I Might Call You Back

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Denial
Chapter 2 - Anger
Chapter 3 - Bargaining
Chapter 4 - Depression: Part One
Chapter 5 - Depression: Part Two
Chapter 6 - Acceptance: Part One
Chapter 7 - Acceptance: Part Two
Chapter 8 - Acceptance: Part Three

Chapter 1 - Denial

“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

“Well?” Air Raid asked as she pressed the tip of her hoof to the ‘cancel call’ button on her phone, leaving the recorded message and the beep that came after it hanging in the air between herself and the midnight blue stallion sat opposite her across from the coffee table.

Dusk Melody didn’t answer the lime green pegasus straight away. He looked first at the mug of black coffee with three sugars with a great amount of distaste before he reached over from the chaise he was reclined upon and took a delicate sip of his earl grey tea. The royal stallion took a moment to savour the classic hot beverage, at once both lemony and malty. “Aaaah…” Dusk loved this tea. He knew the lemony notes came from the use of Bergamot extract that was added to a dark, smooth-tasting tea, typically a Keemun or Assam. He loved how these teas had malty flavour profile, that was tipped with notes of honey, caramel, toffee, and wood.

Dusk allowed the silence to linger in the sitting room of his opulent suite in the east wing of the royal castle where he and his friend Air Raid were currently sat taking Friday afternoon tea. Quietly he took another sip of his drink and set the gold rimmed china cup back in its saucer. He looked away from the cell phone however. He couldn’t face it. Sat there on the exquisitely carved coffee table like some sort of silent accuser, reminding him by its mere presence of his sins.

He didn’t need to be reminded of what he had done. Every time he closed his pink eyes he reminded himself. He could see, feel and smell it. Number two science laboratory of Canterlot University. Despite the passage of seven days, the week had done nothing to dull it. Dusk hated to blink, he dreaded to sleep – even with his mother’s assistance, the nightmares plagued him every night, and sometimes in the day as well.

Dusk blinked. He was back there again, reliving that awful, terrible moment just after he had shown Blitzwing that infernal scroll and the crazed dark grey stallion had punched him to the ground. Dusk was there again in his own personal Tartarus;

Dusk fell to the floor with a loud oomph, all four legs sprawling from under him from the impact of the incensed pegasus standing over him. “Gah!” He winced, biting his tongue as his head struck the hard floor.

“Hey!” Wildfire whipped off her goggles and roughly shoved Blitzwing aside, bending down to check on her friend. “D? Dusk…Dusk are you alright?” She asked, concern on her face.

“What's happening back there?” Twilight called over her shoulder, her attention still occupied with writing out the experiment.

Blitzwing’s right wing found and seized the beakers of acid, and, without stopping to look what he’d grasped, threw them at Dusk.

“What the...” Wildfire caught the movement of Blitzwing’s powerful wing in the corner of her eye, and in that split second turned to face the dark grey stallion as he threw the beakers, the glass beakers shattered as they impacted her face, spilling the two concentrated acids straight into her wide brown eyes.

Blitzwing didn’t waste a second. He barged Wildfire aside with a shoulder, sending her spiralling to the floor, too stunned to realise what exactly had just happened to her and launched himself on Dusk’s prone form, rearing up to slam down upon him with both his forehooves.

Wildfire laid there silently for a millisecond. A tiny fragment of time that seemed to stretch forever. The millisecond passed all at once a moment later, with an ear-splitting “AAAAGH!!!! AAaaaaAAA!!” Wildfire screamed as the concentrated acids start to burn into her eyes.

Back in his suite, sweating a little, Dusk opened his eyes. The scream was the worst part. No…the worst part was hearing his best friend’s scream and knowing he had caused it. He, Dusk Melody, Prince Dusk, had gone against the advice of his mother, his mum and his aunt and in a cheap quest to score points against his long term tormentor. And he had succeeded. He had gotten exactly what he wanted. In the space of one minute he had destroyed a family stretching back over a thousand years…and in the process he had critically wounded his best friend.

Long, long minutes passed in silence, marked only by the ticking of the ornate grandfather clock in the sitting room. Only when Air Raid was about to lose it and yell out her question again, did Dusk finally answer. “Well what, Miss Raid?”

“Well what?” Air Raid was stunned. So stunned she abandoned the half eaten cucumber sandwich and almost spat out her coffee. “What do you mean, well what? Didn’t you hear the message?” She demanded furiously, “And since when did you start calling me ‘Miss’ anyway?”

Dusk sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with a forehoof. He had been awake now for three days and he was exhausted. Sleep was impossible, even with his Vocal Chord nestled up to him in bed. He reached for one of the pills his mother had provided him with – medicine of Luna’s own invention designed to induce a dreamless sleep – and swallowed it with a sip of his earl grey.

“Miss Raid…I heard it, I’m just not sure what you want me to do about it.” Dusk said finally as he drained the rest of the tea from his cup.

“What…do I…what do I want…I want you to help me find her!” Air Raid exclaimed, slamming her hoof down hard onto the coffee table and spilling the remnants of her black coffee over what was doubtless a very expensive cream coloured Maretonian carpet.

Again, Dusk Melody sighed. “And just how do you want me to do that, Miss Raid?”

“I want you to get the hoof outta your ass, stop sulking like a prissy royal bitch and help me find your best bucking friend!” Air Raid thrust herself to her forehooves and upended the coffee table, sending the metal pots of tea and coffee, as well as the fine china cup and mug crashing to the carpet.

As the dark liquids soaked into the hoof-weaved Maretonian carpet, Dusk got quietly from his chaise and, walking past the outraged lime green mare, went to the wall mounted intercom without sparing the pegasus a second look. Flicking a switch, a stallion’s Canterlot accent spoke from the intercom. “Housekeeping, your Highness, how may we be of service?”

“Comet Tail,” Dusk replied, “send up your most able maid to my suite. Tea and coffee spillage, as well as fine china repair.”

Comet Tail, head of the royal staff, sniffed, somewhat offended. All of his maids were the best, that’s why they were employed at the castle. At least the Princesses were courteous. “At once, sir.”

Flipping the switch, Dusk spoke again. “Shieldwall. To my suite. Escort Miss Air Raid out.” Without waiting for a reply, Dusk snapped off the intercom and turned back to find Air Raid face to face with him.

“Dusk!” She screamed in his face, “what the hay d’you think you’re doing!?”

“I think, Miss Raid, I am getting my carpet cleaned, and then I am having you thrown out.” Dusk explained very simply as he made to walk past the older pony.

“Hey!” Air Raid thrust out her hoof and stopped Dusk from passing her. “Are you gonna help me or what?”

Dusk looked at the mare that he had called his friend for the past year. He looked at her ad if he was looking at her for the first time. “There is nothing to be done. She is in Fillydelphia. She is with her family. She does not want to be contacted, she…”

“Wildfire!” Air Raid screamed. “Her name’s Wildfire! Wily! Not ‘She’! Or have you spent so much time petting Vocal to forget your best damn friend?”

“How dare you!” Dusk raised his voice for the first time. “You are the one who dumped her you hypocrite! Oh yes, I heard about that!” He shouted in Air Raid’s stunned face. “What was it Eirene said? Aah…yes that’s it… ‘I have no room in my life for a blind mare. I can’t be a carer.’ And you presume to lecture me because you’ve suddenly grown a conscience? I don’t think so, you Dodo!”

That did it.

There was an unspoken line amongst the group of friends that they had agreed not to cross.

Dusk Melody just crossed it.

Unable to restrain herself, Air Raid pulled her left forehoof back and landed a stiff punch squarely across the Prince’s right jaw. “Buck you Dusk!” She yelled and drew her hoof back to punch him again. There was only one pony in Equestria she allowed to poke her about her well known disability that meant she couldn’t fly. “Buck you, you stuck up plot-hole!”

Ready for the second punch, Dusk blocked it and lifted his right forehoof to his lip and tasted the blood there. The red mist descended upon him now. “Get out!” The midnight blue stallion thrust his hoof towards the door of his suite. “How dare you strike royalty! I could have you arrested! I don’t know what I ever saw in a common featherbrain like you! Don’t wait for Shieldwall, get out!”

Her flash of temper evaporated. Air Raid knew she’d stuck all four hooves in it this time good and proper, and she was about to walk it all over her living room rug. “Wait…wait Dusk, I’m sor…”

“I said get out!” Spit flew from Dusk’s mouth. “GET OUT!”

As Air Raid slicked her ears back and walked out of Dusk’s suite with her blue tail tucked firmly between her legs, the young Prince somehow found his way back to his chaise. He didn’t notice when five minutes later the maid knocked on his door. He didn’t notice when she let herself into his suite. Dusk’s mind was elsewhere when she started to work her magic on the otherwise irreparably stained Maretonian carpet.

Unbidden and unwelcome, the memory of the rest of the worst day of his life came back to him;

Dusk sat on his seating pad beside Wildfire’s bed, watching his best friend’s chest raise and lower rhythmically as she slept under the influence of the drugs she had been given. Again and again in his head he ran through what he would say to her when she woke up. For what felt like the millionth time the midnight blue stallion glanced up at the clock on the wall. The hour that Doctor Cross Hatch had predicted that Wildfire would be unconscious had come and gone thirty three minutes ago.

Again Dusk sighed into his hooves, secretly very grateful for the extra time that Wildfire was asleep. Shamefully part of him wished she would sleep and sleep and not wake up for a long time. At least that way he would be spared the awful, unenviable task of telling his best friend the life she knew was over, and it was all his fault.

The incessant unrelenting ticking of the clock seemed to echo around the hospital room, the only other sounds in the room coming from Eirene, the sand coloured earth pony student nurse who was busy checking Wildfire’s pulse and temperature and making notes on her clipboard. An almost insufferably cheerful mare, she had volunteered to work with Wildfire after she eventually woke up because she was hoping to specialise in caring for the visually handicapped.

“Hmhmm…” Eirene murmured around her pen as she wrote her notes, “Respiratory rate is normal at thirty nine beats per minute, and temperature is normal at thirty eight point five degrees Celsius. Bandages all nice and clean, no leaking or bleeding.” The nurse flicked her dark brown mane out of her green eyes as she took a peek under the bandages and the gauze, “Scars seem to be setting nicely.” With her hourly checks completed Eirene placed the clipboard in the holder at the foot of the bed and sat on her pad opposite Dusk at the other side of the bed.

“Excuse me, Highness,” Eirene politely interrupted Dusk’s train of thought, her Baltimare accent derailing his self-pity.

"Just Dusk, please Nurse Eirene." Dusk corrected absent mindedly, not even having to think about the request.

Eirene blushed, “Excuse me, Dusk,” she corrected with an embarrassed smile, “I’m going for a coffee, would you like one?”

“Tea, earl grey, please nurse.” Dusk asked without looking away from the sleeping pegasus tucked in the bed.

"I'm awfully sorry Dusk,” the nurse smiled as she reached the door. “The best I can offer is foul tasting vending machine coffee, and the least said about the tea, the better.”

“In that case nurse,” Dusk allowed himself what felt like a rare smile, “Awful coffee will do nicely, thank you.”

“As you wish, Dusk. I'll be but a moment.” With a swish of her dark brown mane Nurse Eirene disappeared through the door to the vending machine just down the corridor.

“Yeah…” Dusk answered, still not looking up from his friend. Again he wondered how in the wide world of Equestria he was going to tell her what had happened. “I'm so sorry Wily.” He muttered as he squeezed her right hoof.

He was about to say something else when he was cut off by a squeeze of his own hoof. “Wily?” He asked quietly.

“Ugh…”

Wildfire squeezed the hoof that was holding hers again, this time a little harder.

"Ugh...wh - where am I?” She felt the comfortable softness of the bed under her, but it didn’t feel like her own at home, plus it didn’t smell of her marefriend, which put her ill at ease. She tried sitting up but the dull pain in her head blossomed into one that threatened to tear her skull apart so she gave that up as a bad idea.

“Wily…”

Dusk’s voice sounded from her right side, though she had never heard her best friend sound like that before. Turning her head in his general direction the very next thing she noticed a split second later was the dark. Why was it so dark? Wildfire had never experienced a dark like this. The blackness was absolute. Even the darkest room she’d ever been in had had some degree of illumination. Not like this.

Wildfire turned her head to the left then right again. No matter where she looked the darkness was total. Panic started to rise in her breast as a horrible realisation settled upon her.

She couldn't feel her eyes.

“Du…Dusk…” Wildfire croaked out, her brain registering the soreness in her throat where the ammonia gas had burnt her.

"I'm here Wily, don’t worry.” He said as he gave her hoof another reassuring squeeze.

“Dusk…wh – where am I? Why…why can’t I see anything?” She asked, his hoof doing nothing to quell the rising fear in her gut.

“Wily…there was an accident at school. You’re in Canterlot Royal hospital.” Dusk started to explain as the nurse came back in the room, carrying the three coffees on a tray balanced on her back.

“Dusk, here’s yours,” Eirene breezed as she took the handle in her mouth and passed the styrofoam cup to the stallion. “Wildfire I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake so I got you one anyway.” The earth pony placed the last two cups on the bedside cabinet on the left of the bed and took up her seating pad.

“How are you feeling Wildfire?” Eirene asked as she blew the steam off of her own coffee.

“Um…” Wildfire turned her head to the left, where she thought the nurse’s voice was coming from. “Dusk said I was in the hospital?” She asked uncertainly.

“That’s right, I’m your nurse, Nurse Eirene, or just Eirene, if you prefer.” The nurse winced as she sipped her coffee, and held a giggle as Dusk did the same. “I’ll be looking after you and providing the awful coffee.” She added with a snigger.

"Nurse...I just asked Dusk, but I’ll ask you, why can’t I see anything?” Wildfire asked, not at all sure whether or not she wanted the answer.

Dusk glanced over at the nurse, suddenly very grateful that somepony else was here to field this question instead of him.

“Wildfire,” Eirene started, only to be interrupted by the yellow pegasus laid in the bed.

“Call me Wily, please Nurse Eirene.”

“Alright, Wily it is.” The earth pony mare smiled at her patient. “Wily, the reason you can’t see is because the accident you had earlier today has left you blind.”

Wildfire lifted a hoof to her face and felt the bandages wrapped across her ruined visage. “AaaAAH!” She winced with the sharp pain as she touched on where her eyes should be, the sockets blossoming with agony. “I…I’m blind?” Wildfire asked, the fear clearly audible in her voice, “W – Will I recover?”

Eirene cast a nervous glance at Dusk, who picked up on the student nurses discomfort and took a deep breath, Wildfire’s hoof still held in his own. “Wily…you uh…you um…won’t recover. I’m sorry Wily.”

“What…I won't recover?” Wildfire asked, stricken and distraught at the news she had just been given. She didn’t want to believe it, believe that her life was over, that she was blind. “I’ll never see anything again? N – not ever?”

“No…” The admission all but crushed Dusk’s soul. “I’m so sorry Wily.”

“B – but…how…why?” Wildfire laid in the bed, confused as she tried to process what she’d been told.

“Blitzwing threw acids in your face, Wily. Your eyes…they um…the doctors say they exploded in your head.” Dusk explained, feeling sicker and sicker with each word, each syllable of each word, that he spoke. “I'm sorry…”

“STOP SAYING YOU’RE SORRY!” Wildfire threw Dusk's hoof back at him as her temper exploded. “I’M THE PONY WHO’S BLIND!” The pegasus screamed, not caring that her lungs and throat were burning raw, “WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU SORRY FOR?”

“Wildfire…please calm down,” Eirene put her hoof on her patients shoulder, causing her to jump in panic. “I'm sorry Wildfire, but you need to calm down.”

“Wily…” Dusk started, his head in his hooves as Wildfire started to take deep breaths. “It…it was my fault.”

“What?” Wildfire asked.

“Oh I’m sure Dusk didn’t mean anything by it Wily.” The nurse tried to intercept the outburst she could see coming. Sadly she wasn’t quick enough.

“Shut up, nurse.” Wildfire snapped, silencing the student nurse who ‘eeped’ as she turned her head in her direction. “Dusk,” she said dangerously, “What do you mean, it's your fault?”

“You weren’t paying attention in the science lab.” Dusk said quietly, each word ripped from him. “I showed Blitzwing the scroll that made him snap. It was all me, Wily. I…I’m so sorry.”

“So…he was aiming for you?”

"Yes....yes he was.” Dusk almost whispered, unable to look at his friend.

“Why?” Wildfire asked, her simmering temper barely held in check from her earlier outburst.

“Why what, Wily?”

“Why show Blitzwing that scroll? So what he won for that second. So what Dusk? You had to know how he’d react, D.” Wildfire demanded of her friend.

“Wily, I had no idea he’d lose it like that, I swear!”

Wildfire raised a hoof for silence and cut across the midnight blue pegasus. “You knew he’d react though, didn’t you?” She whispered as her voice threatened to give out, “You wanted him to react, you wanted him to rise to that stupid scroll. Well congratulations D, he reacted, and here we are. Was it worth it?”

“Wh – what?” Dusk asked, disbelieving of what he’d heard. “Wily please…”

“DON’T CALL ME WILY! GET OUT!” Wildfire screamed again, causing a doctor to look around the door frame, only to be waved away by Eirene.

“Wil…Wildfire…” Dusk couldn't remember the last time he’d used his best fiend’s full name. “You don’t mean that, please!”

“YOU DID THIS TO ME! GET OUT!” She screamed again, her hooves searching her bed for something to throw. Finding nothing she seized her pillow and threw that instead.

“Wily, what the buck?” Dusk exclaimed as the pillow missed him by a clear four feet to bounce off the walls to the floor.

“Prince Dusk…” Nurse Eirene stooped to pick up the pillow, “I think you should leave, please, my patient doesn’t need this stress.”

Dusk slid off the seating pad he was sat on, but made no movement to leave. “I'm not leaving!” He said with a stomp of his hoof, “We need to work this out.”

“GET OUT!”

Dusk was crying. For how long he didn’t know. When he came back to himself the maid was long gone. The coffee table was repaired, as were the fine chine mug and cup, and the stain was gone leaving the carpet pristine. The Prince had no words for how miserable and wretched he felt. He hadn’t meant to lose it with Air Raid. She was right, wasn’t she?

Turning his back to his room he rolled over on his chaise and wept quietly. He had to get this out of his system, it was Friday and Vocal would be round in a few hours for a weekend of puppy love. With a supreme act of will power, the royal pegasus shoved thoughts of Air Raid and Wildfire out of his mind. His coltfriend needed him, and Vocal always knew how to make forget everything and make him feel better. At least until he closed his eyes.

~ ~ ~

“Wily, it’s Raid…” Air Raid paused at the sound of the beep after the poem had ran its course. “Your dad said you were visiting family in Filly, well…if you get this babes I’ve been shopping, I’ve got your favourites in. I um…I even got those super rare red crested hen’s eggs you love, y’know, to welcome you back when you come ba…” The beep of the answer phone cut her off in mid flow.

“Damn!” The lime green mare stared at her phone like it was its fault that Wildfire wasn’t picking up. “Stupid damn thing!”

“Still no answer huh, Raid?” Java smiled sympathetically as he floated over a steaming mug of black coffee to her table along with a large caramel macchiato and two salted caramel donuts.

“No…” Air Raid replied glumly and she looked at despondently at the second drink and donut. “You expecting Darkie, Java?”

“I am,” the cream coloured earth pony sat on the seating pad at the outdoor table next to the lime green racer and brushed his coffee mane out of his green eyes, “ever since I gave her a call and told her you were sat in her spot wearing a face like a smacked flank.”

Air Raid stuck out her tongue. “I don’t have a face like a smacked flank, Java.”

“No, maybe not,” the café owner smiled, “but you are in Darkie’s spot, so I’d move over if I were you. You know how she gets about her spot.”

“Pfft…whatever.” Air Raid still shimmied over onto the next pad over though. She was in absolutely no mood to argue with Darkstar over whose spot was whose. “Ugh. Java what do I do?”

“Well,” the earth pony grinned in the rays of the late afternoon sun. “You eat the donut, drink the coffee, then you order some more and help to make me a rich pony!”

"Ha, ha, Java.” Air Raid giggled, then all of a sudden her giggle vanished. “Seriously Java, what the hay do I do?”

Patting her shoulder, Java stood up from the seating pad he was sat on and trotted into his café. A few seconds later and his clipped Canterlot accent came floating from the inside through the propped open door. “Coffee Pot, you have the shop for a bit, okay?”

Air Raid wasn’t really listening. She wasn’t even really aware of the café, the seating pad or the table with her salted caramel donut on it nor was she that bothered by the presence of her coffee. Sighing a very deep sigh she reached for her cell phone and for what felt like the thousandth time that week she hit the re-dial button.

“Damn it!” Again, Air Raid cancelled the call. Again she hit the re-dial button.

“Wily…where are you love? You haven’t been home in ages. I…I know you’re visiting family, but the bed, the house, just doesn’t feel the same without you. Wily…please call me back, I love you, you know that.”

The lime green mare hung up and slumped on her seating pad and brushed her dishevelled blue mane from her grey eyes. With a shaky forehoof she reached for her black coffee that was laced with several sugars. She knew she looked like crap. She felt like crap. She hadn’t slept or preened in days, and she’d lost count of the messages she’d left on Wildfire’s answer phone.

“I love you Wily…” she murmured as she swallowed her coffee. ‘Didn’t tell her that though did you, when you had the chance?’ She thought to herself as she put the mug back down.

“No. No I didn’t.” She answered her own question miserably. She knew full well what she had done. She had behaved disgracefully, selfishly, cowardly, and she hated herself for it. Unhappily, the memory of the most shameful day of her life came back to her;

“AIR RAID!” Wildfire clapped her hooves together excitedly, smiling a side smile towards the door. “Babes I missed you, where've you been? What’ve you been doing?” Wildfire gushed, too thrilled to let her marefriend answer, “It doesn't matter you're here now! I've missed you so much! C’mere, I wanna cuddle!” Wildfire opened her hooves and waited.

And waited.

Ten minutes later and Wildfire still had her hooves open waiting for the cuddle from her marefriend. “Raid? Babes what's wrong?” She asked in a tremulous voice.

Eirene shot the immobile pegasus a nasty dangerous look and mouthed to her silently ‘Get. In here. Cuddle her. Now!’

Air Raid looked from one mare to the other and rolled her grey eyes, mouthing ‘fine!’, the lime green mare clipped her hooves hesitantly into the room towards the open forelegs of her waiting mare. “Nothing’s wrong Wily, I'm fine. I…I'm here for you sweetie.” Pulling Wildfire into a tight hug Air Raid buried her head into her marefriend's shoulder. Hidden by her black mane Eirene couldn't see the pained grimace she pulled as she smelt the acid-damaged scars under the bandages.

“Put your homework down a minute Wily,” Eirene pulled Wildfire’s black bangs from her bandages and noted the discolouration there. “I need to change your bandages and clean your scars.”

Air Raid instinctively pulled away from the all-to-brief cuddle and looked with a barely contained disgust at her marefriend’s bandaged face. “Y – You have to do that now?”

“Yes!” The earth pony stamped her hoof in indignation. “Yes I do.” Eirene seethed inwardly at this selfish mares utter lack of interest in what was supposed to be her lover. She shook her head; sadly she’d seen this too many times, especially here in Canterlot where a pony’s ‘image’ was everything. Smiling sweetly at the green pegasus she tried a different tack. “Actually, you timed your visit nicely. You can observe what I do for when you have to do this yourself.”

“Yuppers Raid,” Wildfire giggled, “You get to be my sexy home nurse!”

Air Raid stood stock still, her right forehoof still on Wildfire’s left shoulder, grey eyes wide as saucers as Wildfire’s eight words sank into her stunned brain…”You get to be my sexy home nurse!” What little smile had been on her face quickly slid to be replaced by an uncertain frown. “N – Nurse? I…I dunno about that…I'm not exactly trained…” Air Raid wrong silent as her voice trailed away to nothing. This was it, this was the end of her career. The great and talented Air Raid, winner of almost every major race Canterlot had to offer. She was young. Her career was a promising one. Now it was a good as over almost before it began.

“Rubbish, Air Raid.” Eirene snapped, the nurse very quickly approaching the end of her rope. “You don't need medical training to tend to Wily’s scars. Just watch me, and please, do pay attention.” The nurse then proceeded to tear the medical tape securing the soiled bandages at the back of Wildfire’s head under her black mane. With a practiced ease Eirene started to unwind the bandages, taking the time to explain to Air Raid what she was doing and, what to look out for when changing the bandages, where to apply a soothing cream and how tightly to reapply them.

Air Raid watched with a morbid fascination as Wildfire’s nurse slowly unwound the bandages covering her marefriend’s damaged face. Every single instinct screamed at her to run away, to get in her car and get as far away as equinely possible. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get her hooves to obey her. She found her breath hitching at the sight of more and more burnt and discoloured yellow-brown fur as it was revealed. “It hurt, Wily?” She croaked out, finding her throat had gone dry.

Wildfire turned her head in the direction of her marefriend’s voice. “Yeah Raid, it hurts. Only when the morphine wears off though babes.”

Eirene paused halfway through removing the bandages. “I'm afraid Wily will be in a constant amount of pain for a while to come yet Air Raid,” Eirene sniffed, pointedly using Air Raid’s full name. There was just, something, about this mare that didn't sit with the earth pony. Not at all.

Air Raid didn't like the sound of that very much. A constant amount of pain sounded like it needed a constant amount of care. Care, if she was totally honest with herself, she didn't know if she was prepared to give. The more she heard the more it sounded like her career was expected to at best be put on hold, at worst over. ‘It’s not fair! I've worked bucking hard to get where I am…why should I give it up?’

“Y – Yuppers…” Wildfire started then winced and hissed with pain as Eirene put a little too much pressure across the bridge of her nose. “It hurts like a bucker, but at least I have you to look after me…right?” She asked nervously when Air Raid didn’t reply straight away.

"Sorry Wily, my bad.” Eirene giggled as she unwound the rest of the bandages, “You can spank my flank after, okay?”

“That's what you said last time!” Wildfire laughed, forgetting that Air Raid still hadn't answered.

“Yes I know,” Eirene sniggered as she finished removing the bandages, “And, no matter how much I begged you still didn't spank me hard enough.” The nurse laughed at hers and Wildfire’s little in joke then she gave her a little peck on the forehead, an action that made Air Raid’s skin crawl under her fur, and stepped back. “There we go. We’ll let some fresh air get to those pretty scars of yours. Do you good before we put you on some clean bandages.”

Just before the earth pony stood back Air Raid reflexively turned her face away. ‘Pretty scars? Who’s she kidding?’ For an extra measure she clamped her eyes shut, having no desire to even look at her marefriend.

“Thanks Eirene!” Wildfire exclaimed with a wince as the room temperature air of the hospital room made contact with her now unprotected face. “Raid, babes, my nurse says I'm still pretty. What do you think, am I still something to wake up to?” Wildfire asked uncertainly, crossing her hooves under the bedsheets. ‘Please don't leave me…please don't leave me…say I'm pretty, Tartarus Raid, say anything!’

‘You used to be pretty…ugh how can I wake up to that?’ The thought shot through Air Raid’s brain. “You uh, you look just fine, Wily. Just fine.” She said through her closed eyes.

"Aw babes! You're so sweet!” Wildfire giggled, clapping her hooves together in delight from what she perceived was a genuine compliment.

Eirene was outraged by Air Raid’s attitude. Wildfire had told her all about this mare after Darkie had left yesterday afternoon and from she had been told about the pegasus, if anypony would be empathetic and understanding it would be her. Now confronted with the most unsympathetic, uncaring and downright selfish behaviour she’d had the deep misfortune to witness. It was all the infuriated earth pony could do not to erupt in a rage then and there. ‘Sweet, my left fetlock,’ she thought angrily.
Smiling dangerously Eirene decided it was time she ended this charade right here and now. She had seen this type of behaviour before and she had no doubt she’d see it again. Loved ones turning on or abandoning family or partners because the relationship wasn't easy anymore. Ponies like Air Raid made her sick. Still, having her eyes closed like that gave her an idea how to resolve the situation. She only hoped Wily wouldn't be too affected. She liked that pegasus.

“Wily, I'm just going to the other side of the room for your supplies, okay?” Eirene didn't wait for a reply before she clopped her way noisily around the bed. The earth pony smiled vindictively as she rounded the end of the bed and walked close to Air Raid’s tail. ‘Wily, forgive me…’ With that thought in her head the nurse walked past the pegasus sitting on her haunches and stomped her left hind leg down hard on her blue tail, impacting scant inches from where it met her dock. “Oops…”

“Aah!” Air Raid gasped more in surprise than pain and without thinking opened her grey eyes and found herself looking directly at Wildfire’s ruined face. Reflexively Air Raid staggered backwards away from the hospital bed, away from the injured pegasus. “AAAAH!” This time her gasp was one of fear and revulsion as she drank in the burned yellow of the discoloured fur around Wildfire’s face, the green / brown of the pitted acid marks, the melted and scarred flesh that stretched across her face where her beautiful chestnut brown eyes used to be. Air Raid tasted bile and vomit in her mouth as she looked in horror at her marefriend’s scarred tissue. She could see the sunken skin of the now empty eye sockets covered by the acid scars, and it was all she could do not to throw up in disgust.

Wildfire heard the sharp intake of breath from her partner sat by the left side of her bed. “Raid? Babes what's wrong?” She asked, turning her head slightly towards the sound of the gasp.

‘Oh Wily, what have I done?’ Eirene thought with her back to them both.

“AAaaaaAAaaaHHH!” Air Raid screamed. And screamed. For a full minute she screamed, unable to vocalise her emotions any other way. Finally after what seemed like an age the green mare ran out of breath and shuddered to a haggard awkward silence that, in the wake of the terrified scream, seemed to stretch for eternity. An eternity in which the only sounds where the breathing of the three mares.

"R – Raid…Raid…wh – wha…” There was so many things whirling around Wildfire’s brain that her questions all muddled and what came out of her mouth was a garbled mess.

“W – Wily…I'm sorry I can't do this…” Air Raid interrupted, standing to her hooves.

“Wha…what d’you…I don't understand….you said I was p – pretty…”

“I lied! Okay I lied! I'm sorry Wily but look at you…you aren't my mare…she was pretty; you…you just aren't.” She turned on her hooves and started to head towards the open door.

Wildfire heard the clopping of her hooves, “Raid…please, I'm still your Wily, come back…”

Air Raid didn't bother to turn around or even look over her shoulder as she paused halfway to the door. “I can’t do it Wily…I can't care for you. I have my career…my racing…you're hideous...I can't be seen with you looking like that…” Feeling thoroughly wretched Air Raid took another loud step away from her now snivelling mare.

"Raid please..." Wildfire reached with her hoof, grasping at the very air. "Come back, talk to me, please!"

Air Raid just carried on walking. “Sorry Wildfire...we had fun while it lasted. Fun’s over, babes.”

“Raid!” Now it was Wildfire’s turn to scream, as the sound of hooves receded away. “AIR RAAAAID!” Wildfire reached out further with her hoof, hoping to catch the retreating mare. “Come back…please, please come back!”

“Air Raid!”

“Huh…wh-what?”

“Equestria to Air Raid!” Darkstar waved her pure white hoof in front of her friend’s vacant grey eyes until the older mare blinked and seemed to focus on her, then they slipped again, seeing something that the unicorn couldn’t. “Buck this…Air Raid!” Darkstar ignited her horn with a bright yellow glow that matched the intensity of her eyes and set off a few of her magical flash bangs around the lime green mare’s head, and then for good measure she magically made her voice sound in both her ears at once. “AIR RAID!”

“D-Darkie!” Air Raid spluttered, finally getting those last awful screams out of her mind, “there’s no need to shout.”

“Thinking about Wily again, hun?” She asked kindly as she lifted her mug to her lips in her yellow aura and tasted her caramel macchiato.

“Hmm…” Air Raid mumbled as she shifted her weight on the seating pad and absently reached a hoof for her mug of coffee before she remembered she’d drunk it all. Pleasantly however she found it full of steaming black liquid. “Where’d this come from?” She asked after she took a swallow.

“You’re welcome.” Darkstar bowed her grey maned head. “You owe me fifteen bits.”

“Gee, thanks mate.” Air Raid groused good naturedly as she took another sip, then her grey eyes settled on the large dusty bottle of 2001 vintage moonshine sat on the table between the two mares, complete with two glasses. “Huh…where’d that come from?”

“Courtesy of Java and his cellar.” Darkstar explained.

“Java doesn’t sell moonshine.”

“No, but he does keep some for emergencies.” Darkstar smiled a wide smile and uncorked the twenty four year old bottle and in her yellow magical aura she poured them both out a generous serving. “On the condition that you aren’t gonna drive anywhere today. This is the good stuff.”

“I could use the good stuff,” Air Raid muttered.

“You could use a shower, two nights worth of sleep and a decent preening too,” Darkstar chuckled once she had poured out two glasses of the moonshine.

“I’ll sleep when Wily comes home from Fillydelphia, Darkie.” Air Raid commented as she took the glass in her hoof.

“Are you still getting no reply?” Darkstar asked, switching out her macchiato mug for the moonshine.

By way of response, Air Raid simply pressed re-dial on her cell phone.

“I see.” Darkstar quietly sipped her moonshine thoughtfully. “So how come you’re moping here? In my spot?”

"I’m not moping.”

“Liar.”

“Fine.” Air Raid replied, gulping down another mouthful of her moonshine. “Maybe I am moping. I have a right to mope.” She was about to take a third mouthful and then she caught the severe questioning look from her friend. “This past week I’ve lost Wily, I’ve lost two races, I’m close to losing Slingshot and I think I’ve just about lost Dusk, too.”

“Firstly, boo bucking hoo. This isn’t about you, Raid.” Darkstar replied shortly. “This is about my very good friend, your marefriend and us not knowing where she is. Second, what’s up with Dusk? The last I heard from Lady Octavia, he was sulking in his suite with Vocal.”

“Well…funny story, that.” Air Raid commented as she reached for her glass of moonshine in the late afternoon sunshine.

“I’m listening.”

“See, what happened was, I went to the castle earlier today.” She drained the last of her glass and stretched her forelegs out on the seating pad. At Darkstar’s encouraging nod, she continued. “I walked into the throne room, I went up to Princess Celestia. I pleaded my case and then I asked to use a Time Scroll so I could go back a week and change what’s happened. Because I love Wildfire more than I love racing, more than I love my next breath.”

“Really. You.” Darkstar merely raised her left eyebrow as she scrutinised her friend. “You. Air Raid. You walked up to the Goddess of the Sun, Princess of the Day, Celestia herself and demanded to use a Time Scroll? Something only the highest level unicorns can use safely? A thing so unstable only two unicorns have used one in the past twenty three years?”

“Yep.” Air Raid used the bottle that Java had left them and poured herself another glass of moonshine. So what if she got drunk? At least she’d forget for a while. “That I did, Darkie.”

“Then what?”

“Well…as you can imagine, the Princess kindly asked me to leave her throne room. I didn’t want to leave her throne room. I was just on the verge of making a scene that no doubt would’ve ended with me in the dungeons for a day or two when Dusk appeared and whisked me into his suite.” Air Raid paused for breath and she sipped her drink while her friend snickered at her. “The meeting with Dusk didn’t go well.”

“How not well?” Darkstar asked.

Air Raid squirmed uncomfortably on her seating pad. “Ha, ha….well, you see…”

That did it.

There was an unspoken line amongst the group of friends that they had agreed not to cross.

Dusk Melody just crossed it.

“So…you wound him up until Dusk lost his temper and called you a Dodo, and then you punched him!?” Darkstar asked incredulously, almost dropping her lead crystal glass she was holding in her glowing yellow magic.

Air Raid nodded sadly.

“I’ll give you this much, Raid.” Try as she might, Darkstar couldn’t keep the smirk from her pure white muzzle. “When you buck something up, you buck it up real good.”

“You know me,” Air Raid sighed despondently, “I don’t do anything by halves.”

“Hmm…” Darkstar’s yellow eyes narrowed a little. “I thought I did, but now I’m not too sure.” Darkstar emptied her own glass and gave her older friend a very piercing look. “Raid, I have a question. I'd very much like the courtesy of an honest answer.”

“Alright.” Air Raid found she couldn’t quite return her friend’s gaze. “Shoot.”

“You say you love Wily.” Darkstar led off as she sipped her moonshine and let that opener hang in the air for a brief moment before swallowing her mouthful. “Did you really, or was she just an easy lay for you?”

“Wow...” Air Raid breathed and reached for the now three quarters empty bottle.

“Ah, ah, ah.” Darkstar levitated away the bottle out of the lime green mare’s reach. “Honest answer first.”

Air Raid sighed. “Alright. At first, yeah, I saw her and I wanted her. I saw how she looked at me. I knew she was into me. yeah, at first I thought, ‘I'll tap that’. But…but then I found out I was loving her.”

“When?”

Again, Air Raid let out a deep sigh. “It was after the fun fair. When we were both laid on the cloud after the Ferris wheel. I told her about my Scootaloo’s Syndrome and we danced…” the racer began crying openly. “Sh-She said she’d stand by me no matter what…”

“Then why did you stop?”

“Honest answer?” Air Raid asked, but then she quailed under her friend’s look. “I was scared - not of her, of course not - but of everything else. I finally got my career where I want it, I had my mare...Tartarus I had my mom even supporting me. Then…then all of a sudden all I could see was it was gone. I was a selfish coward, Darkie, and I hate myself for it.” Air Raid actually did look at her friend, tears streaking tracks down her lime green fur. “B-But…sh-she'll come back, right?” She asked desperately. “Once she's done in Filly, Wily'll come back, won't she? Darkie, please say she'll come back!”

Darkstar levitated the bottle over to the crying pegasus and, lighting her horn with a brighter yellow glow she created a perfect magical facsimile of Wildfire standing between them. So perfect was the creation, from the jet black mane and tail to the sun yellow of her coat and the red of the stylised burning fireball cutie mark, that momentarily Air Raid stopped crying. With glistening eyes she studied the illusion.

"W-Wily? Wily come back...when will you come back?" Air Raid asked through fresh tears.

Controlling the illusion, Darkstar made the ‘Wildfire’ put its hoof on Air Raid’s shoulder as she filled her glass for a third time. “I don’t know Raid,” it spoke with Wildfire’s exact voice, and looked sympathetically with her chestnut brown eyes. “But you won’t get the answer at the bottom of that bottle, or the next one either.”

Darkstar got up and slowly walked away, leaving her friend hugging the Wildfire illusion she had created. The pure white unicorn walked until she couldn’t hear her tears anymore. She held the illusion until she couldn’t hold it any longer. “Poor Air Raid…” she thought, wiping away her own tears.

Chapter 2 - Anger

“Luna damn it Wily!” Air Raid exclaimed angrily, stomping her right forehoof into her carpeted floor with enough force to make a loud ‘thudding’ noise. “Where in the hay are you!? Answer me damn you, it’s been two whole weeks now, come on, answer me you ignorant mare!” She let the answer phone beep and it automatically cut itself off, the phone returning to its standby screen. A selfie screenshot of her with Wildfire from the night of the fun fair when they had been cuddling on the Ferris wheel. Decidedly happier times, for the both of them.

“Still no luck, hun?” Darkstar asked sympathetically, her left forehoof draped comfortingly around her older friend’s shoulder.

“What in the name of Tartarus do you think, Darkie, really?” Air Raid shot back nastily, her lime green muzzle pulled back in a derisive sneer. A fraction of a second later and the pegasus saw the affronted look on her friend’s face, and her ire evaporated like air from a balloon. “Darkie…oh Darkie I’m sorry!”

“Raid…” Darkstar didn’t raise her voice as she removed her foreleg from around her friend’s shoulder. “I’m gonna let that slide on account of the fact you’re upset.” The pure white unicorn looked around her friend’s living room despondently. While Air Raid had never been the most ‘fastidious’ of home owners, her house was now in a state hitherto unseen by the teenage mare. Race suits, books, newspapers, food, cutlery and more worryingly, empty cider bottles, made up the detritus that littered the room. Not to mention the unspeakable stain that was on the next pad of the couch that she was desperately trying to avoid.

“I think,” she said as she delicately stood up from the couch, lighting her horn as she did so and levitating up the many cider bottles that littered the living room, “you need a very black coffee.”

“Whatever.” Came the simple one word reply.

“Buck you Wildfire! Buck you for leaving me you yellow furball!”

In the kitchen, Darkstar heard her friend’s violent exclamation, followed by a just as violent thud of a hood impacting a coffee table. Summoning every ounce of her self-control, the pure white unicorn floated the several empty bottles to the trash bins and landed them in the glass recycling bin. ‘Selfish bitch! This is bucking hard for me too Air Raid!’ She thought, biting back a nasty, savage retort that was on her lips and breathed evenly as she counted backwards from ten to zero.

Moments of silence passed in which the unicorn flipped on the kettle – and turned away in utter disgust at the state of the dishes that were left in the sink – on the dirty black marble work top. ‘Jeez Raid…you need a mighty kick up the flank, or a maid…Sweet Luna’s mane this house is a tip!’ Darkstar resolved to talk to her brother about this, or Slingshot. They couldn’t hire a maid, this amount of work would be unfair on the maid.

“D-Darkie?” Air Raid’s faltering voice came from the living room a few moments later just as the kettle boiled.

“What?” Darkie responded shortly, having selected three cups, one of which had left a nasty brown stain from the residue of some…‘thing’ on the pure white of her fur. ‘I’m so gonna be sick, I swear! Then again, i think some sick would improve the look of this kitchen,’ she thought wryly.

“Can you um, can you please cast that spell again, please?” Her voice was halting and tremulous when she spoke.

“Raid, no!” She replied quickly. They’d spoken about this. In great length over the past week, they’d spoken about this. “Raid…hun, I’m really not comfortable with this.”

“Please Darkie, I need it to comfort me, please.”

“Fine, Raid.” ‘I must really be a soft touch for this…’ Darkstar thought as she put the coffee granules in both mugs, the sugar in one and then finally the milk in the other. “I’ll cast it, but later you and I are having a conversation, alright?”

“Th-Thank you D-Darkie.” Air Raid sniffled pathetically into her lime green hooves. “Thank you.”

‘Whatever, Raid,’ Darkstar thought as she lit her horn and with a very bright yellow glow, cast the illusion that her friend had requested of her. The pure white unicorn mare didn’t need to see into the living room to know that her spell had worked. ‘We’re having that conversation later, you mark my words.’ Pouring out the hot water by hoof – the illusion she had just cast was so strong it prevented her from casting anything else, even a low level levitation spell – and she placed the mugs on the cleanest tray she could find, which admittedly wasn’t very clean, and carefully she carried it on her back into the bomb site of a living room.

What Darkstar saw when she walked into the living room made her heart break. Just like it had broken every other time she had cast the illusion this past week. On the couch, Air Raid was snuggling up to the perfect magical facsimile of Wildfire. Again, Darkstar had made it as perfectly as she could from memory, from the yellow of the coat to the straightness of the black mane. “Raid…listen, Raid,” the white mare started as she gently put the tray down on the coffee table.

“Hmm?” Air Raid wasn’t listening any more. She had her Wily, her own special Wily, and she delicately nuzzled the cheek of the illusionary construct. “You say something Darkie?”

“Raid…oh Tartarus, it doesn’t matter.” She turned away when her friend began to kiss her way up the illusion’s neck to her cheek.

Reaching the illusion’s lips, Air Raid placed a tender loving kiss upon them, draping her forelegs around its shoulders. “I love you, Wily…” she kissed its lips again, but no matter what she did or what she said, the faux Wildfire didn’t move or reply. It just sat there looking at her with its brown eyes.

“Darkie…”

“No.”

“Darkie please…”

“No.” Darkstar reached with her hoof and lifted up her milky coffee to her lips. “I said no. I will not make that kiss you, Raid. Seriously, this is a whole new level of what the buck!”

“Fine.” Air Raid contented herself with hugging and nuzzling the illusion on her couch.

“You’re gonna have to wrap it up soon anyhow,” Darkstar checked her watch. “We’re due over at Cyclone’s place in about half an hour.”

“Hmm.”

“Raid, I mean it!” Darkstar raised her voice slightly. Enough was very quickly becoming more than enough. “Cy is waiting for you! Y’know, your friend, Cyclone, who’s depending on you to be her nana for the day? Like you promised?”

“Hmm, yeah, Cy…I got it.” Air Raid murmured in a somewhat noncommittal fashion as she once more kissed the illusions unresponsive lips. “I gotta go, Wily.” She said with another kiss. “I’ll see you later though, okay sweetie?”

As always, the illusion said nothing. It just slowly faded away starting with the tail and finished with its smiling chestnut brown eyes. “Raid, I’m sorry hun but we need to go, Cy’s expecting us.”

“Yeah, okay Darkie.” Air Raid slid off of the couch and reached for her phone, her black coffee forgotten. “Just let me try her one more time.” She hit the worn down re-dial button with her hoof.

“AAAAH!” Air Raid screamed down the phone line, “Wily when you come back I’m gonna spank your ass red for this!” Angrily she cancelled the call and threw her phone into her saddlebag. “C’mon Darkie let’s go already.”

The walk from Air Raid’s house to Cyclone’s was short and thankfully uneventful, save for the two poor motorsport fans who stopped the lime green racer and whom received the angriest autographs of their lives from the disgruntled pegasus.

“You know…they were only being nice, Raid.” Darkstar spoke up after a few more minutes of angry silence.

“Whatever Darkie.” Air Raid muttered as they turned on to Cyclone’s street in the lower quarter of the Residential District. What the ponies in her neighbourhood would call ‘Commoner’s Row’. “Fans are stupid.”

‘Breathe Darkie, just breathe. She doesn’t mean it.’ Endeavouring to heed her own advice, the pure white mare breathed through her nose and counted backwards from ten to one. Mercifully, before anypony or anything else could annoy her older friend, they arrived at Cyclone’s front door. “Are you gonna knock, or has the door upset you too?”

“Stupid door.” Air Raid stomped up the little pathway and not so much knocked on the door as she did kick the front door with her left forehoof, making it rattle in its hinges.

“Hey guys!” Cyclone’s grinning face smiled at the lime green pegasus and the pure white unicorn standing on her doorstep in the mid-morning sun. “Won’t you come on…” the jet black pegasus stepped aside as Air Raid stomped on inside without waiting for the invitation to be completed or sparing the nappy wearing mare a second glance. “In.” Cyclone gave Darkstar a questioning look as she followed her friend inside the moderately sized two bedroom townhouse.

“Darkie,” Cyclone stopped the unicorn in her little entrance hallway. “Is she okay?”

“Well…” Darkstar mulled it over, deciding what and how much to tell her friend. “I’ll just say she’s been better, hun.”

“Are we doing this or what?” Air Raid’s voice carried from the living room.

“I uh, I see what you mean, Darkie.” Cyclone stepped aside to let the unicorn go ahead of her and she followed after, her candy pink nappy crinkling as she walked. When they entered the living room, she saw Air Raid sullenly flicking through a TV magazine. “Listen, Raid, we don’t have to go ahead with this, if you aren’t in the mood, babes.”

Air Raid was about to deliver a very spiteful retort to the jet black pegasus when she caught the look Darkstar was giving her. The lime green mare sighed. Darkie was right. Cyclone was her friend, she had trusted her with this very intimate thing, and the very least she could do was step up and do right by her friend. “Cy, I’m sorry sweetie. We’ll do it, I did promise you some nana time, so let’s do it. Are you ready?”

“Oh yups, I’m ready Raid.” Cyclone did a very happy hoof dance in her living room. “I’ve got a clean nappy on, everything’s ready in the nursery; the potions are ready, there’s foal food mashed up for you, there’s a few bottles of mare’s milk ready and I’ve got all the supplies you’ll need.”

“Alrighty then, Cy, let’s go through to the nursey and do it.” Air Raid couldn’t help but smile at her younger friend’s enthusiasm. “Lead us to the nursery sweetie.”

In the nursery, Air Raid’s spirits were lifted a little more. Cyclone had gone all out. The walls were decorated a vibrant bright pink, with murals of various animals all over. Pride of place was given to a very large play pen, easily big enough to accommodate up to three fully grown ponies and their toys – of which there were building blocks and many Power Pony plushes scattered around. Behind that was a crib, also decorated in Power Pony plushes, most notably her favourite, Radiance. Over on the left wall opposite a large bay window, was a changing station with all the necessary supplies, and a large adult sized high chair.

Cyclone’s belly rumbled as they walked into the nursery. “Hungry are we Cy?” Air Raid giggled.

“Well, yeah, I haven’t eaten yet,” Cyclone replied with a smile. “I was waiting for my nana to feed me in my high chair.”

“Darkie, if you wouldn’t mind putting our little filly in the high chair please.” The white unicorn smiled and lit her horn, levitating the jet black pegasus over to the waiting high chair while Air Raid trotted over to the supply station and came back with a colourful pink tray with the two potions on them and the mushed up summer vegetables in a bowl.

As she was set down in the big pink high chair, Cyclone obediently lifted her forelegs so Darkstar could lower the tray and secure her in her seat. Playfully, Cyclone wiggled in her high chair and began noisily banging her forehooves on the tray. “Feed me!” She giggled until Air Raid stopped in front of her and gave her a look, complete with a raised eyebrow.

“You aren’t a filly yet, Cy.” Air Raid tried to scold her but her giggle ruined the effect. “Now,” she said as she set the tray down, “potions first, then Nana Raid will give you your num-nums.”

Grinning an eager grin, Cyclone reached for the blue potion first, which in a few seconds would impair her co-ordination and bowel control. “Ugh…” She winced as the syrupy potion slid down her throat. She then picked up the red vial and quickly swallowed that in turn, this one would regress her mental faculties. Outwardly there was no sign of any change; Cyclone just sat there in her high chair. Inside was where the potions were taking their respective effects. Already the red potion was starting to block and inhibit the flow of the neurons in her brain, slowing her thought processes and dimming her understanding.

“Cy, you know that stuff is narcotic, right?” Darkstar said with a degree of concern for friend.

“Na…Nar…cot…ic?” Cyclone had tilted her head to one side, processing the long word syllable by syllable as if it was the first time she’d ever said it. Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew what it meant, but like a computer with a broken link, she couldn’t access it. “What’s that Nana?”

“It’s a long word that little fillies don’t need to worry about sweetie.” Air Raid smiled as she scooped up the glass vials before the newly fillyised mare could break them and hurt herself. Returning to the high chair, the lime green mare deftly tied a pink bib with the words "Nana’s Little Filly" on it in bright blue bubble lettering around Cyclone’s neck. She looked down at the bib, then back up to Air Raid with an adorable little frown on her face as she tried unsuccessfully to read the simple words upside down.

"Aw, don’t worry about it, sweetie," Air Raid said, tickling underneath her chin with a forehoof. "Now open wide! Here come the num-nums!” She held a spoon up to Cyclone’s mouth, and the filly obediently opened her mouth. Her obedience was rewarded with a tasty spoonful of mushed veggies. Cyclone gave her nana a happy little "mmm" as she chewed her veggie mush thoroughly. As soon as she finished it, another full spoon was held out for her, and she was more than happy to open up again. It wasn't long until she'd finished her entire bowl.

"Is the little filly's tummy all full?" Air Raid asked, a wide smile on her muzzle. She had to admit to herself that this whole ‘nana’ thing was quite therapeutic. And right now she needed that.

Cyclone nodded in response, giving a little "mmm." She tried to pat her full belly, but the tray of the high chair was in her way. Air Raid let out a giggle at her filly as Darkstar obligingly floated the now empty bowl over to the supply station. The jet black mare saw her nana laughing at her, and in her filly-ish mind she wondered what she’d done wrong. She didn’t like being laughed at. She never had. Hot tears welled up in her blue eyes and she let out a pathetic sniffle.

In her high chair, Cyclone bit her lip in an attempt to not cry, but before she could sniffle again, Air Raid had her wrapped up in a warm hug. Helpfully, Darkstar further diffused the situation by levitating over a full bottle of milk. "Oh nooooo," Air Raid cooed, picking her filly up in her forelegs and holding her tight. “Is Nana’s filly okay?”

Cyclone nodded in response, a single sniffle escaping her along with a few tears. She nestled into the lime green fur. Her nana’s body heat calming her right down.

"All better?" Air Raid asked gently after a few moments.

Cyclone looked up at her nana, somehow, it seemed as if the thing that had caused her to cry and become upset had magically disappeared. She sniffled once more and gave Air Raid a smile. "Better."

"Nana's hugs always do the trick!" Air Raid said, holding onto the hug. "Now c'mon. I've got a nice, warm bottle waiting for a cute little filly. Does that sound good?"

"Mm-hmm!" Cyclone replied, her smile widening in her nana’s hug. Obligingly, Darkstar floated the bottle of milk from the high chair over to Air Raid’s waiting right forehoof.

"You get comfy, okay sweetie?” Air Raid smiled as she rested Cyclone’s upper body across her lap and supported her neck in her left foreleg. Cyclone allowed herself to be held, and the bottle was brought in front of her face by Air Raid’s right hoof, and she opened her mouth, ready to accept it. The amber nipple was placed in her mouth, and she pursed her lips around it. She gave it a little suckle, and was rewarded with a trickle of delicious milk. No more prompting was needed as Cyclone continued to suckle on the bottle, her suckling soon becoming autonomous. She felt Air Raid begin to stroke her mane with the primary feathers of her left wing as she drank, and she gazed up into Air Raid’s grey eyes as she suckled, feeling utterly content.

Getting well into her role, Air Raid looked back at her friend, giving her that warm smile that told her that everything was going to be alright. Cyclone never broke eye contact with Air Raid, that caring gaze serving to help her relax as she plowed through the contents of the bottle. "Mmm!" Air Raid said gently, pulling the bottle away and rubbing her right forehoof lightly over Cyclone’s nose once the bottle was empty. "Nummy?”

Cyclone responded by burping loudly in Air Raid’s face, causing her to burst out laughing. Cyclone’s lips were still pursed, and Darkstar swiftly intervened, levitating over a very pink butterfly shaped pacifier between them and as Cyclone immediately took to sucking on the pacifier the pure white unicorn floated the empty bottle over to the supply station and put it in the steriliser.

"Does ickle Cy like her pacifier?" Air Raid asked, giving her mane a playful ruffle with her wingtip. Cyclone just nodded, unwilling to answer verbally, lest she drop the comforting pacifier.

Darkstar giggled and she carefully lifted her friend in her glowing yellow magical aura. "You've got a little more time to play, but then it's time for an ickle filly’s nap, alright?" The white unicorn smiled as her friend nodded once more and, just as carefully as she lifted her up, Darkstar deposited the black pegasus in the oversized playpen.

In the playpen, Cyclone spent a good few minutes just bouncing up and down, the mare-turned-filly thoroughly enjoying the feel of the padded mat, and the feel of the nappy as it scrunched and crinkled into her bottom. Cyclone spent a good while just patting the soft mat with the toe of her hoof before the very colourful building blocks caught her attention. She saw the Power Pony plushes and a fun game presented itself to her.

As she clumsily grabbed one bright red block and set it on top of another, this one a blue, she began to make a little building block house while Air Raid, happy that her friend was safe in the playpen, got up and walked over to Darkstar. While she had been busy with Cyclone, the white unicorn had made them both a coffee each. This time Air Raid didn’t ignore it, and took a very grateful sip.

Air Raid took a second, deeper sip, and reached into her bag by the supply station and retrieved her cell phone. She was about to hit the re-dial button with her hoof when Darkstar levitated the phone out of her reach. “No Raid,” she said simply when the lime green pegasus gave her a puzzled questioning look. “Not here, not now. Do you think Cy needs you shouting in her current state?”

“Darkie…” Air Raid turned and watched her friend happily playing in the playpen. She had used all of the bright primary coloured blocks in her little house, and in her left hoof she held her Mane-iac plush while in the other she had her Radiance plush. The black mare currently had them both in a vicious battle over the block house, even supplying the sound effects as the Mane-iac knocked the house down. Radiance then delivered a devastating fluffy uppercut that knocked her opponent out of Cyclone’s hoof.

“No, you’re right.” Air Raid decided as her friend let loose a delighted squeal around the pacifier in her mouth and she started to rebuild the block house to play again. “This is Cy’s time. I get it.”

“Thank you Raid.” Darkstar returned her friend’s phone to her saddle bag and they drunk their coffees while they watched their friend completely at ease and playing in the pen.

The game with the building blocks and the Power Ponies managed to keep Cyclone’s interest for a good long while, Air Raid and Darkstar managed a second coffee each, until a new feeling distracted her. It was a tell-tale pressure in her lower belly. All the milk that she'd drank was finally making itself known, and without realising it she instinctively relaxed her bladder muscles and released her hot stream of pee into her pink nappy. As she proceeded to soak the nappy the pink front turned to a dull yellow colour. For a few moments, she just sat there, staring at the plushies she held in her hooves as she felt the flow continue, the thick padding thirstily absorbing it all and swelling between her hind legs.

At a loss as to what to do, Cyclone just sat there as her stream ended and the swollen sodden garment pressed warmly against her crotch. After a few moments more, she dropped her two plushies into the half assembled block house and she sniffled once, then immediately burst into floods of very genuine tears.

“Raid, you’re up.” Darkstar nudged her friend’s shoulder. “Looks like a nappy change.”

The lime green mare put her coffee down, and within moments, she was by Cyclone’s side. Wasting no time at all, Air Raid had her friend out of the playpen and, holding her in her forehooves, had her over to the changing mat on top of the supply station. "It's okay, ickle Cy," Air Raid cooed, “you're just wet. It's nothing to be worried about. Nana Raid will take care of it.” It took a lot of hugging and cooing, but Cyclone eventually managed to calm down.

On the changing mat, Cyclone let out a few more sniffles which were quickly taken care off when Air Raid popped the pacifier back in her mouth. The sucking soothed her as Air Raid undid the tapes on the sides of her sodden nappy. Cyclone couldn’t help but shiver a bit as the warmth of the soaked padding left her, flopping onto the table with a sodden thump, but a little ruffling of her mane by a lime green primary feather soon served to calm her down again. Working quickly, Air Raid balled the wet nappy up and disposed of it before producing some foal wipes which she held in her hoof and very gently wipe her friend down.

Once that was done and Cyclone was wiped down, Air Raid presented a new, somewhat thicker, clean nappy to her. Cyclone stared at this new nappy. She didn’t notice it was thicker than the one before it, all she was bothered about were the Power Ponies on the front. "Up we go, Cy!" Air Raid sang, tapping her flank just near her cutie mark. Being a good filly, Cyclone did just that, eagerly she watched the thick diaper slide under her. As soon as she felt the thick clean warm padding under her rump, she lowered herself down and found herself entranced by just how thick this nappy diaper was. She laid there quite still as Air Raid proceeded to add a generous amount of foal powder around and between her hind legs. The lime green mare then folded the nappy up between Cyclone’s hind legs and secured the tape on both sides.

Cyclone sat up and patted her new padding with her forehoof, looking immensely pleased at the feeling. She looked up to Air Raid with a look of pure foalish approval as she patted away at it.

"Nana Raid knew you'd like it," Air Raid said with a smile, booping her black nose with a hoof. "Now come on. One more bottle and then it's off to nap time, okay Cy?" The little filly nodded obediently, and giggled and squirmed as she was lifted off of the table in Darkstar’s glowing yellow aura and deposited carefully into Air Raid’s waiting hooves. These hooves were quickly filled by a second full bottle that was again floated over to Air Raid’s right forehoof. Cyclone let out a very cute little pout as her pacifier was taken away, but it quickly faded and was forgotten about as the nipple of the bottle replaced it, and she curled up happily against her nana and began to drink her fill.

"I’m glad you don’t drink cider that quickly!" Air Raid laughed once the bottle was completely empty and playfully she patted Cyclone’s full tummy. This time she was ready for the burp, and ducked out of the way just in time. Both Air Raid and Cyclone giggled, and then the black mare let out a very big yawn.

"Uh-oh, looks like somepony's finally sleepy!" Darkstar said and, though Cyclone did her very best to shake her head and vehemently deny this claim, another yawn and a set of droopy eyelids solidly disproved the case she was trying to make.

"All good ickle fillies need their sleep," Air Raid told her gently but firmly. "And if you're a good little filly and let me put you to sleep, I'll let you wear this!"

Cyclone’s blue eyes went wide as saucers when she caught sight of the prize that Darkstar presented to her from her saddle bag. The surprise – which neither mare had told Cyclone about before hoof – was a mid-blue hoofed onesie that had been designed to look just her favourite Power Pony Radiance’s costume, complete with light blue diamonds in the right places and a yellow fabric necklace sewn into it. It even had a Radiance mask attached to the hood. Barely able to contain her excitement, Cyclone let out a loud delighted squeal.

"We kinda thought you'd like that!" Air Raid said with a grin to the filly and a wink to Darkstar. "But only sleepy fillies are allowed to wear it. So I'll ask again, are you a sleepy little filly?"

"I'm a sleepy filly!" Cyclone squeaked quickly, adding a huge yawn for emphasis.

"MmMmm," Air Raid said with a wink. "C'mon then, ickle filly." She took the garment from the white unicorn and held the Radiance onesie open for Cyclone, who waddled over as quickly as she could with the bulk of the nappy between her hind legs. It took a bit of effort, what Cyclone being as squirmy as she was, but in very short order she soon found herself nice and cosy in the soft fleecy onesie.

"My," Darkstar giggled, "who's the cutest little Power Pony in Maretropolis?”

Cyclone tilted her head, unsure. "... Radiance?" she asked.

"You!" Air Raid exclaimed, wrapping her filly in a tight hug. Cyclone squealed happily and hugged back as excitedly as her sleepy state would allow.

"Just you wait," Darkstar smiled, “when you’re all grown-up, you'll be the best Power Pony ever!”

Held in Air Raid’s forehooves, Cyclone just nodded in response. Then, she felt herself lifted once again in Darkstar’s yellow aura and very carefully indeed the sleepy filly was levitated across the nursery and over to the large pink crib. As she was lowered into the soft padded mattress she smiled up at Air Raid who had trotted over to be there with her. Her fatigue, combined with the comfort of her diaper and her fleecy onesie had her eyelids drooping straight away.

"You've been a good ickle filly, Cy," Air Raid whispered to her as she pulled up the thin little comforter up over her shoulders. “Sweet dreams Cy.” A few moments later, when her friend was sleeping peacefully, Air Raid got up from the crib and, making sure the foal monitor was turned on, she left the nursey with Darkstar flipping off the light switch as she followed close behind her.

“Alright,” Darkstar sighed as she flopped on Cyclone’s couch. “Now you can call Wily.” The pure white mare lit her horn and from the nursery she levitated her friend’s cell phone.

“Thanks Darkie.” Air Raid took her phone from her friend’s aura and flopped next to her on the couch. “That Radiance onesie was a touch of genius! Where’d you get it from?”

“Ebay is a wonderful thing.” Darkstar smiled a satisfied smile as she relaxed into the comfy couch. “You did very well with Cy, by the way.”

“Hmm…” Air Raid murmured as she hit the re-dial button on her phone.

“Luna damn it!” Losing her temper, Air Raid threw her phone across the living room, only for it to be caught in a yellow aura before it could hit anything and smash.

“That won’t solve anything, Raid, now will it?” Darkstar sighed as she placed the cell phone on the coffee table, safely out of her troubled friend’s reach. She gave Air Raid a sideways glance, and she saw that the lime green mare was on the verge of erupting. Something she didn’t want for a number of reasons. Chief among them being it wouldn’t be fair on Cyclone to wake her up with a shouting fit.

Darkstar knew she had to calm her friend down. She was going to cast the Wildfire illusion – as much as she didn’t want to – when another idea came to her. A week ago she had asked Air Raid if she had truly loved Wildfire. The distraught pegasus had affirmed that yes, she had. So, sat here on her friend’s couch, the white unicorn decided to put that claim to the test. Turning her head away, she surreptitiously lit her horn and cast her most powerful illusion.

When she felt the tingling magic all over her fur, Darkstar knew the spell had worked. Now all that remained was to test its results. She tenderly placed her white hoof on Air Raid’s foreleg. “Air Raid…”

“What the…” Air Raid looked up from the living room floor, and her jaw dropped. There was a yellow hoof resting on her foreleg. In place of the pure white unicorn, there was her marefriend sat nestling up to her on the couch. “W-Wily…you came back!” At first she was convinced this was just Darkstar’s illusion, until she leant in and nuzzled the diminutive pegasus’s cheek.

She smelled like Wildfire, she was Wildfire’s size. “It’s really you!” Air Raid really didn’t care how she had got here. She saw her facial scars and didn’t care. “Wily…your scars…you look so beautiful! Please, please forgive me, I love you so much!” Closing her grey eyes, Air Raid draped her forelegs around ‘Wildfire’s’ neck and lovingly kissed her scars where her eyes used to be.

‘Well…this is awkward.’ Darkstar thought as she was hugged and her eyelids were kissed affectionately. ‘At least now I know for sure. The ‘Desire’ spell never lies.’

~ ~ ~

"Oh for buck's sake, damnit!” Air Raid slammed her coffee mug down hard on the low coffee table in her living room, snapping off the handle and cracking it open, leaking the hot contents onto the wooden surface and dripping to her hardwood floor. “It’s been a month now Cy, why haven’t we found her?” The lime green mare fumed, punching the table with her other hoof and sending the tray of freshly baked chocolate and cinnamon haycakes to the floor as well. “OOW! What do you think?”

“Raid, what I think,” Cyclone smiled as she shifted her position on her seating pad opposite her friend and carefully set down her own mug, “Is that you need to calm down. Seriously babe that’s the third mug you’ve broken since I’ve been here; and I’ve only been here four hours.”

“Oh ha, ha Cy,” Air Raid reached for the roll of paper towels she kept suspiciously close to hoof. “You know full well what I meant.”

“Yes hun, I know what you meant.” Cyclone sighed and reached a foreleg down to scoop up the spilled haycakes, helping herself to one as she did so. “I think we can’t do much more than we are doing; we’ve contacted the mayor of Filly, we’ve phoned the police out there, we’ve got in touch with the royal guard barracks out there, Tartarus Raid we even got Hot Spot to talk with the fire teams in Filly. Brightstar’s skyped his aunt and uncle over there, so…what more can we do?”

“Ugh…I know Cy, I know.” Air Raid groaned as she got up and trotted with her broken mug to the trash can. “It just feels like we should be doing more, y’know?” She asked rhetorically, dumping the fragments of mug into the can. “I just can’t shake the feeling she’s in trouble Cy.”

“Now there,” Cyclone smiled thinly as she took two vials; one blue, one red, from her saddle bag. “I know exactly what you mean. I can’t shake that feeling either babe.”

Trotting back to the living room and her seating pad Air Raid eyed the two potions warily. “Do you have to drink those things Cy?”

Earnestly the black pegasus nodded. “Uh huh. I’ve got a double dose for this weekend.” Cyclone had a glint of excitement in her blue eyes that unnerved Air Raid no end.

“Um…why, exactly? Not that I don’t mind being your Nana, you know I’ll do it, but won’t a stronger dosage make you even younger or something?” She asked uncertainly.

“No you silly filly,” Cyclone giggled, “I’ve got the age set around three years old. The stronger dose just means they’ll last longer that’s all.” She smiled, uncorking the two vials and setting them in front of her.

“And, why would you want that hun?”

“Simple,” Cyclone explained. “You’re leaving for that big race season in Filly mid-week right? You’ll be gone for three months. I want to get my bits worth for this weekend, today and tomorrow, maybe even till Monday if they last that long, before you go. Is that cool?” She asked hopefully, bouncing a little on her seating pad. “C’mon Raid, please! Pretty please with a really big cherry on top, please!”

“Hehehehe,” Air Raid chuckled at her friend’s desperate begging. She did enjoy teasing the other pegasus. “Well, seeing as my little foal asked so nicely, I don’t see why not. I’ll take you to the park I think today, for a Saturday in November it’s pretty warm, so drink up it’s already mid-day.”

“Yay!” Cyclone shrugged off her saddle bag, she wouldn’t be needing that as Air Raid had her own already made up with the necessary supplies they’d need, plus as a foal she was unbalanced enough as it was without the added weight of her bag. As was now her custom she reached for the blue potion first, which in a few seconds would impair her co-ordination and bowel control. “Ugh…” She winced as the syrupy potion slid down her throat. “It looks like moonshine but it don’t taste like it.”

Air Raid took a breath and was about to comment when her friend cut across her. “Don’t start Raid, alright? I know what I’m doing. I trust this and I trust you.” Cyclone then swallowed the red liquid, grimacing even more than she had with the blue. Air Raid paid it no mind any more. This was the fifth time she’d witnessed it and bizarrely it was starting to get normal. Outwardly there was no sign of any change; there never was. Inside was where the potions were taking their respective effects. Already the red potion was starting to block and inhibit the flow of the neurons in her brain, slowing her thought processes and dimming her understanding.

“Cy, you know that stuff is narcotic, right?” The lime green mare picked up the now-empty vial that had held the red potion and gave it a sniff, crinkling her muzzle. She’d done a little digging into these potions, and didn’t like what she had discovered.

Air Raid sighed deeply and rubbed her temple with a hoof. It concerned her that the potions were already taking effect. Five weeks ago they’d had to wait a good fifteen minutes. Now it was practically instantaneous. “Cy…it means ‘addictive’,” the green mare let out a giggle at the blank look she received. “The more you have the more you want…oh, never mind.” She shook her head, realising she was getting nowhere fast. “C’mon little filly, let’s go to the park.”

"The park, the park!” Cyclone bounced happily on the pad she was sitting on, clapping her forehooves together excitedly like, well like a little filly, which at that point she was.

Air Raid smiled warmly as she wrapped the thick padded strap around her filly’s left forehoof, securing it with the velcro end. She attached a similar band to her own forehoof, this time her right one. Between them was an extendable plastic wire linking the two straps together. Air Raid had quickly learnt to her cost that this simple device was necessary when taking an actual foal for a walk, as she’d underestimated how fast her filly could run off on her own.

‘Oh damnit!’ She thought as she juggled her house keys in one hoof while Cyclone pulled eagerly on the other. Five weeks of doing this and she still didn’t know how real parents did it. ‘Real foals aren’t Cy’s size, that’s got something to do with it’, Air Raid sniggered to herself as she finally got her front door locked. Thankfully the park was only a few streets away from her place, with only one main road to cross. “Cy! Bad filly! Walk with Nana Raid or we go back.”

Immediately Cyclone stopped pulling on the hoof strap and contained herself to a trot at her Nana’s right side. “Sowwy Nana, I be good!”

“Good filly,” Air Raid smiled and extended her right wing over her friend for comfort as they approached the four lane wide main road; she’d also learnt pretty quickly that loud noises scared filly-Cyclone.

Cyclone in turn huddled close to her Nana while she pressed the button with her left forehoof that activated the crossing point. “Cars scawy Nana…” the black mare whimpered into Air Raid’s flank.

“Hey…hey, it’s okay little filly,” Air Raid whispered into Cyclone’s ear as the cars stopped and she guided her to the central reservation. “Tell your Nana what you’re gonna do at the park.”

Distracted from the speeding vehicles in front of her Cyclone giggled and clapped her hooves together. “I’mma go on the slide and roundabout and the sand-box!” She babbled excitedly, making Air Raid chuckle at her.

“C’mon then little one,” still chuckling Air Raid steered her friend over to the other side of the street. “Isn’t the slide a little too high for my filly though?” She asked with a grin.

“Um…” Cyclone mumbled, her usual boundless confidence reined in by the inhibiting effects of the potions, “Maybe Nana. I play in the sand-box. That’s on the floor. Not up high.”

“Hmm…I think that’s a good idea Cy.” Air Raid agreed, removing her wing from her friend’s back and giving her a quick feathery scratch behind her ear. “Who’s a clever filly?”

Cyclone scrunched up her muzzle, looking thoroughly adorable as she mulled over the answer to the question. “Me!” She squealed, her eyes wide with barely contained excitement. “I’m a clever filly!”

“Yes, yes you are, my clever little filly.” Air Raid tousled her filly’s mane and removed the strap around her hoof as they passed through the open wrought-iron gates of the Residential District’s East side park. Thankfully, she noted with a cursory glance around, for a Saturday it wasn’t very busy. She assumed it was due to families starting their Hearths Warming shopping. “Go play Cy!”

“Yaaaaaay!” Freed from her restraint Cyclone shot off like a rocket towards the sand-box, making her caretaker giggle as she almost tripped over her hooves twice on the way.

Happy that Cyclone was headed for the sand-box Air Raid trotted over to one of the three nearby benches, the one only occupied by a lone middle aged unicorn stallion holding a newspaper in his pale blue magic. “Hey, sorry to bother you, is it cool if I sit with here?” She asked of the dark blue stallion sitting on the bench.

Looking up from his paper the stallion folded it away and smiled. “A good looking young mare asks is it cool if she can share my bench? Oooh I think I can stand that.” He gestured with a hoof as he magically floated away the newspaper into his bag. “I’m Diamond Mint, my lovely mare, pleased to meet you.”

"Air Raid and, while I might be lovely,” Air Raid smiled, taking a seat on the bench and making herself comfortable next to Diamond Mint, “I like mares. Sorry my handsome pony.”

“Alas! I’ve been shot down, oh woe is me!” Diamond drew his lower foreleg to his brow in a dramatic swoon. “How shall I ever recover from this heartbreak?” He asked with a wink to the pegasus sat next to him.

“Well, I’m not stopping you looking, if that’ll make you feel any better?” Air Raid returned the wink, swishing her tail suggestively.

“I say, that’s perfectly charitable of you Ma’am,” Diamond replied, affecting a perfect imitation of a stereotypical Canterlot accent only usually heard in comedy clubs - or the actual very upper classes. “But, as one’s dear Mama is wont to say,” the stallion carried on with a twinkle in his blue eye, “if you can’t play with the toy then don’t ogle the box it comes in.” He finished his quote, dropping the affected accent and laughing out loud which in turn made the pegasus next to him laugh as well.

“S-so…so y-you’re a d-dad?” She asked through fits of giggles.

“Why as it happens yes I am, is it that obvious?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hmm…no, but you do have a bag of foal supplies next to you, you reek of foal powder and you keep looking at that little light blue filly in the sand-box.” Air Raid giggled, “So, it’s just a guess…”

Diamond Mint laughed. "A proper little detective pony aren't we?" He asked rhetorically through a wide smile. “Yes, that little unicorn filly is my youngest foal, Cinnabelle; she’ll be three a couple of days after Hearths Warming. So, which one’s yours…hey…what’s that mare think she’s playing at?”

Immediately Air Raid picked up on Diamond’s change of tone and looked to where he was looking: the sand-box, now occupied by Cyclone and the actual filly. Her gut fell through her ass when she saw them there together. “Oh…um…yeah, that uh…that would be my filly.” She uttered with no small hint of embarrassment present in her voice.

“Your filly?” He asked incredulously, any hint of humour long gone. “Care to explain, Air Raid?”

“Well uh…she’s my friend; her name’s Cyclone, she’s nineteen and she attends Canterlot University. I’ve known her for about four years and she has a…well, she has a…adult foal fetish…” Air Raid’s voice got quieter and quieter until she was silent and looking at her hooves.

“An adult foal…wait…I’ve heard of that.” Diamond Mint replied, his tone softening a little. “My sister’s friend is into all that weirdness.”

“I’ll admit I don’t see the appeal of it but I wouldn’t say it was weird, mate.” Air Raid smiled, encouraged slightly by the stallion’s softer tone. “We all like different things don’t we?” She asked nervously as she watched them both playing happily together in the sand-box. “They uh…seem to be getting on alright, don’t they?”

“That they do, Air Raid.” Diamond said warily, not taking his eyes off of his filly and Cyclone busying themselves making a sand castle, both clapping their hooves, justifiably proud of their achievement.

“Yay Belle!” Cyclone clapped her hooves in celebration of their little sand castle standing in the sand-box. “You did it!” She started to press the slightly wet sand together with her hooves, fashioning a rough tower.

“You did too Cy!” Cinnabelle squealed with delight as she watched her new friend create this, in her eyes at least, masterpiece.

"We did it both us!” Cyclone giggled as she fell backwards in the sand-box, knocking over her newly created tower.

“Aww Cy you tower!” Cinnabelle pouted at the loss of such a vital structure. What was going to keep the sand pony princess safe in her castle now?

“Nggh!” Cyclone grunted as she righted herself in the sand. “It ok, I build ‘gain.” She giggled and demonstrated her claim, pressing the crumbled sand back together.

“Ooh!” Cinnabelle gasped in wonderment and clapped her hooves together excitedly at the reconstructed tower. “You pretty clever Cy.”

Cyclone was having so much fun she didn't hear the ‘clever’ bit. The black mare heard the ‘pr’ of ‘pretty’ and looked up, smiling at her little friend. “Pwetty…I pwetty?” She asked, her eyes wide and her filly’s brain trying to process what she'd heard. Cinnabelle had called her pretty. She knew she was her friend; only friends told each other things like that. Something fired from somewhere in the depths of her mind, somewhere that ordinarily would've been tightly locked away. A spark of an impulse that connected with neurons in her head. She'd called Air Raid ‘pretty’ and Air Raid had kissed her. You call ponies pretty they kiss you. Ponies call you pretty you kiss them. The logic seemed very simple to Cyclone.

Cinnabelle had called her pretty.

Cyclone knew what to do.

“Hey!” Diamond Mint’s angry yell almost made Air Raid drop her mobile phone. Distracted from her call to Slingshot finalising details of the race and trip to Fillydelphia, she looked up and her jaw fell open. “What the buck’s going on?”

Cyclone with her lips very clearly pressed to Cinnabelle’s blushing cheek was what was going on.

‘Oh no, Cyclone! What've you done!?’ She thought, full of shocked disbelief. “Hey…Hey! Diamond I'm sure it's not what it looks like…”

“Not what it looks like!?” Diamond Mint had had shot to his hooves and in the space of heartbeats had angrily covered the distance between the bench and the sand-box. “It looks like your friend is molesting my daughter, is what it looks like!”

"Wh-what? N-no, no you aren't are you Cy?” Air Raid asked desperately, momentarily forgetting under stress that her friend had taken the potions.

“Daddy my friend did kiss me!” Cinnabelle squeaked happily, entirely unaware of the situation.

Cyclone looked up in confusion, unsure why her Nana and this stallion were shouting at her all of a sudden. “Belle says I pwetty. So I kiss her.” She finished with pride that made Air Raid facehoof.

“Yes Cinnabelle I know sweetie, I saw her,” Diamond muttered through gritted teeth, picking the filly up in his pale blue magical aura.

Air Raid put herself between Cyclone and Diamond, in an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Diamond, mate, can't we work this out?”

“What's to work out? Your pervert of a friend kissed my filly and you’re trying to smooth it over! I don't think so!” Diamond started to stomp away, Cinnabelle starting to whimper as she floated along next to him and Cyclone on the verge of tears in the sand-box as well. “You’ll hear from the police about this, Celestia help me if you don't!”

For a brief moment there was silence, a stunned silence, except for the low whimpers from Cyclone. Air Raid had one hoof to her head and the other one her friend’s shoulder. The very last thing she needed was more trouble with the police, after all it was only a few months since she’d been arrested at the University for ‘exposing herself to minors’, now to be involved in this as well? And, what of Cy? As far as she knew her record was spotless but something like this, it would follow her around for the rest of her life. “Raid? Air Raid, you there?” Slingshot’s voice sounded from the speaker of her phone however she was still too stunned to answer.

“Na…Nana…has I done a bad?” Cyclone looked up at her Nana Raid with quivering lips, her blue eyes full of tears.

“I…uh…hey ’Shot, I’ll…call you back bro, this is a bad time right now…just, carry on in Filly as you see fit, you know what you’re doing.” She hung up and squeezed her friend’s shoulder again with a thin watery smile. “Yeah sweetie, you did a bad, real bad.”

“B…Bu…But…” Cyclone stammered, starting to cry as she gave way to the tears she had been barely holding back. “I…I don’t mean to!” She howled into her hooves.

“I know Cy, I know.” Air Raid, with some considerable effort on her part, lifted the bawling pony onto her back and started to slowly walk back to her home. “Let’s get you home.” At the very least she hoped the damned potions would wear off before the police came knocking.

~ ~ ~

It was six in the p.m., the late afternoon sun was streaming through Air Raid’s living room windows. On the street outside her palatial house in the Upper Noble quarter, a pale blue police car pulled up silently alongside her front door. It had been two hours since the incident with Cyclone and the filly Cinnabelle in the park, and an hour since the potions had worn off. Despite Cyclone’s claim that a higher dosage would last longer. They had however had an adverse unforeseen side effect.

As the two police ponies, a unicorn mare and a pegasus stallion, walked up to the house Cyclone was sat on Air Raid’s couch in floods of tears where she had been for the past hour. Darkstar, who had done an amazing effort to clear up the substantial mess that had occupied Air Raid’s home these past few weeks, just happened to glance out of her friend’s window at the right moment. “Uh…Raid?” She spoke up, attracting the older mare’s attention from her tight hug, “you’re about to have guests, hun.”

Concerned, Air Raid asked, “who is it, Darkie?”

“Well…I’m guessing by the squad car markings and the ponies’ uniforms, it’s Canterlot PD.” Darkstar replied without looking away from the window.

Cyclone didn’t look up, she had her head in her hooves. Her usually neat turquoise mane unkempt and straggly. “Oh…oh sw-sweet L-Luna!” She gasped in between her sobs.

“All right,” Air Raid cooed, her lime green hoof stroking her friend’s back. “Cy it’ll be all right. We knew this was coming. Everypony, calm down.” They may have been expecting it, but the knock at the door still made them all jump. Non more so than the two mares on the couch. Air Raid really didn’t want to be charged as an accessory. “Aaah, Darkie can you get that, please?”

“Sure thing, Raid.”

“Calm down!?” The black mare on the couch squeaked, looking up from her hooves to reveal a tear streaked face, her eyes all puffed up from her crying. “I’m gonna get sent down!”

Darkstar trotted over the living room and went into the small entrance hallway. Taking the doorknob in her glowing yellow aura she opened the door. “Officers,” she greeted them both with a polite bow, “good afternoon.”

The unicorn officer stepped forward and she held up her badge in her pale green magic. “I'm Officer Key.” The dark grey mare indicated her partner with a nod of her crimson maned head to the orange pegasus officer with an eggshell white mane next to her. "This is Officer Hoofbeat. Is Ms. Raid home?”

Darkstar studied the offered badges very carefully before nodding at them both. “Yes she is, please do come in.”

The two police ponies entered, following Darkstar’s invitation. Hoofbeat looked past the white unicorn and down the hallway to where Cyclone was sat with Air Raid on the couch. He followed motorsport, and knew Air Raid very well, if only by reputation. “Key, look, there she is.”

Key smiled a thin smile at Darkstar. “Thank you ma'am.” Then, a little louder she addressed the couch. “Ms. Raid, could you come here please?” Both officers were careful to stay inside the house just enough to allow the front door to close behind them.

“Um…” Darkstar flustered, not knowing really what to do. “Can I get you both a drink?” She offered eventually.

“No, thank you.” Officer Key replied tersely, and Darkstar took that as her cue to slink back down the short hallway to take over comforting Cyclone.

“Just stay calm, Cy okay?” Air Raid patted her distraught friend’s shoulder and sliding off of the couch, moved to where the two police ponies were waiting.

“Is that pony on your couch, Cyclone?” Officer Key asked without any preamble.

“Yes,” Air Raid nodded. “Yes she is.”

“Hmm…” Key noted the pink nappy that the jet black mare was wearing and nodded to her partner. “Is she in need of medical attention?”

“Well,” Air Raid replied somewhat uncomfortably, “she did have a bad experience with a potion, and I called my friend here to help me make sure she was okay.”

Hoofbeat quickly withdrew his notebook from his pale blue shirt pocket. “What kind of potion, Ms. Raid?” He asked, his pencil poised to take down notes.

Air Raid sighed. “Age regression.”

From her position perched on her friend’s couch, Cyclone could of course hear everything, even the scribbling of the pencil upon paper. She decided co-operation was the best angle. “It…it was a dual potion, officer.” She spoke up as Darkstar used her magic to dry her eyes and make her face at least a little presentable. “One regressed my mind, the other inhibited my bodily functions.”

Ignoring the jet black mare for the moment, while Hoofbeat continued to make his notes, Officer Key asked Air Raid, “is she a danger to herself or to others?”

“No.” Air Raid shook her head emphatically. “She is a very nice mare.”

When Hoofbeat had finished his note taking, the grey unicorn nodded to the orange pegasus and the younger officer walked through the hallway into the living room, doing his very absolute best not to fancolt out that he was at last in Air Raid’s house. Shame it was for this purpose. Cyclone heard the clop of the stallion’s hooves on the hardwood floor and looked up from her hooves. “Officer,” she mumbled in greeting.

“Ms. Cyclone?” The orange pegasus enquired politely. When she nodded a very miserable nod, the officer continued; “I'm placing you under arrest for endangerment to a minor and sexual misconduct with a minor. You have the right to free legal advice. If you require medical attention you have the right to that. You will be required to come with us to the precinct station where you will be formally charged and subject to questioning. You can notify somepony as to where you are being taken. Do you wish to notify anypony?”

“Is there a need for that? Really?” Darkstar objected loudly, not taking her white hoof from her stricken friend’s shoulder. “She didn’t know what she was doing!”

“Darkie…” Cyclone patted her friend’s thigh, “it’s fine hun, really.” Again, she glanced at the police pony in front of her. “There’s my dad, Tropical Storm.”

In the hallway, Key turned to Air Raid. “Is there a reason she hasn't notified her dad yet, Ms. Raid?” The pale grey unicorn asked.

“It just hasn't come up,” Air Raid replied honestly. “We were still trying to calm her down after the potion wore off.”

Hoofbeat spoke up. “You may contact your father now.” He said, not entirely unkindly. “You will be taken to the South Central Precinct.”

“Um…thanks.” The pink nappy that Cyclone was wearing crinkled and scrunched as she reached into her saddle bag and retrieved her cell phone in a trembling hoof. Thankfully Darkstar was there to hold her steady, and she dialled her dad’s number.

Mercifully, her dad answered the call on the second ring. “Cy,” Tropical Storm’s voice came from the speaker. “So nice of you to call. I'm sort of at work, what do you need?”

“D-Dad…” Cyclone had started crying again, in earnest at the sound of her dad’s voice. “I-I’ve been arrested. T-There w-was an incident earlier in the park.”

Tropical Storm’s easy good natured voice turned serious. “Okay, where are they taking you, Cy?”

“T-To the uh…the um…South Central Precinct.” Cyclone became unintelligible as she cried ever harder. “D-Dad it was th-those potions…I’m scared, dad.”

“Just co-operate and I'll be there with my lawyer.” Tropical Storm pressed a button to summon his second photographer to carry on the model’s shoot. “It will take about thirty minutes. Stay strong, okay?”

“I um…I got it dad, and thanks.”

“I’ll see you soon, Little Crow.”

At the mention of Cyclone’s family pet name, Darkstar couldn’t help but snicker. Her dad was the only one she ever allowed to call her that. If it had been possible, the black mare’s blush would’ve shown through her fur. “Dad…please don’t call me that…”

“Be there as soon as I can, Cy.” With that, Tropical Storm hung up, and for a few minutes after Cyclone held the phone and listened to the monotonous dial tone before she too put away her phone in her bag.

“Okay, officers, I’m all yours.”

“Will you come along peaceably?” Officer Hoofbeat asked. He had an idea of what the answer would be. In his few years in the service he had seen his share of criminals, and this obviously broken mare didn’t seem the violent type. “If you say, 'yes' I will not have to hobble you to include your wings.”

Cyclone answered miserably, “Yes, of course I will.”

“Ms. Raid,” Officer Key said to the lime green mare, “there are no charges against you at this time, but you are a material witness. I request that you keep the South Central Precinct informed of your location and point of contact should you leave Canterlot.”

“Fine,” Air Raid replied with a nod of her head. “How long will you keep her?”

“That will depend on her father's lawyer.” The pale grey unicorn responded quickly. “She could be held until there is a trial date or bail, if set, is met.”

Hoofbeat gently nudged Cyclone’s shoulder. “Please follow me to the car, Ms. Cyclone.”

“Don’t worry about it, Raid. I’ll be alright.” Cyclone got up from the couch where she had been sat weeping for the past hour. “Um…officer, can I please bring some supplies?”

“Anything you take will be confiscated at the station.” Hoofbeat informed her. “If it is deemed needed it will be given to you under supervision.”

“I um…” Cyclone almost broke down in tears again. “I need nappies and changing things, see um…I’m uh…I’m incontinent.” The admission damn near killed her to admit out loud. The three friend had discovered this about the jet black mare when the potions had worn off. In the past hour she had wet two nappies without realising it.

“Understood,” Hoofbeat said sympathetically as he made the notes in his pad. “But what I said stands.”

“I understand.” Cyclone nodded.

“Just take the bag, Cy.” Air Raid trotted over and gave her friend the changing bag she had taken with her on the trip to the park earlier. Taking the bag in her hooves, Cyclone slung it over her shoulder and nodded her readiness to both police ponies. With no further fuss, the group of three quietly left the house and Cyclone was gently put in the back of the pale blue squad car.

Air Raid and Darkstar watched the vanishing police car drive off until they couldn’t see it any more. “Raid…Raid, are you okay?” The white unicorn put her hoof comfortingly on her friend’s shoulder.

“No,” Air Raid replied sadly and walked past her friend to her open front door without giving her a second glance. “No…no Darkie, I've lost another friend.”

“Hey!” Darkstar hurried after her despondent friend. “Hey Raid, I’m still here aren’t I?”

Air Raid simply flopped on the couch. “Yeah, you are. For how much longer till you leave me too?” Dissolving into floods of tears, the distraught lime green pegasus buried her head in her couch seat and cried like a little filly.

Not sure what to do for the best, Darkstar lit her horn and she cast her illusion spell that created the ‘Wildfire’ and sent it over to hug her crying friend.

Chapter 3 - Bargaining

“If I'm going to have a Pegasus filly, then I want to have the best Pegasus filly in all of Equestria!” Starburst huffed as she got out of her bright red, brand new top of the range BMW. Opening her passenger door she let her filly barely get out onto the sun-baked tarmac of the parking lot before the middle aged cream earth pony mare quickly slammed it shut behind her.

“Momma!” Air Raid buzzed her little lime green wings in protest, “I wanna go home!”

Starburst turned on her daughter, the late afternoon sunlight glinting off of her burgundy glasses. She straightened her orange, green and purple mane and leant down so she was at eye level, the green eyes boring into the grey. “You want to be an Earth Pony all your life? We are going to get you fixed.”

“B-But momma, that doctor before said he couldn't fix me!” Air Raid squeaked as she hurried along after her mother. She was more than a little upset, the last thing the little filly wanted was to be poked and prodded by yet another doctor. Her mother had already dragged her to see two unicorn doctors – one stallion and one mare – earlier that day.

“Charlatan!” Starburst stopped and stomped her forehoof on the sidewalk next to the parking lot.

Air Raid almost trotted between her mother’s hind legs, she stopped so suddenly in front of her. “Char…charla...what?” The little filly asked, a very confused look on her face. “Miss Sea Swirl at school says I don't need to be fixed.”

Starburst again turned on her filly, her hoof straightening her glasses. She wanted to make sure she understood what she was about to say. “Miss Sea Swirl is NOT your mother. I know what is best for you and flying is best!”

“But, but I can't fly!” The little lime green filly flapped her wings as hard as she could, but resolutely she stayed on the ground. She didn’t even get so much as a centimetre’s hover. Nothing. “I don't want to see a doctor,” she added sullenly, folding her wings away to her barrel.

“Are you moving out of the house?” Starburst asked quickly, her muzzle inches away now.

“Um...” Air Raid rubbed her left foreleg against her right, “no momma.” She answered quietly, her voice almost a whisper.

“Hmm!” Starburst huffed and turned around, moving along the sidewalk towards the third doctor’s with a purpose, her walk almost a trot. “Then I know what is best for you.”

Once more, Air Raid hurried to keep up, this time she actually did trot along. “But…but daddy said you'd take me to Donut Joe's after the first doctor!” She huffed to catch her breath. That first doctor had been hours ago! “They close soon!”

Starburst snorted derisively, “Doctors close long before Donut Joe’s closes.” She sighed, the pressure of the situation starting to get to her. “Yes, Air,” she relented a little, “you'll get a donut, but you need to cooperate with this doctor!”

Air Raid had tears welling in her eyes. Her mother was making out like she wasn’t trying, like it was her fault. “I am trying momma!”

“Let's move along then.” The cream earth pony brushed aside her multi-coloured mane and kept up her pace onwards to the third doctor’s surgery, this time a pegasi doctor, somepony called Wingnut that the second unicorn doctor had recommended to her.

Air Raid was almost at a canter beside her mother, her ears drooping when she saw the doctor’s hove into view. “Y-Yes, momma.”

Inside the doctor’s, the pale yellow unicorn receptionist, a Miss Soundwave, going by her nametag, greeted them with a polite smile. “Greetings Ms. Starburst. This is your daughter, Air Raid?” She enquired pleasantly, giving the pegasus filly a nod and a smile.

“Yes,” Starburst replied shortly, “we have an appointment with Doctor Wingnut.”

“Yes,” Soundwave replied, her hooves working the computer at her desk. “This is your first visit. Please fill out this form.” She used her teal magic to send the clipboard over to Starburst, and the cream earth pony took the pen in her mouth and began to fill out the form she had been given. “There are some magazines and some toys for little ponies.” She pointed with her hoof to the toy box.

Smiling a nervous smile, Air Raid eyed the toys and she sidled over to them, the little filly wanted very much to be anywhere else but there at that moment. Investigating the toy box she found two cars, one red and one blue. Picking them up in her hooves she started playing with them, zooming them around the reception floor with an enthusiastic, “VVvroooooom!”

She knew her mother was busy, and she was mindful not to make too much noise. Her mother never liked her making too much noise. She didn’t want to be chastised again. “VRoooOOOO...” Air Raid paused, her grey eyes focusing on the racing magazine on top of the small pile on the low table in front of her. Once she saw the magazine, she forgot about the cars and picked it up, flipping it open and her eyes went very wide.

Starburst looked up at the vroom, but she saw her daughter was being quiet and so she went back to filling out the form she had been given. “Wow...” she’d never seen pictures like this before, action pictures of various cars snapped going around hairpin bends. She drank in the full colour spread of a Canterlot hill climb rally.

“Okay, that is done.” Starburst passed the receptionist back the completed form.

Taking it back in her magic, Soundwave looked it over and nodded with her practised receptionists smile. “Thank you, Doctor Wingnut can see you now, please follow me.” She opened one of the two doors beside her with her magic and moved to wait on the other side of it.

Air Raid picked up the magazine and took it with her, “momma look at this! Look!” The little filly lifted up the open page, all excited at the pictures of the muddy cars and the perilous drops.

“Very nice Air,” Starburst replied without looking at what she was being showed. “Please put the magazine back. The doctor is ready for you.”

“Awwww!” Air Raid pouted, but she knew better than to argue with her mother. Reluctantly she put the magazine back on the table and slouched into the office.

“Hello Ms. Starburst.” Doctor Wingnut, a sky blue pegasus stallion with a pure white mane and well-trimmed white beard, greeted the mare and filly with very welcoming blue eyes. “I understand you’re concerned about your filly’s flying ability.”

“Yes!” Starburst exclaimed, taking a seating pad in the doctor’s office before she was offered one. “She can't fly at all! I need you to fix that.” In the middle of the office, with eyes on her, Air Raid slicked her ears back and her was tail was down between her legs. The little filly had her head down like she'd been whipped. “Momma says I'm broken…” she said to the floor.

Doctor Wingnut looked at the filly with a great deal of sympathy. “That is why you're here. My records show you are seven, yes? Most fillies are in flight school at that age.”

“Um...yes Sir,” again Air Raid spoke to the thick carpeted floor.

“That is the problem,” Starburst elaborated, “she can't even pass the entrance exam!”

“I know the theory questions!” Air Raid chipped in, trying her best to be helpful, like her mum had told her to. She really wanted that donut.

Wingnut spared her a kind smile and looked over his notes that Soundwave had provided before she had left the room. “I had you fill out a family history for me, Ms. Starburst. I have to ask if that is completely accurate?”

“Of course it is accurate!” Starburst’s eye twitched as she blustered indignantly, “Why would I lie!?”

“Please, Ms. Starburst.” Wingnut raised a placating hoof, “I have to ask, as sometimes these cases are due to...inaccurate data.” Down on the floor, Air Raid looked from the doctor to her mother and, recognising what ‘that’ eye twitch meant, she scooted under the table for cover as the doctor continued, “I've gotten the information from the other doctors you've visited. Nice that you have finally come to a pegasus doctor for a pegasus issue.”

“Are you implying something because I'm an earth pony?” Starburst asked as her eye twitched again.

“No, not at all.” Wingnut sighed internally. ‘Pushy parents,’ he thought to himself. “Just, unicorn doctors are good at injuries and magical issues, but know very little about flight.”

Under the table, Air Raid pulled her ears down, shivering with her blue tail wrapped around her while her mother snorted at the doctor.

“Based on the genealogical history and what the other doctors have observed,” Wingnut lead off, “I have a rather simple test to determine what is happening.”

“If it is so simple why haven't the others done it!?” Starburst asked, the two best doctors she’d been to hadn’t mentioned any simple test to her.

Doctor Wingnut smiled a knowing smile. “They weren't pegasi,” he answered calmly.

Her mother was shouting. Air Raid hated her mother shouting. Shivering, she drew her tail around her and tried to huddle against the wall. “Momma, don't shout.”

Starburst took several deep breaths, calming herself. “And what does that mean?”

“I will demonstrate.” Doctor Wingnut looked around, brushing his short white mane from his eyes as he looked under the table. “Um, Ms. Air Raid, I need you for this.”

“No!” Air Raid squeaked, “I don't want prodding and xamining! I want a donut!”

Starburst looked around and glared hard at her daughter, in a low voice she said, “What did I say about cooperating?”

“Yes m-momma…” slowly, in a subdued manner, Air Raid emerged from under the doctor’s table and stood in front of him.

Walking over to the sink in his office, Wingnut got two shallow trays and filled them with water. Carrying the two trays back, he set them on the floor and the sky blue stallion sat down in front of one. “You sit in front of this one.” He pointed with a hoof to the other tray.

Air Raid looked dubiously at the trays of water. Neither of the other doctors had done this. “Um...'kay.” She sat down in front of the other tray, studying the water. “Will it hurt?”

Wingnut smiled at the little filly, “Does taking a bath hurt?” He asked, and Starburst snorted again.

Air Raid looked down at the water in the tray in front of her. “The other doctor said it wouldn't, and she hurt my feathers when she xamined my wings with her horn, but um...no, bathing doesn't hurt.”

“Do as the doctor asks...”

Doctor Wingnut waved his hoof to get the filly’s attention back to him. “Watch me.” He held his right forehoof at the edge of the pan and used the other forehoof to skim the water towards the waiting hoof and using his innate pegasi magic he manipulated the water and soon he made a little cloud out of the water. “You need to want to make the cloud. Now, you do it.”

“O-Okay…” Air Raid put a forehoof at the edge of her pan and copied his actions, waving her other forehoof towards her. She did it once, twice, up to five times, but nothing happened other than she ended up with a wet hoof.

Starburst exhaled a burst of air. “You're not trying!”

“Please, Ms. Starburst.” Doctor Wingnut sighed, picking up the tray from in front of the little filly and putting it on the table “I will move to the next test.”

“I am!” Air Raid squeaked, tears welling in her grey eyes, “I am I swear!”

Wingnut took his cloud that he had made from the water and gently he moved it to the right towards Air Raid with a smile. “Now you move it back towards me.”

As the cloud moved to her left side, Air Raid lifted up her left forehoof and pushed against it with the toe of her hoof. It was very soft but quite solid but no matter how hard she pushed it just did not move. The lime green filly giggled and prodded it again. “It’s all squishy!”

“What does that mean?” Starburst asked.

“Means the next test.” The sky blue doctor stroked his beard thoughtfully before taking the cloud and he used the second tray of water to make it bigger. After a moment it was about three foot square and just a quarter of an inch thick. Once he was satisfied, he had it floating about one foot above the carpeted floor of his office. “Okay, Ms. Air Raid, I want you to jump up on top of this cloud.”

Air Raid looked at the cloud dubiously. Because it was so thin it was transparent, she could see the carpet through the cloud. That wasn’t what was worrying her though. She’d never jumped on a cloud before. “Um...” her ears were slicked back down to her head. “Okay...” steeling her resolve, she jumped up and landed on the cloud. Not knowing what to expect, she soon started to smile as she jumped up and down on it like it was a bouncy castle.

“You've never done that before?” Starburst asked as she watched her filly jumping on the insubstantial but supportive cloud.

“None of the other doctors tested this?” Wingnut asked in response. When Starburst shook her head, he carried on, “Please jump down Ms. Raid.”

Getting more than a little carried away after the few jumps and bounces, Air Raid flapped her little wings very hard, but absolutely nothing happened. It was like she was magnetised to the transparent cloud. Slowly, thinking she’d done something wrong, she hopped off and landed back on the floor.

“Do you think you are strong, Ms. Air Raid?” Doctor Wingnut asked after he scribbled a few notes on his paper.

“Yes!” Air Raid squeaked with a proud smile. She even made a little pose. “I'm strong when I hit this bully at school!”

“Hmm…” the sky blue pegasus nodded, “We will see. Ms. Starburst, could you please put a hoof through this cloud?”

“Um ah, okay.” Surprised to have been called upon, the cream earth pony mare lifted up her right forehoof and promptly stepped through the cloud to the floor as if it were, well, a cloud. Pulling her hoof back out she left a ragged tear in the thin transparent cloud.

“Very strong.” Wingnut nodded and with his magic he quickly fixed the cloud. “Okay, Ms. Raid, you put a hole in the cloud.”

“Yay!” Given license, the little filly pulled her left forehoof back and, picturing the colt that had called her a dodo, she punched the cloud…and it bounced off of the squidgy cloud like she was punching a rubber dodge ball. “Huh...” she looked down at her tiny hoof like she was doing something wrong. Air Raid hit it again a little harder, getting the exact same result. “I don't get it…”

“Okay, next test.” Doctor Wingnut stopped her after the two hits with a frown on his face. “Please close your eyes Ms. Air Raid.”

Air Raid looked up at him, square in the eyes. “Whatcha gonna do?”

“Air!” Starburst exclaimed.

Wingnut ignored the filly’s mother for the moment. “I'm going to have you back up three steps. You can do it now and then return to where you started.”

Air Raid slicked her ears back and visibly shrunk under her mother’s stern tone. “Yes momma!” Tightly she shuts her grey eyes closed. “I just gotta walk back?”

Kindly, Doctor Wingnut said, “Open your eyes, take three steps back and then return.”

“O-Okay,” she opened her eyes and walked back the three steps then she walked forward again to where she started.

“Now, close your eyes and stay still.”

“Alright.” Air Raid closed her eyes again, and she stayed as still as she could manage. She felt a soft gentle breeze directed at her, like what her own wings made. Watching from her seating pad, Starburst saw him move the cloud so that it was above her.

“Now,” the Doctor said gently, “keep your eyes closed and walk back three steps then forward three.”

Though she was severely tempted, Air Raid didn't peek. “Okay Sir.” Keeping her eyes closed she walked back again three paces and then forwards three to where she started. “What was that breeze?”

“Keep your eyes closed, it was me flapping my wings.” Doctor Wingnut explained, his pen ready to make notes. “I'm going to do it again.” Watching quietly, unconvinced of these ‘tests’, Starburst watched him put the cloud two steps behind her filly. “Okay, keep your eyes closed and walk back three steps then forward.”

Carefully, Air Raid walked back, this time she walked backwards into the squishy un-moving cloud and found she couldn't go back anymore so she walked forward. Watching, Wingnut decided he’d seen enough to make his diagnosis. “Okay Ms. Starburst, I have completed my tests.”

Opening her eyes, Air Raid looked behind her. “The cloud!” She squeaked, “so um...why am I broken, Sir?”

“Ms. Starburst, Ms. Air Raid,” the Doctor addressed them both, “you are not a broken pegasus but a gifted earth pony.”

“What?” Starburst exclaimed vehemently, “She has wings!”

Air Raid didn’t understand that at all. “I'm a what?”

“Have you tried jumping from some place high Ms. Air Raid, like a tree limb to fly?” Wingnut asked pleasantly, seeking an example to make his point. When Air Raid looked to her mum then back, she nodded and he continued, “Did you fall straight down, or at an angle to the ground?”

“I glided down from a tree branch into a picnic table at school.” Air Raid replied, “I broke the table and Miss Sea Swirl was very cross.”

“I would think so,” Doctor Wingnut commented with a chuckle, “did hitting the table hurt more or less than you thought it would?”

“It didn't hurt at all!” The little filly bounced proudly on the carpeted floor, “it was real thick wood too!”

“What does this have to do with her flying?” Starburst asked impatiently.

Wingnut sighed, trying very hard to keep his patience. “I'm getting to that Ms. Starburst.”

Air Raid went back to studying the carpet. “Momma said you'll fix me if I cooperate.”

“Ms. Starburst,” the sky blue stallion started, “can you fly?”

“What?” The cream earth pony mare flustered, “I don't have wings, she does!” She pointed her forehoof down at her daughter.

Smiling a serene smile, Wingnut moved the cloud in front of Starburst. “Can you stand on this?” He asked, his smile widening when the earth pony sputtered in outrage.

“Air!” Starburst admonished as Air Raid began giggling without thinking.

“Ms. Starburst,” Doctor Wingnut interrupted her before she could build up a head of steam, “I know what your daughter has, and it is not treatable at this time because it is not a disease. It is genetic.”

Air Raid didn’t fully understand what ‘genetic’ meant, but she knew enough that ‘not treatable’ meant. She shrunk to the floor with a shiver. “S-Sorry momma…”

“It is called Scootaloo’s Syndrome, and she has the highest stage. Her earth pony magic exceeds her pegasus magic.” Doctor Wingnut explained carefully, making sure he was understood. “She can cloud walk, but she cannot walk through clouds. This will be an issue in fog, but you seldom find fog in Equestria. She is an earth pony with natural cloud walking. The wings will save her life in a fall as she can glide, and her earth pony strength will let her survive the fall.”

Starburst tried to follow all this information, “What does that mean?”

“She is more like you than she is like this grand uncle.” Wingnut waved his hoof over the family history section of his records.

“But she is a Pegasus!” Starburst almost stomped her hoof.

“True,” Wingnut countered quickly, “but in shape only.”

“So...um...so Miss Sea Swirl was right,” Air Raid piped up, her ears perking up, “I'm not broken?”

“That is something for you to decide.” Doctor Wingnut said with a degree of sympathy for his young patient. “You will most likely never be able to fly. It would take a force to make your pegasus magic overpower your earth magic. It is very rare that a pony is not born with their dominant magic body type, but it could be worse.”

“How?” Starburst asked, demanding of how it could possibly be worse.

“To be born with strong unicorn magic in an earth pony or pegasus pony body,” the Doctor explained in very simple terms, “would give the sufferer severely painful headaches on an almost daily basis. Anyways, Ms. Starburst, in truth she is normal to her genetic heritage. Not to her outward appearance.”

“So um, does that mean I don't have to be xamined anymore?” Air Raid asked hopefully.

“It means you're not broken, because there is nothing to fix.” Wingnut said to her kindly. “You still have to deal with wings that won't let you fly. That will take counselling.”

“Yay!” Air Raid was dancing and skipping around the office. “I'mma not broke! Momma, i'mma not broke!”

“What is the point of the wings?” Starburst said angrily, ignoring her dancing filly.

“To glide for a landing.” Wingnut explained shortly, “Nice if you're trapped on the top floor of a burning building, hmm?”

Still bouncing happily around the office, Air Raid patted her mother’s hind leg. “Didn't you hear, momma? I'm not broke!”

“I heard.” Starburst muttered, then she did her best to sigh away her irritation. “Let's go. Thank you, Doctor...”

“B-But…” Air Raid’s smile melted like snow on Winter Wrap Up. “That's good, right momma?”

Without another word, Starburst got up from the seating pad and left the office, only pausing for her filly to catch her up in the waiting room as she had to settle the bill that Soundwave the receptionist had produced. After the bill was settled, the cream earth pony mare adjusted her glasses and on the way out she hoofed the racing magazine that her daughter had looked at earlier. 'Think they can charge me for nothing!'

Following her mother outside, Air Raid was quiet until they got to the BMW in the parking lot. Once there she fluttered her little wings. “Can we go get donuts now?”

In the car, Starburst gave her daughter the magazine to read. “Yes, you did cooperate so we will get a donut.”

“Yay!” Air Raid took the magazine and flicked through it as her mother fired up the engine and pulled out onto the main road. “Ooh look! Momma look!” The lime green filly had the page open at a page that showed an adult orange pegasus mare with an unruly purple mane posing next to a scooter holding an impressive looking trophy. The headline read, ‘Another Win for Scootaloo!’ Air Raid recognised the name. “That's her, see!”

Starburst snorted, but said nothing as she drove along. Air Raid couldn’t understand why her mother was being like this, at all. “But she's like me!”

Sighing deeply, Starburst spoke up, “What does she do for a living?”

Air Raid tried her best to scan the article, she had to read it twice because of the movement of the car. “Um…it says she does scooter stunts, momma.”

“Hmph!” The cream earth pony snorted derisively. “That isn't work, that is show business.”

“Oh...” disheartened, Air Raid closed up the magazine and nodded. “Yes momma, you’re right.” She knew better than to argue.

“I wanted you to be the best,” Starburst commented, “but now I don't know what you can be best at.”

Air Raid looked down at her blank flank. “Cos I can't fly?”

Starburst was quiet until she pulled into the Donut Joe’s parking lot. “You can't be the best flyer and you are the first with wings in the family for a long time. In his day, your grand uncle had a lot of awards for flying.”

In the passenger seat of her mother’s car, Air Raid muttered under her breath, just loud enough for her mother to hear. “I'm not my uncle…”

“You are not.” Starburst said, somewhat coldly as she got out and let her filly out as well. Quietly, the cream earth pony mare stalked into the donut shop. She only knew Air Raid was with her because she could hear the patter of her hooves on the concrete. “You can order a donut and drink,” she said after she had ordered a coffee and cinnamon roll for herself.

“Thank you momma!” Finally she was getting her donut! She’d literally been waiting ALL day for this, which was longer than a whole lifetime. “Can I have a maple syrup donut with haybacon sprinkles and a chocolate shake please?” She asked, bouncing up and down at the service counter.

Starburst just nodded to the serving pony and her order was quickly prepared. “Thank you momma!” Air Raid was so happy when they were both sat at a table, she spent a few minutes licking up the haybacon sprinkles. A thought occurred to the young filly, something her teacher had told her. “Miss Sea Swirl says I'm good with my writing. I can be best at that?” She offered, trying to be helpful.

Lost in her thoughts, Starburst just nodded to her, and Air Raid took a bite of her donut and thought a little more. “Momma?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do I have to be the best?” She asked innocently, causing her mother to look at her like she had just asked why it was light out in the day time. Under her mother’s look, Air Raid merely slicked her ears back and she decided to quietly eat her donut.

“Our family is the best that can be in Canterlot.” Starburst explained tersely, “Canterlot, a city full of unicorns run by an alicorn. If we are not the best, we...we…”

Air Raid didn’t get many things. Right now she didn’t get her mother or why she had trailed off. “So...if we aren't the best, we are nothing, momma?” She asked, trying her best to understand.

“I am not a mud pony!” She exclaimed fiercely, suddenly slamming her forehoof down on the table top, drawing herself a few stares as she looked pointed daggers at her filly. “Neither are you!”

Under her mother’s ire, Air Raid flinched away, she almost dropped her milkshake. Almost. “The doctor said I was a gifted earth pony…” she said quietly, almost inaudibly.

“So make the best cloud pillows anypony can make!” Starburst sighed an exasperated sigh. “You wanted to do show business like that mare in the magazine, then be the best cloud walker you can be.” She threw up her forehooves, “Be something! Just…be something, Air Raid.”

“Yes momma.” Air Raid answered her mother but she spoke to the table. ‘Why isn't it enough to just be me?’

In silence, Starburst finished her cinnamon roll and her coffee, but lost in her own thoughts she made no move to leave the donut shop. A moment later and Air Raid noisily finished her milkshake, angling the straw to get absolutely every last drop. “Can we go momma?” She asked, looking at the clock, “Power Ponies start soon!”

Again, Starburst said nothing, but she did get up and left the donut shop to walk to her car. Thoroughly excited, Air Raid galloped on ahead as fast as she could, easily beating her mother to the car. “Whooo!” She cheered, doing a little dance, “faster than Filli Second!”

On the way back to the house, Starburst again said nothing, keeping silent on the drive home. Air Raid however didn’t notice as much as she was busy reading the racing magazine, drinking up what she could of Scootaloo and the stunts. “You can play,” the cream earth pony said once they were in the house, without a backwards glance she turned and went up to her room.

Left alone in the living room, Air Raid felt very small indeed as she watched her mother climb the stairs. “Oh...um, you wanna play, momma?” She asked, fluttering her wings hopefully.

“Not now, Air,” Starburst paused on the stairs but didn’t look back. “I'm going to have a nap.”

“O-Okay momma,” Air Raid folded away her wings to her barrel and eyed the television. “Can I watch cartoons?”

Air Raid watched her mother just nod as she walked up the stairs to her room and shut her door behind her, leaving her daughter alone in the living room. Hopping up onto the couch, the little lime green filly used the remote to turn the TV onto her favourite show, luckily Power Ponies had only just started. She didn’t care it was an episode she’d seen before, it was a Filli Second one, so she was happy. “Ugh…” she slumped back on the couch and looked at her little wings with a sigh. “I'm not broken...I don't get it…”

~ ~ ~

“Hi!” Fire Prism, the tan earth pony stallion – except for his lower legs and muzzle, which were a pure white and gave the impression he was always wearing short socks – opened the front door and walked into the house at seven p.m., a good ninety minutes after Air Raid and Starburst had gotten home. “Hi!” He called again, “Star, Raid, anypony home?”

Air Raid’s ears had perked up immediately, but she wanted to watch her heroine Filli Second defeat the Mane-iac one more time. “Daddy!” Smiling, she launched herself over the back of the couch, something she’d never do if her mother was watching, and performed a high speed tackle hug.

“Oof!” Fire Prism smiled, caught off guard by the speed of the tackle mostly thanks to being exhausted from governing Canterlot’s hospitals and to underestimating the sheer strength of the lime green missile that shot his way. “How's my little power pony?”

Air Raid pouted when her father playfully tousled her blue mane with his hoof, “I'm okay, daddy!”

Fire Prism knelt down to his daughter’s eye level. His grey eyes met hers, though he had to sweep aside his black and white mane as his filly had returned the favour of messing his mane up. “Did you go to the doctors, did mommy get you a donut, sweetie?”

“Yes daddy!” Air Raid buzzed her little wings proudly, “I'm a gifted earth pony!”

Fire Prism could not contain his smile, “are you now?”

“Yep!” Air Raid’s wings folded to her barrel and her grin widened at the memory of being called gifted. “The doctor said I was ‘cos I can't fly!”

“Really?” Fire Prism made a show of looking around their spacious living room, in order to hide his exhausted yawn and to find his wife. Mostly to hide his yawn. “Raid, where's your mommy?”

“She's having a nap, daddy.” Air Raid replied, her eyes straying back to the Power Pony marathon on her favourite channel, Tiny Pop. Power Ponies Three: The Doom of Maretropolis, had just started, and though she’d seen it no end of times, she wanted to watch it again. “I stayed down here and watched TV, daddy.”

Fire Prism noted what was playing and realised he’d just lost his filly. As cool as he was, he couldn’t compete with superponies. Grinning, he patted her head. “Good girl. You watch your show, daddy will go talk to mommy.”

“'Kay daddy!” The excited lime green pegasus needed absolutely no further encouragement and without a backwards glance she turned and ran back to the couch while Fire Prism walked up the stairs, his destination their bedroom.

At the ornately carved oak door, Fire Prism paused. If his wife had come straight up here the moment she had gotten back, it did not bode well for her mood, especially as judging by what Air Raid had said, she hadn’t gotten the results she had wanted. “Star?” He asked cautiously.

“Yes?” Was all the response he got from the sullen voice within.

‘Oh good…she’s in a mood, just what I need…’ Fire Prism thought as he tentatively opened the bedroom door. “What happened today? Raid says she's a gifted earth pony…”

The bitter laugh that Starburst gave off cut across her husband, silencing the tan stallion. Laid on their Princess sized bed, she didn’t even bother to turn to face him. “This is all your fault!”

“Excuse me?” Fire Prism looked at his wife’s cream coloured back, at her orange, yellow and purple striped mane utterly confused. This was the last thing he expected after the day he had had. “What's my fault?”

Stifling a sob, Starburst slowly rolled over to her front to face her husband. Her eyes were red and her pristine mane was a mess. “My grand uncle was a gifted pegasus. He was a Wonderbolt reservist. He fought in the second equine griffon war. Won medals and received honours!”

“I see.” Fire Prism sighed deeply. “This is about Raid and her flying.” Stepping into the sumptuous bedroom he carelessly left the door open. “What exactly is my fault this time?”

“I brought that to life by giving birth to a beautiful pegasus!” Starburst stood on the bed, looking down on her husband from her raised position. “Your contribution took away her wings! THEY are going to call her a mud pony with feathers! If you were going to give her your magic you could have left her an earth pony!”

“How dare you!” He fired back, his hackles rising as he took a step backwards under his wife’s stern angry gaze. “Just who are these 'they' you're talking about?”

Downstairs, seated on the couch, Air Raid could hear every word through the open door. The little lime green filly tried her very best to ignore it and watch her movie when she heard her mother’s voice, angrier now, yell out, “Look at her! A pegasus that can’t fly! EVERYPONY will look at her and say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ And you well know who THEY are! The same THEY that called me a mud pony because I didn’t have that Tartarus damned horn on my head. The same THEY that will ridicule our filly for having wings that can do no more than a palm frond fan!”

Air Raid shivered against the couch and used the remote to turn up the volume of the TV in an attempt to tune out the familiar argument. Sadly it did little good. It never did. She still heard her daddy when he replied, “Star, you're being ridiculous!” She heard the hoofsteps and she guessed he had walked over to try and hold her. “What did the doctor say?”

‘It's my fault...momma's shouting because I can't fly, because my wings don't work...’

Starburst roughly shoved her husband away from her. “He said she will never fly! NEVER!”

“But...I don't understand.” Fire Prism foundered against his wife’s ire, “so she'll never fly, so what? Neither will I, and Raid did say the doctor said she was a gifted earth pony!”

Air Raid gave up on the volume button and tried to use a couch cushion over her head to block out the screaming and the yelling. Traitorously, nothing was working. ‘I'll never fly...it's because of my wings momma's upset...what if I didn't have my wings?’

Again, Starburst laughed that very bitter laugh of hers. “Yeah, he asked if I could fly too! I’m an earth pony and so are you, but we have a pegasus filly!” The cream earth pony was getting up a head of steam, and it was directed solely at her husband. “That damn doctor filled her head with false hope saying she was gifted! She can cloud walk, which is how he knows she can never fly. A fog bank would be a brick wall to her! The only thing those wings are good for is to fall from a low height. At least she won’t smash on the ground like you and me!” Unaware she was being overheard, Starburst stomped over and thrust her hoof at her stallion. “Canterlot will never accept her! NEVER!”

“Starburst...” Fire Prism sighed despondently, “I'm sorry you feel like this.” This time when he hugged her she didn’t stop him, she just cried into his chest as all her hopes for the future died away. “Have you tried talking to her?”

Air Raid threw the couch cushion down and muttered, “momma will never accept me...” the sad little filly made up her mind. Her wings were the problem. Her wings had to go. ‘How can I get rid of my wings?’ She thought to herself as she looked around the living room. When her eyes settled on the kitchen, she got up off of the couch and trotted over to the drawer that she knew held the knives. Opening the drawer she selected the biggest carving knife she could carry. “I'll be accepted if I don't have my wings...” she muttered, and took it up with her to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. “I can do this...I can...I can...I want to be accepted...” with that set in her mind, the determined filly held the knife in her right forehoof and with the blade resting against the joint of her left wing, she started to cut into her left wing. “Aaah...ooOOOOW!”

It was hurting a lot more than she expected it to.

“Talk to her?” Starburst almost laughed at the thought of actually talking to Air Raid. “About what? I got her the donut, and she thinks she has plans for her future, but really? In this city? There is no future for a cripple, Prism!”

“Starburst, she's hardly a cripple!”

As she cut herself deeper, as the sharp metal of the blade cut deeper into her wing, Air Raid finally began to notice the blood that was spilling out of her and onto the white tiled floor. “Oh...” she mused, “oh I'm bleeding!” She kept on cutting into her wing, determined to remove what her mother didn’t like. “there’s…so…so much…” she swooned.

“Tell that to those thrice damned unicorns!” Starburst exclaimed as she stomped out of the bedroom. The moment she got onto the upstairs landing, the coppery tang of blood reached the back of her nose. “Air?” She called out in a panic. “Air!” She yelled again, all of her previous vitriol forgotten in an instant with the thought her filly was in danger. “Air Raid!” Walking past the bathroom she smelled the blood stronger, more pungent than before.

In the bathroom, Air Raid barely heard her mother’s voice. “M-Mom-ma...” as she slumped weakly against the sink she dropped the knife with a loud clink on the white tiles, blood spurting like a geyser from the wound in her wing. “Mom...”

On the other side of the bathroom door, Starburst wrinkled her nose and opened the door. She recoiled in horror at the sight that greeted her, she fell against the wall opposite the bathroom door at her filly covered in her own blood, of the floor covered in that same awful fluid. “P-Prism!” She managed to scream, “Prism, call nine one one, it’s Air!” She staggered out of the bathroom, retching with each step.

At his wife’s cries, Fire Prism came running out of the bedroom. “What's happened!?” The moment he asked, he saw. He saw the sight he’d never forget through the open door. “Oh…oh sweet mother of the alicorns!”

“I…” Air Raid looked up at her mother through half-lidded weak eyes, “I don't w-want wings, m-momma…” with that she fainted from the blood loss as he father galloped down the stairs.

Having finished upchucking in the upstairs hallway, Starburst growled, “Damn that doctor to Tartarus, filling you with false hope!” She could tell her filly was bleeding out, and since Fire Prism ran off to call the emergency services, she knew she’d have to go back into the abattoir that was her bathroom to stanch the wound with a towel, and that she’d most likely dry heave while doing so.

When the bathroom door opened for a second time, Air Raid looked up from the red slick tiled floor with bleary grey eyes. “M-Momma...y-you came b-back...”

She knew her momma would come back.

Her momma always came back.

Except this time, it was different. This time it was wasn’t her mother.

Wildfire walked into the bathroom, tall, tall as Princess Luna. The yellow pegasus looked skeletal in appearance, like she had been laid out in the Saddle Arabian sun for decades. Her eye sockets were deep black pits with taut scarred skin covering them, and her bones could be seen through rips in her thinning fur. Her wings were torn and tattered remnants of what they once were. “Well, well Raid, is that the same knife you stabbed me in the back with in the hospital?” The ghastly pony spoke with a haunting parody of Wildfire’s voice.

Seeing the hideous apparition stalk into the bathroom, Air Raid lurched up to a sitting position. “Wh-What!?” She gasped, so overpowering was the sheer stench of death that permeated the very air surrounding this creature, the stunned lime green pegasus didn’t realise what had happened at first. “Who're you...where's momma...” she backed away, only to find that she was a fully grown up mare now, not a filly anymore. “W-Wily!”

The Wildfire spread her wings, rotten feathers falling to the blood slickened floor. “Not enough to screw me over, you had to screw yourself over?”

“Wildfire!” Air Raid exclaimed, looking at her marefriend properly now, confusion and fear vying with joy in her heart. “But...how can you be here? What happened to you...you came back!”

“Wait,” Wildfire lifted up her left forehoof to her chin, bone and muscle was visible through her skin, “was it me that said, ‘I’ll never be seen with a flightless dodo’, or was it you that said ‘I’ll never be seen with a blind pegasus.’ I forget.”

Air Raid got to her knees in front of the monstrous creature, kneeling in the blood. “Wily please, I can change!” She begged pitifully, “I'll make it up to you!” She bargained, edging nearer to her, barely a hoof's width away. “I'll do anything you want, give me another chance please!”

Though it was blind, the ghastly Wildfire moved like she was fully sighted. It swirled its decaying hoof in the pool of blood. “If you'd done this right it would have saved me a lot of pain later.” It said dispassionately, a horrible sneer on her face.

“I know I hurt you Wily, and I'm sorry!” Air Raid cried, grovelling at the apparition’s foul hooves, breathing in its fetid stench. “Name it, anything, I'll do whatever you want, anything, to make it up to you!”

The Wildfire flipped the carving knife back to her. “Then finish this up. I think it is the only way you can join me in Tartarus.”

Blinking twice, Air Raid looked at the knife. “Is that what you want, Wily?”

“What I want? What I want!” It lowered its head so that it was inches from Air Raid’s own, the empty sunken eyes ‘staring’ into the grey eyes of the kneeling mare. “I wanted a marefriend that would love me for who I am! I don't have that Raid, and you can't give that to me!”

“I can!” Air Raid picked up the knife again in her right hoof. “Wily I love you! I've always loved you!” She put the blade on the deep scar of her old wound. “I'll prove it to you, watch!”

The Wildfire laughed, and it was a horrible, hideous death rattle of a laugh. “What, so you can fail again? You've already shown me you can fail.” It snorted derisively and snatched the knife up in her skeletal wing. “What I want is a life worth living!” It raised the knife above its head. “I'd take yours, but it isn't worth living either.” It then swung down with the knife towards her target’s heart.

Air Raid saw the flash of the blade as it swung in slow motion. “Take it Wily! I can't live without you!” She knelt and spread her forelegs apart, not even tempted to defend herself as she bared her chest for the point of the knife, her eyes closed for the strike.

Instead of a very sharp blade, a midnight blue feather struck the lime green chest. “You are one of my son's friends, yes?”

‘Wait…what the hay?’ Air Raid cautiously opened her grey eyes when instead of the expected knife strike a feather hit her chest. “Huh...” she looked up to where the voice had come from. “Princess Luna!” She exclaimed with a boundless joy as she realised what was happening. “I'm dreaming! Um...yes, I'm one of Dusk's friends, or rather I was.”

Stepping forward, Luna spared a moment to look distastefully around the little bathroom, covered with more blood than ten ponies could hold. “Part of this is part of your reality, from where the dream comes.”

Gathering her wits around her, Air Raid too looked around. “Aaah yes, from when I was seven, Princess.”

Silently, Luna stomped her left forehoof into the floor and in a swirl of magic the colour of pure midnight the copious amounts of blood vanished as did the walls themselves, only to be replaced with her own bedroom in her house. “You are Raid. The race driver, yes?” Luna enquired politely.

“Air Raid,” she bowed respectfully, “yes Princess.”

“One shouldn't dream of one's death if one wishes to wake again.” Luna chastised gently, very pleased they were in a clean blood-free environment. The scent was a little too real for her liking.

Air Raid rubbed her right foreleg with her left. “I um...”

“Your dream was a black cloud on my dreamscape.” Luna said, “I know of you. Dusk has spoken of you. You are part of why he has but one friend left.”

“Yeah...” Air Raid looked guiltily at her floor, “We ah...had words a couple of weeks ago after what happened to Wily…I just want her back, Princess.”

Wily. Wildfire. That was a name Luna was very familiar with. The alicorn owed that particular pony a debt she could never adequately repay, although she had given her the reward money herself in the hospital. “Yes, the mare that rejected my son in anger and hurt. He is a foolish colt. Are you as equally foolish?”

Air Raid nodded sadly. “I rejected her from fear...and I lost Dusk, Cy and Bright too.”

“You give yourself undo credit I think,” Luna said firmly. “Dusk lost himself. The others. They were also part of the group that visited, yes?”

Air Raid nodded again. “Punching him didn't help any. Yes, though it was just me, Dusk and Darkie that saw her in the hospital. By the time the others came she was gone. To Fillydelphia, apparently.”

Deep in thought, Luna tilted her head to one side. “Really,” she led off, “but she was here just yesterday.”

“Yeah her dad told us all Wildfire had gone to family in Filly...what!?” Air Raid spoke without really hearing what the lunar alicorn had said until it began to sink in to her brain. “Princess...Wily was here?” She didn’t dare to believe it.

Suddenly, with a wave of her midnight blue wing, there stood Wildfire, diminutive and whole and with all the animation of a life sized doll. Air Raid recognised the scene as her living room, and she could see in the hallway Darkstar was sitting with her horn aglow with her yellow magic. “Is this not the Wildfire you want?” Luna asked directly.

Just as suddenly as the scene changed, Air Raid began crying fountains of tears. “I…I…I w-want my marefriend back! Darkie...Darkies' been helping me.” The lime green mare sniffled as she cried, “that day...I thought I was going crazy, her illusion was so good.”

“Are you sure you’re not?” Luna questioned as the Wildfire doll disappeared and Air Raid was treated to another, different scene. In the hall, she saw herself and Darkstar standing. Talking. She remembered this argument. She saw Darkstar stomp her hoof. “I need to stop doing this…”

Air Raid watched herself thrust her hoof at her friend. “No!” She raised her own voice.

“She isn’t real.” Darkstar tried to reason with her.

“I don’t care,” Air Raid watched herself argue, “she is what I need!”

The real Air Raid turned her back on the scene. “Darkie keeps warning me about depending on her illusions, but I can handle it, I know I can, I mean, what's the worst that can happen, it's just a spell, right?”

With another wave of her powerful midnight blue wings, the skeletal nightmare Wildfire reappeared with her rotten wing holding a wicked looking knife. “I can finish what I started.” It said evilly.

Luna raised her eyebrow at the pegasus. “Is that what you really want?”

Air Raid shook her head desperately. “No...I want Wily back. My Wily...I want my marefriend. I want to make it right with her.” She looked at the ghastly nightmare version of Wildfire. “That's not my Wily.”

The nightmare Wildfire disappeared in a flash of Luna’s magic and the life size Wildfire doll took its place. Luna walked over to her creation, and Air Raid noticed a big round ring located between the doll’s wings. Reaching for it, Luna pulled it with her hoof and there was a string attached. Looking Air Raid dead in the eyes she let it go and the string pulled it back into the body. “I love you Air Raid.” The doll said in a simpering impersonation of Wildfire’s voice. “Please hoof me again.”

“Oh my…” that made even Luna blush hard.

Air Raid looked at the doll, and for a very brief moment her wings fluttered upwards. “Princess, what's that supposed to be?”

The nightmare Wildfire reappeared next to the doll Wildfire. Luna pointed a wing at the nightmare. “That is your sleeping dream.” She then pointed her wing at the doll. “That is your waking dream.” Luna turned and walked over to Air Raid, a very serious look on her face. “Will you ever leave my dreamscape?”

Utterly defeated, Air Raid slumped to the floor. “Princess…what do I do?”

Without warning, both of the Wildfires disappeared, as did the surroundings, leaving them floating in an ethereal void. “Wake up, Air Raid. Wake up and live.”

“Whu...” Air Raid blinked her grey eyes open and took in her surroundings. Two blinks and as many seconds later and she realised she was on her mother’s couch. “A dream…” she sighed as she propped herself up onto the knee of her right foreleg. “Just a dream.”

“Ah, you're awake!” Starburst smiled over her glasses and put the gossip rag she was reading on her coffee table. “You were tossing a lot.” Getting up from her chair the late middle aged cream earth pony walked over and stroked her daughter’s mane. “Breakfast is ready. When do you race again?”

Air Raid smiled up at her mother and nuzzled her hoof. She always did like the way she stroked her mane, ever since that time in the bathroom. “Uh…I've got a tournament coming up in Filly next week momma, big south eastern event.”

“I expect you to win,” Starburst smiled as she stroked the blue mane with her hoof, “eat up and be strong.”

“Momma…” the younger mare asked her mother the question that had been bothering her, the question that she suspected had led to her dream, “am I broken?”

Starburst smiled sympathetically at her filly. “You can answer that for me by telling me if you are a flightless pegasus or a winged earth pony.”

Air Raid knew the answer to that. Many, many hours spent with one of the best therapists that bits could buy in Canterlot had put that issue to bed long ago. “I’m a winged earth pony momma...sorry, I was just dreaming about Wily.”

Starburst stood to her full height and smiled, “Then you're not broken, Raid.”

Air Raid smiled and got up from the couch. “Thanks for letting me crash here, momma. I just can’t face the empty house.” She looked down at the thick carpeted floor. “Momma I miss her so much...”

“Keep winning and maybe she will contact you.” Starburst offered helpfully as she now nuzzled her daughter’s cheek. “Other than that, I well know that we must sleep in the bed we've made.”

“I know momma, I reacted like a bitch, that’s all.” Air Raid sighed as she returned her mother’s affectionate nuzzle. “I know Canterlot wouldn’t accept her looking like she does...I just didn’t think, y’know, priorities.”

“How well did Canterlot accept you?” Starburst asked with her forehoof on her filly’s shoulder.

Air Raid laughed out loud at that. “You know full well how Canterlot accepted me, momma.” She looked at the older pony ruefully. “They still don't, it just helps that I'm successful.” Air Raid had learnt very early in her racing career that success and wealth helped to paper over many cracks in Canterlot.

“Yes,” the cream earth pony adjusted her glasses with an indifferent sniff, “we have to prove ourselves every day. As for your moping, be the best at what you do and move forward. I know when you burn a bridge it can only be rebuilt from the other side.”

Air Raid flashed her cocky grin, “you know I don't accept second place momma.” Her grin disappeared into a sigh, “if Wily wants to know, she'll contact me I guess. So! What's for breakfast?” She asked when her rumbling belly reminded her that she was in fact hungry.

“Rolled oats, raisins, fruit, and coffee.” Her mother replied as she walked into her kitchen.

“Whoo! You know me so well momma!” Thoughts of Wildfire momentarily forgotten in favour of her belly, Air Raid trotted through to the kitchen. Taking her seating pad, her grey eyes wandered over to the knife drawer as she recalled her dream. With a shudder she banished those thoughts as far away as she could. “You doing anything today?”

“As it’s Tuesday,” Starburst replied, setting a very large bowl in front of her daughter, “the bridge club is meeting at the Season's house today.”

“Cool,” Air Raid commented as she surveyed the rather full bowl of oats, raisins and fruit. It was much fuller than she’d ever prepare for herself. “I'm gonna go hang out with Darkie for a bit.”

Starburst set the mug of black coffee down next to the bowl. “She still not returning your feelings?” The cream earth pony teased as she added the three sugars to Air Raid’s mug. “It is good to have friends, but you shouldn't lock yourself out from finding a partner.”

“Momma,” Air Raid started then paused as she made a start on her breakfast. “Darkie's straight. Besides, I already have a partner, I um...I just don't know where she is, that's all.” Starburst said nothing to that, she merely gave her daughter a very severe ‘motherly’ look over the top of her glasses.

Seeing her phone on the kitchen table, Air Raid reached for it and again she tried to dial Wildfire's number. After several rings it clicked over to the very familiar voice mail. “Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.” Air Raid sighed deeply ad put her phone away. “Alright momma, you don't need to give me that look.”

Taking a moment to swallow a mouthful of her own oats, Starburst put her hoof on her daughter’s foreleg. “Move forward, Air. How often do you back up on the track?”

“I don’t…” Air Raid sighed, “point taken momma.” Finishing up her breakfast with a loaded spoonful and a mighty swallow of her coffee she smiled, “alrighty, I'm gonna head on over to Darkie's place momma, I’m meeting her for a picnic, thanks again for letting me stay last night.”

“Anytime Air,” her mother replied, taking far more delicate bites of her breakfast, “I do love you after all.”

“Awww, you old softie!” Pausing at the front door she turned and trotted back over to the older pony and hugged her tight.

As she hugged her daughter back, she reflected on the day she almost lost her and Prism. “Stay safe, Raid, but stay fast.”

“Done and done, momma.” Air Raid kissed her cheek. “I love you, and give my love to daddy when he comes home.” When her mother just smiled and nodded, a thought occurred to her. “Do you mind if I stop by again later? Only, you cook better than me.”

Starburst raised her eyebrow questioningly. “You bringing Darkstar with you?”

Air Raid nodded, “yeah, is that ok?”

Starburst gave her the look that said ‘yes of course it is’ and smiled, “Just need to know how many plates to set and how much to cook.”

“Then, two setting momma please.”

“Oh, so a private meal then.” Starburst laughed, “I guess Prism and I can go out to eat.”

“Momma you're awesome!” Air Raid squealed and kissed her mother again.

Snorting, Starburst performed the motherly eye roll number seventeen. “No earlier than six p.m.”

“Why?” Air Raid shuddered, “you aren't gonna be doing the nasty with daddy are you?”

“Before or after six p.m.?”

“Before...”

Starburst gave her daughter an informational shoulder shrug, accompanied by a very salacious wink that spoke volumes. “Uuugh...I'll definitely make it after six…” Air Raid shuddered once more and headed for the door, her mother’s laugh accompanying her as she departed.

“Uuugh…” Air Raid almost heaved as she got in her car. “Not enough brain bleach in Canterlot...”

~ ~ ~

Eleven a.m. and Darkstar arrived at Canterlot’s largest lake for her picnic lunch with Air Raid carrying a wicker basket held in her glowing yellow magic. Approaching the lakeside in the late morning sunlight she found a shady spot under a large tree and looked around for Air Raid, but didn't see her. ‘I bet she forgot’, she thought as she set down the basket and used her magic to spread out the blanket and set up the food. ‘I hope she is just running late’, the pure white unicorn thought, settling down to enjoy the scenery in peace.

It was twenty minutes before Air Raid finally arrived at the lake, out of breath with her chest heaving, she walked on staggering hooves over the grass to greet her friend. “H-Hey…” she breathed in a gulping lungful of air, “hey hun, sorry I'm late, my car wouldn't start…had to run.”

Darkstar treated the gasping pegasus to a raised eyebrow. “I thought Ratchet lived in your garage?” She asked, referring to the unicorn mechanic that made up a fourth of her pit crew.

“She does,” Air Raid replied as she sat down on the blanket by the lake, choosing a particularly shaded spot to Darkstar’s immediate left side. “Sparky's been 'tinkering'.” She said by way of explanation.

Darkstar shrugged. She knew the perky young unicorn was ‘gifted’ with engines, and it was best to leave it at that. “At least you're here.” She slid a light salad Air Raid’s way and poured her a glass of chilled lemonade.

“Ooh thanks hun, I so need that.” Getting herself comfy, she reached for the lemonade and sipped it, allowing the cold liquid to slide down her throat. “Y'know,” she said, looking at the delicious spread that her friend had provided all on her own, “I offered to make something.”

“I know, which is why Canterlot General is on my speed dial.” Darkstar smirked as she took a mouthful of her salad.

Air Raid stuck her tongue out. “Ha, de ha, har.”

Darkstar giggled and rubbed her forehead with her hoof. “Raid, I've been getting headaches more often lately.”

“Oh?” Air Raid chewed thoughtfully on a radish and fresh lettuce leaf, “can't be Bright singing, he's in Filly. So what's up?”

“I think it's magic fatigue.” Darkstar took a moment to sip her lemonade and gather her resolve before she continued. “You are getting more and more dependent on my magic, Raid.”

“I am not…” Air Raid muttered, immediately getting all defensive in the face of her friend’s accusation. “Well, not much, I mean um, I'm grateful and that, it's just nice having Wily around.”

“I'd like to have Wily around too, Raid.” Darkstar chewed a carrot stick and looked pointedly at her friend. “The real one.”

“Illusions are real if you believe them, that's what you said.” Air Raid countered quickly, then she noticed the lack of magic, that Darkstar had used her hooves for everything so far. “Can you pass the pepper, hun?”

Grunting a little at the ‘illusion’ comment, the pure white unicorn hoofed over the pepper. “How long will you keep believing what I make is real?” She reached into the large wicker basket and she hoofed out a basket of hayfries and a couple of loaded hayburgers out for them both when she saw the salad was gone.

“I um...” Air Raid was at first stuck for what to say to that, when her focus was diverted by the burgers and fries. This was her kind of picnic. “Ooh thanks!” The lime green mare took hold of her hayburger and took a huge bite. “I just need the illusion to help me sleep at night, that's all, it’s not like I'm addicted or anything, right? You just take the edge of it, that's all.”

“And the night I ended it early after I thought you were asleep and you woke up and hounded me to bring her back?” Darkstar asked bluntly.

Air Raid knew she’d been caught with that one. With nowhere to manoeuvre, she said, “I...well...ok, maybe that was a bit much, but I am, I was, lonely! Everypony's gone apart from you and 'Shot...and I thought it was just a spell, I didn't know you could get headaches. Is that why you haven't cast anything yet?”

“What,” Darkstar shot her a filthy look, not even trying to hide the hurt slighted tone in her voice. “You think I’m one of those stuck up unicorns that can’t wipe their ass without magic? I’m just pointing out that you don’t need magic for everything.”

“Darkie...” Air Raid knew almost immediately that she’d gone and upset her friend, apologetically she put her hoof on her foreleg. “I'm sorry hun, I didn't mean any offense.” She took a deep breath and, remembering the brief chat she’d had with Luna in the dreamscape earlier that day, said, “I wanna talk about the illusions, actually.”

Darkstar waited until the hayburgers were gone – something that Air Raid took care of quicker than she did – before she spoke again. “So do I. I got us salted caramel donuts for dessert, but I can understand if you don't want yours.” The pure white unicorn brushed aside her grey mane and hoofed a plate with four donuts out of the basket and set it down between them both. “You know you could get the same effect if you had a life sized doll of Wily made.”

“Me, not want salted caramel?” Air Raid asked incredulously, “yeah right!” She immediately picked one up, sniffed it and licked the frosting off. “A doll wouldn't have the feel that yours do, or the body heat or the scent...you're right, Darkie, I am dependant.”

No sooner had she licked up the delicious smelling frosting than the taste of caramel vanished in her mouth, to be replaced with that of week old wilted lettuce. “Uuugh,” Air Raid spat out what was in her mouth. “Darkie, what the hay?”

Darkstar simply smiled sweetly and floated a donut up to her mouth, and as she bit into half of it the pegasus noticed her horn did not light up. “I just love these things! What's wrong, Raid?”

“This tastes like something I made!” The lime green mare exclaimed, “what gives, your horn didn't light up!” Warily, she backed away slightly.

Deciding her point had been well made, Darkstar dropped her illusions. Her horn glowed a bright yellow and what was in Air Raid’s hoof as well as the other donut nearest to her revealed themselves for what they really were as they turned into piles of wilted lettuce. “But if you believe in an illusion it is real.”

“Damn...” Air Raid muttered, “I thought I was going crazy there for a minute, that or I was dreaming again...”

Darkstar moved the plate so that the real donut was near to her. “I kept that lettuce by the toilet all week for this. I don't think I peed on it...hummm...anyway, illusions are never really real, no matter how much you believe.”

Air Raid mulled over her friend’s words, as well as the fact she was just the victim of a grade A Darkstar prank as she ate the real donut in an attempt to rid herself of the taste of old lettuce. “You know I will get you back for this, right?”

Darkstar raspberried her friend. “Every time you make me cast the Wily illusion you are getting back at me.” She sighed, “Raid, I know what happens when illusions become real.”

“Oh yeah?” The lime green pegasus took a last bite of the real donut. “What's that then?”

“And, I'm flattered you dreamed of me. I thought you only dreamed of Wily.” Darkstar led off before her countenance turned very serious. “And you know what's that! Tartarus, I didn't want to go there, but there is someone you need to meet. Even if she doesn't know who you are.”

Air Raid decided the serious frown did not suit her friend at all. She lent in and nuzzled her cheek. “Sweetie, I'm sorry. You hardly ever speak of your mother. You don't need to introduce me.” Air Raid knew it was hard enough for the young unicorn to see her mother in the asylum alone, never mind dragging her along for the ride like her mother was an old time circus freak to be looked at.

“Really?” Darkstar questioned, “She lives in an illusion and you are living in an illusion. What will you do when illusion Wily is as appetising as that lettuce donut?”

Air Raid sighed deeply. “When I was dreaming…Luna paid me a visit.”

“Oh?” Now Darkstar was interested. “I haven't seen her since...well, since Dusk left us.”

“Same here.” Air Raid agreed. “I was dreaming about the time I was diagnosed with Scootaloo's Syndrome, when momma and daddy were arguing.”

“Isn't that when you, um…” Darkstar trailed off, gesturing a hoof at her wings.

Air Raid nodded and pulled the feathers back on her left wing and showed her the deep ugly foot long scar that was there at her wing joint. “I never showed you before, did I?”

“Illusions can leave scars as deep,” Darkstar commented, “but not as visible.”

Again, Air Raid nodded. “Everything happened as normal, but instead of momma coming in the bathroom, it was Wily...but it was a twisted 'nightmare' version of Wily.”

That really did peak Darkstar's interest. “A nightmare version? What, like clown make up?”

“No...” Air Raid shuddered at the memory of what she’d seen. “Like Luna's size, all skeletal, dried out, her face was all shrunken and scarred...you could see bones, her wings were tatters and, and she smelled like she looked, like death walking. It was horrific.”

Darkstar smiled evilly. “Now, do I prank you with that Wily next you call for her?”

“NO! Please no!” Air Raid pleaded quickly, still shivering. “It was going to kill me, Darkie, take me to Tartarus with her...”

“Dark is right,” the unicorn commented. “That must have woke you up.”

“Not straight away...” the lime green pegasus looked down at the blanket. “I was gonna let it. I was on my knees in a pool of my own blood, I wasn't protecting myself.”

“Raid,” Darkstar touched her gently with a hoof. “No matter what you've done, death isn't the answer.”

“At least then I’d be with her.” Air Raid smiled and nuzzled her friend’s hoof. “That's when Luna intervened. She turned the knife into a feather.”

“One of yours?”

“I dunno,” Air Raid admitted, “I wasn't looking.”

“Scaredy pony.”

“I am not!” Air Raid protested, “anyway...we had a chat.”

Darkstar giggled, “Tea and cakes?”

“Not exactly.” Air Raid explained, “she accused me of never leaving her dreamscape. She showed me the Nightmare Wily and...and she showed me this d-doll. She pulled this cord on its back and it asked me to hoof her again.” She paused for breath when the unicorn shuddered at the mention of being hoofed. “It was...as lifeless as the Nightmare. Darkie, I've been such a foalish mare.”

Darkstar giggled. “Finally figured that out have we? I figured it out long ago when my brother rubbed my nose in it.”

“Luna told me to wake up and live...Darkie, I'm sorry.”

Dark star smiled. “Buy me a coffee and a caramel donut and I'll forgive you. So, now what, you going to quit cold turkey? Some sort of reduced schedule? Or has nothing really changed?”

“Well um...” Air Raid delicately stroked her right wing up her friend’s barrel and draped it over her back. “I was thinking perhaps somepony real would be better.”

Darkstar's yellow eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at the lime green pegasus. “Oh, you going to hang out with Cy more? That could be difficult.”

“I meant you.” Air Raid kissed Darkstar’s shoulder. “We could have some fun, like that time you tied me and Cy up for Wily's nineteenth birthday…”

“Raid...” Darkstar said as delicately as she could manage, “You know I don't see you in a romantic way?”

Air Raid let her feathers stroke Darkstar’s barrel in an obviously flirtatious manner. “C'mon...it'll be fuuuun~ you, me, the lake.”

“Sure, I'll be happy to go swimming with you.” Darkstar let out a soft sigh. “I can even tie you up again and paddle your flank...but don't ask too much of me Raid, please.”

Realising what she’d just done, or rather what she’d been about to do here by the lake, Air Raid hung her head on her forelegs and withdrew her wing. “I...just hit on my straight friend.”

Lighting her horn, Darkstar used her magic to gently pull Air Raid’s wing back over her. “As long as you know that we may be okay.”

Looking at her hopefully, Air Raid said, “we can cuddle?”

Smiling, Darkstar leant forward past her lime green muzzle to nuzzle her ear and she whispered, “Just so you know if you hoof me I'll horn your ear…” she blew a soft breath and sat back up.

“Aaaah!” With the breath on her ear, her wings sprang up at sharp angles to her body. “Aaa-and the paddling of my flank?” She gasped excitedly.

“Call it…‘firm cuddles’.” Darkstar giggled. “That is a good sign.”

“I like firm cuddles...” Air Raid panted, “um, what is, a good sign?”

Darkstar put a tender hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “She isn't even here,” the hoof then slid down to her wing joint. “Yet your wings just got Willy’d.”

“Hmmm...” as the unicorn caressed her sensitive wing joint, Air Raid’s blue tail automatically hiked up in the air a few degrees.

Darkstar performed a picture perfect eye roll at her friend’s raised tail, very thankful that there wasn’t anypony walking behind her at that moment to see her exposed marehood. “Yes, I'll watch you clop off. I miss her too, and I'm not going to give up on finding her.”

“I ah...” Air Raid struggled to bring her wings back under control. “I know you won't, hun.”

Darkstar smiled sympathetically. “You're pretty hard up, aren't you?”

“You ah,” Air Raid blushed, it had been a good few months, “you could say that.”

“You know, we could take a short trip to Ponyville and invite Cy to come down off her cloud.”

“Now that's a good idea!” Her mind filled with the possibilities of rutting and / or being rutted by Cyclone, her lime green wings shot up again. “Heh...you know she rutted me good that time when Wily was busy.”

Darkstar leant forward again, and with a very sultry voice whispered in her horny friend’s ear, “Maybe I'll do unspeakable things to the two of you and then sit back and watch.”

“HNNG...” Air Raid moaned as her wings became even more erect. “I'd like that very much!” Grinning at a wind up job well done, the unicorn put away the remnants of the picnic into the large wicker basket and stood to move off the blanket. Getting up off the blanket beside her, Air Raid asked, “you want any help?”

Shaking her head, Darkstar used her magic to fold up the blanket and put it on top in the basket. “Plans for today?”

“None really,” Air Raid replied, “my momma's prepping us a meal at her place tonight for after six, DEFINITELY after six, that is, if you wanna come, still?”

Darkstar shrugged, “Sure, at least Starburst knows 'how' to cook.” She giggled as she teased her friend. “that sounds like fun and we can always meet up with Cy in Ponyville tomorrow to have her dull weather pony life interrupted by two fabulous mares.”

“Would you be up for some of those 'firm cuddles'?” Air Raid asked hopefully, “Cy had me crawling on the bedroom floor licking her hooves.”

Darkstar nodded. “I'd rather do firm cuddles than the false illusion.”

As they walked side by side away from the lake out of the park, Air Raid reached with her wing into her saddlebag to pull out her phone. She was intending to try calling Wildfire again, when Luna’s intervention came to mind, to wake up and live her life. Smiling to herself she changed her mind and put her phone away, determined to enjoy the coming afternoon with her friend.

Chapter 4 - Depression: Part One

The next morning was a very pleasant one, typical of Ponyville, with the weather pegasi doing a fine job of keeping the blue skies clear of clouds. What made this morning so pleasant, for a particular jet black pegasus mare who was waiting with baited breath on the suburban town’s only train station, was the brightly coloured Friendship Express steam train that just pulled in. As the many passengers disembarked, she scanned the small crowd with her blue eyes, looking for just two ponies in particular. Moments later she saw them and smiled. “You did come!” Cyclone cried happily the instant she was close to her two friends.

“Duh,” Darkstar performed a picture perfect roll of her yellow eyes before she checked out her black friend’s pastel pink dress, especially the large behind. The white unicorn knew what was underneath there. “We did call you.”

Stepping up alongside them both, Air Raid giggled. “Of course we came, you silly filly!” She booped her friend’s nose with her hoof for good measure, giggling harder as Cyclone went cross eyed.

“Hey!” Cyclone scrunched up her nose and rubbed it with her wing. “You've stood me up before.”

Darkstar stepped in quickly before the lime green mare could interject. “Aah…Raid isn't really in the mood for one of my pranks.” She said, bringing to mind the day before, and how…crippled, for want of a better word, she had been. “Now, I'm ready to quench my sweet tooth.” With that the straight mare turned on her hooves and trotted off of the station, her destination; that bastion of sweetness known as Sugarcube Corner.

Air Raid shuddered involuntarily. “No pranking, Filly Scouts honour.” She smiled, holding up the leading three primary feathers of her right wing. Turning to follow her friend, she nudged Cyclone with her foreleg. “C'mon Cy, let's go watch Darkie lick a caramel donut.”

*Fomp* Cyclone’s wings shot sharply out to either side of her. “Thanks, Raid. I really needed that image.” She groused playfully as Darkstar added an excessive – and entirely unnecessary - sway to her hips.

Air Raid snickered, her wings very erect as well, “don't it make you wish you WERE the donut?”

Like a rat following the pied piper, Cyclone moved to follow Darkstar’s swishing, taunting, grey tail in the vain hope that she’d get a mere glimpse of the treasure underneath. “I wish all the sexiest mares weren't straight.” She nudged Air Raid’s barrel playfully, “I'll put you at number three on the list.”

“Oh jeez thanks Cy…” Air Raid did an eye roll that Darkstar would’ve been proud of and followed after the departing unicorn, walking at Cyclone's side. “I could follow that ass all day long.”

“Glad to see I'm not at the top of your list either.” Cyclone giggled at the aroused state they were both in.

Air Raid giggled, “I'd say you were a solid three. So,” she said, changing the subject away from Darkstar’s perfect toned sexy ass, “how's the hotel in Cloudsdale?” She asked, genuinely curious as she couldn’t get up there herself to find out.

“Crap,” Cyclone answered tersely, “and I'm going to have to find a place soon. It’s expensive crap.”

“I thought Daddy Playcolt was paying?” Air Raid snickered as she referenced Tropical Storm, Cyclone’s dad who was a Playcolt executive. “Do you need to sell more magazines?”

“I'm trying to make it on my own!” The jet black pegasus gave a very bitter sigh. “You may be right, I'm at the bottom of the weather crew now, and lack of sleep ain't helping.”

“I know babe,” Air Raid leant in close and nuzzled her friend. “Lack of sleep, are you okay?”

“Raid…I dug a pretty deep hole with those potions.” Cyclone muttered somewhat resentfully, “Hard to work for dad when I can't get to the studio.”

“I know hun,” the lime green mare knew full well her friend wasn’t allowed anywhere in Canterlot following what had happened in the park a week ago now. “And, I won't do the whole 'we told you so,' thing.” Even though she really, really wanted to say she told her so. “But um, we're all staying over here tonight, I can entertain you, take your mind off things?” She offered with a suggestive look.

Grinning, Cyclone nuzzled her back. “Darkie isn't putting out, and Dusk's mom is out of the picture, so yeah…” she playfully nipped Air Raid’s ear, “Number three is looking good right now.”

“Aaah...” Air Raid went wobbly at her knees. “Damn you for knowing about my ear!” She groused, her wings once more very hard and erect. “You remember Wily's nineteenth when you had me all tied up?”

“Fun times.” Cyclone giggled at her friend’s weakness, “I’m following the racing circuit. You're doing well.”

Despite her wobbly knees, and her erect wings, Air Raid nonetheless puffed out her chest with pride. Of course she was doing well. Duh, she was Air Raid! What else would she be doing? “Why thank you. Slingshot's keeping me focused. And…so is my mum.”

“Your mum has come around from when I first met her in middle school.” Cyclone commented with a wry smile, “I'll bet she is as pushy as my dad though.”

“Heh...” Air Raid laughed at the thought that just crept into her head. “Cy, can you imagine the result if they bred? Half me, half you?”

“I dunno,” Cyclone smirked, “I think you'd look pretty cute in a nappy.”

Air Raid laughed again, “your fear of heights wouldn't matter with me not being able to fly.” She giggled and raised her eyebrows, “maybe Mistress Cy will get me in a nappy later, you know what I like.” She added hopefully, trying to hide the fact that she was in desperate need of a good bucking.

Seeing that her friend had a slightly faraway look in her grey eyes, Cyclone seized her chance and licked her inner ear. The one she had previously nipped. “I might, but we are here.” She pointed up front with her hoof to Darkstar who had, throughout the walk from the train station, said nothing, now entered Sugarcube Corner.

“Gaaah!” Caught entirely by surprise, Air Raid squeezed her hind legs together as her marehood leaked moisture. “I hate you!” The blush she now wore said otherwise, however.

Cyclone, who by now had her wings down and under control, snickered at her older friend’s predicament. “The door is only so wide, do you need a moment?”

“I...I'm fine…” Air Raid muttered, though she did indeed take a few moments to ‘collect herself’.

Reappearing, Darkstar poked her nose out of the door. “I don't want you idiots to cause any trouble.” Almost as quickly as she had appeared she ducked back in before the two mares could say anything.

Cyclone blinked once then twice in surprise. “What's stuck in her craw?”

Air Raid shrugged her shoulders. “Huh…I was just gonna ask you that.”

Cyclone raised a hoof and kneaded her friend’s back, paying close attention to the area between her wings. Too much attention. A fact that two ponies noted with a blush as they walked out of the premier bakery past them. “Let's get in and find out.”

“Hmmm!” Air Raid blushed again, “yeah,” she sniggered, “there might be a monster attack in there, you never know, the dreaded Everfree Donut Monster of Death.”

Cyclone laughed at that. “If there as a donut monster, Darkie would have destroyed it and the building.”

Air Raid conceded that point with a nod of her head. “You got me there. C'mon, let's go in.” With a wing she opened the door for the jet black mare. “Sway that padded rump for me.”

As Cyclone sauntered past her she flicked her nose with her turquoise tail and she swayed inside, very closely followed by Air Raid. One table over the far side seated Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, one further down had three earth ponies that neither Cyclone nor Air Raid recognised. However at the table in the middle were Vocal Chord, his band mate Falsetto and his coltfriend Dusk. “Look who's slumming…” She muttered under her breath.

Air Raid was about to reply with a very snide comment when she noted Darkstar’s death stare coming from the empty table she had selected for them. “I was right.” She whispered in reply, “there is a monster in here.”

Cyclone merely giggled loudly and moved to the table to sit with the pure white unicorn, while as Air Raid walked over to the table, Dusk saw the lime green pegasus and visibly flinched, staring hard daggers at her before turning pointedly away. Vocal Chord leaned into his stallion and licked Dusk’s cheek to regain his attention.

“Hmm...I’m sorry V,” Dusk smiled, earning himself a lingering kiss from his unicorn.

“No need to let the background interfere with our evening.” The light grey singer purred into his lover’s ear as Dusk turned him around and lovingly kissed his lips.

“Aw…” Falsetto, the native Vanhoovan sun yellow earth pony gushed, “look at you two, so cute together.”

Vocal broke the kiss long enough to turn his attention to his bass player and, with a cheeky wink, said, “Woof.”

“I do have better things to do than waste time with him, Darkie.” Cyclone asserted over on their table, having also been subjected to Darkstar’s stare. Raising her hoof she waved Pumpkin Cake over to take their order.

“What?” Darkstar asked with a raised eyebrow, “Like having his mom ride you?” She giggled as Pumpkin cane over with a salted caramel donut and coffee flavoured shake.

“What can I get you two?” She asked with a practised serving smile. While Darkstar had been easy – she never ordered anything else, she wasn't sure what the other two wanted.

Cyclone, busy nursing her blush from her friend’s comment, placed her order and tried to look someplace else. “Mega sticky bun, and a glass of mare's milk.”

Louder than was strictly necessary, Air Raid spoke up, “waste time with whom?” She sniffed, performing a very passable impersonation of royal indifference. “I'll have a toffee apple donut and a black coffee please Pumpkin.”

“Okay,” Pumpkin Cake smiled, “I’ll just be a jiffy!”

“What the hay's her problem?” Falsetto asked, overhearing – as did almost everypony else – Air Raid’s comment.

“Herself.” Vocal Chord shrugged.

“Huh…” Falsetto stared at Air Raid, forgetting for the moment her chocolate and pecan donut. A feat not easy to accomplish. “So, V, when's the next gig? Strings is getting antsy.”

Vocal Chord sighed a very exaggerated sigh and chose to swap his vanilla swirl for Dusk’s ear. “I thought I sent everypony a schedule. We’re playing Trixie's Place, Friday through Sunday. Five shows total, pays pretty nice, and yes, you can play that thing you call a song you wrote.”

Falsetto, brushing aside her blue mane, gave the lead singer her best Vanhoovan Death Glare, unfortunately it was utterly wasted as he was determined to see how deep into the royal pegasus’s ear he could get his tongue. “Buck you, doggie,” she settled for the insult instead. “That song's gold and you know it.”

Removing his tongue once Dusk’s wings were erect, Vocal Chord snorted with laughter. “You're as easy to wind up as Flightless Feathers over there.” He nodded his head for emphasis over to Air Raid.

“Heh,” Dusk snickered. “Good one, Vocal.”

“Did you guys hear that?” Air Raid asked, her mouth hanging open.

Cyclone nodded, but Darkstar cut across her as Pumpkin brought over and dropped off their three orders on a tray held in her magic. “He is just trying to wind you up.” The white unicorn put her hoof on her friend’s foreleg.

Air Raid growled, her hackles rising. “Ugh! I could just smack him like I did Dusk!”

“Vocal Chord!” Falsetto exclaimed, almost spitting out her strawberry shake. “That was mean!”

“Yeah…” The light grey unicorn simply giggled yeah, sorry Falsie, “but I did send you a schedule for the gig.”

Falsetto contented herself with grumbling as she sipped her shake rather than spitting it. “Yeah well, you know me and computers.” She hated to admit, she barely knew how to turn one on, let alone use it.

Vocal Chord shrugged, “You got the mail the last time I nailed it to your door.”

“At least I know how to work mane straighteners!” The sun yellow earth pony exclaimed irately.

Over on the other table, Darkstar was busy probing her salted caramel donut with her tongue in a very slow and very sensual fashion, drawing a lot, if not all, of the attention to her – especially from Lyra and Bon Bon who were watching with rapt fascination. “Oooh MMMM yeah...” Air Raid and Cyclone both panted, picturing Darkstar’s tongue doing what it was doing, just not on the donut.

Dusk glanced over, curious in spite of himself with the look from Lyra and her marefriend. “Aaah,” he murmured, “the donut lick.” He’d seen many a pony reduced to wrecks just from the effects of watching Darkstar lick a donut.

“Daaaamn…” Although she was straight, Falsetto could appreciate the skill and dedication that was going into licking that donut.

“Pfft,” Vocal shrugged, wholly unimpressed. “I could do better on a smaller hole.” The lead singer snickered to himself as Dusk’s powerful wings shot out either side of him with a very audible *poomf!* that drew amused sniggers from the ponies watching from the other tables. Unperturbed, and determined to prove his claim, Vocal called out, “Pumpkin! Half dozen mini-donuts please.”

Darkstar, her turn to be unimpressed, performed one of her eye rolls. “Bet my tongue is longer than his. Pumpkin! Two more of these please.”

“Why can't I get a stallion to lick me like you lick donuts V?” Falsetto bemoaned her recently single status as the overworked unicorn supplied the donuts to their respective owners.

“Having fun there, Cy?” Air Raid asked her friend without looking away from Darkstar’s display. Cyclone, for her part, didn’t reply. Her black wings also erect, she was completely mesmerized as she watched the white unicorn slowly slide her tongue through the holes of the two salted caramel donuts she held in her magic.

Determined to not be outdone, Vocal Chord got to licking the mini-donut with his tongue rolled so he could probe the tight hole with as much sensuality as he did when he probed another tight hole. On the other table Darkstar also stepped up her game, using her magic now to slide one donut up and down her horn while she held the other two side by side and she alternated licking both holes.

Across the tables, Lyra Heartstrings, having watched every second of this frankly lewd display turned to Bon Bon with half-lidded bedroom eyes. “Home. Now.” Was all she whispered and Bon Bon, attempting to walk a straight line while she was still watching too, nodded and the two left. Not to be seen again till the following day.

With very noisy *poomfs* both Cyclone and Air Raid’s wings were so hard it was painful for both mares. Both were sharing very similar thoughts of their friend’s tongue using them as donuts. “Sweet Luna's mane...” Air Raid wasn’t helping herself by imagining her leaking marehood to be covered in salted caramel and holding Darkstar in place until she was as blue as her brother.

“Aaaaahn...” Dusk moaned, “V-Vo...Vocal...” Spurred on by his midnight blue lover’s lust-filled moans, Vocal Chord used his magic to put a donut on his horn and slowly he moved it down by thinning the donut without breaking it. Seeing that, Darkstar tried to figure out what magic he was using.

“Good thing Pinkie has no issues with ponies playing with their food.” Pumpkin Cake remarked in Falsetto’s ear as she watched the show.

Falsetto nodded, “or playing with each other.” She pointed her hoof to the openly fidgeting Dusk and Air Raid.

Surreptitiously, Cyclone moved one of her hooves between Air Raid’s hind legs, the lime green mare opened them obligingly for ease of access. A unicorn mare sat over the far side of the bakery leant in and sniggered to her mate, “Good thing we didn't bring the foals today.”

Her stallion chuckled, “Dinner and a show is common at Sugarcube Corner…”

“You're not the one that has to clean up after though,” Pumpkin Cake muttered just loud enough to be heard, although most of the ponies weren't listening, least of all Dusk, who had by now snaked a forehoof between his legs.

“Ugh...” Falsetto grimaced, not knowing where to look. “I can't take them anywhere.” Then an idea crept into her head, a rather sexy idea that involved her, Pound Cake and whipped cream. Too much whipped cream. “Pumpkin, I’ll help!”

Pumpkin, who was well aware of the bass player’s ulterior motive, just giggled. “Sure thing.”

Smiling a sultry smile, Cyclone removed her hoof from its spot on Air Raid’s marehood to take up the mega sticky roll and instead rub that between her hind legs then she took a very big bite before setting it down and returned her hoof back to work.

“By the way,” Falsetto asked, trying to be as breezy as she possibly could, “is Pound working today?”

“NGGGGH...” Air Raid grunted noisily as she came around her friend’s jet black hoof. “Oh…oh sweet stars and moon!”

Dusk, his hoof stroking himself under the table, whined loudly at Vocal’s antics with the donut! And he whined even harder when Vocal Chord shifted enough to slap his tail over his coltfriend’s wandering hoof until he sighed with his climax. “Comes in just before closing.” Pumpkin sighed a disgruntled sigh as she levitated over a mop and bucket. “That's not past your bedtime is it, Falsie?”

“Oh,” Falsetto blushed as the other, more adventurous ponies, calmed themselves down. “No, no it's not! He’s ah, available, right?”

“Still single, last I checked.” Pumpkin grumbled as she mopped up the floor around the Prince’s hind hooves while trying –and failing – to not look at his softening member as she did so.

“Glad to see you finally got past Silver Chord, Falsie.” Vocal snickered, both at the mess he had caused on the floor and his band-mate’s half assed attempt at getting her hooves into Pumpkin’s brother.

Getting a little teary, Falsetto dried her eyes with a forehoof. “Oh, I'm so over him!”

“Um...” Dusk asked, wanting very much to change the subject and divert attention away from what had just taken place, and being very grateful of this thing to jump on. “Um, what happened?”

Vocal smiled a sly smile at the earth pony. “She was saving up bits to replace the guitar she broke. What, he finally tell you to piss up a rope?”

Falsetto swallowed the comeback she dearly wanted to throw and instead slumped into her seat. “If you must know, he advised me on exactly where I could stick the neck!” She sniffed again, the accident had been just that, an accident. She just ended up with her hoof snapping it in half. Total accident. Totally. Silver’s reaction had been completely over the top. “And I said I was sorry!”

“Well, to Tartarus with him.” Vocal Chord commented as he quickly and expertly polished off the mini-donuts he had ordered. “Besides, Pound is a better pony anyways.”

“Aah I see.” Dusk smiled, the bit dropping now as to why the bass player was upset. “And, yes I agree with Vocal, by the way. Pound is a very decent pony. But um...” he looked to them both, from one to the other once then twice. “You do know Silver Chord is a part of the opening band at Trixie’s Place on that night, right?” He asked cautiously.

Going by Falsetto’s look, she did not know this. “He…he's what?”

“Didn't Vocal tell you?” Dusk asked.

“No,” Falsetto shook her head as she shot the lead singer a very foul look. “No he didn't.”

“Well,” Vocal shrugged, downplaying his friend’s ire, “he is a great guitarist and he writes some good stuff. Some band has to warm up the crowd for us, it might as well be his. And they work cheap for the publicity. It’s just business, you know that, Falsie.”

Falsetto’s eyes were wide. “B-Business!”

Dusk intervened quickly, seeing as Vocal was too busy chewing on a donut to answer. “Hey, you can work together without having to like each other.” For emphasis he shot a filthy look to the table where Air Raid was sat. Specifically, to her.

“I...”

“Will what?” Vocal Chord demanded as he cut across his friend, “Quit? You're too much of a professional for that.”

“Alright,” Falsetto conceded with typical good grace, a pout and a roll of her eyes, before draining her mug of its coffee, “You got me.”

Darkstar snickered to her two friends, having made her donuts disappear as sure as if she’d cast an illusion on them. “Glad to know we aren't the only ones with troubles.”

“Know what?” Air Raid replied perhaps a little louder than was strictly necessary as she reached for her coffee, “I stopped caring what troubles he had when the idiot insulted me.”

Leaning over the table, Darkstar hissed, “No. Trouble.”

“But it is true.” Cyclone whispered in an attempt to come to her friend’s aid.

Vocal Chord shrugged, pointedly ignoring the mares at the other table. “I work to turn us a good bit of bits.” He lifted Dusk’s chin with a tender hoof and placed a loving kiss on his lips. “Isn't that right love?”

Dusk returned the kiss, looking straight into Air Raid’s eyes over his lover’s shoulder. “Hmm…that's right, my ONE special pony.” He emphasised the ‘one’ with meaning that he knew would not be lost.

Air Raid bristled and angrily attacked her toffee apple donut. “So it's ok he called me a Dodo?”

“And?” Darkstar sighed, rubbing her temple as if she were a teacher dealing with a classroom full of morons, “You can call him Prince, makes him equal to that idiot, Blueblood.” She remarked, making Cyclone break out laughing.

“Yeah…” Air Raid bit back the retort she was about to make to her pure white friend, about it being different if Dusk had mentioned that time she and Brightstar had 'experimented' and had been caught. Instead she went on the attack. “HA! Right now he makes Blueblood look like the smartest royal going.”

Vocal Chord's eyes went wide as he overheard that. “Grrrrrr…” Dusk growled and slammed his hoof into the table top, taking the insult as not just directed at him but at the rest of the royals as well.

Making to kiss him again, Vocal instead whispered, “Don't let them get to you, you are supposed to get to them.”

“Get to them!?” Dusk exclaimed loudly, drawing attention to himself again, though this was less welcome than the attention from before. “My hoof'll get to that bitch in a minute.”

Air Raid snickered. “Yeah right!”

Darkstar hissed out a whisper. “Don't throw the first hoof, Raid.”

“Heh,” Air Raid reached for her coffee and gave the young Prince a teasing wink. “If I did, he'd get a bruise to match the other one I gave him.”

Dusk seethed, stung by the reminder of the left cross that Air Raid had given him just two weeks ago in his suite. What hurt most was it wasn’t his self that’d been damaged, moreover his pride and because of that, his friendships. And it was all Air Raid’s fault. “How...dare...”

Falsetto blinked and looked from table to table. “I'm...sensing tension...”

“Really Falsie,” Vocal threw, immediately rising to his stallion’s defence. “Those idiots over there have it in for my Dusky.”

“Yeah...” the bassist commented, “so I see.”

“He usually does let idiots in,” Air Raid retorted quickly, “Ain’t that right, Vocal?”

“You worthless slu...” Vocal Chord was past the point now of worrying about decorum or saving face. His hackles were up and so was he. So irate was he that he was about to fly at the offending mare when the door to Sugarcube Corner burst open to admit a guard pony.

Standing in the doorway, in full armour the colour of night, which identified the mare as one of Princess Luna’s most trusted personal guard, the dull orange earth pony called out very loudly, “Prince Dusk?” This drew everypony's attention away from the Prince’s table and they all saw with her milky white eyes she was obliviously blind.

“You wanna finish that sentence you started, puppy?” Air Raid fired back, not missing a heartbeat.

Dusk stood and politely nodded to greet the guard. While not necessary in her instance, the etiquette was ingrained in the royal pegasus. “Yes, Loose Cannon?”

Respectfully, Loose Cannon returned the bow that she knew had been sent her way. “Princess Luna would like you to be informed that your scheduled tea with her and your aunt started ten minutes ago.”

“Oh!” Cyclone let out a delighted little giggle behind her hoof, “oh, someone's mommy is calling!”

“What?” Vocal’s ire gave way to a confused look that Dusk found adorable. “You didn't tell me about an appointment today.” The light grey unicorn questioned his lover as the orange coated guard looked directly at Cyclone as if she was determining whether she was a threat or not.

“Okay,” Cyclone muttered, “now that is creepy.”

“What appointment?” Dusk looked as confused as Vocal did. “First I knew about it.”

“Run along home Princey,” Air Raid made little ‘shooing’ motions with her forehooves. “You don't want to keep mommy waiting.”

“Loose Cannon,” Dusk addressed the guard. “Stand down, they are no threat. Actually,” he now turned to the mare’s table with a derisive sneer in his voice. “They're of no concern to us AT ALL.”

“Prince Dusk,” the guard continued as she walked easily into the bakery, not hitting a single table, “it was on your calendar this morning. Still, they simply request your presence at the Castle of Friendship.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Vocal Chord interjected, “you read that like Falsie reads her emails.” At that, Cyclone burst out laughing and Darkstar performed her eye roll number one.

“Hmph...” calming somewhat, Dusk was still nonetheless embarrassed to have been summoned like a foal who was late for his dinner when his mother could have just as easily telephoned him. “Very well, Loose Cannon, lead the way out, please.”

“Huh...” deviously, Air Raid decided to change tack. “Look at that, guys. A blind pony he can finally order around.”

A hush fell over the bakery. Everypony seemed to sense a scene about to happen. The abnormal silence seemed to stretch on for several long eternities, with ponies looking to and from each other. “Oooh,” Cyclone eventually broke the silence. “You just went there.”

Galvanised by the jet black pegasus’s comment, Darkstar hissed again, “I said, no trouble!”

Level with their table, Dusk paused, scant inches away from the offending lime green racer. “What. Did. You say?” He asked quietly, dangerously, through clenched teeth.

Air Raid simply shrugged, as if she were chatting to a regular pony. “You heard. ‘Prince’ Dusk.”

“Um...V,” Falsetto squeaked, picking up on the underlying tension bubbling throughout Sugarcube Corner between these two former friends. “I'd get him outside if I were you.” She could see a fight coming a mile away.

Vocal Chord nodded, “Let's go Dusk, we don't want to keep them waiting.”

“Yes,” Cyclone chipped in from her seat, “You run home to mommy with your tail between your legs.”

“Shut. Up!” Dusk snapped. Having a dig at him was one thing, but bringing his parents into it, even on the very periphery, was quite another. In front of the young royal, Loose Cannon opened her mouth but nothing was heard. With the echolocation ability she possessed she then moved easily between Dusk and the table of rowdy ponies.

Air Raid saw them leaving, but she couldn’t simply leave it at that. Wanting to have the last word in the matter, the lime green pegasus stood up on her seating pad and called out at the top of her voice, “And good riddance to bad rubbish!”

That did it. That was the last, final straw. Dusk took a step closer to the table and looked up straight into Air Raid’s grey eyes. When he spoke, it was with a dangerous calm, but there was venom in his voice. “Wily was worth a hundred of you. The only reason she's gone is because of you. You left her. You abandoned her. You, and nopony else, you disgusting excuse for a pony.” With his tirade over, he turned and began to leave.

“Oh Shit!” Cyclone nudged Darkstar, who was by this point on her hooves.

Vocal Chord had heard enough. “Let's move it, love.” As Vocal and Dusk took their leave, Air Raid stood on her pad, too stunned to even move. The light grey unicorn glanced back with a degree of satisfaction. “You won this round, now for some tea and cakes.” He helped Dusk out the door.

With Dusk breathing heavily as he left Sugarcube Corner, Air Raid finally collapsed to her pad, “He...he said…I-I'll kill him!”

“No, you won’t!” Darkstar erupted as Loose Cannon immediately took up a combat stance. “Because that won't do Wily any good!”

“Yeah,” Cyclone added, resting her hoof pleadingly on her friend’s foreleg, “what she said, Raid, and besides that mare looks pretty scary.”

From her table, once Vocal and Dusk had exited, Falsetto turned to look back at the three mares. “Look, I dunno what's gone on between you guys, but let’s leave it here, huh?”

Air Raid, completely and utterly defeated, slumped on her seating pad at the table. “Yeah, fine, whatever…”

Sitting back down, Darkstar relaxed. Cyclone hesitantly picked up her drink and took a sip. “Bastard still needs his flanked kicked. She took one look at the guard. “By his mom...I meant.” The guard, once she was sure Dusk was clear of the building, backed out of the door and re-joined her charge as his escort. When they were gone, Cyclone said, “Did that guard act like she could see?”

“Hmm…” Darkstar mused, “part of the armour enchantment, I bet.”

With her head held up only by her forehoof, Air Raid sighed into the remnants of her toffee apple donut. Her appetite having left her. “Loose Cannon.” She explained in a slightly deadened tone that did not go unnoticed by her two friends. “Dusk told Wily about her. She learnt that echo thing bats do.” She knew the word she wanted but she couldn’t think of it. She found she didn’t really care.

She didn’t care about much at all these days.

“Woah,” Darkstar breathed, suitably impressed. “I didn't know ponies could even do that.”

“I don't care anymore.” Air Raid muttered, she got her phone out of her bag and skipped through her contacts list to Wildfire's number and hit dial.

Darkstar and Cyclone - the latter of whom had sat back down with a definite crinkle from her padded rear, smoothed out her pink dress - didn't see who their friend had dialled, so of course they did nothing until after the voice mail had ran its course. “Wily!” Air Raid sobbed into the speaker, “come back!” She didn't care a damn who was looking.

Hearing the voice mail message, Cyclone shot Darkstar a ‘look’, which the white mare returned with a shrug. Quickly making up her mind as to what to do, the jet black pegasus slapped the cell phone out of Air Raid’s hoof, a move that stunned Darkstar as much as it did Air Raid who let it hit the floor. “He’s right…” the lime green mare muttered, staring forlornly at the table top. “He's right...I am a disgusting excuse for a pony...” she remembered her all-to-real nightmare from the day before. “Wily was right, I could've saved her so much heartache when I was seven…”

Cyclone had by now had enough. Air Raid had said at the station she wanted her to dominate her again, now was as good a time as any, lest her friend to too far into her funk. In her best stern voice, she said, “Stand up and shut up!” Before moving off of the seating pad and around her hindquarters. “I've had enough of your lip, girl. Lift that tail!”

Air Raid, who wasn’t really listening, shrugged and lifted up her tail. Cyclone bent down and inspected her exposed marehood. “Looks like your donut eating has primed the pump, Darkie.”

‘Wily I'm so sorry! Why...why didn't I just bleed out?’ Air Raid thought miserably as Darkstar giggled.

Behind her, Cyclone placed a probing forehoof under Air Raid’s blue tail. “Nice and moist.” She said with a very satisfied smirk.

“Eeep!” As her attention was ‘distracted’, Air Raid jumped up at the sudden contact of the hoof to her crotch. Had she been able, she no doubt would have hovered.

“Hmph!” Raising up her slick wet forehoof, Cyclone brought it down sharply to soundly spank the lime green flank. “I didn't say you could move!”

“Aaah...” Air Raid gasped and swished her tail down. “I-I’m s-sorry Cy…”

“That’s ‘Mistress Cy’,” Cyclone moved forward between the pads and slapped Air Raid across the face using her lower foreleg instead of the bottom of her hoof. “And, I didn't say you could talk, either.”

Darkstar clapped her hooves, “Yeah! You put her in her place, Cy!”

As Air Raid quickly hiked up her tail with a very audible ‘Mmmmm!’ Pumpkin Cake walked over and put a hoof on the jet black mare’s shoulder. “Please take that outside.” Playing with the donuts had been one thing. She had been happy to let that slide. A full on BDSM session right here in the bakery was quite another though. She was fairly sure even Pinkie wouldn’t agree to that.

Not after last time.

“Great idea Pumpkin.” Cyclone agreed with a sly grin as she noticed Falsetto was still there watching. “Don't want to distract Pound from the lovely mare over there.” When Darkstar giggled, she asked, “Raid, where were you staying tonight?”

“We...we're staying at the Manefair down the road, Mistress.” Air Raid supplied quickly, while Falsetto blushed a very intense blush at what she’d just witnessed.

“Darkie, be a dear and pick up the tab.” Cyclone gave her pure white friend a look that said she’d cover her half later then she turned her attention back to Air Raid. “We will wait for you outside. Pet!” She said in her most extravagant tone, “You may move so you can exit this wonderful establishment and then you can wait for my pleasure outside.”

“Yes Mistress!” Air Raid needed very little encouragement. It had after all been a while. Quickly, she scampered out of Sugarcube Corner with her tail held very high indeed and her wings so painfully erect that they barely fit through the door.

As Cyclone passed the obviously aroused Falsetto, she winked at the sun yellow earth pony. “Let me know if you want to try switch hitting?” With that she followed Air Raid outside while Darkstar took care of the bill and for good measure got a dozen donuts for the road. On the way out the white unicorn also recovered the fallen cell phone.

“P-Pumpkin...” Falsetto was about to burst into flames from her blush, “is aaaah, is Pound into that?”

“Which part,” the waitress asked with a teasing glint in her eye, “the one that walked out or the one that followed?” She asked, earning her a snort of laughter from Darkstar.

“The um…the one that ah, the one that walked out...” her eyes went very wide at what she’d just admitted to. “Eeep...um...I mean...”

Pumpkin Cake laughed and nudged Falsetto’s shoulder. “I am the older twin and I've bossed him around for a long time.” She winked a very salacious wink at the poor earth pony mare. “Worth the risk.”

“Oh,” Darkstar paused at the door, “when does he show up again?”

“Yeah,” Falsetto spoke up once she’d found her voice, “when does he show up? I mean yes, risk. Worth it. Definitely. I'll um, I’ll just sit here, out of the way…”

“Said he'd be here at closing, so that is eleven or about six hours from now.” Pumpkin replied as she levitated over a cloth to start wiping down the now empty tables.

“Cool.” She gave Falsetto her best ‘sexy look’ and smiled. “Not trying to hoof in, but I do love a good show.” She purred as she walked outside, letting the door swing closed behind her.

“Hehe...” the bass player’s blush was back in full force. “Cool,” she whispered, her hoof starting to wander southwards as she watched Pumpkin work.

~ ~ ~

“Darkie!” Cyclone greeted the white mare as she exited Sugarcube Corner into the warm afternoon sunshine. “Are you along to join in or are you just watching?”

“I'm good for watching.” Darkstar replied as she safely stowed the six donuts into her saddlebag. “You might show me something new.”

As it was still early on in the afternoon, there were still plenty of ponies milling out and about in Ponyville, all merrily going about their business. “Wow,” Cyclone started as she conspicuously smoothed her pink dress over her padded rear, “would look at those flowers!” Darkstar looked where her friend was pointing and then she looked back at Cyclone.

Air Raid, who had been stood quietly, blushed as she remembered her disastrous attempts at coming on to Darkstar the previous day. “Um, Darkie you don't have to...huh, flowers?” She too followed where the jet black pegasus was pointing and saw a bed of roses planted close to a nearby house on the other side of the dirt path.

“I don't think anypony has watered those in days.” Cyclone commented. She could tell just by looking at her older friend that she was still deeply affected by what had happened in the bakery. In truth she was and she was willing to bet Darkstar was too, but right now, Air Raid had a look about her that screamed she was going to jump off of Rainbow Falls. She needed a distraction.

Darkstar blinked, and once she’d processed what Cyclone had in mind, she smiled and nodded her grey maned head. “I think you're right, ‘Mistress’ Cy.”

Cyclone grinned. Time to commence the distraction. “Raid, please back up to those flowers and give them a much needed watering.”

“Oh…ooh!” As Air Raid backed up to the unknown pony’s house, Darkstar moved around the lime green mare in order to make sure she got a good view while Cyclone stayed where she was in front of her, she smiled and looked around to see if anypony was watching.

Once she was in position, Air Raid saw there were roughly ten ponies in the immediate area, though none were exactly too close. It was however too late to change her mind as the familiar heavy pressure in her bladder said she was going to go. And go now. She hiked up her blue tail and, spreading her hind legs just a touch, she relaxed her bladder muscles and let go of her hot yellow stream with a happy sigh.

As she sent her golden pee spattering noisily onto the wall and on the roses, a passing earth pony stallion, his attention drawn by the noise – and the smell – nudged the zebra mare next to him. “Say, hun, do you think that is Roseluck’s super special secret?”

‘This is so cool!’ Air Raid thought, blushing slightly as the zebra mare giggled to her stallion and the couple passed on to the market place without further comment. “Aaah...” Air Raid’s stream eventually died out and she tried to press her legs together, although by now it was too late to hide any modesty.

Cyclone nodded with satisfaction. “Good girl, that should help them grow nice and strong.”

“Smelling at least…” Darkstar added, making the other two mares snigger.

“Thank you, Mistress.” Air Raid even gave her a little polite bow.

Knowing full well what Air Raid loved, to be humiliated, Cyclone smiled and decided that while they were there, to turn her little game up a notch. “Do you need to fertilize anything, Pet?” She asked, earning herself a tinkling laugh from Darkstar.

With the relaxing of her abdominal muscles, Air Raid again blushed as her gut gave a loud rumble and a wet fart left her anus. Her wings fluttered with the embarrassment as once more her gut rumbled. “Well...actually...” she nodded, “um, Darkie told me not to go before we left.”

Darkstar shrugged. “I thought you'd be filling nappies.”

‘I got a better idea…’ Cyclone looked around and spotted a park just a few hundred feet away with groups of trees along its borders. She gave Darkstar a nod, and the pure white unicorn levitated a black collar and leash from her other bag and secured it around the racer’s neck before floating the hooped end to Cyclone to hold. “Follow.” She ordered simply, pulling on the leash, while Darkstar took up the rear.

Silently, giving her friend time to wonder what was going to happen, Cyclone slowly led Air Raid over to the park. Once there, they saw six ponies enjoying the pleasant afternoon and one stallion in a green vest, denoting he was a park keeper. Another tug of the leash and the lime green mare was taken over to a pair of trees. “This mulch doesn't look very useful for the trees, maybe you could help that out, Raid.” Both Cyclone and Darkstar moved to flanking positions on either side of the tree, giving them, and everypony else nearby, an unobstructed view.

‘I'm gonna do this...I'm really gonna do this...oh sweet Luna...’ these thoughts and many more raced through Air Raid’s mind. “M-M-Mistress...y-yes Mistress.” Her wings were very, VERY erect as she planted her hooves and squatted on the grass above the mulch, her blue tail hiked up out of the way.

Cyclone and Darkstar just watched, doing and saying nothing, as did a couple of ponies - including the stallion with the vest – whose attention had been taken by the squatting mare. Air Raid knew she didn’t have to do this. She could just say ‘Bronze’ and end it. But that would disappoint her friend, and it would her too. ‘Oh Luna they're watching...oh crap...’ another long wet noisy fart sealed the deal however. “Ngggh!” She grunted, farting a third time and with another grunt she relaxed her abdominal muscles and right there in the park she went, too happy at that moment to concern herself much with the watching crowd as she emptied her bowels.

“Cy,” Darkstar’s yellow eyes were very wide. “She really is doing it!”

“AAaaaAH!” Air Raid moaned a very satisfied moan as in addition to the small stinking mountain of horseapples forming underneath her, she released the last of her pee in a miniature golden fountain. She was by now a very, VERY bright shade of red all over her cheeks, as embarrassed as she’d ever been in her life but at the same time SO aroused. “Aaah I…I needed that, Mistress.”

One of the watching ponies simply shook his head, while two unicorn mares who were playing Frisbee decided it was best they took their game up the other end of the park. The other stallion, the one with the green vest came over to them, a look somewhere between amusement and annoyance on his face. “If you gotta go, you gotta go, but the pitchfork and barrel are over there. Clean up.” He grumbled then turned to walk away.

“Yes Raid,” Cyclone said with a snicker while her friend and her Pet was noticeably about to combust with embarrassment. “Do be a dear and pick up after yourself.” Darkstar meanwhile had to lay down on the grass, she was laughing so hard.

“Um...” Air Raid stared at her hooves, unable to get any more scarlet. “Does she have to laugh?” She muttered. She had to admit though, her friend’s reaction was only adding to the humiliation, and she was so aroused with it that it was starting to hurt. “Y-Yes Mistress…” turning, she dutifully collected the pitchfork and the barrel and began to clean up her mess.

Darkstar, not helping in the slightest, was rolling and gasping for breath. “Maybe she thought it funny the way you held your tail?” Cyclone asked, fighting very hard with every ounce of self-control to not join her almost choking friend on the grass.

“Yes Mistress.” Air Raid mumbled, she was so wet with her arousal that her two friends could see her glistening juices as they trickled down her inner thighs, while she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her, she hated herself that she was getting off so much to the act of forking her poop into the barrel.

Seeing the lime green mare’s inner thighs slick with her obvious arousal, Darkstar pointed a hoof and gasped out, “I think she's sprung a leak!”

Moving in for closer inspection, Cyclone stuck her nose under Air Raid’s blue tail. “It isn't pee.”

“Eeep!” Air Raid jumped when she felt a muzzle under her tail. She wanted very much to get her hoof between her legs, or better yet be made to beg Cyclone for permission to get her hoof between her legs. “N-No, Mistress, it's not pee.”

“Best to be sure.” The jet black pegasus muttered and without any further warning she delivered a long wet lick straight up her slit. “Hmm, you are correct, Pet. It isn't pee.”

“Aaaahn...” Air Raid moaned, her wings almost at ninety degree angles when she heard mocking laughter from somewhere else in the park. “C-Cy...” she gave a deeper, more lust filled moan, her whole marehood now engorged and swollen with blood due to her aroused state.

“You going to take her here in the park?” Darkstar asked as if the lime green mare wasn’t there.

“Hmm,” Cyclone said thoughtfully, “do you think I should, Darkie?”

‘Luna's mane...she wouldn't…’ Air Raid thought, though she was dancing on her four hooves, giving off little squeaks. ‘I hope she does!’

The earth pony stallion with the green vest decided he had heard enough. Never mind having seen enough. “This is a PUBLIC park!” At that Cyclone gave him an eye roll and Darkstar was once more reduced to laughter.

“Um...M-Mistress?”

“Finish cleaning up, Pet.” Cyclone said as she caught the note of desperation in her friend’s voice. Time to wrap this little game up, now she had warmed her up. “We have a hotel room that is calling out to us.”

Darkstar got back up, her giggles at last under control. “Best she keep her tail up though, lest it get wet.” She put in, deciding to add a last little extra humiliation to the game.

Cyclone liked that idea. A lot. “Very good idea, Darkie. Make it so, Pet.”

“A-All the way back, Mistress?” Air Raid asked a little nervously, a little hopefully.

Cyclone nodded then brushed her turquoise mane from her blue eyes. “Can't risk it getting wet! May cause tail rot, or something.”

“Or something,” Darkstar snickered.

Air Raid very quickly finished scooping up after herself and rested the pitchfork against the barrel. “Y-Yes Mistress.” She didn't think she could get any redder but she does as she walked along behind her two friends with her blue tail held up high to show off her soaking wet puffy marehood to anypony who might care to look. As aroused as she was, the lime green racer was very pleased that her rivals couldn’t see this. She knew Windcharger and Cliffjumper would never, ever, let her live this down.

Right now she really didn’t care.

“Cy, do you want to switch places?” Darkstar asked behind Air Raid as they wove their way out of the park and through Ponyville’s still busy market place on their way back to the Manefair Hotel. “Very nice view from back here.”

“I'm sure it is, Darkie,” Cyclone replied over her shoulder, “but I don't want to jump her too soon.” She snickered as a deliciously sexy wonderful idea crept into her head. Perhaps there was time for one last teensy little play to marinate her before the main course. “Oh! Look over there!” She pointed her jet black hoof over at an apple stand. “You've never had an apple till you've had a Sweet Apple Acre apple.”

Darkstar looked at the stand to where her friend was pointing. Specifically she looked past the market stand to the huge red stallion who was stood behind it. She looked long and hard at that every inch of him she could see, and imagined the bits that she couldn’t. “Who's the stallion?”

“That’s Big Mac.” Cyclone answered.

‘Big Mac? Oooh yes he is! Please say it’s because he’s big for a reason!’ Darkstar found herself lost in a heady little daydream for a few moments. “Ahem…” she blushed, “is he taken?”

“I think he has the hots for the local school teacher.” Cyclone replied and she headed over to the market stand.

Air Raid walked over, making sure like a good little Pet to keep the leash slack and her blue tail up high. “Thank you, Mistress.”

“Hi, Big M.” Cyclone cheerfully greeted the mountainous red stallion, “Three sweet ones, please.”

“Sure thing, Cyclone.” He scooped up three Rome Beauty apples and nodded to the black mare. “Friends?"

“Yes! They’re visiting me from Canterlot.” Big Mac simply nodded again at her reply and placed the bag of three apples on the counter. Cyclone quickly put the requisite bits on the counter next to the apples. “Turn around, Raid, so I can put this bag on your back.”

“Aaah,” Air Raid had seen this coming the moment they had walked over to the apple stand. ‘Oh jeez...’ “Yes Mistress.” While she was hesitant, she nonetheless obediently turned around to present Big Mac with a completely unfettered view.

Big Mac, for his part, looked intently at the sopping wet marehood that was pointing his way, but said nothing. He did have a touch of blush on his cheeks though and, as Cyclone loaded the bag of Rome Beauty apples on Air Raid’s back, Darkstar moved to see if he had more than that – just to see if he was ‘big’ all over - but was disappointed he didn't. “Okay, anymore shopping, Cy?”

“Nope,” Cyclone said with a smile, “these should be enough for us to keep up our strength.”

Air Raid held up her hoof just as Cyclone took up the leash once more. “Can we ah, um, can we go to the Manefair now, Mistress, please?”

“Are you in a hurry, Pet?”

Darkstar decided a tease was in order. “We don't come to Ponyville very often. One should see the sights.”

“Aww!” Air Raid let out a low whining moan. She was so very close to calling ‘Bronze’. The humiliation had been one thing, but she was painfully turned on and she needed release. Like, right now if not sooner. “N-No Mistress, I'm not in a hurry.”

Cyclone knew her friend. She knew how far she could push her, and right now she knew she’d been pushed far enough. Still at Air Raid’s side, she giggled and gave Darkstar a very knowing wink. Walking up to the front she took up the leash. “Let's move along, Pet.”

At her limit, Air Raid winced but she didn't complain. She trusted her friend and her Mistress. “Coming, Mistress.” Focussed on Cyclone’s swaying padded rear, that wonderfully swaying plot hidden under the nappy and the pink dress, she found she had entirely forgotten about Sugarcube Corner and that idiot of a stallion.

Thankfully, Cyclone did take a fairly direct route from the market square to the hotel, albeit with a very short detour trip to Berry Punch's bar just to pick up a bottle of wine that all three of them liked. “Thank you Mistress,” Air Raid sighed gratefully once they were safely in their hotel room, “for the wine, and for finally getting back.”

Dropping her saddlebag and slipping out of her pink dress, Cyclone spared the older mare a sympathetic smile. “You may drop your tail now, Pet.” Once she had done so, Cyclone closed in and gave Air Raid a very lusty kiss. “I had fun, did you?”

“Aaah!” Air Raid sighed with the released effort of keeping her blue tail up and returned the kiss. “I had so much fun!”

“I just about passed out when you had her crap in the park.” Darkstar levitated the wine to a table and performed a bad imitation of the green vested stallion. “Your mess, you clean it!”

“Yeeees...” Air Raid turned her gaze to the sniggering unicorn. “I did notice that, 'friend'.” She giggled, “is that why you told me not to go at home? Or on the train? Were you two cooking this up?”

Now it was Darkstar’s turn to blush. “No, really I thought Cy would put you in a nappy for all of that. I was completely surprised by the public display.”

With her dress removed and folded up, Cyclone turned her attention to her nappy. More bulky and squishy than it was when she had put it on earlier, she could only surmise that at some point during the day she had wet herself. ‘Damn those potions!’ She thought to herself as she tugged the soiled garment off and rolled it off. “Have to keep them guessing.”

“Hey...” Air Raid held up her hooves, “I'm not complaining, that was so totally hot.”

Giving Air Raid her best bedroom eyes, Cyclone slowly sauntered past her. “It was, wasn’t it?” She purred and bit her blue tail so she could pull it to the side. Her sopping wet marehood exposed, she ran her black hoof up her slit.

“GaaaAAAH!” Air Raid spread her hind legs for ease of access and whimpered, leaking her juices on to Cyclone’s questing hoof.

“Oh my!” The jet black mare lifted up her foreleg and sniffed at her stained hoof. “Darkie, do you want to clean this hoof?”

“What?” Darkstar shuddered, barely holding back a loud ‘Eeeew!’ Now, if her friend had been that gigantic earth pony stallion from the market, who wanted his equally gigantic sheath and its contents cleaned, she’d have a customer. “No way.”

“I will!” Air Raid, lost in the moment, thrust up her hoof. “Um, please?”

“Hmmm.” That did surprise Cyclone somewhat, she wasn’t expecting the offer of hoof worship from Air Raid. Still. She wasn’t about to refuse. She quickly moved over and flopped down on the large hotel bed. “Best be quick about it then, Pet.”

“Thank you Mistress!” Air Raid had surprised herself with suddenly wanting to lick her friend’s hoof. Deep down she knew the reason why. She nonetheless scooted over and crawled up onto the bed and pressed her muzzle deep into the sole of Cyclone’s soiled hoof.

“Oh, ooh yes, you do that so well.” Cyclone gasped at the touch of her Pet’s tongue over her frog, while Darkstar quietly moved around the room to allow her to get different views of the unfolding scene.

“MmmMMPH!” Air Raid replied as best she could, considering she had her tongue lashing very gently over the toe and the sole of Cyclone’s hoof, and her teeth grazing around the inner white wall.

Almost with a mind of its own, Cyclone's other forehoof drifted down between her hind legs. Darkstar caught this straight away. “What are you doing Cy? Self-pleasuring when you have a fine mare on top of you?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Cyclone did blush, but her hoof didn't leave her wet marehood.

After a few more moments of tongue induced bliss, Air Raid removed her muzzle. “Thank you Mistress, for allowing me to service your hoof, Mistress.”

The jet black mare casually inspected her now sparkling clean hoof and gave it an experimental lick. “Give us a kiss, sexy.”

Abandoning their game, Air Raid finally gave in to her ever mounting desire and she pounced on the younger mare with a lusty growl passionately locking her lips with hers. Darkstar meanwhile sat back and watched, but the pure white unicorn was slowly getting very bored. She couldn’t even get herself off, as she wasn’t into mares, and that was starting to irritate her. She coughed, quite loudly, feeling very much like an unwanted third wheel.

On the bed however, Air Raid had by now tuned out everything other than Cyclone's lips and in fact Cyclone herself. The jet black mare had also quite forgotten Darkstar was in the room with them. “Mmmm…” Air Raid finally pulled off of her friend’s lips leaving a string of saliva joining them together before she dived back down, this time attacking her jawline and neck with kisses and light nibbles.

As Air Raid worked her way down Cyclone's body, the jet black mare guided the lime green hind quarters to draw nearer her questing mouth. Obliging her friend’s guidance, she moved so that her hind end was near to her mouth and she kissed her way down to her teats. Cyclone now used both of her forehooves to play with Air Raid’s neither region. “MmmmAAAAH!” She moaned, and after licking at both of her teats she delivered her full attention to Cyclone’s sopping wet slit.

“Uuuugh!” Deciding she had seen more than enough, Darkstar got up and quietly left the hotel room. She did have something she needed taking care of, and she was going to leave it until she got back to Canterlot, but she needed outfits for the dance school in Las Pegasus with Sapphire Shores and, while Sassy Saddles had never let her down yet, while she was here there was no harm in going to Carousel Boutique. She just hoped it was still open.

Back on the bed, Darkstar’s departure went unnoticed as Cyclone continued her hoof play until she drew near enough and then she forcibly pulled her down onto her face and she went in muzzle first. With a quiet meep, Air Raid did likewise, going muzzle deep in her to keep from moaning out loud.

Unexpectedly, Cyclone added a series of quick light bites all along Air Raid’s labia. “AAAH!” With the pleasure spike, Air Raid bucked her hips downwards and nipped at her friend’s clit in turn, earning herself a muffled cry from deep inside her marehood.

Underneath her, Cyclone was determined that her needy friend would orgasm first and to that end she wrapped her lips tight around Air Raid’s hard swollen clit and sucked very hard indeed. After a few more moments of that kind of stimulation, the lime green mare did indeed come, making muffled squeals and moans as she unloaded herself all over Cyclone’s face.

Air Raid’s thunderous climax served to push Cyclone over her edge, happy as she came last. “T-Thank…aaah…thank y-you my wonderful Pet.” She sighed as she rode out her climax. “You did that like a pro from the hoof to marehood.”

“Heh, I do everything like a pro.” Still above her in a sixty nine position, the lime green pegasus turned and hugged her friend. “Y’know, we really need to do this again.”

“I quite agree.” Cyclone wrapped her legs tight around Air Raid’s body and kissed her lips. “I know there are taxis from Ponyville to Cloudsdale since I use them all the time.”

Air Raid was only too happy to return the sweet kiss. “Maybe next time I'll come see you.”

“After I find a place.” Cyclone said definitely. “I wouldn't take a cloud mite to my hotel room.”

“You got a date, Cy.”

“Rawr!” Cyclone responded with the sexy growl and a second, deeper kiss.

“Well...why don't we?” Air Raid asked with a well-defined blush after she had returned the kiss in kind. After all, Cyclone was single. She was…well, she was single, for all intents and purposes. They certainly had fun together. Why couldn’t they be an item?

Cyclone however had totally missed that not-so-subtle hint and sat up on the bed. “You can tag along too Darkie if...um...” it was only then that she realised they were alone in the Manefair’s hotel room. “Hey, where did she go?”

‘Damn it!’ Air Raid cursed silently and sat up as well. “Huh...” she looked about the otherwise empty room. “I’m guessing she either got bored and left, or she's invisible.”

Cyclone snickered with an evil glint in her eye. She knew how to draw her friend out. “I'll just fill a nappy and toss it around the room till it hits her.” She waited. One second, two then three ticked by in silence. “She's gone.” She concluded with an air of finality.

“Yeah,” Air Raid agreed, “no way she'd not bite to that. I'll bet my last winnings she's back at SCC.”

Cyclone laughed at that. “I wouldn't take that bet for a salted caramel donut.”

Air Raid too joined in the laughter. “You think Darkie's ideal pony would be made of salted caramel?” She asked with a long slow lick of her ear.

“Think she'll bring back a stallion just to spite us?”

“I'd be cool with that,” Air Raid offered with a shrug. “Although, I’ve got toys that put most stallions to shame in my bag.”

Again Cyclone laughed, but this time she made a mental note to try out some of those toys before the night was out. “Snuggle time for us I think, after I get you nappied up. I'm rather surprised I've gone this long without wearing one.”

“You and me both, hun.” Air Raid commented, earning herself a well-mannered swat to her ass. “I’m surprised I’ve gone this long without sex. I thought I was gonna blow up back there when you were getting me going. But, I'll definitely go for snuggles.”

“Hmhmm!” Delving into her own bag, Cyclone withdrew one of her pastel pink nappies as well as her spare sky blue onesie. Pushing Air Raid over she quickly got her all snugly and dressed. Once that was done she pulled out a nappy and a pearly white onesie for herself, and rolled onto her back so Air Raid could do her.

Air Raid looked puzzled at the white garment. “Where's the Radiance onesie? Or is that just for best?” She asked as she worked quickly and efficiently to get her all nappied up. “Nana Raid hasn't lost her touch!”

Cyclone looked a little shifty and a lot guilty. “She's...um, in the wash...” she then changed the subject and whispered in Air Raid’s ear. “Just so you know, after nap time we're going out to dinner just like this.”

Air Raid smiled, “you do know that humiliation's gonna get me so aroused, right?”

“Hmm!” Cyclone yawned and snuggled into her friend. “Right or wrong, I certainly do hope so.”

“MmMmm…” Air Raid yawned and her eyes drooped, a welcome sleep overtaking her.

Chapter 5 - Depression: Part Two

It was five p.m. by the time Darkstar left the Manefair Hotel for the streets of Ponyville. Taking her saddlebag with her, the pure white unicorn trotted out through the lobby. Deciding she was hungry – or rather, her stomach decided she was hungry - she saw the market across the street and, most importantly, she saw Big Mac standing at the apple stand.

‘I could eat him up…and his apples…’ Darkstar walked over, she bit her lip. ‘Look at him, so huge and sexy and huge…’ she giggled as she approached the massive red earth pony stallion. She snickered, momentarily she enjoyed a little fantasy where Big Mac was a secret agent for the crown, Agent Apples, and he was working undercover as a simple apple vendor.

“Hey big guy.” Darkstar almost purred as she neared the apple stand, the late afternoon sun low in the sky. “Got any apples left?”

Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.”

Darkstar scanned the wares on the stand and ultimately settled on a variety of apple that was almost as big as Mac himself. “How much for...um, six of those big ones, the Cameos?” She asked, pointing to the large red and yellow coated fruit.

“Twelve bits,” Big Mac replied, “you like ‘em in a sack?”

“I'd like you in the sack,” Darkstar did her best smouldering look, stopping just short of casting her ‘Desire’ spell on him, “but, the apples will do for now.”

Big Mac snickered, “Would need a big sack.” He smiled as he hoofed over the bag containing the six Cameo apples.

Smiling, Darkstar reached into her saddlebag with her magic and sorted through her meagre collection of bits and floated over twelve bits in her yellow aura and rested them on the counter. “Oh, my sack's plenty big enough. Wanna come see?” She really didn’t care that the earth pony was obviously more than twice her age and then some. He was cute.

“Ah, shucks,” Big Mac grinned, and raised his foreleg to his head in an exaggerated gesture. “I have to work the market. Maybe next time.”

Darkstar smiled sweetly and, with her horn still lit, made her voice sound in his left ear. “Now, that's a date.”

Unfortunately, for the white mare, Big Mac was far too stoic to jump at her illusion - and unknown to her he’d had dealings with unicorns before, and Pinkie Pie, which amounted to the same thing. “No,” he replied in his simple style, “that's an apple, dates are over there.” He pointed his hoof over to his friend Dateline’s stall.

Realising she was up against a huge red brick wall, Darkstar instead selected her best eye roll, number thirteen, along with pout number three. Usually an unbeatable combination. “Ha. Ha.” Taking the apples in her saddlebag she bowed out gracefully and blew him a kiss. “Thanks for the snack.”

“Eeyup.”

Holding one of her Cameo apples in her glowing yellow aura, Darkstar sauntered away, eating it as she walked. ‘Now…that dress. Sapphire said I needed to supply my own things…Hmm…’ if she was honest, being not the richest pony in Equestria, this concerned her greatly. Still, she had the student hardship vouchers given to her from the University, and she hoped those would be enough.

She took her apple and, taking and swallowing a bite, she headed over to Carousel Boutique. While not being that familiar with Ponyville, it was an easy building to find, given that most buildings nearby were thatched houses and the boutique was, well, the boutique.

Thankfully, as she got close to the ostentatious building, Darkstar saw it was still open, and through the window she could see a stallion and mare inside talking. “It’s still open, sweet!” Indeed the sign on the door gave the opening times as nine a.m. till six p.m. taking a breath, she hoofed open the door.

“Pardon me, Fancy,” Rarity looked over to the door as it opened and she greeted the late newcomer with a practised smile she gave all her customers. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique!”

“That is quite alright dear.” Fancy Pants smiled, his meeting with the premier fashion designer coincidentally at a close. “So, next Thursday won't be a problem?”

“Of course not darling.” Rarity replied, knowing full well she’d have her most exclusive customer’s order ready by Monday at the latest. Well, the husband of her most exclusive customer, at any rate.

Kissing each other’s cheeks, Fancy straightened up. His Fleur would be happy, and when she was happy, he was happy. “I'll leave it to you then.” On his way out, he bowed politely to Darkstar stood just inside the door. “A good day to you, Miss.” With that he was gone, exiting the boutique for the early evening outside.

With Fancy Pants gone, the premier fashionista turned her full attention to the younger white mare. “Your first time in my shop?” She asked kindly in an attempt to put her at ease.

“Wow...oh wow, Fancy Pants spoke to me!” She performed a teeny squee. Of course she’d seen him and his high profile wife around Canterlot, but she’d never been spoken to! Then, she remembered where she was, and whose company she was in. “Ahem,” she blushed, “it’s my first time on my own, Ms. Rarity.”

Rarity decided to try a rather different tack. “You'll find Fancy is just another pony, darling.” Hitching up a more genuine smile, as opposed to the one she gave most customers, she tried her greeting again. “Welcome, and how can I assist you today?”

‘Right. To the point. Yes.’ Darkstar smiled, more at ease with herself now. “Yes, well...you see I've just graduated from Canterlot University, and I'm due to start an apprenticeship with Sapphire Shores over in Las Pegasus. I was hoping, as we have to supply our own, you'd hit me up with a dress?”

‘Sapphire Shores?’ Now that did get Rarity’s attention. Very much so, in fact. Sapphire was in her top five most lucrative business contacts. “Oh my! What area will you be specializing in her show?” She asked, already sizing the young mare up with her trained eye.

“I'm starting as a backing dancer, in the cabaret shows.” Darkstar began to explain, then she stopped short of the details, not in the least because she wasn’t sure what the details were, but because Rarity had already floated over her sketch book in her magic. Darkstar was a tiny bit worried. What if she didn’t have enough? “Um, before we start, do you accept these student vouchers?” She blushed again as she asked, holding them in her own magic.

“Of course darling!” Rarity exclaimed, true to her element, the designer didn’t even look at the vouchers the young mare was offering to her. “Hmmm, I think Sapphire is still in her red and blue phase. You do have a dancer's build. Yes, one moment!” Using her magic, Rarity flipped the sign on the door to closed and she opened her sketch book. “You'll be going to her school in Las Pegasus?”

“Yes Ma'am.” Darkstar, only knowing of Rarity from the stories, breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “I did a summer there last year to get experience.”

Rarity ‘hmm’d’ as she sketched away, quickly getting into her zone, although that wasn’t hard when she was presented with such a lithe young pony with curves as natural as this one had. In all the right and very wrong, indecent places. “She does have marvellous instructors, and does fine finishing work herself. Very hooves on. Something practical. Hmmm,” she paused, casting a somewhat envious eye over some of those indecent curves. She was sure this mare knew how to use them. “So, you have a sexy side?”

“Yes Ma'am,” Darkstar smiled, starting to feel a lot more comfortable stood in the main shop space of Carousel Boutique being sketched by one of the famed Celestia Six. “I like all kinds of dance, and I know how to work a pole...” she gave the older mare a wink, that sexy side of her showing itself, “and the crowd.”

‘Oh, I’m sure you can, darling,’ Rarity thought with a wry smile as she continued to sketch away. “Will you be in town tomorrow?”

“Yes actually,” Darkstar nodded, “I'm staying at the Manefair with a couple of friends. Heh, they're putting on their own show as it happens.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked, her eyebrow raised over the rim of her red glasses, “others going to the school with you?”

Darkstar laughed a very tinkling little laugh. “No! Air Raid can't dance!” She giggled, Air Raid danced about as well as she cooked. It really was a good thing she was a famous rich race driver. If she weren’t, Darkstar honestly didn’t know how she’d live. “I've modelled with Cy, but she's staying in Cloudsdale.”

That name unfamiliar to her, which was in itself strange as she’d designed things for almost every major – and minor – modelling agency in the land, Rarity looked up from her sketchbook. “Who have you modelled for?”

“Oh!” Darkstar blushed, “My friend Cyclone and I, we did a few Playcolt spreads not long ago.”

“How scintillating!” Rarity, completely in her element, in her ‘zone’, muttered under her breath as she sketched away. “Need to show a bit more flank here, and highlight the neck, yes…”

“Cy's dad is a photographer with Playcolt,” Darkstar felt the need to keep on explaining now that she had started. Not that she was embarrassed about the Playcolt pictures, she had after all needed the bits, and she would be damned to the lowest rings of Tartarus before she went cap in hoof to Air Raid for money. No, she was rightly proud of her work and her body. “She did an adult foal centre spread and dragged me along too.”

“Nothing wrong with that dear, I'm sure it has helped many a stallion.” Rarity giggled behind her hoof, “and a mare or two, I'm sure.”

“Course there's not!” Darkstar giggled in turn, and she pulled reared up and pulled her best, sexiest pose. “Besides, it was a fun afternoon.”

Rarity looked at the posing mare and with a smile she was immediately reminded of Rainbow Dash. If she were white, and about twenty years younger, and of course a unicorn. “Come see what I have here.” As Darkstar got back down to her hooves and walked over, she saw the sketch of what was a simple dance leotard. “The fabric will absorb sweat and keep you cool during the workout routine.” The designer then showed the other drawing, a far fancier garment which was not much more than whips of red and blue that flowed around her body and head, keeping her cutie mark and neck free.

“Oooh I love them!” Darkstar gave a loud squee. “You just drew them, right here while we were talking?”

Adjusting her glasses, Rarity nodded, a tiny bit smug that her craft had been appreciated. “It is talking that helps ideas flow. Now, how many vouchers do you have?”

“Aah…” this was the bit Darkstar was dreading. There was just no way had she had enough for these. Oh well, she thought, ‘I’ll have to ask Raid…’ “Aah, two vouchers, Ma’am. Enough to cover three thousand bits.”

For a brief second, Rarity was glad she was white. It meant she couldn’t get any paler. Still, she was generosity after all. “Phish Posh, two will cover both of these. It is late though and I have an appointment at Sugar Cube Corner. Stop in, say after ten and I'll take measurements.”

“Um...” Darkstar foundered, completely flabbergasted. She knew full well that these two garments were together worth a considerable amount more than three thousand bits. “Um…are you sure, Ma'am?”

“Of course darling,” Rarity nonchalantly waved her forehoof in the air. Yes she was in essence giving away over fifteen thousand bits worth of work, but the vouchers were, on inspection genuine and the amount of regular business she received from Sapphire would easily absorb this relatively minor loss. “Sapphire's vouchers are good at any of my stores.” She raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn't want to alienate her, after all.” She giggled, “sorry to rush darling, but I must get myself ready for my appointment. See you tomorrow then?”

“Oh, not at all Ma'am.” Darkstar smiled and floated over the vouchers to the fashionista. “If you're going to Sugarcube Corner, do you mind if I tag along? I don't fancy watching Raid and Cy going at it at the hotel.”

“I'll be at least thirty minutes preparing. Wouldn't want to bore you with that.” Then a rather marvellous idea crept into her head. “You say you've modelled, yes?”

Darkstar nodded earnestly. “Yes Ma'am, I have.”

Beckoning the younger mare to follow her, Rarity lead her over to a side room. It was set up like a bedroom but obviously for show, if the photographic light screens hanging at strategically placed angles around the room, designed to focus the light from the three large spotlights situated at the foot of the bed. On the bed were three garments. A skimpy item of lingerie, an item of exercise wear and finally a dress. “Put one of these on and I'll be down in ten to take some pictures. I think we can get through three of those sessions and I'll be ready.”

“Of course Ma'am, I'll be happy to.” Darkstar looked over the three outfits and her yellow eyes were automatically drawn to the purple coloured lingerie. “Ooh I just love this one!” She pointed to the strictly ‘bedroom’ outfit.

“Back in bit, darling, do take your time.” Rarity smiled and left the room, her hooves clopping up her stairs.

‘Wow...’ Darkstar thought to herself as she levitated the skimpy lacy corset and magically slipped it on, ‘I knew she was Generosity, but the real her is WAY better than the legend…’ next she used her magic to pull up the ridiculously tiny panties followed by the set of four silk socks.

After ten minutes had elapsed, Rarity came trotting back down with her mane and tail done up nicely. She had a professional digital camera held in her magic, a fact that did not surprise the younger mare in the slightest, given the set-up of the room. “Oh my!” The designer was struck almost immobile, her mouth agape at the sight that greeted her. “Straight for the kill I see. Up on the bed dear and I'll take a few pictures. Show me some poses.”

“As a friend of mine is fond of saying, 'nothing to it, but to do it.' and I like showing off.” Darkstar purred and got up on the bed and, with her back to the older mare, gave her a smouldering half lidded over the shoulder look.

Biting her lip, Rarity took several pictures, including a hoof-full of ones with her grey tail draped scandalously over her rear end. “Before you leave, I have a release form for you to sign should I use any of these for advertising. Now pick out something else and I'll be back down in ten.”

“No problem Ma'am.” Darkstar answered and as Rarity left the side room to further get ready, she decided to go for the full length pale blue dress.

When Rarity returned, with her eye shadow, mascara and lipstick all immaculate, she was again ready with her camera. “Okay, now I need some everyday mare poses.”

“You got it Ma'am!” Darkstar replied with a very wide smile and quickly performed a couple of poses. “How's this?”

“Very nice, darling.” Rarity smiled. It was almost a travesty that this pretty slender little thing should have such natural affinity with the camera. “That is something I'll be showing in my Manehatten store. Okay, time for one more back in ten.”

“Alright...” taking off the dress, Darkstar folded it up and put it on the stand in between the spotlights facing the bed. Turning back to the bed she lit her horn levitated the very tiny very tight black yoga pants and – thankfully – used her glowing yellow aura to pull them up her hind legs. Tight as a second skin she doubted very much she’d get them on any other way. So very tight were they that she was sure every single curve was visible, especially her teats and between her legs.

Darkstar loved it. Every second of it. ‘Heh...Raid and Cy would love a picture of this!’ She thought with a smile as she pulled on the top that was equally as tight as the pants and finished it off with a head band.

For the third and final time, Rarity came back down to the side room. Looking simply resplendent, she was wearing a simple pink blouse and skirt. Completing the outfit was a set of short pink socks. “Oh, that exercise line never did take off, but you do wear it well, darling.”

Darkstar giggled. Speaking of wearing it well, she wondered at how much effort the older unicorn had put into looking so casual. “Well, it helps when you look like this.” To accentuate her point, she did a little flounce. “I wouldn't even need my desire spell wearing this.” She mused to herself, but she spoke out loud, getting Rarity’s attention.

“Desire spell?” Rarity asked, her interest piqued, “Isn't that where you want what you see because you see it as something you want?”

“Uh huh!” Darkstar nodded with a smile, and, displaying the consummate skill of a dancer she reared up onto her hind legs and lifted up her right, performing a standing vertical split that left absolutely nothing to the watching – and photographing - Rarity’s imagination. “Can I show you?”

Watching, Rarity giggled a very nervous giggle, her mouth all dry. “I believe the spell you speak of will turn you pink.” ‘How in the world can she hold that pose for that long?’ The fashionista wondered open-mouthed, ‘Just look at her sweet little…ahem!’ “Are you ah, into mares, dear?”

“No Ma'am,” Darkstar shook her grey maned head and finally, after what was a few moments but felt like a few eternities, she lowered her hind leg. “But I wouldn't mind being pink for a few moments. The least I can do for how wonderfully generous you've been.”

“Okay then,” Rarity conceded, “but let me put a cuff on myself so I'll stay put.” She giggled and magically tied a length of fabric around her forehoof so that she had restrained herself to the workbench next to the nearest spotlight. “I wouldn't want to embarrass you or cause Pinkie to app...”

Just then, right at that moment, the door to Carousel Boutique opened and, as if summoned from the very ether itself by the mere mention of her name, Pinkie Pie bounded into the side room so fast those present swore she had teleported. “Hi Rarebear!” She squealed as she hugged her wife so tightly she made her gasp for breath, “Ohh, you stating the party without me?” She asked, surveying the scene before her.

“Not at all, darling.” Rarity smiled, smoothing down her skirt. “This charming mare is about to perform an illusion spell, come hug me while she does.”

Pinkie beamed and quickly obliged, hugging the older white unicorn. “Okie dokie lokie!”

Darkstar smiled, even though she wasn’t at all sure about this now. ‘Okay Darkie...two Celestia six...two living legends, no pressure...no pressure at all...hehe...I can do this…’ mentally she pepped herself up and turned to face her audience. “Okay, here goes!” Relaxing herself as much as she could she lit her horn and waves of yellow power emanated outwards from her in circles around the side room. As well as the Desire illusion she also cast a minor cantrip designed to evoke the subjects’ favourite scents.

Darkstar wondered if her spell had been successful, her question was answered with a loud excited squeal from Pinkie Pie. “Oooh! Two Rarebears!”

Rarity’s eyes went wide. Very wide indeed as Darkstar turned and bent over, presenting her yoga pants clad ass and marehood to them. Instinctively she lurched forwards only to be held back by the fabric around her hoof. Instead she tightened her hold on Pinkie. “But twice the fu...” Pinkie started, only for her sentence to be cut off as Rarity performed a lip lock on the pink earth pony.

Standing back up, Darkstar snickered. “I still got it!” She cancelled the layered spells with a very proud smile.

“Wowsers!” Pinkie squealed, “That was really partytastic!”

“More partytastic than me, my love?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Equaltasitc to you!” Pinkie amended smoothly and planted a tender kiss on her lover’s lips.

“It is time for us to go.” Rarity checked the wall clock and magically unwound the fabric that had held her back from jumping the younger mare. “Thank you for modelling, Darkstar.”

“Woohoo, you made Rarebear happy so that is a great thing!” Pinkie exclaimed and, ignoring the accepted norms of personal space, hugged Darkstar very tightly indeed. “You should so go with us to Sugarcube Corner.”

“Yes,” Rarity smiled, “I'll even splurge for a sweet.”

“Like I charge you for sweets!”

“Oh, Ma'am,” Darkstar spoke up, “before we leave, may I ask for copies of the photos? I have two mares at the hotel I really need to tease.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie thrust her forehoof into the air like she was getting the teacher’s attention. “I want copies too!”

“Of course love,” Rarity gave her wife a good natured roll of her eyes before addressing the young mare. “And yes, you have a phone I can send them too?”

“Yes Ma'am,” Darkstar nodded and floated her phone out of her saddlebag. “Here it is.”

Quickly, and with a few swipes of her camera’s controls, Rarity proceeded to download the thirty photos she had taken of the three outfits. Pinkie watched the exchange, barely able to keep still. “Ready to Party!”

“Always with you, Pinks.” Rarity smiled and out away the camera on the workbench, as well as levitating the lingerie and the dress over to their respective hangers.

“Ma'am,” Darkstar said, “can I buy the yoga set, please?”

“I thought that one was for sale to Camel To...” Pinkie started to speak but was quickly silenced by a white hoof to the mouth.

“Of course darling,” Rarity answered, her hoof still in her wife’s mouth. “What do you think it is worth?”

“Well um…” Darkstar shifted uncomfortably. Between paying for the donuts and drinks at Sugarcube Corner earlier as well as the apples from Mac, she was just about cleaned out. “I've got a hundred bits?”

“And a kiss!” Pinkie squeaked, finally succeeding in removing her mouth from the hoof wedged in it.

Rarity shot her a ‘look’. “Are you sure, love?”

“For both of us,” the pink earth pony amended.

The designer considered that for just a moment. While she could easily let the exercise set go for two hundred less than it was worth – the line had been unsold in her shop for so long that the young mare was doing her a favour – what concerned her was the kiss. “That does sound fair. What do you think, Darkstar-who-isn't-into-mares?”

“She's not?” Pinkie Pie seemed to visibly deflate. “But she was a total sexy mare!”

Darkstar smiled and nodded her head. She was a sexy mare. These were two absolute legends, and what harm could come from just a kiss? Besides, when was she ever going to get another chance like this? “A hundred bits and two kisses is a very fair price. Who wants to be first?”

Immediately Pinkie re-inflated herself like a self-filling balloon and jumped up and down, excitedly waving her forehoof. “Me! Me! Pick me!”

“Her,” Rarity, the very picture of decorum and the consummate lady, pointed her hoof at her wife.

Darkstar sniggered, “I'm guessing I'll go with...Ms. Pinkie.”

“I win!” Pinkie danced, “I win!”

Giving out her best half lidded bedroom eyes, Darkstar sauntered up to the excited older pink mare and planted a four second long kiss on her lips because, if she was going to do it, she was going to do it properly.

“Wahoo!”

“Well done darling,” Rarity smiled and awaited her turn. “Now can I have the consolation prize?”

“Yes Ma'am.” Darkstar grinned and stepped over to the older white mare and promptly kissed her in the same way she saw her kiss her wife when she had the Desire spell in effect.

“She ah…” Rarity gasped, her eyes a little bit crossed when she pulled away from the very passionate kiss. “She does have a good kiss, Pinks.”

“Totally!” Pinkie squealed, “Now let’s get this party started!”

“Lead the way, my love,” Rarity declared dramatically, standing aside to allow her wife to pass her out of the side room. “Lest I get lost with you following my tail.”

“Only if you follow my tail!” Pinkie Pie grinned and bounced out of the side room, her puffy cotton candy tail flicking tantalisingly under the older unicorn’s nose, on her way to the boutique’s door.

“Always.” Rarity replied simply and honestly as with an eager Darkstar in tow she left her shop and house, locking everything up and stepping out into the now darkened evening.

‘I made out with two of the Celestia Six!’ Darkstar, still wearing the very tight yoga gear, thought as she skipped happily alongside both of the older legendary ponies. Completely at ease and unconcerned she’d just kissed two mares. “Totally better than the stories.”

“I like stories!” Pinkie Pie squeaked in mid bounce, “There was these three bandits that...”

“Pinks,” Rarity rolled her eyes as she followed behind her wife, “I think she means stories about us.”

“Us?” Pinkie spun in mid-air to face the two mares following her and bounced along backwards. Somehow she was still able to steer and know where she was going. “Like the time I did the balloon griffon and Gilda ate it?”

“Yes, darling. Like that.”

“Or like...” Darkstar spoke up after racking her brains for one of the many, many stories that had been bandied about regarding the Celestia Six. She was sure a good ninety percent of them were either exaggerated or just plain wrong. Eventually she settled on a famously documented one. “Ma'am, is this true, that one time you entered the best young fliers competition with magic wings?”

Rarity’s furious blush at the memory her question had evoked told the young mare everything she needed to know. Pinkie’s shout of “Madam Butterfly!” just sealed it for her. Both Darkstar and Pinkie broke out laughing and just made Rarity blush even harder.

“That was a textbook illusion!” Darkstar cheered, “and um...Ms. Pinkie, Ma'am, did the thing with the Mirror Pool really happen too?”

“Yes!” Pinkie whooped, still bouncing along backwards, completely unashamedly, “So many of me and some still...”

Rarity lit her horn and levitated the bubbly pink mare close to her and silenced her with a hoof squarely to Pinkie’s mouth, as well as a very disapproving look. “We agreed to not talk about that, love. Twilight did ask.”

“Oh, yeah, she did, she was such a party pooper.” Pinkie’s ears slicked back, and as Rarity giggled she spun back around to bounce alongside them.

“Wow, you guys are so cool!” Darkstar, walking along in the legends’ great presence, was completely awestruck not by their stories but by their…normality more than anything. “I want stories like that to tell!” Despite how far they had gone to include her, the younger mare was feeling very out of her depth. “All I got is this one time I lost a bet with Luna and my friends and I ended up in Las Pegasus.”

Rarity smiled. She recognised a name-dropper when she saw one, but this young unicorn was a little different. If anything, she seemed like the loner at school who was trying to fit in with the cool kids. Rarity felt a great deal of sympathy for her. She had been that loner. “Consorting with Princesses is no small thing, dear.”

Pinkie of course entirely missed the meaning of this exchange. “Rarebear is right, the Princesses are huge!”

“Pinkie...” Rarity sighed, sometimes her wife was the most perceptive mare in the world. Other times, well, she just wasn’t. “What she said, but still, to converse with them…”

“Whaaaaaat?” Pinkie whined playfully, “you talk to a Princess every day!”

“Luna and Celestia, I mean.” Rarity clarified.

“Okay, every week.”

Darkstar took a breath. She didn’t want to sound like she was showing off, she just wanted to hang out with the cool kids for once. “We went to high school then University with Prince Dusk.” She offered a smile at Pinkie who was again bouncing towards Sugarcube Corner. “We were a little wary of his parents at first.”

“What?” Pinkie’s squeak was as outraged as Darkstar had heard so far. “But they are always ready to party!” And, they both liked Pinkie’s ‘special’ parties.

“Phish posh darling.” Rarity waved her hoof dismissively, “both Luna and Octavia are quite down to earth.”

“For being Princesses and all.” Pinkie Pie supplied, a little unhelpfully.

Rarity giggled. “What she said.” Pinkie then lunged forward and gave her wife a lusty kiss. Still in her bounce.

“I know right?” Darkstar grinned, sensing she had an ‘in’ with these ponies. “We soon loosened up, especially when Luna told me she liked pranks as much as I do.”

“Wowsers, does she ever like to...” whatever Pinkie believed Luna liked to do however was silenced by yet another hoof to her mouth.

“We're here love, and you promised me a Poires Belle Helene.”

Pinkie somersaulted and spun around and bounced in place. “Oh, that’s easy, I have one in stash number twenty eight. In case of poached pear and ice cream emergencies.”

“Do un-stash it, please love.”

“Stash?” Darkstar was completely and utterly puzzled at that, and had a look on her face to match as the three mares entered Sugarcube Corner. ‘Who in the world stashes desserts everywhere?’ She thought, although the thought died on the way to her lips when she had taken but one step inside the bakery. There, sat at a table with Pumpkin Cake, as though it were the most natural thing in the world was Cloud Blossom, an artistic pale green pegasus mare with a blonde mane whose sculptures she greatly admired. And she was Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s daughter.

“Oh...oh my...th-that's Cloud Blossom!” Darkstar performed a delicate, barely audible, little fan squeak.

Cloud Blossom, who had been catching up on the gossip in Ponyville with Pumpkin Cake, looked up from the small mountain of glossy gossip magazines – one of which had her sister Apple Honey on the cover - on the table with a broad smile on her face. “Aunt Rarity! Aunt Pinkie!”

“Hi Cloudy!” Pinkie Pie bounded over and pulled her niece into a bone crushing hug.

Rarity on the other hoof was far more refined as she delicately kissed the pale green pegasus’s cheeks. “Have you stopped by to visit your parents, Cloud Blossom?”

“Yes Auntie,” Cloud replied with a gasp when Pinkie finally released her so she could breathe. “I stopped by the farm earlier. Momma Jack was busy in the south fields clearing out some dead trees, so Momma Shy and I took her a picnic dinner.”

“Hee...” Darkstar made the odd little squeak, still not actually believing that here in front of her was one of Canterlot’s premier young artists. First Rarity and Pinkie, and now this…this just didn’t happen, ever, but here she was.

“Who's your friend?” Cloud asked with a generous smile, steadying herself on her three legs as she looked the pretty young mare over, her eyes of course lingering long and hard over her hind quarters. Hind quarters that were as beautifully sculpted as any of her works of art. The fact they were framed by the tighter than skin tight yoga pants only helped.

“This is Darkstar,” Rarity introduced the young unicorn with a wave of her hoof, “she’s a model.”

“Yeppers!” Pinkie bounced eagerly, “Rarebear was all clicks clicky with the camera.” Helpfully, albeit unnecessarily, the pink earth pony made camera mimes with her forehooves.

“Ahem...h-hi!” Darkstar flustered a little. As Cloud Blossom’s crystal blue eyes drank up every inch of her lean body, part of her wished she had taken the yoga set off while the other part loved the attention. “I'm D-Darkstar!” She squeaked and held out a shaky hoof.

Quickly, Cloud Blossom bumped it with her own. “I know you.”

“Y-You...do?” Darkstar was about to faint. ‘No way…no way does she know me…’

Cloud Blossom nodded. “Last month the Canterlot University dancers put on a charity show as part of their finals. I was really quite impressed, with them and with you.”

“Can we join your table, Cloud?”

“Of course Aunt Rarity,” Cloud Blossom waved her hoof towards the table where she was sat with her friend. “I was just catching up on the local gossip with Pumpkin.”

“Darkstar will be training with Sapphire Shores.” Rarity explained with a grateful nod to her niece.

“The dancy singy pony!” Pinkie Pie supplied helpfully, just in case nopony present knew who the most famous choreographer in Equestria was.

“I'm not at all surprised.” Cloud commented, ‘Especially looking like that, wearing that, looking like that!’

“Y-Yeah,” Darkstar smiled a very embarrassed smile, “the ah, the dancy p-pony…” She was by now a very bright red. ‘Oh wow...this is happening!’ She thought, still fangasming as Pinkie immediately took charge of the seating with Darkstar situated to Cloud Blossom's left and Pumpkin Cake to her right.

“Thank you Pinks,” Rarity smiled and took her seating pad opposite Cloud Blossom, “this is your show, so please order for me.”

“Anything?”

Rarity batted her long lashes. “I love you, so yes darling, I dare anything you send my way.”

“I'm on it, and I have enough for five!” Pinkie Pie beamed a wide manic smile and took off, zooming to the back kitchen.

Quietly, though she was internally squeeing like crazy, Darkstar took her pad, still mildly star struck by the company. “Thank you,” she managed to squeak.

“Not a problem.” Cloud Blossom scooted aside to make room, though not too far, so she had to press into her. After all, she was a cute little unicorn. “A friend of my Aunts is a friend of mine.”

Making herself comfy, with her flank pressed into her idol’s, Darkstar at last noticed the pile of glossy magazines on the table. “Oh...Apple Honey and the Sharks are front page again!” She said, fishing for a conversation opener.

Unfortunately, as Cloud Blossom hated her sister with a vehement passion, that was very much the wrong thing to say. Reaching across the table, the pale green pegasus flicked the magazine to the floor. “Ooops.”

“Someday I'll figure out her secret on how she always knows how much to make.” As Rarity pondered to herself, her hoof at her chin, she watched the magazine fall but wisely chose to say nothing about it. The enmity between her and her sister was well known, if not entirely understood. “When is your next gallery showing, Cloud?” She asked, skilfully changing the subject.

“In six weeks, Auntie.” Cloud replied with a sudden resurgent smile. “Helping Hooves Care Home is sponsoring it.”

“You um, you dropped this,” Darkstar saw the magazine fall and, trying to be helpful she decided to light her horn and quietly float it back up to the table. Rarity, seeing this, straight away countered the young unicorn’s magic with her own and put a hoof to the mare’s shoulder. Darkstar felt the superior magical force and stopped her spell.

“That Director is so nice too.” Cloud continued, missing this exchange with Darkstar and her aunt. “Shame there aren't more ponies like Amethyst Glory out there.”

Rarity had to agree. Through her many social circles, she was vaguely familiar with the care home director. “Not everypony cares to watch out for those around them.” She then decided to change the subject, “Darkstar here was modelling my new line of lingerie today. I'm going to surprise Pinkie with it.”

“I love surprises!” Came a very excited voice all of a sudden from nowhere.

Rarity, well accustomed to her wife’s antics, didn't bat an eye that the use of her name alone seemed to summon the pink pony. “I know you do, dear.”

“This is a surprise too!” Reaching into her puffy pink mane, Pinkie Pie pulled a perfect steaming hot dessert. She set it down in the middle of the table. “Pudding au chocolat!”

“Marvellous darling!” Rarity appreciated what was clearly a bread pudding with chocolate chips, utterly ignoring the fact her wife had pulled it from her mane.

‘Wait…did she just…pull that from her mane?’ Darkstar blinked once then twice, then she decided to not think about it too much. Life was easier that way. “Yes, that really does look very nice.”

“Oh, Aunt Rarity?” Cloud Blossom questioned the older unicorn, suddenly very interested indeed, especially as she'd been shooting the very pretty Darkstar sideways looks ever since she sat down in the yoga gear. “Do um...do you have pictures?”

“I do, darling, but at the boutique.” Rarity nodded and helped herself to a bowlful of the pudding. “I do believe that Darkstar has copies with her though.” She added with a sly smile.

“May I see,” Cloud Blossom turned to Darkstar and gave her a very hard lingering look. “Please?”

‘She, she wants to see me? Oh wow!’ Darkstar was so stars truck it was painful. “Oh um, yeah sure!” She lit her horn and floated up her phone from her saddlebag in her yellow aura and showed the pale green pegasus the pictures, starting with the lingerie.

“Oh...oh sweet apples…”

Pinkie Pie leaned over the stunned pegasus’s shoulder to look too. Like her niece she was gobsmacked at what she saw. And the lingerie was amazing too. “You made those for me?”

“I did love,” Rarity nodded with a not too small amount of pride, “and I'll be happy to put them on you,” she gave her a very lewd wink. “And take them off again.”

Cloud Blossom did, by virtue of her disability, have excellent wing control but even she was struggling to keep them from springing outwards. It was the strangest thing, she’d quite forgotten about the chocolate dessert. “And ah...you do wear the fitness set beautifully.” Her left forehoof had strayed on to Darkstar's upper thigh.

“Yeah, she was all sexy posing in the boutique.” Pinkie Pie interjected as Darkstar coloured up with her most intense blush yet, and Rarity selected eye roll number thirty seven. Just for the occasion, but she said nothing as she knew Pinkie just knew these things.

Darkstar too had forgotten the dessert. What with the artist’s hoof on her thigh and the eyes of legends upon her, she almost combusted. “I um...um...well I um...”

“She was?” Cloud Blossom slid her hoof higher on Darkstar's leg.

“You big silly, she is a model,” Pinkie felt the need to elaborate. “But she has a dancy thing around the light pole.”

“That's dan...” Rarity began to correct her wife but stopped, ultimately deciding that it wasn’t worth it. Instead she addressed the young mare and her niece, especially her niece, who looked so shocked. “She is a big fan of your art, Cloud, then again artists do tend to attract one and another.”

“Am I an artist Rarebear?” Pinkie asked, “You are one.”

Rarity simply beamed. “Yes you are, love.”

“Ms. Pie is right.” Darkstar smiled a wide smile, and who was she to stop her idol from touching her? Besides, she had a very soft touch. “And, and um, I am a mahoosive fan!”

Now it was Cloud Blossom’s turn to blush. “I don't meet many fans.”

“I’m very much one of them!” Darkstar exclaimed, getting to her hooves, an act that stretched the yoga pants even further. Finally, she was starting to gather her confidence to her. “In fact, seeing as it's just us five, I can give you a little show. If you'd like.”

Silent up until now, Pumpkin Cake spoke up. “Will I need to get the mop out again?”

“Depends on the show, Pumpkin.” Cloud Blossom said, her blue eyes never leaving Darkstar’s finely sculpted posterior.

Darkstar grinned her confident grin. She knew where she was now. She was putting on a show. She was the show. ‘I’m Darkstar. Time for this star to shine.’ “I'm sure you'll all like it.” She hopped up onto the next table over from them and, rearing up onto her hind legs, she started to dance.

Darkstar’s table dance lasted a good twenty minutes, and Cloud Blossom was utterly enthralled for every single minute of the performance. Specifically her upper thighs and the very tight yoga pants that left nothing to her rampant imagination. When the dance came to an end, Cloud enthusiastically clapped her forehooves together at her performance. Pinkie even used one of her party cannons to add to the atmosphere. “It's great to see an artist at work!” Cloud whooped and cheered.

Darkstar smiled a very wide beaming smile as she finished the dance and flowed seamlessly into a very risqué Las Pegasus style cabaret dance that showed off every last little curve under the yoga pants. Cloud Blossom continued to cheer and clap, now stomping her forehooves on the table she was sat at with her aunts. Pinkie continued to go over the top on her whooping, while Rarity raised an eyebrow and watched all three. Her horn briefly lit up before quickly going dark again.

When Pinkie Pie set off three party cannons simultaneously, Darkstar judged it was time to finish this dance. Grinning, she did so with a gymnastic dismount where she bent forwards to stand on her forehooves and pirouetted off of the table to land perfectly on the floor standing up on her hind legs. “Ta daaa!”

“Whoooo!” Cloud Blossom stood up on her one hind leg and flared her wings to hug the younger mare. “That. Was. Beautiful!”

As Pinkie cheered and instantaneously cleaned away not only the party cannons but the mountain of confetti she had discharged as well, Rarity commented, “I see why Sapphire has you in her school.”

Lost in the moment, as well as Cloud’s hug, Darkstar immediately pulled the pale green pegasus into the hug. While she was very sweaty – a fact that Cloud didn’t mind in the slightest – she was barely out of breath. “Thank...thank you! You were the best audience!”

“Aunt Pinkie, do you have some of momma's cider?” Cloud asked.

Now Sugarcube Corner was spotless, Pinkie nodded, “Like always!”

Pumpkin Cake got up from her seating pad, wanting to make herself useful. “I'm on it.” Rarity raised her forehoof to also request a beverage. Pumpkin nodded to her. “I got it.” She bustled off.

“Ooh, one for me too please!” Darkstar breathed out and, getting a waft of Cloud’s beautiful scent of roses, just for a moment she rested her muzzle deep into the crook of the artist’s neck.

Feeling the strain on her remaining right hind leg, Cloud Blossom sat back down on her seating pad and took Darkstar down with her wrapped her right wing. “I have to fly when I dance.”

“S'funny,” Darkstar giggled, nestling into the feathery embrace, “I feel like I fly when I dance.” That certainly was true. While she may be nervous before a show, once the show started, the sense of freedom was exhilarating. “Wow...” she breathed, “these wings feel real strong.”

Pinkie nodded, “She is a super duper strong flier!”

“Yes,” Rarity agreed, “its part of her work ethic.”

“I read a newspaper interview that said you hover up to eight to nine hours per day when you work.” Darkstar looked at Cloud Blossom, completely and utterly star struck. “Is that true?”

Cloud shrugged and nodded, “On an easy day, yes.” She replied as Pumpkin delivered the three very hard ciders and one hot cup of earl grey tea - for Rarity - to the table.

“Rarebear!” Pinkie exclaimed before her wife could even take a tiny sip.

“Yes love?” Rarity smiled as Pinkie invaded the older unicorn’s personal space and sniffed at the tea. After a brief moment, Pinkie nodded, giving the brew her seal of approval.

“Wow…” Darkstar giggled like a proper fan-filly as she levitated up her cider bottle and took a sip of the hard alcohol. “The longest I've held a spell is just under an hour.”

Cloud Blossom was nonetheless impressed. “That's pretty good, isn't it Auntie?”

Rarity didn’t sip her tea. She was watching her niece. “Yes it is, dear.”

“It was an invisibility bubble.” Her yellow eyes were fixed on Cloud Blossom as they both took long drinks out of their respective bottles. “My friends wanted to have some ‘fun’ at the university.”

The pale green mare took another drink of her cider. “I like fun.”

“Fun is Fun!” Pinkie Pie declared.

“It was sexy time fun.” Darkstar supplied and she took a long drink of her cider, draining it but she ended up spilling a little of it on her shoulder. “Teehee oops, sorry…” without thinking about it, she stuck out her tongue and licked it off.

Rarity leaned over and very gently nibbled on Pinkie's ear. Pink leaned into the nibble and then her eyes went wide, getting the silent message. “Okie dokie lokie!” She kissed her wife’s lips.

Cloud Blossom's wing tightened around Darkstar, and the young mare smiled at her idol. “Fun is fun...oh I missed a bit.” She hadn’t done anything of the sort, and unnecessarily she licked the pale green mare’s shoulder again.

“Cloudy!” Pinkie squeaked, drawing her niece’s attention, “I have something I so totally have to show you upstairs!”

“Huh,” Cloud looked, somewhat in a daze both from the hard cider and Darkstar’s equally intoxicating presence. “What, Aunt Pinkie?”

Pinkie, in a perfect impersonation of Rarity, rolled her eyes. “Upstairs. Show. Now.”

“Uh, but…”

Rarity cut her niece off before she could complain any further. “You know how Pinkie gets when she has an idea in her mind.”

Darkstar let out an adorable little whine. “You won't be long, will you?” She laid a delicate little kiss on Cloud Blossom’s cheek. “We can have some fun of our own later.”

Cloud Blossom in turn nuzzled Darkstar’s cheek. “With my Aunt I never know, but I'll try.” She stood up from her seating pad and, rather reluctantly, she followed her aunt upstairs to the private rooms above the bakery.

“Eeeeee!” Darkstar squee’d at the nuzzle and made her voice sound in her ear. “I'll be here.”

Once they were gone, and Rarity was sure they were alone, the older unicorn pushed her tea over to Darkstar. “I think you ran out of cider, I'll share with you, darling.”

“I did, and thank you Ma'am.” Darkstar gratefully accepted the beverage and while Rarity waited with a smile she lifted it up in her glowing yellow magic and took a sip of it.

Instantly, the very second the enchanted brew touched her lips, the young mare was stone cold sober.

Rarity thoughtfully took the fine china cup in her own magic so it wasn’t dropped. “Feeling better, dear?” She asked as delicately as she could.

“What the...” Darkstar blinked once then twice, realisation starting to dawn on her.

When Rarity next spoke, it was still delicate, but tinged with a kindness as well. “My niece is like her parents, and the rest of our six. We are all into mares dear, but you are not.” She coughed, “Or my perception is really, really off.”

“I um...I was about to...to that...with her…” Darkstar blushed an intense red blush.

Rarity moved around the table and placed a hoof on Darkstar’s shoulder. “I don't mind if you are going to follow through, but I don't want you waking up to a mistake.” She sat next to her and looked her square in the eyes. “You see, if you break my niece's heart you won't deal with me. If you are really lucky Fluttershy will let Applejack deal with you. If you're not lucky...” Rarity shrugged, not needing to finish her sentence.

“I get it, Ma'am.” Darkstar, till blushing, sounded sullen. “I'm really sorry, I um, I think I was a little out of it for a moment there.”

Kindly, Rarity kept her hoof in place on the younger mare’s shoulder. There was no accusation in her voice, no reprimand in her tone. “It has been a while for Cloud. She is at odds with her sister, and is looking for somepony that will love her. It seems you've surrounded yourself with mares that would like you to switch sides. I can only say, 'Be true to yourself' and that is my best advice.”

“Well um...gee I feel like such a stupid foal!” Darkstar exclaimed, thankful that the designer wasn’t judging her. Still, she felt the need to explain herself. “I um, I wanted to try a mare just once, and she's really pretty...and I'm here, with you all, and you're all huge, and normal, and...and I'm, I’m sounding dumber by the minute.”

“Well,” Rarity said, finally removing her hoof, “at least you're not walking out. Cuddles, everypony likes cuddles. I'm just glad you won't have Pinks after you for leaving a party.” Rarity looked over at the stairs as she knew she had evoked the name and Pinkie and Cloud would soon come down.

Lo and behold, mere moments later, the two mares did indeed return down the stairs. “What's going on, Aunt Rarity?” Cloud Blossom asked curiously, wondering what was happening.

“Sharing tea, darling.” Rarity replied before looking over at Pinkie. “Chocola...”

“Cheesecake!” Pinkie interrupted with an excited smile. “I love that game!” Pinkie then bounded off to get the cheesecake.

“Um...Cloud?” Darkstar, still feeling very foalish, took a step towards the three legged artist. “I ah, I think I owe you an apology, I really don't think I can go through with what I started. I was just curious, but um, I can do cuddles?”

“Wha...” Cloud shot Rarity an accusing look, “What did...”

“Sit down and drink some tea.” Rarity immediately cut across the stunned pegasus and waited a moment. “Now!”

Cloud Blossom looked at Rarity, then at Darkstar, then at Pinkie and Pinkie nodded at her. “What if I don't want to sober up?” She eventually replied failing to hide the frustration in her voice.

Rarity just shrugged. “It's your life.”

“I am sorry.” Darkstar put her hoof on Cloud Blossom’s foreleg. “I did come on to you. But um, the cuddles are still on offer, if you wanna hang out.”

“Oh,” Cloud Blossom looked like the very earth had been pulled from under her and she had forgotten how to fly. “So you're not into...a...”

“Tell you what.” Darkstar walked back to the table and tapped it with her hoof. “Drink the tea and we'll cuddle. Let’s see how we feel all sober.”

Cloud Blossom stepped up and drank what was left of the earl grey tea. “So, Dark... do you have a nickname? Cloudy is fine for me.”

“Darkie.” The young unicorn smiled once she saw the fog of alcohol had left the pale green mare’s eyes, “you can call me Darkie. You feel better?”

“Yeah,” Cloud Blossom smiled, a faint red tinge to her cheeks as she felt a tiny bit silly. “Do you want to meet my folks, or you need to be somewhere?”

“I don't need to be anywhere,” Darkstar smiled, “and I'd love to meet them.” Because who wouldn’t, when given the opportunity?

“We can move...” Pinkie began before Rarity silenced her with a hoof to her mouth.

In her best sultry voice, complete with a very sexy half lidded stare, Rarity purred, “We can move our party to your room.”

Pinkie blinked, quickly processing the sultry tone and the sexy stare. “Yeah, what I said!”

“Foals,” Cloud Blossom gave an exaggerated shake of her head. “Can't take them anywhere.”

Darkstar sniggered. “I'll just send my friends a text so they don't worry.” She levitated her phone from her bag and quickly typed out the message before sending it to Air Raid’s phone. “Shall we walk?”

“How about I give you a ride instead?” Cloud Blossom countered.

“I'd love that!” Darkstar smiled and, putting her phone away, turned to walk to the door.

“Me too.” Cloud Blossom very carefully walked in her distinctive three legged gait out of bakery.

“Have fun,” Pinkie Pie called after them, “but not as much fun as me and Rarity will have!”

“You flatterer.”

Darkstar laughed and left alongside Cloud Blossom into the cool late evening. “SO...having embarrassed myself,” she said with a bright giggle, “I really do think you're super pretty.”

“Well,” Cloud Blossom took a moment, a very long moment, to admire the younger mare and her outfit in the glow of the street lights. “That outfit really does show off all the 'right' curves.”

Darkstar did an exaggerated flounce, lifting her grey tail over her ass to further show off some of those ‘right’ curves, as well as some very wrong ones, “That's just because I'm awesome.”

Cloud Blossom crouched down on to the dirt path so Darkstar could climb onto her back. “With a chisel?”

Darkstar snickered as she climbed on. “No, not quite.”

“Then my job is safe.” Cloud Blossom giggled and took off, heading straight for Sweet Apple Acres.

~ ~ ~

“Huh...” Air Raid mumbled, absently she wiped the drool from her mouth. ‘What the hay’s that noise?’ In her semi awake state she was roused from her light slumber by her phone. “W-Wassat?” She heard her it beeping loudly somewhere close to her, or it could’ve been miles away. She wanted very much to get back to her dream. A dream that involved her, Cyclone and way too much whipped cream.

“Don't know, don't care.” Came Cyclone’s voice from somewhere next to her. She nestled into the lime green mare’s fluffy onesie and, pretending to be asleep, attempted to pull the comforter up and over them both.

“Uuugh…phone…” Now she was awake, Air Raid sat up – or rather, she tried to sit up, with Cyclone laying on her chest - and reached a hoof for it on the night stand beside the bed.

Cyclone had by now roused herself as well, as it might have been Darkstar. “Wh-Who was it...hmmm...” still bleary eyed, Air Raid scrolled through her phone to her messages. “Aha! It was a certain white unicorn. She says she's been to the boutique, had tea with Rarity and Pinkie, now she's going on a date with Cloud Blossom to Sweet Apple Acres!” Air Raid’s jaw hung open in disbelief. “Cy, can you believe her?”

“Total Prank.” Cyclone said dismissively as she waved a hoof in the air. “She is most likely sitting in the park bored out of her skull.”

Air Raid nodded and smiled. “Oh that is so a prank.” She grinned and put her phone down back in her saddlebag. “So, my pretty black mare, where are we going for our dinner?”

“With our budget?” Cyclone asked with a wry smile, “the Hayburger, they got great fries and malts.”

Air Raid shifted uncomfortably. From her race wins she wasn’t short of a bit or two, she just wished Cyclone and Darkstar would let her help them out. She knew they were both struggling, and she’d offered in the past only to be turned down. “You can pick anywhere you like,” she said with a tender kiss to her nose, “totally my treat.”

“Then let's go fill our bellies so we can fill our nappies.” Cyclone grinned, an idea for some fun forming in her mind.

“Awesome idea.” Air Raid pecked her nose once more and slid off of the bed. “Do you need a change?”

“Not now,” Cyclone still checked herself though, just to be sure. “But I will after we get there.”

“Cool.” Air Raid picked up the saddlebags with the changing things in them and slid them on her back around the onesie she was wearing. “I got the supplies!”

“Tank yu Nana Raid.” Cyclone giggled and sucked on her onesie covered hoof as she slipped into her filly self.

Air Raid smiled, “anytime, my little filly. You wanna ride on Nana's back?”

“Yessums!”

Air Raid bent her legs and crouched down on to the carpeted floor of the hotel room. “On you get then, sweetie.”

“Yea!” Cyclone, as firmly ensconced in her filly persona as she was in her Mistress one earlier, clambered awkwardly from the hotel bed and walked over to her Nana and, taking a couple of attempts, she climbed up on her back.

“There we go!” Air Raid announced brightly in her best ‘Nana’ voice. She knew how much this particular play meant to her friend – soon to be more than a friend hopefully – and she was only too happy to indulge her. “You hold on tight sweetie.” She said, standing up to her full height.

Cyclone immediately clutched on, grabbing Air Raid’s lime green fur. “So high!” She squeaked.

“I know,” Air Raid smiled warmly, “but you're Nana's big brave filly. Just like Radiance.” Carrying her brave filly on her back, Air Raid walked out of the hotel room, fluffing her wings either side of her passenger so she didn’t fall off.

Holding on, Cyclone looked around as the lime green mare trotted out of the Manefair Hotel, completely ignoring the many amused and mocking looks they were being given. One thought was running through her though as she made her way out into the cool late evening. ‘Huh...this onesie is waaaaarm!’ Walking in the nappy was taking some getting used to, but it wasn’t bad. She could see why her friend liked them. “Is my filly alright back there?”

“I a brave filly!”

Walking down the street, Air Raid giggled. “You is a brave filly! Nanna's Power Pony!”

Cyclone liked the idea of that a lot. She really wished she’d been able to bring her special onesie now. “Yea I Radi…dian…ce!”

“You is!” Air Raid agreed, “shall we go a little faster, my brave filly?”

“Um,” she might be a brave filly, but she didn’t know about that. Nana Raid liked to go fast. “Um…okay.”

Given the tentative go ahead, Air Raid called out, “To the Hayburger!” She sped up, going something faster than a walk but not as fast as a trot.

At first, Cyclone held on very tight and after a couple of moments she relaxed her grip. “Fun!” She squeaked in Air Raid’s ear, “fasser, fasser!”

Nodding, Air Raid smiled and went to a full trot, causing Cyclone to squeal loudly like the little filly she was and to hold on very tight. Well tighter than she already was at any rate. “Such a big brave filly I have!” The lime green mare kept up the pace through the streets all the way to the Hayburger joint. “Here we are, sweetie.”

Once her Nana had stopped, Cyclone very bravely opened her blue eyes. “We here!”

“We are.” Air Raid looked over her shoulder and snickered, panting just slightly. “Did you have your ickle eyesies closed the whole way?”

“Um I...” Cyclone blushed heavily at being caught out. For a very brief moment she thought about lying, then she admitted, “yes Nana.”

“Good filly.” Air Raid knew it was all pretend. She knew it wasn’t real. What was real was the amount of pride she felt right then. ‘Maybe that’s how a mum feels when they’re proud of their foals…’ she also knew this was as near as she’d get to having her own. “For telling the truth you get to have a super big shake.” She smiled as she hoofed open the door.

“Yea,” Cyclone squeaked happily, thankful she’d told the truth. “I is a good filly!”

“You is very good.” Air Raid affirmed as she walked into the Hayburger joint. It was almost empty, which wasn’t all that surprising for that time of the evening, there were only ten others in the diner, eight ponies, a griffon and a zebra in addition to the two ponies behind the counter. She carried her filly over the tiled floor to the counter. “What would my filly like?”

Cyclone, who had been here a few times before with Darkstar while they had been discussing Air Raid and her troubles, knew just what to order. She didn’t need to look at the menu. “Filly box and a choco shake, pwease.”

Air Raid nodded and turned to the earth pony server. “Hi, one Filly box and choco shake – a large shake - and I'll have a half pound hayburger with cheesy fries and a black coffee, please.”

The dark green stallion looked at the two mares wearing the most adorable onesies he’d ever seen and shook his head with a smile. This world truly did take all sorts, after all. “No problem, you and your filly go take a seat, and I’ll bring your order over.” Ten minutes later once it was all cooked he fixed the order and did just that, delivering it on a tray.

Fifteen minutes later, roughly half way through her foal’s meal, Cyclone shifted uncomfortably on her seating pad. She took another bite of her fries and tried to ignore the solid waste that was filling her nappy. She hated this so much, but thanks to the potions she had taken the incontinence was part of her daily life, foal play or not. “Nana...I...” she uttered in a very squeaky little voice, “I made a messy.”

Putting down her large burger, Air Raid sniffed the air once then twice, before looking her filly in the eyes. She had definitely made a messy. “Hmm yes you did, sweetie.” Seeing her friend’s genuine distress though, she smiled. “C’mon, let's get you to the bathroom for a change shall we?”

“You're not mad?”

Trotting around the brightly coloured table, Air Raid gently lifted the upset jet black mare off of the seating pad and onto her back before carrying her into the dedicated foal changing bathroom. “Now, sweetie, why would I be mad, hmm?”

“I twy to be potty twained, Nana.” Cyclone muttered miserably.

“I know you do, sweetie.” Air Raid’s heart melted as she gently laid her friend and her filly down on the changing table with a gentle but firm hoof. “I know it's not your fault.” The lime green mare kissed her nose and started to unzip the onesie so she could get her changed.

“Luv you Nana.”

Air Raid perked her ears up at that. “Do you?” She paused for a moment with the dirty nappy open, then the stench galvanised her into action. ‘Damn I love you too Cy!’ She thought as she used a hoof full of wet wipes to make Cyclone’s ass spotless before strapping a clean nappy around her waist. “Good, cos Nana loves you too!”

“Nana,” Cyclone held out her forelegs. “Hugs!”

“AFTER I banish Mr Stinky.” With her lime green nose wrinkled up, Air Raid deposited the dirty nappy in the bin. “Now we can hugs.” Once that was taken care of, she wrapped her forelegs around her and held her filly tight.

A few moments into the hug and Cyclone pulled away, albeit reluctantly. “I hungy Nana, I wan choco shake.”

Air Raid smiled. “C'mon then, you little Power Pony, let's get back to the meal.” With that she picked up the now clean filly and placed her carefully on her back and carried her back out to the table, again ignoring the looks they were both being given on the way.

“Yea!”

“Here you go, Radiance.” Air Raid said with a tiny snicker that drew an eye roll from her friend as she set the jet black mare back down on her seating pad and took her own pad.

In response to her friend and her Nana’s little dig, Cyclone simply rolled her blue eyes and went back to eating her foal’s meal. Air Raid gave another little snicker and likewise proceeded to dig into her huge hayburger like it was a mortal enemy that had gravely offended her. Not much later Cyclone finished eating and slurped her empty chocolate shake cup very loudly. Air Raid snorted out a few giggles. “My, my, hungry were we?”

Smiling, Cyclone shook her turquoise maned head. “Full, Nana.”

Stifling a rather noisy burp, Air Raid looked down at her three quarters finished meal and found she couldn’t eat any more. “Oh…actually, me too. Cy wanna go somewhere else?”

Leaning over the table, Cyclone put her right onesie covered forehoof on Air Raid’s own and, with a definite blink, straightened up. When she spoke it wasn’t the little filly talking. “We can either continue this game or I can grow up and we can play a different game.” She offered a smile, “I'm game for anything.”

Air Raid knew what she wanted. What she wanted very much. “I'd very much like you to grow up. I ah, I have something to ask you and I think a beer would really help.”

Now that did get the jet black mare’s attention. She had an inkling what the ‘something’ was that Air Raid wanted to ask. “Can we stay in the onesies?” She asked with a giggle. “A beer would top of that meal nicely, though.”

Air Raid nodded, “course we can! Berry's Bar?”

Getting up from the table Cyclone bused her own tray away into the rack above the trash can. “Sounds good to me, Raid, but I don't think we drank that bottle I got earlier.” She gave another giggle. “Time enough for that later.”

“That bottle can keep us company later.” Air Raid grinned as she tidied away her tray. “Wanna ride?”

“I would welcome a ride.” Walking out of the Hayburger joint with her friend, Cyclone smiled and nudged the older mare gently in the ribs. “My wittle wegs are tiward.”

“Uh huh.” Out in the night sky, illuminated by the nearby street lights, Air Raid gave the jet black pegasus a raised sardonic eyebrow. “Up you get then.”

Cyclone just laughed and climbed on board. “Onward my faithful steed, there are bottles to empty!”

Trotting down the street, Air Raid laughed and reared up to canter off towards Berry Punch’s bar, Cyclone clung on around her neck. Air Raid snickered and sped up to a gallop and spread her lime green wings, flapping them a few times. When of course nothing happened, she slowed back down. “Every time I think that's gonna work…”

Riding on her friend’s back, Cyclone tightened her grip of her forelegs around Air Raid’s neck, and her hind legs around her waist. She leaned forward and whispered in the older mare’s ear. “Try that again.”

Air Raid sighed. She really did not see the point, but... “okay Cy,” She spread her wings and flapped them again, but what she couldn’t see was Cyclone smiling behind her flapping her black wings hard. “Who-whoa! It's...I'm off the ground!” And she was, twenty feet off of the ground and climbing.

“Wow...C-Cy...I'm flying! Holy crap!” She knew it was her friend behind her, she could feel the downdraft of Cyclone’s wings above her own, giving her lift for a brief flight. If she had to guess, she’d say she was something like three hundred feet above the suburban town.

“You're not alone, Raid.” Cyclone whispered. Although she wasn’t a strong flier at all, and she was scared of heights, it helped considerably that her friend’s body was underneath her to block out the view.

After the short flight, Air Raid landed near Berry's Bar, dancing excitedly on her four hooves. “Wow...you did that...for me...wow!” Air Raid had no other words to describe her very first flying experience than ‘wow’.

Cyclone didn’t say anything at first. What needed to be said, really? Instead she allowed her friend to savour the moment before whispering in her ear, “You buy first round,” she giggled, “Wingmare.” Air Raid didn’t say anything. She simply turned her head and kissed Cyclone’s lips with all the feeling she could muster.

“We do need to visit more often.” Cyclone said as she slid off of her friend’s back and held open the door to Berry’s Bar.

“Yeah,” Air Raid grinned and entered the busy bustling bar with the younger pegasus by her side. Taking a moment to bask in the noisy good natured atmosphere of a hundred or so ponies drinking and dancing to some background music band that she had never heard of, the two mares spotted a pony sized gap at the bar and walked up fill it. “Yeah, we do.”

“Hi Berry,” Cyclone called as she propped herself up onto the bar, “a couple drafts please hun.”

“Can do, Cyclone!” At the mention of her name, Berry Punch looked over from the conversation she was having with a truly huge summer green earth pony stallion. “Excuse me Lotus,” the plum coloured earth pony mare brushed aside her raspberry pink mane and pulled out two bottles of lager from the fridge under the bar and set them in front of her customers. “Thirty bits, please.”

“Here you go.” Straightaway, Air Raid reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the requisite bits on the bar – the onesie covering her hoof didn’t help much – but eventually she had paid.

“Bar or booth?” Cyclone asked as Berry went back to her chat with what was possibly the biggest stallion she had ever seen. This Lotus was actually bigger than Big Mac. Raising a hoof she pointed to an empty booth.

Air Raid considered it briefly. For what she had in mind though, she needed a little privacy as well as the ability to hear and be heard above the music that was playing. “Booth I think.”

Cyclone nodded and led the way over to the booth with Air Raid in tow. “Nice spot. Well chosen.” The lime green mare commented after a cursory inspection of the booth passed her criteria. She sat down on her seating pad and waited for her friend to sit with her, taking a sip of her lager for courage. “Cy, I got something I need to ask you.”

Taking her own seat, Cyclone laughed and sipped her beer. “I have something to tell you, but if you like you can go first.”

Air Raid took another, this time longer drink of her lager. Purely for nerve. “You ah, do you wanna go out, with me?”

Cyclone sipped her beer and reached over the table to rest her hoof on Air Raid’s foreleg. “You're not alone anymore.”

Mid way to taking another sip, Air Raid paused and sighed, looking into Cyclone’s blue eyes. Everything and everypony else in Berry’s Bar seemed to have vanished into the ether. It seemed like it was just them two right there, not just in the bar but in the world. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Cyclone nodded with a smile, pointedly not removing her hoof from Air Raid’s foreleg. “You may have noticed that Darkie and I seem to know our way around Ponyville?”

“Huh,” if she was honest, the thought hadn’t occurred to her. Now it was pointed out to her it seemed blatantly obvious. “I had kinda noticed, yeah.”

Taking a longer sip of her beer, Cyclone decided to elaborate. Besides if she was going to be dating the great Air Raid she’d rather start from a position of honesty. “Since I can't go to Canterlot, we’ve met up here for tea and cake. She is very worried about you.” She said the last sentence as clearly as she possibly could.

“I know...” Air Raid took a quick drink then looked down at the table top in the booth. “It's just this whole thing, with Wily, and Dusk, then you...it's...” the lime green mare wept, “everypony’s leaving, and it’s all my fault!”

“I should really slap some sense into you,” Cyclone replied shortly, “but I think you need to learn that yourself. The potions were not your fault. Nothing you would have said that day would have stopped me from taking the wrong dose. If you had stopped me altogether, then I would have fallen into a different crowd and you could have really lost me.” She leant over the table and affectionately nuzzled a lime green cheek. “Emotions are hard to deal with. I should know with my 'mom' and dad. Still you know you could have handled that better, but what is, is. Wily will have to decide if she wants to come back to us. As for the Prince...he is hurting like you, but has chosen a different path to find some way to ease the pain.”

Air Raid couldn’t argue with any of that, not at all. ‘Since when did you make so much sense, Cy?’ Air Raid thought to herself. She surmised it was being banished from her home city had forced her to grow up a little. “You're right. Of course you're right.” She smiled and took a drink, leaving roughly a quarter in her bottle. “Tartarus, I even had Luna giving me a talking to yesterday morning.” She sighed and nuzzled Cyclone’s cheek. “Time to move on, and I'd like to do that with you.”

“I'd like that too. We share kinks well, and don't mind what the other is unable, or too afraid to do.” Again Cyclone nuzzled the older mare, “But don't move on. Accept and endure.” This time when she paused, Cyclone leant forward and kissed Air Raid’s lips. “It will take work. I'm stuck out here, and you have a career that is taking off. I'm willing to work at this.”

“Me too.” Air Raid returned the kiss over the table. “You're worth working for.”

Cyclone giggled, “I think it’s only for my cute outfits.”

“Probably.” Air Raid grinned, “I wouldn't wear a onesie for just anypony you know.”

“In public too, no less.” Once more Cyclone giggled, “I'll talk to my dad and see what I can arrange to improve my living, so you'll have something decent to visit.”

“I'd appreciate that.” Air Raid picked up her bottle and drained the rest of her beer and Cyclone, like a good date, raised a forehoof. Waving it over to the bar, Berry Punch once more abandoned the hulking green earth pony stallion and walked over to them carrying two more bottles, which Cyclone duly paid for with thirty bits already on the table. “Thank you, kind mare.” Air Raid smiled as the plum coloured earth pony mare scooped up the bits and left them alone. “Cy, how come you're scared of heights?”

Taken aback by the unexpected question, Cyclone shuddered involuntarily. “It um, it was an accident. Dad took me to doctors...it...”

Air Raid quickly saw what effect that her question was having, and upsetting her minutes old marefriend was the last thing she wanted to do. Besides, she had things she’d rather not disclose right now too. There would be time enough for that later. “Hey…you don't have to share, I was just curious.”

‘Oh thank Luna for that!’ Cyclone offered the silent thanks to the Goddess of the Night and gave Air Raid a tremulous smile. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

Air Raid breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey, no problem hun. Happy smiles only tonight.”

“I'm up for many happy things.”

Air Raid raised her eyebrow. “Oh, such as?”

“Well…” Cyclone gave Air Raid her best bedroom eyes and purred, “I recall somepony saying something about having toys bigger than Big Mac.”

“Eeyup!” Air Raid puffed out her chest proudly, then she burst out into fits of giggles. “In my other bag, back in the hotel.”

“Hmm, sounds like fun.” Cyclone commented, then she had an idea. A rather sexy idea. One she was sure her new marefriend would go for, given her love of outdoor fun. “What to take a swim?”

Air Raid was fairly certain what the jet black mare meant by ‘swim’, and she was more than willing to have some fun. “Sure thing, Cy!”

Cyclone smiled. She had anticipated the older mare’s agreement, and she was pleased to find she wasn’t disappointed. “The lake is rather nice.” She said, taking a big swig of her beer, draining her bottle.

Eager to get going now for what promised to be some night time lakeside fun, Air Raid quickly drained her second bottle of lager. “Let's go. I wanna get wet!”

Leaving behind her empty bottle, Cyclone winked at her marefriend and used her excessive hip sway attack to devastating effect as she exited Berry’s Bar. ‘Daaaaamn!’ Following quickly behind her, Air Raid only just managed to get through the door of the bar with her wings very hard and erect.

Cyclone graciously waited outside the bar in the luminescent glow of the streetlights for the older mare to walk alongside her. “I think those will provide some nice sun shade.” She giggled behind her hoof.

Air Raid stomped a forehoof into the sidewalk and pouted. “That was an unfair attack and you know it.” The giggles however detracted from the effects of the pout.

“Maybe,” Cyclone snickered as they walked along in the cool night, “but I've left myself open for your patented tongue in the ear attack.” She said with a wink.

“Aha!” Air Raid grinned, “so you have, young mare!” With that she seized the opportunity and snuffled her lime green muzzle and her tongue deep in Cyclone’s right ear, making the jet black mare giggle like the little filly that she was at heart.

It was a short walk from Berry’s Bar to the lake that Cyclone had in mind, no more than fifteen minutes gentle paced walk. While it was near enough to the suburban town that they could still see the lights of houses and hear the odd noise, it was far enough that they were more or less secluded and at the time of night it was, there were no other ponies around. With no street lights in the near vicinity the only illumination was the bright luminescent light from the moon. The first there, Cyclone jumped like a cannonball into the dark water.

Watching her marefriend jump heedless into the water, and not wanting to lose face, Air Raid jumped in after her. “Aaaah...th-the water could be warmer!” She gasped when she resurfaced. It hadn’t crossed her mind at all that she and Cyclone had just jumped into a lake wearing nappies and onesies.

“Sissy,” Cyclone spat a mouthful of lake water at her marefriend. “The water is perfect.”

“I am not!” Air Raid tried to protest but she ended up giggling as she splashed water back at the younger mare. “It's no heated pool, but it's okay.”

“The sunset looks nice though, won’t you agree?” Cyclone said as she waded over and snuggled up to Air Raid to keep her warm.

Air Raid looked to the horizon, to the very last rays of the sun as it slipped out of sight. Cyclone was right. It was a very, very pretty sight. One she didn’t take the time to appreciate often enough. Especially in recent weeks. She hadn’t appreciated very much at all. “You’re right. It looks very nice.” She happily returned the snuggle in the shallow water. “It’s better with you though.”

Nonchalantly, Cyclone waved the forehoof that wasn’t hugging her marefriend in the air. “Everything is better with me.” She said with a giggle.

Air Raid shrugged. “I can't argue that.”

“Really?” Cyclone laughed out loud at that unexpected comment. “And here I thought you'd say it was you that makes everything better.”

Air Raid winced. “What, with my track record?” She sighed despondently, “hardly Cy.”

Cyclone leant in to the lime green mare and gave her a tender kiss to her cheek. “Like you're the only one to talk about track records. All of us are screw ups in one way or another.”

Returning the kiss, Air Raid again sighed. “Yeah, I just make a habit of it.”

Cyclone giggled and splashed in the water. “You mean like swimming with our nappies on?”

“The latest one of my many screw ups.” Air Raid sighed, then she giggled in the still warm water. “Yours does look funny swollen like that, though.”

Cyclone shrugged. “Feels kinda nice, Raid.”

“Hehe...” the lime green mare had a look on her face that just screamed she'd peed a fountain into her nappy. “Hmm, yeah it does.”

Nuzzling her marefriend, Cyclone whispered in her ear, “At least you left the saddlebag on the shore. Ready to get dry?”

“Yuppe…” Air Raid began the old familiar word then she stopped, suddenly feeling a huge longing for her ex-marefriend that she couldn’t explain. Nuzzling her neck in return, Air Raid wondered, hoped, that wherever Wildfire was, she was at least happy and safe. “Yeah, yeah I'm ready babes.”

Cyclone headed for the shore of the lake nearest Air Raid’s saddlebag. “Me first!”

Air Raid had no argument to that. Especially as when she eagerly followed her new marefriend’s swaying ass, she found the longer she looked, the less she missed Wildfire so much. “You first!” On the shore, Cyclone shook herself like a wet puppy before dramatically fanning out her wet turquoise mane as she flopped onto her back in the pale moonlight. Coming up alongside her, Air Raid looked down at her with love swelling in her heart. “Sweet Luna, you're pretty.”

Cyclone look up at the older pegasus with half lidded blue eyes. “Then enjoy it.”

Suddenly conscious of what she was about to do, Air Raid glanced around, looking to see if they were in fact alone. Once she was satisfied that they were, she returned the half lidded gaze. “Hmm, I do believe I will.” Straddling the younger mare’s body, Air Raid passionately kissed her lips, an act that Cyclone returned with equal passion and for a few moments the only sound was two squishy sopping nappies pressed together. Slowly, the lime green mare kissed her way down Cyclone’s body, using her teeth to pull down the zipper of the wet onesie and finally she tugged the tabs off to release the swollen nappy.

“Careful,” Cyclone giggled as she was stripped of her wet clothing, “I might have caught a fish.”

“Hmm nope, your net is all clean.” Once her marefriend was stripped of her onesie and nappy, Air Raid took a moment to appreciate her beauty. Thankfully the bright moonlight illuminated all her sexy little curves. Kissing her way down her body past her teats, she gave Cyclone a long slow lick up the centre of her slit.

“Ah! B-Better than a wet wipe…” Cyclone squirmed a little and giggled some more.

Air Raid felt flattered. A little. “I should certainly hope so cutie.” She breathed, giving a second lingering lick that penetrated the younger mare’s entrance with the tip of her tongue.

“Oh sweet Celestia, yes!” With pleasure coursing through her body, Cyclone lightly rested her right forehoof on the back of Air Raid’s head, holding the lime green mare by her blue mane, as she smiled and swirled her tongue around and inside the sopping wet entrance to her marehood while both of her forehooves rubbed her teats. “HmmMmmm…yes babe, oh yes take me!”

“Yes Ma'am!” Pulling out of Cyclone’s glistening snatch, she flicked her tongue over her hard exposed clitoris as her hooves rubbed harder over her teats and nipples, Cyclone was reduced to moaning and squirming on the grass. Deciding to take it up a notch, Air Raid buried her lime green muzzle deep in her marehood, abandoning her nipples now to reach up and stroke her tertiary feathers with her hooves.

Lost in the throes of her intense pleasure, Cyclone laid back on the grass and tried very hard to not buck her hips too much into her mouth. She failed miserably. Air Raid didn’t seem to mind however as she stroked the jet black primary feathers and wrapped her lips around her throbbing clit, sucking on it with moderate force. “Raid...oh...I'm...OHHH!” Cyclone trembled as she moaned, juices leaking profusely around Air Raid’s lips. Sensing she was close, she added a little nibble here and there to her sucking.

That worked.

“RAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!” As she came, and came very hard indeed, Cyclone clenched her hind legs around the older pony’s head, holding her in place. Not that she minded. At all.

Air Raid certainly didn’t mind being held in place as she noisily and messily slurped at her marefriend’s sweet fluid release. “Mmmmm, yummy!”

Cyclone panted as she rode out her intense orgasm. “I sooooo needed that.” Finally after a moment she released Air Raid’s head and said with a very sexy wink, “Your turn I think.”

“Hmhmm, tasted like you've been holding that in for aaaaaaages.” Air Raid blew Cyclone a kiss, “what d'you have in mind?”

“To return the favour.”

Wet lime green wings with wet lime green feathers sprung out with an audibly loud *pomf*. “Y-Yes please!”

Grinning, Cyclone rolled onto her hooves. “Let me lighten the load first.”

“You got it sweetie.” Eagerly, Air Raid rolled to her back.

Undressing her marefriend in the same way that she had been, Cyclone quickly had the wet onesie off of the older mare and she slowly kissed and nibbled her way down her body. Taking one of the nappy tabs in her mouth she tugged it hard to release the sodden garment. “Ooooh yeah.” Air Raid got herself comfortable on the grass. “You go for it, Cy.”

Once it was removed, Cyclone ran her right forehoof between her own hind legs to slather it in her juices. “I know you'll like this…” She purred sexily and pushed the toe of her well-lubricated hoof against Air Raid’s slit.

“Oh...Ooooh yes!” Air Raid felt the edge of the hoof press against her entrance. “Yes, I like that very much!”

Very slowly, Cyclone worked her right hoof back and forth, around and just inside Air Raid’s glistening marehood, gently probing around the labia and pressing her way inside until she judged she was stretched and ready enough to receive her whole hoof and foreleg. From the stories she had heard, she definitely knew Air Raid would like this.

“MmmMMMM…” Air Raid writhed on the grass. Sweet Luna above her marefriend was good at this! “Oh…oh C-Cyyyyyyy!” She moaned lustily as she felt the hoof spread her wide open with its entry inside her. However, once the initial pleasure ebbed away a little, she realised what was going on. “Wh-What...C-Cy...you-you're hoofing me…”

“Yeah babe,” Staring at her slit and not Air Raid herself, she totally missed her obvious distress as she moved her black leg in and out. “I'm going in to the elbow.”

“Ngggggh...” Air Raid began to panic. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. The probing hoof wasn’t fun anymore. “Aaaah w-wait...”

“Huh?” There was no mistaking that tone. Now Cyclone looked up, but her hoof kept on going in. “Aaah, whaaa?”

“Stop!” Air Raid called out, not trying to hide the fear in her voice. “Cy please you can't, I can't take this!”

“But…” Cyclone was in well past her fetlock. “But, I thought you loved this?” She was confused. She was sure she was onto a winner with this.

Any other time, Cyclone would’ve been dead right.

Tonight, with everything that had happened to the lime green mare recently, she was dead wrong.

“Get it OUT!” Air Raid gave in to her panic and screamed. Louder still she screamed again. “PLEASE!” Then she started shaking and crying, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Raid?” Caught off guard, and wondering just what she’d done to the screaming mare, Cyclone carefully pulled her foreleg out of her marefriend. “Raid…honey, what is it?”

All throughout the withdrawal, Air Raid was crying a waterfall of hot salty tears. “W-W-Wily was the last I h-hoofed...” she murmured through heartbroken sobs. “Sh-she was t-the l-last to hoof m-me…”

‘Duh! Cy you dumb featherbrain!’ In an attempt to bang some sense into herself, Cyclone figuratively, and literally, facehooved. Hard. ‘How could I have missed that?’ She wanted to kick herself. “Raid, oh Celestia, Raid, I'm so sorry.” Cyclone moved forward and crawled up Air Raid’s shaking body to hug her tightly. “I'm so, so sorry.”

In her marefriend’s embrace, Air Raid was inconsolable. “S-She w-was right...I sh-should've just bled out!”

‘Oh no you don’t!’ Cyclone pulled away from the hug and struck the older mare across the face with the back of her right forehoof and glared at her, daring her to do it back.

“Ow...” Rudely shaken from her funk before it could get too much of a hold on her, she gave a little whimper and a loud sniffle. “Cy, Cy I'm sorry…”

“It was foolish of me.” Cyclone kissed away her marefriend’s tears and went back to the hug. “I completely forgot. Forgive me?”

Air Raid cried and hugged the younger mare to her. “S-Silly…o-of course I do.”

“I'm here for you now, but don't give up on her either.” Cyclone whispered in her ear, peppering her face all over with tiny delicate kisses. “We can get through this together.”

Air Raid nodded. “Together.” Cyclone ‘Hmm’d’ quietly and stayed firmly in snuggle mode until she felt ready to move on. After a good ten minutes of solid snuggling, Air Raid kissed the nape of Cyclone’s neck. “I’m ready to get out of here. You wanna go back to the hotel?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.” Cyclone returned the kiss. “Give me a second chance?”

Smiling, Air Raid got up to her hooves. “How can I refuse my Mistress?”

Giggling like a filly, Cyclone got up as well. “You could always pee on my leg, Pet.” She leant in for a kiss. “You pack away the onesies, I'll toss the soggy nappies and we can go commando back to the hotel.”

Picking up the wet clothing and folding them into her saddlebag, Air Raid slid them onto her back with a giggle. “That sounds like a plan, Cy.”

Chapter 6 - Acceptance: Part One

Soaring through the dark night sky from Ponyville proper to the nearby apple farm of Sweet Apple Acres, Cloud Blossom glanced over her shoulder at her passenger. “I'm staying with my folks since my uncle's place can be a bit noisy.” She said with a smile as she held her strong pale green wings out for a glide. 'Especially now Mac and Cheerilee have had their third foal,' the pale green mare thought as she flew along. 'Then again, Mac always had wanted a big family...'

Darkstar leant forward on her mount’s back. “That's the Apple farm, right?”

Cloud Blossom smiled a wide smile. Although she was a city mare, she was a farm filly at heart. She pointed to the few isolated lights in the middle distance that were gradually growing larger the nearer they flew. “Trees as far as the eye can see.”

“Trees?” Darkstar asked with a wry grin. “What are those? Don't have very many back home.” Looking forwards past the older mare’s blonde mane she could see, illuminated by the bright light of the moon, the vast fields of the sprawling family farm surrounding a central mass of buildings. She could just barely make out a large house and several barns and cattle sheds adjacent to it.

Laughing as she was well aware that there were trees in Canterlot, Cloud Blossom said, “These trees have stood literally for generations. There are really big berries on them; red, yellow, green, a few mixed colours as well as every variety of apple you can think off.”

“Aah, my attempt at humour worked!” Darkstar giggled like a little filly. “Good, because you have a sexy laugh.” The pure white unicorn licked slowly up Cloud Blossom’s left ear.

Cloud Blossom squirmed in mid-air and put them into a gradual descent, aiming for the Homestead’s front doorstep. “You do know there will be retribution for that.”

“Oh?” Darkstar again leant forward and purred sexily in the pegasus’s recently licked ear. “Like what?” Cloud Blossom simply maintained a smug little smile and landed quietly exactly where she meant to land, the darkness not hindering her landing in the slightest, and she waited for her passenger to hop off. “Well, if I'm gonna get retribution, I wanna have earned it.” She licked her ear a second time and this time she lit her horn, making the other ear feel like it was also being licked.

“GAHHHAAA!” Only just settled on her three hooves, Cloud Blossom jerked in total surprise at the – pleasurable – assault on her ears and threatened to buck her off of her back.

“Whoo! Wahoo!” Darkstar rode the jerking mare and, feeling the buck coming, she jumped off, landing flawlessly on her hind hooves in a pose that was accentuated by the skin tight yoga pants. “You enjoy my little spell?”

Cloud Blossom shivered, automatically flaring her wings for balance so as not to fall over. “Yeah, that was...wow!” She shook her head, ‘wow’ was right. There was no better word invented in the world to describe the mare currently posing in front of her, than ‘wow’. Clearing her head, the pale green mare smiled. “Come on in and meet the 'rents.” Politely she entered the large ancient wooden house first but held the door open for Darkstar to follow and called loudly, “Mommas! I brought a guest so just act like you always do since I know you won't change!”

“Why, thank you, kind Miss!” Darkstar said in her finest Canterlot accent and gave the pegasus a dainty bow and followed her inside out of the cool dark night into the welcome warm and brightly lit Homestead.

“Oh, hi there,” Fluttershy greeted her daughter and her guest with a wide generous smile. “Two more for dinner?”

Applejack followed close behind her wife to have a look not only at her fine filly but her guest as well. “There’s some fresh cider in the fridge.”

Darkstar, still giggling nervously as she walked in, as well as rubbing her yellow eyes to further help them adjust to the sudden brightness she found herself in. ‘Two legends...oh crap!’ She was very close to being overwhelmed again. “H-Hi! I'm Darkstar, I’m pleased to meet you both.”

“Hello Darkstar, I'm Fluttershy and this is Applejack.” The butter yellow pegasus, well into her fifties now as was all the members of their group of six, walked up and greeted the young white mare with a very gentle hug.

“I think most ponies know who you are.” Cloud Blossom commented with a smile.

“No reason not to be polite like, Blossom.” Applejack said, coming over to bump hooves with Darkstar before embracing her daughter like her wife had before her while Cloud Blossom did the standard 'my parents know nothing' eye roll in the kitchen of Sweet Apple Acres.

Feeling far more comfortable, having been put immediately at ease by these two legends that in fact turned out to be very normal ponies, Darkstar snickered, “what number eye roll was that? And it's very nice to meet you, Ma'am, and um, Ma'am.”

“Please come in,” Fluttershy pointed a wing towards the kitchen table, nestled in between the aga and the other kitchen essentials. “Would you like some of the cider or some tea?”

“Momma, I can serve her you know.” Cloud Blossom huffed as she carefully walked on her three legs over to the fridge, one of the few white appliances in the Homestead and not made out of wood. “I’m not crippled after all.”

“That's right, Flutters.” Applejack put her strong orange foreleg around Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Y'all come through into the great room when you're ready.” Tactfully the apple farmer steered her and her wife out of the kitchen to give her daughter and her stunningly pretty young date some space.

“Cider?” Cloud Blossom asked from the open fridge.

“Sweet Luna yes please, sexy.” Darkstar took a seating pad at the kitchen table. Although she had been made very welcome in the farm house, she was grateful to have been left alone with the mare she idolised.

“Ain’t the hard cider, that is out of season.” Cloud Blossom returned to the kitchen table with two pop top bottles under her pale green wing and she sat herself at the table next to Darkstar, the bottles set between them. “Ground rules?” She said with a kind smile.

Darkstar took the bottle up in her glowing yellow magic and took a delicate little sip of the light cider inside and nodded her agreement. “Ground rules.”

“Before I just rut you senseless.” Cloud Blossom said, stating her intentions plainly with a salacious wink, and they heard giggling coming through the wooden walls from the other room.

Darkstar almost dropped her bottle, but thankfully she quickly recovered her composure. “Mmmm, sounds like somepony's keen, you sweet talker you.” She purred, giving the older pale green mare her weapons grade bedroom eyes.

‘Oh sweet Celestia’s fetlock she is damn sexy!’ Cloud Blossom struggled to control her wings. She placed her bottle on the kitchen table and looked deep into those sexy dangerous beautiful eyes. “Aunt Rarity knows what she is talking about. Is this just a fling for you?”

“No.” Darkstar sipped her light cider from the bottle. While she wasn’t certain of where this was going, or of what was going to happen, she was certain of one thing. “No, Cloud Blossom, I don't do flings.” She said definitely. “I am curious, and I wanna have some like-minded fun. And, I've admired you for a long time.”

Cloud Blossom smiled, put at ease by the young unicorn’s frank honesty. “And, I don't want to do anything or have you do anything that will make you uncomfortable.” She then had a sly thought and said, a little louder to make sure she was overhead by the two mares she was sure was listening. “You know, like hot oil, linoleum and a squirrel.”

Sure enough, from other room, Fluttershy’s voice wafted through the walls. “I told you to leave Mr. Fluffums alone!” A split second later they heard Applejack’s laughter.

When Cloud Blossom burst out laughing, Darkstar joined in as well. “Hmm, well, that does sound like a story, but I don't like hot oil.” She waggled her eyebrows in a sexy manner. “But rope's alright though.”

“Y’all owe me five bits!” Applejack called out once the laughter had died down.

‘Ropes are alright, are they?’ Cloud Blossom smiled at the young white mare and slowly took a sip of her cider. “Well, as it happens I have learned a few rope tricks over the years.” Seeing the faint tinge of a blush colour those perfect white cheeks, she asked, “You do like stallions?”

“Yes,” Darkstar replied, momentarily glancing at the table top and wondering where this was going, “I like stallions.”

“You’ve been with a stallion?”

Darkstar’s faint blush became a very bright red blush. She really didn’t like to admit it out loud, and even her friends had the good grace to not talk about it. Even Air Raid, not known for her tact, observed this. “Yes I have, been with one stallion, a few times.”

“Did you like it?”

Darkstar almost choked on the cider she was trying to swallow. Even her friends hadn’t asked her that, but here and now she decided honesty was the best policy. “It um...” she started, still blushing very hard, “it was alright.”

Now Cloud Blossom was very interested. Leaning on the table she rested the cider bottle on the wooden surface and her forehoof on Darkstar’s thigh. “Do tell, what did the two of you do? I want details.”

“He ah...” ‘Luna above this is embarrassing…’ “we were experimenting.” Although she was a very bright red, she managed a little giggle. “He was very gentle. He mounted me from behind.”

“That is pretty standard. No fellatio or cunnilingus?” Cloud Blossom asked, earning herself a loud snort from the listening Applejack in the other room.

“Oh yes, we did that first.” Darkstar wanted very much to hide away and combust. Definitely combust. “He was enthusiastic but I don't think I was very good, not at first anyway.”

“Does take practice,” Cloud Blossom commented, shooting her ‘date’ a half lidded look of her own as she proceeded to take her cider bottle deeper in her mouth than was strictly necessary. “Ever thought about being a stallion?”

“Yeah…” Darkstar bit her lip and the flush returned to her cheeks. A flush that had nothing whatever to do with the heat coming from the nearby aga. “The ah, the thought has occurred to me,” she gave the pale green mare a long hard look, “once or twice.”

“I've played the stallion too.”

Darkstar took up her bottle and drained her cider, finishing it off in one long swallow. “I'm willing to give it a try.”

Cloud Blossom leant in close to the younger mare and whispered, “You ever done salt lick?”

‘Salt lick? Wow…’ Darkstar shook her grey maned head, her yellow eyes wide. “No, Brightstar said I had to be old enough first.”

Cloud Blossom chuckled, given that the age of consent was eighteen and she was nineteen, “More like wise enough.” In a louder voice she called out through the wall, “Momma, can I please use your toy chest?”

Fluttershy answered her daughter first. “Of course you can!”

“Just clean up after.” Applejack’s deep country voice carried through the wooden wall close after.

“I'd like to try it though,” Darkstar said quietly, the same blush lighting up her face at the mention of her brother as she had worn when she had been talking about the stallion she had been with. “It seems like a night for trying new things.”

‘Oh yes, yes it most certainly is…’ Cloud Blossom finished off her bottle and set it down on the kitchen table. “Come on, let's go join the 'rents so they can grill you.” She carefully got up with a giggle just as Fluttershy’s soft voice shouted indignantly, “Blossom!”

“Well, they're practically with us anyway.” Darkstar sniggered, referring to the rather thin wooden walls of the Homestead. “Hey, can I get another bottle?”

Cloud Blossom smiled, “Of course. Privacy is just another illusion after all.”

Just to prove that point, Applejack called through again, “Bring two for us while you're at it!”

“Yes Ma'am!” Passing the fridge, Darkstar opened it with a forehoof and lit her horn, levitating four bottles of the light Sweet Apple cider and carrying them in her glowing yellow aura through into the great room. Walking through, Darkstar noted the creak of the old floorboards, especially she noted the lack of the cooking smells from the aga only to be replaced by the wood and coal burning on the open fire that lit and heated the entire room. In the great room, Applejack and Fluttershy were sharing the love-seating pad and there was a larger couch sized seating pad available along with a couple of smaller seating pads scattered around the room.

Floating over a bottle of cider to Applejack and one to Fluttershy, Darkstar carried two with her in her aura over to the couch. On her way over she noticed the older mare’s eyes boring into her like diamond tipped deep earth drills. Shoving her misgivings to the back of her mind she glanced around the great room, particularly at the many paintings – the largest of these were of two foals, entitled ‘Hush and Apple Kicker, 2002’ – and flopped gracefully onto the couch. “I’d like to thank you, for having me in your home, Ma'am’s.”

“Oh, it is alright.” Fluttershy commented with a smile, taking the bottle in her hoof that wasn’t cuddling her wife. “Guests are nice.” Held in her embrace, Applejack took her bottle but said nothing, instead her green eyes stared silently at the pure white mare. She’d seen where she had been looking.

Making a mental note to ask Cloud Blossom who Hush and Apple Kicker were, Darkstar instead turned her attention to the older snuggling mares, Applejack in particular. “You do have a very nice place, Ma'am.”

At that, Applejack laughed, her toned muscular flanks rippling with mirth. “Yeah, ‘rustic’ is what Blossom calls it.”

“It is so not Canterlot.” Cloud Blossom put in, hovering across the great room to fill up the remaining space on the couch and taking her bottle from Darkstar’s aura.

“No it isn't,” Darkstar took another long look around the fire-lit great room and snuggled into Cloud Blossom’s barrel under her wing. “I guess that's what I like about it.”

Fluttershy nodded and took a long sip of her cider. She was starting to like this young mare. She had a nice ‘feel’ to her. “It is nice and cosy.”

Cloud Blossom giggled and draped her wing over her date’s flank. “You can say that, it’s about two thirds of the space I have.”

Darkstar sipped at her own drink. “Hmm…everything Canterlot isn't.” She couldn’t help but sound a little bitter. It wasn’t for these ponies to know that her house was cold and dark, with just her as the lone occupant. They weren’t to know her brother was in Fillydelphia and her mum was…was where she was. This was what a proper home should be like.

Applejack caught the bitter tone, but with nothing else to go on, she thought nothing of it. “Big enough,” she said simply.

“Yeah,” Cloud Blossom snickered behind her hoof, so much so that she almost spilled her cider. “Especially with Uncle Mac and Aunt Cheerliee having their own place. With thicker walls.” Even Fluttershy giggled at that.

Cuddling next to her date, Darkstar giggled, mostly to cover up the fact that she had basically thrown herself at Cloud Blossom’s uncle just a few hours earlier. “Your walls are a little thin.”

“Enough to hold up the ceiling.” Applejack commented, still reserving her judgement of this young unicorn.

“Just try not to lean against them.” Fluttershy added helpfully, earning herself a fresh round of giggles from her daughter.

Quietly, Darkstar giggled and finished the rest of her cider. She knew she was being judged, assessed, and critiqued. She’d seen the kind of faces on other ponies throughout the last five years, ever since her mother had gone into the hospital for her illness. Best to head it off. “So, Cloudy said I was to be grilled?”

Fluttershy and Applejack both finished their drinks at the same time and, setting their empty bottles down they shared a ‘look’ between them. A look that carried a whole conversation silently between the two married ponies. Both of them were silently impressed with the nerve of the young mare’s forthrightness. “Hmm, I don't think I'm short of Timberwolf chow…” Fluttershy teased.

Applejack smiled, her liking for this unicorn going up a few notches. “We could just sauté her instead?”

Darkstar laughed, feeling more and more at ease all the time. Snuggling next to Cloud Blossom helped with that. A lot. “I'd prefer a gentle roasting…”

“Ah'm sure our filly can handle herself.” Applejack said gently but firmly, all but giving them her blessing.

“It is okay to be straight, but...” Fluttershy started then she paused, desiring the answer to one last question of the white mare before she decided. “Why my Blossom?”

Darkstar paused for a long few moments, soaking up the welcome heat from the open fire before she replied. “I'm a huge fan of hers, Ma'am. I've admired her and her work for ages, and I think she's pretty. Really pretty. Plus she loved the dance I did for her in Sugarcube Corner.”

“Like attracts like.” Applejack said, finally satisfied.

After a long few moments, Fluttershy nodded. “Okay.”

“Ah’ll tell ya what, Sugarcube.” Applejack had a wide, relaxed and easy grin on her face now. “You screw up and Ah'll sit on Flutters till you get away.”

“Ah yes, Ms. Rarity warned me about that.” Darkstar returned the orange farm mare’s smile. “I assure you I'm not out to hurt anypony, least of all your daughter, and I couldn't hide anything in these yoga pants.”

“Yes…” Fluttershy’s eyes lingered now on said yoga pants - not that she hadn’t looked at them before now – in an undisguised appreciative leer. “That is very true.”

Cloud Blossom breathed an audible sigh of relief once she realised her parents had given her and her date their approval. “What she said.”

“So ah, we're all good?” Darkstar asked from under her feathery blanket, her cutie mark of three black stars barely visible through the stretched tight yoga pants.

“Ah'm happy with what Ah got,” Applejack nodded.

“True,” Fluttershy agreed. “I'll have to take Blossom's word for it.”

Cloud Blossom giggled. “I know I'm good.”

“Thank you Ma'am.” With a sly grin, seeing as Cloud Blossom was looking at her parents and not at her, she lit her horn and made her voice sound in both of her ears at once. “And, thank you, too.”

As Cloud Blossom shuddered from the effect of the illusion spell, Applejack sniggered. “Ha!” The old orange earth pony snorted, slapping her thigh, “Now you know what Ah went through with Twi and Rarara.”

Fluttershy giggled, “So,” the butter yellow pegasus started, gently pulling herself from her wife’s embrace, “dinner first or do you both need to work up an appetite?”

“Illusions are my talent, Ma'am.” Darkstar nuzzled Cloud Blossom’s neck and smiled a very proud smile indeed. “And ah, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you all for dinner.”

Applejack stood from the seating pad that she had been sharing with her wife and stretched her toned muscled legs as the large clock began to chime eight. She decided that she really rather liked this mare. “That gal has her priorities straight!”

“Plus, you're cooking today.” Fluttershy put in, openly admiring the farmer’s hindquarters in the firelight.

“Well then, Ah best get it started.”

Fluttershy let out a delicate giggle as Applejack walked out of the great room to the kitchen, delicious scents of whatever was cooking in the aga wafting in on the air as she opened the connecting door. “She was waiting for the two of you so she could start.”

With both of her parents now out of the great room and in the kitchen, Cloud Blossom, feeling a heat in her hindquarters that had absolutely everything to do with the very attractive young unicorn and her extremely tight yoga pants nestling next to her, turned her head and kissed her forehead. “Want to come look at some etchings?” She purred with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

‘Yes! Oh yes!’ Darkstar’s heart skipped several beats. They were going to do this! “Hmm, do I ever!” She replied huskily with her second best bedroom eyes. Not quite weapons grade, but not far away either.

Fluttershy’s pastel pink maned head reappeared in the open door space as the two younger mares got up from their embrace on the couch. She had a hoof over her mouth to stifle her giggles, an effort that wasn’t really working. At all. “You'll see why she took up sculpting.”

“Momma!” Cloud Blossom had an outraged look on her face and she stomped her forehoof on the great room’s floorboards, almost unbalancing on her two legs as Darkstar quickly offered her support while snorting out several loud laughs. When Fluttershy disappeared into the kitchen – still giggling like a filly – Cloud Blossom silenced the unicorn’s laugh with a well-placed lick straight up the inside of her white ear, then the pale green mare led the way up the creaking wooden stairs to what had been, long ago, her room. “I'd say it might be dusty, but I know Momma Shy wouldn't let that happen.” She said over her shoulder as they stood outside the bedroom.

“I'm the same at home,” Darkstar giggled, she was happy to clean for the stallion she lived with, especially as Brightstar was useless with a duster. “Dust is my eternal enemy.”

Cloud Blossom hoofed open the plain looking wooden door, decorated with just her cutie mark of a crossed hammer and chisel inside an apple to denote the room once belonged to her. “When you sculpt in stone you learn to ignore dust.”

“Oh…oh I bet...” Darkstar commented and as Cloud Blossom stood aside she walked into the ten foot by twelve foot room. The size of the bedroom wasn’t surprising, nor was the double bed at its centre. No, what took Darkstar’s attention was the hundreds of paintings pinned on the walls. Curled and yellowed with age, there were drawings from her earliest age up to her mid-teens. Paintings of apple trees, of the farm and of her family – again there was those two mystery foals - from there to her late teens. Wood carvings were scattered around the edges of the bedroom, ranging from crude to finished, and in pride of place there was one stone statuette of Applejack and Fluttershy dressed in beautiful flowing wedding dresses dancing.

“Teehee...” the white mare, looking around the room and taking it all in, giggled behind her hoof. “No offence Cloudy, but your sculptures are way better than the pictures.” Carefully approaching the two foot high statuette, she appreciated the sheer realism of it, the detail, how alive it seemed to be. “Wow...you can see the movement, the fluidity, how'd you do it?”

Stepping into her old room, Cloud Blossom pointed a wingtip to a very old and crude crayon drawing of two indistinct ‘somethings’ coloured orange and yellow. “Start there and work your way forward.”

“I mean,” Darkstar started as she very, very carefully walked all around the statuette, studying every single detail, “you can easily believe they're actually dancing!” Her study complete, she lit her horn and in a yellow glow she created a millimetre perfect replica of the sculpture, right down to the crowns of flowers they wore and proceeded to make it dance gracefully around the bedroom floor.

“Oh Wow!” Cloud Blossom was stunned. ‘Wow’ didn’t even cover it. She’d never in her life seen magic like this. Her mouth hung comically as she watched the statuette of her parents dance around her. She’d seen videos of the event, been made to watch them when she had been particularly naughty, and she was amazed that the dance was startlingly real. “That is really neat.”

“I thank you my lady.” To generous applause, Darkstar took a low bow, as did the dancing statuette.

Critically, Cloud Blossom studied the illusion, admiring just how perfect the magic was – from one artist to another - how much skill had gone into casting that spell. “I see how you can copy with an illusion, but how do you make them move when you have nothing to base it against?” She asked in wonder.

“Magic,” Darkstar said proudly, “That and I saw your mothers’ walking just now, so I used that as a base to start from, and there's so much movement in this piece as it is, it was easy really.” She giggled at the pegasus’s response, “they're awesome for pranks.”

At the utterance of the word ‘pranks’ Cloud Blossom’s blue eyes narrowed slightly. Just slightly, but it was enough to be noticed, although it passed after just a moment. “When I sculpt I remove what isn’t in my mind’s eye. You do the reverse. I think that is why I carve. In painting you had to add.”

“Hey...are you ok?” Darkstar asked as she cancelled her spell and the illusionary statuette faded away. “You kinda had a 'look' going on there.”

“Nope,” Cloud Blossom denied with a definite shake of her head. “I’m doing just fine.” She then pointed out one wood carving in particular that stood amongst several on the windowsill with a wingtip. Unlike its neighbours this one was finished. Very, very finished. “There is the etching I wanted to show you.”

Darkstar however was unconvinced. “I'm an illusionist Cloudy. I notice details. It's cool though if you don't wanna share just yet.” She stepped up and looked at the etching that the artist had pointed out to her. Sculpted in perfect detail was the back side of a mare with a lifted tail, every single little detail was attended to, so much so that the unicorn had to bite her lip to stifle a moan.

Cloud Blossom giggled as her date observed the piece very closely. “My Mommas alternate which one says she is going to toss that into the fireplace.”

Darkstar giggled in turn. “And yet it's still here.” She said while studying it, not looking away. “Very nice attention to detail.” Idly she wondered just whom the piece had been based on.

Sidling close to Darkstar’s flank, she whispered, “That was when I realized I rather liked the lack of dangly bits.”

Tilting her head, Darkstar purred into the pegasus’s right ear. “You'll have to do me.”

“Posing for a statue takes a long time.”

“Oh,” Darkstar said with a smile and a kiss all along Cloud Blossom’s pale green jawline. “I'm sure I can handle it.”

Again, Cloud Blossom giggled that cute giggle that Darkstar had grown to love. “Maybe you can visit my studio in Canterlot sometime, then.”

“In these very yoga pants.” Darkstar worked her way back up the older mare’s jawline and licked her ear with a smile. “I did this one pose, and a particular spell, for your aunts. It had quite the effect on Ms. Rarity. Wanna see?”

“Go for it.” Cloud, eager to see any magic from this skilled young mare, nodded her head ‘yes’.

“Alrighty, just a sec.” Getting herself in an open bit of floor, Darkstar concentrated hard, lighting her horn and casting what had become her signature spell. Again, the yellow magic pulsed from her horn and once she was sure the Desire spell had taken effect the lithe young unicorn performed the same pose she had for Rarity in Carousel Boutique, lifting her right hind leg up alongside her head in a standing split. “Ta da!”

Watching Darkstar’s horn light up, Cloud Blossom gave a loud audible gasp of disbelief. The white unicorn in front of her shimmered out of existence and in her place she saw the very sexy mail mare from Canterlot that always delivered her post. “It's...it’s you...” in a stunned daze she moved forward towards the dark blue pegasus with her long sky blue mane and wrapped her up in a very tight hug.

“Hey sexy…” Darkstar purred, of course had no idea just whom Cloud Blossom was seeing with her Desire spell in effect. She just knew that whomever it was, was having an effect on her. In the artist’s embrace she went with the wonderful moment and wrapped her forelegs around her neck.

“Any special deliveries for me today?” Cloud asked, her wings very hard and erect.

“Just one,” Darkstar leaned in and gently kissed the tip of Cloud’s nose. As she did so, Cloud Blossom, completely lost in the perfect moment, moved her muzzle up to kiss Darkstar’s lips in a deep passionate loving kiss. Returning the kiss with her tongue slid deep in the older pony’s mouth, the white mare decided to drop the spell and pulled Cloud tighter into the hug, kissing her as deeply as she herself was being kissed.

Continuing with her blue eyes closed, Cloud Blossom didn’t notice the dark blue pegasus mare shimmer out of existence to be replaced by the very real figure of Darkstar who had her forehoof in the mare’s blonde mane running up the back of Cloud's head, stroking her ear as she kissed her lips.

A very light tap on the door a moment later interrupted the two mare’s make out session. “Dinner is ready.” Came Fluttershy’s soft voice through the door.

“MmMmmm!” Darkstar murmured her acknowledgement, not pulling away from the embrace she was in or the kiss.

Hearing her mother’s voice, Cloud Blossom opened her eyes. Comically, with her lips still locked to the white unicorn’s own, her blue eyes blinked and went very wide as she realised that this wasn’t the mail mare she was kissing. “Oh! Darkstar!” She backed away, a bright red tinge colouring her cheeks. “I'm sorry.”

Darkstar just smiled, her forelegs still wrapped around the pegasus’s neck. “Sorry for what, silly?”

“I-I-I th-thought…” Cloud stuttered, desperately trying to recover her composure after THAT kiss. “That spell...wow, it is powerful.”

“Yes it is.” Darkstar nodded and kissed her nose. “It took me aaaaages to learn it.” Finally releasing the hug the pure white unicorn stood aside from the door to allow the older mare to leave before her. “Who did you see, by the way?”

Cloud Blossom shook her head in an attempt to clear the last few lingering cobwebs of the Desire spell. “An old fling, that’s all.” She then decided it was best she change the subject. “Hey, we best get down there before Momma Jack comes looking for us.”

“You got it, sexy.” Darkstar sauntered out of the bedroom with her grey tail held up high and to one side, the very tight yoga pants showing off every little last detail of her marehood. Smiling, she lit her horn and made her voice sound in the following mare’s ear. “Damn, you're a good kisser.”

“Did Aunt Pinkie and Rarity see each other?” Cloud Blossom wondered as she eagerly followed the behind so perfect it was as if she had sculpted it herself.

“Yes they did.” Darkstar commented over her shoulder as she gave an exaggerated – and wholly unnecessary - sway to her hips. “Your Aunt Rarity thought it was good measure to cuff herself to the table before I cast it. Just in case.”

Having experienced the effects of the unicorn’s illusionary magic first hoof, Cloud Blossom had to agree. “I've learned long ago that Aunt Pinkie will always show up when you least expect it.”

Darkstar nodded. “I noticed it was when Ms. Rarity used her name.” With that both ponies walked down the stairs, through the fire-warmed great room and into the Homestead’s ‘rustic’ (according to Cloud) kitchen. Had the young mare not already met two of the four very famous ponies sat in the kitchen earlier that evening, she might’ve been overwhelmed. As it was she was just mildly stunned.

Entering the kitchen, the large wooden table was set for six places, as in addition to Applejack and Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were there, with the last two seating places reserved for Cloud and her date. All eyes were upon the two blushing mares as they walked in, especially as Applejack had refused to serve anypony until they had arrived. “Well now, sure is nice for the two of you to finally join us,” the farmer gave a good natured smile and at last began to serve the meal that had been in the aga.

“Ahem…” Darkstar coughed delicately, “Cloudy was having fun showing me her um, her etchings, Ma'am.”

Rarity laughed a very ladylike laugh, “Well it was the best side of that mare, after all.”

“Now, if she will tell us who the mare was?” Pinkie Pie interjected, smiling a wide smile as Applejack began to serve several large platters to the table.

Darkstar took her seating pad next to Cloud Blossom, her mouth starting to water profusely as courgette falafels with tzatziki were placed alongside a tray of charred artichoke and goat's cheese pasta, as well as a third platter containing gorgonzola tartlets. Topping it all off was a tofu chocolate tart and a barbecued pineapple. For a few moments Darkstar had quite forgotten what it was she was going to say. Once everypony had started to fill their own plates did she remember. “Well, whomever she was, she had a wonderfully 'proportioned' backside.”

~ ~ ~

“That was a really nice meal, Jackie.” Fluttershy said, breaking the pleasant silence after a good forty five minutes while the group of six were occupied with consuming the wonderful meal provided for them by her wife. “Pinkie,” she addressed the pink party mare, “you said you brought a dessert for us?”

Pinkie Pie drained her tall glass of pumpkin juice and flashed her friend a wide smile. “Yuppers! You'll never guess what it is!”

“Something with apples?” Cloud Blossom raised her hoof and nudged Darkstar’s barrel with a grin.

Pinkie looked genuinely shocked. “Did you peek?”

Darkstar giggled at her place at the table, she had eaten her fill, although she had consumed considerably less than anypony else present at the dinner. One didn’t eat what they wanted and keep a dancer’s figure. Still, her plate and her bowl, like all the others, were empty and wiped clean. “More of an educated guess I think, Ma'am.”

“Sorry Aunt Pinkie,” Cloud Blossom smiled sheepishly, refilling her empty glass from the pitcher of pumpkin juice nearest to her. “But, when you said never, I figured you wouldn't think we'd guess apples since that is what Momma Jack would have made.”

Rarity took a delicate sip of her juice. “She does have you there, love.”

“And, I'm sure it will taste fantastic as all your desserts do.” Fluttershy added diplomatically as she got up from the table and bought over six clean dessert bowls from the seemingly limitless cupboards that lined the walls of the fitted kitchen.

Laughing joyously, Pinkie Pie reached a hoof into her puffy pink mane and pulled out a steaming hot apple and rhubarb cobbler. Complete with custard. “Still didn't guess the super-secret ingredient of rhubarb!” She cheered and laid the cobbler on the table to a round of general hoof clapping at the dessert’s presentation.

Darkstar took a double then triple take, finally looking at it more than a little bemused. ‘Definitely. Pulled that. From her mane...’ she had seen it, with her own eyes. There was no mistaking it. There it was, a steaming – steaming! – hot dessert, with custard, produced from her mane, with not a hair out of place or covering the cobbler. “Huh...um...yeah,” she stammered, “Ma'am that looks amazing! From...your…mane…”

Leaning over to her confused date, Cloud Blossom whispered loudly, “Don't question it, Darkie.”

“I think my love has a whole alternate universe in there.” Rarity smiled and lit her horn, helpfully levitating all of the used and dirty dishes and cutlery over to the large sink to make room for the bowls that Fluttershy was laying out.

“Uh huh...” Darkstar shook her head with a smile, deciding it was better to not think about it. Instead she thought about how amazing the apple and rhubarb cobbler, custard and all, which Pinkie Pie was serving out, was going to taste. She also thought it best not to worry how everypony seemed to get half a bowl full from just one dessert. She was just shaking her head in wonder for what felt like the millionth time when she heard her cell phone ring. Lighting her horn she levitated it from her saddlebag across the room and saw the call was from Air Raid. “Do excuse me please, I won't be a moment.” With nods from the other mares, Darkstar got up and gave Cloud Blossom a generous sway of her yoga clad ass as she walked through to the great room. “What's up, Raid?”

“Where are you?” Air Raid’s voice sounded full of worry and concern down the phone. “You haven't come back.”

“And I'm worried!” Cyclone’s voice came over the line, sounding just as worried as she said she was.

“There's no need to worry,” Darkstar sighed a slightly irritated sigh at her friends. Part of her was glad they had called, if only to make sure she wasn’t laid up in a ditch somewhere or being attacked by some monster, but the other part was annoyed that they’d disregarded her message. “I sent Raid that text, remember? I'm at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yeah right,” came Air Raid’s disbelieving snort, “you mean a park bench somewhere.”

“I am NOT on a park bench!” Darkstar insisted, annoyed further by Cyclone’s laughter at Air Raid’s taunt. “I assure you, I'm where I say I am!”

“Alright Darkie, joke's over now, c'mon…”

Cyclone cut across her marefriend before Darkstar could answer her. “We thought you might like company for dinner, and there is still that bottle of wine from earlier.”

Darkstar couldn’t believe this! In the great room, by the light and the heat of the waning fire, the pure white unicorn stomped her hoof on the bare lacquered floorboards. “Cy, you too, really? I've had dinner, I'm at Sweet Apple Acres. I'm with Cloud Blossom, on a date!”

Cyclone didn’t know who that was, and she shot Air Raid a questioning look on the hotel bed where they were both sat. Air Raid however did know just who that was. She just didn’t believe her friend was on a date. With her. “Cloud Blossom, the artist?” She asked incredulously, “Darkie why would you be on a date with her? You're straight!”

“Yes!” Darkstar stomped her hoof again, her friend’s disbelief now fuelling a rare anger in her and she raised her voice. “Cloud Blossom! I'm. On. A. Date!”

Seated in the kitchen, Cloud Blossom fidgeted uncomfortably in the company of her parents and two of her aunts as Darkstar’s irate tone carried through from the great room. After hearing her protest she was in fact on a date, the pale green pegasus decided she had heard enough. “Excuse me please.” Getting up, she walked into the great room. “There a problem, Darkie?” She enquired of her date.

Darkstar gave the older mare a relieved smile. “Yeah there's a problem, my 'friends' don't think I'm here, with you.”

“C'mon Darkie,” Air Raid interjected, “we all know it's a prank.”

“Hey,” Cloud put in loudly, making sure she was heard on the other end of the call, “I find it hard to believe you'd go out with somepony like me.” She giggled when Darkstar stuck out her tongue. “So these friends are?”

“The ones making whoopee in the hotel room!” Rarity called from the kitchen, earning herself a snorted laugh from Applejack and Fluttershy.

Air Raid shot Cyclone a disbelievingly sceptical look. They had both known the unicorn to change her voice in the past. “Darkie, the game's up, hun.”

“FINE!” Darkstar’d had more than enough. Holding her cell phone in her yellow aura she magically activated the video call function and pointed the camera to her date. “Cloudy, please say ‘hi’ to Raid.”

Smiling at the frankly stunned and amazed lime green mare in the cell phone’s little screen, Cloud Blossom waved her hoof. “Hi Raid, but I can do one better. Auntie Pinkie, is there extra dessert?”

“Always.” Pinkie Pie’s voice wafted through from the kitchen, “Enough for two more.”

“Where are they at?” Cloud asked Darkstar quietly.

‘Enough for two more? Two more?’ Darkstar didn’t even know how there was enough of the dessert for them, let alone two more. ‘Right…don’t think about it…’ “They're at the Manefair Hotel, sexy.”

On the other end of the call, in said hotel room, Air Raid did indeed looked stunned. “That's...oh jeez, that's actually her!”

“Please don't tarry, love.” Rarity smiled at her wife. She knew exactly what her lover and her niece had in mind. It was all she could do not to burst out laughing then and there. “Your dessert is far less fattening if you watch me eat it.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie beamed a wide smile and scooped up what was left of the apple and rhubarb cobbler and stored it safely in her mane before disappearing from the Homestead in a pink coloured blur of motion.

“Four, three,” Cloud Blossom began counting down the moment she heard the main door close, “two, one.” The moment the pale green mare finished the syllable of ‘one’, Darkstar heard a loud cheery knock at the door to the hotel room through the phone.

Not expecting anypony, Cyclone sat up. “Who could that be?” She shrugged her black shoulders. “I'll get it.”

If Darkstar was amazed before, she was in another world now. She felt like a foal being taken to see a stage magic show. “Has Ms. Pinkie just...all that way?” She wondered in awe.

Cloud Blossom gave a loud stage whisper, “Don't tell her she is slowing down.”

Fluttershy of course heard what her twenty five year old daughter had whispered. “You're not too old to spank!” She called, earning herself a giggle from Cloud.

Just then, down the phone, Darkstar heard Cyclone open the door, and at the same time there was a riotous explosion of light, sound and confetti – tons of confetti showered across her phone’s screen, and were those inflated balloons? – that signified a party cannon being detonated in a confined space. “Special delivery for the friends of my niece's date!” Without another word, Pinkie Pie left the steaming hot dessert and closed the door.

Closest to the force of nature that just blew in, Cyclone’s turquoise mane was blown horizontally backwards. “Whaaaa?”

“O-Okay...” Air Raid was similarly stunned, especially at the streamers and balloons that now hung from their room’s ceiling where a moment before there was none (and WHERE had that disco ball come from?), “what in the wide world of Equestria just happened?”

“Enough proof that Darkie is spending the night with me here at Sweet Apple Acres.” Cloud Blossom answered down the phone.

“Huh...yeah...” Air Raid gasped, “I um, I see that. Darkie, I'm sorry.”

Cloud Blossom laughed some more, a split second later the main door of the farmhouse opened and closed again and Pinkie Pie’s voice, not even vaguely out of breath, called out, “I’m back Rarebear, so you finish that dessert!”

“Yes love,” Rarity smiled and nodded her head, “that I will.”

“Raid,” Darkstar giggled, “we're all good.”

“Yeah, again, I’m sorry about that...” Air Raid stammered, absently she hung up her phone.

When Darkstar floated her phone back into her saddlebag, Cloud Blossom gave the white mare a tight feathery hug, wrapping her pale green wings around her shoulders. “It is good to have friends like that to look out for you. Come on, let's finish Aunt Pinkie's dessert and then we can take this elsewhere.”

Returning the embrace, Darkstar quickly and affectionately kissed Cloud’s nose. “I think that's a plan.” When they walked back into the kitchen from the great room, the other four older mares were busy eating their desserts when Darkstar and Cloud Blossom retook their seating pads at the table. “Ms. Pinkie...” the white unicorn started, “how ever did you make it all the way there and back again?”

“Well,” when Pinkie Pie answered, she was at first looking confused that the young mare was even asking. “I went out the kitchen door, and then I turned left to go to Ponyville. I followed the path to town and then took the third right by that blueberry bush. You know the one, Rarebear, it is next to the green house and has the best blueberries…”

“I do, love, and they are divine.” Rarity put in when her wife paused for breath, “And to further answer your question Darkstar, she used her magic!”

Pinkie nonchalantly waved her forehooves in the air. “Yeah, magic!”

Again, Cloud Blossom gave her date the ‘don’t question it’ look. Darkstar just giggled. “Alrighty. Magic it is, Ms. Rarity.” Lighting her horn she picked up her spoon and started to eat her apple and rhubarb dessert. To say it had been deep in a mare’s mane, it was amazing. “Oh sweet Luna, this is magic!”

“Yes it is,” Rarity agreed as she daintily ate her dessert. “I'm surprised I don't have a flank like Princess Celestia.”

“Rarity!” Fluttershy gave her close friend a scandalised look and Applejack almost fell over she was laughing so hard.

“Yeah,” Darkstar snorted out a laugh, “yeah, she is pretty generously proportioned.” Darkstar’s laugh quickly died on her lips though when almost immediately Fluttershy gave her a brief and – thankfully – mild, form of the 'stare' before returning to her dessert. “I mean…um…” the young mare mumbled, blushing profusely as Applejack sat back up and quietly resumed eating, “ah, um…” she took a small mouthful. “Sorry.”

Going back to her dessert, Fluttershy simply smiled at the young white unicorn, while Cloud Blossom smirked. Her mother’s stare was so much worse than her spankings, as her date had just realised. The rest of the group ate like nothing at all had happened, and Darkstar, left to her thoughts, quietly went a bright red as she ate the rest of her apple and rhubarb cobbler. Timing herself, Cloud made sure to finish her own bowl when Darkstar emptied her bowl. “Thank you, Aunt Pinkie for the dessert!” Cloud then gave Darkstar a half lidded look, “If you will excuse us, I'm going to examine this lovely model for potential artwork.”

Applejack wasn’t convinced. “Right...”

Very thankful for the much needed reprieve, Darkstar not so much as got up, rather she jumped up from her seating pad. “Yes please do excuse us, I really need to be examined.”

Pinkie’s eyes were alive with excitement. “Is this like the time we played doctor and nur...” she never got to finish her sentence however as she was silenced by a white hoof to her mouth.

“Yes,” Rarity said, a faint tinge colouring her white cheeks, “and we should go back to the boutique to continue that game.” Pinkie nodded her head, still with her wife’s hoof in her mouth.

On her hooves, Darkstar giggled and walked sexily over to Cloud Blossom, who had likewise stood from the table. “I'm all yours.”

Grinning, Cloud led her date out of the kitchen, through the great room and up the stairs to her old bedroom. “Go on into my room and get comfy. I need to pick up a few things in Mommas room.”

“Alrighty!” Darkstar leant forwards and delicately kissed the pale green pegasus’s nose, “don't make me miss you…” she purred and sauntered, swaying ass and all, into the bedroom.

Cloud Blossom was gone perhaps two minutes, barely enough time for Darkstar to arrange herself in as alluring a fashion as she could manage on her old bed, when she walked in with a battered old red duffel bag balanced on her back. Open mouthed at the sight that greeted her – Darkstar had her pure unblemished back to her and was giving her a smouldering over the shoulder look with her grey mane pulled down - she set the bag down at the side of the bed. “First, I don't want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, because that would make me sad.”

“I won't, pretty mare,” Darkstar smiled up at her, “I promise.”

Cloud Blossom opened up a side pocket in the bag, then she reached into it and the small box inside and she pulled out a small crystal of rock salt. “You say you never tried this?”

“That’s right,” Darkstar nodded her head, her yellow eyes locked on the chunk of salt held in her date’s hoof. “I’ve wanted to try it though.”

“So far I've not found it addictive, but it is a lot like alcohol.” Cloud Blossom explained as she flapped her pale green wings and hovered her way onto the bed to lie next to the white unicorn. “Mellows you out. I think a taste would be safe without me taking advantage of you.” Cloud then took a long slow lick of the crystal and hoofed it over to Darkstar to try.

Eagerly, Darkstar took the crystal in her magic and gave it a hesitant tentative lick. Unsurprisingly it tasted of salt, but strangely it wasn’t unpleasantly salty, it was just…nice. Very, very nice. “Hmmm…that is properly nice.”

“Yes.” While the crystal was held in mid-air between them, Cloud Blossom leant in and licked at it while it was held in the glowing yellow aura. “Yes it is.”

“Wow...” Darkstar relished the flash of flavour that spiked on her tongue and gave it a second, longer lick. “That is really, really cool.”

Waiting for the young pure white mare to lick it for a third time, Cloud Blossom timed her lick so they both attacked the salt crystal together, both of their tongues lapping sensuously against each other with the salt in between them. “One more lick each and I think we can put it down and snuggle while the effects take.”

“Oh, yeah we can!” Feeling very much like a naughty filly doing something illicit in the school bathroom, Darkstar licked the salt crystal again, letting it waver from her magical hold as the flavour exploded in her mouth, once more setting her tongue on fire with sensation.

Seeing the salt start to fall, Cloud took hold of the crystal and reached over to replace it back in the box from whence it came. Darkstar let it go and she laid back on the bed as her senses buzzed. “Hmmm…I enjoyed that.”

With the salt crystal put away, Cloud Blossom laid next to Darkstar on the bed. “Just wait as it works in your system.” She whispered as she nuzzled her neck.

Without hesitation, Darkstar cuddled up next to the older mare. “Hmhmm…I do like your breath on my neck…” already, she could feel the effects of the salt lick in her system.

Her muzzle buried deep in the crook of Darkstar’s neck, Cloud Blossom took a deep breath. “You smell nice and,” her right hoof roamed down her barrel and over her flank that was just barely contained by the yoga pants, “this fabric is really soft.”

“Mmm…isn't it just?” Darkstar murmured and shivered at the touch of the pale green hoof caressing her flank, “your hoof is softer.”

Cloud giggled, “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I should hope so,” Darkstar rolled onto her right side in towards Cloud and lovingly kissed her nose as her hoof wandered down her side past her wing joint to gently caress her raised right flank.

“If you like, I can be a stallion for you.”

“Hmmm sexy, I think I'd like that very much.”

Cloud Blossom leant in and purred into Darkstar’s left ear. “I'd like to be that for you very much.” She punctuated her comment with a long deep kiss on the unicorn’s lips.

The moment Cloud’s lips touched hers, Darkstar took the initiative and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, pulling the pale green pegasus on top of her as she rolled back onto her back, kissing her lips as passionately as she could, being new to kissing mares. Lost in the kiss, Cloud quite forgot about any conversation and kissed the white mare back with a fervour. Darkstar slid her tongue into her lover’s mouth. Happy to follow her lead, Cloud let Darkstar have her way, but she made sure to keep up with what was being done to her, her hooves wandering down the unicorn’s body to fondle her teats. After a few moments, Darkstar broke the kiss so she could breathe. “Wow...who's an awesome kisser?”

“I am of course!” Cloud Blossom giggled, feeling very chilled indeed as the salt lick finally began to take effect on her somewhat inured system.

“You is!” Darkstar, well under the influence of the salt, gave her a playful giggle. “I know something else you can kiss, if you wanna…” she flicked her yellow eyes upwards suggestively.

Cloud Blossom stuttered more than a little bit at that. Her blue eyes wandered up her lover’s face, following the direction of her eyes until she gazed at her forehead. “Yo...your ah...your horn?”

Laid back on the bed, nestled underneath the older mare, Darkstar unleashed upon her the best sultry eyed look she could muster. “You mind reader.”

“I've heard Aunt Rarity talk about it.” Cloud started, all of a sudden unsure of herself, having never done this before. “Are you sure?”

“Mmmm...” Darkstar murmured, “for starters, anyway.” While she was tentative at first, merely planting delicate little kisses with her lips upon the very tip of her horn, Cloud Blossom soon got into it based on the sounds her lover was making. “Ooooh...Hmmm Cloudy your tongue feels soooo good!” Smiling, and encouraged by said noises, Cloud used hearsay from Rarity and Pinkie to guide her actions. She locked her lips around the tip of Darkstar’s and suckled on it like a foal on a nipple before running her tongue from the tip to the base and then back again up along the cylindrical grooves.

“AaaaaAAH!” Darkstar arched her back in sheer pleasure, her horn starting to glow from the stimulation she was receiving. Seeing the horn glow, Cloud Blossom hesitated, touching it with just the very tip of her tongue. “Pl-Please...” Darkstar moaned, “Cloudy please don't stop…” Rolling the unusual taste around on her tongue, and since it didn't hurt and it was feeling kind of nice, Cloud decided to go back at it.

“Oooh...” Darkstar’s moan grew deeper, lustier as the glow became little pulses of harmless magic that ran up her horn from base to tip. “Ooh yeah that's the stuff!” Cloud Blossom then took Darkstar’s whole horn in her mouth and with the use of her teeth, her lips and her tongue she worked the top four inches. “MmmmMM!” Darkstar’s moan became guttural as the pulses of magic start to pulse faster and faster the more her horn was stimulated by her new lover. “C-Cloudy....jeez I'm…I’m gonna cum!”

Hearing that, Cloud Blossom doubled her efforts, grazing her teeth against each groove in Darkstar’s horn as she continued to suck greedily at it. “Oooh...ooooh YEEEEEES!” The pure white unicorn shuddered and screamed as she reached her climax, her stimulated horn sending out little multi coloured magical fireworks that shimmered and sparked harmlessly in the pegasus’s mouth. Unfortunately, Cloud didn't know when to stop so she kept on going even though she knew Darkstar had come. “GAaaAAH!” She screamed with pleasure and shot more sparks as she came a second time. “C-Clooooooudy...” she panted, cross eyed, “e-enough...babe...”

Finally, Cloud Blossom pulled her muzzle off of Darkstar’s still glowing horn and sniffed the air. “Hmm, smells like somepony has sure had a good time.”

“Daaaamn…” Darkstar slumped onto the bed, a mess of magicum and sweat. “That was bucking awesome!” She smiled a trippy smile, all loose and happy. “I think I wet my pants though…” she lowered her forehoof to her crotch and there was indeed a definite wet patch.

“I should get you out of those then before they chaff.” Cloud Blossom then nuzzled her way down the lithe unicorn’s sweaty body so she could use her mouth to remove the tight fitting yoga pants. “No magic!”

“Ooooh!” Darkstar squirmed as the pants were gently tugged down her hind legs. She blushed a little when she realised the smell of her magicum was hanging in the air like a musk. A musk that was driving her marehood insane with need. “Hmm…you're using magic alright...your magic muzzle!”

Once the damp sweaty yoga pants and the skimpy top were removed by Cloud Blossom’s amazingly dextrous teeth and set aside on a nearby dresser, and after a very long and intense kissing fest that left both mares breathless and even more aroused than before, Cloud asked, “Do you want to be the mare or stallion first?”

Darkstar bit her lip, suddenly nervous. This was after all her first time with a mare. “Can um, can you mount me, please?”

“I'd be happy too, lover.” Smiling a seductive smile, the pale green pegasus slid off of her old bed and walked carefully on her three legs to the toy bag. “When is the last time you saw your first?” She asked as she searched through it for Mr. Fluffums.

“Hmm...” Darkstar murmured as she sprawled back on the bed, her grey tail flicking sensuously up between her legs to cover her marehood. She tried to think, but her thought’s seemed a little cloudy, either from the salt lick, her aroused state, or both. “I’d say about a month ago when Bright went down to Filly.”

Her questing hoof resting on the fake stallionhood she sought, Cloud asked, “Bright?”

“HmHmm!” The very mellow mare smiled back at her. “Brightstar...” a fraction of a second too late, Darkstar’s yellow eyes went wide as saucers as she was hit with the realisation of what she’d said.

Strangely, Cloud had a very sad look on her pale green face. “Did he leave you then?” She asked as she gently tugged the orange strap on out of the duffel bag of toys.

“Oh, oh no...” Darkstar began to sputter, but the effects of the salt lick meant she didn’t panic for long, soon she settled back into the mood. “We ah, we did stop seeing each other like that, that's all. We're still friends though…” She trailed off into silence when she saw the toy and she rather forgot all about her brother. “Wow, now that's a good size.”

Cloud Blossom grinned as she secured the straps around her waist. “Not quite my uncle, but yeah, Mr. Fluffums does the job right proper.”

“Oh sexy,” Darkstar’s yellow eyes zeroed in on the bouncing orange shaft dangling below Cloud’s waist. “I'm sure it does.” As Cloud Blossom mounted the bed, a rather sexy predatory grin on her muzzle, Darkstar spread her hind legs wide open and lowered her grey tail from her crotch, showing herself off on full display for her lover.

Using her pale green wings, Cloud Blossom hovered just slightly so that her chest was higher than her ass to fully display the strap on to her lover. “I hope I can do better than Bright,” she gave the young unicorn a very salacious wink and licked her lips. “Assume the position, filly.” She said in a commanding tone.

“Hmmm,” likewise, Darkstar licked her lips in anticipation, “yes Ma'am!” She returned the wink and rolled onto her belly, making sure her forelegs were tucked under her chest and she spread her hind legs, dangling them off the edge of the bed so that the toes of her hooves just touched the floorboards.

Swooping down behind her, Cloud went muzzle first under Darkstar’s grey tail to make sure she was properly ready to receive. The very last thing she wanted to do was rush it now and ruin everything. “Whoo!” Wholly unprepared for the contact, the pure white mare squealed and hiked her tail sharply upwards and to one side, still sopping wet from the horn-job she had just been given.

Taking a long slow lick straight up the centre of her marehood, Cloud Blossom casually sampled Darkstar’s sweet nectar. “Are you sure you're ready, Darkie?”

“Yes!” Darkstar exclaimed, her voice full of lust and need, “oh Cloudy yes I want you so bad!” Given the license she needed, Cloud Blossom reared to her hind leg, using her wings for support, and surged up on to her back and placed her forehooves on Darkstar’s shoulders for leverage like she had done this before and in one fluid motion of her hips she smoothly entered her receptive lover.

“Oooooh!” Darkstar let out a lusty little squeal and Cloud Blossom, spurred on by said lusty squeal, snorted passionately and worked her thrusts into a smooth in and out rhythm. Once she was sure the pretty young mare was in no distress she sped up the pace. “Aaah...aaaah...y-yeeees!” Darkstar moaned and thrust herself backwards in an attempt to match her pace, all the while getting wetter and more lubed with each thrust.

“You are so hot!” Cloud purred in her ear, her forehooves pulling the pure white mare backwards to allow her to get deeper inside her. “Sing for me.”

Darkstar was getting lost in the sensations, hottest among which was the knowledge she was being rutted hard by a mare. It was strangely so much dirtier than her brother. “I'll d-do aaaAAAAH nything you want!” She moaned out the promise and began to drool into the bed sheets.

“Music to my ears.” There was a definite growl to Cloud’s voice as she quickened up the pace, now slamming her pale green hips into Darkstar’s ass, her thrusting starting to spread the unicorn’s thighs in an effort to bottom out.

“OoOOOOH!” Darkstar was in heaven, or at least very close to it. “CLOOOOUDY YEEES!” She screamed heartily, her return thrusts starting to become a little erratic the nearer she got to her climax. Grunting, Cloud Blossom pounded away with a passion, determined as she was to bring her lover to that climax. “Oooh...sweetness...I - I'm gonna cuuuuum!”

“Come for me.” Cloud Blossom’s growl became guttural with the desire and passion as she was rutting her lover hard. “Come now, come for me hard so I can't pull back out.”

“Yeees...Yes...” Darkstar’s moans were almost delirious with pleasure. She was very, very close now. “YES MA'AAAAAM!” Several hard thrusts later, which saw the base of Mr. Fluffums enter her wet marehood, Darkstar screamed Cloud Blossom’s name very loudly indeed as she came, her marehood clenching tight around the strap on buried deep inside her.

“You'd do my mommas proud,” Cloud Blossom panted from her exertions and leant forward to rest her weight on Darkstar’s back and, as she tenderly nuzzled her neck, both mares were just alert enough to hear laughter coming from downstairs in the Homestead.

“Hmm...” Darkstar didn’t really know what to say to that so she just panted for breath as the laughter carried up through the floorboards. “Sounds like it.”

“My, but you've been holding that in.” Cloud giggled as when she slid back and pulled out, a torrent of cum gushed out of Darkstar’s marehood and splashed onto the floorboards to form a puddle. “Care to taste yourself?”

“It’s ah...” Darkstar gasped, “It’s been a while…” she smiled a very happy contented smile and opened her mouth. The pale green mare spread her wings and hovered over the bed to land on her knees in front of her and presented the strap on for the pure white mare’s pleasure. Immediately Darkstar began to suck the toy clean like a real pro, deep throating it and making sure to give her lover as good a show as she could.

Watching, Cloud Blossom was impressed. Very impressed. “Your technique must have made Brightstar proud.”

“Hehe...I ah...I never had no complaints,” Darkstar sniggered as she pulled off of the now clean Mr. Fluffums and winked up at the older pony. Indeed, her brother had never complained to her once.

“You'll get none from me,” Cloud Blossom smiled lovingly at the pure white unicorn and, once she was satisfied with the clean-up, she moved down on the bed to kiss her deeply.

“Mmmm…” returning the kiss as deeply as she could, Cloud moved in to snuggle mode at Darkstar’s side, nestling in tight to her as she waited patiently for her breathing and heart rate to normalise. Happily snuggling and kissing, she started to breathe more normally after just a few moments. “I do believe it’s my turn now,” she whispered in Cloud’s ear.

Cloud Blossom smiled in Darkstar’s tight embrace. “I know it’s your turn, oh horny Prince.”

Darkstar snickered and flicked her yellow eyes upwards towards the top of her head. “Funny you should mention my horn. Princess.”

That stunned Cloud. She was not prepared for that. At all. “You...mean...” nervously, very nervously, she glanced at Darkstar’s horn and then at her own backside. “You mean…do me…with... your horn?”

Darkstar propped herself up on the elbow of her right forehoof and stared bedroom eyes at the nervous pegasus as she kissed her nose. “You never had it? It's suuuuuuper awesome!”

“Is it...” Cloud Blossom blushed, feeling suddenly very silly, “Is it safe?”

More good natured laughter filtered through from the two older mares that were left downstairs, along with Fluttershy’s voice. “Pinkie and Dash both seem to like it!”

Snorting out a giggle at Fluttershy, as well as wondering just how thin these walls were – and worrying for split second that the bed with them on it would suddenly crash through into the room below – Darkstar once more kissed Cloud Blossom’s nose and put on her serious face. “Do you trust me?”

Blushing very hard so that her pale green face turned a fierce crimson, Cloud Blossom nodded hesitantly. “Um, yesss…”

“On your back then, sexy pony.”

“Okay.” Cloud Blossom still sounded very nervous as she rolled to her back on the bed. Breathing shallowly, she laid her right hind leg to the side and forced her blonde tail flat.

From downstairs drifted parts of a hushed conversation that they couldn’t quite catch, one little snippet that did come through clearly however was Fluttershy’s soft voice saying; “No, Jackie, you can't video tape it!”

Darkstar couldn’t help but giggle, both at the suggestion of being taped – which she didn’t mind in the least – and at her lover’s intense blush. “I think I like your family,” she purred and began to kiss her lips and make her way down the pale green mare’s body. “They remind me of mine.” Darkstar kissed over her left thigh around where the rest of the leg should be, only to be interrupted by the straps of the toy still around her waist. “Let's get rid of this…” Lighting her horn, the pure white unicorn carefully removed Mr Fluffums with her magic.

Cloud Blossom laid back and tried very hard to relax, smiling a nervous smile. “Be gentle. You're my first.”

“I promise, my love.” Laid on her front, looking at her intended target all glistening and wet, Darkstar nestled in next to Cloud Blossom’s right leg and cast a low level spell that extended a magical 'sheath' a few millimetres out around her horn and rubbed her tip around the older pony’s labia.

“It's sooooo pointy…” Cloud murmured, watching every little move that Darkstar made like a hawk and, when she saw her light up her horn she couldn’t help but flinch backwards just slightly.

“Ready?” Darkstar asked as she added a minor cantrip to the sheath spell that started up a series of low vibrations while she was still in contact with her lover’s wet folds.

“Oh…” Cloud Blossom could only nod as she watched, “Ohhhhhhhh!” She squeaked as Darkstar very gently pushed her head forward, slowly inserting her horn inside her tunnel. Looking on in fascination, the pale green mare saw some of the glow from the unicorn’s horn showed through the skin and fur. “AHHHHAAAHAHH it's vibrrrrrrraaatinggggg Ohhhhhh!”

“Oh it only gets better...” Darkstar smiled and slowly pressed on until she was hilted inside her lover’s marehood. “Now look what my tongue can do.” To demonstrate just what her tongue could do she began to lap at the tight ring of Cloud Blossom’s anus and increased the vibrations that her horn was producing.

“Sweet Celestia's Sun!” Cloud arched her back in sheer pleasure. She could feel every little groove in the cylindrical horn as it passed inside her, filling her up and rubbing against her moist inner walls in a way she’d never felt before. That it was vibrating like a dildo on high was just a bonus. She heard Darkstar giggle, she felt her pull out, and more to the point – or her point – she felt her gently thrust back inside her.

“Aaaah! AaaaAAAH!” Cloud Blossom’s hind leg kicked out at nothing but empty air as she laid her head back panting from the treatment she was receiving, and Darkstar increased the vibrations of her horn as it hilted inside her again. Every time she hilted her horn, juice from her marehood dripped down her white forehead and the unicorn flicked her tongue over and around her anal ring.

Cloud Blossom squirmed, she reached down with her right forehoof so that it rubbed along the young unicorn’s horn as it pulled out and pushed back inside her. “Ooooh!” Darkstar moaned lustily at the friction now between hoof and horn, her horn now started to pulsate as Cloud’s hoof rubbed it, the vibrations increasing in strength with each pulse.

“Teehee!” Cloud Blossom at first found the vibrations ticklish, so her hoof made and broke contact with Darkstar’s horn as she moaned ever louder in the throes of her passion. “Darkie, fill me with your light!”

“MmMMmmm Aaaaah y-yeeeees Ma'am!” Obligingly, Darkstar started to speed up her thrusts as her horn glowed brighter and brighter, Cloud found she could take the touch of her vibrating horn on her hoof so she pressed them against the bed. “Aaaaah...C-Clooooudy...Mmm I'm so close!”

“I'm over!” With a violent arch of her back, Cloud Blossom screamed aloud and clamped down on her horn with her vaginal walls as hard as she could while she orgasmed.

“CLOOOOUDY!” Darkstar screamed as she herself came, shooting her harmless magicum light show from the tip of her horn as she climaxed inside.

“Whoa Nelly, that was some fireworks show.” Applejack commented as she saw the residual magical light seep through the ceiling to finally dissipate in front of her and Fluttershy as they cuddled on the loveseat.

“Hush you,” Fluttershy nuzzled her wife, “or I'm not going to give you a wing job.”

“Ah’m a hushin’!”

“Wow...” Darkstar gasped. She’d never ever cum so much from her horn in her life. For a scary moment everything had gone white and she couldn’t see. “Oh wow...I love you...” she murmured as, still buried inside her lover’s marehood, her vision returned and she saw nothing but green.

“You're a keeper.” Emphasising this, Cloud Blossom moved her forehoof to the back of Darkstar’s head, holding her inside.

That suited Darkstar just fine. Mare or not, straight or not, right now she didn’t care. Right now she was happy. “Y-Yes Ma'am,” she panted and gasped as her climax finally began to recede. “You can keep me all you want.”

“Can you cook?” Cloud Blossom asked, earning a gale of laugher from the great room.

Darkstar nodded. “My cooking's as magic as my horn. I think it's my maid’s dress. Makes the food taste better.”

Cloud Blossom spared a moment to imagine Darkstar in a maid’s dress, then she remembered seeing her Momma Applejack in one, and started laughing out loud, which removed the hoof from the back of her lover’s head.

“What's so funny?” Darkstar asked as she pulled herself carefully out of the still wet tunnel in front of her. “I look good as a maid!”

“I'm sure you do,” Cloud replied, struggling to get her breathing under control. “So does Momma Jack.”

“Oh...oh OH!” Darkstar giggled and crawled her way up the pale green mare’s body to give her a cuddle. “I see.”

Cloud Blossom accepted the cuddle and immediately snuggled in tight. “You really should come to my studio.”

“Yeah?” Darkstar said with a wink and a kiss to her lover’s shoulder and neck, “Gonna turn me into a work of art?”

“One that I wouldn’t mind having to dust.” Cloud nodded with a giggle. “You brave enough to let me see your place?”

Darkstar giggled at that. “Of course I am, I keep a tight ship, thank you missy.” Then, a deliciously sly idea for a prank entered her head and the pure white mare just couldn’t resist. “You do know that a magical release can result in pregnancy, right?” She purred sensuously into Cloud Blossom’s ear. Stunned, Cloud just stared at her while they heard Applejack shout up ‘Ah gotta shotgun!’ from the great room and Fluttershy broke out in laughter. “Especially the amount I just came…” she playfully kissed her nose.

“What...” Cloud was shocked. Very shocked. A mother, her? What? “Um…what if I'm not in oestrus?”

Darkstar had the makings of a huge grin at the edges of her mouth, but decided not to pursue the prank. “Then no, you'd be safe.” She giggled a little as Cloud breathed a big sigh of relief, and Fluttershy’s laugh grew louder, before there was a whispered conversation in the room downstairs. “I think you'd be a sexy momma though…”

Cloud Blossom paled a little. “Give me a few years first.”

“Deal.” With that, Darkstar snuggled tighter into her lover’s embrace and yawned a very tired yawn, her yellow eyes beginning to droop with fatigue. As sleep overtook her, she reflected on the events of the very long day now behind her, and smiled, for she was happy.

Chapter 7 - Acceptance: Part Two

At the Manefair Hotel, safely closeted in their room, Air Raid had just finished her second intense make out session with Cyclone on the bed, both mares having fully explored each other with tongue, hoof and wing. It was only after a few moments of caressing bliss she realised that the time had ticked on to seven thirty p.m. and there was still no word or sign of Darkstar, other than that ridiculous text she had sent.

Gently pulling away from her marefriend’s embrace, she reached for her cell phone on the nightstand by the bed. She was worried and she knew Cyclone was too. Best to give her a call. If nothing else it would get her off of that park bench she knew she was sat on. Flicking through her phone she selected Darkstar's number. “Where are you?” Air Raid’s voice sounded full of worry and concern down the phone. “You haven't come back.”