As the sun rose, Tarnish laboured, and as it peeped over the horizon in the east, he felt his spirits rising with it. In the faint light of both the dawning sun and the setting moon, Tarnish looked down at his work and was pleased with it. He had two little ponies, both made out of wax, wood, and some bits of string. Poppets, the book called them. They didn’t look like much, but he knew that they would serve his purposes, or so he hoped. He was still kind of sketchy on how all of this worked, which is why he had two poppets. One would be Maud, a test subject, the other would be Trixie. When he knew that the sympathetic connection between the poppet and Maud worked, he would then apply a tiny droplet of the restorative tincture to Trixie’s poppet and if all went well, her leg, which was a real mess, would begin healing.

There was also a matter of cutting the connection, the astral string, once he was done, but he had an idea of how he could do that. It shouldn’t be too much trouble. He was feeling rather confident, all things considered, which was a good thing, given the troublesome night he had endured. The encounter with the stranger had shaken him, it had disturbed him a great deal. He glanced over at the glass collection phial that sat near the fire. He had found some purple hairs, some lighter purple hairs, and some blue hairs, all long and from a mane or a tail. He had also found himself some pale, muted pinkish-purple hairs, short little pelt hairs, and the detect magic spell in the spellbook Vinyl had given him worked exactly as she had written that it would. She had left such simple, effective instructions that he had been able to both understand them and follow them without trouble. Never mind the fact that a simple detect magic spell was something that almost any unicorn foal should be able to cast.

If he felt like it, he could extract a terrible revenge. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that just yet. It had seemed like a good idea when he was angry, but now, he was having some second thoughts. The zebras had warnings about the darker path of hoodoo. Once upon the darker path you step, forever will it dominate your destiny. It seemed that the zebras had a small problem with language. Some of them spoke in rhymes, others, well, the words just came out all weird, which made the book hard to read.

Using his telekinesis, he lifted up the tincture he would be using for Trixie. It was for infections, fever reduction, and treating mild forms of poison. It was somewhat magical, it gave off a magical aura that Tarnish could detect, and when unstoppered, it gave off an incredible stench. It smelled like smoky, rancid bananas, sweet, cloying, it made his nostrils tickle something awful and the smell somehow made his dock tingle. There was only a small amount of tincture, a small, precious amount, but he had the means to make it last longer and do more with less, if he could get it to work. The tincture could both be swallowed and poured into a wound. When swallowed, it worked as a purgative, removing poison from the blood, reducing fever, and helping to fight infection. When poured into a wound, it did much the same, but worked in the area that it was poured at a somewhat stronger strength.

The docket, which listed all of their supplies, stated that this tincture, (noted by the strange banana scent, the docket mentioned) could treat gangrene. Tarnish couldn’t be certain, but he suspected that Trixie had it.

Flamingo was humming to herself and Tarnish watched as she continued her watch. Now that it was dawn, it was time to let her rest. He yawned, feeling more than a little sleepy himself, but he had work to do. There was still so much to do be done.

“Flamingo, if you want to get some sleep, feel free to do so,” Tarnish said.

“I’m gonna be in my bunk,” Flamingo replied as she darted over to where her jeweled sheath lay waiting. The sword paused for a moment, hovering in the air, and before she slipped into her own scabbard, she said to Tarnish, “Rusty Teakettle, don’t lash out in anger. It’s never worth it. I did that once. I… I can’t remember what I did… I just can’t for some reason, but I remember that I’m sorry… I think. Everything is just a pink haze sometimes.” And then, before Tarnish could say anything, the sword slipped herself away.

Now alone, Tarnish continued his work.

As Limestone took a turn to feed the pup a tin of condensed milk, Tarnish asked Maud, “How is Trixie doing?”

“She seems to be doing a little better. Her leg is still swollen, but not like it was. She’s still delirious though. I slipped her some aspirin and tried to get her to drink some water.” Maud turned her head to look at her sister and noticed that Limestone was doing an admirable job of being a surrogate mother.

“Well, I’m ready to try a little zebra medicine,” Tarnish said to Maud, “I just need to try a test first. I think I have connections, but I’m not sure. I made one of you, so I could test it in what I feel is relative safety.”

“This should be interesting,” Maud deadpanned.

“I’ve already made the connections and I think I know how to cut them,” Tarnish said.

Blinking, Maud studied her husband. “You know, I think I like this form of magic. This is something that even an earth pony can do.” She paused, blinked again, and tilted her head. “Now, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with unicorn magic, I’m just saying that I can appreciate a form of magic that even earth ponies can do.”

Nodding, Tarnish replied, “I think I understand. I’m not very good at unicorn magic, but I find I am grasping this stuff rather well. It’s complicated, but I’m managing.”

“You look tired.” Maud’s voice held no trace of her worry.

“Stuff needed to be done. It was a long night, I’ll admit, but I’ll sleep later.” Tarnish’s mouth opened and a yawn fell out accompanied by a long orange tongue. He shook his head, causing his ears to flop around, and he blinked his eyes a few times. “I think I need to fix myself some breakfast soon.”

Glancing over at Limestone, he watched as she cooed at the pup she was holding. He couldn’t help but notice that Limestone seemed to be rather into it. While he was certain that Maud had a strong maternal side, Limestone showed it. She fussed, she fretted, she made a big deal out of every little sound, every little whimper, and the affection she felt was obvious. Just yesterday, she was smacking her enemies in the face with a shovel and now, now a completely different Limestone could be seen. Tarnish found that he liked this Limestone a whole lot more, but the other Limestone was nice to have around during times of trouble.

It also reflected well upon Limestone’s character that she could be so maternal to a diamond dog pup, given the current situation and the somewhat violent conflict that had just taken place. Tarnish considered this, thought about himself, and thought about his own conflict with the mysterious stranger. It would be difficult, if not outright impossible, to show her any sort of kindness right now. Tarnish contemplated his anger and his seething dislike, which bordered on outright hatred. He felt guilty and a little bit ashamed.

Limestone was a better pony than he was, and he knew it. He still had some growing up to do and he needed to do some soul searching, but now was not the time. He had other things to deal with, important things that demanded his attention now. There would be time for navel gazing later.

Letting go a sigh of regret, Tarnish lifted Maud’s effigy in his magic. “Okay, Maud. Test time. Tell me what you feel.” Tarnish inhaled, sucking in wind, and then blew on the tiny figurine that represented Maud. He wasn’t sure what to expect, for a moment, he thought he might see her mane billowing around, but nothing happened.

“I felt a light breeze on my neck,” Maud said as her eyes narrowed a bit. She looked… focused. It was a look that was unique to Maud, a sort of sleepy, but intense stare that no other pony made.

“Good, good.” Tarnish nodded, summoned up a drop of water, and let it fall upon the effigy’s head. He glanced over at Maud and saw her ears twitch. “Did you feel that?”

“That was wet,” Maud replied, “and it sort of tickled.”

“Wet and ticklish?” Tarnish asked, intrigued. He lifted the effigy, glanced down his muzzle at it, turned it around, and with a flick of his tongue, he gave the backside of the figurine a quick lick.

Eyes going wide, Maud stiffened, her legs widened and her tail rose as she settled into an inviting stance. Her nostrils flared and she snorted a few times, her sides heaved like blacksmith’s bellows, and one front hoof pawed at the ground.

It was at that moment that Tarnish realised that he had power. It was intoxicating. He felt dizzy as the realisation hit him and he understood now why some unicorns went crazy trying to gain more power. He got it. And oh goodness, did he ever get it. Maud was now completely at his mercy.

Hearing more heavy breathing, his eyes glanced over at Limestone, and he noticed that she too, had a wide eyed stare, though hers was one of astonishment. His eyes met hers and for a moment, Tarnish felt bad, but he could not say why. His ears perked as he heard Limestone say, “Do that again, that was cool!”

Flummoxed, Tarnish sat there, not sure what to do, reeling from his newly discovered power, turned on by his ability to stimulate Maud from a distance, all while feeling shame and embarrassment for exposing poor Limestone to his sexual sorcery.

Blushing, he looked at Maud and saw that she was chewing on her lower lip. Her tail was still flagged, and her hind legs were still held wide and inviting. Something about the way she blinked stoked Tarnish’s internal fire into an infernal, soul scorching blaze. Driven by lust, but consumed by shame, he gave the effigy another flick with his tongue.

Maud whinnied as her eyes rolled back into her head.

Deciding that enough was enough, Tarnish put the effigy down, satisfied that he had made viable connections. The magic, even though he could not understand it, worked. Goodness, did it ever work. And no doubt, Limestone was going to go home and tell quite a story to anypony that would listen.

He couldn’t see the astral strings, but he suspected that somepony he knew could. Using his telekinesis, he pulled Flamingo from her sheath, and was greeted with a yawn. The sword snorted, vibrated a bit in his grasp, and then floated under her own power.

“I smell mare musk,” Flamingo said in a sleepy voice.

“Never mind that.” Tarnish banished the smile from his face, but struggled as Maud let out another soft, almost breathless whinny. “Flamingo, you don’t have eyes, but you can see. Tell me, do you see a silver thread that stretches from the doll in front of me over to Maud?”

The sword bobbed around and replied, “Yeppers!”

“Good.” Tarnish could hear Maud’s heavy breathing and he felt a little awkward. “Can you cut it?”

“I dunno, lemme check,” Flamingo replied as she sliced downwards at something unseen. A second later, she reported, “It’s cut. When I cut it, it vanished and I can’t see it anymore. Is that supposed to happen?”

Nodding, Tarnish felt relieved. “Yes, Flamingo, the connection has been severed and it no longer exists. Thank you. Feel free to go back to bed, but I’ll need you to cut something else in a bit.”

“Neat!” Flamingo yawned, then with a swift movement, stabbed herself back into her sheath and went still.

“I think I need a bath,” Maud said in a low voice. It sounded as though she was struggling to speak, or even to breathe. “Yes, a nice soak in the hot springs. That was why we came here.”

Sniffing, Tarnish noticed that he could barely even smell the rotten eggs now. He had grown used to it. He looked down at Maud’s effigy, and feeling terrible about what he had done, he disassembled it, pulling it apart and carefully removing the bits of Maud so the components could be recycled. It was a big part of the economy of medicine theory that the zebras had.

Now, a bit more serious, with a solemn expression upon his face, Tarnish lifted up Trixie’s effigy and held it before his muzzle. He glanced at the wagon. Trixie was still inside, tucked away in the bed. He drew in a deep breath, gathered up his confidence, and reminded himself what a little lick had done to Maud. The magic worked. He pulled out the tincture, uncorked it, stabbed in an eyedropper, and then, with great care and caution, he placed the tiniest drop of it upon the effigy’s leg. As he waited, he stuffed the cork into the tincture and he was not sure what to expect. When nothing happened, he could only make an assumption that it had worked.

He got up, stepped around the fire, opened the wagon door, and peered inside. Trixie lay sleeping, soaked with sweat, but she did seem… more peaceful somehow. She wasn’t mumbling or thrashing about in her sleep. So, perhaps it worked?

Stepping back, he drew Flamingo from her sheath, and before he could even say anything, she slipped from his grasp, sliced at something invisible in the air, and then slid herself away, all in the blink of an eye. Tarnish could only assume that she was tired after spending all night on watch.

“You said Trixie needed a good soak in a hot bath,” Tarnish said as he began breaking down Trixie’s effigy and removing all the bits that gave it a connection to the stricken mare. “I could use a good soak in a hot bath. Where are the hot springs at?”

“Over there,” Maud said in a somewhat breathless voice as she pointed with one front hoof.

After putting everything away and cleaning up his workspace, Tarnish nodded. It appeared as though the pup was finishing up her breakfast, and he could hear yawning as Limestone fawned over the little diamond dog. He was torn, he needed breakfast, but his muscles ached with fatigue.

“You two go have a nice soak with Trixie and I’ll fix some breakfast,” Limestone said in a low voice, it was almost as if she was reading Tarnish’s mind, or perhaps it was her special earth pony sense. “I can toss together some oatmeal without too much trouble. I’ll do it in a bit, for now, I want to keep cuddling her.”

Maud, who made a slow, cautious movement, let out a hiss from between clenched teeth and her tail swished around her hind legs. She blinked, gave her husband a strange look, and in a low, flat voice said, “You have to do that again sometime…”

Author's Notes:

Yep. He did it.