Daughter(s)

by Zeck

"You Naughty Girl."

“Mm…sorry, what did you say?” Minuette asked as she tore her eyes away from Berry’s insane curves. She looked up and met her wife’s gaze, and the smirk she received told her she was busted.

“Is this what you do to me?” the Earth pony asked. She gestured with her hoof at their surroundings. “You know, when you…stop time.”

The wink Berry gave made Minuette blush.

“Uh, no, no…” Minuette said as she looked at the ground—or rather, where the ground should have been—trying to gather her thoughts. “All I do there is, um…freeze you, specifically. Or at least the time around you. The rest of time keeps going like nothing happened.”

“Oh, but stuff does happen, you naughty girl,” Berry teased.

Minuette was pretty sure her face was now matching the shade of her wife’s mane. Once, back when they were still dating, Minuette had asked to try freezing Berry in time. She’d been practicing the spell and knew it was safe, but she had wanted to try something else. As Berry put it, something dirty.

What had ended up happening was Berry getting a full experience in less than two seconds. As Minuette had expected—hoped even—everything that she had done to Berry’s body during the ten minutes had all happened at once from Berry’s point of view. Every kiss, every lick, every bite, and every grind had hit her wife in the time it took a normal pony to blink twice.

Minuette still remembered the look of sheer shock and bliss after Berry’s mind had stopped reeling. While they didn’t do it all the time—Minuette was often left out because Berry was too exhausted to return the favor—it was a neat little trick to use once in a while.

Minuette shook her head to clear the thought. “Anyway, this isn’t like what I do. To you, I mean.”

“Seeing as I’m still standing and not gasping for breath, I figured as much.”

Minuette swallowed and continued. “This is something different. Time’s being twisted at the moment. Somepony, somewhere, is messing with something they shouldn’t be. As such, here we are, outside of time.”

Berry looked around, making sure she turned her back to Minuette. She stood that way for six seconds, her tail swishing back and forth every other second. She stretched her neck, cracking it to one side as she snuck a glance over her shoulder. She blinked once, keeping her eyes closed a half second longer than normal, and then returned to looking around.

“You’re saying you broke time this time around?” she asked.

Minuette bit her lip. Berry was keeping her backside to her deliberately. She had also been suggesting that this was Minuette’s fault for the past three minutes and twelve seconds.

“For the last time, Berry. I didn’t break time. I pulled us out of it!” The Unicorn raised her voice not because she was angry, but as a way to try and distract herself from the growing sensation that Berry was purposefully denying her.

“So you ripped out time’s guts?” the Earth pony asked playfully. She made a point to look up at the whiteness above them, and then tapped her hoof on whatever it was they were standing on. The sound was both near and far at the same time, an odd result of being everywhere and nowhere at once. “Sure sounds like breaking it to me.”

“I didn’t—!” Minuette took a deep breath, closing her eyes and breathing through her nostrils. One, two, three, four. She opened her eyes again to find her wife facing her now, grinning seductively. “…You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. You’ve stranded us in the middle of a white…nothingness. Teasing you is the least I can do.”

Minuette’s shoulders sagged. “You’re lucky I love you…”

“And my flank?” Berry asked, turning to the side so Minuette got a full view of a strawberry and grapes cutie mark.

“And your flank,” the Unicorn said with a smile. Minuette knew Berry had a certain reputation around Ponyville. Berry knew it too. For most ponies, that was cause to stay away in public. Mineutte herself even got some strange looks when it became known that she was interested in the loose Earth pony, but she didn’t care. She saw Berry for whom she really was underneath the tough, sarcastic shell and drinking: a loving pony who was terrified of being hurt and left alone, so she kept everypony at a distance except her daughter.

It had taken Minuette quite a few tries to get Berry to open up, but once she had, she gave Minuette a sense of belonging that no other pony in Equestria could hope to match.

Of course Berry was amazing in bed too, which helped. And on the couch. And the table. And the floor. And pretty much wherever they could go. Berry’s reputation was something Minuette secretly loved, because it meant that the Earth pony knew exactly where to touch and what to do and when to do it. She had learned the fun way just how many tricks the Earth pony knew, some of which she was pretty sure others had never even heard of.

Tricks she was deliberately withholding right now, much to Minuette’s annoyance. She had thought Berry would jump at the chance to jump her in this place, seeing as they’d be the first two to ever do it here. Plus, it would be a great way to pass the non-existent time while they waited, but for some reason, Berry was playing hard to get.

“Okay, I give,” Minuette sighed. “You were raring to go just four minutes ago when we were on the couch. I mean, my horn is still damp.” She reached up and touched it with her hoof, and sure enough, she could still feel a trace of saliva. “And now we’re someplace no pony has ever been—except for me and maybe one other—and you're locking it down.”

“Yep.”

“Whyyyyy?” Minuette whined.

“Is Pinchy okay?”

Minuette froze for two seconds. “She should be,” she answered. “You still exist, so she does too. Plus, like I said, time will fix itself. It’s kind of like a rubber band. You can stretch it and twist it all you want, but eventually it was go back to its usual shape. Even if she did disappear, she will show up just like everypony else the millisecond this is resolved. The only reason you and I are hear is because I felt it coming and instead of wandering through the past by myself this time, I wanted some company and you—”

“What?” Berry asked, her eyes suddenly wide.

“Uh…” Minuette wasn’t sure what she had said that stunned her wife so much. “I wanted some company, and you were sitting on my lap, so I—”

“No,” Berry interrupted. “You said you went through the past?”

“Yeah…” Minuette shrugged and crossed her front legs as she stared down. She didn’t really like to talk about her first time here because it had terrified her. “I’ve done this once before. Ended up stuck here, so I thought I’d try something. I ended up going back about a week before time fixed itself.”

“Can you…?” Berry’s lower lip was trembling and her eyes were filling with water. “Can you do it again? Can I go with you?”

Something was wrong. Minuette hadn’t seen Berry this on edge, this close to breaking, in a long time. She swallowed. “If it’s safe, probably…” she offered slowly. “Why?”

“I…I…” Berry swallowed, fighting back tears now as she stood in the white emptiness. “I want…”

Minuette walked forward and wrapped Berry in a hug. Whatever her wife was trying to say was so important that it was choking her. She felt Berry bury her face into her blue fur and return the hug as she silently cried into her neck.

“It’s okay,” Minuette whispered, stroking the curly mane for seven seconds before gently raising her wife’s chin with her hoof. “Just think of where you want to go, and I’ll get us there.”

“Thanks, babe,” Berry whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes, although her lips were still shaking. “I promise I’ll play with your horn for an hour after this.”

Minuette’s knees almost gave out as the image flashed in her mind. “Uh…okay. A-Anyway, focus on where you want to go. Oh, and close your eyes. I found that it helps.”

“Got it.” Berry closed her eyes and Minuette put her forehead against hers.

“This might feel a bit weird, but trust me.”

“Of course.”

Minuette smiled as she closed her eyes too. She focused her magic on Berry’s mind, tying it to the nothingness around them. As she did, the image of a river began to form in her own mind.

Ahead, the river was a wild beast, crashing violently against jagged rocks and threatening to tear the two ponies apart. Something terrible was happening in the future it seemed, and Minuette quickly tore her thoughts from it less it accidently pull them in.

Behind, the river was still turbulent, but not nearly as bad. Small rapids filled the water, and one part appeared to forming a sort of whirlpool. Was that the focal point of this whole thing? It didn’t look too far in the past, which meant that whatever was causing it would be resolved soon. She would have to hurry if she wanted to help her wife.

Minuette found herself being pulled up the river. The feeling of water washed over her, but she knew she was perfectly dry. Her lungs threatened to scream for air, but they were constantly filling with it. She wondered if Berry was experiencing the same feelings, or if it was just herself since she was the one guiding them.

Minuette found herself and her wife slowly heading toward the whirlpool. They weren’t on a direct course for it, but the Unicorn could feel the pull of their destination somewhere near it. She would have to make sure she didn’t crash and the two of them got sucked in. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get them back out in time.

Careful, the Unicorn thought as she steered them. Time was out of place here for her, and it was making her dizzy. The whirlpool had been over fifteen years away three seconds ago, and now it was right next to them a lifetime later. Fearing they were in danger of falling in, she doubled down on her magic and tugged harder at the memory in Berry’s mind.

They began to drift past the whirlpool an eternity later. Thankful that whenever Berry wanted to go was apparently behind the swirling time pool, the Unicorn relaxed a little and—

Something shot out of the whirlpool like an arrow. Minuette saw two purple beings, one smaller than the other, go whipping down the river, their screams echoing in the Unicorn’s head.

Twilight? Spike?

Minuette lost control of the magic. She and Berry began to sink toward the whirlpool. Panic overtook her then as her lungs filled with imaginary water and her body threatened to freeze in non-existing currents. Desperate, she spied a single rock that suddenly jutted out of the water. Clasping Berry, she reached for it as the whirlpool pulled them into its grasp.

Almost…got…

“It!” Minuette suddenly found herself face down on real floor, her foreleg outstretched in an attempt to reach a rock that had never really been there. She shook herself, both to clear her head and because her body still felt like it was covered in water, and looked up. They appeared to be in some sort of locker room or something.

“Berry?” Minuette asked as she picked herself up. “You okay? That was really close.”

“What was?” her wife asked. “One second we were hanging out in that white space, and the next second, we were here.”

“Answers that question then,” Minuette mumbled to herself. Apparently Berry hadn’t experienced any of the time travel oddities. “Anyway, sorry if this isn’t where you wanted—”

“Paging Doctor Homestead,” a voice suddenly announced over an intercom. “Doctor Homestead to patient room five please.”

Minuette made a face as she looked at the intercom speaker. “A hospital? That’s where we ended up? Shoot. I’m really sorry, honey. Give me a three minutes and I should be…able…to…Berry?”

Berry had gone as stiff as a board and the color had drained from her face and was threatening to seep out of the rest of her body. Horrified that some unexpected side effect was taking hold of her, Minuette rushed to her side and began to shake her as she frantically called her name.

“We’re…” Berry mumbled after forty-four agonizing seconds. “It’s…I…Collie? Collie, we’re here.” Tears streamed from Berry’s eyes and she collapsed on the floor, Minuette down at her side two miliseconds later.

“Berry!” the Unicorn cried. Was she time sick? Was that even a thing? Had pulling her through time somehow threatened her very existence? There were some many things about time magic that Minuette still didn’t understand, and her mind was threatening to drown her with questions as she clung to her wife. She’d never forgive herself if something happened to Berry because of her. How would she explain it to their daughter that one of her moms was never coming home again because of something the other one had done? “Berry, please! You have to…I don’t know what to do without you! Don’t leave me!”

“Celestia help me,” the Earth pony whispered. “I…I can’t. Not again.” The mare looked up and her eyes seemed to finally see Minuette again. “Collie?”

“Berry, are you okay? Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of—” Minuette stopped when Berry put a trembling hoof on her shoulder.

“No.” Slowly, with Minuette’s help, Berry rose to her hooves. “Collie, I’m…I don’t think I can do this alone. But…we can’t leave. Not yet. Please…”

“Are…” Color was coming back into Berry’s face now, but her eyes still looked like a pony on the edge of shock. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” The Earth pony blinked several times, forcing her eyes back to some semblance of normal. “But…you’re going to have to help me, okay?” Berry smiled, a forced smile that told Minuette that she was far from okay. “Babe?”

“Anything,” Minuette pleaded, the terror in her chest barely being held back by the sight of her wife standing up. “Name it and it’s done!”

“Just…” Berry looked at her in a way that made the Unicorn want to wrap her up in an embrace and never let go, but terrified her into stillness as well. “Just…we need to change. Grab…some outfits out of those lockers.”

Minuette nodded and pulled out two sets of clothes. She floated one over to Berry and began to slip into her own. “What are we doing?”

“We need…” Berry stopped and swallowed, choking back tears. “I need to go look around.”

Author's Note:

I like to think that Minuette's just as lustful as Berry (okay, maybe a little less because Berry is Berry), but she keeps in on a leash. I mean, she has to be, right? You don't marry somepony like Berry and not be into fun stuff.

Obviously, Berry wasn't planning on ending up at this hospital, so why did the time magic pull them here? Did Minuette really screw up and this is just a random place, or did she succeed after all?
Oh, and the deal with Twilight and Spike is that was one of the many times Starlight sent them flying back to the future.

Comments

[Poet Knight]

Your trying to give me cliffhanger syndrome, aren't you?

[Zeck]

7299276 On the plus side, these chapters are short, which means I can update it much faster than my big stories. So it's not so much a cliffhanger, as it is a...short drop-hanger?