shorts and yellow t-shirt and digging into a bowl of cereal as everyone else came downstairs, grabbed breakfast and coffee and one by one headed for the door.
Sage Heart and Life Heart came down together. Life Heart wearing a pale pink dress and Sage Heart was wearing a costume tuxedo and carrying a large briefcase. The two shared a kiss before they headed out the front door.
“How are the kids?” Sage Heart asked.
Life Heart giggled, “They’re sweet. Every day they’re so excited that a unicorn is looking after them, though I do have to be harsh with them sometimes. How about you?”
“Thanks to your magic lessons my little shows are a hit. Have fun today,” they stepped outside.
Love Heart was the next to come down, he was wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans. He grabbed a paper travel mug he poured coffee into it, took a sip and grimaced.
“Where are you going big brother?” Sweet Heart asked from where she sat on the couch.
“Babysitting job. I have a regular for most days of the week,” Love Heart pulled his red and white running shoes on. “Gotta go!” he darted out the door, slamming it on his way out.
Sweet Heart sighed but finished her breakfast and stacked her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. Then went to lie, stomach down, on the couch. She watched Sarah and Adrian leave for work, then Terrence came downstairs. He glanced at Sweet Heart as he was making toast. “What are you doing today, kid?”
Sweet Heart huffed, “Nothing. Your dad says I’m too young to get a job and I don’t have to go to school.”
“Well there’s always the game console,” Terrence pointed to the black brick-like device sitting in front of the television, “I took it out last night just in case you got bored. Do you know how to work a CD tray?”
Sweet Heart sat up and nodded, “Uh-huh, miss Miranda showed me how.”
“Well just pick a game that looks interesting, put it and use the controller to play,” he pointed to the black paddle connected to the console by a cord, “just don’t break anything.”
Sweet Heart grinned, “OK!”
Cassandra came barreling down the stairs, grabbing Terrence’s toast and stuffing it in her mouth as she bolted on her rollerblades and pads. “See ya Sweet Heart!” she shouted as she took off.
“You’re gonna be late again!” Terrence shouted after her. Sighing he grabbed a breakfast bar from the pantry and headed for the door. “Just remember to grab a key from the bowl if you go out today.” Terrence shut the door behind him which left Sweet Heart alone in the house.
Sweet Heart spread her wings out, lay on the couch and just took in the sounds of the house: the humming of the refrigerator and the buzz of the lights. Finally, she got up and looked through the selection of games, picking out one with cartoon characters in miniature cars, stuck it in the game console, turned on the TV and grabbed the controller. Might as well give video games a try.
OoOoO
“And there’s lunch already made in the fridge, don’t take any more than you need, and don’t let him play too many video games, and there’s a list of emergency numbers on the fridge, out of his reach…”
Love Heart nodded each time the Mrs. Cooper listed off all her requirements. “I understand, Mrs. Cooper. Stevan will be fine, I promise.”
“Alright,” Mrs. Cooper checked her watch, “I gotta go, be careful!” A moment later she was driving away in the car.
Once she was gone, Love Heart shut the door and took a deep breath, “Alright, I can do this.”
Stevan was four years old and sitting in his bedroom when Love Heart stepped into the doorway. Stevan looked up from the bricks was he playing with. “Are you a teddy bear?”
Love Heart chuckled, “I’m a Care Bear, so maybe? Your parents asked me to watch you while they were at work.”
“OK.” Stevan stood up, “Gonna go play!” he grinned and darted past Love Heart.
“Whoa!” Love Heart was taken aback, “Get back here!” he took off after Stevan.
OoOoO
“Life Heart! Life Heart!” a young girl all but tore away from her father and ran over to give Life Heart a hug.
“It’s nice to see you again Emily,” Life Heart patted her head and looked up at her father, who had tensed up when his daughter ran over to hug what he thought was a large stuffed animal. “I assure you, I’m very real and I will look after Emily while you’re at work.”
“Alright. Be safe Emily,” he said before heading out the door.
“Told ya she was a real unicorn!” one of the girls from the group of about a dozen children pointed at Life Heart.
“Nuh-uh, that’s just a costume!” The boy retorted.
Life Heart carefully pushed Emily towards the group and walked over to the boy and crouched in front of him, “I am a real unicorn, see.” She smiled.
“That horn’s fake!” he reached up, grabbed Life Heart’s horn and pulled.
Life Heart winced, “Please don’t do that, it hurts.”
“Nnnng! Come off!” the boy grunted.
Life Heart sighed and sent a pulse of magic through her horn, which made the boy start to lift off the ground. “Whaaa!” he cried out as he let go of her horn and floated about a foot off the ground.
“Thank you, phew!” Life Heart swiped her forehead as she stood up. She found herself surrounded by the children, wide-eyed and all clamoring at her.
“Was that magic?”
“Can I fly?”
“Can you make a big cake?”
“Lemme fly I wanna fly!”
Life Heart giggled, “Oh my, seems I’ve made an impression. Alright one at a time though then you have to promise to sit and be good.”
The kids all grinned, “OK!”
OoOoO
Sweet Heart stuck her tongue partway out as she steered the car in her video game around a corner, but missed and got stuck on a wall. Sweet Heart groaned and dropped the controller on the couch next to her then got up and shut the console and TV off.
“I’m bored,” she huffed and looked around the living room. With little else to do, Sweet Heart decided to explore the house. She already knew about the main floor’s master bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen so she went downstairs to explore. The laundry and furnace room were a bore, there wasn’t even a crawl space big enough for her to bother exploring.
The backyard was similarly uninteresting, just a tall tree and grass and nothing else impressive. That only left upstairs. Sweet Heart trotted up the stairs and looked around. Just the three bedrooms and a bathroom and a string hanging from the ceiling.
Sweet Heart stopped and stared. The string hanging from the ceiling had a small wooden ball on the end and was connected to a rectangular cut in the ceiling. Sweet Heart gave it a curious look for a moment then flew up to the string grabbed it and pulled with all her might.
The ceiling seemed to heave and the cut section pulled down, unfolding a ladder that smacked Sweet Heart on the back and knocked her to the floor. “OW!” she stood up and rubbed her back then turned around to see the ladder. Curious, she walked around in time to see the ladder start to rise back up, then jumped on it to hold it down and climbed up. At the top she found a latch to hold the ladder down as she stepped up, which she set to avoid being trapped in here. Sweet Heart fumbled around until she found a light switch and flipped it.
Boxes. Piles and piles of boxes surrounded her, all covered in layers of dust, thick and thin in places. Sweet Heart tried to flap her wings to get a look from overhead but was overwhelmed by a coughing fit as the small gust rose a cloud of dust around her, which she blew away with a blast of conjured wind, only making things worse. She stumbled to the nearby window and pushed it open before she blew all the dust out of the window.
Sweet Heart conjured a small amount of water to clean off her face then looked around. Now that the dust was gone she could see writing on many of the boxes: “OLD DISHES” “GRADE SCHOOL MEMORIES” “CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS” “CASSANDRA’S FAVORITE TV”. Sweet Heart stopped at that box and pulled it out from under another box marked “HALLOWEEN COSTUMES” that fell back and spilled open.
Sweet Heart picked up the top item in the box, a silver box entitled “SUPERMAN The Animated Series. The Complete Series” With a picture of a muscular adult human man with black hair in blue tights with a red cape, boots and briefs, a yellow belt, and a large red S on his chest inside a red and yellow shield. Sweet Heart set the box aside and started digging through the rest of the box. “DIGIMON Season 1”, “Dragon Ball Kai”, “Mobile Fight G Gundam”, “Sailor Moon”, “Batman Beyond”, “Tenga, toppppen?”. Sweet Heart scrunched up her at that last title and did her best to sound out the words. “Ten-ga, top en, Gurren, Lagen?” She shook her head and set the box down, then looked up at the box she had knocked over.
With a flap of her wings, Sweet Heart vaulted over the boxes and looked at the spilled contents. It was full of costumes, all too small for anyone in the house except her. She pulled out a pink skirt, or at least half of one with a tear along the side. She set aside the skirt and pulled out a tricorne hat and an eye-patch. Sweet Heart grinned as she put the hat on and pulled out more of the costume.
A couple minutes later Sweet heart had changed into a full pirate’s costume: tricorne hat, eye patch, white shirt, blue coat, black pants and a plastic cutlass. As usual she didn’t even try to put the shoes over her hooves. She grinned and swung her fake sword around. “Arr me hearties, I be the dread pirate pinkfeather, terror of the sea and the sky and, Umph!” Sweet Heart winced as she pulled the costume off, shaking her wings and tail after she did so. She looked at the piece, she’d have to ask Sarah to cut some wing and tail holes in it. She grabbed her discarded clothes and pulled them back on, grateful for the holes in the back. She reached down and picked up the Superman box and pirate costume before she headed downstairs.
Once back in the living room, Sweet Heart dropped the costume on the couch then opened the box and pulled out a book of DVDs. After a moment she opened the game console, assuming that it could be used to play DVDs, and replaced the game disc with the one from the Superman DVD case marked as “Disc 1”. She jumped for joy when she saw the disc start up then picked up the game controller and, once the previews were over, selected “Play all” on the screen.
OoOoO
Love Heart was exhausted. He had spent the first three hours of his job literally chasing Stevan around the house, nearly breaking things several times, before Stevan finally got too tired and dropped down in the living room. Love Heart spent the rest of the day playing board games with him, his mother having left specific instructions not to let her son spend all day playing those “brain rotting video games”.
Love Heart was only too relieved to collect his payment from Stevan’s mother and leave the house. Once outside Love Heart focused and electrified his body before taking off down the street at high speed, startling several people he nearly plowed into.
OoOoO
Cassandra was sweaty, hot and tired. After school wrestling practise was a necessary chore as she circled with the Stuart, the male teammate she was practising with. Stuart grit his teeth and lunged forwards, trying to put the fennec in a hold only for Cassandra to counter with her own hold. Stuart tried to force her down only for Confidence to buckle her legs and lift him up over her head and slam him down on the mat.
“Grand amplitude throw, five points and match,” Coach Wilson raised a hand. “Alright let someone else use the ring you two.”
“How does that runt do that?” Stuart grumbled as he just lay there. Stuart was the definition of a teenager with an overactive pituitary gland. He was a Sophomore but over the summer puberty hit him like a ton of bricks and he now towered over the other members of the wrestling team with muscles to back it up. He was promising and talented but whenever he practised against Cassandra he always ended up flat on his back.
“Because I’m almost all muscle,” Cassandra walked around to his side, “and I’ve been doing this for years.” She pushed her now loose hanging braid behind her back and offered a hand to Stuart. He glared and shoved her hand aside before sitting himself up.
Stuart blinked then grinned, “Hey, looks like another one of you freaks is here.”
“What.” Cassandra turned to look at the bleachers then grinned.
“Yeah, that big stuffed bear sitting there,” Stuart pointed to where Love Heart was sitting.
“Don’t call me a stuffed bear!” Love Heart shot back.
Cassandra ignored Stuart and bounded over to where Love Heart sat, sitting down next to him. “So, what brings you here?”
“I wanted to see your wrestling practise and the kid’s mom got home early.” Love Heart sat back in the bleachers. “So this is wrestling?”
“Yup,” Cassandra averted her eyes from the practise.
Love Heart kept watching and squinted his eyes one at a time as he watched. “You’re fighting right? It looks too slow.”
“Have you ever been in a real fight?” Confidence glanced sideways at Love Heart.
Love Heart nodded and closed his eyes as he drifted back to the last day he’d spent at his old home. The monster, dad telling him to run, him going back and fighting the weird Frankenstein of animal limbs from creatures like his family. His eyes started to tear up and he put a hand over his face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Com’on, it can’t have been that bad.” Cassandra smirked, trying to imagine what kind of fight this bear could have been in, only to see him glare at her with his wet eyes and bare his teeth.
“You don’t know anything!” Love Heart growled. He stood up and almost tripped over his own feet as he bolted from the gym. Cassandra just stared for a moment then jumped out of the bleachers and took off after Love Heart.
“Avalon get back here!” She heard Coach Wilson call after her but she ignored it only managing to catch sight of Love Heart at the end of the hall as he exited the building.
Cassandra burst through the school doors and searched around, but failed to see the green bear anywhere. She took a deep breath and listened intently and heard the sound of sobbing coming from above her. Cassandra stepped away from the building and looked up to see Love Heart sitting on the edge of the roof and softly crying into his hands. Cassandra just stared, open mouthed, up at the green bear for a minute before she called up to him.
“Love Heart!”
Love Heart wiped the tears from his now bloodshot eyes and looked down at Cassandra. The fennec’s ears were drooping and her eyes had softened. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” Love Heart sighed and slipped off the edge of the roof. Cassandra gasped and moved to catch him only for Love Heart’s decent to be slowed by a cushion of air that blew out from where he landed. Cassandra stared in awe at the green bear. That was magic!
Love Heart stared back at her, still trying to dry his bloodshot eyes, “What!”
“Can you teach me magic?” Cassandra asked.
Love Heart blinked, his sorrow dispersed for the moment. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I want to learn magic, to do stuff like you do.” Cassandra pointed to her stomach, “Hell I even want a breast tattoo like you guys. I’ll even take a funny name if you’ll teach me.”
Love Heart held up his hands, “Whoa what, huh?” he shook his head.
“We can talk more later I gotta get my stuff then I’ll see you at home!” Cassandra darted around him and back into the school.
Love Heart sighed and stared at his feet, and the red and white running shoes that covered them. He shouldn’t have snapped at her, but the memory was far from even being a year old. Feeling hungry he decided to grab something to eat before heading home.
OoOoO
Sweet Heart was well into the fifth episode of the cartoon, watching as a giant robot T-Rex attacked Superman who had been weakened by kryptonite. Sweet Heart jumped up and cheer as Superman ripped the mouth off the robot right as Love Heart walked in the front door, staring at the digital watch that was showing 9:42am, and changed to 4:29 pm when he tapped it. Love Heart jumped and whirled around only to see Sweet Heart hovering near the TV for a moment as she watched the episode finish before landing back on the ground.
“Having fun?”
Sweet Heart turned to see her brother and grinned. “I found this upstairs, wanna watch?”
“Sure,” Love Heart sat down to watch as the next episode began. Love Heart averted his eyes as a new character got covered in purple goo then spotted the pirate costume Sweet Heart had left on the couch next to where they were sitting. He picked up the shirt and looked it over. “Where did you get this?”
“Upstairs. Same place as the show.” Sweet Heart hopped up and grabbed the pants from the costume. “I’m gonna ask Sarah to cut some holes in it, then I can wear it.”
“Why?” Love Heart gave his sister a confused look with one eye squinted.
“For Halloween!” Sweet Heart grinned, “Where everyone dresses up and wanders on the streets being scaaaary,” Sweet Heart hunched her head forwards, raised her arms and wiggled her fingers in what she thought was an intimidating manner.
Love Heart laughed. He had seen the residents of the town near their old home do this around the time his family went into torpor each year. Sweet Heart had shown some fascination with the holiday for the last couple years but until their home was destroyed she had been too scared to try crossing the water without her parents or Love Heart and none of the had shown any particular interest in the holiday, not enough to see what little celebrations the people were having over on the mainland. Come to think of it this was going to be the first year that none of them went into torpor, not with the way they were living now.
Sweet Heart’s shouting shook Love Heart out of his stupor. “Ooh ooh I know! You can be Superman!” Sweet Heart scooped up the DVD box and pointed to the superhero on the cover.
“What?” Love Heart blinked then took the box from her hand.
“Yeah! You gotta take me trick-or-treating!” Sweet Heart flapped her wings excitedly almost levitating off the ground. “I wanna see everyone dressed up and all the decorations. Will you take me please?” She leaned close to her brother’s face, eyes pleading with him.
Love Heart blinked, chuckled then ruffled his sister’s hair. “OK, I’ll take you.”
“Yay!” Sweet Heart turned a small loop in the air, almost hitting the ceiling.
“Take her where?” Cassandra had just stepped in the front door and was undoing her skates as she spoke up.
“Trick-or-treating!” Sweet Heart skipped over to Cassandra. “I found a pirate costume upstairs and a cartoon so I’m gonna ask Sarah to make it fit me so I can go out on Halloween.”
“Upstairs, what do you…” Cassandra stepped around the wall to peer into the living room as she pulled her helmet off. “Heh, didn’t think I’d see this show again,” she said as she saw the DVD was still playing. “Guess you found the attic, Sweet Heart.”
“You mean the dusty place above our bedrooms?” Sweet Heart looked up at Cassandra.
“Yup. We keep all our old stuff up there. This was one of Terrence’s costumes.” She picked up the pirate costume. “So what are you going as, Love Heart?”
“Sweet Heart wants me to be Superman,” Love Heart held up the DVD box.
“I’ll see if mom can make one of those. I’ll take this to her room, OK?” Cassandra asked Sweet Heart.
“OK, thank you,” Sweet Heart gave Cassandra a quick hug then turned back to the episode on the TV, that was now half over. Sweet Heart frowned and picked up the controller, messing with the buttons until she figured out how to restart the episode. Love Heart sat back down to watch the show with his little sister while Cassandra took the costume with her to the sewing room on the main floor.
“OK, I can do this,” Cassandra took a deep breath as she stepped into the sewing room.
It was at the end of the current episode that Love Heart and Sweet Heart heard the whirring noise from down the hallway.
“Huh?” Sweet Heart’s ears swiveled towards the sound and Love Heart turned to face the hallway. It sounded like the sewing machine. Sweet Heart paused the DVD and followed Love Heart, who was already heading towards the sewing room. As they approached the sound stopped and so did they. Brother and sister shared a look and shrugged then continued onwards to the sewing room.
Love Heart opened the door and peered in, with Sweet Heart sticking her head in below her brother’s. They both saw the pirate costume sitting on the sewing machine but the room was otherwise empty.
“Cassandra, are you in here?” Sweet Heart scanned the room then squeezed around Love Heart to get a better look.
Love Heart looked around for a moment then sighed. “She’s not here, Sweet Heart. Want to go back to the show?”
Sweet Heart thought for a moment, then shook her head, “Nope. I’m gonna go outside!” She darted past Love Heart and he turned to watch her trot out the front door. Love Heart carefully shut the door to the sewing room, careful to not let it latch, returned to the living and turned off the TV and game console, then he stood and waited. A minute passed, then two, then five before Love Heart finally heard the sewing machine start up again.
Love Heart slid carefully along the floor, careful not to let the floor creak as he edged towards the sewing room door. Love Heart carefully pushed the door open just enough to see through the door crack in the frame. He saw Cassandra running the sewing machine, sewing the edges of a cut in the pirate’s shirt to prevent fraying and tearing.
Cassandra cut off the thread and secured it before she held up the finished shirt. There, that should line up with Sweet Heart’s wings. She held up the costume’s pants as well to look at the hole for Sweet Heart’s tail. The tricorne hat was fine as it is, her ears wouldn’t get in the way.
“You can sew?” Love Heart opened the door and stepped into the room.
Cassandra jumped, almost tearing the pants in the process, and she whirled around to face Love Heart, her face like that of a criminal caught in a spotlight.
They just stared at each other for a couple minute before Cassandra spoke, “Don’t tell anyone about this!”
“What? Why?” Love Heart gave her a confused look.
“Because tomboys don’t do girly things.” Cassandra looked downcast as she carefully folded the costume and set it down on the table.
“Tomboy? Girly things? What are you talking about?” Love Heart tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what she meant.
Cassandra sighed, “You wouldn’t understand.”
Love Heart’s eyes narrowed and he straightened up, “Just like you wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be in a real fight for your life!” He stepped forwards and glared at the fennec.
Cassandra actually shrank back for a moment then regained her composure. “You’re right, I don’t understand. So tell me.”
Love Heart was about to start shouting, then stopped, groaned and looked up at Cassandra. “I’ll tell you if you tell me what you’re talking about.”
Cassandra huffed, then sighed and sat down in the office chair in front of the sewing machine. “It’s just how I’m expected to act. A tomboy doesn’t like ‘girly things’ like sewing, tomboys like sports and fighting and superheroes and actions shows and can beat up all the boys.”
“And you don’t?” Love Heart grabbed a folding chair that was set up against the wall and sat down across from Cassandra.
“Yes, I mean no I…” Cassandra sighed and hung her head. “I like superheroes and shonen anime and Gurren Lagann is one of the greatest giant robot shows I’ve ever seen and I liked learning karate but… I didn’t want to be on the wrestling team. But when I started high school everyone kept asking me why a ‘tough tomboy’ like me wasn’t on a sport’s team. And I kept making excuses about not having found a good choice yet but eventually I just picked wrestling because it involved fighting and wasn’t a team sport like everything else. I didn’t want to learn a new way to fight or join a team just show I could beat people up, I learned not to do that when mom and dad put me in karate class. Then I had to spend all my free time that year learning Olympic wrestling and going to practise so I wouldn’t look like I was slacking to anyone. I was already the short furry freak of the school and at least this way people show me some amount of respect and mostly stopped teasing me.” Cassandra sucked in a slow shuddering breath and started to cry. “I finally told my parents this year I wanted to quit the team. They said if I didn’t want to I shouldn’t have to or I shouldn’t have in the first place but when I went to tell Coach Wilson, I chickened out and stayed on the team. I guess I just don’t want to quit when I’m so close to the last time I’ll ever have to do this.”
Love Heart stood stunned. Cassandra had poured his heart out to him and he wasn’t sure what to say. High school society was a completely foreign concept to him but he could tell just how much she was hurting. He stood up then leaned down to give Cassandra a hug. Cassandra froze but didn’t push him off.
“That alright, just let it out.” Love Heart said, “I can’t pretend to know what it’s like but I’ll be here to listen if you want.
Cassandra laughed and rubbed the tears from her eyes. “Thanks. I needed to let that out.” Cassandra hugged Love Heart back then gently pushed him away. “Tell ya what: if you keep this a secret and tell me about this fight for your life, I’ll make a Superman costume for you from scratch, deal?”
Love Heart was taken aback, but he sighed. “Deal.” He sat back down, “It was the last day I ever saw my old home…”
OoOoO
“Alright, Sweet Heart, how does it feel?” Cassandra stepped back to look at the pegasus. She had on the tricorne hat, the white pirate’s shirt and black pants, now with holes for her wings and tail. As a final touch, Cassandra helped her pull on a large red pirate’s long coat, also with holes for her wings, barely giving her space to keep her wings folded. Sweet Heart grinned and swung the large plastic cutlass around.
“Arr, I be the dreaded pirate pinkfeather, scourge of the sea and the skies and dread pirate to all who sail!” She turned to Cassandra, “how was that?”
Cassandra laughed, “You sound just like a pirate. Where’s your eye patch?”
Sweet Heart stuck out her tongue, “I don’t wanna wear it, I can’t see with it on. Can’t I be a pirate with two eyes?”
“Pirates didn’t wear eyepatches because they lost eyes,” Terrence was sitting nearby, watching the spectacle while he worked on some papers. “They did it so their eyes would be adjusted to darkness if they needed to fight below the deck without any light.”
“Huh?” Sweet Heart cocked her head to one side.
“You know how you can’t see all that well when it’s dark, until your eyes adjust to the light?” Terrence asked. Sweet Heart nodded. “Well it’s like that. They keep an eye adjusted to darkness so they don’t have to wait if it gets dark all of a sudden.”
“Ooooh!” Sweet Heart nodded.
“Hey Superman! Are you ready yet?” Cassandra called.
“Yeah, just a minute!” Love Heart’s voice issues from the sewing room where he’d gone to change. He emerged a minute later, wearing the blue fabric costume with red briefs, a yellow belt, red boots, and the familiar red and yellow S shield on his chest. To top it off he had a red cape attached to his shoulders with Velcro (Cassandra had insisted on this, just in case it got caught on something so it would tear away instead of dragging Love Heart along).
Love Heart turned in place, “How do I look?”
“Cool!” Sweet Heart bounced over to Love Heart.
“You’re welcome,” Cassandra stood, arms folded, smiling at her work.
“What about your costume?” Love Heart turned to Cassandra, eyebrow raised.
Cassandra waved them off. “I was gonna stay home tonight, you two can have fun.”
“Really. ‘Cause I saw that thing you were working on all week when you thought you were alone,” Terrence smirked. Cassandra blanched.
“What costume?” Sweet Heart asked, as she pulled the eyepatch over her left eye.
“I want to see it too,” Love Heart turned to face Cassandra too.
“Yeah, com’on squirt, show us,” Terrence set his pencil down and grinned at her.
“Don’t call me squirt!” Cassandra stamped her foot and shook her fist at him. She sighed, “fine. Just don’t laugh at me.”
“No promises are made!” Terrence called after her.
“Where are Adrian and Sarah?” Love Heart asked.
“Mom and Dad are at a costume party at Dad’s job. Trust me you’re fortunate to have missed seeing what they’re wearing.” Terrence shuddered. “What about your parents?”
“They said they were gonna go out with a bunch of kids whose parents were too busy to take them out trick-or-treating,” Love Heart said. “Mom said she wasn’t going to bother with a costume and dad just wore his magician’s outfit.”
“So what is Cassandra gonna wear?” Sweet Heart asked.
“Oh you’ll see,” Terrence smirked again.
Once she was finally dressed, Cassandra stood in front of the sewing room’s mirror, checking to make sure her costume was on properly. “Might as well go all in at this point.” She too a deep breath as she exited to the living room.
“The Pretty Guardian in a Sailor Suit. Guardian of Love and Courage. Sailor Jupiter!” Cassandra did a turn, brought her hands up and then spun back to face them, arms out from her sides. “I’ll make you feel so much regret, it’ll leave you numb!” She half turned away from the group, looked over her shoulder and pointed to herself with her thumb.
Cassandra was dressed in a mini-skirt version of a Japanese school uniform called a sailor fuku, with a green collar and skirt, a large pink bow on her lower back and chest both held in place by a large green button, a gold cloth tiara with a green costume gem set in the middle of her forehead, green lace up boots, elbow-length gloves with green trim, rose shaped earrings (just clips, no piercings), and had her sandy hair done up in a high ponytail held in place by a hair-tie with two small green marbles attached.
“Cool!” Sweet Heart cheered.
“Who’s Sailor Jupiter?” Love Heart asked, giving a confused look.
Cassandra turned back and straightened out the mini-skirt, “She’s a character from an anime I watched a lot as a kid, Sailor Moon.”
“Squirt loved it so much she asked mom to order the subtitled version for her 11th birthday,” Terrence said. “It looks good.”
“Thanks.” Cassandra was blushing slightly as she turned to the front door. “It might be a bit cold in this.”
“You’re covered in fur, you’ll be fine,” Terrence waved off her concern.
“Fennecs are desert animals, my fur keeps the sun off not the heat in,” Cassandra glared at her brother. “But fine, I’ll go. Don’t spy on me again, or you’ll regret it,” She added, smacking her right fist into her left hand.
“Alright. I’ll watch for trick-or-treaters. Don’t forget your bags.” Terrence pointed to the three pillowcases by the front door he’d pulled out for them. Love Heart as Superman, Sweet Heart as a Pirate, and Confidence Heart as Sailor Jupiter all set out for their night of trick-or-treats as Terrence settled in for a night of handing out candy.
OoOoO
The sun was just going down as Love Heart, Cassandra and Sweet Heart stepped outside. Other trick-or-treaters already scattered across the neighbourhood as Sweet Heart practically skipped along with Love Heart and Cassandra right behind her. Most houses only had a couple token decorations like a jack-o-lantern or maybe some bats hanging in the windows, but at least one house per block had gone all out with lights, huge stand-up or inflatable directions on the lawn, fake spider webs hanging off the gutters and ghost hanging from the trees.
Love Heart swept his gaze across the various houses on the street, “So we just go up to the houses and ask for candy?”
“Only houses the houses with lights on,” Cassandra pointed to the house two doors down from her own. “Just go up to the door, knock or ring the bell and say ‘trick-or-treat’”
“OK!” Sweet Heart bounded up to the front door and knocked. The door opened right as Love Heart and Cassandra caught up with Sweet Heart as she held out her pillowcase, “Trick-or Treat!”
“Oh, hello. Cassandra are these friends of yours?” the old lady at the door looked at the three costumed animals on her doorstep.
“House-mates, trick-or-treat!” She held out her own pillowcase.
“You’re getting a little old for this aren’t you?” the lady said as she handed out a small cardboard into each of their pillowcases.
“This’ll be my last year, I came to show Captain Sweet Heart here what it’s like,” She prodded the pegasus’ shoulder which made her stumble but stay upright.
“OK then, have a good night,” the door shut and they continued on their way.
After zig-zagging across their home street, Sweet Heart’s bag was only a tenth full. She grinned down at her stash, lifting her eyepatch to get a better look. “That’s a lot,” she looked up at Cassandra, “Where do we go now?”
“Next street over, then the fire station, then a couple more streets after that,” Cassandra traced lines in the air as she recalled the directions. “We should have enough by then.”
“Yeah! Let’s go!” Sweet Heart almost took to the air as she darted forwards with her wings spread, forcing Love Heart and Cassandra to jog to keep up with her.
OoOoO
“Hey, is that Cassandra?” Stuart pointed at the three as they left the fire station.
“So what if it is… what is she wearing?” The boy with Stuart turned to see Cassandra in her Sailor Jupiter outfit. “And… who the little pink pony in the pirate costume?”
“I dunno, let’s go ask,” Stuart chuckled only to be pulled the opposite direction.
“Talk to her at school, we’re going to be late.”
OoOoO
Three streets later Sweet Heart’s bag was half full and she had to hoist it over her shoulder to keep it from dragging on the ground. She put on her fake pirate accent once again, “How much more booty be there be to plunder?”
Love Heart chuckled and Cassandra laughed aloud, “Nice accent there ‘captain’ and maybe one more block should be fine.”
“Are we supposed to eat this all in one night?” Love Heart looked into his own bag.
“No, just at whatever pace you want,” Cassandra twirled her bag around. “I’m gonna make it last though.”
“I’ve never seen so much of this stuff at once. It is always like this?” Sweet Heart asked.
It was almost 10pm when the group finally returned home, hauling pillowcases half-full of chocolate, hard candy, gum and chips into the house. Sweet Heart was hovering now to keep the case from dragging along the ground. “This is all mine?”
Love Heart nodded as they stepped up to the Avalons’ front door, “Yup. Yeesh, how am I supposed to eat all of this?” He hefted the bag up.
“Not all at once, trust me. Just enjoy it,” Cassandra opened the front door and led them back inside her house.
Sage Heart was sitting up and talking with Terrence and turned when he heard the front door open. “Welcome home. How was your night.”
“Great!” Sweet Heart flew over to her father and held up her pillowcase full of candy. “We got so much candy!”
“That’s great,” Sage Heart took Sweet Heart’s tricorne hat off and ruffled her headfur.
“Just don’t eat it all at once,” Terrence said.
“Why does everyone keep telling me that? I can handle it!” Sweet Heart puffed out her cheeks in annoyance then dug a small strawberry candy out of the bag and popped it into her mouth.
