I noticed some movement the moment I stepped into the basement. But the black shinny mass remained stationary. It was the plants that were twirling about.

The salt jar I levitated in my magic field floated closer as I stepped by Trixie’s side. I had thought that I might have a need for it even before I went to bed the previous day. My prediction had turned out to be correct. Even Pinkie Pie with her weird senses might have trouble if she competed with me in predicting the future.

I poured some salt on the vines and they retracted back to the pots they were planted in, wrapping themselves in the moisture they’d gathered.

The sorry mass before me stayed still, but I saw her breathing.

Her mouth twitched. She was awake.

I telekinetically removed the anti-magic necklace from her neck and unsnapped the binds.

She crashed on the floor and stayed there.

“Get to the platform pet!” I turned around and walked toward the stairs.

I trotted up to the kitchen. Spike wasn’t back, but if he decided to return, I didn’t want him to get upset over my usage of kitchen supplies for my experiments again. It was a minor thing, but our relationship was going through a sensitive patch. I needed to do as much mending and as little wounding as possible upon his return.

Putting down the salt jar, I looked out the window in hope of seeing Spike return. There was no one outside. Just like the last 18 times I checked. The chances of me catching his return down to the second were abysmal. It was silly of me to even attempt to time the reunion. Despite the low odds, I kept doing it for some irrational reason.

I trotted down the stairs with a bowed head. Only when I reached the basement did I look about.

The fleshy mass wasn’t within the holding harness anymore. There were just red stains leading away from it. I followed them with my eyes and lay my view on the motionless lump laying on top of the platform. “Get up!” I poked her with a hoof.

The lump jerked. After a moment of downtime, it moved. Slowly, but surely, it rose. First the forelegs, then the body.

She turned on her tummy pulling her upper body up with her forelegs. Her head slowly lifted from the platform.

Her teeth clenched as she tardily ascended on her trembling appendages.

She spread apart both hind legs. Her head was lowered, what remained of her tail dangled loosely. Both ears were slumped.

She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.

“Good morning, pet!” I greeted her.

She cocked her head and glanced at me, then lowered her eyes to the floor. “Goos mohnin, master.”

“How was your night? Mine was great! I slept like a filly.” I looked at her. ”Why aren’t you answering? Wait, did something happen during the night? You did manage to stay dry as I advised you, right?

“No.” Her voice crackled.

“You were tempting my poor vines with your way of the whorse, weren’t you, pet? Didn’t I tell you not to do that?”

She gasped, then slowly exhaled. “You did, but...”

“You should learn to listen to me, pet. You’d be better off if you did.” I sighed. ”It’s okay, though. No harm was done. They were due for some moisture exposure, anyway.”

Her eyes shifted to the barrel of water for an instant then back to me.

I looked at the barrel. “I guess watering them could also work.”

She opened her mouth and breathed heavily, her tongue slipped from her mouth.

“Those plants really sucked on your liquids, didn’t they?”

Her mouth was agape. The chest inflated and deflated with high frequency. Her face was all mushed up as if she cried, but there were no tears to be seen. Her eyes barely reflected any light.

I stepped on the platform. “Are you thirsty, pet?”

She quickly raised her head and maniacally nodded. Her tongue lapped around her wide open mouth.

“Well, I haven’t brought you any water.”

She pointed behind me at the barrel of water in which she had been washing herself the day before. “Bus you have is right shere in the—”

“That water is dirty.”

“I son’t mind.”

“I do. I’d be a terrible mistress if I had my pet drink dirty water.”

She put her leg down on the platform.

“I actually wanted to get you a glass of clean water, but then I got thirsty myself and drank it without even thinking about you.” I focused on the plants.

“Um…” a squeal came from behind me.

The viny critters seemed in pretty good shape, considering they weren’t exposed to any light.

“Khm...”

“Maybe they aren’t even real plants.”

“Um, mistess Twi...”

I turned back. “You’re disturbing me, pet. Stop being annoying.”

“I’m… I’m soiy…”

“Good.” I turned back to the plants.

“Um, mastel… Mastel!”

“Ugh!” I abruptly turned to her. “What?”

“I’ve nevei been so thiysty in my life. If I could just have some watel. That’s all I want. I don’t need anything else. Just some watel. Please. Just some watel.”

I loudly sighed and gazed at her.

She lowered her shoulders and bowed her head.

“I’ll bring you fresh water, okay?”

“Mhm!” She bounced up and down on her legs.

Her eyes turned to me. She stopped on the spot, nodding her head. Leaning it to the side she blinked with her eyes and lifted her eyebrows.

“I had it on the to-do list, so you’d get it in due time, anyway. However, with you acting so pesky, I’m going to make you wait. Patience is a virtue, and if you can’t gather any on your own, I’ll just have to imprint some on you.”

Her head slumped.

“What? Just because you want something, it doesn’t mean you deserve it. Being unbearable won’t earn you any points, pet. You really should learn your place.”

She opened her mouth and pressed her eyebrows together. Her face was the definition of crying, yet, no tears came out of her dry eyes.

“You know what, pet? Despite my better judgment, I kind of like some of your physiological features. You have potential in you. If you make use of it, I’ll reward you with a treat. You’d like to have an opportunity to earn a drink, wouldn’t you?”

“Mhm.” She raised her head again.

I floated up my checklist from the table and floated it to her. “I was saving up myself for you this morning, isn’t that altruistic of me?”

She tilted her head and opened her eyes wide.

“Did you forget how to read? I see we’ll have to practice reading some more. Ugh!”

She moved her head close to my floating note, almost touching it with her face. Her eyes opened wide but didn’t follow the lines of text.

“Fine, I’ll read it to you.”

I floated the list before me. “Stop lucid dreaming and wake up—checked; find out if Spike came back—checked.” For a moment, I lowered the list and glanced at her. “He hasn’t came back yet, by the way!”

She bowed her head.

“I still can’t forgive you for what you said to him. And the worst part of your transgression is, I’m going to be blamed for it.

You made it sound as if we cut off his wings just because we could. That’s not how it happened at all! Why didn’t you tell him about the accident?

After he broke off a wing, he’d just trash the entire place and hurt himself in the process if he tried to fly with just one spikey appendage. Removing it was the sensible thing to do. It was! I had a whole speech prepared for him when he’d be ready to hear it, but you failed to mention any of the key elements of said speech despite having full access to it via my memories.”

She bit on her lower lip.

“Now that I think about it, you definitely don’t deserve a glass of water and I’m glad I intentionally forgot it!”

Her body shook.

I breathed in, moving a foreleg to my chest, then exhaled extending it outward. “Me forgetting something does sound dire. You being useless doesn’t help. Yet I think I have a solution for both our calamities.”

Her eyes rolled up.

“Friends help each other and I think you’re finally ready for this lesson. I happen to have some chores to do and if you help me with them, you also get what you want.“

I floated the note back to my eyes.

“Get salt for vines—checked.
Prevent Trixie’s dehydration—not checked yet.”

I wiggled my tongue around my mouth and rolled up my eyes. “I believe I still have some moistness in my mouth from the glass of water I drank just before picking up salt from the kitchen.”

“It’s free for the taking.” I lowered the list to the floor and cut off the flows in my horn. “Are you still interested?”

Author's Note

Don't forget to participate in the Comment section minigame when you're done reading this chapter.