And so the trip continued. Lyler would storm from aisle to aisle, harassing pony after pony until finally you've reached the final aisle of the store. Frozen food.

You take a deep breath and push the Lyler carriage, dubbed the "LEEMURZEEN" by Lyler herself, and follow Lyra down the aisle.

"Alright," said the responsible older sister. "Last thing, then we're done. Just need to get some Chicken Tenders and-"

"CHICK TENDIES!?!"

Across the store you here an echo from another challenged horse, and quickly cover Lyler's ears to prevent a shouting contest. You don't want a repeat of the last aisle where Rainbom and Lyler screamed at each other like dogs in a neighborhood for 10 minutes.

"Yes," you say in exasperation. "It's the last thing, then I can go home and practice my rope tying skills to make a noose."

"SILLEY ANERN, MAKING KNOTS WONT PUT YOU ON THE TELEVISION!"

"Yeah, but it'll put me out of my fucking misery."

"Oh, stop your whining," Lyra says. "The only thing that's been painful about this grocery trip is how long it's taken. I swear I should have just come myself."

"Sounds like your sex life," you mutter.

"UP TOP!" Lyler screams lifting a hoof. You quickly bump it with pride.

"Yeah, and this grocery trip is like yours. Long, boring and a waste of time," Lyra shoots back.

Lyler laughs at the top of her lungs as you growl under your breath in frustration. After a moment, Lyra stops in the aisle, then turns to her sister.

"Alright Lyler, your cue. Pick out the tendies you want."

Lyler somersaults out of the cart in the most awkward, painful looking way possible, then crawls to the freezer door. She opens it up and tries to climb the shelves like a ladder, but falls backward onto her back.

"No Lyler," Lyra says. "Remember. We have to practice our magic if we want tendies."

"Oh shit, this is gonna be good," you say, leaning on the cart.

Lyler rises to her hooves and takes a deep breath. She closes her eyes and her horn begins to glow a gentle seafoam green. She lifts an eye-lid and focuses on one of the bags of tenders on the top shelf. A shaky, dim light appears around the edge of one of the bags, and it lifts into the air slowly.

"That's good," Lyra says happily. "Can you put it in the cart?"

Lyler hums quietly then slowly turns her head, the bag moving with it. A bead of sweat runs down her forehead as her cheeks begin to turn a light shade of purple. Her teeth grind as the bag moves slowly towards the shopping cart. Then, she exhales, and the bag begins to fall to the ground.

It's quickly caught by her big sister’s outstretched hoof.

"Really good, Lyler! You did even better than last time."

You open your eyes in amazement. To your shock, nobody is dead. In fact, you looked up and down the aisle, and there wasn't even scorch marks. You didn't think Lyler could use magic. Let alone do something like this. You stop to look at the mare and you notice something off about her. She doesn't have her signature smile and 'blepped out' tongue. She looks almost... crestfallen. She remains silent as Lyra places a hoof around her sister's back.

"Hey, you'll get it next time! Magic is really, really hard stuff. And I'm so, so proud of how far you've come lately," Lyra says.

A smile begins to form on the younger sister's face as she looks to her older sister. Her ears begin to perk up once more and she holds her head higher.

"ONE DAY! IMMA MAKE TENDIES GO SWIISSSSHHHH!"

"Yeah," Lyra says happily. "And I'll say 'Two Points!'"

Lyler looks to you with a smile.

"TWO POINTS?!"

You feel... a sudden jab in your chest as the mare looks toward you for affirmation. You open your mouth, but nothing exits right away. A new wave of concern crosses over you. Lyler has a problem. That's for sure. But not just in the joking sense. Sure she's kinda demented and makes terrible jokes and has no sense of pain, but she has a serious disability. Is it right to give her this sort of encouragement? Who knows... Magic is a power of mental strength... you think. She might never have the power to do this sort of thing. Is it the right thing to encourage her to accomplish something that might not even be physically possible for her?

But she looks to you, hoping, a smile on her face, and you feel... a fragility in front of you.

"Yeah," you say. "Two points."

You bite your lip as you see Lyler return to her normal form, and hops back into the 'LEEMURZEEN'.

The three of you make your way to the checkouts, where Lyra had a million fucking coupons and you wanted to gouge your eyes out. Take the groceries to the Heartstrings home, and get politely dismissed by Lyra. Lyler stands at the door as you walk towards the front door of their home.

"I HAD FUN DAY ANERN! TWO POOOINTS!"

You pause, hand on the doorknob as the mare gazes up at you.

"Yeah," you say gently. "It was a good day."

You remove your hand from the knob and instead ruffle the mare's mane up even to an even more wild state than usual.

"We're gonna get you those two points, bud."

"I POOPED ON THE PORCH," she proclaims to the hallway.

You pause, feeling the moment quickly fade away. You open the front door, and sure enough, there is a pile of fresh, brown, steaming droppings right on the front porch.

"You know what? Never mind. Fuck this," you say, before stepping around the pile of shit and closing the door behind you, marking an end for your Tendie Quest.

And so, that day you learned a valuable lesson. Perhaps, what makes a Tendie Quest special isn't the delicious, crispy, morsels that arrive at the end, nor the piles of shit you step around along the way, but it's the journey. And that feeling of satisfaction will live on, and will never... ten-die.

Author's Notes:

Something Something, thought I would write a lot more of this. Didn't go as planned. Blah blah blah. Not enough time to write.