By the time the diamond dogs had managed to share out the pile of gems equally amongst themselves, the ponies were long gone. Not that Rover was sorry to see them go. Better they escape than the white one come again. Stonecutter, Sparkler and Cloudburst didn’t even realise they weren’t being chased. Completely out of breath, they slumped in a gasping, heaving heap on the rough path outside Fluttershy’s cottage back where they had started.
“I think…phew…I think…we…lost…them…” Sparkler gasped in between gulping down huge lungful’s of air.
“Uh…huh…we safe…now…” Stonecutter breathed, the large mare looking like she was about to pass out. She rolled on the grass beside the path and she ended up with her head in Sparkler’s lap. However, she was too exhausted from running to even blush.
Cloudburst, the fittest among them, bounced on her hooves like she had done nothing more exerting than run downstairs. “C’mon guys!” she grinned happily after the little flying workout session, “Let’s follow the trail of smoke over there!”
Still trying to recover from the run, Stonecutter and Sparkler’s middle fingers let her know what they thought of that. They were happy, for the moment, to lay together in the grass with Winona licking their tired but happy faces. Roughly twenty minutes later, when Sparkler and Stonecutter had both recovered enough from their run to be able to stand up without breathing heavily and clutching their sides, they were ready to once again venture into the Everfree Forest.
Cloudburst had spent the last twenty minutes busy with her harmonica, serenading the unicorn and earth pony with a love song of her own creation. She had been accompanied in her song by Winona who, every time she paused, would add a howl or a bark. While she had listened to the song, all the time idly stroking Stonecutter’s mane with her fingers, Sparkler couldn’t help but think about the turquoise collar that the pegasus wore around her neck.
Despite her outwardly shrewish demeanour, Sparkler wasn’t a complete prude. Thanks to frequent forays into the more risqué sections of the Canterlot library, she was aware of the collar’s significance and what wearing one meant, plus she had eyes and she had seen Cloudburst and Seafoam together in school. Still, as they began to make their way back inside the wild, wooded area, it intrigued her.
No sooner had they stepped inside the treeline and were again confronted by the spooky misshapen trees that looked like every foals worst nightmare given form, than Cloudburst gave Sparkler the opportunity to talk to Stonecutter about it by flying up and over the trees. Her reasoning was she had to be able to see the smoke billowing in the distance. “I truly do hate this forest, Stonecutter,” Sparkler shuddered away from the claw like branches that seemed to want to reach out and snag her mane and she looked upwards. It didn’t seem to bother Winona who was walking on a makeshift leash by her side. “I was wondering. Why does Cloudburst wear that collar?”
Stonecutter shot a sideways glance at Sparkler, as if she was trying to weigh up how much or how little she should tell her crush. Even though, in the past couple of hours, they had progressed substantially further than mere crushes. Still, it was her friend’s business. “It lets her know that somepony loves her.” She replied eventually.
“How?” Sparkler followed up, not minding in the least when Stonecutter slid her hand into hers and entwined their fingers. She was about to do the same, as it happened. Damn this creepy forest! “I mean, I know she's dating that hippogriff from school, um...Sea...thingy…” she honestly couldn’t remember his whole name. She doubted she’d shared more than three words with him in the last two months.
“Seafoam,” Stonecutter corrected her quickly, very gently squeezing her crush’s hand in hers. “And what is Seafoam’s fur colour?” she asked as if it was obvious.
“It's turquoise, of course.”
“And the colour of the collar?”
“Turquoise...” Sparkler thought for a moment on that. As she did so, she glanced up and saw Cloudburst flying happily above them, high in the sky doing backflips and barrel rolls seemingly without a care in the world. “ I mean, I get that, I don't get why she wears it. There must be a significance to it?” Admittedly now, she was feigning a little ignorance. Mostly because when she looked at Cloudburst wearing a collar, she imagined Stonecutter wearing hers.
Laughing out loud for a moment, Stonecutter quickly covered her mouth with her free hand when she saw the frown on Sparkler’s face. “Sorry, I’m sorry, but it is rumoured that Canterlot is the kinkiest city in Equestria.”
“Kinky?” Sparkler blushed very hard indeed. So hard that she completely failed to notice the multitudinous fierce red eyes that stared at them from the low bushes and trees as they walked along the forest trail. “Those may be the rumours,” she sniffed up like a true unicorn should, like one who smelled something rotten from the masses. “I spent my time in the library and the observatory! While it's true there's an adult section, I'm sixteen! I didn't look, well...not much, at least, not often...”
As it happened, Sparkler had spent an extensive amount of time looking over those books. She had her favourite titles, such as “BDSM Through the Ages”, or “Equestrian Kink”, or “Freedom Through Slavery, A Guide to Bondage” and, in an act of sacrilidge, she had swapped the dust covers with more innocuous titles such as geography or history and sat bold as brass right in the middle of the library and read them.
Dusty Tome had never suspected a thing.
It had fascinated her, the whole topic. How one could be free by being bound, how a submissive could give up his or her control but remain in control throughout the whole scene. Yes, the sexual aspect of it fascinated her too, how could it not? But the more she read about dominance and submission, the more that was almost a side story. A garnish to the main dish. What hooked her was the amount of trust and love that existed between the partners. The more she read, the more she wanted it.
It was a shame therefore that she was a super shy allergy ridled book smart nerd who most ponies in Canterlot thought was invisible.
And then there was Stonecutter. The one pony in the world to whom she wasn’t invisible. “Yeah,” the slate grey mare commented, shaking Sparkler out of her reverie, “of course you didn't. You don't know a single thing about being dominant or submissive at all.”
Walking along, her mind not at all focused on the smell of rotting rank vegetation on the forest floor that squelched with every hoof step, Sparkler decided that she would very much like to be swallowed up by the ground at any moment. Right then would’ve been good. It was like Stonecutter could see right through her. “Well, some of the books had some very...graphic pictures, of ropes and things, but I didn't linger reading them in detail, Dusty Tome would've died if she caught me reading those!”
Looking at her new marefriend, Stonecutter laughed so hard it made her belly and breasts wobble inside her tight tee shirt. She had a – not entirely inaccurate – image of Sparkler sat in the Canterlot library reading up on all the dirty kinky things the books had to offer. “You naughty little filly. Then by that standard, having somepony put a collar on you is pretty tame. Like me putting a grey collar on you.”
Although, if Stonecutter was honest, and she always was, somewhat brutally so, the thought of wearing a collar of a different colour made her blush hard and stagger a step. When the earth pony winked and squeezed Sparkler's hand, the unicorn was sent into a similar tizzy. Had she not been holding Winona’s leash, she would’ve danced for joy. If she could dance. ‘Oh my goodness!’ she thought, biting her lip as her hand was squeezed. Boldly, for her, anyway, she slipped her smaller hand from Stonecutter's larger one and she ran her fingers along the taller mare's neck. “Perhaps...you'd look great in a yellow one?”
Secretly, inside, Sparkler couldn’t believe she had been so brazen!
Gently, Stonecutter placed her hand over Sparkler's, holding the unicorn’s delicate fingers to her neck. “You think you can find one big enough, Sparks?”
Secretly, the chubby earth pony was turning sommersaults she was so happy. Not only had she moved things along with her crush, if the current conversation was anything to go by, she had really moved things along! Truth be told, she had always been a little jealous of Cloudburst’s relationship with Seafoam. She knew the sorts of kinky sexy things they did together and she had desperately wanted that for herself. Alas, given her weight and size, she had all but given up on it, but now here was Sparkler all but offering her what she had dreamed of.
“Oooooh I ah, I think I can do that,” Sparkler commented with a soft smile, already picturing her new marefriend looking resplendent in a bright yellow collar.
It took a very concerted effort for Stonecutter to not dance and whoop right then and there in the Everfree Forest. Strangely, she wasn’t concerned about the dark spooky environment, not now she was letting her dirty brain lead her down a very sexy avenue that had her crawling on her hands and knees at Sparkler’s behest. Still, she had to be sure she knew what she was doing. “You think, but why would you want to do that?” she asked in a calm voice.
“Because,” Sparkler said with a genuine smile, “Because I love you, and I have done ever since I came to this mud bowl...I mean, Ponyville.” ‘Well,’ she thought to herself, clutching Winona’s leash for courage, ‘the cat’s well and truly out of the bag now, isn’t it?’
Not expecting the book smart mare to be that forward, Stonecutter’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. They had been dancing around this issue since she had asked the unicorn to model for her, but now, there it was, out there. “Wh-What, but, I'm...” she found herself suddenly full of nerves and she looked away, embarrassed, “I’m just a mud pony.” ‘And you are the most beautiful unicorn in Equestria,’ she wanted to say, but her voice betrayed her, leaving her red faced and looking at the ground.
“Yes, you are a mud pony.” Sparkler stopped on the trail and turned to face Stonecutter. “You're a very smart and sexy mud pony.” When she kissed her cheek, she had to go up on the tips of her hooves, even though the taller mare was looking down.
Though Sparkler tried to lift her chin up, Stonecutter remained resolutely looking at the ground between them. Usually, she had no issues about her body. She was large and fat and that was that. If anypony had a problem with her size, she paid them no mind and moved on. This time though it was different. She was the one with the problem. “There’s nothing sexy about me,” she sighed sadly. Looking down, she couldn’t even see her hooves past her large breasts and her round belly. “But, I wouldn't mind wearing your yellow collar…”
“Don't you dare talk yourself down!” Sparkler squeaked indignantly and she lightly slapped her marefriend’s fleshy behind. While she was admittedly new to this scene, she wasn’t about to have Stonecutter do that to herself. She had read enough books on the subject to know that a good dominant built up their partner, not bring them down. “I've been looking at this beautiful thing for the past two months.”
Stonecutter managed a thin tremulous smile as her generous butt was groped and fondled. Looking into Sparkler’s green eyes she could see she wasn’t leading her on. “But, I have to ask, if you don't know why CB is wearing a collar, how would you know why I'm wearing one?”
Realising she had to ‘come clean’, as it were, Sparkler took a very deep breath and said, “I sort of maybe 'borrowed' one of my mom's DVDs the other day – she thinks I don’t know about her stash in her bedroom - it was kind of a tutorial demo thing, the pony talked about trust and stuff.” That was rather an abridged version, true, but it was at least the truth. “The dominant pony demonstrated how to care for the sub, how to tie ropes safely and how to make sure both partners have a good time. It was all about love.”
Stonecutter shook her head. Her guess that Sparkler wasn’t as reserved, prim and proper as she made out was in part correct, it seemed. Not that she minded in the slightest in that regard. “So,” she smiled, wanting to tease, “your question about CB's collar was just an intro to get me in your collar?”
Again, Sparkler’s bright yellow cheeks wore a faint red tinge to them as she considered her answer to that. “Yes, but um, not...entirely.” she realised how much of a non-reply that was and she attempted to clarify what she had meant. “I suppose the better question should have been, do you know what they get up to?”
“That I do.” Oh yes, Stonecutter knew what Cloudburst and Seafoam got up to, alright. “Among the tamer things they do, Seafoam will occasionally lead CB around the Friendship School on a leash attached to her collar. In the cafeteria, he’ll tell her what to eat, what to drink and when. If she’s been naughty he’ll order things for her she doesn’t like. In their dorm room, sometimes she plays the puppy for him. Seafoam loves his pup. Sometimes, in the Hayburger, he feeds her something more than a tofu hotdog.”
Sparkler’s eyes went wide at that. She processed it through her brain for a few moments. “They…They do stuff in the Hayburger?” Many, Many scenarios were running through her mind. Scenarios from the books she had read involving herself and Stonecutter.
The slate grey mare glanced up at her friend flying high above them having the time of her life in the sky. “They do. Risk of being caught adds to the fun. What they do in the Hayburger is nothing compared to what they do on a cloud. But, you have to understand, CB's my friend. When I first saw that collar on her neck, I let Seafoam know what I thought. You may have noticed that CB is a bit naïve?”
That left Sparkler wondering just what they got up to on a cloud, then she thought she’d rather not know right away. She did however make a mental note to ask Cloudburst about it later. In answer to her question though, she nodded her head quickly. “I've noticed she's very impulsive and at times she can be silly and she likes the attention on her.”
“As Wonderbolts, her parents get a lot of attention, but they don't give it. Seafoam and I,” Stonecutter paused and let out a delightful little giggle, “and now you give her that needed attention.”
With a huge burst of affection, Sparkler squeezed Stonecutter's hand. She had been accepted! Well, more than she already had been, anyway. Like, properly accepted. It made her feel…she didn’t really know. She’d never had friends before, unless you counted Dusty Tome and Stargazer. “I honestly didn't know anything about them until Cloudy told me earlier they were Wonderbolts. Do um, now, don't think I'm prying, but, do they regularly miss her harmonica recitals at school?”
“No, well, not regularly, at any rate.” Stonecutter replied with a very heavy heart. She hated badmouthing anypony, least of all her best friend’s parents, but, the facts were the facts. “Usually at least one would show up, either Misty Fly or Wave Chill. She is rather good with that harmonica. I don't know why they missed the last few, and CB isn't talking about it. I haven't asked Seafoam yet, as she may have told him.”
“That sucks!” Sparkler cried, so loud and so unexpectedly that Winona yelped in panic at the unicorn’s hooves. “I mean, I don't expect my dad to show up, he's in Whinnyapolis, but the Wonderbolt’s Academy isn't that far away, is it?” She saw no reason whatsoever that Cloudburst’s parents shouldn’t show up.
“I just can't imagine my parents away or divorced,” Stonecutter commented after a moment’s silence between them. In response to Sparkler’s unasked question, she continued, “This weekend they're away at Appleloosa for the Cowboys and Buffalo weekend. My momma and papa do all this crazy stuff most weekends. Last month they went barrel jumping over Neighagra falls. The month before that it was skydiving from an airship.”
“Me neither,” Sparkler replied to her marefriend’s first comment. “At least, not until dad met this mare half mom's age…” she ground her teeth together, that familiar rage beginning to brew whenever she thought about her absent father and his chosen floozy.
Fortunately, Stonecutter was rather good at spotting a bad mood and heading it off at the pass before it developed too far. That, and the fact that Sparkler’s horn was crackling gave her a good idea what her marefriend’s mood was like. “It’s a good thing I'm not half your age, or you'd be in trouble, Missy.”
That worked. Stonecutter’s well timed joke made Sparkler burst out laughing, her bad mood evaporating in an instant. “Oh hush, you. Those two are welcome to each other. I got mom and now you and Cloudy!”
“Well, I don't know if I can compete with your mom, but I can toss my weight around.” Stonecutter laughed at her own joke, even more so when Sparkler nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. “Do you like the rodeo? CB just humours me when she comes with.”
“I have never, ever been to one, but I'm willing to go with you.”
“I don't like to talk about CB's parents, that’s her business. If she wants to tell you, she will. But, I go with her every time when she gets tickets in the mail. You should come along too.”
“I'd love to!” Sparkler squealed happily. That also sounded like a date. A future date! That meant Stonecutter wanted to see her, more than once! Then she kicked herself hard when she remembered she had agreed to wear her collar when she could get her one. As they walked along though, she couldn’t help but think where Tank was. They had been walking – and flying – close to an hour already. When she noticed the incredibly scary looking trees, she diverted herself. “So um, Nightmare Night's coming up soon and um, I know I said I'd model for you, and ah, we talked about the collar thing, but um...would you um, like to be my date?”
“It’s a good thing I like skinny mares with pointy heads,” Stonecutter beamed, “Yes Sparks, I’d love to be your date for Nightmare Night.”
Overjoyed that her haphazard way of asking her crush and marefriend out on a real proper date had gone far better than she could ever have hoped, Sparkler blushed like a filly given a lollipop and smiled. “You may have gathered that I'm not really good with...things like this, like spur of the moment 'stuff' like this. I like to be prepared, to know in advance what’s happening.”
“Really?” Stonecutter had to admit that she wasn’t surprised to hear that. Everything she had seen about the bookish mare was consistent with that. Still, she rather suspected most of her standoffish attitude was a smokescreen, a defensive wall as a result of her recent move from Canterlot to Ponyville. She could appreciate that. Everypony had walls. Thanks to her size, she had to put up a façade for the world. “I think you're a lot like CB in some ways.”
“I am?”
Stonecutter nodded. “Us earth ponies just go with it. And you are either putting on a good act, or you're bluffing with your own naivety and your walls keeping everypony at arm’s length.” The taller mare then stopped on the thining forest trail and without warning she pulled Sparkler into a rough forceful kiss. It wasn’t a gentle tender peck on the lips. It was a real kiss that made the unicorn’s knees buckle. “So, I’m calling your bluff, Mistress Sparks.”
Taken aback for a moment by the kiss, Sparkler quickly recovered her wits and, in a flash, recognised she was being called out. It hit her, as she pressed back into her marefriend’s pudgy bulk, that she had been called Mistress! That made her hot as all Tartarus. Mistress Sparks, being a little more forceful, inserted her tongue into Stonecutter’ mouth, determined to own it.
After a few moments of sucking on her marefriend’s tongue – and having her wide ass groped, Stonecutter eventually pulled back, a trail of saliva linking their tongues. Damn if that wasn’t the best kiss she had ever had. “Let’s ah, um…Let's go find that pet. Tank. Pet. We should totally go find him.” Sparkler nodded quietly and they carried on walking. After a couple of minutes, she turned to the unicorn and grinned, “What do you think about facesitting?”
Unfortunately, just as Stonecutter asked that, Sparkler had taken a deep breath through her mouth so she didn’t have to smell the rather foul stench that had assailed her nostrils from somewhere close in the forest. The effect of that made her cough and splutter like she was choking to death. Which wasn’t far from the truth. “I ah, aaaaack,” she coughed as Stonecutter rubbed her back, “I um, ah, I would dearly love to sit on your face.”
Letting go of Sparkler's hand, Stonecutter laughed as she walked backwards. “And what if I decide to sit on your cute sexy face?” she giggled, enjoying the fresh intense blush that blossomed over Sparkler’s face. Then again, it maybe safer your waaaaaaaaaay!”
Stonecutter screamed as she fell backwards off the forest trail and she seemed to disappear from view, the slate grey mare swallowed up by the thorny bushes that lined the path they had been walking on. The sounds of a large body tumbling down a short incline filled the air followed by a second scream and a loud gloopy splash.
“Stone?” Sparkler looked around helplessly, seeing nopony around her. “Stone?” she was suddenly alone on the path with Winona barking by her side. She had been beside her one moment and the very next she was gone, like a teleport. The unicorn looked around in panic and, when she heard the splash, she ran to the bushes. “Stonecutter!”
As it happened, the scream that Stonecutter had made as she fell was loud enough to reach Cloudburst, who had been playing in the sky. ‘Stone?’ she thought, starting a rapid descent, ‘Has Sparks mentioned salad to you? Don’t worry, I’ll get her…’ her thought died though as she descended. When she saw where her best friend was, she burst out laughing. “Bwah hahaha hahaha! Oh Celestia that’s so funny!”
Trapped in a stinking fetid swampy pool, Stonecutter did the one thing she could think of straightaway. She flipped off her laughing hyena of a friend and then she screamed, “Help!” The more she tried to get out, the foul water rose up around her thighs. She was sinking!
‘Oh no!’ the earth pony thought in panic as she sank a little further into quicksand like muck, the swampy water raising up to her belly. Drowning just happened to be her very worst fear in the whole world. “HELP!” she screamed a second time, futily reaching for Cloudburst flying just overhead. The more she struggled, the deeper she sank. She could feel the mud at her hooves pulling her down.
Sparkler foundered at the bushes, not wanting to get tangled in the thorns. “I can hear you! Where are you?”
“She's over here,” Cloudburst yelled, hovering a few dozen feet in front of Sparkler pointing downwards. “She’s up to her belly in a swamp!”
“A swamp!?!?” Sparkler used her telekinesis to force the bushes aside so she could get down the incline. It wasn’t hard at all to see where Stonecutter had fallen. The large mare had left an obvious trail. Very gingerly she made her way over to the edge of the swamp and she saw her marefriend sinking. “Oh sweet Celestia, why did you have to find a swamp!? It’s a swamp!”
“I know it’s a bucking swamp!” Stonecutter shot back, all the time desperately flailing her arms and, lost in the throes of her hysterical terror, she was soon up to her large fleshy breasts in the disgusting water. Then, something big swam past and between her legs and she screamed all the more.
Watching, Sparkler knew what was dragging her down. “Stone! Stay still! Stop struggling!”
Cloudburst had watched enough. The impulsive pegasus swooped down until she had a hold of her best friend’s grasping hands. “I’ll get you out, Stone!” Flapping her pale blue wings as hard as she could, she tried to pull her up. Alas, thanks to her not being all that strong herself, added to Stonecutter’s weight and the suction of the mud, she only managed a few inches. “No need to panic!”
“I'm not panicking!” Stonecutter screamed back in obvious panic, which only got worse when the few inches she had risen from the swamp was swallowed back up. “I'm...I'm...I got nothing. Flap harder CB! Pull!”
“I uuuugh…bucking Tartarus!” Cloudburst exclaimed as she flapped her wings harder and harder, all the while getting nothing for her efforts. “I can't! It's like trying to lift a house!” she cried in frustration.
On the edge of the swamp, Sparkler fretted, the unicorn hopping from hoof to hoof. She knew what she had to do, but she had never lifted anything the size of the earth pony before – and, well, alive, for that matter. Now, between Stonecutter’s ineffectual struggles and Cloudburst's lack of strength, she trapped mare was down to her nipples. “Pull or you're not getting my porn collection!” she hollered in an attempt to spur the pegasus on.
That spurred Cloudburst on. The pale blue mare gave one last heroic effort to get her best friend out of the swamp but, just like before, she got nothing but a few inches before she had to let her go. “Damnit!” she had wanted that collection, too.
Sparkler couldn’t watch any longer. She knew they’d get nowhere trying to pull her marefriend out that way. Making up her mind, she put the horde of buzzing insects out of her mind and yelled, “Cloudburst, get away, I got this. Stone, I need you to stay as still as you can, okay?”
Stonecutter didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What?” she yelled back, “Are you crazy!?”
“I think she's crazy,” Cloudburst waved away the buzzing cloud that swarmed around her head, “I think the bugs have finally broken her.”
“Trust me!” Sparkler stomped her hoof into the firm ground, making swamp filth spatter over her horseshoe and dirtying up her white knee length socks. “You have to trust me!”
Closing her eyes, Stonecutter took a deep breath and, deciding to trust her marefriend, she stopped flailing about in the rancid swamp. The moment she did that, she seemed to stop sinking, her bulk somewhat buoyant. That gave her reason to further trust her. “Cloud, please get out the way!” When the pegasus hovered over and gave her room, Sparkler lit her horn and concentrated harder than she ever had before. The unicorn extended her telekinetic field out to the earth pony and surrounded her in her green aura. Smiling, she could feel Stonecutter’s body with her magic. Very gently, in perfect control, she started to lift her up and out of the water.
As soon as she felt herself start to rise up, Stonecutter opened her eyes in disbelief. She was floating! Actually floating! Stunned, she stared at Sparkler but she said nothing. The unicorn had a faraway look to her green eyes. She was concentrating on moving the air around the large hefty mare rather than the mare herself. She was starting to sweat with the effort as she floated her over the swamp and onto the firm ground.
“Holy crap, she's doing it!” Cloudburst squealed in surprise, having never seen this before. Grinning at Stonecutter, she began to sing ‘I’ve never seen an elephant fly’, which earned her a rather loud raspberry and made her burst out laughing before she could finish her song.
As soon as Stonecutter felt her hooves touches down on the bank of the swamp, the large mucky pony fully intended to rush her saviour and give her a bonecrushing Pinkie hug. Sparkler must have noted this because she smiled and held her marefriend at arms length in her fading green magic. “If you hug me before I clean you up then I will thoroughly enjoy spanking you.”
The dominant way she said it, coupled with the deadly glare, earned Sparkler best blush to date from Stonecutter.
Hovering at the edge of the swamp, Cloudburst giggled. “Ooooh looks like somepony means it too Stone!” she laughed properly as the magic at last faded away. “I bet she'll have you in a collar in no time flat!”
“CB,” Sparkler shot the pegasus that same ‘Mistress Sparks’ look, “would you please go up and find the smoke trail while I clean up my mucky pet?”
As Cloudburst laughed, and Sparkler called her ‘her pet’, Stonecutter suddenly found her hooves very interesting indeed. The pale blue pegasus gave Sparkler a salute and flapped her wings. “You got it, Sparks!” Ascending back above the trees, she quickly made herself scarce. Once she was safely up above the trees though, she got out her phone and sent Seafoam a text, filling her Master in on all the new happenings.
Rolling her eyes, Sparkler tied Winona’s leash to a low branch to stop her running away and she unshouldered her backpack. “Luckily,” the bright yellow mare smiled, “I have more than one grooming kit in my bag. I think I’ll need them.”
Still smiling sweetly, Sparkler took Stonecutter’s backpack from the dirty mare’s shoulders when she saw that Angel was kicking up a storm inside. Retrieving the demonic rabbit from the bag, the unicorn gave him her very best ‘Mistress stare’ dead in his black eyes. “Zip it, furball, or we'll take you back to the Ursa.” As a peace offering, she offered him an apple from her pet’s bag.
Pouting like a foal denied his favourite treat, Angel nonetheless took the apple and turned his back on the pet-sitters. Stonecutter at last found her voice while the bunny started eating. “Wow…Sparks, you're really strong!”
“That’s Mistress Sparks, to you,” Sparkler smiled at the adorably cute look her pet was giving her. ‘Oh yes,’ she thought, ‘I can get used to getting that look…’ Searching through her own bag, she took out three of her five grooming kits and two bottles of tap water. “But thank you. I've practised my telekinesis,” she looked through her kits, wondering where to start. “Now, let's see what I can do with you, hmm?”
“Um,” Stonecutter looked down at her dirty blue tee shirt, cargo shorts and her socks. “You could make me less green?”
“Yes, I definitely need to make you less…green. And less smelly.” Looking the large dirty mare up and down, Sparkler’s gaze was drawn to and held by the earth pony’s large and impressive breasts. The swamp water had made the tee shirt material cling tight to her white bra underneath. She licked her lips. “Hmmm...strip.”
Startled, Stonecutter looked around, her blue eyes wide as saucers. “What, here? Somepony might see us!”
“Did I stutter?” Sparkler levelled that stare at her pet again, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. It was painfully obvious they were alone in the forest. “Besides, who else is here besides us? Strip. Tee, shorts and socks. Off.”
Glancing around again, Stonecutter whimpered, “There’s Winona and Angel, and CB might come back!” Almost on cue, the bunny began laughing at her.
Now, Sparkler did roll her eyes. She was quickly having enough of this nonsense. Her glare alone told the rabbit to shut the hay up. The incessant insects and the filth were getting her to the end of her rope. “I want her to come back. She can run those dirty clothes of yours through a cloud and clean them while I clean you. Now. Strip off before I strip you off.”
“But...” despite her reticence, the slate grey earth pony gripped the hem of her school tee shirt and pulled it up over her belly which jiggled when it was freed. “But...Mistress…” she had never, ever felt so conscious about her weight before in her life. Pulling off her shirt, standing exposed in her bra, which had been spared the swamp thanks to her top, she felt very fat indeed. “I'm...” blushing hard under Sparkler’s scrutiny, she removed her horseshoes and her socks before succumbing to her embarrasement and, turning around, she unfastened her shorts and dropped them with the rest of her clothes on the ground.
She had fantasised about being naked with Sparkler, but not like this.
“You're what?” Sparkler, seeing how extremely nervous her marefriend was, dropped the whole ‘Mistress’ thing for the moment and she stepped up behind her and very lightly she hugged her belly. The unicorn only just managed to get her arms all the way around her. In short she was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.
Stonecutter let out a sigh. Her shoulders slumped and she felt fatter by the second. “You know, Sparks, I learned a long time ago not to care what others think of me, so tough for them, but...I do care what you think about me.”
Sparkler felt such a swell of affection for her marefriend right at that moment. Not being great with ‘heart’ things, she struggled at first to find the right words to say. She did know that she had to say something, though. “Stonecutter? You know how you love skinny mares with horny heads?” she asked, squeezing her prodigious love handles before her hands wandered northwards, “I rather like my mares big and chubby, with big…” she gently groped her breasts, feeling them yield under her fingers as she kissed the back of her neck.
All at once, thanks in no small part to where Sparkler’s hands were, Stonecutter felt herself relax and, as much as she wanted to drop her panties and remove her bra, she settled for being happy her dirty stuff was on the floor. “Thank you, Mistress Sparks, I know you’re being honest with me.”
“Always, my big sexy pet…”
Just at that moment, when she was about to kiss the back of her neck for a second time, Cloudburst swooped back down. “I found the trail...trail...am I interrupting, ah...do you two want some time alone?”
“Don't be dirty, CB!” Sparkler blushed because, as it happened, she really did want to have some alone time with her mare, a lot of alone time, if the truth be told, but not like this and definitely not by the side of a filthy, mucky, disease ridden swamp in the Everfree Forest surrounded by a billion insects! She levitated the soiled clothes to her. “Now, be a dear please and run those through a cloud for me.”
“Ewww!” while she wasn’t a neat freak by any means, Cloudburst held the clothes like they’d give her every illness known to ponykind. “Sparks! They are like all icky!”
Sparkler rolled her eyes at the whining mare. “Please? Unless you want to carry Angel…”
Cloudburst absolutely did not want to carry the rabbit. “Yeah, yeah, laundromat service coming right up.” Winkling her nose in disgust at the smell from her best friend’s clothes, the pale blue pegasus flapped her wings hard and she shot upwards into the sky. Fortunatelty, there was a cloud not far away from where she was.
“Thank you!” Sparkler called, not sure if Cloudburst heard her or not. Shrugging, she got all her cleaning things ready on the ground. “Now, my mucky pet, turn around please.” When Stonecutter did turn around, she didn’t even bother to cover up. There was too much of her to cover up. Her clothing had protected a lot of her, mostly her legs, her lower arms, face and mane needed attention.
Sparkler looked at her arrayed cleaning products and she discounted the dandy brush. It’s long stiff bristles was only for removing dry surface dirt. In favour of the body brush she went straight for the water brush. Her target wasn’t that dirty. “You are just the prettiest mare I've ever seen!” Sparkler smiled and, using one bottled water to wet the earth pony’s mane, she began to clean her.
Stonecutter was a good subject. The earth pony didn’t put up a fuss as Sparkler ran the mane brush through her sandy brown mane. The bits of dirt and swamp came out easily with little persuasion. “Thank you for saving me, and for this.” She said quietly as her mane was rather expertly groomed. She didn’t really care for grooming much, but this was enjoyable, at least.
“Pish, it was nothing. I couldn't leave you in the swamp, could I?” Sparkler smiled as she sprinkled water over her Stonecutter’s dirty fur. That done, she used the water brush to clean the slate grey fur. It was a pleasure to see the dirt become clean. “And, if you are to be my pet as well as my marefriend, I simply will not have you mucky!”
“I would have died out there if not for you.” Stonecutter replied as she felt her dock and tail being cleaned with a wetted sponge. It felt…odd, having somepony else clean her, intimately like that. It was a nice odd. She flexed her dock and lifted up her tail. Were it not for her white panties, she would have displayed herself to Sparkler. To her Mistress. “I think being groomed is a small price to pay.”
“Telekinesis is a foal's trick, but I am pretty decent at it,” Sparkler said without a trace of bragging. The fact that Stonecutter had lifted her tail for her didn’t escape her. Kneeling, she moved her face close as she dared to her pantie clad ass and admired the view, etching it onto her memory for later. That done, she used a fine tail comb to properly groom her tail clean. “Besides, I love you, Stonecutter.”
“I love you too, Mistress.” The words were out of Stonecutter’s mouth before her brain had properly alerted her to what she was saying. ‘Oh well, the cat’s out of the bag now…’
Sparkler didn’t answer her straightaway, mostly because she was so happy she was crying and she didn’t trust her voice at that moment. The bright yellow mare allowed that statement to linger in the air while she brushed the last vestiges of dirt from Stonecutter’s beautiful tail. It was only when she heard the earth pony draw in breath to say something that she answered her. “Well,” she placed a delicate little kiss just above her tail, “I should hope you do, because I love you too, my pet.”
Thoroughly cleaned, or as clean as she could be in the middle of the forest, Stonecutter turned around. There was a mixture of joy, happiness, relief and hope all across her face. “Do you mean it?” she asked as she watched Sparkler put away her grooming kits back in her backpack.
When Sparkler stood up, even though she was almost a head shorter than Stonecutter, her determined look made her seem bigger. “Yes, I mean it. You are a cute, sexy mare,” she took a step forwards, “You are my beautiful pet,” she reached behind the earth pony and delivered two stinging spanks to her ass cheeks that made her yowl. Sparkler placed a finger on her lips. “One was for getting dirty. Two was for doubting me…”
She then reached around with her other hand and smacked the other buttock hard. “Ooooow!” Stonecutter squealed, “W-What was that one for?”
“Three was for doubting yourself.” Sparkler replied sternly before smiling and tenderly kissing her lover’s lips. “I won’t have it, understand?
“Yes Mistress, I understsand,” Stonecutter grinned as a warm and fuzzy feeling flowed from her spanked behind through her body, nestled in her heart and stayed there. She was a very happy pony indeed right at that moment. She was even happier when Cloudburst bought her clothes back, freshly cloud laundered and air dried. While not perfect by any means, they were at least clean and dried sufficiently that she didn’t smell like a swamp anymore.
Once she was dressed, Stonecutter and Sparkler made their way back up the little incline that the earth pony had fallen down and they set off south, following Cloudburst’s lead in the sky. Without any further mishap, they eventually arrived at a great mile long chasm that split the forest apart like an enormous three hundred foot deep open wound. When they stopped on the edge of the rocky crevasse, Cloudburst came down and joined them.
Looking down into the great ravine, the three mares immediately saw the source of the smoke they had been following there. Roughly halfway down the left wall of the chasm, opposite the one they were stood at, was Tank. The hapless tortoise was dangling precariously by the strap of his aviator goggles which were caught on a jagged piece of stone that jutted out from the cliffside.
“Well damn,” Cloudburst commented, “The poor guy must’ve crashed into the cliff…”
“Oh really, Sherlock,” Stonecutter snarked, “What gave it away, was it the fact he’s hanging from his goggles or the thick black fumes coming from the broken rotor thing he’s wearing?”
Cloudburst stuck her tongue out at her best friend but her flash of anger quickly became a giggle when Sparkler spanked her mare’s ass once. “Manners, pet.” While Stonecutter and Cloudburst had a silent war of mouthed words and looks, the unicorn continued, “Now, the question is, how do we get to him? The cliff looks like it can be climbed, but he’s very far down…”
“Um…duh?” Cloudburst spread her wings and gave them a flap. “I’ll fly down. Get him. Fly back. Easy.”
“Woah there!” Stonecutter yanked hard on her friend’s dark and light grey striped tail with her strong hand, almost ripping out a few tail hairs from her dock. “Not so fast, missy. Don’t you see the caves dotting the cliff there? Those are quarray eel caves for sure or I’m an alicorn.”
Cloudburst took a closer look down the ravine and saw what her friend had pointed out, in particular she noted the cave right next to where Tank was hanging. “Oh yeah, I saw those, totally.” The fact that she had not seen those didn’t stop her from whapping Stonecutter with her tail. It hurt! “But still, it’s our best shot at getting him back. I mean, no offense Sparks, but I can’t see you mountaineering down there.”
Unfortunately, Sparkler had to agree. “Well, you make a good point, CB, but you will be careful, won’t you?” she had become rather attached to the pale blue mare, as annoying as she was.
“Pfft,” Cloudburst waved her hand in the air and took off, “I got this, just you watch!”
“Be careful you featherbrain!” Stonecutter held Sparkler’s hand, squeezing it until the unicorn let out a pained meep. She could barely watch as her best friend flew down into the wide chasm. When she got near the opposite wall, almost on cue, a rather large and ugly quarray eel emerged from its cave.
“Buck!” Cloudburst yelled in fright as the large burgundy coloured head with a mouth full of teeth and jaw big enough to swallow her whole snapped at her. Instinctively she rolled to the right, flapping her wings hard to put as much distance between them as she could. She could practically hear the gasp from her friends up on the edge of the cliff. On reflex more than anything else, the pegasus clapped her hands together and sent a lightning bolt back at the eel that wanted to make her its dinner.
Hit squarely between the eyes by the bolt of electricity, the stunned eel screeched in pain and retreated back into the cave from which it came. “And good riddance, you ugly bucker!” This wasn’t such a smoking hot idea as it happened, because an eel emerged from a cave some twenty feet below her, attracted by the noise.
“Oh buck…” Stonecutter and Sparkler said together, “She’s gonna get eaten!”
Cloudburst was thinking much the same thing at that precise moment. Deciding to get a shift on, she flew over to where Tank was hanging and saw the strap was well and truly snagged on the rock. She could be there Celestia knew how long getting that free and there was a cave right beside them. The very one Stonecutter had pointed out. “Damnit…” she hovered back a few feet and, smacking her hands together, she aimed a lightning bolt straight at the piece of stone.
Several things then happened in the space of a few short seconds.
The jagged piece of rock exploded in a shower of stones and pebbles that caused a small avalanche as they bounced and rolled down the chasm.
Tank, now freed, began to fall without his rotor to make him fly.
Cloudburst let out a whoop of victory.
The biggest quarray eel that the three mares had ever seen in their lives – and they’d only seen two – emerged from its cave about fifty feet directly below where Tank had been hanging, alerted by the falling rocks and the whooping pegasus. Seeing the falling tortoise, it opened its huge cavernous maw, ready for a snack.
“Oh nononono!” Cloudburst didn’t pause to think, she dived after the falling tortoise, heading straight for the eel’s open mouth. “C’mooooooon!” she urged herself to fly faster, harder than she had before and, just as the eel was about to snap its jaws closed, she caught Tank in her arms and rolled upwards and to the right. The quarray eel, whose jaws snapped at thin air where a second ago had been lunch, lost two teeth from smashing them together and went back in its eelpit.
“She did it!” Stonecutter and Sparkler both hugged and kissed each other with relief.
“Told you I got this!” Cloudburst gloated as she landed back safely with her two friends and Tank held under her arm on the edge of the cliff overlooking the chasm.
“Damnit CB don’t you ever be that reckless again!” Stonecutter pulled her best friend into a bonecrushing hug, followed shortly after by Sparkler who, like her marefriend, was very pleased to see the pegasus still with all her limbs attached and in one piece.