Hearts and Hooves Day!

by Phoenix Heart 27

Like Thieves in the Night:(The Thief and the Dancer)

Like Thieves in the Night:

Wolf Runner didn’t think today could get any worse than this, but the universe just seemed to love to screw with him. As he was currently hopping over crates in a back alley somewhere in north Manehattan, his only thoughts were on one thing: He had to get home to her! He picked up the pace before stopping suddenly. He was tired of running and decided that today was NOT the day the cops would take him. All he did was try to do something nice for his marefriend and it somehow turned into a bunch of craziness.

“Not today Fuzz!!”, Wolf yelled as he fired up his horn and sent a wave of crimson magic towards a large dumpster, levitating it up and effectively cutting himself off from the pursuing police. Which lead him to then teleport himself out of sight and back to his “house”.

---

If anyone were to ask Gracie where she saw herself 5 years in the future, she certainly wouldn't have answered with ‘newly engaged to a criminal’. But at the moment she was too preoccupied with a much bigger issue along with getting their “house” (a one-story flat) together for a nice romantic Hearts and Hooves Day with her fiancé.

“I can’t believe this! I can’t believe this! I just can not believe this! How could I let this happen. I-We were so careful….How am I gonna tell him? We’re both still too young for this, plus unmarried.”, she kept yelling to herself as she set the table. A flash of light and heavy panting alerted her that he was home.

“Hey babe! I’m home!”, Wolf Runner shouted from the livingroom.

“Oh! I-In the kitchen! But, don’t come in yet! It's a surprise.”, Gracie shouted from the kitchen as she finished getting the table together and setting the food out. She then went into the livingroom.

“Hey you!” Wolf started before kissing her lightly on the cheek “Hope you weren’t too bored while I was out.”, he finished.

“No...but I do have a few surprises for ya today!”, Gracie responded before kissing him again, this time on the lips.

“Mmm...I’m liking where this is going so far.”, Wolf said as they parted and caught their breaths.

“Well then, put this blindfold on and follow me.”, Gracie instructed. Wolf complied and was soon sightless, being guided by Gracie towards the kitchen.

Once there Gracie fixed one more thing before telling him to remove the blindfold. As he removed the blindfold, his eyes were met with a simple but nonetheless appreciated table with a peach tablecloth. A top the table, a lone candle sat lit, illuminating the two plates of broccoli alfredo and “meatballs". A basket of breadsticks near the center.
“G-Grace...W-what’s all this?!?”, Wolf asked astonished.

“What’s it look like? A special Hearts and Hooves Day dinner for me and the stallion I love.”, Gracie beamed.

As soon as Wolf got himself together, he slipped his was behind Grace and wrapped his hooves around her in a loving embrace, albeit a rather tight one.

“Baby...can’t breathe!”, Gracie wheezed out. Prompting Wolf to release her and they both sat down for dinner.

“Sorry ‘Ce-ce’. That was just a...warm-up to my real way of saying ‘thank you’.”, Wolf replied with a wink as they started on their dinner.

“Hmmm, I’m sure it is.”, Gracie replied as she poured some cups of sparkling cider.

---

Right as they finished dinner, there was a banging on the front door.

“Open up!! This is the police!!! We have a arrest warrant out for a Wolf Runner!”, a police officer shouted as they banged on the door.

“Shit!--What you do now?!?!?!?”, Gracie shouted at/asked Wolf.

“For once, I swear nothing! I’ve literally been just walking around town all day. I had to pick up your Hearts and Hooves Day present earlier, next thing I know two cops just start chasin’ my ass for no reason! I managed to lose ‘em but I guess they found me.’, Wolf shouted as the door burst open and two uniformed officers came in and threw him to the floor. Gracie screaming and swearing in Bitalian at the officers as they cuffed and dragged Wolf away.

After getting over the shock of having her fiance carted away downtown by cops, Gracie came to her senses and whipped out her phone to make a call.

“Hello?....Hey Gabe! Listen, Imma need about $300 bail money and a ride downtown….C’mon please?!?...Duh! It’s Wolf!....No, He told me he wasn’t doin’ shit and two cops just chased him earlier for no reason….uh-huh….Yeah they came an’ busted down our front door a while ago n’ just cuffed him! Took him downtown….Okay….Thanks so much buddy!....Kay, see ya soon...bye.”, Gracie finally finished as she hung up. She then gathered her purse, keys, mace and a item wrapped in paper towel off the bathroom sink and threw them in her purse.
10 minutes later, Gabriel showed up on time and ready to give his friend a lift to the police station.

---

When they get there, Gracie is met with a familiar sight of an annoyed, but kind receptionist and her fiance in a holding cell talking to an officer.

“*sigh* Time to lay in the charm to this rookie officer…”, Gracie muttered to herself as she grabbed a release form and went over to the holding cell where Wolf was.

“Gracie! Thank Faust. D-Do you have the bail money and of course, a possible smile for me?”, Wolf rambled.

Gracie nodded and smiled before approaching the officer who arrested Wolf. A miserable look on her face.

“Hello, may I help you miss?”, the officer asked.

“Yes! Oh please, can’t you release my fiance? I know he was wrongfully incarcerated! You see, he wasn’t doing anything illegal. Simply out on a grocery run for me. I’d have done so myself but in my…’current state’” She paused and indicated towards her stomach, “He would have no room for argument! He insisted on going to the market. Please Officer...U. Cake...its a holiday.”, She finished.

The officer thought about this for a second before glancing back at the positively glowing young mare in front of him.

“...I suppose….with circumstances being as they are...I can let him off with a warning. Besides, having one parent in jail and the other to raise a foal is a statistic far too common these days and who am I to help with that statistic grow larger. Just don’t let this happen again.”, Officer Cake responded as he unlocked the holding cell and released Wolf Runner.

“Oh Thank you Officer! And I promise, this won’t happen again! And...out of curiousity, what is your first name?”, Gracie asked as she signed them both out after paying bail.

“I am Officer Uranus Cake ma’am.”, Officer Cake responded.

“Ahh...alright. Well, til next time Officer. Good-bye.”, Grace saluted before they left.

When they stepped out of and were a good distance away from the police station, Gracie finally broke the necessary silence.

“Okay, I could not have been the only one thinking of and mentally laughing at that officer’s name!”, She laughed.

“Oh goodness! I instantly thought of ‘urinal cake’ when I read it too!”, Wolf laughed as they headed home.

---

“Okay! I’ve seen you con your way outta a lotta situations before, but that had to be your most believable story yet babe!”, Wolf Runner laughed after they’d gone home for the night.

“Yeah…..”, Gracie started before falling off into her own thoughts.

Wolf noticed she suddenly got quiet and asked, “Hey, you okay?”.

‘Well...it’s now or never...’ Gracie thought as she swallowed and sighed as she turned away to grab the paper towel wrapped item from her purse.

“Yeah...well….what if I told you that all but one thing about what I said was just acting.”, Gracie stated.

Wolf looked confused and readjusted himself on the couch.

“What do you mean? What thing?”, He asked cautiously.

“The part where I mentioned a ‘current state’ then gestured to my midsection…”, Gracie said timidly.

Finally fully understanding what she meant by that after a full minute, he nearly fell off the couch in shock.

“T-That was...Y-You mean...Y-You’re…”, He stuttered.

Gracie nodded and unfolded the paper towel to reveal a small stick with a red “+” sign on it.

“Yeah...I-I’m pregnant.”, She said in an almost whisper.

Wolf Runner instantly jumped up and picked her up carefully and spun her around in happiness.

“Oh Faust! Gracie! This is Amazin’! But...how?!? And how long have you known?”, Wolf asked still in a bit of shock and setting her down.

“Okay, first since this afternoon. I just felt terrible earlier and something in the back of my mind told me to just check myself. Don’t worry, I tested 5 other sticks and they all said the same thing. As to the how...well I think you know exactly ‘how’! But what baffled me is that we hadn’t had sex in like 2 weeks, and even then we used protection. Perhaps the rubber broke or my birth control decided to fail me for a day. Either way it resulted in...well this!”, Gracie said while cautiously rubbing her mid-section.

Wolf Runner simply had the biggest grin in all creation on his face. The two sat back down, Gracie on Wolf’s lap her head resting against his fluffy chest.

“I...Imma be a ‘Papà’!?'", Wolf asked to reassure himself that this wasn’t a beautiful dream.

“Mmmmhmm. And Imma be a ‘Mama’!'", Gracie answered with an excited smile on her face.

“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day my love.”, Wolf Runner said pulling a thick quilt over the both of them.

“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Wolf Runner. Ti amo.”, Gracie responded as they fell into a fitful sleep.