On a fairly typical Saturday morning, Tim and Maci are camped out in the living room, passing the time away watching their favorite cartoons. As the cartoons cut out to commercials, the foals stop paying close attention. By this point in the morning, they’ve been seeing the same commercials time and time again and their enthusiasm for the new toys and snacks being promoted has dropped, much to the delight of their mother. The two foals want nothing more than for their cartoons to start again and for the commercials to finally be over.
Suddenly, a new commercial comes on and their ears perk up as the announcer starts in. “Fillies and colts of all ages! We interrupt your morning cartoons for an amazing announcement! TV’s own the Jungle Mare and the Doctor will be appearing live in pony at Flare Gun’s Pizza Shop! Yes, you heard that right! This afternoon, for one day only, Flare Gun’s Pizza Shop will be hosting the amazing Jungle Mare and the Doctor! Be sure to be here, for you won’t want to miss out on all the fun and excitement! Remember, fillies and colts, come to Flare Gun’s Pizza Shop this afternoon!”
With squeals of delight, Maci and Tim start jumping around happily, their minds already made up on going. Sharing a look and wide smiles, the foals rush to get their words out.
“Tim! Did ya see that? We gotta get there! The Jungle Mare and The Doctor!” Maci squeals loudly.
Tim nods quickly, “Yeah! We gotta go!” He looks up at the clock. “We better go now, so we can be sure to see them!”
With a nod shared between them, the two foals quickly get up and shut off the TV. Running towards the door, they both yell out. “Bye mom! We’re gonna go to Flare’s shop! The Jungle Mare and The Doctor are gonna be there! See ya later!”
Before they could get the door open, Star comes running from the kitchen. “Whoa there, little ones. You can’t just run off like that!”
Maci gives a little pout. “But mooom… they just said on TV that the Jungle Mare and The Doctor are gonna be at Flare’s this afternoon! We just gotta get there! We really don’t wanna miss this!”
“Yeah! I bet lots of other foals saw the commercial too! If we get there too late, we might miss out on seein’ them!” Tim joins in, looking up to Star.
With a soft chuckle, Star looks at the two anxious foals before her. “Well, I can’t let you two just run off like that.” The two foals look up at her, putting on their best sad faces. “Besides, I think I’d like to meet the Jungle Mare myself.” Cheering, Tim and Maci jump in little circles. “Calm down, little ones. Save your energy for when we get there, you don’t want to meet them all tired do you?” Both foals slowly calm down.
Leaving a note for the rest of the family, Star carefully guides her bundles of energy out of the house. With cheerful chatter, the foals walk with Star towards the pizza shop. Guiding them carefully, Star eventually gets them to the shop. With their energy and excitement building up once again, the foals smile happily as they near the shop.
At the door to the shop, they run into the family friend Riley. With a soft chuckle, he opens the door, letting them all in. “I figured I’d see the two of you here today, and you too Mrs. Star. Head on in, our special guests haven’t had any fans show up yet.”
Noticing the recent arrivals, Flare Gun trots over to the foals. “Good afternoon Tim and Maci, did you and your mother come to see our visitors?” The two foals nod excitedly. “Wonderful.” Looking to his special guests, he calls to them. “Oh Jungle Mare, Doctor? We have our first fans of the day here!”
The Jungle Mare looks over with a smile. “Oh my, you two are simply too cute!” The foals giggle and smile at her. “How about you two come over her with the Doctor and I, so we can all talk better.” Nodding quickly, the foals rush over.
Thinking quickly, Tim looks up to the Jungle Mare. “Miss Jungle Mare? What did you think about Manehatten? Ya know, that time when you went to see the Doctor’s family?”
The Jungle Mare smiles warmly at Tim. “That’s a good question, little colt. It was very interesting visiting that city and seeing all the ponies there. I found it very exciting to see how things work with that many ponies and buildings. But, I think what was most fun of all, was actually getting to meet the Doctor’s family. They were all very kind to me and we had lots of fun.” Tim nods, listening to every word. “Have you ever been to Manehatten?” Tim shakes his head. “Well, little colt, if you ever get a chance, I’m sure you’d have a fun time. They have a couple zoos with lots of animals, some fun places to play, and lots of yummy food!” The Jungle Mare gives a soft giggle, before continuing to share more of her stories with Tim and Maci.
Water Gun, filly friend of Riley, looks over at Tim after noticing him starting to look hungry. “Starting to get hungry, little guy?” Tim nods and Water smiles. “Don’t you worry, your mom is in the next room and she should be able to fill your belly.”
Tim gets up, “Thank you, Water Gun.” Looking to the Jungle Mare and the Doctor, he smiles. “It was really fun meeting you two, and hearing your stories. I have to go get fed by my mom, now.” He waves and goes to Star to get fed.
“Mr. The Doctor?” Maci looks up, “The Jungle Mare. Did ya meet her on accident or did she have to save you, like she saved all those foals?”
The Doctor chuckles softly, “While I would like to say we just ran into one another, I too had to be saved by the Jungle Mare. It all started one day when I was in the jungle, searching for some special medicine. As I was searching, I somehow crossed paths with an elephant who was rather unhappy to see me. The elephant started to attack me, and there was little I could do to escape on my own. Fortunately, the Jungle Mare quickly came to my rescue and chased that mean old elephant away. With him gone, I was able to get the medicine and get away safely.”
Maci smiles, “Wow…. that’s an amazing adventure!” The doctor nods, smiling. “Did your parents accept her? After she rescued all the foals and your dad as well?”
The Doctor nods. “Yes, though there are still things they don’t quite understand about her. Even with those things, though, they have grown rather fond of the Jungle Mare, and love her very much. In fact, they hope that she has a couple foals someday.” The doctor chuckles.
With a smile, the Jungle Mare gets up from her seat. “I’ll be back shortly, my dear Doctor. I want to see if that mare is who I think it is, she looks familiar to me.” The Doctor nods as the Jungle Mare leaves the table.
Walking into the next room, she spots Tim feeding on Star. She looks over the mare for a few seconds before speaking. “You’re Star Chaser, aren’t you?” Star nods. “I thought so! Your soldiers were the ones who captured that villain Lemon!”
Star looks at the Jungle Mare, “Yes, that is correct. Back when I was in the guard, I led a group of brave ponies to capture Lemon and put an end to all he was doing.”
“Was it true about his glass boomerang? I heard it was a rather dangerous weapon to have to encounter?”
“Yup, you could say that again,” Star gently lifts her mane, showing a scar left on her head from the fight.
“Wow… that’s quite a mark.” The Jungle Mare thinks for a moment. “Can I tell you something that’s a secret, at the moment?” Star nods. “The Doctor and I have acted out love before, but as regular ponies, we’ve started to fall for one another. In fact, we’re actually planning on getting married sometime soon.”
Star smiles, “That’s wonderful to hear! It’s always great seeing two ponies in love.”
The Jungle Mare nods, smiling. “Yeah, it really is, isn’t it?” She giggles softly, “And, we’ve been thinking of having foals of our own someday as well, and I couldn’t help but notice your foals. With them being smaller than usual, how do you raise them? Is it different than with normal sized foals?”
Star gives her a nod. “Yes, it is a bit different than with our others. With their small size, we have to be a bit more careful with them. A bump on their little noggins could require a trip to the hospital just to be certain nothing bad has happened. We also had to spend time sleeping on Peanut Island, the special place for foals with special health concerns, due to a nasty strep epidemic. We couldn’t take the chance on them catching it due to their bodies not fighting off infections so well.”
The Jungle Mare nods as Star continues talking. “And there was also a time when little Tim got hot coffee spilled over him accidentally. It blistered rather badly, and we had to take him to the hospital where they could keep him cool and comfortable.” With a smile, Star looks to Tim and then the Jungle Mare. “But, despite it all, we love them just as much as our others. My husband and I will do all we can to make sure that both our special little ones grow up to be strong and healthy.”
Nodding, the Jungle Mare smiles. “That is a wonderful attitude to have. If I were to have a small foal like one of yours, I think I would be pleased to do such a great job as you have.”
Poking his head into the room, Flare Gun gets the attention of the Jungle Mare. “Pardon me, Miss Jungle Mare, but it looks like we’re getting a large crowd heading into the shop.”
With a nod, the Jungle Mare smiles. “Looks like our little chat has to come to an end Star. It was great seeing you and getting a chance to talk.”
“I agree, if you’re ever in town again, I hope we get to talk further.” Star smiles and walks out of the room with the Jungle Mare, carrying Tim on her back. Trotting over to Maci, she smiles. “Come along, sweetie. It looks like there are other ponies that want a chance to visit The Doctor and The Jungle Mare.”
Maci nods. “Okay mommy. Bye Doctor! Bye Jungle Mare! It was really fun talking to you both!” The filly waves as she walks out of the shop with Star and Tim.
Waving from the door, Tim looks over to the Doctor and Jungle Mare. “Bye Doctor! Bye Jungle Mare!”
Soon the three ponies head for home, stopping at the beach in town to rest for a little while. Sitting on the sand, Tim looks to Star. “I knew they were gonna get married for real!”
Chuckling softly, she pets his head. “I thought you might have been listening in.” Noticing the two getting tired, she smiles. “We’d better head on home so you two can get a nap.” Gently placing the two on her back, Star heads back to the family home.