“Buzzy, you have to snap out of this,” Bertha said as she nudged her sister. “It’s been over a week already.”
“One week and three days,” Buzzy mumbled with her chin on the table. She hadn’t seen Lucky Barrel for that long. Big Daddy McColt had been true to his word. Ever since he and the family had stumbled into Buzzy’s secret meeting, he had had patrols checking on her room every hour. She had had no chance to sneak away, or even contact Lucky to find out if she was okay. Her shirt was starting to get dingy and crusty because she hadn’t been able to wash it. Her mane was slowly turning into an oily mess and her scalp was starting to itch because she had grown so used to Lucky’s shampoo treatment. Her stomach was threatening to eat her because she was forcing it to digest pumpkin mush over and over after having experienced Lucky’s glorious cooking.
But worst of all, every time she started to drift off to sleep, the memory of what had almost happened came flashing back. Their lips had been so close together. Lucky’s body had been so tense in Buzzy’s embrace. Buzzy’s heart had pounded so hard that she was certain a rib would break.
Gah! If only they had shown up a few seconds later! Buzzy thought angrily as she glared at her family. Lucky Barrel had wanted to kiss her, right? Buzzy certainly wanted to kiss her. It wasn’t just some misunderstanding, right? It wasn’t just all in her head, and Lucky Barrel was actually grateful for the chance to slip away, right?
“Hooffield alert!” shouted the pony on watch. “Arm the cannons!”
Buzzy stood up so fast that Bertha fell backward in surprise. Normally, Buzzy would be racing to her station and helping prepare for battle, but now a different thought crossed her mind.
Lucky! Lucky came to see me!
Buzzy almost began hopping around the courtyard like a silly filly as the thought played in her mind. Maybe that new Princess and her little yellow friend that had arrived earlier today had convinced the Hooffields to let Lucky come over.
“Open the gate!”
Buzzy felt a smile spreading across her lips. She watched as the gate swung open, first revealing the new Princess, and then…was that a cake? And Ma Hooffield?
“What?” Buzzy asked as her joy fled.
“Ma Hooffield said it’s an apology cake,” Bow said as she raced down from the upper wall. Her eyes were swelling as she watched Princess Twilight levitate it through the door and set it down in the middle of the fort.
Buzzy swallowed as her stomach growled. The cake was huge, almost as tall as the wall around the fort, and it wasn’t made out of pumpkin mush. It was three layers tall, with a row of delicious looking carrots on the bottom layer and gobs of creamy icing on the top two. Two extra large carrots were placed at the top like candles, and Buzzy had to stop herself from jumping forward and diving into the thing. If it was anything like the food Lucky prepared, it was going to be delicious.
“It’s such a beautiful cake,” Bow said as tears filled her eyes. Buzzy suddenly realized that she herself was panting like a dog, but she didn’t care. She was so tired of eating the same slop over and over. She wanted something new to eat again, and she wanted it now!
“Think of this as more than just a cake,” the purple Princess said. “It’s the first step in the long road to forgiveness.”
Buzzy liked the sound of that. If her and Lucky’s families would stop fighting, then they could see each other again.
“Nothing says, ‘Let’s be friends’ like a cake that says, ‘Let’s be friends’,” the yellow Pegasus added in a soft voice. She flew over and landed close to Bow and added, “I wrote that in icing on the top.”
Buzzy was about to charge forward, but then the cake started shaking. She looked at her sister and the rest of her family, but all of them seemed just as confused as she was.Then the cake burst open at the top, flinging icing and cake everywhere.
“For glory!” the ponies yelled as they popped out of the cake and immediately started hurling chunks of it at the McColts.
Lucky? Buzzy was stunned to see the auburn hair mare among the attackers, flinging the cake around with a scowl. She and the other two Hooffields jumped out of the cake and landed on the ground, ready to attack more.
Instinct took over and Buzzy turned and ran. She made it a few steps before she heard Lucky Barrel and the other Hooffields scream in surprise, so she spun around and saw that they had all been caught in a net and were now dangling above the ruined cake.
“McColts!” Big Daddy yelled. “Assume Delta Force Formation!”
Without thinking, Buzzy fell in line for her part of the running triangle. She risked a quick look back at Lucky and saw that she was looking directly at her. The Hooffield’s scowl vanished instantly, replaced with a sad look and a small wave.
Buzzy darted her eyes and barely flicked her head to the right, hoping that Lucky would be able to figure out how to get her and her kinfolk down, and then she turned forward again. Big Daddy had moved to the front of the pack, and with a shout, the entire family charged out of the fort and after Ma Hooffield, grabbing tools and makeshift weapons as they did.
Buzzy wasn’t sure why she was running, or why she was taking place in the feud. She was angry, sure. Ma Hooffield had crossed a line, attacking under the promise of a truce, and the McColt in Buzzy demanded that she pay for it. But the rest of Buzzy, the part of her that was just Buzzy, didn’t care. She wanted to turn around and run back to the fort. She wanted to cut Lucky down, scoop up some cake, and then the two of them could run down to the pond and enjoy it together.
The D.F.F. came to a screeching halt as a barrage of food darkened the skies overhead. Buzzy and the rest of her family raised the wooden shields they had grabbed as the food rained down on them. She winced every time a carrot or cupcake hit her shield, not because it was dangerous, but because it was such a waste of food.
Once the barrage had stopped, Buzzy looked up and saw the whole Hooffield family charging toward her and her family. She froze for a moment, but then Bow and Bertha charged forward to meet the attackers, along with Big Daddy and the rest of the McCotls.
Bow met a Hooffield with a long red mane and a button up blue dress and started screaming in her face. The Hooffield screamed back at her as the yellow Pegasus walked over. It looked like she said something, but Buzzy couldn’t hear over all the yelling, and a second later Bow and the Hooffield tackled each other to the ground, trading blows. Bow caught the mare’s dress with her teeth and pulled as hard as she could, while the Hooffield repaid the favor by yanking on Bow’s short tail.
Bertha slammed into a tall, yellow mare with two pigtails and a green dress. The two immediately began slapping and hitting each other. It was the most energy Buzzy had ever seen her little sister display, but it wasn’t enough. Bertha lost her balance and fell backward. The Hooffield lost her balance too and fell on top of Bertha, striking her again and again. Bertha let out a small scream as the pony pulled one of her ponytails, so Bertha grabbed one of the Hooffield’s ponytails with her mouth and the other one between her front hooves and pulled them both. The Hooffield mare howled as her head was yanked down and the two ponytailed ponies bonked heads.
Buzzy grabbed a shovel and picked up a tomato that had landed near her. She tossed the ripe red orb into the air and then swung the shovel like a bat. The tomato sailed through the air and beamed the pony who was attacking Bertha in the face. She looked up at Buzzy in horror, but quickly returned her attention to Bertha when the youngest sister smacked her in the chin.
“Yes!” Buzzy yelled as she launched another tomato and hit another Hooffield. She looked around for more food on the ground, but then she felt somepony yank her tail, hard. Without thinking, she spun around and raised the shovel above her head, hoping that the display would scare away whichever Hooffield was trying to attack her. She didn’t want to actually hurt any of them because she knew Lucky would never forgive her if she did, but scaring seemed acceptable.
Buzzy’s plan worked. The pony that had been pulling on her tail screamed and fell backward, but to Buzzy’s horror, it wasn’t some random Hooffield. It was Lucky Barrel!
Lucky hit the ground and kicked up in defense, her hoof aimed straight at Buzzy’s chin. The blow would have been easy to avoid, but the shock of seeing Lucky again, combined with holding the shovel above her head, caused Buzzy to lose her balance. She started to fall forward just as Lucky’s hoof came up. She took in a sharp breath to prepare for the pain, but the blow never came.
“Everypony FREEZE!”
A massive ball of magic washed over the battlefield and Buzzy found herself frozen just a hair’s breath away from being kicked in the face. Lucky was frozen beneath her, a frightened smile on her face.
“Uh…hi, Lucky,” Buzzy whispered. She looked over and saw that the yellow Pegasus was talking, but she didn’t care. She was with Lucky Barrel, and that was all that mattered.
“You were going to hit me with a shovel!” Lucky growled while the yellow Pegasus talked in the distance.
“No I wasn’t! Honest! I was just trying to scare you. Well, not you-you. I thought you were a different Hooffield.”
“Well it worked pretty well.”
“Sorry.” Buzzy blushed.
“It’s okay,” Lucky smiled and the gloom disappeared from Buzzy’s heart. “I was about to kick you in the face, so I guess we’re even.”
“Not quite,” Buzzy said with a grin. “You did attack on my home.”
“It was the only way I could think to see you! Please don’t be mad!”
“So you did miss me?” Buzzy felt a flutter in her chest.
“Well, um…” Lucky Barrel sighed. “Of course I did. I can’t stop thinking about that night last week. I wanted to see you again, so when Ma asked for volunteers, I jumped.”
“Still, it is my home…”
“Well, what do you want me to do to make it up to you? I’ll wash your mane as much as you want. I’ll bring you whatever you want to eat. I’ll—”
The freezing spell vanished and Buzzy fell onto Lucky. The two mares stared at each other for a moment as Buzzy felt heat rising in her face, but before she could say anything, Lucky Barrel leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips.
“Forgive me?” she asked.
“Um…” Buzzy’s mind raced as she tried to sort out what had just happened. She felt warmer than she ever had before, and she wanted more. “It’s a start.”
“A start? What more do you want?”
Buzzy looked around. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but it looked like the generations-long feud was finally over. Big Daddy and Ma Hooffield were shaking hooves and other McColts and Hooffields were awkwardly apologizing to each other.
A smile appeared on Buzzy’s face. She leaned down and kissed Lucky Barrel on the cheek, then pulled away to see the mare pouting at her.
“That’s all?” Lucky asked like a spoiled filly.
“Meet me by the pond tonight if you want more,” Buzzy said as she licked her lips. “A lot more.”
“Deal.”
“And the night after that?”
“Of course.”
Buzzy smiled at the mare lying beneath her. That Princess for Friendship seemed to have pulled off the one thing that would make Buzzy’s life happy. She’d have to make sure she thanked her and the Pegasus before they left.
After she and Lucky cleaned each other up, of course.