The Curse of the Statuettes

by Dusk Melody

Epilogue - The Journey Home

Sparkler was a very happy unicorn. Everything was just right in her world. They had found Umberfoal, they had stopped the curse of the statuettes, they had helped Moonbeam. Most importantly though, for her, they were on their way home. To Ponyville. After four days in the Badlands, she no longer considered Ponyville to be a miserable little dirt town. It was home, and she was going there with her beautiful marefriend and her good friend. Sparkler snuggled up to said marefriend, pressing their naked bodies together. After taking a shower in their compartment on the train, they had seen no reason to get dressed. “Guys,” she broke the comfortable silence, “Do you think Moonbeam will be okay?”

“Hmm?” Stonecutter grunted, suddenly forced to think after enjoying a good ten minutes just snuggling her marefriend’s head into her generous breasts. She wore nothing but her yellow collar, and she was content to stay that way, the sunlight streaming through the window shades as the Friendship Express took them home, “Yeah, you saw her, she lit up like a Hearths Warming tree when the Headmare made her librarian of her castle's library. I’m sure she had been expecting a prison sentence, not a job.”

“I so wanted that job!” Sparkler pouted playfully into Stonecutter’s ample bosom, “I could have Mrs. Old Ponish do check in, and Mr. Arcane Magic levy fines.” She had it all worked out in her head. Then, she reached up and gave her earth pony a long kiss, “It was sweet of you to offer your charity to get Moony a house.”

Stonecutter just shrugged modestly, “It’s what it’s there for, Sparks, to help disadvantaged ponies turn their lives around, give them a fresh start.”

From her futon, Cloudburst, who was just as naked after her shower as the other two mares in the train’s compartment, burst out laughing. “Y’know, she's actually a pretty cool pony,” the pegasus lifted up her left arm and admired the golden bangle that adorned her wrist, “She let me keep this bangle to say sorry for knocking me out.” She wasn’t one for jewellery, but she liked the bangle. It turned out it was enchanted, which was a bonus. When she said ‘shimmer’, it shone like a bright torch.

“If I got a reward for knocking you out,” Stonecutter said from the fold-down bed, “I'd do it more.”

Sparkler lifted her head and ran a finger delicately over her pet’s collar, “Even if your reward would be me not disciplining you?”

Opening her mouth to reply, Stonecutter closed it and opened it again in a good imitation of a goldfish. She paused, utterly stumped, “Um, no, Mistress.”

“Ha! she got you there!” Cloudburst giggled, rocking back and forth on the futon. It was at least easier to sit on than the bean bag. She had tried it, sat down, and ended up in a most undignified position with her hooves up over her head. A position that she only usually adopted when Seafoam ‘helped’ her into it. “Hey, Sparks, next time you have a slumber party with your books, can I come?”

Sparkler shot her friend a sly smile, a very non-Sparkler smile, a smile she never would have employed where she the shy shrew-like book nerd she used to be back in Canterlot, “Only if Seafoam lets you.”

There was silence in the compartment. The only thing they could hear for a few moments was the rumbling of the train as it thundered along the tracks. Cloudburst cocked her head, for she had to think about that one. Then, a grin spread out across her face and she laughed when she got the joke. “I like it, good one!” she reached over the space between them and she fist bumped the giggling unicorn, “And Stone, thanks for being cool, y'know, about me being knocked up.”

“I feel better about you getting knocked up than I do about you getting knocked out,” Stonecutter replied, she didn’t get up, because Sparkler was using her to lay on. “Besides, it still hasn't properly sunk in yet.”

“I have a book for that,” Sparkler snickered into Stonecutter’s ear, “You see when the mare and stallion love each other...”

Stonecutter levelled a world class deadpan look at her marefriend and Mistress, “Really?”

“Ooh...I like that book,” Cloudburst giggled, “And trust me, my Master sunk all the way in...”

On the bed, under her lover, Stonecutter blushed a very deep red. While she admittedly was a virgin, technically speaking, she was no stranger to sex. She had, after all, known Cloudburst for ten years, and the last two of those she had been ‘active’, with Seafoam. That didn’t stop her getting embarrassed though when the talk got dirty. “Really, CB?”

“Stone, we had sex, we did it, we screwed, did the horizontal dance, whatever you call it. Chill a bit. You just need to get laid,” when Cloudburst said that, the slate grey earth pony just blushed even harder.

“I have a book for that too!” Sparkler said, enjoying her marefriend’s slight discomfort as she fell apart laughing on top of her.

“See, she's cool, be like her, Stone.” Cloudburst then flopped back down on her futon after having retrieved her cell phone from her bag – she hoped that now they were over halfway back to Ponyville, she would at last get a signal on the damned device. “Tonight's Nightmare Night. Dress up, do something kinky and go nuts with each other.”

Sparkler smiled at the mention of Nightmare Night. She herself had a Princess Celestia costume that she wore every year, and she knew for a fact that Stonecutter had a latex cow outfit, a very tight, sexy latex cow outfit, complete with udders. “I've seen Stoney's costume,” Sparkler licked her lips salaciously, “I'll be going kinky all right long.”

“Gonna milk your moo cow, your highness?”

“For all she's worth!”

“Heh, cool,” Cloudburst turned on her phone and, about to call her Master, she decided against it and instead accessed Skystable. After four days, she wanted to see him, not just hear his voice, “It's about time she gets her V-card stamped.”

“CB,” Cloudburst groaned, “I am right here you know…” she then muttered darkly and quietly, but not quite under her breath, about her still being a virgin, then she went quiet, her mind wandering back to the tunnels and the cavern deep underneath Dustmane Ridge.

Cloudburst’s sharp ears picked up the mutterings of her friend and she turned her head, ready to throw a snide comment her way. But, when she saw the look on her best friend’s face, the snide comment changed its mind. “Uh oh, Sparks, she's getting broody again.”

Sparkler laid down so that her head was nestled in the crook of Stonecutter’s shoulder. “I guess there’s no point in trying to keep any secrets from Cloudy.”

“Nope,” Stonecutter had learned that years ago. If Cloudburst thought you knew something she didn’t, some juicy gossip, she was like a chimera with three sore heads until she got it out of you. When Sparkler adjusted her position so that her head rested on her huge chest, the earth pony’s blush returned. “I'm sorry I said what I said to you down in the tunnels. That was private stuff, for you and me.”

Sparkler considered that for a moment. Yes it had been private but, upon reflection, she had given her marefriend little choice. “There will be times, my pet, when I'm an idiot. I’ll need you need to snap me out of those times.”

“Then, Mistress, I'll always be there to stop you being an idiot,” Stonecutter affectionately stroked Sparkler’s orange and white striped mane.

Stonecutter’s stroking of her mane, added to the sudden solemn nature of the conversation, made the unicorn think about what the earth pony had inadvertently revealed about herself down in those dark tunnels. “Was your big dive before or after the golden yacht?”

“It was before,” Stonecutter rolled her eyes and she let out a deep, heartfelt sigh, “And I don't have a golden yacht. I never have had one and I never will have one. It…the dive…was while I was on a field trip to Cloudsdale that Old Cheerilee organised for the school.”

“So,” Sparkler pressed gently, “You went cloud walking, but what made you try cloud diving?”

“I'd had enough, Sparks.” Stonecutter’s sigh came straight from the very depths of her soul, “I was eight, I was fat, I had no friends and I'd been bullied every single day since I went to school. I just wanted it to end. All the jibes, the taunts, the pranks...”

“Stoney, do you think you’re fat, or do you know it?”

“I know it. I know I'm a fat pony, and that's the way I am. Some earth ponies are slight, some are small, some are just…fat.”

Lightly, Sparkler kissed Stonecutter’s lips. She was pleased that Cloudburst had the good sense to stay quiet while she and her marefriend cleared the air. “Even I know you're a big pony, but I didn't ask about big. I used the 'F' word.”

Again, Stonecutter sighed. This time though, she kissed Sparkler’s lips like she had been kissed. “Not fat, no, I suppose I'm just...big, like Mr. Mac is just 'big'.”

“Good, because you are big. Bigger than me,” Sparkler giggled as she allowed her hand to wander over her marefriend’s big belly, reaching over it to caress her thick chunky thighs, “And you're just how I like you to be. Best pillows ever!” she then squished her head into Stonecutter’s breasts, demonstrating their use as pillows.

Giggling like a little schoolfilly, Stonecutter blushed anew as Sparkler settled her head between her breasts. “You really do like my size?”

“You were supposed to ask, 'why do you like my size?'.” Sparkler asked without moving from her extremely comfortable position nestled between her pet’s chest. “Your question implies that I may be lying about liking your size.”

“No, I can tell you aren't lying. Born under the Sign of Honesty, remember? So, Why do you like my size, Mistress?”

That was a very easy question to answer. Sparkler didn’t even have to think about it. “You make me feel safe. You make me feel wanted. You make me realize just how much I have and I can only want more. You are my rock,” the unicorn then poked her index finger into Stonecutter’s fleshy breast, just below her hard nipple, “My soft squishy rock.”

“That's funny,” Stonecutter smiled and she returned to stroking Sparkler’s mane, “Because that's how you make me feel when you put this around my neck,” she rubbed her fingers along her yellow collar, “Just like that. Safe. Wanted, Loved. Worshipped, even.”

“Can you two please keep it down, why don’t you bury your head in your moo cow’s great and worshipful pillows, Sparks?” Cloudburst snorted, still diddling with her phone, “I'm trying to get a Skystable signal!”

Still without moving Sparkler lit her horn and she tossed a spare pillow that caught Cloudburst in the side of the head, “Here, you can supplement your futon.”

“Oooof...thanks horny!” Cloudburst grunted, then she looked at her phone and grunted again in frustration, “C'mon you piece of junk! There's been no signal out here at all!” as she vented her ire at her poor old phone – Seafoam refused to buy her a ‘good’ one because her screens tended to last as long as a breezie – she saw a single bar of signal return. Then, another. “Yes! It lives!”

Sparkler found she wasn’t interested in the conversation that Cloudburst was about to have. “Hold me Stoney, so I don't drift away.”

“Yes ma'am,” obediently, Stonecutter wrapped her large strong arms around Sparkler, pulling her in tight to her big body, so that the unicorn’s head parted and rested between her hefty chest as Cloudburst started to ring Seafoam on her phone.

“So good of you to finally check in, pet.” Seafoam’s turquoise face appeared on the phone’s screen, his beak twisting to a wry smile, “How’s your teacher hunt going?”

About to answer her Master, Cloudburst, from out of nowhere, was reminded of one of her favourite movies. “We came, we saw, we kicked the Badlands' ass! We found them, and we're on the train back!”

“You make it sound easy,” Seafoam’s smile broadened at the sight of his beloved finally talking to him. It had been a long four days in his dorm at the School of Friendship, especially when Blackbeak and Cloudy Skies were so loved up all the time. Still, he would have his pegasus with him soon now. “Is everyone safe?”

“Well...I wouldn't say it was easy,” Cloudburst nervously rubbed the back of her head, angling the camera to show her collar and her bare flat chest in an attempt to distract her coltfriend, “But we're all alright now!”

“Now?” Seafoam immediately picked up on her choice of words, “Now you're on a train? You mean you weren't alright before?”

“Oh shit,” Cloudburst caught the frown on her Master’s face, it screamed concern, and she hated being the cause of it. “Um...well...the thing is...I might have accidentally got knocked out. Twice.”

“What?” Seafoam wasn’t stupid. He knew the Badlands were going to be a challenging excursion, by Novo’s crown, the clue was in the name! It wasn’t called the Goodlands. “Are the other two there?”

“They are,” Cloudburst glanced over her shoulder, “But Stone's playing hide the unicorn in her chest on the bed. Master,” she tried her best placating tone, “It's okay, I'm alright. While I was knocked out the first time I missed the three bandits who tried to take us as slaves!”

Slowly, Seafoam slapped his face with his clawed hand. One thing he could always rely on was his pet to tell him absolutely everything she had done. Brag about it even, like it was a grand adventure! “Do you need a shovel to dig any deeper, pet?”

Cloudburst didn’t need a shovel. Because she had a pneumatic drill. “Whaaaat?” she asked with a totally innocent smile, her tone neither facecious nor funny. Why was he upset? They won! “Oh but wait, you missed the really cool bit! We went to this dig site, and there was this tatzlwurm thing, and it was all raaaar!” she mimed the huge snake creature’s vast jaws with her hands, “And bitey,” she snapped her arms closed, “And I was all swoosh, and flying,” she mimed her wings with her arms, “And I snatched this gem from it's mouth!”

“Let me guess,” Seafoam’s expression and tone was deadpan and flat, “Someone told you to not do that.”

“Oh yeah, Sparks said not to grab it, and I was like, I got this! It was so awesome! I jinked like this,” Cloudburst again mimed her flight skills with her arms, even adding the swooshing sound effects of the air that passed over her feathers and fur, “I rolled that way, and boom! we were up one gem!”

“One gem...” Seafoam said as he watched his beloved, beautiful impetuous idiot punch the air in victory.

“There were three we needed to get, Master,” Cloudburst explained with pride, “The second one we got from this humongous roc on top of this mountain!”

“Roc?” Seafoam wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. It sounded dangerous. “What in the name of Seaquestria is a roc?”

“It's a huge bird, with rocks instead of feathers! You should have seen the mother, Master, her wings were like hundred foot from tip to tip!” Cloudburst set her phone down so she could demonstrate with both arms fully outstretched just how wide the roc’s wings had been.

“Were you hurt doing that?” Seafoam asked, remembering that she had been knocked out twice and she had only told him of one time so far.

“Oh, no, not that time, Master!” Cloudburst squealed happily, “Sparks told me I had to be super polite and respectful, because the roc was like way dominant and proud, and then I was all in my sub space, I bowed low, in the submission pose, and the roc gave us the second gem!”

Not quite under his breath, Seafoam muttered, “I'll put you in your sub space…” then, he raised his voice back to its usual volume, “And the third?” he almost didn’t want to know.

“That was easy, well, after we climbed up this huge spire tower that gave Stone the heebies,” the pegasus skilfully ducked another well-aimed pillow that ended up narrowly missing her head, “Sparks just told the dragon, Caldera, his name was, a few jokes, and we had the third gem!”

Seafoam almost fainted. “A dragon. You are so in trouble, missy.”

“Oh pfft,” Cloudburst snorted and waved away her Master’s concern with an airy wave of her hand, “He was a sweetheart, once you got past the two hundred foot long body and the huge teeth.”

“When do I pick you up at the station?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“We arrive in like, five hours, I think,” she glanced over her shoulder again and Sparkler nodded her head, “Three p.m. this afternoon. I only just got a signal to call you. Oh, and the girls know I'm pregnant, too. I kinda told Sparks on the trip, cos I had a moment and I needed a hug, and then Sparks blurted it out in the cavern when I was knocked out again by this pony golem created by Moonbeam...oops!”

Seafoam couldn’t help but snicker as his pet, way too late, slapped her hands over her mouth. “And that is number two. What are you wearing besides your collar?”

“Nothing, Master, see?” Cloudburst angled the camera down so she could show him that she was completely naked, but for the turquoise collar she always wore.

“You may add your longest t-shirt, or borrow one from Stone, and some sandal horseshoes when you get off the train.”

“Thank you, Master.” Cloudburst bowed and spread her wings, adopting the pegasi submission pose so that he could see. She took note of the fact that he had not allowed her to wear any underwear underneath the long shirt – not that she owned any anymore, after being with her Master two years. Although, she did think ahead for a rare moment. “Um...am I in fun trouble, or not fun trouble?”

For a moment, just a moment, Seafoam was very tempted to tease his pregnant pet. Then he realised that wouldn’t be very fair. “You have been a good naughty.”

“Oh thank Celestia's massive ass for that!” relief washed over her face and she blew him a long sexy kiss, “See you soon, Master.”

When Seafoam had hung up, and Cloudburst was again slumped on the futon she had claimed as her perch, Stonecutter spoke up from the bed. “If I had known you were pregnant, you wouldn't have come, CB.”

“Hush, pet,” Sparkler shushed her marefriend with a quick kiss to the earth pony’s nose and followed it up with one to her lips, “We needed her. Still, I have to admit, now that it’s out of the bag, I doubt you'll be on any more adventures, Cloudy.”

“Yay,” Cloudburst’s tone sounded like she had just been sentenced to the gallows, and she sunk into the futon with her head in her hands. “I'm not made of glass...” she kicked out at the pillow that Sparkler had tossed her way earlier, sending it bouncing off the wall. “Besides, Foam's all about moving to Mount Aris, getting married, hippogriff style, getting a house, and a job…”

Sparkler remembered what Cloudburst had said about the hippogriffs of Mount Aris being a nudist society and, whereas one time the very thought of being exposed in public would have bought her out in hives, now she was excited at the prospect. “We'll visit, if only for me to wear sexy lingerie, and for Stoney to wear very sexy lingerie.”

“Hmph...but this was fun!”

“Fun?” Stonecutter’s raised eyebrow could be heard in her voice.

“Okay, well...not the ‘me getting knocked out’ bits or the bandits or Caballeron threatening to break my wings...but the rest was fun. I hung out with you guys!”

“She has a point,” Sparkler giggled, “Hanging out with me is fun.”

“You're gonna be a momma,” Stonecutter stated sensibly, “That's more than enough 'fun', CB.”

“I guess,” Cloudburst muttered moodily, “I gotta be a better momma than Misty Fly, right?”

“We talked about this,” Sparkler put in when Cloudburst mentioned her Wonderbolt mother, “You don't have to be better than her, as you don't have to be her. Be you, and you'll be the best mother. Of course,” she giggled, “Your foal may be just as impetuous as you are.”

“Impetuous is a weird way of spelling immature featherbrain...eeeek!”

Cloudburst showed her best friend no mercy, even as she squeaked when she sent the second pillow hurtling back her way. “It. Is. On!” she hollered, looking around ready to repel any possible counterattack that might come her way. Sparkler, laid on top of Stonecutter, was happy being her pet’s shield as her face was lodged in a very safe place.

The pillow fight lasted almost all the way back, give or take the odd break or two. But none of them cared. They were going home, together. Their adventure was over. They had faced the Trials of the Badlands, and even the Badlands themselves, and survived. Not only had they survived, but they were going home stronger, wiser, better ponies. Fillies had left Ponyville, but mares were returning.

Together.

Comments

[Nira Lightshine]

Really excellent story, I can't wait to see more of these. Definately proves that stories don't have to be a billion words long to be super good ;)

[Lug13]

I can't really tell if CB is just too dense to realize how much anxiety she's giving Seafoam, or if she does it on purpose to earn herself a paddling.

Either way she's adorable.

[Dusk Melody]

9962011
Honestly it's a bit of both. Cloudburst has no concept of consequences beyond the immediate moment she's in.

This is why she needs her Master and why she is absolutely and utterly devoted to Seafoam.

[Lug13]

9962029
I figured. Honestly I love their dynamic. I think its cute that he's a bit neurotic, too.

[Dusk Melody]

9962049
Well he is going to be a new dad, that's a lot to take in, especially the way CB behaves.