Summer threw open her door, looking around with her hat half hanging off her head. "Where could they have gone off ta..." Visions flitted through her mind of the various terrible ways things could have gone. Maybe they had eloped and decided they didn't need Summer as part of it?

No, that was jealousy speaking. They had promised to be good ponies when she wasn't around, and they were both good ponies, er, creatures, and they would never. She stomped a hoof, reprimanding herself for even thinking it.

Some other nosy pony could have come a knocking and... they ran. But why?

Or... She came to a stop, raising a hoof to her face. "She took him out," she groaned. It was the only scenario that made sense. She dragged him out into the town... and something terrible happened there. "He's not ready fer that!" Or maybe he was. Maybe she'd get to the town square and he'd be doing tricks for her neighbors and everypony would be laughing and smiling and she'd just feel silly for even feeling bad.

With a glimmer of hope, she trotted away from her home with the carefully held image of Winter and Maple having a perfectly fine time with the town ponies.

"He ran away?" Cherry's ear skewed to the side, peering at Maple without being fully convinced. "Why would he do that? That don't speak well for him none."

"I told him to go." Maple sank miserably on her seat, ears drooped and hanging left and right. "He was ready to fight fer me, to keep me out of jail. Was gonna get himself in trouble, so ah told him to go home, and he ran off instead..."

"That's more the stallion behavior I'd expect." Her unsure expression broke into a smile. "Ready to move mountains if it meant a happy mare." With a content sigh, she nodded, looking more secure about the order of the universe. "So ya slapped him on the back end and he took off."

"I did no such thing!" Maple squeaked in alarm, her hooves covering her warm cheeks.

"Darling, you need to stop takin' turns ah phrases so darn literal. Did you see which way he went?"

Maple sat up and reached for the door, cracking it open to peek outside. They were still moving, rolling through the town, but that didn't stop her from shoving her head out and craning about for a better view. "That way, ah think."

Cherry could not see the direction Maple was pointing, the door in the way, but that didn't stop her. "Follow that mare!" she bellowed in command, prompting the cart to turn sharply as the stallions turned to go in the direction Maple was pointing. "We'll find that stallion of yours."

Maple's view of the world swerved with the turning cart, holding onto the edge as tightly as she could in a desperate cling. Flying past her in almost a streak, she saw a familiar pony. Well, she saw a lot of familiar ponies. She knew most of the fine folk of the town, but that one was special. "Summer!"

Summer perked an ear, hearing her name. She looked towards the source, but there was nothing but a retreating wagon drawn by four stallions. "Huh..." She shook her head and went up to a random pony on the street. "Have you seen Maple around here?"

Cherry grabbed Maple by the scruff and yanked her back inside the wagon fully, closing the door in the process. "Summer don't need to be frettin' none. We'll get her boy back."

"Ma'am?"

Cherry looked forward towards one of her pullers speaking. "What is it?"

"There are tracks on the ground."

Cherry squinted faintly before opening the door on her side and swinging up and out, flipping over the top of the wagon in an athletic display that ended with her standing on top of the wagon with a clop of her hooves coming down on the wood. The wind whipping through her mane, she could clearly see the tracks the stallion was referring to, two steady lines that went off into the evening desert.

"Maple, darling, there's no reason for our stallion to be on fire, is there?" She leaned over the side of the wagon, peering towards the window that led back inside.

"Um, actually..."

Cherry turned towards the front, pointing to the trail they had not been following precisely at all, slowly diverging from it. "Follow that line! Seems our helpful little stallion left us a trail to find him by. Right thoughtful of him, ah reckon." The wagon veered towards the lines, but Cherry leaned with it, easily keeping her place as she sat down on the root. She would not be tossed from her throne and chariot so easily.

Back in town, Summer went from pony to pony, asking if they'd seen either of her friends. "He's a real quiet sort, stoic ya could say, but real nice. Ya can't miss him, scales all over his back, one big curved horn?"

The mare she asked shook her head. "Didn't that creature come and go a while ago?"

"A different one," sighed out Summer. "Wait, you saw the first one?"

The mare nodded softly. "Oh, sure. A nice mare. She wasn't so quiet though, not like you said." She canted her head faintly. "She thought everything about the town was interesting to look at and gawk at."

The original Kirin she had seen was a mare? Summer wondered for a moment if that had colored things a little. "I... see... Well... Not that one. I know another one, that wasn't just passing through, but I lost him."

"Lost him?" The mare squinted at Summer before waving at ponies going by. "Creatures are not a thing you 'lose' like that. A sock, or a hat maybe. What happened to them for them to get lost like that?"

Summer backed a step. "I wasn't... I was workin'! And he was with a friend, Maple."

"Maple," half-laughed and half-sighed the other mare. "She is somethin', ain't she? Ah heard she got picked up fer being a right pain in the back end."

Summer began to blink rapidly. "Picked up?"

"Thrown in jail." The mare pointed the way down the street. "Ya didn't hear about it?"

"Ahm hearin' it right now." Summer turned towards where the pointing was. "She has to know... Ah'll be back." She started into a firm trot towards potential answers.

"Good luck." The other mare waved once before resuming what she was doing.

Their town wasn't that big of a place. A fast-trotting mare could cross from where she started to the small sheriff's office/jail in what only felt like two eternities. She charged right through the swinging batwing doors that dared to stand in her way. "Where is she?!" she blurted, only to blush an instant later at her outburst.

Tall Hat hiked a brow at the mare. "Where is who?" He fell forward on his chair, letting it clatter back into position against the floor. "Someone causin' you trouble, Summer?"

"Ah don't think so. Ah hope not!" She stepped fully into the building and sank down onto her haunches. "I was told Maple was... here?"

"She was." He nodded softly. "'Till she weren't no more. Miss Jubilee took her."

An image of her boss jumped right into her mind. "W-why? Ah mean, thank you..." Maple wasn't there. Answers weren't there. "Ah... don't reckon ya know where they went? Oh! Was she with a creature with scales on his back, tufted tail? Big curved horn!"

"Ah know the one." Tall tipped his hat over his eyes a little. "Ran off, but not afore puttin' on quite the show. Ain't safe, that one." He thrust a hoof at Summer. "Can't have creatures just settin' themselves on fire. Ain't safe, not even one bit."

Winter was standing. His breathing was back under control and he was appreciative of that. He remembered dimly reading somewhere that horses could run themselves to death. But he wasn't a horse. He wasn't even a pony. He was a kirin. Either way, he didn't feel like he was dying, just becoming colder as the sun set.

He had to get home, but where was home? The town wasn't in sight in any direction. He circled in place, looking at the sand and cacti.

A sudden low howl made him jump in place. A wolf? He didn't want to meet any wild wolves. He began moving away from the sound of the howl, hoping to avoid being predated upon. A human catching up to him and dragging him back to town, that would have been alright. Being chewed apart by hungry wolves, less so.

Surely if he just... walked, he'd eventually run into something. Right? Walking felt better than standing still, fighting the chill of the night by getting back into an easy trot and bouncing along the sandy terrain.

The gloom grew heavier as he went, as if he were somehow fleeing the sun, but he was sure that wasn't the actual case. That realization did nothing to make it any lighter. He willed light into his horn, shining gently to the ground in a faint gloom that at least chased away the worst of the dark. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, he decided.

The moon was large and overhead, shining its silver light down on him along with the countless stars. Equestria had pretty nights, he decided, trying to keep himself calm and perhaps even enjoy the little hike he'd made for himself. Sure, he was still sore from his wild gallop and he wanted to collapse in a nice soft bed, but he was alive, and an answer was out there, somewhere.

Jubilee jumped from the wagon, hitting the dirt into an easy trot without a bit of hesitation between. "Sure did."

The stallion that had first seen it nodded. "We can't follow tracks that ain't there, an' it's gettin' dark, Ma'am."

"It already is dark," corrected Cherry as she circled around, inspecting where the tracks led to one spot, then vanished. "This is not going to make my little Summer happy none..."

The door to the wagon swung open and Maple half-fell out onto the dirt. "Oof! Did we find him?" She scrambled back to her hooves and hurried over to Cherry's side, looking around wildly, but there was no Winter in sight. "Where'd he go?"

Cherry pointed at the sooty end point. "Do creatures like him... burn up? We lookin' at what's left?"

Maple's eyes went wide at the idea, falling over herself as she backpedaled. "Ah hope not! Summer will never forgive me! Ah'll never forgive me!"

Cherry suddenly slapped Maple across her distraught face, punching her with the flat of her hoof. "Get yourself together, dear. Ah don't think he did that. Ah don't see no pile or a scatterin' ah ashes. The damn fool just wandered off."

"Maybe he's lost," posited one of the four stallions. The other three nodded in agreement.

Cherry let out a slow breath. "Maybe so... Boys, take Maple back to town." She thrust a hoof back towards it. "Get her to Summer. She must be worried sick at this point. Ah'll keep on goin'."

All five ponies gaped at Cherry as if she had taken all leave of her senses. "What? Ah can take care'a myself jus' fine." She tossed her mane as she turned in place, looking across the ground. "Just have to find his tracks... He weren't sneakin' from somethin'. I bet it's around here."

Maple rubbed one fore leg with the opposing hoof, eyes wandering the darkness. "Why don't ya leave me here? Yer... way more important."

Cherry bopped Maple on the nose. "Now see here. Summer is my sweet little foal, wonderful and productive. I expect everythin' from my workers, but that's a two way street, ya hear? You go on back to her. Ah got it from here."

They left her there, even if none of them particularly wanted to. They'd have to trust in their successful friend's ability to survive in the wilderness.

Author's Note

Ya thought the adventure was about to wind down. Not over yet! This is also why I suck at writing porn. I keep doing plot, and not the right kind of plot!

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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