Drums, horns and other assorted instruments played while the revellers drank, ate and danced in the flickering yellow torchlight. Large bonfires had been hastily constructed, adding their heat to the already raucous behaviour of the assembled creatures, myself included. Etrida was happily devouring another deer, several empty kegs of brandy beside her while Grimble barrowed up another batch to her. I don’t know if she was drunk, or even if dragons could get drunk, but the emerald dragon was definitely swaying and hiccupping small gouts of smoke and flame.

Grimble shrugged at me and grinned. I think the old fellow enjoyed the attention and making a dragon happy was something he clearly revelled in. It was quite the change to the gruff griffin we’d met when we first arrived here in Smiling Borders.

Shadow, Tingles and I danced into the night. At some point I even danced with Heather who snorted and huffed as she span and pranced. The pinafore was one of her best party ones by the looks of it, embroidered with colourful prancing ponies. I have a vague recollection of dancing with a griffin too, but after that…

Oh goddesses, I didn’t feel well…

The morning found me collapsed on the floor in the tavern before the fire place. I had no recollection of getting there and didn’t care either, it hurt to think. Somepony had kindly put a blanket over me and a rolled up coat under my head as a makeshift bed. A bucket sat nearby with something horrible floating in it…Celestia’s arse, my head! Pain battered me, increasing tenfold with any attempt to move. That was when the room suddenly lurched and my stomach, aching from the nights activities, threatened to attempt another evacuation.

Heather trotted in, sickeningly healthy and carrying a flagon of something spicy scented, along with a bowl of porridge. She grinned mischievously at me and after helping me to the table, retrieved the bucket, coat and blanket.

“Heather?” I croaked.

She stopped and looked back at me, her little black eyes glinting. I attempted a smile, “Thank you for looking after us. I know I probably haven’t really said much to you before, but…thanks.”

Heather stood there for a few seconds, a variety of expressions passing over her face before she curtsied and, with a hand over her face and cheeks flushing, rushed from the room. ‘Strange minotaur’, I thought to myself, but then, she was like a member of the family now. Odd how things were happening lately; I’d gone from one family, to none, to a huge one. I’d have to see Meadow soon too. I hadn’t seen her since I’d left for the Wither world and I missed her and Sparrow terribly.

I realised that at some point I’d have to check in with Mitre too, the old grouse was probably wondering if I’d buggered off permanently.

I sighed, I’d agreed to help him of course, but now that I was here with my family and all my friends around me, things felt different. Smiling Borders had become our home and the rest of my troubles; the commissioner, Velvet Cream, Warlock, Celestia…it was as if they were from a different time, a different life. Truthfully, I just didn’t care about them any more. I just wanted to be left alone…a middle aged pony with foals, ponies who loved me, and friends. This was heaven, the eternal herd could just go and buck itself. For the first time in ages I felt at peace with the world and with myself.

I rubbed my head. Content and happy, I may be, but it didn’t do much to help with a pounding hangover!

The spicy drink Heather had brought me earlier incorporated some sort of medicinal effect, taking the edge off the headache and soothing my stomach to a degree. The porridge helped too, settling things down my tortured innards; Luna, would I never learn? Drink didn’t like me very much! And as for my smoking habit…I quite fancied some now, but where was my pipe? My gear? Tutting, I resolved to check on the gang and the bedroom before…

“Aaaah!”

A scream rang out from upstairs, it was Tingles’ voice. My hangover forgotten, the chair flew out from under me as I charged for the stairs.

Another shrieking cry, “FAIRLIGHT!”

I took the stairs two at a time, before bursting through the door of our bedroom to find Tingles standing on the bed clutching Lumin and trying to reach her PDW on the bedside table. She was staring wide eyed towards the end of the room, where my panniers were lying in a heap.

“What’s going on?! Are you okay?” I shouted looking around the room for a weapon. I reached for the magic and felt it, cold and hard, ready for release. Nothing would attack my family and walk away…nothing! I could feel my hackles go up and a rumbling escaped my throat, when I saw the movement. My pannier twitched slightly and suddenly a small snout appeared, huffing a tiny whuff of smoke before a familiar scaly creature emerged, dragging behind it a leg of venison.

Tingles screamed, “What the hell is that thing?! Get it away!” She backed away to the end of the bed, cradling Lumin who gurgled merrily without a care in the world. I released the magic and trotted over to the little dragonling. Tarragon burped loudly before letting me pet her and then returned to her breakfast.

“Tingles, this is Etrida’s daughter, Tarragon” I smiled, “She’s harmless and another friend of the family”. Well, relatively harmless at any rate.

The tangerine pegasus edged off the bed and backed toward the door, “That…that’s a baby dragon?”

“Yup”

She bumped up beside me, “Its…I don’t want it near Lumin, Fairlight. Look at those teeth!”

I shook my mane, “She’s a ‘she’, not an ‘it’. Tarragon saved my life in the caverns and is a friend of mine, a friend of yours too…if you let her.”

Tingles looked at me with an uncertain expression, “I don’t know…”

Shadow appeared behind us, panting and steaming. She smelt of soap and still had a towel wrapped around her mane, “Fairlight, Tingles, Scream?”

“Its alright, no need for alarm, its just Tarragon.” I said holding up my fore hooves, “She was asleep in my pack and must have sneaked out to grab some venison. I wondered where she’d disappeared to.”

“Shadow, do you know about this…dragonling? Is it…’she’, safe?” Tingles asked her friend.

Shadow nodded, “Safe” She walked over to Tarragon who’d finished her meal and chirruped at the thestrals approach, giving her a nuzzle and a lick, “Safe”.

“Hmmm, well, she may be safe around those she can’t eat, but I’m still watching her around my baby.” Tingles held Lumin close to her and kissed him, “How’s the head?”

I rubbed my face, “Bit better now. Boy, what happened last night?”

Shadow sniggered, “Brandy”.

Oh yeah, bloody hell that stuff was potent. A thought struck me though, “Where’s Etrida?”

“She’s gone”, Grimble announced, appearing from behind the doorway, “At dawn. She asked not to wake any of you and to say that I was to remind you to, um…‘make more foals’ or she may change her mind about eating you” he scrubbed his feathered neck in embarrassment, “Sorry lord Fairlight”.

Tingles nudged me, “I’ve already got my hooves full, Meadow too, so that’s two out of three down.”

I flushed red, “Tingles! Please!”

“The lord of the four winds needs a large family”, Grimble added unnecessarily.

“Not you too!”, I face hoofed, “I’m going for a wash, you guys can pester some other poor hung over pony”.

“Aw, but you’re so fun!” Tingles chuckled, “Don’t forget to take your…er…’new friend’ with you. I don’t want the ‘Terror of the East’ sitting here while I’m feeding Lumin”

Ah, so she’d read the book too obviously. Maybe I should have chosen a more ‘family friendly’ name, like ‘sausages’ or ‘bangers’ or something. I’d desperately wanted a pet as a youngster but mum and dad had never let me have one. My friend had one though, ‘Sausages’ the dachshund, who was always up to something mischievous. It was sad, but I’d lost touch with my old pals many years ago. Jobs, marefriends, married life, all taking their toll on our lives. I wondered how they were all doing? I guess they wouldn’t even recognise me now, what with the scar, the eyes and the cutie mark…made me wonder why these mares were attracted to me at all. Lord of the four winds…lord of a pile of rocks and a rickety old tavern I didn’t even own.

Bollocks to it…

Shadow stayed with Tingles and I took Tarragon out with me, the little dragon sitting happily on my pannier which, rather cleverly I thought, housed my pipe and tobacco. I trotted past the minotaurs who had gathered at the foot of the stairs fully armed, reacting no doubt, to Tingles’ shrieks,

“All in order boys and girls” I called to them, heading out the door, “you’d think she hadn’t seen a dragon before”.

I left the surprised looking warriors to stare after me while I headed for the hot spring, and a well deserved soak. The steam and hot water was drawing me like a magnet draws iron filings; I could almost feel its wonderful body relaxing heat already.

Fortunately, there was nopony else in there when I arrived and I quickly packed my pipe and settled into the water hind hooves first, slowly inching in until I was up to my neck. Goddesses, this was so good it was probably a sin, and even if it was…to hell with it. I hovered the flame over my pipe and enjoyed the taste of the smoke rolling around my mouth and nostrils, mixing together with the steam; it was blissfully good. The smell reminded me of Star Beard, Ember, Thorn…all my friends. I wished they could have been here with us, but you couldn’t have everything, yet right now I felt like I owned the world.

Chuckling slightly, I let my body float up to the surface. It was quite a technique we’d learned in the watch; by lying in a certain way and controlling your breathing, you could find your centre and simply float without sinking. In my case, I just drifted, smoking my pipe and sighing out my happiness to the blue sky above.

Of course, it couldn’t last…

A huge plume of water erupted just before my hind legs, the waves dunking me under and making me inhale the steaming water. In a coughing spluttering mess, I came to the surface and fought my way to the bank as a pair of orange forelegs grappled me from behind, “Gotcha!”

“Gah! Tingles!” I sneezed out a gout of water, “What the hell!”

Water had gotten into my eyes too, “You nearly drowned me, you silly mare!”

She flapped her wings, propelling us into the shallower area of the bath, “No more than you deserve mister.” She held up the incriminating article, “Whats this?”

I mumbled my reply, “My pipe”

“Fairlight…” she sighed shaking her head, “You promised you’d stop didn’t you?”

“I did, but I didn’t say when” Waving my hooves in resignation I rolled my eyes at her, “Tingles, please love, it’s the only vice I’ve got…”

She clopped me on the shoulder, “Bloody bollocks it is! Last night you were so drunk you could stand up, poor Heather had to carry you into the tavern too. What an example you’d set to little Lumin, his dad, a drunkard!”

“Oh, come on Tingles, Please! Don’t bloody henpeck me. I’ve been through absolute hell recently and you’re going on at me like this! Give me a break!”

She laughed, “Somepony needs to talk some sense into you and Shadow’s too sweet to say anything to you about it. I don’t like you smoking and drinking because I worry about you.” Tingles pulled herself over my midriff, “Because I love you, don’t you know that?”

“Of course I do!” I said holding up my fore hooves, “but I rarely drink and you had a few last night too don’t forget.”

She began to protest but I cut in, “Okay look, I’ll stop if it makes you happy, love. As for drinking, I will socially but I’m not a drinking pony anyway, I never have been. All that happens when I’m tipsy is I end up chucking up everywhere.”

Tingles released my neck and moved her head down until her nose was barely a hairs breadth from me, “I know that, who do you think put the bucket there?”

“I thought it was Heather”

“No…your loving pegasus did, the one who waited patiently for her stallion night after lonely night. Fairlight…do you know what its like to be alone like that, especially when you’ve been up for hours nursing Lumin?”

“I’m sorry love…”

She shook her head, “No…you had a mission to complete and you succeeded, you saved our Shadow. But you haven’t answered my question, do you know what its like to be alone at night?”

“I do…” I sighed, “I spent many nights, and days, alone in the Wither world. So yes, I know what its like to be alone”

She looked away from me, “Did you…think of me, when you were away?”

“Of course I did, I missed you like crazy. I was barely there five minutes though compared to the time that passed here, that’s why we rushed back as soon as we could.”

Tingles’ voice was barely a whisper, “I spent so many lonely nights without you, sometimes I cried myself to sleep wondering if i’d ever see you again.”

“Tingles…” I’m sure I felt my heart breaking in my chest.

“Other times…I dreamt of you,” she said nuzzling my neck,”I could smell you on my pillow and I had to…I had to…” she trailed off.

“Had to what?”

She whispered in my ear, “I had to…touch myself…in my special place, wanting you…needing you.”

Tingles licked my neck and then bit my shoulder hard, “Ow!”, I squeaked, but she wasn’t done with me, not by a long shot.

“Fairlight…I’ve waited too long and now you’re here, I’m here, and nopony else…”, the tangerine mare pulled herself onto me and despite the heat of the water, I could feel another warmth surging through me, “You know what I want, and as your mare, I want you to take your fill of me…”

Tingles stared down into my eyes, breathing heavily, “…And I of you…”

I gasped as she pushed herself onto me, her eyes squeezed tight shut, “Goddesses, I’ve missed this…”

Tingles and I went at each other with abandon, her gasps and cries muffled by the steam and the splashing of water. We ended up on the edge of the hot spring, Tingles on her back, locking her hind legs around me, “Fairlight…for the goddesses sake, use me…ravage me…fuck me.”

That was it. My grip on my magic slipped and I could feel my body changing, the magic surging uncontrollably, my wings bursting from my back and the blue haze forming around my eyes. Tingles pulled me down into her, an animalistic snarl on her face and a fire in her eyes, “Do it…”

The two of us began rutting furiously, kissing, biting and pawing at each other as if our lives depended on it. Changing places, Tingles flapped her wings and took to the air, beckoning me to follow her. Holding position in the sky above the spring, she smiled seductively, “You terrify me, but goddesses Fairlight, I love you so much…”

I reached out and pulled her to me, my wings beating a steady time with hers, “I love you too my tangerine pegasus mare. More than you could ever know”

“Then I would know”, she smiled, pushing away seductively and bringing her rear around before me, “Show me how much you love me…”

It wasn’t easy, but I managed to station myself behind her and reaching out, took a grip of her in my forehooves and pulled myself onto her. Tingles cried out and bucked up into me as I pushed into her again and again. Steam rose around us, mixing with the cool of the mist that built up around my haunches and the crisp morning air. Her wings wafted cold air over me and it only served to stimulate me further. Tingles pushed herself into me, harder and harder until I couldn’t contain myself any longer. With one final shove, I emptied myself into the mare and the two of us cried out in passion and joy, before coming together for a euphoric embrace.

Together, kissing and gasping for air at the same time, we slowly came back to the ground and collapsed on the warm rocks of the spring. Tingles groaned and nibbled my ear playfully, “I think somepony needs a wash, my minty fresh wendigo”

I smiled, stroking her mane “I don’t frighten you as much as I did, do I love?”

“No…a little maybe, but I know it’s you. It’s a bit like…” she tapped a forehoof on her chin, “like being on a rollercoaster, the fear makes things a bit more ‘exciting’. You know you’re safe, but part of you isn’t so sure. Its something I needed Meadow to show me.”

“Meadow…” I stared into the sky, “I haven’t seen her since we came back, will you come with me to the clearing tonight? You, Shadow and Lumin?”

“Of course love, but you know…I haven’t seen her there for a while. I don’t know exactly why though, I figured she’d most likely be with you in the Withers.”

“No…” my heart sank, “Celestia blocked our passage from the Wither world home. She even cut off our link to the eternal herd, but Starswirl found a way to help us return even so. It was only with Star Beard and Etrida’s help we managed to get back here, so if Meadow’s not been with you, I can only imagine the barrier the princess erected affects the mortal plane as well.”

Tingles sat up, “There must be a way, surely?”

“Oh, I think there is”, I grinned, “there’s always a way love, now…”, I took her in my forehooves, Tingles giggling and making a mock show of struggling, “come here you…”

The two of us ran down to the tavern, laughing and joking before we charged in through the front door like a couple of school foals. Shadow was sat there cradling Lumin, cooing to him while he tried to grab her nose. Trotting over to her, Tingles whispered something in her ear that made Shadow look at me intently, her red eyes flaring. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not until Tingles took Lumin in his sling and trotted off upstairs”

Shadow waited for me to sit beside her, “You alright love?” I asked her. She nodded, “Lumin, he’s…beautiful.”

I laughed, “I wouldn’t describe him as ‘beautiful’, I’d say ‘cute’. I may go so far as to say…‘delicious’”.

Shadow gasped, “Don’t eat Lumin! Wrong!”

I burst out laughing, “I didn’t mean I’d actually eat him! He’s just so cute, you could eat him up”

She gave me a scandalised look which made her look adorable. I shook my mane and kissed her on the muzzle, “You’re cute too…maybe I should eat you up as well?”

Shadow gave me an odd look and turned her head away, muttering something I couldn’t quite hear, but I could see the red flush in her cheeks. I was still smiling when Grimble walked in, “You seem in fine humour today my lord”.

I reached out and took the offered hot tea from him, “Thanks Grimble, and yes…yes, I’m in a great mood. The best I’ve been in for a long time. Come, sit with us my friend, I wish to ask you something.”

The old griffin sat down looking confused.

“Grimble, the girls and I…we want a home of our own. This place, this village, this is our home now and we’d like to stay.”

“But this is excellent news my lord Fairlight! I must tell everyone!”

“Wait…Grimble…I want to stay ‘here’. Would you…” I suddenly felt embarrassed and looked down at my hooves. Shadow smiled at me encouragingly, as I continued, “Would you sell us the tavern?”

“Wha…!” Grimble nearly choked, “It…it’s nearly falling down! Have you seen the state of it? My lord, this place is…”

“…is perfect” Tingles added, reappearing from the stairwell, Lumin freshly changed and dangling in the sling between her teeth, “Please Grimble, I know this is your home, but at least think about it.”

Grimble shook his head, “The truth is, it’s not really our home, my lady Tingles. Our real home is a cottage in the village, we only really stayed here because lord Fairlight and yourself came to stay. The Wyvern’s Tail was nigh on derelict even then, and it was only by the grace of the goddess I was in here the day you came to the village. Truth be told, we were going to demolish the old place”

“No!” Shadow cried, jumping to her hooves, “This is home! We will stay here now!”

I’d not seen her so animated in a while and here she was, defending a decision to buy a tumble down tavern she had barely been in for five minutes. Grimble seemed to be in a state of shock, the poor fellows feathers were all but standing on end,

“But…” he sighed, hanging his head, “My lord, this place is already yours. The people here, we used our money and what we could salvage from the fortress, to restore and repair the village. Its lands once belonged to the tribe of the four winds, as did the land between the fortress and here, even if it is mostly uninhabitable.”

He stood and resettled his wings, “My lord, the Wyverns Tail is yours.”

I stood up and faced him, “I’ll still pay you Grimble”, he raised a claw in protest but I waved him off, “Accept it as payment for providing us with room and board. We owe you that in any case.”

“And we’ll need a manager and staff”, Tingles added smiling at Heather, “The place needs a bit of a spruce up, as does the village too. I think we can get this place looking lovely, don’t you?”

Heather nodded and I shared a look with Grimble who started laughing, “Very well my lady, my lord. You’ll have your work cut out for you, but I know already that you get things done when you set your minds to them.”

He held out his claw and each of us shook it, even Shadow who looked the most relieved of any of us. I pulled out a chair, inviting Grimble to sit back down by the fire with his friends,

“Now then…how about a nice brandy each?”

Author's Notes:

Well folks, thats it for book three. Book four is finished but needs proof reading, which is a marathon task in itself. I've read it through several times and made tweaks already, and honestly, i think its the most exciting instalment yet. This will be put on hold for a little while as I'm working on another project at the minute, which is a spin off from Fairlight. Its a short story, but i felt that i needed to address the somewhat 'negative' light i portrayed Celestia in, and hopefully appeal to the fans out there who don't want any sex or violence. At the same time, i wanted to remain faithful my original story line so it was recognisable by Fairlight fans. Well, if you fancy having a look at it, it will be getting published on Fimfiction pretty soon. You've made it this far, why not give it a whirl?

Meanwhile, i hope you've enjoyed reading Fairlight and will look forward to the fourth instalment. I'd welcome any comments, a rare commodity on this site for some reason, and a thumbs up if you liked it. Thanks again for reading !

Kind Regards,

Blue Spectre