“Ok, let's see…” She sticks her tongue out the side of her mouth a little bit as she works. Finally, she smiles. “Blankets, sleeping bag, ground sheet. I have my camp stove, propane tanks for emergencies, my tent.” The little unicorn looks up at the camera, her smile widening. “Remember, in emergency situations, treat two as one and one as none. What that means is, make sure you have backups of everything, backup heat sources, backup shelters, backup fire starters.”

Loading the last of her edible food into the cargo sleigh, she looks at her shelves and sighs, “I probably have three months’ worth of meat here, but I just can’t make use of it, not even the canned stuff. So I’m stuck with what grains, and such I have here. I’ll need to scavenge along the way.”

Turning, she sits down in front of the camera, “Okay, this will be my last recording from here, for the last day or two I’ve been trying out my hooves on the snow. For my size, they seem to have as much as four times the surface area of a deer or horses’ hoof of the same sized animal. What this means is I have a lower ground pressure rating for my weight.”

“I figure I can be near the Hay river in two days, which means sleeping out on the lake overnight. I have coal and wood packed for this, I’ll use the wood first, since I can replace that. This is going to be a real learning experience because, I don’t know how far I can really cover per day. I don’t know how cold I will get, or worse, if I’ll overheat.”

Turning back to the sleigh the little unicorn proceeds to wrap the cover up and lash it down with her hooves, her horn glowing as she works. Once secured she puts on and adjusts a pair of snow goggles she had managed to rig up, then pulls a cloak around her. “Well, here we go, day one of the trip.”

Reaching up, she turns off the camera before attaching it to the inside of her cloak. Strapping herself into the harness she opens the door and takes one last deep breath before stepping outside and pulling the sleigh out onto the deck. Looking back, she closes the door to her houseboat and heads down the ramp onto the ice. The wind blowing at her cloak doesn’t seem so bad. For some reason the cold simply doesn’t bother her as much as she thought it would.

***

The XO stands at the medical bay door and looks on sternly, “I don’t like this, one sailor down, ships doctor and network specialist both occupied trying to deal with this.”

Using a damp cloth, Irma softly rubs Eddy’s forehead and cheeks. “He’s going through a lot sir, just give him time.”

“I don’t know if time is something we have right now,” The XO growls, “I don’t want to hear a peep from him.”

Ed lets out a soft moan, looking up at the ceiling, before turning his head to look at Irma. His hair already a soft and fully changed three-color mane of light blue, green and yellow. His legs are strapped to the bed but already having the hooves and greenish grey fur covered right up the leg to the cutie mark.

Crossing her arms and leaning forward, Irma moves her head close to Ed’s, “It’s fine, I’m here. Relax.”

Ed groans softly, “Ugg I feel like I was kicked in the groin, and my belly itches.”

“Your fur is coming in, and as to being kicked, the doctor cath’ed you, to be safe.” Irma responds. Then she giggles. “No, I didn’t watch.”

Shaking his head, Ed chuckles, “And of course being strapped down I can’t scratch or adjust the blankets so it’s not bugging me when I breath.”

Nodding Irma shakes her head, “XO’s orders. Trust me to do it?”

“Sure, just avoid any horse jokes please.” Ed says as he does his best to stretch a little, before whimpering, “No, not good, that made the itching worse.”

Lifting the side of the blanket, Irma adjusted the sheets a bit before blinking, “Umm, Doc, how hard did you push the cath in?”

“Wha? Huh?” Standing up the doctor walked over to lift up the blankets himself. Squishing his mouth off to one side he blinks.

Sighing, Ed relaxes a bit, “Okay, not itching now.”

“Oh no,” Irma says softly.

“I’ll get the tranquilizer,” The doctor says, turning and heading over to the cupboard, “I swear we could start running low on this stuff.”

“What’s wrong?” Ed rumbles.

Irma smiles and shakes her head, “Nothing, nothing at all, just part of the change, everything’s normal.” Carefully she puts the gag back in his mouth while the doctor readies the needle. Stroking Ed’s mane gently, she smiles soothingly, “It’s fine, the sheets were just rubbing against your udders and irritating them.”

Ed nodded one with a soft, “Mhhhf.” Relaxing as he feels the needle poke into his arm. Nothing to worry about. Just his… Blinking, he lifts his head looking down at his belly going wide eyed for a moment before the tranquilizer kicks in fully.

***

Her hooves hit the ground hard as she skidded sideways, kicking up dust. Her turquoise wings pumping a last few times to help with the braking. As she glances behind her she could see the trail of stars and yellow fading behind her. With a firm nod, she turns, sticking her nose into the air, “And that’s why pegasi are better than dragons.”

Thestrals, Zebra, and even ponies were out around the town working. Some tending farms, others building shelters, there is even a small marketplace with different goods for sale. Slowly, Dust walks down the street, the entire place has the feel of a shanty town. The buildings are all mismatched, the streets are little more than paths in the dirt, even the houses don’t look like they have actual floors.

Stopping quickly, Dust looks down, seeing a zebra foal sitting, looking up at her. The foal is about the size of Apple Bloom, maybe a little smaller, which made him… Dust blinked, having no idea how to judge ponies age by size let alone a zebra. “Umm hello.”

Slowly the zebra blinks and tilts its head to one side.

“Great, you don’t speak English. What… Wait!” Closing her eyes for a moment Dust takes a breath, “How about Eponese? Do you understand Eponese?”

The Zebra foal tilts its head the other way and blinks again, slowly.

Looking around Dust sighs, “Great, how do I talk to these… Ugg, what do even call a group of non-pony Equestrians?”

Strepe let out a soft giggle, “Friends works.”

“Thank the Lord, you do speak eponese.” Dust says and starts looking around quickly, “I was told one of the princesses was here.”

“Oye, you get one princess show up and suddenly everyone wants to visit your valley.” Strepe says as he stands up.

“I’m here to help her,” Dust says and huffs, “I can help you too.”

“Help with what?” Strepe asks, confusion on his face.

Looking around, Dust tries to think of how to be diplomatic about it, “Umm maybe with building supplies, components?”

“We have tons of supplies, stuff is scavenged from all over the place, we repurpose most of what we need.” Strepe says, smiling proudly.

“Let me guess,” A female thestral says as she lands, “The place looks a little run down compared to where you’re from.”

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” Dust says, scuffing a hoof lightly.

“Trust me, compared to Griffinstone, this place is Canterlot.” She said with a laugh, “I’m Nightshade. So, we have another Wonderbolt showing up, we are getting busy.”

“Told you we should have built the Hotel!” Strepe says, bouncing on the spot a bit.

“Another Wonderbolt?” Dust blinks and focuses on Nightshade, “What do you mean another?”

“Oh, Spitfire’s here, she’s escorting the princess,” Nightshade says, swishing her tail a little as she glances over watching some working zebras raising a wall.

“So, she’s handling security for this place?” Dust asks as she watches the working zebra as well.

“Oh no, Kara handles security, Spitfire’s just escorting the princess,” Nightshade says, then blinks, covering her face with a wing and cringing.

“Who’s… Kara?” Dust started to ask as it got very dark, very quickly. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the massive form of the dragon back winging and kicking up a massive cloud of dust before hitting the ground. The force of the impact lifts Dust straight off the ground a good foot before she feels the earth under her hooves again.

Bounding between the two the little Zebra looks up, “Dust, Kara… Kara, Dust, Kara’s our protector.”

Dusts face and mane droops, her color fading slightly, her eyes dilating in fear as her ears droop. She thought the dragon was big before, but now, it was right there. And right now, Dust wishes she was someplace else.

***

“Her name's Vanessa Woodrow,” Feather said, sitting down by Cloudy’s bed. “She’s twenty-seven.”

“So, too old to change, and no cutie mark?” Candy asks looking at the notes.

“Nope, she’s been a nurse here since she graduated,” Feather goes on. “Don’t know if she’s a pony fan either but from what other staff said she took to the ponies right away. Treating them like, well… people, she feels comfortable with them.”

“But ponies make her so sad?” Cloudy says softly.

“We need to talk to her,” Feather said, “See what’s wrong.”

“We need to help her,” Cloudy adds, nodding.

“We need a psychologist’s degree,” Candy states with a sigh.

“Hay, since when did that EVER stop the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Feather puts her hoof down firmly.

“Point.” Both Candy and Cloudy say in stereo.

“Well I guess I’ll go see to her,” Feather says as she stands up, “Find out what I can learn.”

Working her way out of bed, Cloudy groans, “Come on legs, work.”

“What are you doing?” Candy squeaks in shock, “You need to stay in bed.”

“Nuh uh, I’m still a Crusader, and this is a Crusader call.” Thumping down on the floor, Cloudy wobbles a bit, “As soon as the room stops spinning, we are going.”

“Cloudy!” Feather says firmly.

Standing up defiantly, Cloudy starts for the door.

“Celestia, are you sure you’re not Ah-Pee’s foal? You’re as stubborn as an Apple,” Candy says, shaking her head.

“And you’re my twin so what’s that say about you,” Cloudy says, sticking out her tongue.

***

Walking into the meeting room, Dust looks around. The haul is hardly more than wattle and daub construction, the building itself is a simple one-story building, with a long central room, that doubles as a classroom. A simple white plaster had been applied to the inner walls with some basic paints used to try and brighten up the place. The floor, though, is still dirt. A pair of doors lead to other rooms at the end of the hall.

“Dust! You old warhorse, is that you?”

Blinking, Lightning Dust stops in her tracks, looking as the yellow mare with orange mane and tail trots in, flanked by a pair of griffins. “Spitfire? I heard you were here but I’m still shocked.”

“Yep, here helping out a bit, dropping off some aid packages for the ponies here.” Spitfire said, “Private donations. Still draggin’ your tail around?”

“Still breaking your speed records, and if I’m an old warhorse, what’s that make you?” Dust chuckles as she trots up to hug Spitfire.

Hugging back Spitfire laughs, “So what brings you here?”

“I heard one of the princesses was here, I’ve started a community back home and I wanted to invite her.” Dust says stepping back.

“Well isn’t that convenient,” the brown griffin huffs.

With a glance to her side Spitfire shakes her head, “Dust, this is Naomi and Galina.”

Taking a step back Dust tilts her head, “Convenient? What do you mean by that?”

“First the Princess gets attacked, then US Marines show up to offer help and,” standing on her hind legs she makes air quotes with her claws, “Protection, now you show up a day later to swoop in and take her away?”

“No, well not really, I came to offer her a place back home. Where its safe.” Dust says, fluffing her wings somewhat uncomfortably.

“Just go away.” Cadance called out from the other room.

Blinking, Dust looks at Spitfire, then at the door, “Princess? I’m Lightening Dust, won’t you at least come out and talk?”

“Or what? You’ll kill me like you did Frost and his friend in Belarus?” Cadence replies, sounding heartbroken.

“Look, Princess. I've not had the easiest time with humans since we've changed back. You do not want to know everything that happened to me in South America.” Dust said putting a hoof down and shaking her head, “But we have agreements with the US government. They leave the ponies alone, we had to leverage a bit to get the ponies into our home. But we have a farm, several sections, and it's a great place to build, to make a home, to make a life on this world.”

“You had it hard? I was held in a US Lab, tortured, given drugs, abused. All in the name of science,” Her voice cracks as she starts to cry, “And we heard about your agreement with the Americans, giving them information on ponies so other countries could hunt them down.”

Blinking, Dust takes a step back, “Wait a moment, hunt them down?”

Spitfire nods slowly, “Yeah, the information was used to hunt down ponies in the UK, France, and Germany. The US even set up concentration camps in Hawaii for ponies.”

“We provided the information in trade so we could set things up, help get ponies released. In the name of science. I myself was subject to many tests by the humans. I probably gave half my body weight in blood. Enough x-rays and CT scans to last my entire life.” Dust says, shaking her head firmly. “I don’t know about concentration camps, and I’ll have some words with ponies in the US government about that. We are people, just differently shaped from the humans. Most humans understand this.”

“And the government shared that information with other countries,” Cadance calls out, “NATO members, and allies, even countries like Saudi Arabia.”

Dust sighs, shaking her head. “We have no control over what they do with the information.”

“No control, no control, don’t talk to me about no control. My husband who swore to protect me forever left me, I was abandoned by other ponies, the only ones that even worried about me are Spike and Spitfire…” Candance says, crying.

***

Walking into the crude building, I take a deep breath and look up at Henry. Nosing him gently, I nod once to him. Thank Celestia she was nearly using the Royal Canterlot voice, I could hear her everything she said clearly outside. Turning to her I shook my head, “You’re wrong, you still have family.” Turning my head look pointedly at Dust. “And the situation in Hawaii was simply a misunderstanding. With the help of some local ponies, and some humans that remembered the Japanese internment camps, they are doing fine now.” The look on Dust’s face as she recognizes what I’m saying widens my smile.

Sighing softly, I look at the pink alicorn and I lower my head, “I know everything’s changed, I know about my son, but that doesn’t change us. You are still my daughter in law, still my daughter’s sister in law and best babysitter ever. Nothing will change your place in my heart.”

Cadence slowly pokes her head out from the back room blinking, “Mom?”

Smiling, I trot up and give her a gentle hug, as I wrap my forelegs around her neck, “Yep, It’s really me.”

Smiling Henry watches, reaching down to softly scratch Dust behind an ear.

“Don’t touch me,” Dust yells swinging her wing back hitting Henry with an electric shock.

With a yelp Henry backs off, “Sorry ma’am.” Rubbing his arm painfully he looks back to me, “Yeah, I think I’ll be outside.”

Narrowing her eyes, she watches Henry walk out, fluffing then folding her wings again, tail flicking in agitation. “To be honest, I’ve had enough of humans for a long time.” Dust grumbles.

“Sure thing Henry, remember, if they get uppity just show them your cutie mark,” I say with a smile.

Grumbling Henry shakes his head as he leaves, “I’m not dropping my pants for every pony I meet!”

“Cutie mark?” Cadence blinks looking at Henry as the door closes behind the human.

Snapping her head back to me Dust blinks, as I laugh softly, “Oh yeah, he earned his cutie mark in Equestria during the fight for its liberation. Makes him a pony in my books.”

“But he’s a soldier,” Cadence complains.

“Medic actually,” I counter. “Of course I’m a soldier too. US Army Ranger.”

Backing up Cadence looks at me sternly, “Why? Mom why would you,” She stops as a put my hoof over her nose and mouth.

“Well, I was before my change, and it kinda lets me travel the world helping ponies.” Shaking my head, I look at Dust, “Actually that’s sort of a lie, I end up spending most of my time running a school to help military personnel who change, adapt and adjust to being ponies. Especially using magic for unicorns.”

“Back to being a teacher?” Cadance says, nodding slowly, “Where’s Night Light?”

“He…. He and I kinda had a falling out," I say with a huff, "That sorta devolved into him kidnapping foals I’m looking after, attempted murder, siding with terrorists, and some other bad stuff.” I look down, “We, just weren’t meant for each other. On the flip side, I found Rainbow Blaze. We kinda became a couple.”

“So you’re okay with Velvet being military?” Dust asks walking up beside me.

“Ok with it, no, Ok with her, she’s family.” Cadence nods, “But I’m not some pawn, please don’t tell me you’re here to take me back to the USA too.”

“Nope, military doesn’t really give us solid orders when they send us out to deal with or rescue ponies,” I say, “So all too often I just go with my gut and see what works best for everypony. We did bring rations and such just to give the community a bit of diversity and a safety net if they need it. The MRE-P’s are shelf stable for a year or two.”

“MRE, umm P?” Dust says looking confused.

“Meals Ready to Eat, Pony. They are rations that are healthy options for pony and include some things like alfalfa that humans can’t digest well.” Smiling, “Oat cakes, Jams, veggie and rice meals. With all the vitamins and nutrients, such that it could almost be classified as real food. ”

“So what’s with all the military then?” Spitfire asks looking sternly at me.

“A drone eating dragon has some two-leggers worried,” Sitting down I smile, “She’s doing a great job of protecting the area though. Really though, I don’t mind if you stay here, return to Russia, or come home with me. Where ever you feel safest at, where ever you feel at home.”

“I… I had a bad time in the USA,” Cadence said backing up a bit and sitting down herself

A little pony filly slides into the hall singing out, "Sisi Ni Sawa!"

The zebra foal, Strep follows behind prancing as he sings, "Sisi Ni Sawa means we are the same."

The filly stands up and prances beside Strep, pointing a hoof at him in a sweeping gesture across his body, "Though you've got your stripes." Giving her head a shake, she fluffs out her mane, "And I've got a mane."

Holding his head high, Strep smiles, "At the end of the day it’s like water and rain."

Leaning against each other the two sing out in harmony, "Sisi Ni Sawa we are the same!"

Slowly I turn my head to look at Dust and Cadence in shock. The foals turn and bound back to the door stopping, their tails wiggling a mile a minute. Kneeling down, the Lt hands each of them a candy bar before giving them a ruffle on the head, sending them off.

Covering my face with my hoof I groan, "You bribed foals with candy to do a song and dance number on us, didn't you?"

“Sometimes it helps to calm things down a bit,” James says with a firm nod.

Looking back to Cadence I huff, “I’m also going to need a babysitter.”

“I don’t think I do that anymore. Sides how old are your foals?”

“Not born yet,” Lifting a hoof to show off my belly a little I smile, “Still have a few months to go.

Blinking Dust and Cadence look at me and say in stereo , “You’re pregnant?”

***

“I hate being pregnant!”

Fleur looks up from her pillow pile, a magazine between her forelegs as Fleetfoot trots in shaking her wings out. With a soft laugh the unicorn shakes her head, “That bad huh?”

“I’m always hungry, I feel like I want to sleep 12 hours a day or more,” Trotting over the pegasus lays down on some pillows.

“So, you feel like an average pegasus…” Fleur giggles out, then ducks her head to avoid the wing swat.
“That’s racist!”

“Actually, technically its tribalist . You know, I’m fine here if you want to go to the hotel,” Looking up at the clock Fleur smiles, “it’s pretty quiet here anyway, the nurses are taking good care of Cloudy.”

“I know, but with Night Light out there on the loose, I’d kind of like to stick around. Foals can be a hoof full at times.”

Blinking, Fleur lifts her head in shock, “You’ve had other foals?”

“Me? Oh heck no. I watched the show.” Shaking her head, “With foals like Snips and Snails I’m surprised Ponyville is still standing.”

Fleur shakes her head, “You know that’s not fair, that’s mostly done for comedy sake.”

“We think.” Shaking her head, Fleetfoot huffs, “You never know though.”

“At least the waiting room is nice, and they have free Wi-Fi” Fleur says, motioning around the room with her horn, “So Cypher will be content.”

“Cypher's coming down?” Fleetfoot shakes her head, “Be nice to see her in… in… I want to say person, but I swear, it almost came out ponyson.”

Laughing Fleur shook her head, “No, not everything gets pony in it, were not smurfs.”

“That’s ponytastic,” Fleetfoot said, eyes wide and nodding slowly. “Ugg, actually I’m hungry again.”

“We’ve got a vending machine with candy, and some sandwiches I wouldn’t trust, a pop and juice machine, and a coffee machine. Past that it’s the cafeteria on the first floor.” Fleur says.

Groaning Fleetfoot taps the machine with a hoof, “They don’t even have alfalfa in there. And I don’t wanna walk all the way down to the café.” Sitting down with a thump, Fleetfoot just looks at the machine, an audible grumble from her stomach.

“Ok, ok, I can take the hint, I’ll go down and get some food.” Standing up Fleur smiles, “So what do you want?”

“Maybe some ice cream, and some fish, sardines sound great right now, oh and chocolate sprinkles.”

“Wait, you want the fish… ON the ice cream or separate?” Fleur asks, turning a shade of teal usually reserved for certain pegasi.

“I… umm… whatever works.” Fleetfoot says with a firm nod.

Drooping her tail Fleur sticks her tongue out, “Ugg.”

Poking her head in an older nurse looked around the room for a moment before looking at the two ponies, “Umm excuse me.”

Turning her head from the vending machine, Fleetfoot looks up, “Yes?”

“You’re with those three foals correct?” The nurse asks almost meekly.

Blinking Fleur trots up, “Is something wrong?”

“Well, no, not really, I guess… I’m just wondering, have you… seen them around?” The nurse asks before gulping.

“You lost the foals!” Fleetfoot squeaks.

***

The farmlands had been broken up into irregular sized plots of land, a patch work jigsaw puzzle of pieces separated by hedge rows, drainage ditches, and fences. Small paths and ramps lead between the rows to allow access, yet there seemed to be little rhyme nor reason to the layout or placement.

Some farm plots are totally encircled and hidden by others, while other plots run level with the main road. What’s more, there is no centralized farmhouse or easy way to tell which farm plot belongs to any person.

The endless sea of green and brown is only broken by a little yellow muzzle poking out of some bushes, followed a moment later by a purple muzzle.

“Anything good?” Sweet Pops asks curiously.

Sunny shakes her head slowly, “Not good, not bad either, just coffee again.”

Sweet turns her head to look at the other foal, “How’s that not bad?”

“Simple, It’s not cocaine fields. I’m terrified of finding one of those, cuz the people around them tend to be the opposite of friendly.” Sunny says and sighs, looking at the shrubs.

“Not edible?” Sweet says, inching towards one.

“I really wouldn’t try it, I know its toxic to horses, and while ponies seem to drink coffee, I think it might be chicory and not actual coffee.” Sunny says, “And, since I don’t want to end up in a vet office getting my stomach pumped. I’m not risking it.”

“Move it, you dumb mule!”

Almost jumping out of their fur, both girls look at each other, then around, blinking. Walking down one of the plant rows, the two could see a small two-tone light and dark brown mule pulling a wagon. A young girl wearing a pair of loose white shorts, and a cream green shirt, walks slowly, picking up sticks and putting them into a small cart.

“Come on, slowpoke,” The girl says, giving the reins a tug as the mule walks forward a few steps before stopping again. When it does, the girl goes about getting more sticks and debris from the ground and loading it into the little cart.

Giggling, Sweet Pops points at the mule, “Okay, I know its about the same size as Full Steam, but look at its flank.”

Blinking Sunny pokes Sweet, “Always looking at boys flanks huh,” Glancing over she tilts her head then covers her muzzle giggling, “Aww, too cute.”

Over the mule’s flank is a cloth, held in place by the harness straps. Emblazoned on it is a crudely drawn or painted red heart, with a wagon cart over it, a faux cutie mark of sorts.

“I swear, sometimes I wish you could talk, or at least understand me,” The girl says, hands on her hips looking at the mule who’s got his muzzle buried in some grass. “And keep this up and I won’t give you any peanut stalks.”

The comment is met with little more than an ear twitch from the mule, who seems to care less about anything but eating right now. In frustration the girl gives it a smack on the hip with a bundle small branch. The mule lets out a startled bray and jumps before starting to walk forward again.

“HEY! Leave it alone!” Sweets says, jumping out of the hedge row, wings spread in anger.

Letting out a soft groan Sunny facehoofs, “Well, apparently stealth and low profile are not in a pegasuses… pegasus’s… pegasii’s? Ugg, peg’s vocabulary.” She groans.

Turning, the girl looks at Sweet Pops, who stomps angrily, scuffing her forehoof on the ground and snorting.

“Oh… my….” The girl stammers in shock.

“That’s right, fear the angry pegasus.” Sweet snarls, thrashing her tail side to side.

Dropping to her knee’s the girl looks on, “You… are just so adorable, and that cute little tail wiggle.”

Falling on her side laughing, Sunny holds up one foreleg, gasping out, “Epic fail! Too cute to be threatening!”

“Aww there’s two of you… and you can talk,” Blinking the girl tilts her head, “Wait, why can you talk, how can you talk?”

“Who are we talking to?” Sweet asks defiantly.

“I’ll do you one better, what you are talking to a human for?” Sunny says, still giggling, “Sorry couldn’t resist.”

Sweets sits and shakes her head, “Fine, I try and protect the poor mule.”

“Poor mule? That’s Oscar, he’s been with our family for years, he just gets so lazy at times.” The girl says and huffs, “But how are you talking?”

“Umm, we talk normally,” Sweet says, looking back at Sunny who’s just starting to sit up again, “Usually.”

“We are kinda ponies, from Equestria.” Sunny adds in, “We got cursed by an evil baddy and sent to Earth.”

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, your real, like the ponies on TV, like Fizzy, Gusty, Ribbons, oh oh oh, Whizzer the fastest pegasus ever! She’s so great.”

Blinking the two fillies look at each other, then back at the girl, “Who?”

“The ponies from the TV show, mom and dad got it for us!” The girl says before grabbing Sweets and hugging her tight.

“Ack, personal space! Stranger danger, stranger danger!” Sweets says squirming in the girls arms, flailing her hind legs pitifully.

“Sorry, you just look so cuddly and huggable,” putting Sweets down she smiles, “I’m Nina by the way, don’t ask, dad had a thing for boats.”

“Sweet Pops!”

“Sunny Daze!”

Nodding once, “And you know Oscar, he’s a real grouch at times.”

“Ok that one was bad,” Sunny says shaking her head, “So what are you doing?”

“Clearing debris from the fields, stuff we can use for firewood,” Nina said with a smile.

“Firewood? Don’t have electric stuff?” Sweet asked, “Kinda implied you had a TV.”

“We do, dad fixed it up, just like the VCR. Dad has a part time job fixing old things like old electronics to help us make money. Most of the stuff he gets from the local dump.” Nina said and giggled. “He’s a great recycler.”

“Sounds kinda like Ambrosia, she can fix and build anything too,” Sunny said.

“Oh oh, maybe we could help?” Sweets says, perking her ears and wiggling her tail.

Nina blinked and grabs Sweet, hugging her again, “You’re so cute when you do that!”

“Help! Improper hugging!” Sweet says before pouting.

“We can help gather the sticks, give Oscar a rest running the stuff back to the wagon.” Sunny says with a nod, “Rather than having the wagon follow you around.”

“I can’t really pay you,” Nina says with a sigh, putting Sweet down.

“Don’t need to,” Sunny counters, and started picking up sticks herself.

Bounding off with wing assisted jumps, Sweet Pop laughs, “Sometimes it’s about helping for the sake of helping.”

“About helping?” Nina tilted her head then smiled, “Be right back.” Getting up the girl ran, off leaving the fillies looking at each other confused for a moment.

“Helping, not doing all the work ourselves,” Sunny says and shrugs, getting back to work.

Sunny gathers up sticks into piles, moving in a quick zig zag pattern across the field. At the same time, Sweet is picking up the piles and zipping them back to the cart. It was quick work for the little fillies, as they laughed and played around doing the chore.

After a few minutes Nina returned with a small bag in hand. “Easy Oscar,” Said as she walked up in looked in the cart, “Wow.”

Zipping over Sweet Pop smiled, “Yep, ponies are quick.”

“I brought you this,” Nina says holding out the bag.

Trotting up Sunny sits down taking the bag and looking inside, “You didn’t have to.”

“We don’t have much, but there’s some sea salt, some peanut stocks, Oscar won’t mind sharing, and some odds and ends we had laying around that dad gave me to play with.”

Smiling, both fillies hug Nina, “Thanks but we should get going, we have a long trip.”

“Trip to where?” Nina asks patting the mule.

“A place called Dubuque, its in the USA. Ponies are supposed to meet there.” Sunny says, smiling as she picks up the bag.

“Bye Sassy,” Sweet said turning and trotting beside Sunny as the pair heads back to the wagon.

“Sassy?” Tilting her head Sunny looks at her friend, confused.

Blinking, Sweet looked at Sunny.

“You called her Sassy. Her names Nina.” Sunny goes on.

“I… I did? Didn’t notice, I guess she just seems like a Sassy to me, what do you think?”

Closing her eyes for a second then looking back at the girl, “Sassaflash.”

“Ok, nope, that’s just to silly a name,” Sweet says giggling, “Even by my standards.”

Starting to giggle Sunny nods, “I guess I don’t have a knack for nicknames.”