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Prologue1,684 words
Chapter One4,111 words
Chapter Two8,547 words
Chapter Three4,101 words
Chapter Four Part I4,421 words
Chapter Four Part II7,509 words
Chapter Five Part I5,271 words
Chapter Five Part II8,479 words
Montepluma Part I1,342 words
Montepluma Part II1,211 words
Chapter Six1,573 words
Chapter Seven5,490 words
Chapter Eight3,341 words
Chapter Nine4,755 words
Montepluma III1,964 words
Mac and Feather go Fishing5,164 words
Chapter Ten4,402 words
Chapter Eleven4,454 words
Montepluma Part IV2,662 words
Chapter Twelve4,991 words
Chapter Thirteen4,371 words

Chapter Five Part I

Feather was panting hard as he leaned against the library door. He eventually realized that he was blocking the entrance to a few ponies, and he gave them a sheepish grin before taking off. “What was that?!”

He ran. He didn’t pay any attention to his surroundings, he just ran. He had to put distance between himself and the librarian.

“Hey, Feather! Watch where you're going!”

Feather skidded to a stop as he recognized the angry voice as Diamond Tiara. Turning around, he saw Tiara and Scootaloo standing by a large building with a clock tower on top. “There you are!” he said, trotting over to them. “What were you two thinking? Geez, I couldn’t get out of that library fast enough, and I can not go back there.” He shoved a hoof at Diamond Tiara. “You’ll have to go get the part when it’s done. Scootaloo and I have to stay as far away from that librarian as ponily possible.”

“Hold on!” Scootaloo inserted herself between the two other foals. “How about you tell us what happened before tossing out orders? Why do I have to stay away from the library?”

Feather hung his head. “I think she’s onto us.”

“Us?” Scootaloo advanced on Feather, forcing him to shrink back. She stared down at him with a gaze of pure ice. “What do you mean us?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Feather whimpered, backing away from Scootaloo even more. “We were talking and it was mentioned that neither of us can fly. Then, that unicorn starts going on about how odd it is that your parents haven’t taught you to fly.”

Scootaloo sighed loudly. “This again?” She brushed her mane back. “It comes up every so often. I’ll just lay low for a bit, and let it pass.”

“She said she was going to talk to your parents.” Feather took the paper out from under his wing and dropped it in front of her. “She even wrote a note to remind herself.”

Scootaloo gasped and grabbed the paper. “Feather, tell me you didn’t…” She read the paper, and immediately slammed it to the ground. “You did!” She brought both hooves to her forehead and groaned in defeat. “Feather, Twilight is one of the smartest ponies in town. She helped me with my math homework one day, and she was able to do all sorts of crazy long division in her head. She doesn’t need things like notes.”

“No.” Feather shook his head. “Long division? But, she made me convert all the measurements for--”

“Feather!” Scootaloo scooped up the paper and punched him in the chest with it. “She played you like a pack of cards!”

Feather grabbed the paper as Scootaloo stormed away from him. He looked down at it.

“Feather, I don’t know why you don’t want to talk to me, but I’ll be here if you need anything. That goes for Scootaloo as well. Please don’t hesitate to talk to me. Whatever’s going on, I may be able to help.
Twilight Sparkle”

Feather shouted in frustration and crumpled the paper up. ”She tricked me! This is why you can’t trust adults!” He threw the wadded up note at the ground and stomped on it, accentuating every point with another stomp. “They say they want to help, but they lie, and they trick you, and they break every promise they make. And it’s all because ‘it’s just policy’ or ‘that’s just they way it is’, or some other garbage!”

Diamond Tiara rushed forward and snatched the paper away just as Feather was about to stomp on it again. “Mind letting me into the loop?” she asked sarcastically. She smoothed out the note and read it carefully. After a few moments, she let out a slow sigh. “Okay, I can work with this.” She turned to the other foals and started barking out orders. “Scootaloo, go hang out with your blank-flank friends. While she’s doing that, Feather, I want you to go to Sugarcube Corner and wait for me. I can’t stress this enough, but don’t do anything. If you have any bits left, you can get some food; but other than that, you sit there and be quiet.”

“Yes, of course! We will follow your orders at once, Your Highness!” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drag you through the nearest mud puddle.”

Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Scootaloo snorted and took a step forward. “Try me.”

Diamond backed up a bit. “If you do, I won’t help you,” she threatened. “I’m the only one who can go to the library now, so you need me for damage control.”

“Hold on!” Feather stuck himself between the two fillies. “If you want to fight, take it outside!”

The two fillies looked at him in bewilderment, shocked into silence at the absurdity of that statement. Before either could comment, Feather had already redirected the conversation. “Tiara, what do you mean ‘damage control’?”

She kept glaring at Scootaloo. “I mean, I can fix this. AlI I have to do is go back to the library, conveniently step on this piece of paper that must have fallen on the floor, and mention that a certain somepony skipped flying lessons to play with her friends.”

“Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo mumbled between her teeth, “that might work.”

Diamond Tiara smiled proudly. “I know it will.”

“It better.” Scootaloo turned to run off. “See you at the clubhouse, Feather.” With that, she was gone, running down the street in search of her friends, and leaving Feather alone with the other filly.

“So…” Feather pawed at the ground. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t, but I guess it’s always possible for something to go wrong.” She studied Feather’s worried expression for a moment, then whacked him on the shoulder. “Pony up! This is your mess, so you just better be grateful that I’m cleaning it up for you!”

Feather rubbed at his shoulder. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

“Whatever.” Tiara started walking towards the library. “You don’t have to sound so dead saying it.”

“Whatever,” Feather said mockingly. He turned and started heading for Sugarcube Corner via alleyways and quiet paths.

Alone for the first time that day, Feather started thinking. Things were starting to get riskier than he liked. He needed the part for his machine, but he could find it somewhere else; it just wouldn’t be of the same quality. And besides, he wasn’t even the one who paid for it in the first place, so it wouldn’t be much of a loss if he just up and left.

But... he still had the thirty bits Tiara gave him. He didn’t want to just run off with them. Even if she wouldn’t miss it, Feather didn’t feel like stealing anything else from her. He could just leave the bits with somepony, but there wasn’t anypony he could trust with them.

Before he knew it, Feather was standing on the front step of Sugarcube Corner. “Looks like I’m staying a little while longer.” With a sigh, he opened the the door, expecting to be greeted by either a suffocating crowd, or hyperactive pink pony.

Instead, a single blue mare was wiping down the empty tables left dirtied by the breakfast rush. Her pink mane was frazzled, and she seemed a bit worn-out. She looked over when she heard the door open. “I’m sorry, dear, the kitchen’s closed right now for pre-lunch cleaning. Come back in about an hour.” She dropped a rag into one of the two buckets near her hooves, and moved to the next table, dragging the buckets along with her.

“I don’t want any food.” Feather looked over at a clock on the wall. It was only eleven in the morning. “I was supposed to meet somepony here.”

The mare hesitated for a moment, but then relented. “As long as you try to stay out of the way.”

“Uh, thanks.” Feather made his way to the corner booth where he had had breakfast with Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. It had yet to be cleaned. Bowls, a cereal box, and an empty milk bottle still littered the table. This didn’t bother Feather. He sat down in the next clean booth so he would stay out of the mare’s way and set his saddlebags next to him.

Silence filled the bakery, and Feather sat nearly motionless as the mare kept cleaning. After three tables, the mare finally spoke up. “You’re that new colt Pinkie was talking about, aren’t you? The one who just moved into town?”

Feather stared out the window, wondering how long Diamond Tiara was going to take at the library. “Yeah, that’s me.”

The mare dragged the buckets to another table. “So, you’re Feather? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mrs. Cake.” She smiled as she started cleaning the table. “It’s funny, I was under the impression that you were a pegasus, what with your name and all.”

“I am.” Feather looked down at his wing. It was on the side facing the window, so she couldn’t see it from where she was, and it was covered by his saddlebags earlier. He spread it out wide to show her, then folded it and went back to looking out the window.

Mrs. Cake gasped and dropped her cleaning rag. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize...”

Feather waved his hoof to stop her. “Don’t bother feeling sorry for me.” He laid his head on the table and sighed. “I’ve heard it too many times for it to matter, and it’s not going to bring it back anyway.”

The mare left her table and sat down in the booth across from Feather. “Then, could I ask you something?”

Feather sighed again. Why did all the adults in this town want to talk to him? “Sure, why not?”

She fidgeted with her hooves a bit. “I realize this may be difficult for you, but what is it like, not being able to fly?” Her eyes went wide as tears appeared in Feather’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m sick of hearing about it!” He rubbed angrily at his eyes. “I get along just fine, okay? And I would get along even better if everypony would just stop asking!”

“I really am sorry.” Mrs. Cake reached across the table to rest a hoof on the crying colt’s shoulder. “It was selfish of me to ask you something like that for my own benefit.”

Feather looked at Mrs. Cake’s hoof as she rubbed his shoulder gently. He wanted to pull away from the touch, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

She continued, “You see, my son’s a pegasus. And, though it’s a long way off, I won’t be the one who teaches him how to fly. I’m an earth pony, so I never really gave it much thought before, but how much of my son’s life am I going to miss out on because I can’t fly with him?” She pulled her hoof back. “I don’t have to worry about that with my daughter, but she’s a unicorn, so I’ll be missing out with her, too. Though, hopefully, not as much.”

“At least you’ll get to be there for some of it. I never knew my mother.” Feather sniffed and wiped at his eyes again. “My dad said she died when I was a few months old. She was a pegasus, and my dad was a unicorn, but I was never really either one. I just wish I could have known her, and had more time with--”

He stopped and looked up at the mare. He didn’t even know what his mother looked like. His father had gotten rid of all of her photos before he died. His colors didn’t come from his dad, so maybe she was red and blue like he was? Or, maybe a bit lighter, like Mrs. Cake’s pink and blue coloring?

Mrs. Cake noticed that Feather was staring at her, and that he wasn’t crying anymore. “Feather, are you all right? Feeling better?”

“Huh?” Feather shook his head, trying to clear away useless thoughts of the past. “Yeah, yeah, um, I’m fine.”

The mare smiled sadly. “That’s good.” She slowly climbed out of the booth. “Feather, would you like something to eat? My husband will start cooking soon.”

“No, thanks.” He still had all the bits Tiara had given him, and she did say he could get some food, but he didn’t want to use her money if he was just going to leave. He also didn’t want to use his own bits, because he would need them for traveling. “I kind of need to save my bits.”

“Oh, no.” Mrs. Cake laughed softly. “I wasn’t asking you to buy something; I was offering you some lunch to apologize for my question.”

“Oh.” That was a different matter entirely. Feather tapped his hooves against the table. “Um, I guess that would be okay.”

“Great. I’ll let him know as soon as he gets back.” She was just about to go back to cleaning when she looked back at him. “You know, Feather; if you need bits, I know a way you could earn some...”

When Diamond Tiara finally made it to Sugarcube Corner, she couldn’t even get in the door. There was already a line of ponies ahead of her, all trying to get into the bakery. She couldn’t help but pull a wry smile. “If he’s in there, he’s probably having an aneurysm right about now.” She sighed and resigned herself to waiting. She would just have to hope he found a corner to sit in, and maybe a paper bag to keep himself from hyperventilating.

After a few minutes, she heard a voice from the front of the line. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Here’s a menu, please have your order ready when you get to the counter.”

Diamond Tiara shook her head as the voice repeated itself, getting closer and closer each time. “No… It can’t be.” When the source of the voice made it to her, she broke into giggles.

“Hi, Feather.” She put a hoof to her mouth, trying--and failing--to silence her snickers. “You look cute in that.”

“What?” Feather looked down at the apron he wore and then looked up with a glare. “It’s your fault!” He pulled it off and stuffed it under his wing, along with the stack of menus he was handing out. “I’ve been waiting here for hours!”

Diamond Tiara wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat. “It took longer than I thought it would to throw Ms. Sparkle off your trail. And no wonder. The library looked like a war zone! What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Feather gave a menu to the pony in line behind Tiara. “What makes you think that was my fault?”

Diamond broke into a fresh bout of giggles. “Sorry, Feather, I can still just picture you in that apron. C’mon, let’s go.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Feather looked back at the rest of the ponies in line. After Tiara, there were only a few more ponies, all adults. “Fine, just, give me a minute. I have to finish passing these out, and give the apron back to Mrs. Cake.”

“You are just too funny for words, Feather.” Tiara smirked at him. “Hurry it up, blank boy; I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Don’t call me that!” Feather ran down the line, handing out menus and repeating, “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Here’s a menu, please have your order ready when you get to the counter.”

He then ran into the bakery, emerging a short while later with his saddlebags and a small cardboard box. He walked over to Tiara. “So? Are we going? Or are you going to try to get in there? It’ll be about forty minutes from this far back in the line.”

She was only half out of the line when the other ponies shuffled forward to fill in the gap. Her face scrunched up as she was bumped out of the way. She turned back with an angry glare. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going? Dorks!” She stuck her nose in the air and started walking off. “C’mon, blank boy, we’re going.”

He chuckled at her treatment of the waiting ponies, then followed her reluctantly. “I told you not to call me that.”

She started walking a little faster. “I’ll call you whatever I want to.”

“Fine, then I’ll do the same.” He matched her pace, but with everything he was carrying, it was a bit harder on him than Diamond. “So, where are we headed, Dee?”

She stopped and spun around. “No. You do not call me that. Ever.”

Feather shrugged. “I think it sounds nice, don’t you? At least it’s better than ‘blank boy’.” Feather put a hoof to his chin. “Diamond begins and ends with ‘d,’ so maybe I should call you ‘Dee-Dee’?”

Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He just stared at her.

“Fine!” She groaned loudly. “I won’t call you ‘blank boy’ anymore. Is that good enough for you, Feather Brain?”

Feather glared at her. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”

Diamond rolled her eyes. “I said, ‘I won’t call you names, Feather’.”

“Thank you, Diamond Tiara. That’s what I thought.” Feather gave an exaggerated smile.

With a cold gleam in her eye, she turned away and started walking again. “If you think you won, just wait until Monday.”

Something about her words gave Feather the chills. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He took off after her. “Hey, Tiara! Wait! What did you mean by that? And where are we going, anyway?”

She kept walking without answering. Eventually, he settled for following her in silence. She was very different from Scootaloo, and this was the first time he had any sort of extended interaction with her alone. Not that there was much interaction going on; she seemed mad at him.

He ended up following her to the park. She sat under a tree away from the the more populated parts of the park, glancing around every so often like she was looking for something.

Feather sat down nearby, arranging his saddlebags and cardboard box in front of him. “So, are you done talking for the day?”

Tiara answered with a loud, ”Hmph! Maybe I’m just done talking to you.”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He opened the box from the bakery. Inside it, there were half a dozen cupcakes, two cartons of milk, and a small pouch of bits. He sighed. The bits reminded him that he had something to do.

He set the box down and started digging through his saddlebags, pulling the bag with Tiara’s thirty bits out when he found it. “Here.” He tossed it over to her. It landed in the grass with a metallic jingle. “I didn’t use any of it, so I thought you might want it back.”

Diamond didn’t pick it up. Instead, with her nose still raised in the air, she kicked it back towards Feather. “I said I was done talking to you.”

“Fine, I’ll just keep it.” Feather reached for the bag, but stopped short of picking it up. “You know, I don’t understand you.” He kicked the bag back towards Diamond Tiara. “At least Scootaloo has a reason to help me; we’ve got something in common. But you? You’re a spoiled brat. You’re mean to everyone, you act like you know everything, and are you seriously just going to throw away thirty bits on somepony you don’t even know?”

Tiara turned her back on Feather “So what if I am? It’s my money. If I want to waste it on a charity case like you, who’s gonna stop me?”

Something hit the back of her head with a loud splat, and Diamond's signature headpiece fell to the ground. She looked back at Feather with an angry growl. “What was that?”

Feather stuck his nose in the air, mocking her. “I thought you weren’t talking to me. Besides, I’m just a charity case.”

Diamond Tiara felt the back of her head with a hoof. Whatever hit her hadn’t hurt, so it wasn’t a rock. Not that she actually thought Feather would throw a rock at her, but he threw something. When she pulled her hoof away, it was covered in dark-brown fluff and colorful sprinkles. “Is this frosting?”

Feather answered by reaching into his box, pulling out a cupcake, and taking a big bite.

Tiara searched the ground for the cupcake that hit her. When she found it, she scooped it up and launched it at Feather’s face without hesitation. It didn’t hit Feather, but it did knock the cupcake out of his hoof. He quickly grabbed another cupcake and chucked it at her.

She ducked and it landed on her back, smearing vanilla frosting across her fur. She looked back at it. “That’s it!” She charged at Feather as he pulled another cupcake out of the box and tackled him to the ground before he got the chance to throw it.

Tiara pinned Feather beneath her and grabbed the cupcake he dropped. She smushed it in his face, taking extra care to spread it around a bit. “Ha! Take that! It’s not so funny when it happens to you, is it?”

“No, it’s not!” Feather struggled to push her off, but couldn’t make her budge. After several seconds, he gave up and just laid there. He looked away in defeat. “Can you get off me?”

Tiara slowly complied. “Sorry, Feather, I got a bit carried away.”

He got up and wiped at his face. “Yeah, so did I.”

Tiara ran her hoof through the grass, trying to wipe away the frosting from her attack on Feather. “Um, Feather? Don’t take this the wrong way, but… for a colt, you’re kind of a wimp.”

Feather raised an eyebrow. “Is there a wrong way to take that? ‘Cause it seems pretty straight forward to me.”

“You know what I mean.”

Feather sighed. “Yeah, I do. I’m not very strong.”

“That’s an understatement.” Tiara turned her attention to the pastry smeared across her back. “I’m a girl, and I’m a bit smaller than you, but I still wiped the floor with you.”

“And Scootaloo wiped the floor with you.”

“Only because she’s an overpowered sports freak.” She tasted a little bit of the frosting before clearing it off. “She could probably overpower a full-grown mare if she tried. What’s your excuse?”

Feather raised an eyebrow again. “I need an excuse?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not exactly normal.” Tiara finished scraping the frosting off her back and was about to scrape her it off her hoof when she stopped and gave the frosting another taste. “This is pretty good. It tastes a little different than it usually does.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Feather shrugged. “You can have one if you want. Mrs. Cake gave me enough to share.” He got up and started searching for the box of pastries. “Anyway, my health wasn’t so great when I was younger. I was sick a lot.”

“And that’s why you’re so weak now?” Tiara followed him. “It must have been pretty bad then.”

Feather spread his wing. “You think?” He shook his head as he folded his wing back up. How many times had he opened his wing in the last few days? He usually tried to avoid using it, or letting others see it. “Can we stop talking about this?”

Diamond nodded. “Okay...” When she realized he wasn’t looking at her, she added, “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Feather stood next to his saddlebags and tapped his hoof on the ground. “I don’t see the cupcakes anywhere.”

“I do.” Tiara waved her hoof, pulling his attention to the ground in front of her. A crumpled heap of cardboard, crumbs, and frosting sat in the grass. The milk cartons it once held were flattened as well, leaving the whole thing a soggy mess. “It must have happened when I tackled you. Sorry.”

Feather watched Diamond Tiara stare at the the box as if she could put it back together. “It’s okay, D.T.” Something off to his left caught his eye. “Look, one of them survived.”

With a smile, he walked over to the intact cupcake and picked it off the ground. He smiled as he held it up. That smile quickly faded as something occurred to him. “Um, I know I said you could have one of the cupcakes, but this is the last one, and I haven’t eaten yet. Do you mind if we split it?”

Her lip pulled back in disgust. “Are you seriously planning to eat that?”

Feather looked at the pastry, turning it over and examining it’s grass-specked form. He then looked back at Diamond Tiara. “Yeah, why?”

“It was on the ground.” She pointed at the cupcake. “Look. It’s all covered in grass.”

Feather shrugged. “So the food’s covered in food. Big deal.” He peeled off the paper wrapper. “I’m guessing you don’t want any?”

Diamond answered with a stare.

Feather broke the cupcake in two, between top and bottom. He held out the bottom half to Tiara. “Here, this part was in the wrapper, so it’s still clean.”

Tiara reached for it, but hesitated. “Do you really eat grass?”

“Not if I can help it.” Feather looked away from Tiara. “It may not be what everypony does, but it isn’t hard to get hungry enough not to care.”

Tiara’s eyes glued themselves to the ground. “I didn’t mean it like that, Feather.”

“Mean it like what? Eating grass is weird. I wouldn’t do it if I had a choice.” He gestured towards his saddlebags. “Why do you think I carry around all the food I can?”

“Feather…” Instead of saying anything else, Diamond Tiara grabbed the grass-covered top half of the cupcake from him. “Quit acting like you’re so tough!”

She closed her eyes and stuffed the treat down, fighting back the urge to spit out the dirty pastry as she chewed. She swallowed, a grimace on her face. “See? Anypony can do it.”

“Sheesh, the quiet you doesn’t stick around long, does it?” Feather took a bite of his half of the cupcake. “So, how was it?”

Tiara stuck her tongue out. “The grass made it taste funny.”

Feather chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not the best-tasting thing out there.” He sighed as he looked at the rest of his cupcake. “You know, I don’t get you.”

She gave him an odd look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know.” Feather chomped down on the rest of his pastry, finishing it in one bite. “The more I think about it, the less I understand you. I mean, why are you even helping me? You couldn’t be more different. You have a family, and friends. You’re an earth pony, so you have no reason to be interested in a device for pegasi. And you keep going on about how Scootaloo and I don’t have cutie marks. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the two of you act like arch-enemies half the time.” He let out a long sigh. “Any way I look at it, I can’t think of a reason why you would be helping me.”

“Do I have to have a reason?”

“Yes. If I had to have an excuse, you have to have a reason.”

“Fine.” Tiara scratched at her neck. “I guess because it’s easy.”

Feather blinked. “Easy?” That wasn’t a word he would have used.

“Yeah.” She stood up and paced around in a circle. “When I do stuff with you, I’m only doing stuff with you. Same thing with Scootaloo, even if she can be a pain in the flank sometimes.”

Feather scratched his head. “Okay, you lost me.”

Diamond looked over at him. “You know about my friend, Silver Spoon?”

“Scootaloo mentioned her. Why?”

Tiara sat down. “I havent seen her in a few days. I think I messed up our friendship, but it had nothing to do with her.”

Feather shook his head. “Still not getting it.”

“I made her parents angry.”

“Oh.” Feather nodded. “How?”

Tiara groaned and lay back on the grass, looking up at the clouds. “I don’t know! I overheard them talking to Daddy, but I only heard part of it. They seemed pretty angry, though. They were yelling at him.” She rolled over, stood up, and started pacing again. “Daddy was mad, but he didn’t say anything. He just got all quiet, and asked them to leave. He didn’t say anything to me either.”

“Sounds complicated.” Feather watched her pace back and forth, his head keeping in time with her. “Um, you okay?”

“It’s so annoying!” Diamond shouted, making Feather jump. “Daddy’s little angel, that’s me! Everything I do lands back on him. I’m my own pony. I can do things without being told, but nopony sees it, especially not those stuffy ponies that are always hanging around Daddy’s businesses.” She stopped and flopped down onto the grass. “I’m so sick of it.”

Feather laid down as Diamond ripped up a hoof-full of grass and threw it at nothing. “So, you hang out with me because I don’t have family to get mad at you?”

“Kind of. There’s nopony to tell us that we can’t be friends.” Tiara dropped her head to the ground. “But that’s not the only reason.”

“It’s enough of one, I guess.” Feather got up and walked over to his saddlebags. “Friends, huh?” He usually tried to avoid becoming attached to places or ponies, and he was generally quite successful at it. As he dug out Tiara’s bag of bits, though, he realized that his own feelings were only part of it. It was easy not to become attached to a place that didn’t care if you existed. Throw two friends in the mix, and things got a lot more difficult.

Feather threw the bag at Tiara. It landed in front of her with quiet jingling noise. He had finally returned it like he wanted, but he couldn’t bring himself to say what he had planned. So, he opened his mouth to lie. Before he could, his stomach let out a loud rumble.

Tiara started giggling. “I guess half a cupcake wasn’t enough?”

“No, it wasn’t.” Feather rubbed his stomach. Tiara was smiling at him. He couldn’t tell her that he was leaving. Not now. Not if she really wanted to be his friend.

He returned a forced smile and picked up his saddlebags. “If we head back now, we should make it to Sugarcube Corner before they sell out.”

“Really?” Tiara jumped up. “Let’s go then.”

“Cool.” Feather walked over to her. “Oh, and since you destroyed the last batch, you’re buying.” He ran away laughing before Tiara could say anything.

By the time she was able to respond, he was already at the bottom of the hill. “Hey!” she yelled after him. “Don’t go deciding things on your own!”

She grabbed the coin pouch in her teeth and took off after him, muttering under her breath, “I am so going to get him for this.”

Author's Note:

I would like to thank Bad Seed 72 for helping to edit this chapter.

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