> My Show
>  by MoltenXKid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Yellow Rose of Texas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The chill in the air had a bite to it.  The weather had turned cold, and Adagio could feel it biting through her her thin layer of clothes.  She looked around and saw an alley.  Moving into it, she found a stoop to get behind; she huddled herself into a near fetus position.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  She was supposed to be adored, loved, pampered, and treated like a queen.  Instead she was out here dirty, scrounging around for food, and she hadn’t found a thing.  

It wasn't like this in the other world. The one where she lost to The Rainbooms. Though, even after her defeat, her peers accepted her. Even if it finally took some time. She had "friends", warmth, food, and everything she needed. Now, she had nothing but the tattered clothes on her back and broken shards of her gem. How did she get here? She didn't know. The ex-Dazzling could only sigh at her new situation and try to stay warm for the night.

“You know, if’n yer cold I could let you warm yerself inside,” a voice said.

She looked up at the owner to see what appeared to be a sweet old man, who was lacking fur, unlike her.  She got up, walked toward the door and stepped into a room that felt so much better than outside.

“I... “ she started to say something when something poked her in the back.

“By the great Pastor Phelps, I caught one.  Oh, I never expected it to be this easy.  That any of you would be so trusting, and just waltz right into the spider’s lair.  I guess that yer momma wasn’t keen on teachin’ ya not trust a book by it’s cover, huh?” he said.

“What… what are you going to do?” she asked.

She felt him grab an arm and something cold and hard wrapped around her wrist.  She tried to pull away only to feel that thing push harder into her back.

“This is handheld scattergun, little lady.  It will cut you in half if you piss me off.  Now, give me your other hand,” he commanded.

She allowed him to grab it, and she felt the same cold and hard thing wrapping around that wrist.

“My Pa’s old lucky cuffs, and here I never thought that I would get to use them,” he said.

She moved her arms and found that they didn’t have too much slack.

“Please, I’ll leave; you won’t see me again,” she started before he came around to her front.

“Did I say you could talk?” he asked before he backhanded her.

She looked back at him, angry, hurt, and confused.

“Ya’ll are the problem ya know? All of ya…  Ya’ll ain’t natural.  God didn’t create creatures like ya.  It was man, and man is sinful.  I guess y’aint personally ta blame.  Ya didn’t ask ta be made, but it don’t matter none.  The only way I got of helping ya is to let the others purify ya,” he said.

She struggled with the cuffs and heard a small clink.  She pulled again and this time the sound was louder.

“What in the hell are ya doing?!” he shouted as he aimed his scattergun.

Adagio ducked as he pulled the trigger ,and then she heard him cry out in pain. In an instant, she was up, running toward him and tackled him.  He banged his head on something and went still.  She pulled again and the clink happened once more before she felt her arms free.  She pulled them around to see that one of the links in the chain between the… cuffs he’d called them, had broken.  She looked around him and saw what looked like a tiny set of keys.  She picked them up and looked at one.  She put it into the hole in one of the cuffs and turned it.  It opened ,and she did that to the other one.

She got up, looked around the room and noticed that what looked like a wallet was on a coffee table.  She grabbed it, opened it, and found nothing inside of it.  There was no bits, no bank notes, no nothing.  She grumbled, and walked toward the door.

Once outside she felt the cold of the night around her.  The biting chill hadn’t left, and it was waiting for her to return.  She rubbed her arms, moved away from the building with the stoop and walked out into the night.  She felt the wind now, stinging her face, hurting her eyes, and she felt like she wanted to cry.  It was so cold, but she wasn’t about to just accept kindness again.  That…  jerk, he was going to do something horrible to her, and she wasn’t going to let him. 

She walked a moment before seeing a diner..  The smell of something delicious, and hot, filled the air and caused her stomach to growl.  She walked toward it, tried the door, and found it locked.

“Wait…  What’s going on?!” she tried the door again, and this time a small screen lit up.

“To access: press thumb into the red print icon,” words flashed across it.

She looked at her thumb, pressed it into the small red groove and heard the door unlatch.  She walked inside and felt the warm air, and she could smell something amazing hanging around in the air.  There was another stallion in here, sort of a caramel colored one, who also lacked fur.  She looked around and noticed that there was dozens of small glass windows with choices of things to eat.  She saw a slice of pizza, a soda, and what looked like a piece of cake.  She grabbed the bottom of the window and tried to lift it up, yet the little window didn't want to budge at all for her.  

She could hear her stomach growling at her.  The need for food was there.  She looked towards the stallion and noticed that he had a canvas bag with him. This would be her only shot to fill her stomach. Whether it contained food or money, she needed that bag.  She took a moment to build her resolve before stealthily approaching the stallion; he didn't seem to know she was there yet.

'If only I had my powers,’ she thought to herself, ‘I wouldn't be in this situation...'

Her stealth turned into a frozen stance as the stallion turned his head slightly.  Still, he didn't see her; she continued walking. Soon, she was close enough; the bag within her grasps.  Her heart began to beat faster as her hand reached for the bag. Once she had the strap in her hand, the thought of how the situation was "too easy" ran through her mind.  Yet before she could react, she felt another hand grasp her wrist.

"Ya' know...I haven't dealt with many thieves in town. On my metal yard, of course, "The stallion said as he turned in his seat, "Anyway,  I would turn ya in to the cops, but seeing as I dislike 'em..."

The stallion stopped speaking once he laid eyes on Adagio. He stared at her in disbelief. A little too long for Adagio's comfort. Slowly, he let go of her wrist, rubbed his eyes,  and looked back. Adagio was debating whether she should take his bag and run, yet opted to stay. This stallion had an aura of trustworthiness and hardship.  

"Are you going to say something or...?" Adagio spoke.

"You're...you're..." stumbled the stallion, " Adagio...from the Dazzlings..."

"Ahh, so you've heard of me. Didn’t know I was so famous here"

"Yeah, I remember my ma showing me yer songs when I was younger."

"Those were the days. Too bad you have to see me in this...state."

"It's okay...hey...uh, not to be forward but...I have a place outside of town...you could..."

"Sorry, my fan, but Adagio doesn't take handouts."

With those final words, Adagio grabbed the bag and ran off. The fan looked dumbfounded as the door opened and closed. Quickly, he got up and ran into the cold.

"HEY ,ADAGIO. MY NAME IS DAVE JOHNSON! I LIVE 20 MINUTES WEST FROM HERE ON A METAL YARD! IFFIN' YOU NEED HELP, YOU CAN FIND ME THERE!" 

Without another word, the former siren continued to run; it was a decision she immediately regretted. The wind had picked up in the brief few moments while inside she was in the automart, making the air far colder than it was before. Adagio was reminded of the region surrounding the Crystal Empire. The winds there would peel away at a pony’s clothes. So strong they were and cold. She could never figure how Princess Cadence could keep the Empire so warm when the environment all around was so frigid. Her thin leggings and denim jacket would not have helped there ,and they certainly weren’t working here.

She was debating whether she should find some other shelter or see if she might be able to work some old siren magic on an unsuspecting rube when she heard the door to the automat open. She could hear the crunch of snow behind her, under a slow approach. She caught the scent of the stallion she met earlier within the diner; he was sidling up to her. She wasn't one for charity; it was ill befitting her siren nature. But am I really a siren anymore, she mused, or I am just another pony?

“So are ya gonna stand out here in the breeze, freezin’ slowly solid,” the stallion said, voiced raised over the howl of the wind, “or are ya gonna take up my offer. Last chance, ya know?”

She wanted to decline the offer.  It was a matter of pride more than anything else.  She could possibly find someplace warm…  ‘And perhaps it will have a similar individual like that that other older stallion,’ she thought.

He didn’t seem like the other stallion.  The other stallion had seemed like he was hiding something behind his smile, but this one seemed openly concerned and welcoming.  The cold air blew again and she shuttered from the bite of it.  Before she could even consider any other option she was nodding her head.

“I will accept your generous offer, just please… get me out of the cold,” she said.

He walked her to what looked like a patchwork vehicle.  The passenger side door was a different color from the the part of the body it was on.  In fact, she could notice that the entire thing looked to be made of different styles, different parts, and yet somehow it was all together.  He opened the door for her and she climbed inside.  He closed the door, walked to his side, climbed into it, and pressed a button.  After a moment he turned a key and she heard the sound of it rumbling to life.

He flipped a small switch, and turned a knob.  Afterwards, they were greeted with semi warm air.  She held her hands out to the air being pumped into the place they were inside of.  He moved a stick between them and it began to move forward.  She looked out the window to see two beams of light allowing them to see for a little ways ahead of them.

Once they drove outside of time, he turned off of the paved road onto a snow covered one.  She watched as they drove down between two snow covered fields, and then she began to see snow covered vehicles, like this one, sitting out there.  He drove further until they reached a large wooden structure.  He got out, opened a large door, and then climbed back into the vehicle.  He pulled it into the structure, got out, closed the door, and then flipped on a light.  

She saw a few things she knew, several she didn’t ,and she felt the room was semi-warm.  Along one wall was a workbench; she could see a hammer, an anvil, some chisels, but plenty of other devices she didn’t recognize at all. There three cabinets on rollers; she assumed those might be industrial tool boxes. A flat expanse on the wall was displaying moving pictures, like a movie screen, but Adagio couldn’t see the projector the pictures were coming from. Opposite the movie screen was a modest oak table, a large, upright box with a vertical seam down it’s middle, a sink, and a door that lead off to what, she knew not. A brass plate affixed haphazardly to the bore two letters on it: “W.C.” 

On the other wall, away from her, lay a queen sized bed on a cobbled together bedframe. Above that were a set of bunks chained to the wall. She got a chill from the looks of them. During one very desperate winter eve, she, Aria and Sonata were forced to mug a poor stallion for some bits so they could eat. They were promptly caught by the  town guards and thrown into the jail. They were able to escape, but that lone night in the brig had her fighting a scratchy woolen sheet to stay warm. She forced herself away from her reminisce to see the stallion looking around curiously in the makeshift workshop/home. He walked toward a large stone and metal block set along the wall adjacent to the front door.

“Ah, the old furnace almost went out,” he said before he grabbed a shovel and tossed a shovel full of something black into it.

She watched as he paid attention to the furnace before he turned toward her.

“It’s okay, yer welcome to get out and walk around a bit.  I was gonna fix a little supper, and I got plenty.  We’ve got a few good choices, so anything special ya’d like?” he asked.

“As long as it isn’t tacos I’m fine with it,” she replied.

He laughed alot before digging through his bag and pulling out what looked like two small boxes.  His laugh was very warm, very loud yet Adagio couldn’t tell why he was laughing for. Eventually, he wheezed his way back to sobriety, though the faint ghost of a smile didn’t leave his face.

“Tacos,” he breathed, stepping to an area Adagio assumed was the kitchen due to the range stationed there, “no tacos, in Texas! HA!”

She looked at him, trying to consider what she heard before she facepalmed hard, “Damn it…  This is Sonata’s dreamland, isn’t it?  It figures, a place where Tacos seem to be every bucking where,” she grumbled.

He pulled up a pot, opened a package and she could smell cheese.  There was absolutely no lie that it smelled heavenly.  She stepped forward, toward the range and watched as he opened the other package.  she recognized noodles.  The realization that he was making homemade Macaroni and Cheese came to her.  At least she thought that was what it was until he pulled out a small bottle of salsa.

He began boiling the macaroni, shaving the cheese, and then mixing the salsa into it.  She watched as he placed it into something, pushed a couple of buttons and the sound of a long hum sounded through the area.  After a couple of minutes there was a ding and he took the bowl of the now melted cheese and salsa out.  He stirred it, turned back to the noodles, stirred them, and after a few more minutes he drained them, put some of the noodles onto a plate, put some of the sauce he had made on it and offered it to her.

Adagio, was well versed in manners, she had practically been raised to be a noble, and not a bit of that mattered.  She dove into the plate without any hesitation, or silverware.  Dave watched her, hearing her slurping down the noodles and cheese.  The sounds she was making sounded orgasmic as she finished the plate.  Then he watched her lick it clean, several times, before she lowered it.  

“Wow…” he said.

She felt something sticking to her muzzle and she touched it.  Bits of the cheese had stuck to her, and she tried to clean it off.  She heard the stallion clear his throat, and she looked at the now wet washcloth in front of her.  She gave a small smile, took the cloth, and began to clean herself.  He waited until she was done and gave her a smile in return.

“Either ya was really hungry, or that was purty good,” he said.

“It…” she stopped herself from making the usual retort she would with Sonata or Aria, “It was good. Thank you.”

“Ya want some more?” he asked.

Before she could formulate an answer her hand was holding the plate out to him.  He grinned, dipped out some more macaroni, added some more cheese sauce to it, and then placed a fork on the plate.  This time she took the fork, dipped it into the macaroni, and brought a few pieces, along with the sauce, up to her mouth.  The taste was certainly better than she expected.  There was a sort of… zing to it.  She chewed it thoughtfully, enjoying the taste, taking time to actually taste it instead of simply feeding her starving stomach.  When she finished he took the plate, the pot, and the now empty bowl to the sink.

“Thank you,” she said

“No problem at all,” the stallion said, “Just lucky I found someone that enjoys my cookin’.”

She watched as he went to washing the dishes.  He seemed nice, or at least nicer than some of the stallions she’d been around before.  She removed her jacket, letting her back get used to the temperature without it.  

‘You’ve done this several times before, so just do it,’ she thought as she touched the string that was holding her backless shirt up around the back of her neck, ‘He obviously wants something, and this all you have to offer.’

She pulled the string loose, letting it fall, and in return letting the backless shirt fall forward.  The air felt pleasantly warm on her body.  She watched him, his features, and took a moment to notice his build.  He was muscular, fairly tall, and there was something exotic about him.  She walked near him, leaning forward, letting her breasts rest against his back.

“Adagio?” he asked.

She stepped back and he turned around.  She watched his eyes widen, and she could sense him drinking in her form for a moment before he walked toward her.

‘I know you don’t owe it to me, but please be gentle,’ she thought as he grabbed her shirt, pulled it up, and re-tied it behind her.

She stood there confused, uncertain of what exactly happened, and then looked at him strangely for a moment.

“I…  You…  Is something wrong with me?” she asked.

“What?” he asked.

“I was trying to pay you back for your…” she started when he blushed and then he began to laugh and shake his head, “what’s so funny?!”

“Ya didn’t think that somepony was gonna do this just ‘cause?” he asked.

She looked at him and shook her head, her over teased mane moving back and forth with the motion.  He looked unsettled for a moment before he touched her shoulder.

“Look, I ain’t gonna do anything to ya.  I’m lettin’ ya stay here, and sharing ma food, ‘cause it’s the right thing ta do.  It wouldn’t be right ta let you freeze ta death,” he replied, “My Ma taught me better than that.”

She looked at him and then at the floor.

“I…  I’m sorry.  I just assumed that you would…  Everypony else has always wanted something in return,” she said.

“It’s fine, look, not ta be unsocial or nuthin’, but I’m mighty tired.  I got a full day of work ahead of me ‘morrow,” he said as he yawned, “I’ve got a few beds, but why don’t you take the big one?  There’s just one of me, and I don’t mind sleeping on one of the bunks.  The sheets are clean, and the blanket should be nice and warm.”

She watched him grab a sheet, a light blanket, and an old pillow from a small cobbled together linen closet.  He quickly made one of the bunks, and then he turned around for a bit.

“Look..  Not to be picky or nuthin’, but I usually sleep in my skivvies…  So….” he started before she smiled.

“It’s not going to bother me,” she said as she walked toward the queen sized bed.  

He watched as she peeled off her clothes, pulled the blanket back, and slid into the bed.  He instantly decided that while the view was nice, it might be necessary for his current house guest to have her own room. Or a privacy barrier, that would be a good idea.

> Why Can't We Be Friends?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Chapter Two - Why Can’t we be Friends?





A familiar smell of eggs cooking caused Adagio to stir.  Slowly her eyes opened ,and she realized that she was in a comfortable bed, under a thick blanket, and her clothes were sitting in a pile next to her.  She reached over to pick up her shirt only to find it gone.   She looked down and noticed that all of her clothes were gone.  She blinked and then looked down at the floor.  The spot where her clothes had been piled up was bare.  She grabbed the blanket, wrapped it around herself, sort of, and stood up.

“Yer awake.  I figured that ya’d want yer clothes washed, so I figured I could bring you something ta wear,” Dave said as he brought over a pair of sweatpants and a sweater.

She looked at the clothes, gave him a nod, and let the blanket fall.  Once again she saw him blush before he turned around.  He walked back over to the range he had cooked on last night and finished up what he was cooking.  She had thought she smelled eggs cooking, but apparently they were already cooked.  He flipped off a couple of hash browns for them both.

“Ya hungry?” he asked.

She looked the plates over.  Eggs, hash browns, toast, and some kind of jam or jelly was on each of them.  Unlike last night she wasn’t starving, but she was hungry.  She quickly pulled on the clothes he had given her, walked toward him, and took one of the plates.

“Southwestern scrambled eggs, just like my mama used to cook ‘em.  I can promise ya that ya won’t find no better tasting eggs anywhere else,” he said.

She took a bite, and like the macaroni and cheese last night there was a certain, zing, a small bite to it.  She moaned as she chewed it up, swallowed it, and then took another bite.  Dave finished his food, placed the plate in the sink, and walked over to the furnace.  She watched as he shoveled in another shovelful of what had to be coal.  For a moment, he worked some bellows on it, and then he took and opened up a small lid on the top.  She watched him close the door to the furnace, slide down a metal cup into the hole, and then hold a can over it.  He dropped it in, and then he grabbed another one.  While he was doing this he also turned on something that sounded like a hair dryer.  She watched as he worked over the furnace.

For several minutes he did this until he was ready, and then he got a pair of pliers, pulled the cup out, and walked over to something white.  She followed him and saw that it looked like the shape of a face.  He poured it into the waiting thing, took the cup to a gray block, banged it upside down and made a semi solid piece of misshapen metal fall out. 

“What… what are you doing?” she asked.

“Working.  I’ve got a specialty order, and I’ve had to make each part independently,” he replied.

She watched as he gave the metal a few moments and then picked it up, and dropped it into a large bucket of water.  The water itself began to bubble, steam, and showed all the signs of boiling.  she watched as he left it in there for a full minute before pulling it back out.  The face was that of a mare, a proud mare, and she could see a place where it looked like a horn was supposed to fit.  Watching him she saw him walk toward tarped figure.  He uncovered it and she saw wings and a horn.  It was an Alicorn, and more to the point there was an image of a sun on its flanks.

“That’s beautiful,” she said.

“Thanks, yeah, it’s certainly something.  I’ve been working on it fer a while now,” he replied as he placed the face into place.  Then she watched as he grabbed a mask and something else.

“Shield your eyes,” he said.

She looked, for a second, and saw bluish sparks spraying out from where he was.  She turned away and waited as he worked.  

“Done,” he said.

She looked back to see this shiny metal alicorn in front of her.  It was beautiful, and whole.  The face looked perfectly fit onto the head, and the mane, while solid, appeared to be ready to move and blow in the wind.  She admired the sculpture of the Princess of the sun.  She stood in awe as she looked at her.  Every line was beautiful, and each curve simply accented that beauty.  In truth she felt more than a little envious of Celestia.  Even this representation of her had a perfect body.  

“I’ll contact the buyer, sell this thing, and git it out.  It’ll be nice to git paid,” he said.

She stood looking at it a bit more before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Ya okay?” he asked.

“Wha... yeah, I’m fine.  Just admiring your work,” she said.

He looked at the large sculpture.  Each piece had been cast, cleaned, and polished.  There was still the process of layering the colors.  He preferred the clean silvery look of unpainted aluminum.  It was clean, beautiful, and typically it allowed the viewer to paint it with their imagination.  But regardless the order was to make it as close to looking as lifelike as possible, and that included painting.

She watched as he plugged something in and flipped on a switch.  A small electric motor next to a tank began humming to life and he connected a hose to a small gun like object.  He then grabbed something from under it and she watched as he began doing a pass on the large sculpture.  She watched as it turned white.  She walked a little closer and watched as he covered the entire thing.  Then he took the jar off, washed it out, cleaned out the gun, and shut down the small motor.

“Okay, I just need to let it get a little tacky before I start on the next coat,” he said.

She watched him as he worked the sculpture over.  Each pass, each coat of paint, was bringing it closer, and closer to looking like the mare it was based on.  Like she had thought the piece was a nude, and for a moment she wondered exactly how he knew what the Princess of the Sun looked like without any clothes.  While in Equestria it was common, exceptionally common, for mares and stallions to walk around in the nude she had noticed that the mares and stallions here, well stallions anyway, seemed to wear clothes all of the time.

She had to assume that Princess Celestia must have assimilated into this culture, if she was here, and if that was the case… 

“I received the measurements,” he said.

She looked at him as he finished the last few touches.  When he finished he climbed down, admired his work and then he walked toward the wall.  There was a pitch black screen and she watched him wave his hand in front of it.  A stallion with a bushy mane and facial hair appeared.

“Good morning Dave, are you going to paint a happy little bush today?” the digital stallion asked.

“No Bob, I was sculpting.  I need to contact my buyer.  He should be the fourth contact in my emails.  Let him know that the sculpture is ready fer pickup,” he said.

“You got it, oh, do we have a guest?” Bob asked.

“Bob, this is Adagio Dazzle, she’s our guest and as our guest I want you to give her guest privileges,” he replied.

Bob’s eyes seemed change colors for a moment before his smile brightened.

“That’s wonderful, tell me Adagio, are you an artist?” Bob asked.

“I was, once,” she replied.

Bob looked at her and frown threatened to creep its way onto his face.

“One doesn’t simply stop being an artist.  Once you are an artist, you are always an artist.  It is an expression of the soul, to show the world the beauty that lives inside.  It’s sharing yourself, openingly, willingly, to those open enough to accept it,” he said.

The words Bob said struck a cord with her.  She had almost stopped thinking about the fact she was an artist when she was a siren.  It was more about feeding than it was performing.  The magic she had access to then made her voice perfect, but now, she wasn't sure now.  She desperately wanted to sing.  She wanted to connect with her music.  Not for the power, but instead for the feel of it washing over her.

"Perhaps you are right," she said with a small smile, "Maybe it’s still a part of me."

The memory of losing her power had held her back from trying.  Her singing voice would be different, and she knew she’d have to work at it.  She looked at the work Dave had done.  His sculpture of the Solar Princess was a standing example of his craft.  He obviously put years into his craft.  Perhaps, she could become good enough that her singing would be able to get her the things she wanted.  It seemed reasonable.  It would certainly be better than trying to barter with her body.

She then looked at her host.  Dave, he was a kind stallion, and he asked for nothing, absolutely nothing, in return for his kindness.  She wasn’t used to that.  To be shown kindness without using her siren power was…  odd, but refreshing.  It made her feel warm inside.  

“Dave, the buyer has been notified, and he has replied that they will be here to pick it up in two days time.  Your account has also had a deposit for the price you set on the sculpture,” Bob said.

“Thanks Bob,” Dave said.

He looked over to Adagio and saw her closing her eyes.  She opened her mouth, and he heard the first few notes from her.  Her voice sounded beautiful, slightly different from before, but beautiful all the same.  He listened and noticed that she was falling into practice scales.  Her eyes were still closed her voice sounding amazing, and he found a seat to listen to her.

He listened as she began going from scales to singing an actual song.  It was one he knew fairly well.  Being a fan of the show itself he knew Winter Wrap-up like the back of his hand, but the way she sung it.  It wasn’t the upbeat tune he remembered from the show itself.  She had slowed it down, making it more of a thing of beauty to be admired rather than a song of celebration.  He listened as she continued, her voice never wavering moved seamlessly through the song.  When she finished her eyes opened to see him sitting down, his eyes completely on her.

“I take it that I can still captivate,” she said.

There was the shadow of a smug smirk on her lips.  A touch of the arrogance that was part of her personality.  She walked toward him, and he could see the confidence in the way she held herself.  She was proud, refined, and beautiful.  She carried herself the way he’d seen pictures of Royalty carry themselves.  In that moment he realized that she wasn’t just one of his favorite characters, she was a woman who seemed to have found something important about herself.

Looking back at the statue he was reminded that he now had a few more funds.  It would be a decent idea to get the materials to either build her a room, or create a privacy blind.  One or the other, and it would also be good to get her something other to wear than his old hand me downs.  The clothes would mean going to town, checking the local clothing shop, Workman’s, but the materials could all be bought online.  With the weather being like it was he had absolutely no intention on doing too much traveling until the snow decided to calm itself some.

He stood up and walked toward a small tablet he had on a table.  He watched as she she took a seat across from him and she placed her head in her hand.

“Wait, stay just like that,” he said.

She did as she was told, and she heard the sound of something marking on something hard.  She sat that way for several minutes.  She could hear the scratching, the scribbling, and finally after quite some time he stopped.  She looked toward he was setting and he uncovered this strange looking device.  He hooked a small black tablet to it and pressed something on the screen.  Suddenly the strange looking device started making an interesting sound, a strange noise and she walked toward it.  She could see it forming something from a piece of foam.  When it was done she was looking at a barely foot tall representation of herself.

“Set the foundry and see what I can do about making a much better one of these,” he said.

He left it there, with her, and she held it like it was the most precious thing she had ever seen.
	
> Not Your Fault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Adagio looked at the statue standing there.  The large sculpture of Princess Celestia was gone, but the one Dave had made of her, it was still there.  While he didn’t want her undressing for other reasons he seemed to be fine with it when he was creating the molds for the statue.  He actually created two of them, and the second one was fully painted, looking exactly like she looked when she modeled for him, but the one she was looking at now, it was far different.  She grinned at its polished and smooth surface.  Even though the surface was smooth she could see the lines of her fur on it.  

It was truly a wonderful work of art, and yet she felt somewhat sad as she looked at it.  She looked sad because of the body language and expression on her face that Dave had used for the sculpture.  She looked, uncertain, worried, and slightly depressed.  He captured her natural beauty, she could see that.  

Every curve, every imperfection, every part of here was there, laid bare before the world, and while she couldn’t help but admire the beauty it was the expression that held her.  Was she that upset?  Was it possible that she truly was that lost without the music?  Bob, Dave’s Digital Assistant had said that one doesn’t stop being an artist, and that felt true.  Without her music she felt as if a piece of her was missing.

“Seems to turned out purty good huh?” Dave asked as he neared her.

“It’s beautiful,” she responded.

“The gallery in Houston is wanting to buy the painted sculpture, but I wanted ta make sure ya weren’t gonna be upset if’n I sold it,” he said.

“Of course not, why would I be upset about sharing the perfection of my image with the world.  Especially since you captured my hips so well,” she said flicking her tail and shifting her hips as if to accentuate the point.

He laughed a little and nodded.  Then he looked at her.

“How would ya like ta go into town with me?  I’m gonna meet the representative for the gallery there, and he’s taking it on back by train.  Figured that ya could get a chance to look around a bit more than just around this old salvage yard,” he replied.

It was actually tempting.  True, her first visit to this town hadn’t been exactly what she would call pleasant, but since that time she had actually found somepony who was nice enough to help her.  After a bit of a mental debate she nodded.  Going would be good, and besides, the clothes she was wearing now seemed to be a bit big for her. Not that she minded wearing some of his clothes, but finding something that would fit a bit better did have a certain appeal to it.

He smiled, nodded, and they walked out to where he had the other sculpture loaded into the back of his pieced together carriage.  He opened the door for her, and she gave him a slight nod, a smile, and stepped into the carriage.  It was warm, which was wonderful since the winter outside seemed to be colder than a Windigo’s teat.  He stepped into the carriage, and she felt it lurch forward before moving.  

The yard looked beautiful with the snow covering everything.  Thick icicles hung from some of the higher stacked carriages, and it looked as if the entire yard was more than a place where aging carriages were stripped down for the metal and parts they had.  It looked as if it was a winter wonderland.  A soft sigh escaped her as she marveled at it.  

“Everything alright?” Dave asked.

“It is.  This…  It looks amazing,” she said as they left the drive of the yard and headed down the stretch of dirt road leading them toward the paved road.  

“It is purty.  My mom, she once told me that artists had an easier time of understanding nature, and the reason was ‘cause nature, all of it, was an artist too.  I dunno if she was right, but I kinda think that she was,” he said.

Adagio had to agree with his mother’s words.  There was a certain artistry in the winter landscape.  It did look as if a master artist had carefully crafted the scene on canvas and left it out for the world to see.  The change in the scenery only changed the way nature had painted her landscape.  Where there had been trees, and a field full of carriages covered with ice and snow there was now several buildings with frosted windows, snow covered roofs, and recently scraped sidewalks.

The rhythmic sound of the carriage seemed to put her at ease as they headed toward the train station.  Dave pulled up to the older station and parked.  She watched as he got out, and in a few minutes a blond stallion walked with him.  She noticed that even though it was a stallion he was very… feminine.  She got out and watched as the stallion observed the piece.

“It is quite nice.  I must say that you’ve captured something very special here,” he said as he looked at it, “Of course seeing your sculpture that was done for the Presidential Gardens only made this decision easier.”

“Thanks.  Ya got somebody to help unload it fer ya right?” he asked.

The other stallion nodded and she watched as a strange looking machine rolled toward the back of the carriage, slipped two tongs under the pallet the sculpture sat on, and then lifted it up.  

“It was very good doing business with you Mr. Johnson,” the stallion said.

“Thank you Mr…” Dave started before the other stallion stopped him.

“Just call me Surge.  I feel so much more liberated without having the chain that was my former last name around my ankle,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay, thanks Mr. Surge.  It was right nice being able to make this fer ya,” he said.

He looked at Adagio and gave her a slight grin, “That’s how you can tell a true artist.  It’s never about the business, it’s always about the art.”

He gave them a wave, barked an order to the stallion driving the strange machine, and then headed back into the station.

“Well, now that we’re done here I think we could look around town a bit.  I figure ya might want ta git a couple changes of clothes,” Dave said.

Adagio nodded, climbed back into the carriage, and felt the warm of it cover her.  The first time she had ridden in the carriage she had been surprised about how comfortable it was.  The carriages she remembered from Equestria had been stiff, stuffy things that tended to reflect every bump in the road, but this one felt almost as if every road was smooth and freshly paved, or at least as close to that feeling as she’d ever felt.

She felt the carriage come to a stop, and she looked out to see several buildings next to each other.  The rhythmic rumbling of the carriage quieted completely, and she noticed that the warm air that had been flowing from below had stopped.  She looked at Dave who gave her a bright, toothy, and genuinely happy smile before opening his door.  The rush of cold air filled the inside of the carriage.  She climbed outside, feeling the intense cold cutting through the solid blue sweater Dave had let her borrow.  Instantly she wished she had a jacket, or a nice heavy coat.

“I figured ya might want ta start here,” Dave said.

She followed him into the building and felt the wonderful warm air.  She could see several vending machines.  Dozens of them, all filled with various clothes.  In the middle was a strange looking black booth, which looked like an old photo booth, with a curtain for the door.

“I’ve been here a few times, and all ya gotta do is step inside, follow the directions, and it’ll figure out yer sizes from ‘em,” he said.

She swallowed back some of her nervousness, stepped into the booth, and instantly she saw a light appear.  

“Welcome to The Right Fit.  Please strip off, announce when you are ready to be scanned, and stand still.  The scanner will quickly, and promptly scan your measurements.  When it is finished your sizes will be recorded to your thumb print identification.  Before we begin, are you male or female?” a soothing voice said.

“I’m a mare, a female,” she said.

“Ah, female.  This has notation has been recorded for your purchases.  Please, strip off all clothing, you may place said clothing on the shelf behind you, and announce when you are ready to be scanned,” the voice said.

She followed the direction, feeling Dave’s borrowed clothes coming off, and after a moment she faced forward, breathed out, and looked ahead.

“I’m ready to be scanned,” she said.

The light she saw earlier moved down, becoming a complete and total circle of light.  it moved down her, and as it did she noticed a screen where a model was being created.  She watched as the model was formed, measurements listed by each section, and she felt a little offset at the measurements themselves.

“twenty, eighteen, thirty,” she read with some distain.

“Your measurements have been saved.  You may now redress, exist the scanning booth, and purchase your clothing choices from the vending machines in the lobby,” the voice said.

She grabbed the sweater, decided not to try to slip back into the sweatpants, because it had taken a ridiculous amount of time to pull the string taut enough to keep them up, and pulled the sweater over her head.  She trotted out, her tail lifting the back of the sweater just enough to give a slight view of what was under the sweater.  She felt eyes on her as she walked, and a small satisfied smirk fitted smugly upon her lips.  She had seen very few people outside, and none of them had been near this store.

There was no doubt in her mind that Dave was watching her.  In truth she enjoyed having him watch her.  She still craved attention, she still desired to be adored, and feeling his eyes on her made her feel oh so good.  She bent over, knowing that he undoubtedly would be able to get a better view, and examined the clothes in the first vending machine.  The clothes themselves seemed fairly simple.  Denim jeans, various basic style t-shirts, panties and boxers, and a collection of socks.

A memory of being dressed in nothing but long nylons, topped with red bows, came to her mind.  It was shortly after their fall, and it was the first time she had traded herself for food.  The stallion seemed to think that she looked amazing in the nylons, and while she knew that Dave would never make her do anything like that for the necessities, she did wonder how he would react to seeing her in a similar state.  She quickly put the thought out of her mind.

He was a good stallion, hard working, and generous to a fault.  Teasing him would seem wrong, and she knew it.  Still, it would be interesting to see, so she searched the vending machine, found a set of fish net stockings with little red bows on them, and selected them.  She watched as a set fell, and then she selected a pair of lacy white panties, a pair of basic blue denim jeans, but it was a white blouse that caught her attention.  

It looked soft, comfortable, and stylish.  She checked, double checked, and smiled as she selected it.  She watched as a package fell and then grinned to herself.  She pulled out the clothes she had selected, and decided to change where she was.  She stripped the sweater off, looked behind her to see Dave fighting a losing battle with himself.  She wanted to think that it was odd that he was so able to look at her in the nude while she was modeling, but looking at her now, while she was getting dressed, seemed to be something that he wasn’t comfortable doing.

“You don’t have to look away,” she said.

“I dun want ya ta think that I’m some kind of pervert.  It ain’t right to oggle a lady,” he replied.

She felt her heart warm from his words.  He thought of her as a lady, he was kind, and it was obvious that he was interested in mares.  Somehow she had found a straight gentlecolt.  She studied him for a bit, pulled on her panties, her jeans, and then slipped on her blouse.  She walked to him, leaving the bottom half of her blouse undone, and kissed his cheek.

“What was that fer?” he asked.

“That was for being such a wonderful gentlecolt,” she said before she gave him a slightly longer kiss on his lips, “and that, that is because I like you.”

She leaned against his chest for a moment.  She did like him, quite a bit, but she was being a bit forward.  It wasn’t that she hadn’t been forward before with a stallion, but being this forward…  She felt a tiny, and fleeting, brush of panic rush through her.  The last time she had been this forward had been because she was in heat.

She eyed him again.  Here he was, a stallion, who was kind, who had opened his home to her, and now… Now she had a decision to make.  Granted, at one time she might have used him, enjoyed what he had to offer, and then left him with little more than a wonderful memory.  But she had changed, or least she believed she did.  She wasn’t really connected to her siren magic anymore, but it was more than that.  She wanted to believe that she had become a better pony.

Slowly, another question came to her mind.  There had been a string of…  she couldn’t call them lovers, but what else would fit?  Some had been simply a means to an end.  Somepony who was needing relief, something she was willing to give, and in return she had gained enough bits to cover for her, Sonata and Aria.  The memory of the Saddle Arabian had been the worst.  He was so demeaning, degrading, but she had taken it.  Everything he had done she forced herself to deal with, and in the end it gave the three of them a place to live, and enough food, for a couple of months.

Still, this was a different place.  She wasn’t expected to give herself over for a place to stay, and the most she had been asked to do was to model while Dave had sculpted her likeness.  She liked him, perhaps, even growing more than a simple liking.  He was indeed growing on her, becoming special to her, even if he did enjoy teasing her about Tacos.  If she lived a thousand more years and ever saw another taco it would be too soon.

Her mind traveled, far too quickly, from Sonata’s favorite food to considering the various ways she could make Dave moan out her name.  She stopped herself there.  Dave had said he was a fan of hers.  That he loved her singing, but appreciating her artistic talents, and desiring to to rut her until she couldn’t walk straight were two different things.  She barely noticed that she had dressed herself while thinking about everything.  She turned and saw Dave, his eyes trying to look somewhere else again.

He was sweet, and easy to embarrass.  It was hard to deny that he had a charm about him that she found positively intoxicating.  Not to mention at the moment he smelled so positively male.  Strong, virile, and fairly easy on the eyes.  She thought of their home, his bed, the ruffled sheets, and she stopped there.  She couldn’t do it.  Not that she couldn’t have him rut her.  The ability would be easy, but she couldn’t use him like that.  

“Adagio, ya alright?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine actually,” she replied, “I think that I’ve got enough clothes.”

He looked at the clothes she picked out.  A suit she was wearing, another couple suits of clothes in bags, but that was it.  He wasn’t going to try to understand all that was going on.  He’d once heard someone say that it was an impossible task to try and understand a woman.  He agreed, slightly, but he also felt that it was better to accept that Adagio was Adagio.  He wanted to feel that he was understanding her, but he wasn’t going to assume that he knew all about her.

He opened the door for her, watched as she walked out, and followed her.  He felt her tail brush his leg, he smiled, and then he saw a little three year old girl.  She was wrapped up in what had to be the most layers of clothing he had ever seen.

“Yer real purty,” she said to Adagio.

He watched as she knelt down and gave the little girl a smile.

“Thank you, and you look adorable,” she replied.

“Boy, ya better take yer black ass and that freak on down the fuckin’ road.  That thing there is an abomination!” a man shouted as he ran toward them.

He grabbed up his daughter and looked at Adagio, “Fuckin’ pony freak.  You stay away from my daughter.  You keep yourself and your house nigger away from her you hear!  I don’t want none of your…  whatever the hell you have getting on her!” 

She watched, her jaw practically hanging open, and she felt her heart break.  She wouldn’t have hurt that little filly.  She wouldn’t have harmed a hair on her head, but…  she looked back at Dave to see a slight frown on his face.  Gently touched his hand, 

“Dave?”

He looked at her and gave her a small gentle smile.

“Sorry about that…”
	
>  In the Air Tonight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Trigger Warning* There's Clop. *Trigger Warning*









Adagio had noticed over the next few days how Dave had went out of his way to try and make her feel more included in everything he was doing.  She understood what he was doing, and she was thankful.  While she didn’t want to admit it that other stallion’s words did hurt.  She felt confident that her kind, the ponies, would have at least been a bit more tolerant and accepting of somepony like Dave.  Granted, she wasn’t the best example of a good pony, but even she knew that a pony was judged not on what they looked like, but instead of what they were like.  It was their actions that told the kind of pony they were.

Dave, dave was a good pony.  And right now, as she helped work the mold for the statue they were making she felt so much pride.  She also tried to keep her work focused so that her heat wasn’t as bad.  She still wanted to find some relief, but doing this, working on this statue, keeping at it for hours, it was helping.  At first she considered locking herself up, but where would she do that?  It wasn’t like they had a separate room for her to go into.  They were separated by a sheet.  If she tried to simply wait it out there was no doubt that she would end up giving in to her urges.  She didn’t need to do that.

So, she worked on the statue. A special order statue. From what Dave has told her, the statue needed to be eight feet tall, shaped like an angel, and made of  copper. The first two would be easy to do, yet Dave mentioned how expensive it would be to get copper. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much if any copper lying around his scrap yard. With people coming through and taking any they could find and him selling it during hard times, he only managed to find a couple wires and sheets.

“Well...ain’t this a problem,” Dave sighed.

“Sure it isn’t enough...but isn’t there somewhere else you could get copper?” Adagio asked.

“Legally and without getting my head shot off...Sure...a decent of ‘em,” Dave replied as he picked up his tablet and began to surf the web, “The only problem is it is expensive as all get out. Imma have to order enough to finish the statue and then transfer some of the cost to the customer. They shouldn’t mind;  I only gave em a rough price estimate anyway.”

“So what now?” 

“Well...the mold is basically done; I can finish that myself,” Dave replied looking up from his tablet, “You...you should get some rest. You’ve been helping me with this whole thing since the start. I say you deserve lunch and a nap. Let me order this copper, and I’ll get started on the former. It should be here by tonight with the rush option-which will cost extra- so rest.”

Adagio nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards the kitchen. The least she could do was fix the lunch. Even though she had worked hard, Dave worked harder. He didn’t need the extra burden of fixing the food. Though, when Adagio walked into the kitchen, she realized she didn’t know what she was doing. Or barely.    Of course, she had a general idea of how to cook, but that was from watching Sonata or Aria cook. She barely actually did it herself. She began to worry before quickly calming herself down.

“Calm down...it’s only lunch, “Adagio whispered to herself, “ It only has to be something simple. “

She shuffled through the cupboards, drawers, the pantry, and the refrigerator before settling on doing something she had saw Aria do once.  She could easily emulate whatever her Siren sister could. How hard could this recipe be ,right?

Once she located the ingredients, she grabbed eggs, green peppers, and onions. First, she diced the green peppers and onions and mixed them  together and placed them in a bowl before pouring them into a skillet to cook. While they were cooking, she cracked six eggs, added milk, and whisked them together with salt and pepper. 

Once those were done, she grabbed the vegetables and moved them from heat.  Next, she poured the eggs into the another skillet, letting them cook a little before adding the vegetables. She watch her creation with pride. There she decided cooking wasn’t so hard; she decided to cook something. She left her eggs and rambled in the kitchen. 

As she did look for something else to cook,  the smell of eggs cooking filled the room until it changed. At first it was an aromatic blend of eggs and vegetables ,yet now she smelled of smoke. Quickly, she ran back to her eggs to see the smoke was trailing from them. She located the oven mitts, took the eggs off the eye. The first thing she noticed besides the blackening eggs was the red hot eye from the electric stove. With caution she turned off the the stove, slid the darkened eggs onto a plate and prepared four pieces of toast, which were relatively perfect.

“Uhh...Dave...,”Adagio began, “ Lunch time...”

“OH!” Dave yelled, “I didn’t expect ya to...oh…”

Dave overlooked the food spread onto the table. While it wasn't necessarily bad looking, Dave wasn’t sure if the food was still edible. Either way, he didn’t want Adagio to feel bad, so he sat down, scooped some eggs onto a piece of toast, and took a bite. His teeth grinded the soft/crunchy eggs along with the toast until he swallowed. The meal wasn't bad...just not cooked the best.

“What do you think?” Adagio asked.

“It’s good...maybe just a little bit more practice with cooking times, “Dave answered but quickly changed the subject, “The copper will be here in five hours. Looks like we will be working over night.”

Taking a bite of the eggs herself Adagio realized that for all of her abilities, her talents, cooking wasn’t among them.  The eggs didn’t taste bad, but they weren’t very good.  They were a little too oily, the burned portion of the eggs tasted too rubbery, and the vegetables she had tried to add tasted a little off as well.  The bite of toast and jam brought her some joy that at least she could handle toast.

A quick glance at the toaster caused a little smile to creep upon her face.  The fact the machine had a timer wasn’t lost on her.  Her decision to try and cook two things at once had been what had caused the eggs to taste like they had.  She looked over at Dave and noticed that he had cleaned his plate.  It touched her, more than she would ever admit, to know that he wanted to show her that he appreciated that she was willing to cook for him.

“Dave, you have  call from Ivoryverse Metals,” Bob said.

Dave nodded, swallowed the last bit of egg he had in his mouth and turned toward the console.

“Mr. Johnson, good morning, and how is the world treating you?”

“Hat, it’s going well.  I can’t really complain none,” he replied.

The man on the flatscreen nodded, and then pointed behind him, “There it is.  eight hundred pounds of mini copper cubes.  I’ve got to tell you, it’s not often we get asked for copper,” Hat replied.

Adagio noticed his accent.  It sounded similar to a Trottingham accent, perhaps it was a bit rougher, but very similar.

“That’s great Hat, but I jest need six hundred pounds of the stuff,” Dave said.

“You only want six hundred pounds?  Dave, I can’t do that.  I have to sell it by four hundred pound increments.  Think of it this way.  You’ll have two hundred pounds left to sculpt with after you’re done,” Hat said.

Two hundred pounds of copper left over.  Adagio knew what it was like to budget money.  After her and her sister sirens lost their power she had basically been in charge of ensuring that they had enough money to survive.  Typically it meant that she was going out and debasing herself for a few bits.  She tried to get enough that they could rent a cheap room, have food, and keep at least a few changes of clothes.

The few times they had to go over made her cringe because she knew how hard it was to make the bits they needed.  She remembered how each bit was earned, and she didn’t want to lose them because of an emergency that just happened to come up.  She’d rather make sure that they were healthy, happy, and hopefully in good spirits.  If she could do that then the emergencies wouldn’t come around as often, and she could manage to get them by, or at least get them by from day to day.

This order of copper was like those emergencies.  She could see Dave not wanting to accept it, but finally, he pressed his thumb against the small mark for it on the side of the screen.  A moment later the man named Hat smiled, nodded, and looked back at him.

“Good.  It’ll be out there by the time you specified.  It’s a pleasure doing business with you,” he said.

A moment later the screen went black and Dave walked away from it.  A quick look told her exactly what she had thought.  Dave didn’t look defeated, but he looked worried.  This was a massive order, and it was one that had the potential of coming back to bite him.  She walked near him, took a seat by him, and watched as he looked at the mold he had created.

“Mama told me that doing what ya love is the most important thing.  Ya can live ferever, have all of the money in the world, and if ya ain’t happy it ain’t worth a damn,” he said, “I love what I do Adagio.  I love it ‘cause I put a piece of mah soul into each piece I make.  I don’t know what I’d do if’n I couldn’t do this no more.”

She touched his shoulder and watched as he turned toward her.  She tried to give him a reassuring smile.  Something she’d seen Sonata give both her and Aria a dozen times.  She honestly hoped that it seemed reassuring.  She had been told, once, that her smiles seemed fake, and that had bothered her.  In truth it bothered her far more than she wanted it too.  She wanted to believe that she wasn’t simply somepony that couldn’t give some comfort in the form of a gentle smile.

Her doubts about her abilities drifted off when Dave returned her smile and reached for her hand.  She took it, felt the fires of her heat burning, and tried to think of a million things that were not what she considered sexy.  Finally, remembering Sonata dressed in a Taco suit did the trick.  It had been ridiculous, but not arousing in the slightest.

“Dave, you are a good stallion, and you’re very skilled.  I don’t see why you won’t be able to do this for the rest of your life,” she said.

It was a strange sensation being that reassuring, but she felt it to be true.  Dave was a true artist.  She saw how much of himself he put into his work, and she had noticed how he constantly tried to improve each time.  Even now, while they were sitting, she could see the way he was studying the molds he had created.  His eyes looking for imperfections, trying to see anything that would make the buyer angry, or that disrupted his vision of what the buyer wanted.  After a moment he stopped, and then she noticed something.  The figure itself was mostly human, but he used her measurements.

He had put some of her into the statue.  There was a feeling of being touched, truly touched, because he wanted to include her into the work he was creating.  It also stirred the fires of her heat, because he knew her measurements.  He’d seen her nude, made two statues of her nude, and her mind thought of how those creative hands might feel as they cupped her cutie marks.  Her back against the wall, him thrusting into her, both of them grunting and moaning like beasts in the wild.

She forced the thought back.  She couldn’t give into that.  There was no telling how Dave felt about her, but the idea that he would want to make love to her seemed unlikely.  Slowly the hours unfolded.  Each second giving way to minutes, the minutes giving way to hours, and finally five pm had rolled around.  In truth she was ready.  Getting back to work, focusing her energy on work and not on thinking about what it would be like bent over the counter with Dave behind her, rutting her silly, while calling her his pretty pony was something she was ready for.

The moment the copper came in she helped unload it.  It took precious little time, and then she watched as he brought out something different.  The base of it was made of some strange white brick, the brick itself seemed to so close together there was no lines, no spaces.  She watched as it lifted into the air.  Connected to three support chains.  Two were close to the front, and the third was hooked in the back.  She could see a hole in the front of the brick, and that hole seemed to go inside of part of it.  She watched as he removed the lid, using two sets of handles on the side, and using his gloves.  

He began filling the inside, a smoothed out bowl shape that seemed to be carved in the brick, with the copper cubes.  After getting several in it, he handed her a pair of dark tinted goggles.  She put them on, watched as he pulled over a strange looking device, flipped it on, and touched two black rods together.  

An arch of electricity formed between them then it changed.  Becoming something bright, white hot, and he began using on the copper.  She watched as the copper began to melt, changing its shape from the cubes to a puddle.

“Get the bust of the figure,” he said.

She did, and she wheeled it over.  He pulled the rods away, flipped off the device, and slid the rods into two small holes that she hadn’t noticed that were in the brick.  He pulled on the third chain and the entire back of the base lifted.  It began to pour, and she watched as it began to fill the bust.  She marveled as it took form, and then once it had it went from looking like copper to being black.

“It’ll change back,” he said.

She nodded, watched, and helped as they poured the rest of the figure.  Piece by piece, bit by bit, it was coming together.  Once everything cooled he began taking them from the molds, and then he started welding them together.  The statue looked breathtaking.  One hand reached for the stars, the other covered its heart.  She could see the regal way it looked above itself, and more similarities between it and herself became apparent.  

When it was finished he let out a sigh of relief, walked over to the monitor on the wall, and wiped his forehead.

“Bob, contact Mrs. Reese fer me,” he said.

“Of course Dave, my, it looks like you went and created something beautiful,” Bob replied.

“Yeah, it turned out purty good,” he replied.

“Ah, Mr. Johnson, am I to assume that you have completed my project?” a pudgy looking human mare asked.

“I sure did.  We got it completed, jest like ya asked fer,” he said.

“Very good.  I shall be at the trainstation in thirty minutes.  I don’t expect to be kept waiting,” she said before the line ended.

Adagio thought about the way the mare sounded, decided that she didn’t like her, and was glad that they only had to deal with her in order to sell the statue.  She helped Dave load it into their carriage, and then once it was secure, they both climbed in and began to long trek through the snow to town.  She looked out at the beautiful snow around them.  It was amazing to see it so peaceful.

The ride, like the others, was enjoyable.  Still slowly they reached the train station, and there she saw the pudgy woman.  She was wearing a long back dress, in one hand she had a book with a symbol of some kind on it, and in she seemed to be in an animated conversation with someone.  Adagio could see a tablet in her other hand, chalking it up to the mare being rude, she realized that she wanted as little to do with this mare as possible.

She ended her conversation, climbed off of the platform, and walked to the back of the carriage.  Adagio got out, walked behind with Dave, and looked at the face full of awe on the mare.

“It’s beautiful.  Why it’s more beautiful than I dared hope,” she said.

“Thank ya,” Dave said.

She looked at it a bit more and then gave him a smile, “I believe we agreed on fifteen hundred credits,” she said.

“We did, but the copper was a little more expensive.  I hate ta do this, but if you could go to sixteen hundred it would cover the cost of the copper,” he replied.

“Of course I don’t…” she started to say when she turned around, “Why in holy name of our father is this?”

“That’s Adagio.  She helped make this,” he said.

“I’m sure… Mr. Johnson, do I look like a sinner?” she asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Do I look like a sinner?  Do I look like a woman who enjoys going out, doing every perverse and vile thing under the sun?” She asked.

“No…” he said.

“Good, I’m glad that you realize that.  I’m sure then you will also realize that I won’t purchase anything your…  thing has touched.  I obviously made a mistake in contacting you.  Good day,” she said.

“Wait!  Ya can’t do that!” he shouted.

“Sir, I’m the customer.  I can, and shall, do as I please,” she said.

They watched as she boarded the train, taking her credits, and leaving the statue.  Adagio watched as he leaned against the carriage.  He shook his head, and she could see the hurt he was feeling.  She walked toward him, pulled him into a hug, and it was one that he returned.

“Let’s go home,” he said.

The trip back home was quiet, and not the comfortable kind.  It felt melancholy and crestfallen.  Her heat was nearly forgotten.  The need was still there, but her mind was occupied.  She wanted to help make Dave feel better. She wanted to make sure that he would be okay.  When they arrived back home there was a small red circle blinking on the monitor.  He walked toward it, and cleared his throat.

“Bob,” he said.

“Dave, welcome home.  There is two messages for you,” he said.

The screen changed to an elderly looking human stallion.  His tired green eyes seemed focused, his dress was something Adagio had seen on some of the more elite members of pony society, and then there was his voice.  It commanded attention.  It demonstrated power, and it sounded like the very voice of some great evil that had crawled up from the depths of Tartarus.

“Mr. Johnson.  I’m sure that you’re well aware that my calling has nothing to do with a social interaction.  Instead I’m calling because I was informed by my accounts manager that you’ve overdrawn your account at my bank by eleven hundred credits.  I explained this to your mother, your father, and now I’m explaining it to you since they obviously forgot to tell you about the world,” the old stallion sneered, “This is a private bank.  It isn’t one of those piss poor digital jobs that do not allow overdrafts.  We cover, for certain clients, up to fifteen hundred credits.  You, Mr. Johnson, are not certain clients.  Your account is grandfathered in because your father opened it up originally.  Regardless, I’ve found a small loophole that should make this work in my favor.”

He almost seemed to look through the screen at the both of them,  “Your name was only on the account as a signer, not as an account holder.  Because of that I will be contacting Baldwin’s Collection Agency, and I will be turning this over to them.  You will have two weeks to pay off the overdraft balance, close the account, and find a different bank.  Good day Mr. Johnson.”

The screen changed again and this time there was a young stallion that looked similar to Dave.  His head was bald, he wore a small pair of glasses, and his suit looked less fancy, but just as commanding as the previous stallion.

“Mr. Johnson I’m Tyree Astern Jr.  I’m your Baldwin accounts requestation representative.  I’ve been given the authority to notify you that you have two weeks in which to pay off your balance with Arleen First National Bank.  If you do not there will be an interest rate of twenty-five percent added to the account every two weeks until it is paid in full.  If you are unable to pay arrangements will be made to sell your place of residence, your possessions, and if needed you will be relocated into a Corporate Farm while you pay off the balance.  Have a great Day sir,” he said.

Adagio watched as Dave hung his head, walked toward a cabinet near the sink, and opened it.  She walked toward him, and after a few moments he came back out with a large green bottle.  There was no label, and the bottle itself looked old and dusty.  She could see a wax cover on the top of it, and she heard it hiss slightly when he broke it.  He pulled out a tall glass, poured a red liquid from the bottle into the glass, and then poured another one for Adagio.

She lifted it, smelling the glass, and she could smell the faint smell of watermelon, and on top of that she smelled the strong presence of alcohol.  

“Dave?” she asked.

He looked at the glass.

“My Mama said that Daddy made the finest wine.  The best wine she ever tasted.  She told me how lots and lots of folks would come up and buy his wine, but he didn’t want to sell wine.  He wanted to run a salvage yard.  He wanted to have land,” he laughed, but it sounded defeated and angry, “He wanted ta have land, and he wanted something more fer us.  I dun went and lost it.”

He raised the glass up, and she watched as he drunk it down in one gulp.  He poured another glass, and she couldn’t help but move toward him.

“Don’t make me drink this alone,” he said.

She raised her glass, and she took the first taste.  It was strong, stronger than she had ever had before.  The taste of the watermelon was there, but the bite, the bite was powerful.  It burned going down, making her feel like she had just tried to drank the copper they had melted.  He poured her another glass, and he gulped down the one he just had.

“I’ve gone and fucked up,” he said.

She watched him, slowly drinking her own glass, and soon his was already full again, on its way to being emptied, and she finished off the second glass.  She watched as he poured her another, slammed down his third, poured a forth, and she put her hand on his arm.

“Dave, it will be okay,” she said.

“I ain’t got no other jobs lined up Adagio.  Nothing else…  Nothing at all.  I was putting all mah eggs in this one basket.  It was the best job offer I’d gotten in a couple of weeks.  I ain’t got time to round up ‘nother job,” he slurred slightly.

She looked at him, then her full glass, and she gulped it down, following his example.

“Fine, if you’re going to give in and quit…” she started before he stopped and looked at her.

“I ain’t quitin’!  I jest ain’t got no other choice!  At best I’m a gonna lose everything!” he shouted as he poured another glass.

She watched he poured hers, and she slammed it back, looked at him with defiance, and then it appeared.  She felt it creep out on her lips.  The sneer she had used before she lost her powers, the same sneer that she showed those she felt were lower than her.

“Poor pathetic little stallion.  Here you are, worried about losing everything, and all you can think to do is drink your troubles away.  I thought that you were the kind of stallion that could face your problems and fix them, but nope, you’re like the rest of ‘em,” she slurred.

“Shut up,” he slurred back.

“No!  I like you, you…  idiot!  I like you and you’re being stupid!  It’s like I’m dealing with Sonata after she found out her favorite Taco place went out of business!  Stallion up!  Or you can’t can you?  I bet that you’re not even stallion enough to satisfy a mare in bed!” she slurred angrily.

The next second happened in a flash.  She felt his lips, tightly against his own, his hands were on her back, pulling her close, and her heat that she had managed to keep at bay broke out.  It roared out like a caged beast finally free.  Her hands grabbed his shirt, ripping it apart.  She touched the toned muscle that composed his chest, the hair that was growing over them, and she needed to feel more.  Her legs lifted up, wrapping around his waist, her hands went to his back, returning the hold, pulling them tight, forcing her breasts to be mashed between them.

She felt him break the kiss, his eyes looking at hers for a moment, before they traveled down.  She felt them, looking at her breasts, eyeing something she had always felt was less than her most impressive feature, and then she felt his hands.  They slipped under her blouse, moving against the grain of her fur.  Pushing it up, making the fires of her heat explode.  The clumsy foreplay might be something she would enjoy in another state of mind, but right now, right now she wanted her prize.  She wanted it buried inside of her.  She wanted him screaming her name out, and she wanted it now!

She pushed him back, making him nearly fall.  The futon behind him caught him, making him go into a seated position.  Even in her drunken state Adagio remembered how she had seduced so many stallions.  The memory of how she moved her hips, her best feature she believed, enticed them, brought them to her, and she began to dance forward.  Her hips swaying as she peeled off her blouse.  She didn’t care where the white and gold blouse ended up.  She didn’t care that she was topless, but she did enjoy feeling Dave’s hands on her jeans.

She felt them loosen, his thumbs finding the waistband of her jeans and her panties.  The both of them lowering down, finding the floor, and she stepped out.  Her fishnet stockings, the very thing she had wanted to wear to seduce him, was all that was left.  His hands and powerful arms grabbed her, pulling her down, and she found herself sitting, her legs open, and his face buried between them.  Her mind raced, need, pure, delicious, and primal need raced through her, leaving behind reason and logic.  

There was no reason other than to feel pleasure, there was no logic other than his shaft inside of her, and there was no other time than now.  Now, now existed.  What might happen didn’t, what has happened didn’t, and only this moment with his tongue buried inside of her, with her clit hungry sucked on, and her own need exploding out of her.  That was all that existed.

“Rut me!” she cried out.

He pulled back.

“Do it!” she commanded,  “If you’re stallion enough.”

His pants fell, and she saw his pride.  Dear, sweet, merciful Goddess...! It was a sight.  Thick, nearly as long as a young foal’s arm, and dark.  She worried, for a moment, if it would fit.  But her worry disappeared when her need screamed at her.  She saw him trying to line up, and then she felt his hands.  The reached for her, grabbed her, lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs back around him.  She felt him at her sex.  She was wet, so she wasn’t worried about how easily he would slide in, and she before she could think she felt herself lowering down.  The head moved into her, turning the heat into an inferno.  A lust filled moan escaped her mouth, a mouth she found covered with his own.  His hands were on her cutie marks, and she felt them push.

She felt him push so deep inside of her she wondered if he would break out of her womb.  Just as that thought crossed her mind he stopped.  

“Ummm,” he moaned.

“We’re not even close to being done,” she growled.

She pulled her hips up, ignoring the pain of him entering her, ignoring the surprise pain of finding out she was once again a virgin, and instead she raised nearly off of him before she slammed her hips back.  His hand cupped her cutie marks, moving with her hips, driving the primal need in them both.  The animals that replaced them had one purpose, and at this moment that was all they wanted.

“Fuck!” he cried out as he neared his release.  She felt it, and she felt her own.

“Don’t you dare finish first!” she shouted.

She felt herself lifted completely off of him, turned around, and kneeling over the futon.  She felt him back inside of her, and one of his hands on her tail.  He pulled it, a little, and she clenched hard.  Her hidden kink.  Something she found she liked, and he did it by reflex.  He pulled again and she cried out as she came.  She felt him explode into her, her arms gave out, and she collapsed against the futon.  She felt his weight bearing down on her.  She could feel him, still rigid and hard, deep inside of her.  

“How’s that fer not stallion enough…  My pretty pony,” he said.

She smiled.  Tomorrow was forever away, yesterday was gone, and she had needs that she wanted to satisfy all night long.

“Good for starters,” she cooed.
	
> Can't Buy Me Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Waking up, Adagio noticed two things immediately.  First, she was completely nude, with a warm body lying behind her; and second was that said body still held her impaled on his rather impressive erection.  She moved her hips and a long shloop sounded as the meaty member that had been inside of her slid out. When it did she felt empty; not emotionally so, because for the first time in her life she felt truly loved.

The arms of the man she had bedded were wrapped around her, his breath in her hair, and at the moment the worries of last night seemed so far away.  There were a few aches throughout her body, but the one lingering in her genitals was quite pleasant.  The ache, the sort of pleasant burn from a runner’s high, told her that she had been filled, to capacity apparently, and it also reminded her that she was a mare that had found her special somepony.  The other ache wasn’t so pleasant, resided in her skull, a reminder that a night of drinking was not always the best answer to what ails you.

She heard Dave mutter something in his sleep, his arms still holding her tight, and she simply let him hold her as she considered their morning.  Dave had stretched his savings beyond the breaking point, and she knew it.  The answer to the problem was a job, but finding a job normally took time.  Memories of the things she had done in order to survive after she and her sisters were defeated came to mind. There was hustling wealthy stallions, but it was something she didn’t want to do anymore. Even then, she didn’t like the things that she had to do.  It had been more about survival, their next meal, and someplace to rest rather than simply doing those things for the joy of it. And given her misadventures in this land so far, she didn’t want to chance conning somepony that might make trouble for Dave, let alone her. 

Slowly the arms around her loosened, and she moved out of the bed.  Her eyes looked to the stained spot on the bed, and noticed that one other thing had happened. At some point her virginity had been returned to her, and she had given it to Dave.  She looked at the spot for several seconds.

“Seriously?”

She directed the question to the fates, to destiny, or even to the universe, whatever it was that determined how things happened. She had no idea that her virginity had been returned to her, and while she actually was quite glad that she had given it to Dave, it felt wrong.  There had been no romance, no courtship, just two souls that had gotten too drunk to think straight and ended up rutting each other. Not that she would complain to much about it.

“Story of my life,” she groaned as she walked toward the shower.

Well, she might complain a little.

Entering the shower stall, she turned it on the water, and pulled her hand back quickly.  The freezing water coming out of the shower head wasn’t what she had expected.  She had hoped to feel the warmth of the hot water, but instead it seemed that the universe had decided to give her this. She checked the handles, saw that the hot water was off, and turned it on.  For a moment the water remained cold, but then it began to warm, considerably.  Stepping into the tub she let out a soft moan that seemed as if it had been hiding inside of her.  The hot water felt amazing as it splashed onto her fur.  

Since being here Dave had took her shopping a couple of times.  Besides the clothes one of her first purchases had been some soap and shampoo that smelled quite a bit like what her old soap and shampoo smelled like.  Jasmine, lavender, and a hint of peppermint filled the air as she worked the soap into a lather.  It felt so good to get the sweat and grime out of her fur.  She hummed as she washed the worries of the previous day out, or at least out for a few minutes, and her humming changed into singing.

“♫Feel the wave of sound,
as it crashes down.
You can’t turn away,
I’ll make you want to staaaaaay,♬” she sang.

She felt something, something different as she sang.  It wasn’t the same off key singing that had happened when they had been defeated. Back then, her singing had been about deriving sustenance and thus there was no sensation from accompanying their mutual talent. This singing instead felt right, springing from an emotional center Adagio had long thought extinguished. She continued to sing, feeling something deeper inside of her calling out to be released.

Opening her eyes she noticed a soft white light surrounding her, and then as suddenly as it began it stopped.  She touched her cutie mark and felt a warmth that wasn’t caused by the shower.  Turning her head she looked at the Treble clef and the gem together.  Both were shimmering, but the treble clef was the brighter of the two, yet it seemed different than getting a cutie mark. Something was still off.  It was as if she had stepped in the right direction, and softly, her destiny was calling to her to continue walking.

She knew that this wasn’t her siren magic, but instead it seemed to her actual talent shining through. She hugged herself, feeling like part of herself had just returned from the dead.  The siren magic had given her so much, but it had corrupted her talent.  The magic had turned her talent into something it never should have been.  She knew that, and understood, that completely.  Seeing her talent come back to life on its own began to fill her with hope.

Vague memories of before becoming a siren, before accepting the dark magic that turned her, slowly crawled their way back into her mind.  She remembered, more or less, being an Earth Pony, but other memories had drifted off over time.  Those memories, or at least pieces of them, began to crawl back, reminding her of what she had once been.

The Land was cold, she remembered that, and she remembered long cobblestone roads, old houses, and ponies coming to listen to her as she sung for them.  The songs escaped her, or did at the moment, but the crowds, she remembered them, pleased faces that enjoyed the respite from their daily lives that came in the form of her singing.

Turning the shower off she stepped out, grabbed a couple of towels, and began the process of drying off.  It was warm in here, and inviting, but she knew that neither her, nor Dave, had really made sure the furnace kept going. Without the furnace, it was likely to get rather cold, rather quickly. Her hot shower was a considerable drain on the precious heat of Dave’s home. 

Adagio stepped out the bathroom, noting the minor chill creeping in the building. She could see the furnace now, and the dull glow if the dying embers within it. Walking toward it, she opened the metal door and looked to see a few red, glowing coals.  The furnace was attached to Dave’s livelihood, to heating the building that was their home, and to the hot water boiler that got its heat from the old device.

She quickly dried, dressed in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a matching sweater (foregoing any underclothes for the time being) , and then walked toward the furnace again.  She reopened the metal door, found the shovel, and looked at the fuel that Dave had for it.  The old furnace was designed well enough, for what it was, and it seemed to run off of either wood or coal.  The last few days their home, the shop, had smelled vaguely similar to somepony barbecuing.  The reason why laid there in front of her.

Dave had a small box full of charcoal briquettes. Grabbing a shovel she dug into the box, getting a couple of shovel fulls out, and then tossing them back into the furnace.  She pumped the bellows, letting the still warm coals ignite the others on top of them.  It was a slow start, but after a few minutes she was pleased to see that the briquettes igniting, and burning well enough to close the door and let the furnace do as it needed to.

Walking away from it she checked to make sure that her clothes weren’t filthy from the dust from the charcoal briquettes.  Seeing that they were fairly clean she considered the next task.  They needed a job, something, anything, that could net them at least enough to pay off the balance with the bank, and allow them to keep their home.  She walked toward the large monitor that was hanging up and cleared her throat.

“Good morning!” Bob said in his normal cheerful voice.

“Good morning, Bob. Would you mind doing me a favor?”

“Anything, Miss Adagio,” Bob replied, “what can I do to help?”

“Here’s the thing. Dave and I need a new job, and fast.  Is there any art gallery that is needing a piece, or maybe there’s someone wanting to commision a piece? It needs to be something within the week,” she asked.

Bob was quiet for a moment before he finally reappeared, “I’m sorry, Miss Adagio, but there isn’t anything like that currently needed.  There are however a few openings for servers at a restaurant called Taps.”

She shook her head.  There was absolutely no way that she and Dave could make eleven hundred credits in two weeks at a restaurant.  She wasn’t sure how different the pay scale was here, but she did remember that before restaurants didn’t pay all that well.  Often their servers were paid below the minimum threshold, and it was expected that their tips would more than make up for it.

“Thanks anyway, Bob,” she replied.

“You’re welcome, Miss Adagio. I’ll keep an eye out for something a bit more in your request, but most often those kinds of jobs tend to appear when they’re needed,” he said.

“Thanks anyway, Bob,” Adagio said.

She gave him a smile, walked toward the kitchen, and looked at their supplies.  There was no denying it they were certainly in a grim situation.  They were out of eggs, almost out of bread, and most of the other perishables seemed to be gone as well.  Dave had really been counting on that sale in order to clear the cost of the copper, and refill their groceries.  As it sat at the moment, they were left with a few boxes of mac and cheese, two packages of beans, and what looked like about three cans of sardines.

She looked at the meager menu available, and decided that she could at least try to make something.  Grabbing a box of mac and cheese she lifted it, read the back, and began following the directions.  When it got down to the milk, she looked in the fridge and found that they were nearly out.  There was about half of what they needed, so she turned the water on, added a little water, and used the mixed milk.  It took longer than what they box had said it would, but when she finished what was in the pan looked eatable. Well, it looked mostly edible.

She walked over to the still slumbering Dave, and gently shook his shoulder.  To her surprise he grabbed her, pulled her into the bed, and she found herself being held tightly.  She moved, trying to adjust herself, so that she could get up when she felt his very impressive stallionhood pressing against her thigh.  A soft whinny of need escaped her, and she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to fight against her heat.  Leaning down, she kissed him, fully, and felt him returning it.  She felt his hands move down to her hips, stopping right above her cutie marks, his thumbs lingering on the waistband of her sweatpants.

Looking at him, she could tell he was mostly still asleep, but need, deep, lustful, and hungry, was demanding attention in the worst sort of ways.  It was demanding that she peel her clothes off, that she show her stallion her form, and that she take him until he couldn’t form complex sentences anymore.  She couldn’t handle it, and her sweater came off, her fingers touched his thumbs, moving them under the waistband of her sweatpants, and together they moved them until they were past her knees.  She pulled one hoof free, which was all she needed at the moment, and next she uncovered her prize.

Her most wonderful prize was standing so tall.  Once more she hesitated, conflicted about the size, and then deciding that since it fit once it would fit again; she lowered herself upon it. Her pulsating insides pulled him deep into her, and she let out a lewd nickering moan.  Lifting up, she thrust herself back down on him, his hands now roaming over her hips, moving up, and toward the breasts that he seemed to enjoy so much.

“Oh…  Rut me!” she moaned as the tempo increased. Her lover’s body reacted, as though by instinct, and pushed his hips into Adagio’s, further heightening her pleasure. Her passage was undulating around his tool, which throbbed in time to their desperate movements. Adagio could feel David’s erection pushing deep inside her, kissing her cervix with each thrust. How his length was able to get that deep, she would never know but it thrilled her all the same.

Soon, much sooner than she anticipated, Adagio felt the first stirrings of her climax building in her depths. Dave’s stallionhood rushed inward to hasten her orgasm. One push, two pushes, three pushes, four; Adagio’s head was reeling from the pleasure. No stallion she had known or encountered before she arrived here could match the way Dave felt so deep inside her.

“David, David,” she cried, “I’m cumming. I’M CUMMMING!”

The first wave of ecstasy flew through her, silencing her thoughts, erasing all sense of self as she gave in to nirvana. She let out a choked moan, shivering, as her climax tore through her. Sweat had formed on her coat, in her mane and tail, and with every downward motion, she heard the slap of wet skin on wetter fur. Her passage was now leaking thoroughly, soaking his rod and the bed sheets with lubrication. She hadn’t come down from the high of the first orgasm before another reared its head.

Over and over again, Adagio gasped and spasmed as climaxes rolled over her, one after another. She invariably propped herself up with her hands on Dave’s chest or on his thighs. Occasionally, she would just lie atop of him, allowing him to thrust into her while she attempted to rest. Her body was spent, her coat now sticky with sweat. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep up the pace she was keeping…

“Adi…” moaned Dave, “Adagio…”

Another climax was building within the former siren; it broke upon as Dave’s own orgasm erupted within her. The splash of his essence, the throbbing of his erection deep within her passage, the intense and effulgent bliss rupturing through her body was too much. She gasped, deeply, then collapsed on Dave’s prone form as his climax continued to pour spurt after spurt of his seed within her body. 

Her own form was twitching, spasming, as that last climax wove its way up her spine, to her brain, and then through every pleasure center in her body. The continuing release of David’s essence spurred another sensation within Adagio, one of completeness, one of love, and one of sated desire. She hadn’t known the pleasure of sex until she had met Dave; she mused that if her siren powers were still available to her, she would entrance Dave to rut her into perpetuity, notwithstanding any future little Dazzlings that might occur.

Oh, Celestia, she thought, imagine me, a mother? The fates would have a sense of humor after all.

Slowly as she lay there, enjoying the rapture of fulfillment that their coupling had brought her, she began to remember the reason she was trying to wake him up for.  There was a pot of food sitting, waiting, and needing to be ate.  She kissed him, once more, and gently shook him again.  His eyes opened, revealing that he was a bit more awake than he had appeared.

“Nice way ta wake up,” he said.

She gave him a grin and shook her head.

“It was nice, but originally I was just going to tell you that I made breakfast.  You pulled me down into this bed.  I think that you knew what was going to happen,” she replied.

He returned her smile, slowly got up, and neither of them made any attempt to get dressed.  Instead the both of them walked toward the table wearing the suits that they had been born with, and settled down for a breakfast of mac and cheese.  The meal was good, better than Adagio expected it to be, and part of that, she was certain, was because of how good she felt.  She looked toward Dave to see him looking back at her.  She could feel her heart flutter, and part of her was ready to play coy, to flirt, and of course rut the living Tartarus out of him.  Instead they enjoyed their meal, got up, and began their day.

The next three days seemed to follow a wonderful schedule of Adagio finding out how deeply Dave was able to fill her, then eating something, searching for a job, and going back to straddling him, enjoying him, and letting him enjoy her completely as well.

Four days afterward in the late afternoon, Adagio saw a large, dark blue vehicle arrive at the front gate to the scrapyard. Puzzled, she frantically searched for Dave. She finally found him in the combined living room/dining room, nursing a whiskey, neat, and playing around with his tablet, drawing up a plan for how to make more money to secure his home or to sell off the statue that was still residing on the property. She walked up to him, panting heavily in a mild panic.


"Dave" she whispered, for her lover was stricken with a hangover, "were you expecting anyone today?"


"Not that I know of," David groaned, "just send them away. Not in the mood-"


Adagio nodded, returning to the scrapyard and the vehicle that idled in the drive. In the time she had taken to find Dave, a figure had dismounted from the large transport and was standing smartly in the yard. The figure was female, with an impossibly pink skin, a pair of rabbit ears jutting from the crown of her head, and whiskers framing her nose. She wore a smart business suit. all charcoal grey and pressed, and she carried a tablet that was a deluxe brother to the one Dave owned. A T.I.C.T. badge adorned her right breast pocket.


"Good afternoon," The bunny girl said sweetly, "I'm Tabitha Rutiger, but most people call my Taffy."


"Adagio," The former siren replied, "Adagio Dazzle. How can I help you?"


"I was hoping to speak with a Mr. David Johnson," Taffy said, "would he be home?"


"He is" Adagio answered, "but he's feeling under the weather today."


"Oh, poo," Taffy moaned, "I was hoping to get in contact with him. The statue he was commissioned for never arrived at our offices and the purchaser sent to retrieve it, Mrs. Reese, has been summarily dismissed. She seemed to uphold her own beliefs over any measure of professionalism, so she was let go."

"You mean that toad, Mrs. Reese," Adagio spat.


"Yes," Taffy confirmed, frowning, "The poor woman suffers from the delusion that everyone should follow her personal faith. This isn’t the first time her beliefs have interfered in a business transaction. Those delusions and her uncompromising stance on certain subjects, like Help-Mates® for instance, have made her employment less than ideal. Her indignation at the the creators process of another piece did not sit well with Mr. Moexatl and he has warned her that such attitudes are not in keeping with the T.I.C.T. mission statement."


"Don't I know it,” Adagio hisses, "she took one look at me and she lost it. Like she's never seen a pony before…"


"Rest assured, Miss Dazzle, given the dressing down Mr. Moexatl gave Mrs. Reese, she will not be bothering you or Mr. Johnson ever again," Taffy beamed, “it will be a miracle if she ever finds employment. Mr. Moexatl is very influential throughout the nation…”


"Whatever," Adagio hissed, "so what are you doing here?"


"Well," Taffy started, "we were unable to contact Mr. Johnson in regard to the statue he made, because Mrs. Reese destroyed his contact data. I am here, as Mr. Moexatl's proxy, to  purchase the statue, and as recompense for Mrs. Reese' atrocious behavior, Mr. Moexatl is willing to acquire it at five times the asking price."

“Five- five times?!” Adagio stuttered, to which Taffy nodded.

"I must also add," Taffy continued, "that I am empowered to up the offer to twelve times the original asking price."

"W-wait," Adagio stammered, "twelve- twelve times?!"


Taffy nodded, adding, "Mr. Moexatl is a patron of the arts and has been- keeping track, you could say, of Mr. Johnson's work. This is the first time he's purchased any of his pieces before, though he has admitted to me that Mr. Johnson's creative portfolio is quite astonishing. Are you sure Mr. Johnson can't be seen today?"


"Y-you know," Adagio answered, "I bet Dave would be more than willing to meet with Mr. Moexatl after- well, after saving his ass like this. Let me- Let me see if he'll make an appearance.  Could you wait? Here?"


Taffy nods and Adagio goes sprinting back in the house. Forgetting that her lover is suffering a hangover, overjoyed that their financial difficulties have just solved at a stroke, Adagio can’t help but yell.


"DAVE? DAVE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHO'S COMING TO BUY THAT STATUE!!"

	
> Knocked Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Since selling that statue, getting paid well over what Dave had offered to sell it, and then seeing a boom in the commissions from other businesses Adagio had to admit that she felt hopeful. Well, hopeful and sick.  Four months had come and went, and recently she had found herself in the bathroom, glad to have Dave there, and throwing everything up.  That wasn’t the only problem.  Her breasts felt tender, her hips seemed wider, and she was packing on a little more weight.  

Her mind had long since told her what it was, but she wasn’t going to admit it.  Sure, she carried her sisters, helped them, ensured they had food, but a foal was a different story.  

“Adagio, can ya come here fer a second?” Dave asked.

She moved toward the sound of Dave’s voice, the grogginess of sleep finally trying to leave her, and she saw a small white box with a red cross on it.  Dave opened it and a small human stallion appeared.  Dave took a small strip and then looked at her.

“I think that we ought ta test,” he said.

She tried to focus on what he was saying.

“Test what?” she asked.

He looked at the strip, then at the cup, and finally decided that it would be best to just go ahead and tell her, “Adagio, I think that we ought ta test and see if yer pregnant.”

Her expression wasn’t what he had hoped for.  She wasn’t smiling, her expression wasn’t a happy one, instead there was a look of disbelief and betrayal on her face.  She shook her head, and looked at the test, “I’m not.”

“It’s jest that it’d sure explain….” 

She glared at him, and in that instant he could see the side of Adagio that she hadn’t brought out yet.  He’d seen her get mad, angry, but she looked like she’d have no problem doing more than giving him a piece of her mind.  He wasn’t afraid that she’d try to hurt him.  He loved her, and he believed that she loved him too, but he also didn’t want to push her too hard.

“Adagio, if’n you aren’t then we can get ta figuring out what’s wrong,” he said.

She walked toward him, took the strip, the cup, and then looked at him.

“What am I supposed to do with these?” she practically hissed the question.

Dave wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.  He’d figured that Adagio knew how to do a pregnancy test.  It was something he figured that all girls knew how to do.  After all, it was taught as part of basic health education in both regular public schools and on the public school system online.  He cleared his throat, looked at the test, and then back at her.  

“Ummm…  ya’ll need to take it to the…  Adagio, no one’s ever told you about this?” he asked.

“Dave, the unicorns that were doctors did a scan with their magic.  They were able to pick up if we were pregnant or not,” she replied.

He could see her glaring at him, and he finally decided that the best policy was to simply tell her how he knew to do it.

“Ya’ll gotta take it to the bathroom, and ya gotta pee on where it says to pee on it at,” he said.

“What?!”

She looked at strip of paper and the cup, “Why the cup?”

He looked at the ground, and the room, and anything except Adagio, “In case ya don’t think ya can get it on the strip easily.  Ya go in the cup, and dunk it in the strip.”

She looked at him like he had grown two heads.  She looked at him to see if he was kidding with her, and she realized that he was serious she looked at the cup and strip again.  The idea of trying to do that, in a cup, while she was sitting on the toilet seemed a bit much to her.  She looked at him again, hoping that maybe he was just really just messing with her, but like the first time she realized he was serious.  

Oh there was absolutely no way she was going to do this.  This was…  filthy to even consider!  She looked at the strip, the cup, and then back at him.

“Ewww, no.  Just no.  I’m not pregnant and that’s that,” she said.

“Adagio, please.  I wanna make sure that you ain’t.  If’n you ain’t then we gotta find out what it is.  I jest want…  Adagio I love ya too much to let somethin’ bad happen ta you.  If’n you ain’t pregnant then it’s gotta be something else, right?  I want ta make sure it ain’t nothing that’s gonna hurt you,” he replied.

Seeing him, hearing him, and feeling just the littlest bit guilty she grabbed the cup and the strip, “Fine, but I know that I’m not pregnant.”

He watched as she walked toward the bathroom, Once she was out of sight he breathed out a relieved sigh.  He hadn’t seen that side of Adagio other than on the old movies and series he’d watched.  He knew that he should have guessed that part of her personality was still there, but he hadn’t seen it, so it never really occurred to him.  Still, it didn’t make him love her any less, but it did mean that arguments were going to be a bit different from this point on.

Sitting outside, listening for anything, and noticing that the seconds were ticking by slower and slower.  It seemed like an hour, although he knew it was only ten minutes or so, and that’s when he heard a thump.  Getting up, running to the bathroom, and throwing up the door he saw Adagio on the floor.  Her eyes closed, her pants around her ankles, along with her panties, and there in her hand was a small strip.  He looked at it, seeing two lines instead of one.  It took a few minutes for what he was seeing to really sink in and become real.  

As he studied it his eyes widened, and he looked at the collapsed mare on the bathroom floor.  He placed the strip on the ground, slowly lifted her, and carried her to the bed.  Once there, he pulled off her pants and panties, her top, and covered her up.  He knew that she’d awaken when she was ready, but once more he stopped to look at her.  This was going to be the mother of his child.

He reached out, touching her stomach.  It was early in the pregnancy, far too early to really feel anything yet, at least he supposed it was, but he still felt her stomach in awe.  There was something growing inside of her, something that was made up out of the best of both of them, and he had helped create it.  Gently he kissed her sleeping form.  There was a chance that she’d be in a mighty poor mood once she woke up, but he’d handle it.

He looked at what he had been working on earlier.  It was another sculpture, but this one was an Equestrian Fertility Statue.  He looked at it again, and there was no lie how much of Adagio had made it into the sculpture.  The hips looked like Adagio’s, the face, and while the hair was slightly straighter it was still full bodied like Adagio’s.  He touched the belly, feeling the strange texture of warmed rubber flesh.

It wasn’t the first time he’d used this medium, but it was strange to him.  It felt alien, but familiar at the same time.  The rubber wasn’t hard to come by, but it was difficult to work with.  When in a melted stage it liked to run like water.  When it cooled, it took every imperfection of the mold and it would take remelting it back down to get them out.  But what was the most interesting of all was the way it held heat.

The rubber would feel like a warm body for days after being around people.  It’d almost take on flesh and bone feel to it, and that was more than enough to make it feel more realistic.  He’d have to start work on the artifical fur.  The color scheme was left open to interpretation, but he’d already chosen it.  The statue was more than just the client’s order.  It was a love letter to Adagio.  He was capturing the beauty he believed that she would possess while carrying their child.  Each tiny hole in the rubber flesh was just big enough to insert a single hair.  It was going to be time consuming, and he was working from pictures, and from Adagio herself, but it would be worth it.  The head, mane, ears, and neck were finished.  He was down to the shoulders when he had stopped earlier.  Slowly, he began placing in the fur, letting it sit in place, and then moving to the next piece.

Each movement, each piece, was bringing him closer to being finished.  Time ticked by, and he continued to bring the sculpture more to life with each passing moment.  Her left shoulder was nearly done, and he began to move down the arm, to the breast, and smiled at his work.  In truth he wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he certainly felt his stomach growling.  He stopped, noticed that the shoulder, upper part of the arm, and her left breast was completed, and then he noticed that it had been more than a few hours since he started.  

In that time he hadn’t heard a peep out of Adagio.  He walked over to the kitchen and saw her on the bed, sitting up, holding her knees.  He stopped right there.  The love of his life looked like she was having some problems, and he didn’t want to leave her to them.  He walked toward her, seeing her hugging her knees tighter.

“Adagio?” his voice was soft, non threatening, or at least he hoped it was, “Adagio, sweetheart, you okay?”

“I’m going to be a mother.”

It wasn’t really a response to him.  He knew that.  No, it was to herself, and she sounded like she was in a state of disbelief.

“Adagio…”

He moved toward her, reaching out, touching her shoulder, and when she looked up at him he felt his heart nearly stop at the sight.  She was crying, and those tears had made small canals down the side of her muzzle.

“I’m going to be a mother… I…  I don’t deserve to be one, I can’t be one!”

“What are ya talkin’ bout?  I think that you’d be a great mother.”

She looked at him, sniffing, and her arms unwrapped from around her knees.  He felt her grabbing him, pulling him tight, and hugging him close.  He could feel his bones creaking, but he didn’t mind.  She needed the hug, and he knew it.  He returned it, hugging her back, holding her, and letting her know that it was okay through the hug.

She held him, letting him rub her back, crying into his shoulder, and he just let her know that he was there.  In truth he wasn’t sure there was really that much more he could do other than let her know that he was there and that it would be okay.  It had to be okay, because he was going to be a father.

That thought was sobering.  He was going to be a father, an honest to God father.  There was going to be a tiny life that he was responsible for.  He wasn’t sure that he was really ready for that, but he wasn’t going to not be a father.  He was man enough to sleep with her, to help make her pregnant, then he was man enough to be a father to their child.

“You… You really think that I’d be a good mother?”

“I know it Adagio, I know you’d be a good mother.”

He felt the kiss.  It wasn’t the demanding sultry kiss of wanton sex, but instead it was the love of his life wanting to be assured that she was still loved, still cared for, and he returned it with as much love and tenderness as he could.  He felt her deepening it, her hands wrapping in his hair, her breath so sweet on his tongue, and her nude body pressing against him.  Sure he wanted to make sure she was alright, but feeling her like that, it made him want to show her how much he loved her.

He felt her hand, moving down his chest, finding his jeans, unbuttoning them, and sliding inside of them.  She gripped him, and he could feel her stroking him to life.

“Please?”

Her question was simple in the way it was asked, but what was being asked was more in depth.  She wanted him to make love to her, to make her feel special, to let her know that he still desired her, and in truth, he was finding her more desirable after discovering that she was carrying his child.  

He stood up, and when he did he felt his jeans and boxers pushed down.  His shaft stood there, proud, happy, and soon engulfed.  Adagio wasn’t wasting time.  He could feel her giving it all, doing her best to please him, and he loved every moment of it, but something felt off.  His hands moved to her head, and almost as if taking it as cue, she began to move further down on him, taking him all into her muzzle.

Adagio normally didn’t do that.  She didn’t mind giving him a blow job, but deep throating him like that was few and far between.  He pulled back, and she looked up at him.  Her eyes looked hurt, really hurt, and he leaned down to kiss her.  She kissed him, deeply, and then he felt her move back, opening her legs, pressing her sex up slightly.

“Dave…” she began before he tasted her.  She let out a soft moan, taking what he was giving.  He loved her, truly loved her, and it was making her feel better.  She had been worried, a little, that finding out that she was with foal would make him resent her.  Instead she felt him, licking inside of her, tasting her, and not complaining at all.  She felt a finger pressing into her, and his actions had moved to where he was suckling on her clit.  Her hips bucked, loving the attention, thrilling at being so adored, and needing more.  His other finger, his other hand, had found her tailhole.  She felt it, slightly, at first and then the finger slipped into her.  

“Ssss,” she complained slightly.  

If he wanted that hole, she’d give it to him, but it was tight, and to be honest he was was quite a bit of stallion.  She panted, as he continued, soon he was working a finger into her sex and the other into her tail hole. He was being gentle, but the way he was doing it was getting her really hot and bothered.  He was alternating them, moving from one finger to two, from two to three, and she found herself moaning like a filly in her first estrus.  

“I love you Adagio,” he said.

The softness in his voice told her that he did love her, that he would be gentle, and she found herself welcoming anything he wanted.  He pulled his hands away, and she felt him, his shaft, against her wet entrance.  Her hands reached for his shirt, lifting it off of him, and she leaned forward to kiss and lick his chest.  She felt him pulling her hips toward him, and she took that as a cue to lean back for a moment. 

At first he was barely touching her, just slightly inside, and then in an instant he was a quarter of the way in, then half, finally completely seated inside of her.  Every Time, each and every time she felt so full when he was seated inside of her.  He pulled back, leaving a slight emptiness where he had been and in an instant he filled her again.  She let out a soft moan, a deliciously devilious moan, that seemed to cry for more.  Being the gentlecolt he was he gave it to her.  Bring himself over and over again inside of her.  

The waves of pleasure washed over her, taking her, and making her feel wanted in a way she couldn’t explain.  She was loved, adored, and it was exactly what she had hoped it would be.  Moaning, she began to thrust against him, taking him in as deeply as she could, knowing that she would soon be reaching her very limit, and the entire time knowing that she was fine with it.  She began to give back to him what he was giving to her.  She wanted to let him know that he was adored, loved, and would always be loved.  

Her hips, something he said he loved, thrusted hard against him, she felt him fill her so deeply, and then she pulled back completely.  It was a decision at the last second, a chance one, and one that would take her from the thought of letting him have her tailhole to actually giving it to him.  She felt him against the entrance of it, she could see the confusion on his face, and she pushed down.  Her eyes widened as she felt him push inside of it.  There had been once, in Equestria, that a noble had taken it, but she had refused afterward.  

This was the first time she had willingly given it to somepony, and it was to her special somepony.  He was seated in her, and at that moment what she had feared would hurt did hurt some, but it wasn’t as horrible as her previous experience.  Instead it felt…  good.  She relaxed, realizing how deep he was inside of her.  Slowly, she moved up, feeling the emptiness inside of the fullness that had been there a few moments ago.  She looked down at him, her eyes looking into his own, and she pressed back down.

She moaned, and even in this state she realized how lewd it sounded.  She wanted him, she wanted him to fill her, to be inside of her, and to give her the love and adoration she had so craved for so long.  Her hands went to his chest, feeling the strong muscle that was hidden underneath the thin fabric of his shirt.  She pulled, nearly ripping it, getting to the soft texture of his skin.  Her hands touched him, and she felt herself no longer going at a slower pace.  

She needed the release,  she needed to feel his release.  He loved her, he wanted her, and he wanted their foal.  They were going to have a foal.  It sparked in her mind, the need, the drive, and she couldn’t contain it anymore.  Her entire body clenched, the pent up need released, and she felt him as he released inside of her.  She fell forward, and his arms wrapped around her.

“I love you,” she said.

“And I love you too,” he replied.

She felt the weight of the world gone from her shoulders, the worries of motherhood had lessened, and now, at this moment, she was happy to just be with her stallion, here, in this moment.
> Arms Wide Open
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Dave woke to the sounds of groaning.  He turned to see Adagio, looking sick, on her side, and not sounding at all like she was even remotely having a good time.  He touched her back, felt how ringing wet it was with sweat, and he instantly he began pulling her clothes off of her.  His hand touched her swollen stomach, and she looked up at him.

“It’s too hot in here.”

She was right. It was too hot.  Living in the workshop was a great idea, or at least it was until the summer months hit.  Right now both of them were dealing with intense heat from an unforgiving sun beating down on a tin roof.  Added to the fact that he had to keep the foundry going all night long.  He was up most of that night, melting the aluminum needed for the statue, and of course pouring it up into the molds he had created for it.  

Unlike some of the other sculptures and statues this one was meant to be heavier.  Specifically the order was for one solid piece of aluminum.  It wasn’t the hardest thing in the world to make, but it meant doing one mold, just one, and having it cool overnight, or overday, whichever the case may be.  Right now that mold, and the aluminum inside of it, was still scorching hot, and it would be like that until it finally cooled off.  What that meant for the both of them was dealing with the heat as best they could until the aluminum was cool enough to take out of the mold, and moved to a better area.  

Still, he wasn’t about to just let Adagio lie there in sweating and suffering.  He made sure the fan was running, and then he walked over to the refrigerator.  The ice trays were full, the ice bin was nearly full, and then there was the cooler.  It was something he had made a while, back.  Just a normal hardback cooler, with a pipe sticking out of it, and a miniature fan on the back of it.  He could fill it with ice, and fill the trays with water, and hopefully when the ice melted it would be ready to go again.

He went to work, getting the ice bin out first, and the trays.  He dumped them all into the cooler, closed the lid, walked it over toward Adagio’s side of the bed, hooked the electric cord from the miniature fan into the plug-in, and turned on the switch.  There was a little noise, but he could see the way it was affecting Adagio.  She was breathing easier, she moved toward the cool air, and he grinned.

Adagio looked as though the cool air was indeed helping her.  He could see her relaxing, and he crawled back into the bed behind her.  His arm draped across her, with his hand coming to rest on top of her expanded belly.  He could feel the movements of a child, their child, just inside.  He placed a kiss on the back of her head, and she made a pleasantly happy moan.

“This is nice,” she yawned as the cold air hit her, “I could get used to this.”

She sighed as she relaxed with the cool air.  His hands moved up her belly, feeling the soft texture to just under her breasts.  

“Glad that it’s helping,” he said as he gently rubbed.

“Mmmm, that feels good, but don’t get too many ideas.  It’s still warm in here.”

He almost laughed at her response.  The truth was that she was more than willing to get intimate at pretty much any time.  It was almost like she was in heat again, but he knew that wasn’t it.  No, it seemed that her hormones were making her as horny as she had been.  Still, being there, rubbing her belly right below her breasts, taking in her scent, and listening to the contented sounds of her breathing was certainly enough to make him happy.  

The homemade air conditioner was helping, but he knew that it was going to get warmer before too long.  Unfortunately he didn’t have the luxury of it being winter.  If that was the case simply cracking the windows, letting the furnace die down, and letting the chill from outside help cool the aluminum would make it far easier.  They wouldn’t have to worry about it being so hot inside, and she would be far more comfortable.  

Unfortunately winter had left for spring, and now spring was giving away to summer.  It wasn’t the hottest it had ever been, but it was certainly hotter than when they had first met.  He longed for that winter.  For the chill in the air, the crisp breaths, the keeping warm by snuggling, and of course the fact that nothing felt quite as good as having the furnace roaring with the coal, or wood, that he would burn inside of it.  

He’d forgotten to check the weather earlier.  He could have had Bob check it for him, and he still could, but he knew that it was hot outside.  Hot outside, hot inside, and only a handmade air conditioner to help keep them cool.  He held onto Adagio, and after a moment his mind became made up.  It would be at least another six hours before the statue could be removed from the cast, taken outside, and allowed to finish its cooling process outside of the shop.

He slowly got up, looked at Adagio as she turned toward him, “Let’s git out of here fer a bit.  There ain’t a reason why we oughta burn up in here, and ‘sides I gotta figure that we could use a new AC unit, maybe get a little lunch while we’re a doing it.”

She smiled at him, “Are you sure?”

He nodded, helped her up, and watched as she walked toward the shower.

“I feel funky, so let me take a shower, and then we’ll go, of course to save water, you could help me and take yours too.”

A smile crossed his face, and he followed her toward the shower.  Despite the initial plan the shower wasn’t as accommodating as they had hoped.  It was certainly large enough for the both of them to fit, but with Adagio’s pregnancy showing as much as it was the shower wouldn’t allow for much more than helping to soap up and down, a few playful gropes, and the feel of Dave’s manhood nestled between the cheeks of Adagio’s rump.  

She let out a lewd moan at that point.  Feeling him pressed against her, feeling his hands touching her belly, then her breasts, the way he caressed her, the way he held her.  She was beginning to believe that he might have something of a pregnancy fetish.  The idea didn’t horrify her.  At one time, long ago, she would have been frightened of the idea of being a mother, but that wasn’t the case now.

Now, now she felt hope, and honestly if he got off on a mare being pregnant, well, she wouldn’t mind having another foal or two.  She laughed softly at that.  That was her Earth Pony nature.  She felt it, and she knew it so well.  When the magic that transformed her into a siren had done its job that nature was simply gone.  

Oh, she still got horny, she still had itches to be scratched, but she didn’t feel the need to have foals.  She didn’t feel the drive to bring more ponies into the world.  That was different now.  She felt that drive working overtime.  She was going to be a mother, she was going to have his foals, and she felt him pressed inside of her rump, rubbing against her tailhole, and Celestia above it was driving her crazy.  She looked back at him, a needful look on her face, a desire that he could understand all too well.  He stepped back, as far as he could, letting her bend forward, resting her hands on the wall of the shower, and he moved closer to her.  He felt the entrance of marehood.  It was sopping wet, ready, and he gently pushed into it.  

The fear was still there that he could, unintentionally, harm their child, their foal, but regardless he wanted to give her everything she needed.  It began light, and soon it was obviously something hard and thunderous.  The need they felt was nearly overpowering.  

The one thing it wasn’t was long lasting.  Neither of them wanted to spend very much more time in the shop then they had to, but this was something the both of them needed.  They finished washing off.  Together they stepped out of the shower, and he found her a sundress that would fit her.  She slipped it on, forgoing a bra, finding a pair of panties that were comfortable, and she pulled them on as well.

He dressed in a clean pair of underwear, jeans, and a clean shirt.  Finally a pair of socks and his old work boots were added, and the two of them walked out into the heat of the outside world.  He opened the door to the truck and she climbed inside.  He started it, rolled down his window, and began moving out of the old salvage yard.  She looked at how different it looked in the summer.  Before nature had painted with her wintery landscape, but now she could see the vines growing up inside of the old carriages, or cars rather, and how nature was slowly reclaiming the area for herself.

It was still beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty. 

As they journeyed into town, Adagio began to take in the wonders of the land. Wild flowers grew on the side of the road, ranging in colors and shapes.  Insects were alive and well, doing what they do best-fly.  Of course, the birds were not too far behind, chasing the slower bugs for an easy meal. Off in the distance, if she squinted, she thought she could see a family of deer at the edge of the forest. She hoped the winter had been good to them, and the summer would be even better.

As the drive went on, the scenery changed from natural to man-made. Grass turned to pavement, trees into buildings, and animals into the rude citizens of the town she lived by. She felt herself wanting to let out an irritated sigh, but when Dave placed his firm hand on her thigh, she knew why she came into town.

“Alright my love, “Dave said. He pulled his truck into a parking space between two luxury cars before he continued speaking, “The Ac unit should be in that building over there. While they get it ready, inspect it, and whatnot, me and you can explore. Ya think you could make that journey?”

“Look Dave, I’m pregnant, not crippled,” Adagio replied, opening her door and slowly scooting out, “I can make the walk...just might take some time.”

She felt the ground, and steadied herself on her hooves.  Being pregnant didn’t do her any favors when it came to getting into, or getting out of, Dave’s old truck.  The feeling of her hooves on the cement made her cringe a little.  She could feel the heat radiating up.  She looked at Dave and wondered how he was handling it.  His shoes were worn so thin that she knew he had to be feeling the heat of the sidewalk as well.

He didn’t leave her though.  He stayed beside her, walking with her, right up until they walked into the large building.

“Welcome to a MegaMall,” he said as he held her hand.  The two of them walked into the entrance, and from the outside it didn’t look that big, but she realized that the mall was built going down, being buried beneath the Earth and not above it, “Over four hundred shops, businesses, and most of ‘em are automated.”

She walked with him as they passed a store called Eyemart that had a digital assistant helping the customers, filling out prescriptions, and then the glasses were made on site by what looked like strange arms and hands that hung down from the ceiling by wires and hinges.

“Not that I mind, but why is it like this?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Guess that a lot of places like having machines instead of people.  Cheaper, I guess, and the machines don’t get tired, need a break, or complain about the work load.  I figure it’s jest easier for ‘em.”

She looked at the businesses, and she felt a little conflicted.  Several of the pon...people in this town were less than accepting, but at the same time most of them were barely making it.  A place like this would have provided jobs they desperately needed, but at the same time she knew if they worked here then she’d be dealing with their ire.

That conflict kept at her right until they started to pass a shop that she had to stop at.  Dave watched as she walked into what had been the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century answer to a curiosity shop.  He followed her into Hot Topic, watching as she looked at a few things, but then he noticed what had really attracted her. 

The section was smaller, but he noticed it all right away.  Hot Topic had their 1980’s style of clothing.  When Adagio had appeared she was wearing what she had been wearing in the movies.  Her clothes, and look, was modeled after the 1980’s, so it made sense that she was attracted to this section.  She touched a belt that looked similar to the one she arrived with, but then she moved on to something Dave never would have thought that she liked.  

The denim jacket and skirt were modeled after the eighties, to be sure, but it just didn’t look like something she would be that interested in.  She touched the material, a soft smile crossing her muzzle, and she lightly picked it up.  The skirt would have fit before she was pregnant, but even then her ample…  hips, would certainly have been more than noticeable in it.  A small part of him almost wanted to see her dressed in it, watching her hips sway as she walked, enjoying seeing her coming and going, and then enjoying the feeling of pushing it up, or pulling it off.

Adagio had absolutely no doubts in her mind that Dave was considering what she would have looked like in the skirt.  She didn’t have exactly this kind of attire before, not really, but she did have a skirt similar to this.  Oh, it had been black denim material, a bit tighter than this seemed, and how she turned heads in it.  She sighed.  At the moment she couldn’t fit into it, but it didn’t stop her from imagining it.  She placed it back and saw a headband and scrunchie set.  

Memories of going to a gym, working out, wearing leg warmers, a purple headband, and scrunchies filled her mind.  She picked them up, looked them over, and smiled.

“See something you like?”

She turned, expecting to see a digital assistant, but instead there was a girl that looked like she belonged to a long bygone era as well.  She smiled at her, “If you’re really wanting that skirt and top set, we can totally order it in for you.  We can even get it in adjustable wear, like that Back to the Future movie, you know the kind where the clothes adjusted to fit the person?  We can order that, and it’ll fit now, and later.”

She looked at Dave who nodded, “Please, and thank you.”

She grinned, “No problem, we won’t charge until it gets here, but I’ll need you go ahead and scan in for the approvement to be charged, okay?”

Dave quickly did it, denying Adagio the chance to pay for them, and she realized that they really were going to be for him too.  Well, if that was the case then when they came in she was going to have to wear just them, and nothing else.  The two walked out of the shop, and a smell hit them.  The two of them walked toward it, and Adagio stopped.  Her ears pointed as she heard the sound coming from somewhere behind the counter of the little Tico Taco food court store.

“It’s Taco Tuesday everyday!” the voice sung.

“No…” 

She walked forward, listening to the sound.

“Tacos, from out of the sky, tacos, no need to ask why.  Just open your mouth and close your eyes, it’s raining Tacos!”

She carefully stepped to the counter, looked around, and then the sight of a dark blue mane with a midnight blue stripe running down it appeared as a Unicorn Mare raised up grinningly brightly holding two wrapped tacos.  Her eyes were closed, her Uniform looked strangely pristine, and she seemed to be exceptionally proud of herself.

“It’s Raining TACOS!”

“Sonata!”

Two violet eyes opened, that brilliant smile turned into a surprised O face, and then Sonata lovingly sat her tacos to the side, jumped over the counter and grabbed Adagio into the biggest hug she could muster.

“DAGI!  YAY!  DAGI, LOOK!  IT’S A TACO PLACE!”

Adagio, carefully, peeled away from her overly excited sister, and looked at her, “Where have you been?”

Sonata looked at her like she was asking the dumbest question in the world.

“Duh, right here!  I mean Tacos!”

Adagio groaned, “Sonata, please, where else have you been?”

It was like a light turned on inside of the slightly ditzy Unicorn mare.  

“Oh, well, see I first kinda sorta wondered into this stallion’s house.  He was super nice, although he was kind of busy with his marefriend… You know most of the ponies here look like your coltfriend there, anyway, they totally knew who I was, or actually she did.”

“Where was that, Sonata, please…”

She looked at her again like she was asking a dumb question, “Duh, in the grove, you know, lower.  Wow, I actually know more than you Dagi?”

Adagio looked at Dave, he rubbed his chin for a moment, “Oh, oh, that ain’t good.  They’re squatters.  They’re living in the model homes below the mall.  They were built to show how living underground could be better than living above it.”

“Well is it dangerous?” Adagio asked Dave, worry flowing through her.

“Oh no...it just has a few folks who are down on their luck. From what I hear, they’re nice people with a shared struggle. ”	

A protective feeling overcame Adagio and she immediately knew that she wanted to meet the people who were now taking care of her sister. Unfortunately, she was becoming a bit tired from the day and desired rest.

“Sonata, can Dave and I see visit your home?” Adagio asked, “We can catch up and other things.”												

“Sure, then you can also tell me how you got pregnant. I mean, I know how, but everything else. You know, I never figured you were one for childbearing. Honestly thought Aria would get pregnant before either of us, “Sonata said, picturing a pregnant Aria, “Anyway, I’m off the next two days. Just call and I’ll meet you guys and take you to my home.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Dave spoke.

The groups exchanged numbers and after quick hugs, went their separate ways. No sooner did they do that, another group came ,and Sonata greeted them enthusiastically. She began to list the day’s specials without skipping a beat. Anyone could tell she actually enjoyed her job ,and the people that came around.

“Let’s say we get that AC and get home?” Dave asked, noticing Adagio getting tired.

"No. I can still walk around a bit..."

"What if I throw in a foot rub when we get home?"

“Now that sounds like a plan to me.”