Unexpected Boundaries

Night was falling fast as Twilight and Star were walking through a forest trying to figure out where the hay they were.

"We should set up camp." Star said as he snapped off several tree branches and began a small fire.

"I agree, if we were exhausted we wouldn't be able to protect ourselves." Twilight said curling up beside the warm fire. The forest was deadly silent except for the crackling of the fire creating an atmosphere of unrest. The two unicorns jumped into a defensive stance as some bushes near them started rustling.

"Hello!" Maple said walking out of the brush. She looked nervously at the two unicorns who appeared ready to kill her.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to be left behind." She began to cry. Star relaxed as he walked over to his filly and pulled her into a hug.

"Shh. It's okay, daddy's here." He whispered as Maple burried her face into his chest and continued to cry.

Twilight stared dumfounded at the two, who would've guessed that as powerful a pony had such a weak spot. Feeling very left out the purple mare walked over and started stroking the filly's mane until she'd cried herself to sleep. Star gently levitated the sleeping pony over to the fire as Twilight followed her.

"I'll take the first watch." He said turning his back to the two.

"You were so cute back there." Twilight said causing Star's face to turn as red as Apple Bloom's hair.

"I-I'm her father aren't I?" He stuttered trying to regain his composure.

"What I don't understand is why wouldn't you leave such a cute filly in her mother's capable hooves while you left?" Twilight asked. Divorces in equestria, though rare, weren't completely unheard of.

"She doesn't have one. I'm all the family that she'd known." Star replied sadly, confusing Twilight.

"Maple's not related to me by blood, I adopted her. I found her parents almost dead near my house, it was obvious that a gryphon attack was the cause. The only thing I found out about her was her name before they died. I know how it feels to have your family taken away from you, so I adopted her. She doesn't know yet and she think's I'm her real father."

Twililght teared up a bit at the story, feeling sorry for the blissfully sleeping pony.

"That's not the worst part, the gryphon that attacked us earlier was the one who killed her parents."

"So that's why you killed him." Twilight said curling into a sad little ball.

"You should get some sleep, your shift will be here before you realize it." Star warned. Twilight agreed as she gently dozed off.

The first rays of sunlight hit Twilight's eyes causing her to stir. She didn't want to wake up but there was something off, there was a soft warm ball of fur snuggling into her tummy. She gently cracked one eye which was met with a vision of golden hair. She carefully sat up, making sure not to wake the still sleeping filly.

"You're finally awake."A very fatigued Star said with a yawn.

"You've been up all night? Why didn't you wake me?" The fully rested unicorn  inquired in a loud whisper.

"You two were so adorable. It was like I was looking at a mother and her foal, I simply couldn't bring myself to ruin the moment." Star bashfully admitted. It was Twilight's turn to become the red faced pony as she turned away from him.

"Well it's your turn to sleep, just don't take too long." Twilight said getting a much needed thanks from her companion as he took her place next to the foal.

In all truth Twilight had never considered herself motherly, that was Fluttershy's and Pinkie's job. Twilight had never wanted to become a mother, the 11 months of pregnancy followed by all the screaming and crying for the next few years just wasn't all that appealing to her. Her eyes wandered to sleeping family behind her and she began to consider that maybe one of these days having a foal of her own might not be that bad.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Maple shouted as she bounced on her father, as he lay unmoving on the ground. "Daddy?" There was a hint of worry in Maple's voice as she stopped bouncing and gently nuzzled her father.

Maple screamed like a victim in a horror movie as Star scooped her up and began to tickle her.

Twilight had been watching the entire thing for five minutes laughing as she remembered her father pulling the same trick when she was that age.

"Let's get going." Star grinned as he put a still giggling Maple on his back as they continued their trek.

"I'm hungy." Maple said after about an hour of walking, seeing that they'd expected to be roughing it they completely forgot to bring any food. The group kept an eye out for any friuit bearing plants and after another five minutes they stummbled across a blueberry bush. There were only enough for two ponies so Star put Maple down and stepped back.

A perfect gentlepony, Rarity would love to meet you. Twilight thought to herself, as she and Maple were eating the berries. The two walked back to Star who was about to put Maple on his back again when she playfully ran behind Twilight.

"We're not going on ahead until you eat too." Twilight said levitating a leaf with some blueberries on it off her back. After the ponies gave him a look of assurance he began to eat. It wasn't much but it made him feel a lot better.

"We better keep an eye out for these." Twilight said as Star finished eating. He looked up from his food and saw that Twilight had Maple on her back as she led the way. They kept going the rest of the day stopping only for food and restroom breaks. They stopped at a lake in the middle of a clearing, it was the first body of water they'd seen all day and they all dashed at it as they started gulping down as much water at they could.

"That was refreshing."Twilight sighed after she had her fill.

"So full. Can't budge." Maple said flopping on her back causing the adult ponies to giggle.

"What's on your mind?" Twilight asked noticing that Star was focusing on the lake.

Snapping back to realiy, "I was going to see if I could warm this up and make a bath for you two." Twilight looked at her reflection then looked around, they all needed a good cleanning but this lake was freezing cold and she didn't want hypothermia. Star's horn glowed for a minute before the lake started radiating steam. Twilight was dumbfounded, she didn't know of any spell that could do this.

"How did you do that?" Twilight absentmindedly asked.

"A little trick from my bounty hunting days. You just superheat one small section of the water with a fire spell and it heats up the water around it." He blushed as he turned around to go get some firewood.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked levitating a decent sized glob of lakewater.

"Firewood?"

"Not without a bath you aren't!" She playfully shouted as she launched the water at the black unicorn, completely soaking him. Star turned around with an angry expression on his face, causing Twilight to regret her actions.

Maple's eyes went wide as she knew what was comming from her experiences at home, wanting to avoid the crossfire she quickly jumped into the lake.

"You soaked me?" A seemingly delusional unicorn asked her, "What makes you think you can soak me and get away with it?" He shouted as he charged at her. Twilight flinched totally forgetting to put up a barrier as he closed the distance. With one fluid motion he had the mare on his back and they landed in the lake. Maple laughed as she splashed them with water, getting involved with the massive water fight. After a good hour of fun they fianlly setlled down enough to where they could actually wash the dirt  and grime out of their fur.

Twilight was in the middle of helping maple get some dirt off of her back when she noticed Star staring at her from the lakeside causing her to blush a bit.

"I'm going to get the fire started!" He shouted before turning around and walking off.

After finally getting the dirt out Maple spoke up, "Do you like my daddy?"

This question was totally out of the blue but Twilight could only stutter as nonsensical words left her mouth until a real one accidentally escaped, "Yes."

"Yay! I like him too!" Maple cheered giving Twilight a big hug.

Twilight released a sigh of relief that the conversaition had not headed where she thought it was going to go. They went back to dry land where Star was already drying himself by the fire.

"That was fun." Star said noticing the girls.

"I've never had a water fight before." Twilight admitted joining him by the fire.

"Then you can come have one with me whenever you want." Maple sleepily said, the day's events finally taking their toll on her energy.

"I'll keep that in mind." Twilight said as Maple snuggled into her side again.

"Goodnight . . . daddy." Maple yawned.

"Good . . . night . . . mommy." she finished as she failed to stay awake any longer. Twilight was in shock at what the filly had just said, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Aww, that's just adorable." Star said with a gentle smile, however Twilight's reaction was quite the opposite.

"Your daughter thinks I'm her mother! How is that not reason to panic?!" Twilight asked in a hushed whisper.

"It's partially my fault, because I asked you to tutor her. You spent so much time tutoring her I guess she sees you as a member of the family, or in this case her mother." Star said sadly knowing this was all his fault. "I'll sort everything out with her when she wakes up."

"Don't." Twilight insisted. "At least not yet, it would crush her." She blushed at what she said.

Star's eyes became the size of marbles as he began to stutter. It took her a moment to realize that he wasn't looking at her, but at something behind her. She craned her neck so she could see behind her, she gasped at what she saw. The largest, meanest, hungriest hydra they'd ever seen was comming right at them.