//------------------------------// // 91 - Four letter words // Story: A Penny for your thought // by Damaged //------------------------------// "How is the work for that baking guide coming?" Ink stepped over to where the human was sitting, a pile of papers on each side of her desk. Jenny looked up at her boss. "Got them all inked up." She gestured to the trays hanging off the side of the desk with the pages in them. "Just letting the ink have some air before I pass them on." Ink couldn't stop the smile that crept over his snout, she really was the best artist he had ever employed and she had been a walk-in. "You can take the rest of today off then, if you want, we needed those by tomorrow." Jen cleared her work area and lifted the prints up and laid them out. "First, does anything need changing?" The printer pony pulled out the descriptions, he knew them by heart but it still paid to look like he was seriously going over them. Her art was perfect however, flawless. "No, out of here now, before I change my mind and have you redo them all." Genevieve laughed and grabbed her bag. "Tomorrow?" "No, you did tomorrow's work today, take that stallion out and have a good time." Ink tried to swat at her with the pages in a playful way that told Jen that her boss was indeed quite happy with her work. Then something occurred to her and she looked up where Ink had been pointing. "Sablee!" She trotted over, and as he tried to reply to her greeting, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Sablee managed to rear up a little, lifting his forelegs to hug the human back. It was the closest he could come to match her style hugging and it seemed to work for both of them. "Thought I would see if my mare was off work yet?" He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ink just told me I could take the rest of the day off, and tomorrow." Jen let go of Sablee, letting him sink back to all fours, her hand taking up position in his mane, gently massaging his neck. "Great news, oh, I heard the supply shop has some new inks in." Sablee had picked up on what his marefriend liked and made a point of getting to like it too. "Oh, then lets go take a look, I really hoped I could get a nice red… hay, what do you mean 'your mare'?" Jen bopped him on the nose. "You are, aren't you?" Sablee looked up at her and Jen's heart melted, any hope she had of being upset drained by his gaze. "Yup, you can't deny it." That stung her pride even more but there was a happy fluttering in her chest that pushed the sting aside. "Damn you…" Her hand worked at his neck as they walked. "Want to have some fun tonight?" His casual question, was so relaxed that Jen just knew he didn't mean the innuendo. "Like what?" Jen kept the giggle out of her voice. Maybe if they had some 'fun' she would let him have some 'fun'. Sablee beamed. "There is a new movie out." "Oh no, what kind of movie would ponies watch?" Jenny was teasing him and Sablee knew it. "Let me guess, is it about friendship?" "It's about a mare who grows up without a cutie mark." Sablee leads the way for the pair, directing Jen toward the art supply shop she wanted to visit. "I don't get what the deal is, some ponies really get worked up over it." "Didn't go to a regular school?" Jen made the guess and got a shake of Sablee's head in reply. "Mom taught me everything I needed to learn, we moved around a lot and regular schools just didn't fit me so good. Was just plain lucky that she knew somepony who knew somepony who could get me tested for Celestia's school." Sablee used his horn to open the door for Jen, the girl blushing a little at the very gentlemanly custom. Sablee liked seeing her blush. "Did I tell you about what we worked on, me and Hay that is?" It was a minor struggle for Genevieve to not feel any jealousy for Hay. The mare wasn't just out of Sablee's reach, in regards to an intimate relationship, she was leagues out of it. "Some sort of sound thing, I think you mentioned." Jen was drawn immediately to the new inks in stock and rushed over to examine them. "It's a whole speaker set and what Penny called a 'mix board'," Sablee trotted along with the human, explaining as he went, "anyway, we got it finished at last and then Vinyl came up with more we needed to add to it, apparently she heard a new music type and she just must have the machine needed to perform it." The words snapped Jen from her focus on the inks. "Wait, Vinyl Scratch?" Sablee nodded. "Oh, that is awesome, what kind of music is it?" "Uh, dump trot, or something." Sablee lifted a hoof to his chin, trying to recall. "Or dub trot?" "Dubstep, I am assuming Penny had something to do with that?" Jen reached her free hand down and rubbed one of the stallion's ears. Sablee's body almost trembled at the touch, leaning in to Jen's flank he half closed his eyes. "Yeah, she has a little box that has all sorts of music in it." Sablee could certainly get used to ear rubs. "Oh, now does she? I wonder if she could get me a charge…" Jen thought to her poor discharged phone. "What time is the movie?" She waited for a reply and when one didn't come she stopped rubbing his ear. "Sablee? Hay there, you alright?" With the rubbing stopped he could at least think again. Sablee tilted his head up and looked at Jenny, mouth curved into a silly-happy grin. "I love you." The three words startled Jen. She drew her hand back from the stallion. Her head told her to run. Her heart told her to stay. She trembled with indecision. "I… I…" Sablee wasn't sure what was wrong but right then, slowly shaking the effects of the relaxing ear rub, he repeated himself. "I do, I love you…" "I love you too…" Jen's mouth betrayed her. Her heart sang, her brain almost seized up completely. Why did she say that? "Thank you." Sablee started looking over the inks too, noticing that the shop-owner had left pieces of paper with that particular ink stained onto it, to show the dried color. "'Thank you'?" Jen was confused now too, on top of embarrassment, shock, and a betraying sense of desire for the stallion. "Thank you. I couldn't keep that in any longer. I needed to say it, to let it out. It is out now, and your reply makes me happier than I have ever been before." Sablee looked up at her. "So what does this mean?" Jen reached out, hesitantly, sinking her fingers into his mane. Damn it, but it really did help her relax. "It means we keep dating, we keep having fun with each other." Sablee looked up into the human's eyes. "It means we can stop dancing around the subject and just relax." "Relax? Most men… stallions, when they finally use those three words, want a whole lot more than relaxation." Jen tried to distract herself with the inks, but her eyes kept drifting back to Sablee. Damn him for being so… nice. "I love you." She said it on her own this time, unprompted. "Okay, yeah, it feels okay." "Good. I love you too." Sablee found one deeper red, levitating it and the paper swatch to Jen to inspect. Penny was reading when the door to her room flew open. "Sablee?" "Somepony took her and I don't know where they went and I…" The stallion looked, and sounded, distraught. "Who took who?" Penny was up on her hooves quickly, her belly feeling weightless with the sudden adrenaline rush. "Jenny! We were leaving the theater and something thumped me in the head. When I woke up Jenny was gone!" Sablee looked all to pieces and Penny climbed from her bed and walked over. "Okay, lets get the guard." He looked suddenly shocked and then nodded. "Yes, I can't believe I didn't think to get them earlier. Please Penny, you have to help find her I…" Penny's hoof rubbed his withers. "I can't take the thought of somepony doing bad things to her!" Penny focused on the anger and rage the incident inspired. It flooded her and crowded out the love within. The touch of her changeling mate, Stick, faded from her awareness and she knew the mare would get the hint that something was wrong. "Okay, so where did this happen?" "The theater on the other side of Canterlot. Who would want to do such a thing?" The sound of hooves could be heard in the hall, at a full gallop. "That is something we need to figure out, has anypony said anything or done anything that you think might be related to this? Maybe somepony upset with her?" Penny tried to think if Jen had mentioned any incidents or things. Then it hit her. "Jealousy." "What?" Sablee was all over the place but what Penny said sounded important. "What do you mean 'jealousy'?" "Just a guess but-" "What's wrong?" Stick and Hay were in the hallway, both crowding behind Sablee. "Penny, are you okay?" "I am but somepony foalnapped Genevieve." As she said it Penny thought more and more that she knew who it was. "The only pony I can think who would want to go after her isn't a pony at all. That human who was all over her, when we were getting Jen her job, can you remember where he worked?" Stick blinked a few times at this, trying to remember. Thankfully Hay seemed to remember. "Yeah, some massage place, I bet it is close to where we met him." "Come on then, we need to head over there and try and find somepony who might know where to find him." Penny looked at Sablee. "Come on, when we find her she is going to want to see you." "Yeah… yeah!" Sablee's mood switched from despondent to inspired in a moment. "Will they be open?" "Don't care." Stick reached with her green magic, urging Penny and Sablee into the hall. "If they are sleeping, we wake them up. Hay, I need you to do two things." Stick smiled at her marefriend grimly. "Can you go to the castle and find a guard, tell them everything. Then go to the hive and do the same." "The hive?" Sablee looked a little bewildered. "Stick knows what she is doing." Penny gave Sablee a little hug as they started to move. "Trust her, she saved a prince." "A prince?" Sablee's mind was still a little shocked but the big talk from Penny was starting to sink in. "Which prince?" "Shining Armor." Penny worked up through her paces, reaching a gallop beside her mate, pulling Sablee along with them between their magic. "She is unstoppable once she has a target." Stick grinned and they moved quickly across the city, the night emptying the streets for the most part, the few ponies that did see the trio bolt past giving them little mind. They reached the cinema first and Stick slowed to a stop. "Where did it happen?" Sablee lifted a hoof and pointed to one side of the road. "Over there." He followed along with Penny, on Stick's hooves. "Right here, yeah. I woke up and have the worst headache since I tried to lift a five." Stick's horn lit, a bright green glow lighting the area as the changeling built up illumination. She was looking intently at the ground and then pointed. "Jen's feet, she wore shoes right, ones that covered her feet?" Sablee nodded. "Good, okay there are two sets of those kinds of shoes here." She pointed with a hoof to the dirt. "Then we are on the right track." Penny smiled to Sablee, who looked more worried than ever.