While I know that most ponies don’t like leaving home for the first time—for college, to get a job, to see the world, stuff like that—and they get butterflies in their stomach that just makes them want to go back into their house so they can sleep in their own bed I’ve never had that problem.

I’ve always loved seeing new places, and I was actually going back home to keep my subjects happy and safe, so I was raring to go back home and back to work. So much so that I was actually ready to sit down and do some paperwork. Paperwork!

Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia were there with us at the train station, with Flash and Echo standing off in the corner with our bags all around them, ready for us to say our goodbyes so we could leave and I’d get away from my crazy family.

Don’t look at me like that. It was nice to be home for a little bit, but I’m an adult that needs to get adult things done!

…And my family is crazy; did I mention that yet?

“All aboard!” the conductor roared as the train let off a whistle, leaving Ares wincing and jamming a finger in his ear.

“Jesus guy, the station’s not that big, we can hear you without you yelling in our ears like we owe you money,” he muttered while I turned around and wrapped Aunty Celestia in a hug.

Like I thought she would, she had tears in her eyes and a rag held in her magic, the big mare almost broke my back as she wrapped her wings and hooves around me while she cried and sniffled.

“Don’t forget to write,” she said, nuzzling my cheek as I tried to wiggle out of her death-grip, “and make sure that you don’t get into any trouble, and—”

“Sister,” Luna said with an amused twinkle in her eye. “It appears that thou art close to killing young Cadence.”

My Aunt just hugged me tighter while I forced myself to pat her on the back. I’m gonna die, I thought, my vision starting to turn a little fuzzy. I’m going to die because of a hug and nopony is going to get in trouble for it because there’s not a court in this country that will prosecute my aunt.

“Um, Princess,” Twilight said. “Cadence is starting to turn blue.”

Aunty nuzzled me again while I slowly went limp in her grip. “She’s just as sad as me that she’s leaving, Twilight,” she said, using her ‘mommy logic’. “She’ll be fine w-when s-she’s … GONE!!!!”

Somepony … please … avenge … me

I heard Ares snort behind me, a pair of hands gently, but firmly, pulling me away from my crazy aunt. “Christ, Women,” he said to her while I wheezed and gasped, desperately trying to get as much sweet, sweet oxygen into my lungs as I could. “We need to get Candy here back home and you’re trying to murder her.”

She just sniffled while Ares looked down at me. “Are you alright there, Candy?”

“I … love … you … Ares,” I said in-between breaths while he put me down. “I … saw … a … bright … light.”

Ares just rolled his eyes and looked over at Flash, who was busy nuzzling his marefriend. “Flash, bat-horse.” Echo snorted in irritation. “Do me a favor and get those bags in there.”

Flash nodded, saying something in Twilight’s ear and kissing her before he trotted into the train. Echo followed slowly while she muttered obscenities.

Aunty had collected herself enough to look up at Ares sadly, spreading her forelegs wide as he smiled before saying, “I’m coming you—urk!”

Twilight walked over and nuzzled me as Ares was caught in the vice-grip that was my Aunt’s hug, Luna also trotted over with a smile.

“Goodbye, Twily,” I murmured, bringing her closer with a wing. “Make sure that you come back up to the Empire sometime. Bring those friends of yours too if you want,” I added with a sly smile. “I’m sure that Ares would love to meet them.”

She smiled back at me. “I’ll be sure to,” she said brightly. “The girls really want to see what’s kept me away from Ponyville for so long, and I’m sure Pinkie would want to throw a party for an alien.” She looked away from me for a second. “Cadence?”

“Yeah?”

“Would I be a bad pony if I told you I couldn’t wait to get back home?”

I chuckled. “If you were then I’d be as bad a pony as you.” I mussed up her mane. “When you get back, tell Spike I said hello and—”

“Aaaaaarrrreeesss, help me with these bags!”

Ares, who looked like he was somehow overpowering my Aunt, hoisting the mare up into the air as she held him with both sets of legs while she cried, looked over at Flash as he and Echo tried to lug a particularly heavy bag into the train.

He grunted, trying to get my aunt off him. “Kinda … busy … Flashy”

Twilight and I giggled before I frowned gently. “Twilight,” I said. “You know that Flash can just stay here with you if you want. Then you woul—”

She raised a hoof, a knowing smirk on her face. “Don’t worry about that, Cadence,” she said pridefully. “I’m working on something that’ll solve that long distance problem.”

“Just don’t work yourself too hard,” I said hesitantly, looking at Luna as she took a step forward.

“Cadence,” she said simply, before wrapping me in a much gentler hug than what her sister had given me.“We wish you a safe trip.”

I smiled slightly, hugging her back. “Thanks, Luna,” Feeling brave, I gave her a little nuzzle before awkwardly taking a step away from her. “Don’t forget to write.”

I know it was a little lame to finish it that way, but I really didn’t know what to say, and I was struggling to think of anything to say at all, so of course it was a little awkwardly handled.

Thankfully, she just nodded once while the conductor whistled his whistle and hopped up into the train as it bellowed and blew a cloud of smoke from its smoke stack. “All aboard that’s coming aboard!”

The two of us looked at the stallion before Luna said, “You two should get a move on.”

I nodded as Ares appeared next to me, scratching Twilight under the chin and patting Luna on the head. “WegottagoCandy!”

Before I could say anything, he was bounding up the train’s steps, the train bellowed again before it slowly started picking up speed.

My eyes widened. “Oh horseapples!” I swore, turning to Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia—who had a little teary-eyed smile on her face. “I gotta go, see you gir—”

Luna stopped me with a hoof, her horn glowing as she leaned in and whispered, “We shall begin the wooing in a month’s time.” I shivered slightly as her hot breath caressed my ear. “So make ready, young Cadence.”

POP!

I blinked as Ares, Flash, and Echo appeared in front of me, all three of them looking back at me in confusion. “I guess Luna teleported me,” I murmured, looking around the cab and realizing that it was empty.

“We got our own section of the train,” Flash said brightly as the train picked up its pace, puttering down the track. “Apparently, not very many ponies are going to the Crystal Empire.”

Echo threw a few of the bags onto an empty seat before sitting down and pulling out a pack of cards. “Alright,” she said with a grin, looking at each of us. “Who wants to play poker? I’ll be first dealer.”

@#~~@#

Luna watched quietly as the train slowly disappeared over the horizon, the alicorn looking at her sister with a smirk. “Art thou well, Sister?” she said teasingly. “If thou weep anymore, Canterlot won’t need rain for another year.”

Celestia ignored her sister, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief as she looked over at her student. “Twilight,” she all but whimpered. “Luna and I will wait for your train to see you off.”

Twilight smiled nervously. “Thank you, Princess.” She took a step backward when Celestia eyed her in a way she didn’t like. “But you know that I’m not a day’s train ride away, right?”

Celestia blinked before she stepped back and cleared her throat. “Yes, of course, forgive me Twilight,” she chuckled weakly. “I’m just a little emotional at the moment, nothing that a bit of cake won’t fix.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down on her rump. “I’ll make sure that I start sending you—urk!”

When the unicorn closed her eyes Celestia pounced, the alicorn hugging her while Luna bit back a chuckle. Sister always needs somepony to baby, Luna thought, using her magic to pull her sister off Twilight before the poor mare’s bones were broken. “Come sister, we must return to the castle; we have work to do.”

With a yank, Twilight hit the ground and scrambled away as Celestia sobbed.

“They grow up so fast,” Celestia moaned, letting Luna carry her away. “My nest is empty! I don’t have anypony else to baby anymore!”

“Thou still have Blueblood, sister.”

Celestia went on as if she hadn’t heard her. “I’m going to have to buy cats like some crazy mare so that they can keep me company!” She tried to swim toward a terror-stricken/highly amused Twilight. “I need somepony else to baby!”

“Thou art thousands of years old, Sister, please try to act like it,” Luna grunted as her sister grabbed a bench. Sweet Faust, this is like what happened when Cadence first moved out.

“Bye Princess Luna, goodbye Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, giving them a little wave. “Thanks for those notes, Princess Luna, I’ll make sure to send you my findings when I’m done!”

Luna gave the unicorn a smile as she marched through the cobblestone streets, ignoring ponies as they gawked at the sight of her carrying their ruler while she cried and moaned and muttered to herself like a crazy pony.

“Sister, please compose yourself for mother’s sake. This is becoming embarrassing.”

“I’m so lonely!”

@~~#$~~@

The first day on our train ride was a pretty normal one. The four of us got a few meals, I lost two hundred bits playing poker, and I got halfway through a trashy romance novel. Pretty much what happens every time I get on a train.

Luckily for us, since there weren’t that many ponies on our train, we were able to pretty much get our own bunk cab to sleep in, the ones with that one big curtain for your privacy, so that was pretty nice.

I yawned as I snuggled into the bed’s thin-ish mattress, pressing my back against Ares as he laid a hand over my stomach. “I can’t believe I lost all that money,” I muttered with a huff.

Ares started to scratch my belly while he chuckled. “Just because you didn’t see that she was cheating half the time and you’re a poker addict doesn’t mean you can complain, Candy,” he teased.

“I’m not an addict,” I growled, trying not to smile when he rolled me over and kissed my nose.

“Oh? Is that why you lost all of that money even though I told you that the bat was cheating ten minutes in?”

I narrowed my eyes and gently swatted him with a wing. “Be quiet,” I muttered, wrapping my hooves around his neck and pulling him closer.

“I guess I’m gonna have to make sure that Echo keeps those cards of hers in her armor,” my human mused while I grumbled good-naturedly. “We’re on this train for a while longer and I’m sure you still want to keep your crown and stuff.”

“I’ll make sure she burns them when we get back,” I joked, looking up while Ares looked way from me, his eyes slightly glazed.

“Ares, are you okay?” I asked after a moment.

He sighed and gave me a weak smile. “I’m just a bit worried about all of the snow we’ll have to go through before we get into that kingdom of yours,” he admitted, idly running his fingers through my mane. “I know that I went to the doctor for all of that stuff, but you never know.”

I rubbed his cheek with my hoof while I nuzzled the nape of his neck. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be alright,” I promised, leaning up and pecking him on the cheek.

The smile on his face turned genuine as we stared a look, my feathers fluttering as my human stroked my cheek, leaned down, and captured my lips with his own.

My eyes slowly closed as I leaned a little more into the kiss, using one of my wings to cup the back of Ares’ head, deepening it. I pressed my body closer against his, a small blush on my face as I poked his teeth with my tongue, quietly asking for entrance.

He felt soft, he smelt nice, and tonight, while the two of us were riding on a train that was probably in the middle of nowhere right now, I was going to finally properly make out with my coltfriend!

I felt Ares’ heartbeat increase, and he was trembling a little bit, as he slowly opened his mouth and let my tongue in. I opened an eye as I teased his tongue with my own, giggling quietly at my silly human, whose face had taken on this adorable shade of red, his eyes shut tightly in concentration while our tongues wrestled each other for dominance.

He put up a heck of a fight, but my tongue was longer and stronger, and I was able to beat his tongue down into submission so that it laid at the bottom of his mouth. With a little giggle, I played with it a little more before breaking the kiss, taking a deep breath, and diving right back in.

I slowly explored his mouth, my tongue traveling over every ridge, bump and imperfection. My eyes shot open when I felt the sharpness of one of his canines, and I couldn’t help but let out a little groan.

He could hurt me with these, I thought, almost savoring the odd thrill that shot through me. One little bite and… I growled aggressively, laying a wing over him as I closed my eyes again.

My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest as my body quickly heated up and trailed—

“You know the Private and I can hear you two going at it, right?” Ares and I froze as somepony knocked on the wooden frame that separated our beds. “Because we totally can.”

My face felt like it was going to combust when I heard the Sergeant chuckle in mirth. “Why don’t you two wait to do that when we’re all back home, hmm?” I could almost see her grin through the wood. “Unless the two of you are into doing it in public; I won’t judge and—”

Too embarrassed to take it anymore, I cast a dampening spell around my bed, silencing the Sergeant as Ares and I awkwardly looked into each other’s eyes.

Ew, he’s covered in my spit, I thought, disgusted and … filled with pride? What the hay is wrong with me?

Not that I wasn’t kinda proud that I had turned the usual confident and sauvé Ares into a red-faced, slightly sweaty, and just plain adorable-looking colt with just a simple kiss, because I was.

Actually, there might be something wrong with me, because that sounded weird.

Huh, my tongue’s still in his mouth, I thought before finally breaking the kiss, a train of saliva still connecting our mouths as we looked at each other.

“…”

“…”

I forced myself to say something first. “Are you alright, Ares?” I asked quietly, still feeling the pounding of his heart against my chest. I waved a hoof in front of his face when I saw that he wasn’t blinking. “Ares?”

I gently slapped his cheek. He just blinked in confusion. “What? How? Huh?” he muttered, while I had to force myself to keep from laughing.

“Are you okay, Ares?” I asked again, scrunching my face up a little bit when one of his hands reached up and tried to wipe his face clean. Ewwwww!

“Y-Yeah, I’m alright, Candy,” he quietly said, laying his head back down on his pillow. “That was just a bit,” He ran a hand through my mane while I tried to cool myself off by giving my wings a little flap. “Intense.”

I looked down and saw that we had messed up our bed sheets. “Well—”

“And you were growling.” His blush came back full-force. “And I think your tongue went all the way down my throat.”

Annnd I was rolling out of the bunk, landing on the hard wooden floor, with a pained yelp before giving myself a shake while I giggled in embarrasment. “I’m just going to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back!”

I tried to ignore the red-faced Flash, who was poking his head out from his curtain, trotted into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” I muttered looking at myself in the mirror. “Why did you have to mouth rape your coltfriend?!”

I ruffled my feathers again while I clenched my back legs. Groaning, I looked over at the shower. Deal with your human later, I thought with a grimace. Get yourself cooled off first.

It wasn’t a very big shower—it was on a train though; I was lucky that they even had one—so I kinda had to do a little wiggling to get into it and close the glass door. With another grunt, I turned on the faucet, making the water as cold as I could. I arched my back as the water hit it.

Ares kissing your neck, those sharp teeth of his nicking your fur while you moan.

A pang of lust rushed through me while I gasped in surprise, blushing. Stop it, I commanded myself, glaring up at the showerhead. “Why aren’t you cold enough?!” I demanded.

His fingers trailing down your stomach before they start to play with you—

I groaned quietly and rubbed my temples. “Come on, get a hold of yourself. You’re a princess, not some horny teenager!”

You screaming in lust as he thrusts into you and—]

I realized that my body was starting to really heat up again—at least a specific part of my body was—and knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the shower without relieving myself, I bit my lip and cast the damping spell all around the bathroom so no one could hear.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to clop in a shower on a train,” I muttered, leaning myself against the shower’s back wall while a hoof slowly inched downward. I tensed when my cold hoof gently touched my sex, another pang of lust making me groan quietly.

Let’s hurry up and get this over with, I thought, aggressively rubbing myself as I imagined Ares standing over me, naked. I let out another little squeak, my body tensing slightly as I rubbed myself a little harder. I closed my eyes, my knees becoming weak as I used my other foreleg to help steady myself.

I spread myself open a little bit and moaned when I touched my button. “T-There you a-are,” I gasped. My body curled inward as my moans and squeals of pleasure increased in volume. Almost…there…

I started panting, butterflies angrily flying around in my stomach as I climbed higher and higher. He’d pick you up while he rut you, slam you against the wall while he bit and kissed your neck. I finally sat down, leaning back against the wall of the shower. Biting my lip to keep from screaming as the water teased my sex, I attacked my button almost savagely.

“Oh yes,” I moaned, arching my neck as my eyes flew open.” OOOH~!” With a final moan, I came. Stars assaulted my vision as I rode out my orgasm, my body slumped to the shower’s acrylic floor while my tongue stuck sideways out of my mouth.

“Bucking … awesome” I panted, with a stupid look on my face, getting ready to will myself back to my hooves.

Fifteen minutes later…

I awkwardly made my way back toward my bed after cleaning and drying myself off, a little smile on my face as I poked my head through the curtain to see Ares wide-awake. He looked back at me with a small blush still on his face.

Still in my afterglow, I hopped into the bed and laid my head next to Ares’, not breaking eye-contact as I tried to figure out what to say. “Um, Ares, I’m—”

I squeaked a little bit when he reached over and pulled me against his chest before leaning down and kissing me on the lips. “I didn’t know ponies had tongues like that,” he said with a small smile while I looked up at him stupidly.

“Yours is really kinda small,” I blurted out while he started to play with my wings, “and it’s a lot softer,” I looked away from him before going on, “and those sharp teeth you have felt weird; not in a bad way, but they felt weird.”

He kissed my nose. “Well, thank you, Candy,” he said in amusement, apparently back to his normal self. “I don’t think I’ve ever been told how soft my tongue is.”

I pushed him gently with a snort before looking back into his eyes. “So you’re not mad that I got a little aggressive?”

He kissed my nose again and rolled his eyes. “Fuck no. In fact, I’m fine with it,” He patted my side while I wiggled closer to him. “I was just getting my head around a pony French kiss; I’m sorry that you thought I was freaking out,” he apologized.

I rolled over and pressed my back against his chest. “Well, we’ll have to do it again then, huh?” I said, giving my rump a little wiggle, pausing when I felt something prod my backside.

“Ares is that—”

A hand clamped over my mouth. “Shush, just ignore it,” my human said quietly. “If you ignore it it’ll go away and it makes this a hell of a lot less awkward.”

Not able to help myself, I looked over my shoulder at him with a giggle. “Was I that good of a kisser?”

“Yes,” he admitted, “and I couldn’t go to the bathroom to ‘cool’ off like you, so the two of us are just going to have to deal with this until it goes away.”

I blinked before turning around, resisting the urge to curl up in embarrassment. “Touché.”

“Dammit, Candy, just go to sleep.”

“You two know that that spell of yours wore off like five minutes ago, right?”

“… Go to sleep, bat horse.”

@~~$$~~@

It’s an awkward breakfast when you’re sitting with two other ponies that know you were furiously making out with you coltfriend right next to them the night before, but I was doing the best that I could with the situation, namely I kept my gaze glued to my plate and didn’t say anything.

I was picking at my pancakes, still not looking at anypony, when I heard Ares say, “Candy, could you please pass me the syrup?”

Echo snorted, her golden eyes sparkling in amusement. “That’s not the only thing I’m sure you two passed.” She nudged Flash while I tried to make myself as small as possible in my chair. It felt like I was a little filly again and I was getting teased about my first kiss.

Ares snorted, looking back down at his food. “Piss off bat,” he muttered while the mare laughed.

“Aw come on, we’re all adults here,” she said, poking at my human with a wing. “I’m sure the Private here has done more than that with his fillyfriend. Isn’t that right, son?”

Flash looked away from her, mumbling nonsense as he blushed. Echo looked at each of us, her smile diminishing slightly. “Wow, tough crowd,” she muttered, leaning forward while her face became serious. “If any of you need the ‘talk’ about the birds and the bees then—”

I snorted when Ares smacked her right in the face with a pancake. He looked over at her smugly as it slowly fell off her flabbergasted face. “Talk shit, get hit, bat horse,” he said, looking back down at his meal. “We’re getting back to the Empire after today, right Candy?” he asked while Echo got out of her seat, muttering something about washing her face.

I nodded, leaning over and kissing his cheek for stopping that awkward situation before it could get any worse. “Yeah, and don’t be surprised if we get a really warm welcome.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

I finally passed him his syrup. “I guess everypony got really excited when they heard that you were coming back.” I looked over at him. “One of the nobles sent me a letter telling me that they were going to have a massive party when we got back.”

Ares grinned while he cut his food. “Let’s hope that they don’t have it until tomorrow, the two of us are probably going to be tired as all hell when we get there.”

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “It’s going to be tomorrow,” I looked away from him nervously, “but Doctor Stitch will be at the edge of the barrier when we get there.” I looked up at him with a weak smile. “In case anything happens.”

The smile on my human’s face slowly faded away as he looked down at the table. “In case I go and lose it again,” he somberly corrected.

I reached over with a wing and touched his shoulder. “I’ll be there with you all the way,” I said encouragingly while Flash nodded.

“Yeah, and I’ll be ready to carry you to the doctor if you need it,” the stallion said, flexing his muscles with a silly look on his face. “I’ll be able to get you through that storm faster than you can say rain cloud.”

I smiled at Ares, touching his cheek with my wing. “But you won’t need our help,” I said, “you’ll get through that tundra just fine.”

He smiled before looking at the two of us. “Thanks guys,” he said quietly, “you really make a guy feel looked after.”

I nodded. “I can’t let my coltfriend pass out in the middle of all of that cold now, can I?”

“And I can’t let my best friend have a heart attack,” Flash added. “He still has so much to live for.” He gave Ares a slightly nasty smile. “Like making-out with his fillyfriend for one, and—thmp!”

“Good shot, Honey,” I complimented calmly, watching as my guard tried to get a shoe out of his mouth. “I didn’t even know you were taking it off until the last second.”

Ares gave my wingtip a little kiss before he went back to eating. “Some guys have great athletic gifts, Candy, and I guess I got the rare shoe-throwing gift.”

We watched as Flash fell to the ground with a little thud before spitting the shoe out of his mouth.

“I’m sure that usually it’s a stupid gift, but here, it has actually worked to my benefit.”

@#$~~$#@

It took the four of us almost half an hour to get ready to go into the tundra. We had to make sure that Ares was bundled up nice and tight, I convinced flash and Echo not to bring any of our bags so they could fly Ares to the doctor if he needed it, and I made sure to put myself in the best position to help him if he needed it.

“Are you sure that you don’t need a coat, Candy?” Ares asked me while I awkwardly climbed onto his back. “Don’t want you catching a cold or anything.”

I smiled, wrapping my hooves around his neck as I hoisted myself upward, careful to keep myself balanced so Ares could walk easier.

I had a simple plan: Ares was strong enough to carry me around even in the snow, so I’d let him carry me on his back so I could use my wings and my body to keep him warm all the while just talking to him to keep his mind off it. Sure it probably wasn’t the best plan, but I thought it was pretty clever at the time.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, nuzzling my cheek. “Alicorns deal with the cold better than most.” I used his hips for support as I wrapped my hind-legs around them. “What about you? Am I too heavy? Am I holding on too tight? Am I—”

He patted my rump with a chuckle before he looped his arms around my legs, trying to keep up his whole tough guy act even though I could feel one of his hands shaking slightly. “Calm down, Candy. Like you said, everything’s going to be fine.”

I adjusted the hat on his head, making sure that it was covering his ears while I tried to keep myself calm. “Are those gloves warm enough? Do you want another pair of socks to put on?”

My human rolled his shoulders, shifting from one leg to the other. “I’ll be fine,” he repeated, “and I bet you look adorable right now.” He slowly made his way toward the open door, shivering even with everything that he was wearing as the cold air hit him.

“I need to give you piggyback rides more often. I mean, you weigh less than some kids I knew.” I wrapped my wings around him—not enough to confine his movement but enough to keep most of the wind from getting to him as he made his way outside.

“Yep, you could get on my back while I ran around the castle—” I knew he was rambling, and I’m sure he knew he was rambling, but I let him do it; whatever he needed to do to keep his mind off the cold was fine by me.

I placed my head on his shoulder, putting my hooves through the collar of his coat to try to warm him up a bit more with my body heat. “Just keep going Ares,” I murmured, seeing Flash and Echo out of the corner of my eye. “We only have a few hundred feet left. You’re doing great.”

My grip tightened on him when I felt his rapidly beating heart thumping in his chest. Please don’t stop, I pleaded. If he stops then he might have a panic attack an—

“You know, this isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Ares commented, breaking me out of my stupor. “Sure, it’s a lot colder than I would have liked, but it’s really not that bad.” He stopped and looked around the icy wasteland.

“In fact, it actually looks kinda pretty.”

Flash nudged him with a smile—a smile that I’m sure was just as big and relieved as mine and Echo’s—and said, “Come on, Ares, we need to get to the barrier.”

Ares nodded slowly. “Thanks, Candy,” he said over the winds, which didn’t seem as loud anymore. “I’m sure you’re the one keeping me from just losing it.” I kissed his cheek before nuzzling the nape of his neck. “So thanks. Really.”

“No need to thank me, Ares,” I whispered in his ear as we neared the barrier. “You can carry me like this any time you want.”

The two of us chuckled as we made our way through the barrier, Ares shaking the snow off of his head with a little shake. “Alright, Candy,” he said, squatting down. “Let’s get you down so the two of us can show the doc that I’m not dead.”

With a smile, I slid off his back and quickly stood by his side while he stood back up with a grunt.” Alright, let’s just—” I blinked when Ares was tackled to the ground by an orange blur.

“He’s pale; nurse, get the adrenaline! He’s going into shock! No, nevermind, get the defibrillator! His heart might have just stopped! Just bring them both over here, we’ll use ‘em both.”

Ares looked up at a frantic and stressed out-looking Doctor Stitch, who was hopping up and down on his chest, before protesting loudly “Doc, get off!”

The nurse quickly trotted over, a shot in her mouth and a little machine on her back. My mind tried to process what was happening as the doctor took the syringe, grabbed the cap that protected the needle with her mouth and spat it to the ground, and lifted it over her head.

“Don’t worry, Monkey, I’ll fix you right up!”

I looked over at Echo, who was calmly watching the scene before her while she took a bite out of a mango. “That’s right, Doc,” she said, while Ares tried to wrench the adrenaline out of the doctor’s hooves. “You give him that shot; make sure to get him in the heart.”

“FUCK YOU, BAT HORSE!!!”