//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Journey Begins // Story: The Curse of the Statuettes // by Dusk Melody //------------------------------// Dear Students, Owing to the fact that Headmare Twilight Sparkle, and Professors Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie are still absent, all lessons in the School of Friendship are suspended until further notice. Please note, the school will remain open for those students who live there, and the facilities such as the library, computer room and so on, will remain open those who wish to use them. Updates will be sent out as and when information becomes available. Guidance Counsellor Starlight Glimmer Cloudburst had a look of glee on her pale blue face as she read the note that had been magically sent to all the students of the School of Friendship. Conversely, Sparkler had a look of utter horror on hers. “What?” the bright yellow unicorn asked in disbelief, having lessons suspended was just the worst possible thing ever! “Does that mean we have to keep watching the Professor's pets?” “I guess so,” Stonecutter shrugged before leaning forwards on the couch and taking up her mug of fresh coffee, “I mean, Counsellor Starlight closed up the school, we don't have anything else planned, do we?” “Wohoo!” Cloudburst performed a happy dance around Fluttershy’s living room, much to the amusement of Seafoam and Stonecutter and the exasperation of Sparkler, “We got no school! No school! No school for us! Oh yeah, oh yeah, wohoo!” “But...” Sparkler shook her head, “But, maybe I can go and get the rest of my books?” she asked the room, with just a hint of desperation in her voice and a twitch in her left eye. She hadn’t read a book since Friday. It was now Monday and for her to not read anything in three days was unthinkable. “Sparks!” Cloudburst was still doing her happy dance. In fact, she was on the third lap around the coffee table, Seafoam playfully swatting her ass as she danced on by him, much to her delight, “Don't be such a nerd! Lighten up and enjoy the time off!” “Hush you,” Sparkler squeaked, well on the way to being offended, “I need those books!” Placatingly, Stonecutter held up her hands before anything could get out of control. She knew her best friend could wind up the alicorns themselves were she given the chance. “Headmare Twilight did say we'd get Friendship credit for the pet sitting, so there’s that.” She then leant in and kissed Sparkler’s lips, “We can go get your books, Sparks, I want to stop by home and get a change of clothes too. These I’m wearing have been in a swamp.” Eventually, Cloudburst stopped dancing around the table and resumed her seat on one of the couches by her Master’s side. “How about this, you get the things you want, Foamy and I'll make a picnic lunch, and we all meet up back here?” Even Sparkler had to admit that was a pretty decent idea. Begrudgingly so, seeing as how it had come from the annoying pegasus. “That sound good, CB. We can go to my place first Stony and then to your place. Should we bring anything for the picnic, Foamy?” Seafoam took a moment to drink his coffee, being careful not to spill any on his shirt – unlike Cloudburst, he hated mess. “Nah, tell you what, CB and I will hit the market while you're gone, we’ll most likely have it all ready when you get back.” Sparkler levelled a very serious stare at them both. “Just make sure none of the pets can escape while you’re gone. I do not fancy another day in that Celestia-damned forest getting them back.” She held the stare for a good few moments before she got up to her hooves, smoothing her plaid skirt in the process, “Come along Stony, I do need my bodyguard with me.” “Yes Mistress!” by Cadance, Stonecutter loved saying that. She fingered her yellow collar and smiled as she stood up, walking with the smaller mare to the repaired front door. Seafoam and Cloudburst both waved them goodbye. They took a moment, when they were outside, to enjoy the late summer morning sunshine. It wasn’t bad, for a Monday. “Are you going to get a change of clothes too?” she asked with a giggle, “Oh, I get to meet your momma!” Walking down the path from Fluttershy’s cottage, Sparkler put on her very best Canterlot accent. “And I do expect you to be on your best behaviour when you meet mother.” She laughed at just how absurd that sounded now after two months in Ponyville. Odd, how she didn’t think of it as Mudtown anymore. “Or at least, don't make her pass out when you hug her.” “I'll do my best,” Stonecutter giggled. Holding Sparkler’s hand, they kept the Everfree Forest on their right and gave the dark shadowy place a very wide berth as they headed on into town. “I do love that voice though. You're so using that next time we play, Mistress.” “After my time in Ponyville, I know just how pretentious it is, but for you,” Sparkler slipped back into her accent, one that she was now determined was her ‘Mistress’ voice, “I shall endeavour to make an exception, my fine traveling companion.” “Oh my…” Stonecutter laughed out loud as they walked through the town, drawing more than a few looks because of her size, her clothes – which while they were ‘clean’, had been in a swamp – and her collar, “I'm going to have to try real hard to stay in character with that voice, babes.” When they reached the little picket fence that surrounded Sparkler’s house, she stopped and hugged Stonecutter tight, though her hands didn’t reach all the way around the larger mare’s waist. “Yes you will, won't you?” there was a giggle in her voice though as she pointed to the house. “And here we are!” she opened the door, letting herself and her marefriend inside. “Mom,” she called out, “crazy stuff at the school again!” In the anally clean kitchen of the house, Corona looked up from her getting ready routine. The middle aged unicorn mare was wearing her black frilly maid's dress, and she had been in the process of pulling up her black stockings up her slender legs when the door opened. “Oh hey sweetie!” she beamed, her left leg raised up on a chair, “I got a vague text from Counsellor Starlight! What's happened this time?” Stonecutter would have answered her, but she found that her mouth was hanging open and not working. Mostly because the dress that Sparkler’s mother was wearing was just shy of scandalously short. It didn’t help she had her stocking clad legs raised up on the chair. “The professors didn't return and they are missing. We’ll have to keep watching the pets till they are found or they return. I need my books. Oh, this is Stonecutter, my friend, and I don't think I've formally introduced you. Stonecutter, my mother, Co…” “Oh how wonderful!” Corona interrupted her daughter and, with a smile on her face, hugged Sparkler, which made Stonecutter blush intently. “I told you that you should make friends! I'm Corona!” she held out her hand and dumbly, Stonecutter shook it, still unable to say anything. “Um, honey, is she okay?” Sparkler rolled her green eyes in a way that spoke volumes. Just for emphasis, she gestured at the dress that only just covered her mother’s modest breasts and her thighs. “You’ll have to forgive her, mother, she’s overwhelmed by your beauty. Sadly, compared to you, I'm quite plain.” Stonecutter, who was still shaking Corona's hand like she was a dummy, didn’t hear the giggle from her marefriend. The earth pony was completely stunned by the sight before her. “Aaaah...um...beauty, ah...yeah...Stonecutter, that's me, I'm Sparkler's marefriend...friend, I mean!” “Oh?” Corona couldn’t help but giggle as her hand was still being shook. This was not the first time that had happened. In truth, she was starting to like the attention. “You've done well, sweetie.” Sparkler elbowed Stonecutter hard in the ribs to get some sense back into her marefriend. “She was right the first time mother. I feel our friendship will develop further. Don’t worry about the house, I'll lock up when we’ve gathered my things. I'm still staying at Professor Fluttershy's home till they return.” Corona then noticed the bright yellow collar that was buckled around the earth pony's neck. She knew precisely what it represented, and she approved, greatly. “I like the accessory, Sparkler.” She managed, with some difficulty, to wring her hand from Stonecutter's still shaking hand. “I hope you two have fun!” “Thank you, mother,” Sparkler hugged Corona tightly, “I hope your day goes smoothly. Bye-bye!” Sighing, Corona lit her horn and levitated over her long coat. As much as she was starting to like ponies looking at her, she still wasn’t ready to walk through town in just her maid’s dress. “Filthy Rich likes the view, I get paid, it's a smooth day.” When she was gone, Stonecutter blushed and rubbed her hand through her mane. “I ah...I just made a fool of myself, didn't I?” Sparkler turned and, as much as she wanted to scream at her marefriend, there was something unbearably cute about her embarrassed blush. Besides, she was pony enough to admit the unexpected sight had been – literally – thrust on the earth pony. “If I catch you hitting on my mother...enough said, it’s part of her job. She’s a maid, and in truth it pays well, and Filthy doesn't do more than look. Now, to my room.” She then leant up on the tips of her hooves and whispered in Stonecutter's ear, “But I won't forget this, pet.” Stonecutter still wore her intense blush as she followed Sparkler up the stairs. She loved the way the unicorn’s tail swished side to side like that. “I wasn't ready, to see that...I'm gonna shut up now.” Sparkler paused at the top of the stairs, a fiendish idea coming to her mind. “I have now decided what I'll wear when you're dressed as a cow for Nightmare Night.” She had planned to go as Princess Celestia, but a Prench maid wasn’t that bad an idea, especially if it had that effect on her lover. When that image danced through Stonecutter’s mind, the slate grey earth pony flushed very hard and bit her lip, content as she was to enjoy that image. When they got to Sparkler's room though, the picture of the unicorn in a maid’s dress was chased away. “Oh my...sweet Cadance your room is pink!” To say it was pink was an understatement. It looked like a pink paint bomb had exploded everywhere, along with several tonnes of sparkly glitter. “Good to know your observational skills are still sharp,” Sparkler stepped into her pink princess bedroom and she started to gather her text books from one of her three bookcases into her shoulder bag. “You can look around, just put things back, please.” She had a place for everything, and everything had to be in just that place, how she had placed it. Stonecutter looked around the room, her eyes drinking in all the ‘pink’. Beyond that, there were books in bookcases along every wall. A quick glance told her there were school text books, fictional novels, all manner of books. “I dunno, it's very 'you' though.” She saw the broken telescope on a desk by the window and moved over to it. “This is the one your daddy gave you?” Sparkler glanced up from shovelling books into her bag and nodded. “Yeah, the one the movers broke.” “It's…pretty?” Stonecutter facepalmed and giggled when she realised she had nothing else to offer on the subject of telescopes. “I’m sorry, I sound like CB. I've never looked through one and I wouldn't know where to start. Maybe one time you can teach me the stars?” “My new one is still at the professor's house,” Sparkler replied, referring to the smaller, more portable telescope she had bought from the marketplace two days ago. “I’m so glad the wishing well gave it back to me.” She finished putting what was a small library’s worth of books in her shoulder bag and glanced up to her packed plushie shelf above her bed. “I'd take a plushie, but I really don't want Winona chewing on it…” Walking over, Stonecutter picked up a bright pink Cadance plush. She suspected what the real reason was that she didn’t want to take it, and it had nothing to do with a certain brown and white dog. “CB won't laugh at you if you take a plushie. You saw how she reacted when the well gave her that Wonderbolt doll.” Sparkler frowned, though she did have to see the point that her marefriend made. “Very well then, I will take the Cady plush, but she has been added to the list that you will defend to your last breath!” the bright yellow unicorn giggled, “Please put it in my shoulder bag and now to pack some clothes.” “You got it, Mistress.” Stonecutter duly added the plush to the bag and then she looked at her marefriend’s army of plushies and mountain of pillows. “I guess you pillow fort up and read all night don't you? What books did you pack, by the way?” “All the class text books, and two romance novels, and my, um, note book, for notes.” Sparkler then sniffed the clothes she had on and she wrinkled her nose, retching at the smell. Turning away to hide her blush at how badly she reeked, she placed her shoulder bag back on the bed and she began to strip down completely. Once she was naked, she dipped into her closet and pulled on a fresh set of Monday clothes, which were white underwear and a summer green dress with a white sash tied around her waist. She tossed what she had been wearing in her hamper. “I think a weeks’ worth would be good.” As Sparkler quickly packed a small suitcase with regular clothing, leaving her school skirts and sweaters on the hangers, Stonecutter stared at her marefriend. While she was naked, the earth pony’s brain had shut down and she flushed while Sparkler was getting changed. Eventually though, she shook herself back to reality. “Y-You're ah, you mean those romance novels you told me about in the forest?” “Yes, those novels. I might read to you at night.” “I think I'd like that. So, you ready to head on over to my place?” “Yes, take my travel bag, please.” She picked up her shoulder bag and hefted it onto her back. “I'll work hard to be as embarrassing as you.” Stonecutter easily took the bag, the earth pony picking it up like it was nothing. “It'll just be you and me. My folks are on their way back from their Appleloosa Adventure weekend.” “Not going to stop me!” Sparkler said with glee, making sure to lock the front door when they left the house. Stonecutter giggled, “Come on then babes, my place is this way,” she led the way through the town, around the edge of the marketplace. It wasn’t a long journey and since it was a weekday, it wasn’t as busy as it had been on Saturday, though Roseluck and Lily were as usual selling their flowers and Orange Blossom was selling Sweet Apple Acres produce from her stall. Stonecutter’s house, when they got there, was a standard Ponyville style house, though it had a huge one storey shed in the back yard / garden not far from a large lake. The earth pony let them in the back way. “That's my shed, I mean, workshop.” Sparkler took in the large white brick walled shed, and the many windows that dotted the walls. “Is that where you perform your arcane earth pony rituals?” “Eeyup.” Stonecutter paused at her back door, “You wanna take a look?” “Of course I do, in case you have a milking machine in there.” The fact that Sparkler said that with such a straight face made Stonecutter blush all the harder. Her blush alone was reward enough for that as she opened the door to 'the shed'. Inside were thirty sculptures, some in stone and some in marble. Twenty were done, fifteen had 'sold' stickers on them, the rest were half finished. One unfinished bust currently on a plinth was of Sparkler, herself. Most curious, the unicorn looked around for any busts of a similar size to the one of her, especially if it had a ‘sold’ sticker on it. “What do you think? I mean, they aren't much...” Sparkler snorted in derision, for she could tell her marefriend was speaking with unnecessary false modesty. The work on display around her was excellent. She walked over to a bust of Mayor Mare that was a similar size to the one of her. “This looks just like the Mayor. May I ask what you charged for this?” “Sure, the mayor bought it for five hundred bits.” Sparkler just nodded as she moved over to the one of her in progress. Though she tried not to show it, she knew that her marefriend had a small fortune here in the shed, a testament to her talent. “When did you start this one?” “Technically, last week.” “I see, well, I’m glad my face has inspired you.” Sparkler had only asked, because she wanted an idea of how long the earth pony had been looking at her. Getting up on the tips of her hooves, she gave her a kiss. “But we should get what you need.” “I mean, I've been starting sculpts of you since I first saw you in school a few months ago, but this one, this one was last week.” Stonecutter led the way from the shed across the garden and into the house proper. “I just need to get some clothes that haven't been in a swamp and I’ll be good.” “Did you finish any of the early ones?” Sparkler asked curiously as she followed Stonecutter inside. “No,” Stonecutter answered over her shoulder, “Because they weren't right.” The inside of the house was a typically lived in shabby but clean, well-cared for kind of place, there were family pictures on the walls and a sculpt of Stonecutter’s earth pony parents on a side table in the living room.” As soon as Sparkler saw the sculpture, she gravitated to it, studying it intently. Stonecutter pointed to a picture of her parents and then to the sculpture. “See, it's all in the eyes. Those early ones of you, no matter how perfect the details were, there was no spark in the eyes.” Sparkler giggled, “You said spark.” Stonecutter treated her marefriend to a very deadpan eyeroll. Ha, ha ha. Ha. That's why the latest of you? I've left the eyes till last.” While she was talking, she took the unicorn upstairs to her room. It was very spartan, all bare wooden floor and walls. Her first sculpture was there on her night stand, her school books were in the only bookcase, and she had an old boat anchor TV on the desk next to a stack of video cassettes. “You have a TV?” Sparkler couldn’t quite keep the jealousy from her voice, because she didn’t have one. She looked at sculpture, but she was careful not to touch. “When did you make this?” “Yeah, it's an old TV though,” The earth pony waved a hand over at the TV and the hundred or so VHS cassettes on the shelves beside it. “That, I made it when I got my cutie mark when I was seven.” “You were talented then. But your practice really does show in your work now.” Stonecutter placed a soft and tender kiss of thanks on her marefriend’s lips. “Thank you!” That done, she went to her closet and threw out a few clothes, tee shirts, denim dungarees onto her bed. It was all rugged work stuff, nothing fancy. Not like Sparkler’s dress. Sparkler kept glancing back at Stonecutter as she reviewed the movie collection. Of the many titles, a good majority were the cheesiest of romantic mare flicks, Sleepless in Manehatten, On Golden Pond, Four Weddings, to name but a few. The unicorn was impressed. “You have good taste in films.” “Thank you baby,” Stonecutter blew her lover a kiss as she stripped off completely. Sparkler found that she lost all interest in the videos while Stonecutter undressed and then dressed herself. The chubby mare completely changed everything, swapping her swampy clothes for clean underwear, an old tee and then faded blue dungarees. For Sparkler’s benefit, she took her time being naked. “In case I forgot to tell you how beautiful you are. You are beautiful.” While the dungarees weren’t her first choice of clothing, on the earth pony they just seemed right somehow. Once she was dressed, Stonecutter walked over and pulled her marefriend into a tight hug, peppering her muzzle with many kisses. “I love you too Sparks.” “Love you too, love.” Sparkler giggled as Stonecutter just threw her clothes into a large duffel bag. She’d definitely have to do something about her neatness. “To the picnic!” “To the picnic!” Stonecutter giggled, “Now I'm not wearing swampy clothes.” ~ ~ ~ “I wonder if there will be anything healthy at this picnic…” Sparkler thought out loud, more to herself than to her partner walking by her side. Although, were she honest, she was hungry enough at that point to even eat something fast and greasy. “If it was just CB doing it, it'd be nothing but hayburgers and fries as far as the eye could see, but Foam's there.” Stonecutter nudges Sparkler's side with her elbow. “Mount Aris doesn't have fast food outlets. Not yet, anyway.” “I’ve never been there, but they are outside on a blanket. Let's hope for the best.” Walking hand in hand, Stonecutter began to slow down. She could see Cloudburst and Seafoam sat on a large red and white check blanket surrounded by a multitude of paper plates and Styrofoam cups. “Sparks, can I ask you a serious question a moment?” As soon as she heard that, Sparkler stopped, bringing Stonecutter to a stop. She turned to face her, wondering what was on her mind. “Now, or in front of them?” “Now, please. The thing is, I get the feeling you aren't okay with CB, and I want you to be okay with CB, because she thinks you're cool.” Sparkler sighed in the early afternoon sunlight beside the Everfree Forest. It was hard for her to put properly into words, because she found it hard to make friends at the best of times. “It's not that I'm not okay with her. She is just, well really silly a lot of the time. She proved herself useful – and trustworthy - on the pet retrieval. It is nice to have some wings in the group. I just need more time to really call her a friend. Stoney, she is your friend, so I will work to make her my friend too.” “She's my best friend, Sparks. To a point I'd say she's more like my sister. A lot of the time she's silly because if she didn't laugh, she'd cry. She told you about her parents.” Sparkler hugged Stonecutter, again unable to make her hands meet around her body, “I understand she’s family to you, and you to her. Family isn't something you can choose, but for you I'll be her sister too. I love you Stoney, and I can learn to lover her as a sister.” Stonecutter gently, lovingly, kissed Sparkler's horn. “That's all I ask. Now, c'mon, that food does look nice.” When they got closer, Sparkler looked all around them to see if the pets were out for the picnic. Cloudburst, dressed in clean hot pants and a tee that showed off her flat stomach, saw her looking and giggled, “no Miss Priss, the pets are inside. Even Angel's behaving since Zecora threatened to make him into a stew.” With a flick of her ear, Sparkler affected her best Canterlot accent as she sat down on the blanket. “Very good, Ms. Silly. I see you have prepared the picnic for our arrival. Most excellent.” “She's done very well,” Seafoam petted his mare’s head like Applejack petted Winona. “Only one plate of hayburgers!” “Enjoy!” Cloudburst did a ‘ta da!’ with her arms at the spread arrayed on the blanket. There was; buffalo cauliflower wings with blue cheese dip, spring onion bhajis with mint and coriander chutney, spiced root vegetable fritters with harissa and lime yogurt, along with plates of fried aubergine sticks with sumac and honey, halloumi salt and vinegar fries with tartare sauce, kale hush puppies with lemon aioli, avocado fries and, of course, a plate of hayburgers. “Indeed, I shall partake of this excellent feast. You may sit by my side, my fine Stonecutter and sup with me.” Sparkler reached for the orange slush punch – she didn’t know it was non-alcoholic, she was just ready for a cool drink in the summer sun. “Thank you, Mistress.” Stonecutter sat on the blanket next to Sparkler and helped herself to a cup of the sparkling pear punch which, like the orange, was of the non-alcoholic variety. Seafoam busied himself getting some of the buffalo cauliflower wings and the halloumi salt and vinegar fries on a plate for Cloudburst. Pointedly there were no burgers on the pegasus’s plate. A fact she acknowledged with a frowny pout. “Thank you Master,” she said grudgingly, though her mood improved when he poured her a cup of pineapple ginger sparkler. “Master Foamy, please allow Mistress Stoney to serve me.” Sparkler coughed delicately behind her hand and her Canterlot accent slipped into the Ponyville one she had begun to adopt since moving to the town. “I applaud,” she clapped her hands, “all of you keeping a straight face with me doing that voice.” Cloudburst, who had been trying very hard not to lose her composure with that routine, burst out laughing clutching her sides. Seafoam spared his pet a frown before heaping some of the spiced root vegetable fritters onto a plate for himself. “Stony, you may feed your Mistress.” “Did I miss a note?” Sparkler asked, suddenly worried she had misunderstood something important. “Can I tell Cloudy what to do?” The dominant hippogriff realised he may have misunderstood what Sparkler had meant. “Ah, I believe I misunderstood your comment, Mistress Sparkler, the ‘Master Foamy, please allow Mistress Stoney to serve me’,” he explained, waving it away with a clawed hand in the air, “That was my bad. But, I don't think she'd mind if you gave her an order.” He then tapped the laughing pegasus’s nose. “That's enough, pet.” Just then, as the two couples were eating and making a huge dent in the magnificent spread that Seafoam and Cloudburst had prepared, the meal was interrupted by a bright purple flash followed seconds later by a loud crack that so alarmed Sparkler that she spilled her cup of orange slush all over her plate of half eaten bhajis. “Wh-What the hay was that?” Stonecutter squealed, her arm protectively around her marefriend. ‘That’, as it happened, was Spike. Staggering on his feet, the dragon looked all beat up, blackened and scarred, like he had been in the fight of his life. As he staggered about, his green eyes spun from the after-effects of the long range teleport he had just endured. “Spike!?” they all exclaimed at once. “You’ve gotta help!” Spike yelled, his eyes wide with fear. He glanced around at the group he was confronted with. He recognised them as the three mares that Twilight had left the pets with before they had all gone to the Badlands. “Twilight and the others are in big trouble! They’ve been pony-napped! We made it into the Badlands and we were making camp for the night when somepony attacked us! I’m the only one who escaped, Twilight teleported me away…they need your help!” Spike took several breaths before he teetered on his feet and fell face first into the bowl of sparkling pear punch. Silence. Nobody spoke. Not one of them sat at the picnic made a sound. For a few moments that felt like an eternity, the only sounds was the chirping of birds. Seafoam, Cloudburst, Sparkler and Stonecutter all looked at each other, each unsure what to do or say. Eventually, the pegasus shifted on the blanket. “Sweet Cadance's tits...that's a thing...” stunned, Cloudburst poked the unconscious dragon laid face down in the empty punch bowl with her wingtip. “Is um…is he okay?” “I studied about dragons since Professor Twilight has one for an assistant,” Sparkler shook herself free of Stonecutter’s protective arm and shot Cloudburst a glare, “Please stop poking him!” she lit her horn and levitated the dragon onto his back so she could check him out. He was bruised and scarred, but not badly injured. The tattered and ripped clothes he wore made him look worse than he was. “He just needs some rest. Stoney, he is heavier than he looks. Can you put him on Fluttershy's bed, please?” “I got him, Sparks.” Happy to be given something to do, Stonecutter hefted Spike up in her arms and she carried the unconscious dragon upstairs. Cloudburst looked around at Seafoam and then at Sparkler. “Hey, you guys think the professor's really are turned into statuettes?” Sparkler sat back on the blanket and swallowed the last of her orange punch. “Well, technically Spike said they had been pony-napped, not that they had been turned into statuettes…” she blushed and smoothed out the blanket, realising that this may not be the time to debate semantics. “The adventure never ends. Does anypony even know where they went?” “Headmare Twilight said they were going to the Badlands,” Cloudburst offered, snatching up a hayburger before she could be stopped and taking a bite, “And Spike just said they were setting up camp in the Badlands.” Sparkler shuddered, “Isn't that where the bugs are?” “Bugs, spiders and possibly taztleworms too,” Stonecutter answered from inside Fluttershy’s cottage as she came back down the stairs and stepped outside. “I cleaned the little guy up and I left him with a damp towel on his head. Kept murmuring Dodge City, Dodge Canyon, Badlands and statuettes over and over.” Sparkler spared her lover her very best eye roll followed by a deadpan stare. “I meant bugs as in changelings, but Dodge City is a lot closer.” Seafoam had a half-eaten halloumi fry in his beak, which the hippogriff almost choked on. “Hang on...you aren't thinking of actually going, are you?” “Well, we braved the Everfree Forest and we survived...” Seafoam chose to ignore what Cloudburst had just said. “Yes,” he protested, “But this is the Badlands! There are desert raiders in the Badlands, as well as taztleworms and Novo knows what else!” Sparkler held up her hands for quiet. She had to think, and she couldn’t think with noise of bickering going on. “Look, only Professor Twilight could have teleported Spike, it’s something like eight hundred miles from here to the Badlands and she sent him here to get us. Not sure why us tough. You’d think she would have sent him to Canterlot to get the Princesses. Or the Guard. Or anypony really.” Stonecutter shrugged and did what she always did when confronted with an unusual situation. She reached for food. “She must've thought we could manage...whatever it is?” Cloudburst clapped her hands eagerly. “I'm up for a road trip!” “So, Foamy, can you watch the house and take care of the pets, please?” Sparkler asked the bewildered hippogriff, attempting as she did so to make the kind of puppy dog eyes that she made when she was asking her mother for a new textbook. Quickly, Cloudburst and Stonecutter followed suit, turning weapon’s grade puppy eyes to Seafoam. Seafoam endured this horrendous torture for three whole minutes until… “Stop! Please just, stop!” he let out a sigh, “I can't take the puppy eyes! Yes, I'll watch the pets, just please, no more!” All three of the mares clapped their hands in victory. The puppy dog eyes won again! “Dodge City is the closest stop to the Badlands on the Friendship Express’s route. I’ll need to stop at the house again for money for the train tickets…ooh, I’d better call the trainline first and book them.” “I have a wagon in my shed,” Stonecutter offered, thinking of her large red wagon that she used for delivering her sculptures to their owners. “We can stock up with all the supplies we’ll need. That'll go on the train no problem.” Sparkler, already on her phone, gave her marefriend a thumbs up to say she had heard her. “When I get through, I’ll make sure they have something the wagon can go on.” Stonecutter grinned, a mental plan for the road trip ahead in her mind. “Alright, well, I'll go get my wagon, babes!” “There’s plenty of supplies we can use in the professor's cupboards,” Cloudburst put in, wanting to be as helpful as she could. She knew, after feeding the pets, where everything that they could use on the trip was. “Just don't pack the pet food!” Sparkler called after Cloudburst as the pegasus was already on her way back into the tree shaped cottage and Stonecutter was a disappearing speck on her way back into Ponyville. Seafoam watched all the frenzied activity with a look of utter bewilderment on his feathered face. He really couldn’t believe they were even considering doing what they were planning on doing. One day in the Everfree Forest and suddenly he had three Daring Do clones on his clawed hands. He turned that bewildered, stunned look to Cloudburst, stopping her in her tracks. “Help me toss the trash, pet.” “Yes, Master.” Immediately, Cloudburst altered her course and she collected up a stack of dirty paper plates, food scraps and empty Styrofoam cups into a trash bag. Seafoam waited until he and Cloudburst were inside Fluttershy’s cottage putting the trash from the picnic in the bins. Then, he turned on her, a stern look plastered all over his face. “Just because you haven't told them, doesn't make you any less pregnant.” The fact that her partner had got straight to the point gave Cloudburst cause for concern. She paused at the kitchen door, feeling a lot like she did when she was summoned to the Headmare’s office at school. “What? Well, I'm only a bit pregnant…” There were times that Seafoam loved his marefriend. There were times that he absolutely and completely adored the ground she walked on and the air she flew in. Then, like now, there were times he wanted to shake her until some sense entered that head of hers. “Fine, I know that, but going on an adventure yesterday almost got you killed, now you risk two.” Cloudburst rubbed the back of her mane. “Are you saying I shouldn't go?” “What do you owe them that you need to go?” Seafoam countered quickly. “Stone's my extra big sis, you know that.” Cloudburst answered him, dumping the full trash bag in the bin. “I gotta look out for her. And they need somepony a bit messy, cos Sparks is like, uber clean. She'll drive her nuts!” Seafoam understood his pet’s sense of loyalty. In some cases it was vastly overdeveloped. Then again, that was why she was top of Professor Dash’s class at school. “And if you're miles in the air and turn to a stone statuette, what then? Who is going to catch you?” “Sparks will, Master. I trust her.” The hippogriff raised an eyebrow. “You mean the 'uber clean' one? But you'll be dirty stone.” “Have you seen how good she is with her magic, Foam?” Cloudburst realised, as she said that, that her lover had not seen Sparkler’s magical skills like she had. “Besides, I owe her one. She did save my life.” “That. Is. My point!” Seafoam tried very hard to keep the frustration from his voice. It wasn’t an easy task though, particularly when she was being as obtuse as she was. “It isn't just your life you're risking.” He placed a clawed hand over Cloudburst's flat belly, knowing that it wouldn’t be flat for much longer. “Half of me is inside you, now.” Cloudburst placed her hands on Seafoam’s claw, holding it in place on her belly. For once, she had no snappy retort, no witty comeback. For once, she didn’t want to make one even if she had one to make. “And I swear I'll keep her super safe, Seafoam. My foal…our foal…she’s the most important thing, I swear.” Seafoam sighed, realising he was defeated. As much as he really wanted to order her not to go, he knew that was above and beyond the boundaries they had set. Cloudburst was her own mare, and he would be there for her when she came back. “I'm going worry about you every minute you're gone. You know that, right? I'll watch Fluttershy's place while you’re gone.” “I know you will, Master.” Cloudburst clapped her hands excitedly, making little electric sparks fly from her palms. “I love you, you know that, right?” Moving in close to her, Seafoam gave his pet a tongue probing kiss. “As I love you, as I love the sky you fly in and the sea you swim in. And will continue to do so. So, do you know a good place to get wing bands in Ponyville?” “Yeah, oh!” a sudden idea came to Cloudburst, a rather wonderful, kinky, sexy idea. “Hey, can you give me some money, captain sensible? I wanna go get something for Sone and Sparks real quick, as well as the wing bands...um...while you tidy up, um…again.” Now she said it out loud, her plan did seem a little like a dick move. Grunting with frustration, Seafoam rapped his knuckles on Cloudburst's head. “I'm the one buying the wing bands, clouds for brains.” He sighed, thinking of the pegasi wedding bands. He then pulled out five hundred bits in notes from his wallet. “Get whatever you think you need for the road trip. I hope it’s only a couple of days like the last adventure.” “Hey!” Cloudburst made a fake pout as she smoothed her mane back down. “You don't love me for my brains, remember?” she fluttered her wings and hovered up, planting a loving kiss on his beak. “There's a wedding shop right next to Quills and Sofas. I know cos Stone gets drawn to it like a magnet every time we walk past it.” “Okay, you have me.” Seafoam kissed the hovering mare’s lips with the tip of his beak. “Your perky tits, cute tush, and loving heart is why I love you.” Smirking, Cloudburst gave her lover another kiss. “Wait till you see the bridle and reins I get for Stone to wear. Oh, yeah, and road trip stuff too!” “Just get enough.” He tried, as ever, to be the voice of reason to his impulsive marefriend. “You can always get more in Dodge City, but the Badlands are literally forever away from here.” “I know, my love,” she hugged him and, still in the air, placed several kisses all the way up the middle of the hippogriff’s face from his beat to his forehead. She then flapped her pale blue wings and flew out of the tree cottage. “Back in a mo, Master!” she called over her shoulder then, outside, she saw an opportunity. Flying low over Sparkler’s head, “HEY SPARKS!” she yelled, slapping the unicorn’s behind with her hand as she flew past. Having just completed her buying of the three train tickets from the Friendship Express phone booking line to depart from Ponyville station later that day, Sparkler jumped and almost dropped her phone. “Crap on me and you're dead, featherbrain!” she yelled up at the cackling speck that was Cloudburst. “You had your back to her, Sparks.” Seafoam explained as he came out to finish tidying up the remains of their picnic. “In her eyes it makes you fair game.” He only hoped, deep down, that whatever they were to face in the Badlands, his beautiful mare would come back to him safe and sound.