Another Chase chapter priview · 8:22am Sep 28th, 2016
Hearing the flapping of wings, Sentinel looked up to find the source. A slinky black figure descended down and landed in one of the nearby apple trees. He found that he was quite happy to see Boadicea. He nudged Diamond Tiara, who sat beside him, and gave the griffoness a grin.
“Come here to help out?” Sentinel asked, wondering just how much longer he could get away with taking a break.
“Nope.” Boadicea made herself comfortable on the tree branch and waved down at the pair.
“Nope?” Diamond Tiara looked a little disappointed. “Whattaya mean, nope?”
“I mean, nope.” Boadicea held up one talon-finger. “Today, I haven’t been in trouble, I haven’t had to shoot anything, I haven’t had to strangle anything, Loki is finally cutting me some slack, and Lugus let me get away with a few bruises and only one knot on my skull from training.”
“Wow, he’s gone soft,” Sentinel remarked in an astonished voice.
“I know, right?” Boadicea, now sprawled out in the fork of three branches, let out a yawn and began to rub her own tummy. She knew it was dangerous to do, but she figured she could get away with it for a while before she tried to nip herself. She let out a contented yowl and ignored the disgruntled stares of the two ponies down below her.
Turning their heads, Sentinel and Diamond Tiara looked at one another, both of them saying a great deal without speaking a word. Eyebrows were raised. Ears perked. Displeasure was expressed. And at the end of it all, Diamond Tiara booped Sentinel on the nose. Turning their heads once more, both looked up into the tree where Boadicea lay sprawled out, rubbing her own belly, making slow, lazy circles with her right talons.
Sentinel gave a nod. Moving at his unspoken command, Diamond Tiara strolled over to the tree, turned around, and lined up her backside with the trunk exactly as Applejack had shown her how to do. She wiggled around, adjusting her aim while looking back over her shoulder, and then unleashed a mighty buck with her two hind legs.
With a startled squawk, Boadicea found herself falling out of the tree. Her wings flapped, but she hit a branch and then took a tumble down to the grass below, where Diamond Tiara stepped aside. Within a fraction of a second of Boadicea hitting the ground, Sentinel pounced, launching himself at the unsuspecting griffoness.
Looking mighty pleased with himself, Sentinel sat down and made himself comfortable on a cushion of nice, soft, screeching griffoness. He slapped her in the face with his tail and then, turning towards Diamond Tiara, he leaned over and touched noses with her while Boadicea squawked beneath him and made angry cat-bird noises.
Never a fair fighter, Boadicea stabbed her wings into a very delicate place and gave Sentinel a tickle. Letting out his own yowl, Sentinel lept up and bolted. Shrieking with laughter, Diamond Tiara fell over backwards and bonked her head on the tree trunk as Sentinel made good his escape.
Sentinel, who had his head turned around and was sticking his tongue out at Boadicea, ran smack into Applejack. He bounced, Applejack didn’t budge so much as an inch, and then, when he turned his head back around to see what he had ran into, Sentinel let out a fearful whimper as he looked into Applejack’s green eyes.
“Just what I needed. A griffon. Griffons is real good with rakes… it’s the fingers, ya see.”
“But I—”
“But you were just distracting and interrupting my workers, right?” Applejack smiled and her eyes glittered with gleeful mischief.
“No, actually, I was about to take a nap in one of your lovely apple trees.” Boadicea sat up and composed herself. “I was just minding my business when all of a sudden I was bucked out of the tree by Diamond Tiara. For no reason.”
“Right…” Applejack nodded. “You can find a rake in the tool shed right next to the barn.”
“Oh… cat farts.” Boadicea slumped over and shook her head. “And I was having the perfect day, too.”
“And now, you can have a perfect day spreading fertiliser with a rake.” Applejack took a deep breath, straightened out her hat, and brushed away some dirt on her foreleg. “No more lollygagging. I want this done before the daylight’s gone. Now get back to work.”
Looking dejected, Boadicea headed off to the tool shed, dragging her paws and claws along the ground. “Nobirdy knows… the troubles I’ve seen… nobirdy but my fleases... nobirdy knows the troubles I’ve seen… nobirdy knows my sorrows…”
Tipping back her hat, Applejack shouted, “Oh, cheer up Boadicea, and sing us all a good ol’ griffon work song!”
Totes not edited.
"We don't wanna go to work today!
But the mistress of Appul says 'neigh, neigh, neigh!'!
We're gonna rake all day all day all day!
Left, right, left, right, left, right."
This is more messed up than people know...
Man, I am so freaking behind on this story.
In other news.