Needless to say, no one was all too thrilled with the fact that Violette and the Buddies made such a huge mess of the house while the Mane 6 were with the Sullivans and Air Bud at the basketball game.
Violette never felt more ashamed of anything in her entire life… and she kept her head down the entire time while Zipp and Hitch did the scolding.
Sunny and Izzy tried to help Pipp and Misty calm their friends, but… that didn’t really do a lot of good.
And now… there was talk that the Sullivans were going to send the Buddies off to different families!
That was the last thing that the Buddies or Violette ever wanted to hear, especially it seemed that this was all their fault this was happening.
And now... Violette tried to figure out how to get the Buddies out of this mess before more trouble occurred.
XXXXXXXX
Noah was particularly quiet that night at dinner, and when he was being tucked up into bed, Patrick decided to have a one-on-one conversation with him about the topic. “You know, we've... we always knew this day would come. Doesn't make it any easier, huh?”
“...are we really getting rid of them, Dad?” Noah muttered sadly, causing Patrick to shake his head. “We're not getting rid of them. Did we get rid of Josh and Andrea?”
“No…” Noah shook his head. “They went to college.”
“Exactly,” Patrick confirmed. “They went away so that they could learn, so they could grow.”
XXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, in the next room over, the Mane 6, Buddy and Molly were trying to convince Violette and the Buddies of that exact same thing. “This time is always hard for puppies,” Buddy told his pups. “It was hard for me when I was your age.”
“Your dad’s right, guys,” Misty told the Buddies with a smile. “It may seem hard now, but it’ll be worth it in the future, even if you don’t think that it will.”
“If you stayed here forever,” Molly added on, “you'd miss out on so much, like taking care of people of your own.”
“But,” B-Dawg protested softly, “I already got mad love for my peeps right here.”
“Okay,” Molly nodded in understanding, “but you're gonna have more peeps, which means more of that mad love, dear.”
“...wow. Surprisingly that made a lot more sense coming from Molly than it did from B-Dawg,” Pipp whispered to Zipp, who shushed her. “...I’m just sorry I couldn’t stop the Buddies before they ate that pie,” Violette admitted. “I mean, I wanted to stop them, but… I guess that I didn’t wanna get in trouble or lose my new friends…”
“Violette, we know you were just having fun and being a filly, like we’re all supposed to do when we’re young,” Hitch said comfortingly. “But, there’s a difference between having fun and being responsible during fun.”
“Maybe Hitch and I were a little too harsh on you guys before,” Zipp said with a frown, “and we’re sorry. But you’ll see… this is gonna be the best thing for you. Just wait and see.”
XXXXXXXX
In the next room over, Patrick was kissing Noah on the head good night and prepared to leave the room when Noah called out to stop him. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we choose where the puppies go, like Josh and Andrea chose their colleges?”
“You betcha,” Patrick nodded, liking the idea, but then, Noah’s face fell again. “It's gonna be weird not seeing them every day.”
Patrick nodded solemnly at this. “I know, kiddo… but they’re not moving far away from us. And they’ll always be a family, no matter how far away they are.”
XXXXXXXX
By this point, the Mane 6 were tucking Violette into her bed right near the Buddies, each whispering soft wishes of good dreams to her before they stepped out of the room, saying good night to Buddy and Molly in the process, heading to their own room for the night. “I sure hope the Buddies will be okay in their new homes,” Misty whispered as they entered their room. “It isn’t easy leaving your home after so long of living there. Remember how long it took me to get used to the Brighthouse after I left Opaline?”
“We remember that,” Zipp nodded. “But we knew that we had to give you the time and space you needed to get used to it on your own terms.”
“The Buddies are going to be fine, cause we’re gonna help them learn to adjust in their new homes,” Hitch said. “No matter how long it takes.”
XXXXXXXX
Back in the pups' and Violette's room, Molly realized how late it was getting, and that she needed to get back to Henry right away. So, she licked Buddy on the cheek before climbing on the desk to reach the open window. “Good night, everyone.”
“Sweet dreams, Molly,” Buddy whispered as his mate scaled the roof, climbed down the car and went across the street to Henry’s house while Buddy made sure Violette and the ponies were tucked in.
After tucking them in, Molly barked to Buddy from her house, and Buddy barked right back at her before they went their separate ways.
Noah was actually getting ready to fall asleep when Buddy came up and laid in bed with him, causing Noah to pet the Golden Retriever, still a little bit down. “Hey, Buddy. I'm gonna miss them, too.”
But what they had no idea about was that a plan… an evil one, at that, was forming not too far away.
XXXXXXXX
At a nearby grape plantation known as Innsfield, where they made some of the best wine in Washington, there lived a greedy old man by the name of Selkirk Tander, who was about ready to make a deal with one of his biggest clients ever-- Mr. Livingstone, one of the richest and busiest men in the entire area, who wanted a very expensive birthday present for his spoiled son Bartleby, who was very lonely despite having everything he could ever want.
On this same night, Mr. Livingstone and Bartleby were making a visit to Selkirk at his plantation, and Selkirk immediately shook his new client's hand. “Mr. Livingstone, it is a pleasure to see you,” he said, causing Bartleby to sigh and roll his eyes while standing up. “And you, too, Mr. Bartleby. Wait till you see what I got you.”
Pressing a button on the nearby wall, a part of the wall opened up to reveal a huge cage. And in that cage was a glorious tiger, growling and snarling, completely angered that it was being contained in such a vile place. “Ah. Isn't she a beauty?” Selkirk asked, completely entranced. “What do you think, Bartleby?” Mr. Livingstone asked his son. “What a great birthday present, huh?”
Bartleby instead tossed the ball he was holding at the tiger’s cage, hitting the side of it and causing the tiger to snarl. “But I wanted an animal that I could play with, that plays sports,” Bartleby protested. “ I want Air Bud. He can play basketball, football and soccer!”
Mr. Livingstone sighed in frustration before turning to Selkirk. “How much would that cost?”
“Oh. Well, there's one and only one Air Bud,” Selkirk explained. “The price would be very high.”
“I'll give you $500,000,” Mr. Livingstone told the man. “Just get the Air Bud so my son will be happy for once.”
Immediately, Bartleby became excited about the idea. “You really think we can get him?”
“Bartleby!”
And just like that, Mr. Livingstone left the office with his son, just as Selkirk’s head henchman, a creep named Denning, and Sekirk’s dimwitted nephew Grim, came into the room. “Shall I prepare the tiger for delivery, sir?” Denning asked respectfully. “They don’t want the tiger,” Selkirk growled. “They want Air Bud.”
“The dog?” Denning asked in surprise. “They want a domesticated mutt over this exotic beauty?”
“So it seems,” Selkirk nodded stiffly. “Now get out there and get that dog. Now! And take my idiot nephew with you.”
Grim, who had been playing with an animal skull nearby, turned surprised at this. “Moi?”
“Grim, sir?” Denning asked, just as surprised. “I'd love to, but, uh, I'm swamped,” Grim made up an excuse as Denning left the room. “You know, video games to play, a nap scheduled for, uh…”
“I'm optimistic you can summon the brainpower to pick up the poop,” Selkirk said before smacking his nephew upside the head. “Get going!”
And so, Grim immediately ran after Denning, ready to go out and get Air Bud for his uncle…
…unaware that there would be a certain batch of young ponies and golden pups out to foil their plans.