//------------------------------// // Chapter #22: Empire or Bust // Story: My Little Pony: Dark Star // by WestRail642fan //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty Two. Empire or Bust. "Good morning~" Pipp sang, kicking open the door from her trailer. The mare took a sharp inhale of the morning air, the sun barely poking out over the horizon. She looked to her right and smiled when she saw David sitting on the hood of the car. With a gentle flap of her fluffy wings, she glided over and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Well, good morning to you too." He smiled, gently stroking her mane. Pipp smiled at his touch, purring slightly, "So, what do you want to do today?" He asked her as she rubbed herself against his hand like a cat. "Well, if you're still up to it, I still wanna go to the Crystal Empire." She smiled, the early morning sun already warming her face. "Well... Don’t you want to head home with your sister?" David asked as he looked into Pipp’s eyes, "I'm sure your mother is dying to see you." He added, gently caressing her ear. "Eh, Mother can wait in all honesty, and as I told you earlier, I wanna see this through to the end." Pipp replied, nuzzling into his neck, "And my sister now knows I'm safe and not dead, so yea, I'm sure she can agree with it, just don’t piss her off like last time, or she might actually make you suffer a lot okay?" Pipp added while continuing to nuzzle him, a hoof gently rubbing his abs. "Alright, if you say so." David added while softly stroking her mane and wings. Pipp and David leaned closer as they prepared to kiss while looking into each other’s eyes. "Ahem!" A voice called out. Pipp and David looked to see Zipp drinking her coffee while watching them. "What did I say about personal space?" She added, while continuing to drink her cup full of steaming hot coffee. "May I remind you, Pipp, he claims to be married, I suggest keeping your distance." She added, raising an eyebrow, "Pipp, can we talk alone, please?" Zipp asked as she rushed Pipp away from David. "Um okay if you say so, sis." Pipp said as she followed Zipp to a good distance from David. Zipp then looked at Pipp, "Sis what are you thinking? We spent days trying to find you and you want to continue going with him? What would Mom think? She’s worried about you, after what happened to Dad, I promised him on his deathbed that I would look after you." Zipp said as she folded her hoofs. "Yea I know, sis, but I'm just trying to get him home to his family, he believes they're still alive" Pipp added. "And what if they're not? That would mean we wasted so much time on his fantasy. No offence, sis." Zipp added. "None taken." Pipp added. "Sis, please reconsider this. Mom is worried sick about you, we're her only family left, aside from Grandma of course. We are her only lights of hope keeping her happy and if we both end up dead or missing how would she feel? We both know what happened after Dad’s funeral, right? Mom was depressed to the bone she spent every day in her room not leaving for even a second. The only time she ever left her room was to go to Dad’s grave and mourn his death but other than that. She just stayed in her room all day 24/7" Zipp added as she folded her hoofs. "Yea... I know what happened to Dad but I believe David's wife and daughter are still alive. And I wanna see them reunited again." Pipp said, "And if they're not, I want to spend my life with him." "Pipp? What are you implying?" Zipp raised her eyebrow. "I love him, Zipp! Ok?" Pipp raised her voice. "Pipp..." Zipp frowned, "You've only known him for a few days..." She added, "We just talked about this, remember? He's married." Zipp said as she folded her legs in disapproval. "Who might not even be alive!" Pipp shouted, "He said so himself the night before, he doesn't know how long he was gone before magic fell, For all we know, Cadenza and Shooting Star might be long dead!" Pipp covered her mouth as she let slip the true names of David's wife and child. "What did you say?!" Zipp grabbed Pipp by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "Cadenza and Shooting Star. Those are the real names of my wife and my daughter. Now you know." David sighed, "I didn't tell you their real names because I was scared, ok? Plus, even if I did, I doubt you'd believe me." He looked down at his feet as Pipp pushed past Zipp, quickly tackling David in a tight hug. "Hey..." Pipp soothed him, "It's ok." Gently rubbing his back, "You happy now, Zipp?" Pipp glared at her sister. "Yeah... Whatever… You two lovebirds can smooch and snuggle and cuddle for all I care. Just not in front of me, I want to keep my breakfast down." Zipp rolled her eyes in annoyance at her sister's antics. "Look, Zipp. I don't want to fight anymore with you." Pipp sighed, "But I'm nearly 19, I'm a grown-up now. I can make my own choices with my life." "I know Pipp, I just don't want you to get hurt." Zipp sighed, ears falling flat against her head. "You could always come with us, 3 is better than 2." David spoke up, holding out a hand. "Yeaaaaaaaah no thank you I'm not going on your love adventure or whatever." Zipp started to walk away. "Come on Zipp, it could be fun~" Pipp smiled, "Besides, finding a lost city is something right up your alley, like in those books you used to read as a filly." Pipp moved away from David and sat in front of Zipp, her face showing puppy dog eyes, "Please?" "Urgh! Fine." Zipp rolled her eyes as Pipp squeezed her into a tight hug. "Wha?" The trio heard Sunny yawn, "If Zipp is going with you to the Crystal Empire, we're going too." She yawned again, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "How much did you hear?" Zipp asked the orange mare as she stumbled around like an old drunk. "Only Pipp begging you to come with her and you agreeing." Sunny groaned, drinking the rest of Zipp's cup of coffee, shivering in the process, "Wow, this is strong." "I... I put whiskey in it in the mornings... Heh..." Zipp chuckled nervously. "Really sis? So not cool." Pipp said as she folded her hoofs in disapproval of her sister’s usual tricks. "Yeah, then why did I find a broken bottle of whiskey in the ashes of the campfire when I lit it last night?" Zipp raised her eyebrow. "I needed something to drink to calm my nerves, ok?" Pipp's cheeks flushed red. "Was that before you after you decided to let the human fuck you?" Zipp smirked. "If my mating with David disgusts you so much, why do you keep bringing it up, something on your mind, Zephyrina?" Pipp raised her eyebrow as she smirked. "No. No." Zipp stuttered, taken by surprise by Pipp's words. "Good, Ok." Pipp smiled, "So, If we're really all going to the Crystal Empire, we better wait for everyone to wake up first, and put it to a vote." Pipp brought Zipp and Sunny into a huddle, "Also, I'm dying for something filling to eat for once, I've eaten nothing but cookies for days." Pipp groaned as her stomach rumbled. "Damn, you really are hungry, sis." Zipp said with wide eyes as Pipp moaned with embarrassment. "We've got more than enough food here for everyone." Sunny smiled, "Just need somewhere to cook it all." "Hang on, I thought we only had enough for 9 of us?" Zipp asked. "I may have brought enough for a small army." Sunny clapped her hooves together, smiling innocently. "Back to the main issue, I think the cooker in my trailer should be up to the task." Pipp smiled, beckoning Sunny towards her trailer, "It's an electric one, it'll do right?" Pipp added, gesturing to the oven sitting in the small kitchen area. "Pipp... That'll do nicely." Sunny hugged Pipp tightly, nuzzling her cheek, "Now, let's get a big breakfast in that belly." Sunny booped Pipp's belly, getting a giggle out of the Pegasus. Soon enough, the sizzle of tofu rashers frying filled the air. Sunny watched with a smile on her face as Pipp effortlessly cooked before her, "Good thing you decided to open a salon, I'm pretty sure you'd run every cafe out of business if you opened a cafe yourself." Sunny giggled as Pipp flipped over a rasher, the sizzle filled the earth pony's ears. The sound and smell of the food cooking eventually awoke the others, "Mmm, something smells delicious!" Izzy said as she yawned and stretched. "Yea, where is that beautiful smell coming from?" Hitch groaned as he stretched, back and neck clicking in the process. Soon Dazzle rolled over in her sleeping bag. "Mmm, something smells yummy, and I am starving." She yawned, placing her hoof over her rumbling belly. Opaline, Zoom, Izzy, Dazzle and Hitch slowly made their way over to the source of the smell as it filled their noses. "Mmm, I haven't smelled something this good in a long time." Opaline said as she followed the trail of the smell, "I missed Argyle's food... Heh... Wished he was here..." She thought to herself. "I don’t know about you guys but I haven't smelled something this good since my days as a rookie guard!" Zoom said as she stretched her body and wings, "The food I ate during my rookie days was awful and I almost puked from eating them." She chuckled to herself. "Thunder puked in front of me when I was his supervisor during his rookie days. I could not stop laughing for days after he did that heh." She added. "Hey, speaking of Thunder, where is he anyway?" Hitched asked as he looked around. "He’s probably looking after that sleepy baby Sprout." Opaline said. "After I threaten to rip his tongue out. He probably decided to behave and not complain over every small detail and thing we do." She added, chuckling to herself. "Nah, Thunder's still asleep." Zoom gestured to the sleeping royal guard laying under a tall tree. "Grubs up!" Zipp shouted into the air, "I CALL DIBS ON THE EXTRA LARGE PIECES HAHA!" She said excitedly as she waited by the oven, plate in hoof. She licked her lips as Pipp placed down 5 rashers of tofu and two eggs. Sunny giggled as Zipp bounced away like a filly high on too much sugar, "She really likes your cooking, huh?" Sunny raised an eyebrow as Pipp filled up all the other plates. "Yea, she’s just happy she gets to eat decent food now after eating stuff she dislikes, heh." Pipp chuckled a little, a bit of egg white hung from her mane, it fell and landed on her snout as Sunny passed a loaded plate to everyone. The forest clearing was soon filled with the sounds of ponies eating. Zipp quickly counted as everyone raised their hooves, "8 votes for going. That's everypony, except Sprout and Thunder, of course." Zipp smiled, Pipp held a hoof to her mouth, trying to hold back tears of joy. "Where'd you get 8 from?" Hitch asked, doing a recount, "I count only 5 voted, me, Izzy, Sparky, Dazzle and Zoom." "Oh, Sunny and I already said yes to going before you woke up, and Pipp was the one who wanted to go in the first place." Zipp hiccupped, licking her plate clean. "Shouldn't we wait for Sprout and Thunder to wake up first?" Izzy asked, mouth full of tofu. "They're already outvoted." Dazzle pointed out, "Even if they both say no, it's still 8 to 2." "Knowing Thunder for many years since he was a rookie, I know he won't vote no because he knows I would make him do wing push-ups if he even tried to vote against this." Zoom chuckled, "All I gotta do is persuade him to do so." She winked, "Besides, we're only here because of Opaline, so we go where she goes, and since she voted to go to the Crystal Empire, we go too." Zoom shrugged. "And knowing Sprout..." Sunny frowned, "He would try to chicken out of anything." She added. "What is stopping him from just leaving us all here?" Pipp asked, biting into a fried egg, "Mmmm." She moaned as she took a second bite. "He wouldn't dare for a start." Sunny rebutted, "I have Aunt Phyllis on speed dual for in the event he even tries to leave us." The mare smirked. "So, we're all in agreement then. Crystal Empire or bust!" Izzy smiled, "So... Who’s gonna wake Thunder and Sprout up? Those two sleepy heads." She giggled a little. "Let Thunder sleep, he's been on guard all night, but Sprout on the other hoof, hehe..." Zoom rubbed her hooves together, "Allow me" Zoom stepped forward as she made her way to Sprout. "Oh, I gotta film this." Pipp pulled out her phone, tapping on the record button. Zoom looked down at the red earth pony, still asleep, leg twitching as he snored. As she took a step near Sprout’s ear, she took a deep breath and unleashed her drill sergeant side. "RISE AND SHINE MAGGOT! YOUR 30 MINUTES OVERDUE!" Zoom shouted into Sprout’s ear. The red stallion woke up and smacked his face against the side of the Sprouticus "OW THAT HURTS!" He grumbled as he rubbed his head which was now sore from the impact against the steel wall. "GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP RIGHT NOW OR YOUR DOING 30 FOR ME THIS INSTANT!" Zoom continued to yell at the red earth pony. "OK OK!" Sprout shouted back, throwing his blanket to the side, "I'M AWAKE, SO QUIT YOUR SCREECHING!" Sprout held his ears in pain and made his way to the group. Zoom then made her way to the tree where Thunder was sleeping. He had covered himself up with a mini blanket. She sat down next to him and covered him with a part of her wing to keep him comfortable. Sprout yawned as Sunny placed a plate in front of him, "Ok, I'm awake, What's wrong." He grumped as he quickly ate the food on the plate. "Well, she wanted to give you a taste of what her drill sergeant side feels like." Sunny chuckled, "But, we have to tell you something." She tapped her hooves together. "Oh no, what's happened now." Sprout grumbled some more. "Well, we've all decided and we're going to continue our adventure to the Crystal Empire." Sunny spoke in the gentlest way possible, "We've come this far, so we might as well see it through to the end." Sunny's ears fell against her head, in preparation for the worst. "Sure. Whatever..." Sprout continued to grumble. "Ok." Sunny turned away before eyes widening, "What wait?" She quickly turned towards her cousin. "Sure, why not." Sprout added, "But that human isn't coming anywhere near my machine." "Ok..?" Sunny tilted her head. "A little harsh don’t you think? He’s been through enough drama with Zipp. And I'm sure he doesn't need drama from you too right? Just ask him to not touch anything, that's all." She frowned. "Why should I be kind to him?!" He asked in an unsatisfied tone as he folded his hoofs. "Because if you refuse I'll tell Hitch not to get you pizza for 1 month." Sunny smirked at him. "As if. I'm an adult, I can buy my own pizza." Sprout huffed. "But, as Sheriff, I can have you banned from every pizza place in town." Hitch stepped forward, flashing his badge for extra effect. Pipp and David watched Sunny, Hitch and Sprout's discussion from afar, "They are aware that I won't even need to step foot inside that tank thing of his, right?" David asked the pink mare sat to his left. "Yep. But this doesn't stop it being funny, watching that little punk squirm like a worm on a hook." Pipp giggled, resting her head on David's shoulder. "Is it just me or am I enjoying this, heh?" He smiled, gently stroking Pipp's cheek with his hand. End of Chapter Twenty Two.