“Pinkie Pie noogied me.” Maud’s low monotone somehow made her proclamation of said noogie rather funny. The mare blinked and stared at Tarnished Teapot with half opened eyes, not looking at all distressed by being noogied. “And then she ran away. She said she had to get back to work.”
“What’s in the basket?” Tarnish asked.
“Food.” Maud’s reply was both factual, practical, and accurate. She turned her head, looked at the basket for a moment, and then looked at Tarnish. “I’m worried that it is full of sweets.”
“I’ll fix tea, so Tarnish can use his magic,” Pinny said.
“What?” Tarnish turned his head to glance at his mother.
“The tea. If you drink it, it should suppress your magic, right?” Pinny, worried, looked at her colt, fear creeping into her eyes.
“I don’t know that for certain,” Tarnish replied.
“Which is why we need to start testing.” Maud looked over at Pinny and gave the mare a nod. “Zecora seems to think that it should work. She and Twilight Sparkle are working on something that might help you.”
“Oh?” Tarnish, curious, wondered what Twilight Sparkle had planned. He was also curious about breakfast. He hobbled over to the basket, lowered his head, nosed the lid open, and peered into the wicker picnic basket. It smelled yeasty and something made his mouth water. Something smelled like…
“Pretzels.” Maud peered down into the basket. “With rock salt. Right now, I would really like to hug my sister. I think I’ll go pay her a visit later.”
“Garlicky pretzels… with cheese.” Tarnished looked around, eyeing the various baked goods. “Coffee cake, looks like hot cross buns, oatmeal raisin cookies, and stuff down below that I can’t make out.”
Lifting his head, Tarnish could see that his mother was preparing tea. She was teary eyed once more, her ears were drooping, and she looked rather distraught. He felt a heaviness in his heart, but did not know what to say, what to do, or how to deal with the situation. It was said that time healed all wounds, but this wound was sixteen years in the making. It was a gaping, festering hole of a wound. Lowering his head somewhat, he rubbed the side of his face against Maud’s neck, glad to have her near.
“Both of you make for an adorable couple… I’m so happy to see you together,” Pinny said as she placed the kettle on the cast iron stove in the middle of the tent. The mare blinked away a few tears and then smiled, her lips trembling from her effort to try and look happy. “You did good son, finding Maud.”
“Mom, she found me—”
“I know,” Pinny said, closing her eyes. “Maud told me everything. Please, please don’t tell me. I can’t bear to hear it again. I’m glad that the two of you have each other.” The kettle, still in Pinny’s magic, quivered on the cast iron stove, then the bubble of Pinny’s telekinesis burst, causing the kettle to clunk against the iron surface of the stove and the water inside to slosh.
Stepping away from the stove, Pinny went to work pulling the various items out of the picnic basket and setting them out on a low wooden table. There were cookies, some muffins, hot cross buns, pretzels, coffee cake, a yellow-gold pound cake that smelled like lemons that had what appeared to be poppy seeds, some hard boiled eggs, and a fresh batch of savoury scones that smelled of chives. There was also a jug of milk, a jug of chocolate milk, and a carton of carrot-apple juice.
Realising that there wasn’t much he could do at the moment, Tarnish sat down by the low table, got comfortable, and waited for what was certain to be a large breakfast.
Sitting in the grass, Tarnished Teapot watched as life went by in the distance. Trains came and went. Pegasi flew overhead. Buildings were being erected, going up one support beam at a time. Not far away, Pinny Lane slept on a cushion that had been dragged outside, napping in the sun; she had not slept well and the night had been long. Sitting beside Tarnish, Maud Pie was giving saccharine little snoot-nuzzles to Boulder, causing Tarnish to feel a little envious of Maud’s pet rock. He wanted a little sweet snoot-nuzzling action.
Lifting up his teacup, Tarnish took a sip. The poison joke antidote tea was flavourful, pleasant, and quite good. It was easy to drink, smooth, not bitter, and might even be nice if made into iced tea. There was a faint mintiness to it as well as a strong floral note that tasted and smelled a bit like roses.
Without meaning to, Tarnished Teapot turned to Maud and stared. She was tight muscled, strong, powerful, and gentle. She had a fine, silky pelt that was a pleasure to feel. Tarnish began to think about the feeling of her body against his, and all of the different ways he had experienced that sensation. The feeling of her well muscled back and spine against the soft flesh of his stomach. The feeling of her taut stomach muscles against his ribs. Those first few clumsy moments when she had spread her legs and he had floundered around on her belly before sliding along her silken thigh into the sacred hallows of her femininity, feeling the warm flesh of her navel against his own. Those hot, sweaty, breathless moments with the stars overhead and the blanket beneath them. Those nervous curious moments of eager, but cautious exploration.
Tarnish felt something touch his nose. He blinked, snapping back to reality. It took a moment to realise what had just happened, but he came to the slow realisation that Maud had just booped his nose with her hoof.
“Did you just boop me?”
Blinking, Maud nodded. One lone curl in Maud’s mane was caught by the faint breeze and for a moment, it appeared as though the lone curl was waving, or perhaps making a gesture of invitation.
“You booped me.”
“You were staring.”
“Well, I can’t help that.”
“You can’t?”
“Well, no. No I can’t.”
“Why is that? Do tell.”
Inhaling, Tarnish Teapot glanced at his mother, hoped she was still very much asleep, and then replied, “Because, I was thinking about some of those moments with you under the stars… and how beautiful you are.”
“I have bewitched you.”
Now blushing, Tarnish nodded.
“And I did it without a horn.”
Tarnished Teapot continued to nod.
“You know, that makes me feel really good. I’ve always worried that I was plain and unattractive. Thank you. You may continue to keep staring now. This pleases me.”
“There’s that sense of humour.” Tarnish’s eyes narrowed. “I like that about you.”
“Daddy says my humour is dry, like unbuttered toast.” As Maud spoke, a bright blue butterfly landed upon her ear. Maud’s eyes rolled upwards as she tried to see the visitor upon her ear. “A bug… Tarnish, please don’t eat it.”
Shaking his head, Tarnish rolled his eyes at Maud.
“You know, if I might confess something.” Maud’s eyes focused on Tarnish and she took a deep breath. “When I said all those words that rhymed with rock, I didn’t think you’d actually listen. I said some stuff…”
“You sure did,” Tarnish replied when Maud paused for a second.
“When I was saying those words I thought you’d zone out and ignore me but you listened instead.” Maud blinked and continued in her usual bored sounding monotone. “I’m still really embarrassed about that.”
“Really?” Tarnish tilted his head off to one side, causing his ears to flop over and hang down to the left. “Why?”
Maud shrugged, somehow looking disinterested. “I dunno.” She looked at Tarnished Teapot, her half closed eyes appearing heavy and a bit sleepy. “I see where you get it from.”
“Get what from? What do you mean?” Tarnish asked.
“Your mother has been listening to our every word for quite some time now,” Maud replied. “I guess I have something new to be embarrassed about.”
There was a faint giggle from Pinny Lane. “I couldn’t help it, I heard the word ‘boop’ and I woke up…”