Awaking, Maud Pie found the bed empty. She ran her foreleg over where Tarnish should have been and found that it was cold. This was a breach of etiquette that Maud hoped that her mother would not find out about. Married ponies were supposed to keep each other company in the bed together.

She rose, got out of the bed, smoothed out her fuzzy huggy bunny nightgown, and set off to find Tarnish. She made it to the hall, walked past rooms of sleeping ponies, and could see a light coming from the living room.

She stood in the hallway at the entrance to the living room and stared. Tarnish was sitting and watching the films all alone, looking quite horrified, sitting in the dark, with only the light of the projector, which cast dreadful, flickering shadows upon his face.

“Hi,” Tarnish whispered.

Maud turned and looked at the wall where the movie was playing out. There were crystal trees, poison joke, grey ash. The only light came from Tarnish’s horn. She could see Tarnish’s face on the film, or what little of it was visible under his pith helmet, his goggles, and his improvised face mask. She could see herself draped over his back.

The camera turned and showed the devastation around Tarnish in a long panning shot. Crystal trees, poison joke, and an ash covered landscape. It made Maud ache to even look at it. Stepping forward, she reached the projector, reached down, and turned it off, which caused the room to plunge into darkness.

“My bed was empty,” Maud said as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness.

“Sorry.”

“Not yet, but you will be.” Maud, feeling a bit miffed, stepped closer to Tarnish and sat down upon the floor with him, her nightgown bunching up around her hind legs. “Are you okay?”

“I dunno.” Tarnish shrugged, the gesture was barely visible in the darkness. The only light was moonlight streaming in through the front window. “Just… trying to make sense of things. Trying to make the pieces fit.”

“Sometimes, things fall apart or break. And no matter how hard you try to put things back together, it just doesn’t happen. All those broken off bits become new things, their own separate things. It happens all the time in geology.” Maud reached over and bumped Tarnish with her elbow.

“I’ve changed, Maud. My eyes have been opened to the bigger picture… I think about everything that has happened. I think about the river that runs the length of the Ghastly Gorge. I think about all of the bad magic that is being pumped up from below because of the volcano. I am aware now how everything is connected.” Tarnish shook his head, his voice almost sounding panicked. “All of that water, all of that bad magic, it’s going to get dumped into the Froggy Bottom Bogg and then it is going to go down into the aquifer below the bog and things are going to change. Ponies drink from that water. This is going to have long term, far reaching consequences.”

“Yep.” Maud nodded her head. “But the average pony isn’t smart enough or just doesn’t care enough to think about how nature will affect them.” Maud paused for a moment, gave Tarnish another bump, and then continued, “In time, the Froggy Bottom Bogg may even become a more dangerous place than the Everfree. The Ghastly Gorge might become totally inhospitable to most life. Even before the volcano went off, the local flora and fauna were undergoing changes.”

“What will this do to places like Ponyville and Las Pegasus? Las Pegasus is just west of the volcano and Ponyville is just north of the Froggy Bottom Bogg. I keep thinking about it, Maud. A group of ponies went and burned down a patch of poison joke… and then all of this happens. I can’t even imagine the long term consequences.” Weary, Tarnish leaned over against Maud, glad to have her close to him.

“Consequences,” Maud deadpanned. “You go and save one pony that had been hung from a tree and life goes topsy turvy.”

“Consequences…” Tarnish sighed and shook his head. “You go and banish one pony because you fell victim to his magical talent and he ends up hung.”

“At some point, Tarnish, we’re going to have consequences. We’re going to have a lot of fun with each other’s bodies and then there is going to be another little Pie running around. Life goes on. Consequences, both good and bad, continue to happen with us and without us. We might as well have fun and just enjoy what we can.”

Tarnish took a moment to consider Maud’s words. He glanced at the window, then at Maud, then back at the window. “The stars are out. We could be dancing. Will you dance with me, Maud?”

“This is going to lead to a little Pie someday,” Maud replied in a voice filled with the very essence of ennui. “Come on, let’s go work on your dipping.”

The dawn was both chilly and warm. The sun warmed the land as it rose higher into the sky, but the breeze from the north was chilly enough to make a pony shiver. The ground was covered in dew, which glistened like gemstones in the early morning sun.

Twilight Sparkle had greeted the dawn, something she was doing more and more. Some strange compulsion overcame her on a regular basis now. Since becoming an alicorn, her connection to nature… was different. Now, she had earth pony parts, pegasus parts, and she was more than the sum of her parts. There was something else, something that Twilight was unable to put her hoof on. But now, she had new levels of awareness.

She stood on top of a large boulder, her wings spread, her face towards the sun, and beside her, on the boulder, sat Marble and Pinny Lane. A steaming cup of poison joke tea sat upon the stone near her front hoof, a little something to keep her magic stable and regulated in this area of unstable magic.

Marble was sitting on her haunches, her eyes closed, enjoying a morning where there was no labour, no need to work, the sort of morning that was just right for navel gazing and quiet meditation. Beside her, Pinny Lane sat, also drinking a cup of poison joke tea.

Twilight, lost in her contemplations, could almost feel the sun in her mind. It was almost as if she could touch it, if she just tried a little harder. As it rose, her connection to it lingered, and her mind was filled with thoughts of strange, unknown magic. She was growing, becoming something else. Everything around her was growing, becoming something else.

Wrapped up in a blanket with Maud just a few yards away, Tarnished Teapot was growing, becoming something else. Such was the natural progression of life. While sleeping, several new poison joke plants had sprouted around Tarnished Teapot, and now, those tender new blossoms reached towards the sun, hoping for growth, very much like Twilight Sparkle was doing.

The road was dusty. Tarnish moved along at a good pace, his hooves clopping on the hard packed dirt road, following after Twilight Sparkle, heading for Rock Haven and the new train station that had been built at some point while Tarnish and Maud had been away.

Rock Haven was growing, for some odd reason. Ponies were moving here to live. The town had become somewhat famous, due to a family that had a few adventurers, heroes, and one Element of Harmony among their number. The Pie family was gaining a bit of fame.

“Remember, this is yours to keep no matter what you decide,” Twilight Sparkle said as she walked. “Tree Hugger wanted me to make that clear. This is a no strings attached sort of gift. She pitched in with the Crown to replace the wagon you lost.”

“Kinda spoils the surprise,” Tarnish said.

“No it doesn’t, trust me.” Twilight grinned from ear to ear.

“Why is Tree Hugger interested in us?” Maud asked.

“Tree Hugger is the daughter of a wealthy railroad magnate and industrialist. He made a lot of mistakes in his life. In his silver years, he realised that he had destroyed much beauty. He had done things he regretted. He had poisoned the land, the water, and the air. Before he died, he wanted to set things right. He became a conservationist and an environmentalist. After his death, Tree Hugger, his daughter, continued his work. She’s the reason he had a change of heart, you know. He realised that he was leaving behind a less than perfect world that she was stuck living in.” Twilight’s wings fluttered at her sides as she walked and talked.

“So Tree Hugger has a vested interest in making things better,” Maud said as she gave thought to everything that Twilight had just said. “She was left in possession of her father’s legacy and continues his work after his death.”

“Correct.” Twilight nodded. “Now, Tree Hugger is a little out there, but she’s smart, she has her father’s business savvy, and she has more bits than you can imagine. She funds the conservation societies at many universities, has funded studies into ecology, both natural and magical, and she champions the causes of naturalists, conservationists, geologists, botanists, and all sorts of other field scholars. Now that you two have proven yourselves, she has an interest in you. She wants to add you to her collection… her stable.”

“And this means what, exactly?” Tarnish asked.

“Well padded expense accounts, credit accounts at almost every major supply shop in Equestria, access to advanced equipment, a network of like minded adventurers, scientists, and field workers, plus a plethora of plenty of other pleasant perks,” Twilight replied. “Also, a yearly salary.”

“This sounds almost too good to be true.” Maud turned and looked at Tarnish, who was trotting beside her. “Which concerns me, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”

“Usually,” Twilight agreed. “But I’ve spent a bit of time getting to know Tree Hugger and her network. She is one of Fluttershy’s friends. They’re very close. Tree Hugger is everything she says she is, and her network is everything she claims it to be.”

“Is the salary shared between Tarnish and I or do we both get separate salaries?” Maud asked.

Twilight shrugged with her wings. “That I don’t know. I know that you have credentials, Maud, and Tarnish, well”—Twilight turned and looked at Tarnish—“he has natural aptitude, unusual magic that makes him well suited to the job at hoof, and a few discoveries of his own that have the academic community talking, such as the beetle melon and the, uh, ahem, the tentacle grapes.”

“Tarnished Teapot, discoverer of the infamous tentacle grape.” Maud focused her sleepy stare upon her husband as she walked. “You should be proud.”

“At the very worst, I would suspect that Tarnish would get a researcher’s stipend as your assistant.” Twilight, uncomfortable with the very notion of a plant that sought out fresh fertiliser for it itself, straight from the source, shuddered. When Fluttershy had heard of it, she had fainted.

“Tarnish, this could work out very well for us,” Maud said.

“Maybe.”

“Which reminds me, in my bag back at the Pie farm, there is an invitation to the Stiff Upper Lip Society. You’ve attracted the attention of some very powerful and influential ponies that also wish to help you. I know nothing about them, but Tree Hugger tells me that you want to meet with these ponies. You’re going to have to take a trip to Manehattan. It’s some kind of secret club of adventurers. They heard about your rescue in the spider cave.”

“Can we go, Maud?” Tarnish asked, bouncing up and down.

“What has gotten into you, all of a sudden? You’re acting like a colt.” Maud watched as Tarnished bounced up and down, her eyes moving up and down with each of his bounces.

“I am a colt,” Tarnish replied. “Secret adventurer society, Maud… this sounds great!” Overcome, Tarnished Teapot pronked away, bouncing down the road, and leaving both Maud and Twilight behind him.

“Just when I think I have him figured out…” Maud shook her head and then looked at Twilight Sparkle.

“If you do go to meet with the Stiff Upper Lip Society, Tarnish is going to need a tuxedo and you’re going to need a formal gown suitable for dancing.” As Twilight spoke, she watched as Maud’s eyebrow rose and her face made a most peculiar expression. Was Maud reacting? Twilight wasn’t sure, but something was going on.

“Oh, this sounds exciting. Tarnish and I have to go and check this out right away.”

Author's Notes:

This might need an edit. If you see a typo, report it immediately, before they breed. I do so hope that everybody is enjoying this so far. Let me know what you think. The old reader participation rules from the first story still apply!