Spring Broke

by kudzuhaiku

Chapter 19

Sugar-fueled Buttermilk was an entirely different beast than normal, regular Buttermilk. Clutching his stomach, unable to eat another bite, Copperquick watched as Buttermilk played with a half-awake and rather grumpy Esmeralda. Much to his concern, Buttermilk was breaking the rules. With reckless, gleeful abandon, the pretty pegasus maid was pressing her sticky, syrupy face against the foal’s tummy and blowing raspberries. She had also given the foal a few sips of syrup, and now, his daughter seemed rather discombobulated as the sugar began to take hold.

Butter Fudge was still eating, packing away flapjacks a half a dozen on a plate at a time, and Copperquick found this quite alarming. She was, after all, a big mare, and she had worked hard all day, but this was disconcerting. Buttermilk let out a cry when Mighty Midge plucked Esmeralda out of her grasp, and then, he too blew sticky raspberries against the filly’s stomach. Unlike Buttermilk, his daughter, Mighty Midge made Esmeralda giggle, and this made Buttermilk frown at her father.

Then, Mighty Midge poured even more syrup down the filly’s gullet, inviting Disaster to come over, have a seat, and stay awhile. There was no way that this could go right and Copperquick awaited the inevitable crash that was sure to come. At this point, it looked as though the kettle had been put on and Disaster had been coaxed into staying overnight as a guest. Pegasus ponies and their reckless, ne’er-do-well daredevil attitudes… why couldn’t they be sensible, like earth ponies?

Now, Esmeralda was reaching for the syrup bottle while whimpering for it, a sight that seemed adorable at first, until as a parent, one considered all of the ramifications of the act and then suffered a debilitating stroke when the inevitable outcomes presented themselves in a mental slideshow of abstract horror playing on a loop within one’s head.

Disaster was now a live-in roommate, the bad kind that left soggy teabags lying about.

Butter Fudge was now waving for another plate and Copperquick, for the very first time since his arrival, began to wonder what he was getting himself into with Buttermilk’s family. Mighty Midge and Buttermilk had Esmeralda pinned between them, and they were zerberting both sides of her little ribs. Was there anything worse than sticky and hairy? Copperquick wasn’t sure, but he was almost certain that this query was one of the great Questions that one needed to ask if one desired to have a rich, fulfilling life.

Two squirrelly pegasus ponies were letting his daughter drink syrup while showering her with sticky, zerberty kisses. The relationship with Disaster had now progressed to full on flirting, an act that could only progress towards further risky, questionable life choices—very much like having a go with an exotic dancer and rogering her in the just-as-risky-as-too-much-whisky hole—which would then lead to a filly left on one’s doorstep just before one had to go to work.

Copperquick it seemed, had come full circle in the Disaster relationship oroborus.

Risk translated into rewards though, and with this in mind, Copperquick reached out to Buttermilk. She jumped a little at his touch, and a giggling Esmeralda slipped into Mighty Midge’s embrace as Buttermilk turned around to face Copperquick. Slipping his forelegs around the sweet, sticky pegasus, he looked down at her and could see his own reflection in her glasses. He looked far too serious at this moment, but that was okay, he was meant to be a well respected pony, his cutie mark said so.

“Hi there. What’re you doing and why are you so close? Do you have mischief on your mind? You have butter on your nose. A long time ago, ponies rubbed themselves down with butter to have sleek, shiny coats. You’re my best friend, did you know that? I want to have adventures with you and try new things, exciting things, like skiing and hot air ballooning and falling in love and raising a family, because you’re just the right kind of friend to do all those kinds of things with. Oh, wow, you’re getting closer, and my heart is racing right now, and I feel warm all over, and I—”

The pegasus that he held went silent when the tip of his snoot bumped up against hers. She was trembling, her wings quaked, and he could feel her hot, syrupy-scented breath blowing against him. He had pulled her close with the intention of giving her a quick, polite peck, but now he was savouring the anticipation of it, and he slid one foreleg down along the gentle curve of her spine, revelling in her splendiferous twitchy reactions.

“This is super embarrassing right now,” she breathed in a voice every bit as soft as a foal’s blanket. “Daddums is watching and for some reason that’s even worse than Moomy, I don’t know why, but it just is, and it might be because I am Daddums’ girl and Copper, this feels really weird right now, but I really, really want you and Daddums to get along and be friends, because deep down inside I am really insecure because I am a shy, nerdy girl and both you and my Daddums are the only males who have said I was pretty and all of this just feels so important right now.”

While he looked into Buttermilk’s eyes, Copperquick could not help but wonder about why a pegasus of all ponies would want to go hot air ballooning. With his heart pounding against his ribs, he felt lightheaded, giddy, he felt many of the same things as he did when he held his daughter and she was happy. Buttermilk was twisted around in her seat to face him and one of her forelegs was now snaking around his neck.

“You looked so bewildered when you came to me for help… so scared.”

When she spoke, he could feel her lips brushing up against his and he wanted to give her the sort of passionate kiss that authors wrote six-inch-thick novels about. But this, this was also pleasurable in its own way, this closeness, this intimacy, and all of the spine-tingling sensations that went with it.

Chancing a sidelong glance, Copperquick saw Butter Fudge and Mighty Midge huddled together with his daughter held between them. The big mare was nodding encouragement in his direction, her eyes misty, and the dark blue pegasus beside her was bouncing Esmeralda up and down. The waitress was coming with more flapjacks and he refocused his eyes on Buttermilk, who had tantalising, sticky lips that captivated him.

Lips that he could no longer resist, and so he kissed her, intending it to be a quick peck. But, as it turned out, one simply did not peck a sticky-lipped pegasus, no, because Buttermilk had other plans. Tilting his head off to one side, Copperquick let the moment happen and tried not to think too much about her parents watching. The hardness of her hoof pressed into the back of his head, just behind his ear, and she was almost hanging off of him at this moment, due to him being taller when sitting down. Sweet, sticky friction caused her lips to rub against his in the most shiver-inducing ways, creating a truly remarkable heat between them.

And then, far too soon, Buttermilk pulled away, breathless and disheveled.

In a low, low whisper, she said, “I have plans for you… for us…”

---

The sun dipped low on the delta and appeared to set the tidal shoals on fire. Entranced by the sheer indescribable beauty of it, Copperquick stood in one spot to drink it in while Buttermilk flew erratic circles overhead, drunk on syrup. There was much beauty in the world, so much so that Copperquick felt pangs of regret at knowing that he would never live long enough to see it all. Of course, there was also having the means to travel to see it too.

Buttermilk, who had Esmeralda in a carrier slung from her neck, took a few precious moments to huggle-snuggle the sugar-buzzed foal mid-air while saying, “Once upon a time, there was a pretty, pretty pony princess, and she dreamed that she could fly!”

Copperquick looked up, his ears twitching in time with Buttermilk’s wing beats, and then he turned to face Butter Fudge, who was giving Mighty Midge a pony ride on her back. Clearing his throat, he asked Buttermilk’s mother, “The whole thing with Buttermilk being so happy about being able to fly… it’s because of the tether you kept her clipped on, isn’t it?”

This seemed to catch Butter Fudge off guard, and she shuffled her hooves in the dirt for a few seconds while she thought about her response. Blinking, she replied, “Oi, I don’t know!”

Sitting on his wife’s back, Mighty Midge began to chuckle while he stroked her neck.

The water burned a glorious orange with bands of pink and yellow. Boats of all kinds cruised by, some fast, some slow, and far overhead an airship meandered seawards, pulled by a team of stout pegasus ponies. Even now, at the end of the day, this place bustled with hustle from the hard working souls who populated the delta.

An orchestra of sensation threatened to overwhelm Copperquick: the colours, the beautiful rosy hues of the fantastic sunset; all of the sounds that graced his attentive, quivering ears, the beating of wings, the sound of ships on the water, and of gruff voices giving commands; and then there was the smell of this place, of which there was so many that his nose had trouble making them all out. It was too much, really, and Copperquick was forced to stop thinking of all of the great many things that troubled him so that he could take it all in. There was only the moment, as glorious as it was, and he drew in a deep breath to fill his lungs with briny air.

“Wheee! I can fly and I have a little flying buddy!”

His existence had been terrifying for quite a while now and the strain on his mind had been unrelenting. The danger of losing everything had unnerved him, unsettled him, and then there was the humiliation, the shame, and having to bend his proud neck, like the day he had accepted help from Sapphire Shores. Tossed into the swirling maelstrom, he had seen the best and worst that equinity had to offer. The resolute, dignified goodness of Twilight Velvet and the coldhearted lack of compassion of Mister Blancmange.

Out here, existing on the very edge, where the danger of falling off consumed his mind and left him terrified, he had met the most fantastic ponies. The sheer magnanimity of Princess Cadance and Princess Celestia had floored him, restored him—healed him. Now, he strove to live by their example, to do good, to be good, to be a right and proper pony.

With a flick of his tail, he took off at a run, overcome by his earth pony senses. Stuffed with flapjacks, he still somehow ran and his hooves cut divots out of the soft earth. This island, large as it was, wasn’t big enough for a good run and Copperquick would run out of space soon enough. It felt good to run, to be free, with the sound of his own hooves thundering in his ears.

In an eyeblink, Buttermilk was right beside him, her wings buzzing, and she had no trouble keeping up with him. Copperquick poured on more speed, but this only lasted for a few seconds because the end of the island was fast approaching. He would have to turn around and run in the other direction if he wanted to keep going, and he wanted to run, to outpace all of his troubles.

With fluid grace, he cleared a wooden fence, flying for a short distance, and then he had to slow down with the end of the land approaching. It formed a narrow spit of land, a sandbar really, and his hooves skidded over the loose earth. Crossing the fence had taken him out of bounds, right up to the shoreline. Making a quick turn about, he dug in his hind hooves and took off again.

For the second time, he cleared the fence and kept going, this time sprinting in the direction of Butter Fudge and Mighty Midge, who were right where he had left them. Buttermilk was almost at eye level, whizzing along, and in her carrier, Esmeralda was hooting while waving her forelegs about. Copperquick slipped into a gallop without even trying and he pulled away from Buttermilk, who let out a snort of annoyance. She too, poured on the speed and caught up in a fraction of a second.

He soared over the soft earth, his hooves barely even touching, and remained in the air for whole seconds at a time. Head down, ears back, it felt good to run, to be a pony, to move entirely on instinct and leave behind complex, complicated, conscious thought. Already, he was running out of island again, and satisfied in ways that he could not explain, Copperquick slowed his pace.

Bucking, he kicked out his hind legs and gamboled about on the soft ground, revelling in the glorious sensation of horsing around. He pronked a few times, twisting and turning in the air, and made a few stiff-legged bounces just to get it all out of his system. When he recovered his senses, he found Buttermilk staring at him, along with his daughter.

“Why, Miss Oddbody, I do believe I am ready to go home and do a bit of studying.”

Author's Note:

Say what you will, Disaster puts out...

Comments

[AyanamiRei]

We've barely even seen poor Copper study, which was like AT LEAST half the point of him coming home with Buttermilk!

Copper you had better watch yourself, otherwise you're going to get in some real trouble, and NOT just with classes/college!

[lordofmyth]

is midge seretly a humming bird or something? you make buttermilk even a single grain of sugar and she is alreayd three states away

[kudzuhaiku]

8534879
They're both hummingbird pegasus ponies.

[OminousBrony]

8534894
You know, knowing both Midge and Buttermilk and Hummingbird Pegasi has me wanting them and a flock of other Hummingbird Pegasi all converging on one source of sweetness

Years ago, when I lived in Payson/Star Valley in Arizona we had 2 hummingbird feeders on our front porch and we'd have like in excess of 20 humming birds at one time flying around, feeding from them. There were literal aerial battles over the spots on the feeders from morning until night. There were some times were were worried that one of them would slam their little beaks right into out heads and get stuck like a dart to a dart board . Wanna see this happen but with Pegasi.

[Bloody_Tofu]

It’s these moments... in between the horror and heart break that make this world so wonderful.

Here’s to a fantastic couple and the hope that Copper gets to taste some raspberry tonight.

[CommanderBigMac]

The relationship with Disaster had now progressed to full on flirting, an act that could only progress towards further risky, questionable life choices—very much like having a go with an exotic dancer and rogering her in the just-as-risky-as-too-much-whisky hole—which would then lead to a filly left on one’s doorstep just before one had to go to work.

Oi, you talking from experience there, Copper?

Author note is right. Disaster does put out

[mastermenthe]

8535717
come to think of it, "Disaster does put out" is another roundabout description of higge love, the desperate sensual familiar love born of the deathly cold of winter, the form of love Flurry Heart's alicornhood draws power from...

Winter's deathly blackness is just one of infinite forms of "disaster", and each kind of disaster two or more souls experience together induces a mutual passion to "put out" in some relevant way in the reactive spite of the survival-instinct itself...

To flirt with disaster, to suffer through cataclysmic shock and eruptuous passion in equal measure, that already seems to paint a narrative picture for Flurry Heart's future...

[kudzuhaiku]

8536064
Buttermilk.

[mastermenthe]

8534894
could one call Rainbow Dash a peregrine-falcon-pegasus pony for her speed and build?
Are there raven-pegasus ponies?
Is Gosling describable as swan-pegasus pony, a duck-pegasus pony, etc?

Is there a pegasus-pegasus pony anywhere; a pegasus pony whose build appears so much more equine than avian that it appears as the ideal image of the statistically average epigenetically unadapted pegasus pony;did the gang in Skyreach already see an example of one?

[CommanderBigMac]

8536085

cataclysmic shock and eruptuous passion

kinda sounds like what happened to Tarnish and Maud, too

[BubblePuff]

Good luck trying to get a foal that's on a sugar rush to fall asleep (Though the post sugar crash will help)

[PhycoKrusk]

Disaster was now a live-in roommate, the bad kind that left soggy teabags lying about.

You know, I would've really appreciated a little bit of warning that you had decided to make this tale a horror story.

[kudzuhaiku]

8537794
You and many others.

Just imagine, soggy, cold teabags squishing between yer toes at night as you stumble to the loo.

[PhycoKrusk]

8537868
I honestly can't remember the last time I was so squicked out. You, sir, are the worst kind of monster.

[Hodios]

Flirtin' with disaster every day~

[JecaRaven]

Chase!

[Boulder]

With a flick of his tail, he took off at a run, overcome by his earth pony senses. Stuffed with flapjacks, he still somehow ran and his hooves cut divots out of the soft earth.

[kajisora]

A long time ago, ponies rubbed themselves down with butter to have sleek, shiny coats. You’re my best friend, did you know that?

*Sigh*...
Dragons.

[PrinceOfDoom]

I think Mr. Copperquick just did the equivalent of a plumage display for Earth Ponies at the end there...