Playing with Fire

The clanking of hooves on the metallic floor could be heard all around the room. The room was rather enormous. In this large room, thousands of guards could be seen around the inside of the prison. This large room though was particularly made for criminals who were on maximum security and high watch.

Solar Dots was now cuffed on all four of his hooves and unable to escape. The ring that disabled his power and rendered his body useless, no longer paralyzed him. He was chained up and held prisoner by four magical cuffs which showed visible electrical flow and held his hooves in permanent placement. It was almost nearly impossible to escape from it as well. The ring now only stopped his magic so he was unable to use the power he was gifted with from Apate’s doings. There were always guards who watched over Solar Dots very carefully.

A guard who seemed to have bat-like wings was walking back and forth with a weapon in his holster. This stallion had a dark grey mane and light grey coat to go with it. He removed his helmet to reveal his piercing purple eyes and a tiny scar around his eye.

The guard spoke silently to Solar. “You don’t know me but I definitely know you. You were the one that burned down my family home. Now you’re here where you belong. You call yourself by the name Solar Dots, right? Allow me to introduce myself then. My name is Hookwing and you will be staying here for quite a while buddy.”

Solar Dots grinned widely while showing his sharp fangs to him. He laughed gently. “So, if your family home is burned down, did your bitchass family die too?”

Solar Dots clearly wanted to egg the guard on for challenging him.

The guard quickly grabbed his weapon and pointed it at Solar Dots chin with his hoof on the trigger, making an angry expression. “Don’t test me! I could blow your head off right now if I wanted to and there wouldn’t be a single thing you could do about it.”

Solar Dots smirked and laughed loudly as his laugh echoed throughout the metallic walls. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me! You have got to be joking with me! I am a being of magical creation of flames. I am half demon! You think a gun is going to work on me!?”

Hookwing could tell that he was lying a bit and pointed the gun further into his chin. “Want to test me and find out?”

Solar Dots could be hurt by weapons but not as much as normal ponies would be. Since Apate was the one demon that had unlimited power, her powers transcended through Drizzle which made the villain Solar Dots. Solar knew that if he hadn't had that ring on his horn, he would have killed that guard in a second and almost every other guard in that prison as well.

The guard Hookwing stared at him with angered eyes. “You’re so clueless. You’re the reason I got this scar over my eye, you’re the reason you took my mother away from me, you’re also the one who took my friend in arms away from me as well. We worked together here for a long time and he was always my friend. You decided that day would be a good day to take him away from me. He risked his life just to save others from you. You know nothing!”

Solar grinned widely. “I knew all of that. I just did it because I don’t know. Maybe I was bored?”

He grinned widely showing his lack of empathy or remorse.

Hookwing’s eyes widened as his pupils shrunk. “Because you were bored!? Ponies don’t go out on a whim and take others' lives and burn entire villages because of boredom! You weren’t bored, you were just a true psychopath looking for your next thing to get off to.”

“Exactly. I get bored when I’m not doing crazy things. Makes me rather..Insane?” He laughed silently, obviously egging the guard on. “Mister guard, you can’t exactly shoot me anyways. That isn’t your duty is it? Your job is to maintain the bad stallion..” He smiled widely.

Hookwing simply rolled his eyes to maintain his professional composure, despite all the things that Solar caused for him.

“Either way, you will be spending a long time here. Monsters like you don’t deserve good things in life. We’re all glad that you’re here now and not torturing the public with your insanity. You caused many ponies to die, you have caused many parents to mourn their children and you have caused more damage to our world and to our ponies than is ever forgivable. You will never be forgiven for the evil and the chaos that you’ve caused to many.”

Solar Dots grinned slowly. “So be it..”

Flusk was sitting on her bed in Gem Paws home now crying to herself. She covered her eyes with her hooves and pulled her sheets over her body.

“Everything is my fault!”

Flusk cried loudly which could be heard throughout the house. “Now Gem Paws hates me and so does he. Everypony hates me! I wish I had never brought him anywhere. It’s my fault this happened! I should have never ever brought him to the caves!”

Aphrodite could hear the crying from her room and slowly walked up to her room and sat down on her bed next to her. Aphrodite wrapped her hooves around her and pushed Flusk’s head into her chest.

“Shh, it isn’t your fault. You never knew that any of this would happen, Flusk. You didn’t know about the caves or what would happen with him at the gala. You can’t just predict stuff like that.”

Aphrodite grabbed Flusk’s chin and kissed her gently. Flusk soon showed her love and appreciation towards Aphrodite by kissing her back. Flusk wanted to seem to forget these terrible moments and relax. Flusk grabbed ahold of Aphrodite and gently landed down onto the bed with her, kissing her and ridding her pain of these events. Aphrodite and Flusk soon found themselves lightly making out in affection for one another. They soon ended up sleeping in the same bed and comforting each other throughout the night. Flusk felt so much better when Aphrodite was there besides her. She felt safe and needed.

Aphrodite stroked Flusk’s strands of mane and kissed her ear. She held her in her bed as she whispered to Flusk. “Goodnight, Fluskie.”

Flusk blushed and smiled lightly as they were both headed to bed. “Goodnight, Aphrodite.”

Flusk was sitting on Gem Paws porch looking out at the sky which was now slowly returning back to normal ever since Solar was captured.

“Only a moment you stayed, but what an imprint your hoofprints have left on our hearts.”

Flusk knew that several of her friends were out of town at the moment so she decided she would do something bad. Flusk sat on the porch chair and lit up a cigarette and started smoking.

“If everypony is choosing to leave me, why should I try anymore?”

Flusk took a slow drag of her cigarette and slowly exhaled out the smoke as she closed her eyes and sighed. Aphrodite trotted up to the front porch upon her trip to the store as she dropped her grocery bags suddenly.

“Flusk?! Are you joking with me? Why are you smoking?!”

Flusk quickly dropped her cigarette and her eyes popped open in surprise. “Aphrodite?!”

“Why are you smoking?! Don’t you know that’s bad for you?!”

Flusk suddenly stood up in anger and smacked her hooves onto the arms of the chair roughly. “I don’t need to give you or anypony else an explanation! I am an adult and I can take care of myself!”

Aphrodite’s face suddenly dropped down in disappointment. “Why are you yelling at me?”

Flusk threw her hooves in the air. “I’m not yelling at you! I’m just frustrated right now. I can make my own choices, ya know?”

“Yes you are. You’re yelling at me right now. Stop yelling at me. I was only trying to show concern for you! You shouldn’t be smoking anyways! Don’t you know that could cause cancer?”

“Oh my gosh, so what? The whole world is going to hell anyways.”

“It’s not going to hell! We just defeated Solar Dots!”

Flusk threw down her hooves angrily and screamed at the top of her voice. “I didn’t mean for the rest of the world! I meant that the world was going to hell for me! I lost everypony, my house, two of my friends and that includes Solar Dots! The world sees a monster but I saw somepony innocent and kind until..”

Flusk was stopped short of her screaming as she came to a sudden realization. “Gem Paws...I know how she’s feeling. I felt the same thing too. The whole world sees a monster yet we both grew up with him..”

Flusk dropped to the floor suddenly sitting down with her head held low and her mane in her face. “But he’s gone now. There is no way to get him back either..Is there?”

Aphrodite slowly teared up and dropped her bags out of anger. “You’re so selfish..All you ever think of is yourself. I had to put an entire kingdom ahead of my emotions and stay strong for my citizens! You think it’s okay to just yell at me when I was the one who kept comforting you and just get away with it so easily?! You actually think that I wouldn’t feel some kind of emotion just because I’m royalty?! You treat me the same...Just like all the rest of the ponies..”

Flusk suddenly realized her actions as she shouted out with tears in her eyes. “Aphrodite, wait!”

Before Flusk could even form enough of a sentence, Aphrodite flew off in rage and depression, leaving a big whiff of wind whafting back from the push of her big alicorn wings from coming off the ground and into the air.

Flusk walked over to the bags to see what Aphrodite had been carrying in the bags, only to discover that what Aphrodite had bought had been a big pillow, some chocolates and a comfort blanket. Flusk had now realized that Aphrodite was going to surprise her with these comfort items as a romantic gesture. She quickly felt guilty and dropped to her knees and back hooves and started loudly crying even more than before.

“Aphrodite, I’m so sorry. Don’t go..”

Flusk suddenly snapped in anger and frustration and started to scream loudly. She ran up to the home and started bucking the wooden beam to the porch angrily. She cursed to herself as she was pretending to curse out to Solar.

“You want to make me look like a fool?! You took away everything that was dear to me and you’re not even sorry for it! They’re right about you, you’re just a stupid monster!”

She seemed to lose her control in this situation. With everything that was happening to her all at once, she felt lost and upset and it only kept building up on her.

She stood firm and punched the wall to the home very firmly and repeatedly with her front hoof.

“You took almost everything that was dear to me! You didn’t care how I felt or anypony else! You only thought about yourself and your own selfishness. You only cared about..”

Before she could finish her sentence, she slowed her speech and lowered her hooves and dropped her head.

“But if it wasn’t for me..This would have never happened. Why did I stupidly take you up that mountain? Why didn’t I listen to your sadness more?”

She suddenly dropped down onto her flank with her hooves covering her face. “It’s my fault..Maybe I am more of a monster than I thought.”

Flusk held her face and wiped her tears slowly. “If it weren’t for me convincing him and pushing him to go stupid places that he didn’t even want to go to, we wouldn’t be in this mess..”

She looked down and sat on the porch for a while, holding her stomach and dropping her head down for a while.

After Flusk and Aphrodite’s confrontation, Gem Paws returned silently, not wanting to turn the others' attention on her. However, it didn’t seem like she did upon entering since the group were all chatting in her living room. Well, except for two ponies who noticed her right away.

“Mommy!”

A small colt ran up to her and hugged her tightly, slightly startling her. A stallion slowly trotted out from behind Heartstrings and Crescent and softly smiled at Gem Paws.

“Star, Sapphire, you’re back!” Gem’s mood seemed to lighten now that her son and her husband were home.

Gem hugged Star Chaser back before embracing her husband and giving him a quick kiss. When they pulled away, Sapphire placed his hooves on her shoulders and looked at her in the eyes with a bit of a serious look.

“You’ve been crying..Haven’t you?”

Gem’s eyes widened and she wiped at her eye with her hoof quickly. “W-What?..N-No..”

Sapphire exchanged a knowing look at Gem and she sighed.

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now..”

“Well, if you’re sure. However, I do want to talk about the amount of fire I saw when I came back into town. I thought something might have happened to you and I rushed back here with Star but then I found all these guys hanging around in here.” Sapphire gestured to Flusk’s friends. “Also you didn’t tell me that Princess Regalia herself was going to be here!”

“It’s a long story..”

Suddenly, the door slammed open and everypony jumped, looking towards the entrance to the home. They were all prepared for Solar to come busting through but instead Flusk came stomping through.

“Come on, you can’t just do that! We’re all in survival mode right now you idiot!” Reese shouted at Flusk.

“Don’t talk to me.” Flusk replied coldly.

“Flusk?..” Princess Regalia softly asked.

Flusk ignored her and instead went to the room she was staying in and slammed the door. Not long after, the group could have sworn they heard small sobs echoing in the room. However, they chose to not press for details and moved on.

“So, I think we should probably find activities for the kids to do. It’s not exactly good for them to be here and watching all of this.” Crescent suddenly said.

“Well it doesn’t bother me!” Honeysuckle replied.

“You’re only saying that because you want to watch. Besides, you tried to break up a fight earlier.”

“Did not!”

“Enough.” Gem Paws said sternly, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. “Honeysuckle and kids, go play somewhere else. All this bickering is giving me a headache.”

Honeysuckle only pouted as her younger brother Sea Biscuit pulled her by her tail across the floor, leading her with the other kids into another room. Star Chaser followed along as well as the room was now just full of adults.

“So uh..Is anyone going to fill me in or are we going to leave a guy hanging..” Sapphire asked.

“Are we really talking about this..” Flusk said, suddenly in the room with a cup of coffee in her hoof. She looked like an utter disaster.

“Where did you even come from?!” Heart asked, bewildered.

“Teleportation. It’s the only thing I can ever do these days..Other than being a fucking mess.”

“Flusk, if you ever plan to be a serial killer, count me in.” Reese said.

Heart simply backed into a corner, slightly horrified by the conversation taking place at the moment.

Gem sighed and sat down and began recalling everything she knew. Flusk also chimed in a bit, adding in a lot of pieces from her point of view, along with her friends. Sapphire mostly just listened but added a bit of input himself.

“Wait, wait, so..Drizzle’s a fire monster now?” Sapphire asked, confused.

“Yeah and he kills ponies so he’s gone fucking insane. Trust me, I don’t believe it either.” Reese said.

“You saw him kill ponies right in front of you. What the fuck are you even saying.” Flusk replied.

“He’s not a monster. It’s the book he found. Drizzle would never do this if he was right in his mind.” Gem said.

“Then why the fuck is he murdering ponies?!” Reese snapped.

“I don’t know but I know that isn’t him! He has to be..Possessed or something!”

While they were talking, Honeysuckle slowly sneaked out from the room where the other kids were playing and hid behind a wall, listening in on their conversation.

“All I remember from the gala is seeing this weird mare figure above Drizzle before he turned into whatever he is now. So I think he was influenced by somepony. I’m not sure who but all I know is that like Gem said, that isn’t Drizzle anymore..It’s somepony else..” Flusk explained.

“His magic is unimaginably powerful. He won against me and my sister combined.” Regalia added.

“And took many lives..” Heart replied sadly.

“I still don’t know what to tell his kids..I don’t even want to think about it anymore..I’m so tired of thinking.” Flusk said, frustration in her voice.

Honeysuckle’s ears folded as she stared at the floor in disbelief. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could this all be real? It didn’t make sense whatsoever.

“Flusk, are you okay? You look really pale.” Princess Regalia asked, looking at her in concern. “And..Where’s Aphrodite?”

“I’m fine and..I don’t know where she is. She’s gone..Somewhere.” Flusk mumbled.

There was a crash sounding in the room where the kids were playing as Gem Paws rolled her eyes in annoyance and stood up.

“God damn kids..”

Gem began trotting over to check on the kids as Honeysuckle panicked, squishing herself to the wall hoping she wouldn’t be noticed. Her efforts to blend in with the wall didn’t seem to go very well as Gem noticed her quite quickly. Most likely because she was a tiny light blue filly squished into a wall like a fly. It was rather hard to miss.

“Honeysuckle, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be playing with the other kids?” Gem asked.

“I-I um..I was just going out to get a glass of water!”

Gem stared down at the nervous filly suspiciously. She didn’t seem to be buying her excuse but Honeysuckle continued to try and sell it, hoping it would save her from some kind of punishment for listening in.

“Right..Well, I’m going to go see what your siblings have trashed in the other room.”

Gem walked past Honeysuckle as the filly exhaled out of relief. She turned to walk to the kitchen when she bumped into Flusk.

“Oof! Oh, hi Auntie Flurry!”

“I saw you..You’re lying.”

“W-What?! What do you mean lying, I would never!”

Honeysuckle felt her hooves leave the ground suddenly as she was levitated by a purple aura and directed towards the living room.

“Hey, put me down!”

“I was hoping I didn’t have to talk about this so early but I guess it’s unavoidable.”

Flusk placed Honeysuckle on an armchair as she sat down in one across from her. Flusk smoothed a bit of her messy mane out of her face to at least somewhat make herself presentable and so she could actually see as she settled down.

“So you were at the gala with your brother Sea Biscuit..I remember that because we were trying to keep you and him safe. However, I don’t think you saw much of the damage because we told you to cover your eyes. However, you did see what happened with Drizzle, right?” Flusk asked.

“I did yeah..I just thought maybe he was having you know..Those things baby unicorns get. Magic bursts?..”

“What happened to him and what happens to baby unicorns are totally different things. That definitely wasn’t one of those. That was magic influenced by his anger and his depression. You see, he wasn’t doing so well before all that and I think that really set him off. I still don’t know what happened fully but I do know something went really wrong.”

“He’s going to be okay, right? Once he’s done doing whatever this is..He’ll come home and we’ll do things together again..Right?”

Flusk’s eyes widened when she noticed Honeysuckle starting to tear up. The filly seemed to be holding on to a hope that Drizzle would just turn away from killing ponies and destroying lives and come home and be their father again. If only it was that simple. It seemed like a wish so far out of their reach..It hurt her seeing Honeysuckle like this.

“I..I don’t know..I really don’t know.”

“Then what are we doing here?..What are we going to do?..Is anything we’re doing right now even helping?!”

“I don’t know! I don’t have all the answers like everypony expects me to!” Flusk snapped suddenly.
Honeysuckle moved back into her seat a little, startled by Flusk. Flusk sighed and smoothed back her mane before addressing Honeysuckle again.

“I don’t know if Drizzle will ever come back..But what I do know is we’re going to try our hardest to bring him back. And I won’t give up..Not until he’s home...That’s a promise.”

Honeysuckle started to cry as Flusk hugged her tightly. She let Honeysuckle sob into her shoulder as she held back her own tears. The only thing she could really do was reassure the others they’d bring Drizzle back even though she had a feeling he probably wouldn’t be coming home again.

Night fell over the small home as everypony settled in and Gem and Flusk were getting the kids ready for bed. It was a bit of a hassle to get them all to brush their teeth and stop playing, especially since Bliss was a rather stubborn filly and didn’t want to go to bed. She insisted that she needed to keep practicing her magic so she could learn more healing spells. Gem found out however that she was using the other kids as test subjects and immediately stopped that right away and urged her to go get ready with the others.

Flusk kept watch on the kids, making sure they didn’t wander off to go play and made sure they were all done brushing their teeth. She also helped them into small little beds on the floor that Gem set up for them for the time being. Star Chaser had his own bed considering he lived here but he refused to sleep on it and slept on the floor with the others.

Flusk tucked them into bed and even read them a small bedtime story before they drifted off to sleep. She seemed a bit biased since she was reading her own story that she wrote herself but the kids seemed to enjoy it. When she finished it, she could hear the small snores of all the children in the room and she quietly crept to the door. She felt her tail pulled before she could leave the room and she looked behind her.

“Auntie Flurry..Can I um..Talk to you?” Honeysuckle whispered.

“Sure but not here. I don’t want to wake up the kids.” Flusk replied in a soft whisper.

The two quietly trotted out of the room as Flusk slowly shut the door, making sure not to make too much noise. She turned to look down at Honeysuckle now that they were outside of the room.

“What is it?”

“I can’t sleep..I miss dad too much..” Honeysuckle frowned.

“Well, I’m sure he misses you too. Even if he isn’t in his right mind right now, he still loves you.”

“I don’t think so..He wouldn’t have left if he loved us.”

Flusk placed her hooves on Honeysuckle’s shoulders. “He does love you. Yes, he did some really bad stuff and he really is..Bad..Right now..But he still loves you and he always will. Even if he’s doing very poorly at showing it. You have every right to be angry and upset at him and I won’t take that away from you. I’m sure he understands that too.”

“Are you angry at him?..”

“I am..Sort of..I’m mostly just disappointed at the moment. We all are. But there’s nothing we can do about it right now. But we’ll find a way in time.”

There was a small silence as Honeysuckle thought about Flusk’s answer to her question about Drizzle before Flusk wrapped her hooves around Honeysuckle.

“So, would you like a midnight snack? Something along the lines of..Cookies perhaps?”

“Cookies?!”

“My cookies aren’t as good as Drizzle’s but I like to think they’re a good remedy for not being able to sleep.”

“Yes please!” Honeysuckle said excitedly.

Flusk and Honeysuckle quietly trotted to the kitchen as Flusk began whipping up a batch of cookies. She let Honeysuckle help a bit here and there such as adding chocolate chips to the cookies and setting the timer as the two had fun and chatted about all sorts of things. Once the cookies were done, Flusk and Honeysuckle each enjoyed eating them together and found that they actually tasted quite good. Flusk wasn’t expecting her baking to be very good but with the help of Honeysuckle, it seemed to improve a lot.

After they were done, Flusk sealed the cookies in a little container for the other kids to enjoy tomorrow and brought Honeysuckle back to bed. This time she slept more soundly as she left the room and Flusk internally congratulated herself for successfully getting them all to go to bed.

She trotted down the hall when Aphrodite suddenly put her hoof in the way and stopped her.

“Aphrodite?..I didn’t think you were going to come back..”

“Of course I was going to come back. My sister is here..And so are you.”

Flusk looked down at the ground and folded her ears. “Aphrodite..I’m sorry. I was being rather selfish like you said. I wasn’t thinking and I shouldn’t have yelled at you like-”

Flusk stopped mid sentence when Aphrodite threw her arms around Flusk and hugged her.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. I know that you’re going through a tough time right now and your emotions are hard to control. I completely understand why you’d be on edge. I just needed some time for myself..But..Thank you for apologizing. I’m glad you came to your senses.”

“I’m glad you were able to forgive me. I really thought you were going to leave and..Not come back..”

“Why would I ever do that? I love you, Flusk. Besides, me and Regalia don’t have anywhere to go right now since the castle is sort of..Destroyed to say the least.”

“Please don’t leave..Don’t leave me alone..”

“Flusk?!”

Flusk collapsed on Aphrodite, nearly knocking the princess over since she wasn’t expecting it. She quickly supported Flusk before she hit the ground and held her close.

“Flusk, are you okay?..What’s wrong?” Aphrodite asked worriedly.

She heard a soft murmur noise from Flusk but that was about it. It seemed she had fallen asleep right in Aphrodite’s arms due to such an exhausting day. A small smile fell on Aphrodite’s face as she carefully picked up the sleeping unicorn and carried her to their bedroom. She placed Flusk on their bed and dug through the bag she had brought earlier for her. She placed Flusk’s head onto the pillow and laid the comfort blanket over her before climbing into the bed herself and falling asleep with her loved one in her hooves.

In the morning, the sound of banging hammers and chainsaws woke up the entire home. Aphrodite slung herself up out of her bed while Flusk was heavily snoring, sound asleep. Aphrodite looked out the window to see town’s ponies and construction workers rebuilding homes that were burnt to crisps or broken down from Solar’s reign of chaos.

“Oh good..At least they’re finally rebuilding the town..Slowly.” She smiled softly.

Aphrodite turned her attention towards Flusk who was sleeping. She gently kissed Flusk on the cheek and slowly trotted downstairs with a messy flowing mane from getting out of bed. Aphrodite did not like the morning or waking up to the bright sun in her eyes. She wasn’t exactly a morning kind of mare.

She trotted downstairs lazily as she headed towards the kitchen, groaning and mumbling. “Oh, I am so not a morning pony. I need to get some tea or something and snap out of my sleepy mode.”

After pausing for a bit when she made her way down the stairs, she saw Honeysuckle in the kitchen crying with her head held down in between her hooves that were crossed on the table. Aphrodite heard tiny mumbles of muffled speech.

“He’s never going to come home, I am going to be given up to the adoption agency. Where will my sister and brother’s go?”

Aphrodite quickly rushed over to Honeysuckle and wrapped her into a tight hug. “Hey! Don’t you ever say that! You’re not going to be given up and you are certainly staying here with all of us, little one. Do you really think that either of your aunts here would just give you up?”

Before she could respond back to Aphrodite, Aphrodite called out to the messy maned sleepy Flusk from downstairs. “Flusk! You really need to come down here I think!”

Flusk soon rose up quickly and ripped the blankets off of her in a hurry, thinking something horrible was happening from that sudden shout. She rushed downstairs as quickly as possible. “What is it?! Is it a fire?! Did Solar Dots return?! What’s going on..”

Flusk soon stopped short of her sentence to see that Honeysuckle had tears welling down her eyes.

Aphrodite responded. “She was thinking that we would give her up or something? She kept mumbling to herself that we would give her and her siblings up for adoption. I told her otherwise though and gave her a hug.”

Flusk soon trotted over to Honeysuckle and wrapped her hooves around Honeysuckle. She hugged her tightly and rested her chin on Honeysuckle's head.

“Don’t you ever dare say that we would give you up, we would never give you up.”

Flusk soon sat next to Honeysuckle on another chair and looked her in the eyes.

”You’re in a home filled with so much love and good ponies. Everypony loves you and only wants the best for you. I’m sorry your father is gone right now but you know what one of the best things you can do? Forgive him Honeysuckle. He is struggling and he just isn’t seeing everything very clearly right now. Just know that you are loved though.”

Honeysuckle looked up at Flusk with a teary eyed smile on her face.
“I know you’re not my biological aunt like Gem Paws is but..I still always viewed you as a second aunt and I thank you for helping me in some trying times. I know the rest of my siblings are a little too young to hear this kind of stuff. Do you have any advice for my siblings?”

Flusk rested her hoof onto Honeysuckle’s shoulder. “We need to tell Sea Biscuit the truth. Since he is ten years old, I believe he could handle it better. As for Lance and Blissful, they are obviously way too young. Bliss is only five years old and Lance is only two. We need to improvise until they become old enough to where the truth won’t hurt as much.”

Honeysuckle paused and looked down. “But Bliss and Lance loved father, just as much as Sea Biscuit and I.”

“I know Honeysuckle. I know that.” Flusk embraced her into a hug and so did Aphrodite.

Around the corner during all this talk, a smiling red face was peaking in. Gem Paws silently whispered to herself. “So I see she is becoming closer with aunt Flusk.”

Gem Paws smiled brightly. “Wonder what today will bring now..”