At the Manefair Hotel, safely closeted in their room, Air Raid had just finished her second intense make out session with Cyclone on the bed, both mares having fully explored each other with tongue, hoof and wing. It was only after a few moments of caressing bliss she realised that the time had ticked on to seven thirty p.m. and there was still no word or sign of Darkstar, other than that ridiculous text she had sent.

Gently pulling away from her marefriend’s embrace, she reached for her cell phone on the nightstand by the bed. She was worried and she knew Cyclone was too. Best to give her a call. If nothing else it would get her off of that park bench she knew she was sat on. Flicking through her phone she selected Darkstar's number. “Where are you?” Air Raid’s voice sounded full of worry and concern down the phone. “You haven't come back.”

“And I'm worried!” Cyclone’s voice came over the line, sounding just as worried as she said she was.

“There's no need to worry,” Darkstar sighed a slightly irritated sigh at her friends. Part of her was glad they had called, if only to make sure she wasn’t laid up in a ditch somewhere or being attacked by some monster, but the other part was annoyed that they’d disregarded her message. “I sent Raid that text, remember? I'm at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yeah right,” came Air Raid’s disbelieving snort, “you mean a park bench somewhere.”

“I am NOT on a park bench!” Darkstar insisted, annoyed further by Cyclone’s laughter at Air Raid’s taunt. “I assure you, I'm where I say I am!”

“Alright Darkie, joke's over now, c'mon…”

Cyclone cut across her marefriend before Darkstar could answer her. “We thought you might like company for dinner, and there is still that bottle of wine from earlier.”

Darkstar couldn’t believe this! In the great room, by the light and the heat of the waning fire, the pure white unicorn stomped her hoof on the bare lacquered floorboards. “Cy, you too, really? I've had dinner, I'm at Sweet Apple Acres. I'm with Cloud Blossom, on a date!”

Cyclone didn’t know who that was, and she shot Air Raid a questioning look on the hotel bed where they were both sat. Air Raid however did know just who that was. She just didn’t believe her friend was on a date. With her. “Cloud Blossom, the artist?” She asked incredulously, “Darkie why would you be on a date with her? You're straight!”

“Yes!” Darkstar stomped her hoof again, her friend’s disbelief now fuelling a rare anger in her and she raised her voice. “Cloud Blossom! I'm. On. A. Date!”

Seated in the kitchen, Cloud Blossom fidgeted uncomfortably in the company of her parents and two of her aunts as Darkstar’s irate tone carried through from the great room. After hearing her protest she was in fact on a date, the pale green pegasus decided she had heard enough. “Excuse me please.” Getting up, she walked into the great room. “There a problem, Darkie?” She enquired of her date.

Darkstar gave the older mare a relieved smile. “Yeah there's a problem, my 'friends' don't think I'm here, with you.”

“C'mon Darkie,” Air Raid interjected, “we all know it's a prank.”

“Hey,” Cloud put in loudly, making sure she was heard on the other end of the call, “I find it hard to believe you'd go out with somepony like me.” She giggled when Darkstar stuck out her tongue. “So these friends are?”

“The ones making whoopee in the hotel room!” Rarity called from the kitchen, earning herself a snorted laugh from Applejack and Fluttershy.

Air Raid shot Cyclone a disbelievingly sceptical look. They had both known the unicorn to change her voice in the past. “Darkie, the game's up, hun.”

“FINE!” Darkstar’d had more than enough. Holding her cell phone in her yellow aura she magically activated the video call function and pointed the camera to her date. “Cloudy, please say ‘hi’ to Raid.”

Smiling at the frankly stunned and amazed lime green mare in the cell phone’s little screen, Cloud Blossom waved her hoof. “Hi Raid, but I can do one better. Auntie Pinkie, is there extra dessert?”

“Always.” Pinkie Pie’s voice wafted through from the kitchen, “Enough for two more.”

“Where are they at?” Cloud asked Darkstar quietly.

‘Enough for two more? Two more?’ Darkstar didn’t even know how there was enough of the dessert for them, let alone two more. ‘Right…don’t think about it…’ “They're at the Manefair Hotel, sexy.”

On the other end of the call, in said hotel room, Air Raid did indeed looked stunned. “That's...oh jeez, that's actually her!”

“Please don't tarry, love.” Rarity smiled at her wife. She knew exactly what her lover and her niece had in mind. It was all she could do not to burst out laughing then and there. “Your dessert is far less fattening if you watch me eat it.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie beamed a wide smile and scooped up what was left of the apple and rhubarb cobbler and stored it safely in her mane before disappearing from the Homestead in a pink coloured blur of motion.

“Four, three,” Cloud Blossom began counting down the moment she heard the main door close, “two, one.” The moment the pale green mare finished the syllable of ‘one’, Darkstar heard a loud cheery knock at the door to the hotel room through the phone.

Not expecting anypony, Cyclone sat up. “Who could that be?” She shrugged her black shoulders. “I'll get it.”

If Darkstar was amazed before, she was in another world now. She felt like a foal being taken to see a stage magic show. “Has Ms. Pinkie just...all that way?” She wondered in awe.

Cloud Blossom gave a loud stage whisper, “Don't tell her she is slowing down.”

Fluttershy of course heard what her twenty five year old daughter had whispered. “You're not too old to spank!” She called, earning herself a giggle from Cloud.

Just then, down the phone, Darkstar heard Cyclone open the door, and at the same time there was a riotous explosion of light, sound and confetti – tons of confetti showered across her phone’s screen, and were those inflated balloons? – that signified a party cannon being detonated in a confined space. “Special delivery for the friends of my niece's date!” Without another word, Pinkie Pie left the steaming hot dessert and closed the door.

Closest to the force of nature that just blew in, Cyclone’s turquoise mane was blown horizontally backwards. “Whaaaa?”

“O-Okay...” Air Raid was similarly stunned, especially at the streamers and balloons that now hung from their room’s ceiling where a moment before there was none (and WHERE had that disco ball come from?), “what in the wide world of Equestria just happened?”

“Enough proof that Darkie is spending the night with me here at Sweet Apple Acres.” Cloud Blossom answered down the phone.

“Huh...yeah...” Air Raid gasped, “I um, I see that. Darkie, I'm sorry.”

Cloud Blossom laughed some more, a split second later the main door of the farmhouse opened and closed again and Pinkie Pie’s voice, not even vaguely out of breath, called out, “I’m back Rarebear, so you finish that dessert!”

“Yes love,” Rarity smiled and nodded her head, “that I will.”

“Raid,” Darkstar giggled, “we're all good.”

“Yeah, again, I’m sorry about that...” Air Raid stammered, absently she hung up her phone.

Cyclone shot Air Raid a rather pole axed look, her dazed blue eyes staring around at the now fully decorated hotel room. Crazily she wondered who would clean this up, and how much the Manefair would stiff them for having a party here. “Was that one of the Celestia Six?” She asked, her jaw struggling to work.

“Uh...um...yes?” Air Raid murmured, absent mindedly putting her phone back on the nightstand. “You ah, you don't suppose Darkie was being straight up do you?”

Cyclone gave the dessert that Pinkie had left a tentative sniff. It certainly smelt like a real apple and rhubarb cobbler – with hot custard – and she carried it over to the coffee table. “Let's eat this before she comes back to take it away.” She set it down and an idea came to her. “Oh! Wine would go good with this.”

“I love how you think, Cy.” Air Raid smiled and got up from the bed to trot through to the small kitchen area. “I'll get the glasses.”

As her lover went to get the glasses, Cyclone duly opened the bottle. “We can eat right from the pan, no need for plates.”

“What I don't get,” Air Raid commented as she came back with the two glasses and placed them on the table next to the dessert, “is she fired a cannon, and the whole room’s decorated.” She pointed to the large disco ball on the ceiling as well as the other decorations hung perfectly around the room. “And we have streamers and balloons!”

“Celestia Six, I think, says it all.” Cyclone said with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Yeah, but a cannon…” Air Raid shook her mystified head and sat down.

“I have seen it in action at Sugarcube Corner.” Cyclone grinned and poured the wine into the two glasses. “I think she had some unicorn enchant it. I do know these…” she reared up to her hind legs, which caused the nappy secured around her waist to crinkle, and spun the disco ball, “are not illusions.”

“Know what?” The lime green mare declared, “I’ve decided I'm not gonna worry about it. I got me a sexy mare, wine and a sweet dessert.” When she paused, Cyclone took a bite of the apple and rhubarb cobbler out of the tray and closed the gap between them and kissed her lips. “Mmmm kisses…” Lips locked in the sensual kiss, Cyclone fed her lover the dessert and when the kiss was broken, she lifted the wine glass and took a sip.

Air Raid swallowed the dessert with relish and a loud ‘Mmmm’ and Cyclone giggled. “Really good with a fine wine and a finer mare.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere that you haven’t already been…” Air Raid purred, and for the next half an hour the two new lovers continued to feed each other the apple and rhubarb cobbler via the method of sensual kisses until the dessert and the wine were both gone.

“Darkie says she’s at the Apple farm.” Cyclone said after she swallowed her last mouthful of the wine. “So, you want to go double check that?”

Air Raid put her empty glass down with a mischievous glint in her grey eyes. “Cyclone. Are you suggesting a spy mission?”

“I really think she’s over there,” the jet black mare replied, choosing her next words carefully, “and well you know her experience with sex. I’m just suggesting we go make sure she’s okay then come straight back.”

Perhaps it was the wine, she didn’t know, but Air Raid sniggered behind her hoof, an act that earned her a disapproving look from her marefriend. “I'm sorry, that snigger was mean of me.” She smiled, “but yeah, I know of her experiences with Brightstar and right now he’s nowhere near.”

“You do know Big Mac also lives over there.” Cyclone grinned, “There is Cheerilee, but, heh, it may they’re swingers.”

“Yeah but he's soooo much 'bigger' than Bright...” Air Raid started then trailed off with a bit of a blush, looking at her marefriend with a twinkle in her eye. “You wanna go have a look?”

“You were a bit busy when we bought the apples, but I saw her looking down low on him.” Cyclone giggled, “A stealth mission does sound like a job for the Power Ponies.” She giggled again, sounding like a little filly. “Which would be us!”

“Yup!” Air Raid started, “Radiance and...and um...and the ah, the other one…” she faltered somewhat, as her knowledge of the Power Ponies began and ended with Cyclone’s favourite character. “Um, is there one? Maybe two?”

Cyclone giggled, it was fun when Air Raid tried, bless her. It was adorable really. “Mistress Mare-velous, my dear.”

“Oh yeah!” The light went on in Air Raid’s head. “That one! Isn't she the one with the lasso?” She bit her lip, “I'll be her.”

“Yes,” Cyclone laughed, “Bondage super powers!” the jet black mare sniffed at herself and having checked her nappy was clean, got up and headed to the hotel room door with a playful swish of her turquoise tail. “Let us be away Mistress, and it will be a Rarity of an evening.”

“Only if you go all bondage pony later.” Air Raid giggled and eagerly walked out of the room and the hotel with her marefriend leading the way to the sidewalk. “You wanna ride?”

“I do.” Cyclone declared imperiously and she alighted her lover’s back as the lime green mare crouched for her. “Maybe there I'll give you a ride.” She purred in her ear before sitting up. “Ah, Raid, do you know where you're going?” She asked when her mount started trotting down the street.

Air Raid chuckled. As it happened she did not know where she was going, but she’d heard enough to find her way. “Let’s see, the huge apple farm that you can't miss just past the buck-ugly castle?” She smiled over her shoulder at her marefriend, “I’m sure I'll find it.”

Cyclone giggled at her lover’s sarcasm, “yeah something like that.”

A though crossed Air Raid’s mind then as she cantered along the sidewalk, occasionally illuminated by the streetlights that they passed under. “Don't tell Princess Twilight I called her gaff ugly. I'll get banished to a library or somewhere.”

On her back, Cyclone giggled some more as they passed Quills & Sofas and the Antique Bookstore, “Or maybe back to Professor Calculus's office to polish her desk again…”

“Ha!” Now it was Air Raid’s turn to laugh. “HA! I’ve already done that. I don't fancy getting arrested again, thank you.” The lime green mare went silent for a moment. Her spell in prison as a result of her sexcapade with Wildfire at the university hadn’t exactly been the best time of her life. Every mare there had recognised her, and more than a few had made advances. Especially ‘Big’ Red. Air Raid shuddered at the memory of the big red earth pony mare. “Mares and prisons and all that jazz.”

“If you head that way,” Cyclone pointed with her right forehoof past the upcoming MiAC store, “there is a turn to the right and then a dirt path that will lead you straight to the farm.”

“Yes love…” Air Raid kept up the canter, muttering loudly thing about back seat drivers minding their own business.

Snickering, Cyclone reached back and landed a hard spank on the lime green mare’s left cutie mark with her hoof, ready to flutter upwards, in case she bucked. “Such a comfy back seat though.”

“Mmmmm!” Air Raid’s legs went a little weak as she ran along. “I do have a multi-purpose ass.” As Big Red had discovered.

Oblivious to such things, as Air Raid had never told any of them, Cyclone just nodded. “Can hold so many things…”

“Heh...” the racer giggled, “depends on what you put inside.”

“That would be telling, wouldn’t it?” Cyclone purred into her lover’s ear and snickered as her wings shot out from her barrel, neatly pruning a bush on the way past as she took the turn on to the dirt path that purportedly led to the farm. Without looking, Cyclone toyed with Air Raid’s primary feathers, enjoying the wobble in her legs she got as a result. “Only a quarter mile to the gate, sexy.”

“Oooh...” Air Raid moaned, “I can do that…”

“Like the wind, pony!”

“At your command, Mistress!” Effortlessly, Air Raid changed up from a canter to a full gallop. On her back, Cyclone hung on for dear life, but still found the time to nibble playfully on a lime green ear. “MMmmm!” Just barely, Air Raid kept herself straight and fast as the gate approached and without slowing down, she jumped a clear foot over it.

‘Oh sweet Luuuuuuna!’ Cyclone whimpered to herself as they sailed through the air to land on the grass the other side of the locked gate. “Okay, stealth time. They keep dogs and the other farm animals can be noisy.” The jet black mare whispered in her lover’s nibbled ear. “We can cut through that patch of trees and get close to the house. I have no idea where she might be, but let's check the main house first.”

As they both cautiously made their way through the darkened north field and the zap apple trees, they passed a three storey wooden house on their left. “Over there is Big Macintosh's house.” Cyclone supplied the answer to the question she guessed Air Raid was about to ask. “I've heard that Cheerilee dresses up in a school filly's uniform and spanks Big Mac with a yard stick in ‘detention’.” Cyclone added, watching her marefriend’s wings for any reaction.

Almost immediately, Air Raid’s wings sprung erect again and there was a very noticeable smell of arousal leaking down her hind legs. “Well ah...doesn't that sound like fun?”

Cyclone giggled lightly. “Just might be. Look…” she quietly pointed a wingtip up towards a lighted room on the second floor of the Homestead. “One room is lit on the second floor.”

Air Raid looked up and saw the lit room, standing out in stark relief to the rest of the darkened house due to the fact the drapes weren’t closed. At all. “Well, stealth pony, that's out of my reach.”

“Your turn to ride me, Nana.” Cyclone whispered and hopped off of Air Raid’s back. She crouched to allow the older mare to climb on her, and when she was happy she had a firm grip, she moved a little closer to the Homestead. Flapping her jet black wings she took off.

“Cy...” Air Raid whispered in her ear when they were just a few feet from the ground, “we're about to snoop on our friend...”

“Most likely playing go fish, or scrabble...” Cyclone scoffed, then her voice trailed off to silence when she got close enough to see into the room.

Air Raid sniggered along with her marefriend. “Yeah...righ...riiiii...ri...” her snigger however trailed off to silence just as Cyclone’s had, and her grey eyes went very wide indeed at the sight she was witnessing. Namely Cloud Blossom on her back moaning out Darkstar’s name as the pegasus rubbed her hoof along the length of the white horn that was sawing in and out of her sopping marehood.

Watching every little detail of the scene, Cyclone had shoved both of her forehooves in her mouth and she very nearly lost the ability to fly. “She's...horning her...by Luna's butt she's horning her...” Air Raid stuttered in abject wonder as a stunned Cyclone fluttered away from the window, turned in mid-air and flew erratically towards the gate they had not long ago jumped over.

As the two spying mares fluttered away from the Homestead, a huge rainbow firework of magic erupted from the bedroom behind them, lighting up the upper floor of the house as well as the night sky around it. “Wow...” Air Raid muttered, illuminated by her friend’s afterglow.

Back on the dirt path leading from the Apple family farm, Cyclone landed on shaking hooves. She was sure her nappy wasn’t clean anymore either. “What has been seen cannot be unseen...” she gasped through halting breathes, “Did she just prank us or was she really...” again she trailed off, her brain trying to process what they had witnessed.

Air Raid shook her head. “No way THAT was a prank, love,” she asserted definitely as she got down from her marefriend’s back, leaving a little trail as she went. “She was really...she horngasmed...with a mare!”

“Do you think she did that to Bright?” Cyclone asked, her blue eyes still wide.

“What, horn him?” Air Raid asked by way of reply, “well...we saw them that time she was in heat she blew him and rode him...who knows?”

“I know one thing.” Cyclone stated firmly. “I need you now. Tongue, wing, or toy, I just need you.”

“Toy. Stallionator four hundred, in my bag, hotel.” Air Raid responded. “I want you Cy, so damn much!”

Lunging forward, Cyclone planted an unexpected kiss on Air Raid’s lime green lips. “First one there is the first one mounted.” She issued the challenge and took off running while the older mare was still reeling from the kiss.

“Cheat!” Air Raid called out and out of instinct she galloped after her quickly diminishing lover. After a few moments however she realised the odds were favourite that she was a much better runner than Cyclone was, and she slowed to a trot. Competitive as she was, Air Raid really, really wanted to mount her marefriend and rut her into next week.

Grinning a sly grin, she trotted along, more than happy for Cyclone to win this little race.

~ ~ ~

Next morning in the Manefair Hotel found Cyclone snuggled deep into Air Raid’s left wing, trying – without any success – to hide from the bright sunlight that streamed through the half open drapes. ‘Stupid sun…stupid morning…stupid feathers…well, maybe not the feathers…’ if she was honest the lime green feathery blanket was pretty cool. Even if it did snore like a chainsaw buggering an ambulance. ‘I could get used to this!’ Smiling to herself, Cyclone moved the feathers a bit as she nestled further into the joint where the wing met the barrel.

As she did so she saw the skin underneath the feathers there for the first time. She saw the foot long scar. The old scar that her new lover had never mentioned before. It looked nasty. ‘What in Tartarus…jeez it looks like her wing was almost ripped off!’ Very gently, she nudged her muzzle over the scar. “Raid,” she said loudly enough to cause the older pegasus to stir, “did you have a car accident you didn't tell us about?”

“Hmm?” Air Raid mumbled, the lime green mare only just barely awake. “Um...no, the last crash I had was months ago, why?” Idly she wondered why her marefriend was asking such a daft question when the bed was so warm and comfy.

Lightly, Cyclone ran her jet black forehoof along the length of the scar. “This looks pretty bad.”

“Wha...” Air Raid felt the soft hoof running along her wing and, panicking, sat bolt upright and pulled her wing to her. It was of course too late to hide her old wound. “It's nothing!”

Leaning in, wondering what on earth had happened, Cyclone nuzzled her neck. “Maybe nothing now, but it must have been bad when it happened.”

As she was nuzzled, Air Raid sighed deeply. She knew there was no getting away from this. At least she wasn’t on a cloud this time like she had been with Wildfire. “Cy, I did it myself…”

“What?” Of all the things her lover could’ve said, she wasn’t expecting that. Not at all. “That's crazy...ah...why?”

“I did it when I was seven.” Air Raid’s grey eyes were locked onto the hotel bed’s comforter. “Mom had dragged me around every doctors place in Canterlot and I was eventually diagnosed with Scootaloo's Syndrome…” she paused for breath, unable to meet her partner’s eyes.

Cyclone did a little tilt of her head, trying to process what she had been told. “So, you figured if you couldn't fly why have them at all?”

Sullenly, Air Raid nodded. “Doc said I was a gifted earth pony!” She laughed, perhaps a little bitterly. “That wasn't good enough for mom. Her and dad argued later that day while I was watching cartoons. I overheard it all, figured I was a disappointment to mom, so I got a knife and went to the bathroom. I wanted mom to like me for me, not what she wanted me to become.”

“Pretty extreme,” Cyclone said with a shake of her head and a comforting hoof on her partner’s foreleg, “but I wasn't much better when I was young.”

“I didn't know there were blood vessels in the wings. I didn't mean to almost kill myself.” She smiled down at the black hoof resting on her foreleg. A warmth spread through her breast. “I still go to therapy though…” after a few moments she looked up at the younger pony. “What do you mean, Cy?”

Now Cyclone looked away, intently studying the stock art work hanging on the wall. Part of her regretted what she’d just said because, a door once opened could be stepped through in either direction. But, Air Raid had opened up, now it was her turn. “You always ask why I'm afraid of heights.”

The jet black mare’s quiet tone surprised Air Raid greatly. She’d never heard her talk like that. “I do.” She said with a nod, leaning in to nuzzle her young lover.

‘Well, here goes buck all…’ she thought to herself, still studying the Celestia awful painting. “When I was very little, and really couldn't fly, my mom would always play with me. She would take me in her magic and fly me around the room.” A little tear dropped from her blue eye leaving a wet track down her cheek as she thought about her mother.

Air Raid’s ears perked up at that. Tactless as she might be, she realised how important this revelation was. “Cy...you've never really spoken about your mom,” she shuffled nearer to her and draped her wing over the weeping mare. “She sounds fun.”

Cyclone let out a deep sigh. “I only have memories from long ago. We were on holiday in Las Pegasus. Monsoon was flying me around the room in a hotel when ‘something’ happened and it interrupted her magic. It took years and years before dad told me that.”

Air Raid nuzzled her lover again. “What happened?” She asked gently.

“Dad told me Monsoon tossed me out a window on the thirtieth floor.” She carried on her explanation, she managed to tear her eyes away from the painting to look at Air Raid. “She was flying me by the window when something really loud happened and she lost control of her spell. I went out the window and I was falling fast, out of her range.” Cyclone leant into Air Raid’s hug, resting her head on her shoulder. “Dad flew out the window and saved me, but he never forgave my mom. Eventually she had enough and left one day, never been back.” Cyclone shrugged, “I don't even know if she is still alive.”

“You...you never heard from her since?”

“No. She up and left one night.” Cyclone couldn’t disguise the bitterness in her tone. She didn’t even try. That her mother had chosen her tenth Hearths Warming to leave only made it worse. Her dad still had her untouched wrapped up presents in storage all these years later. “Dad says he hasn't heard from her either. I asked my aunt and uncle, but they wouldn't say anything about her.”

“Damn, Cyclone...” all Air Raid could think to do was hold her tight. It didn’t seem enough. “I'm so sorry babes.” She snuggled into her side and licked her ear.

“All I remember was falling and there wasn't anything I could do until dad swooped me up.” Cyclone didn’t fight the hug. She allowed the warmth of Air Raid’s body to spread through her and lift her spirits. “When I fly it’s all I think about.”

“Gee, I wonder why heights freak you out.” Air Raid placed a tender little kiss on her lover’s cheek. “You must just loooove Cloudsdale, huh?”

Cyclone giggled, her marefriend’s good natured sarcasm doing its job. “Clouds are not transparent and I stay well away from the edges. Flying ten feet above a cloud is just like flying ten feet above the ground.”

“I guess you're right.” Air Raid chuckled. She decided what was needed here was comedy. To that end she said, “At least you can go through them if you want to. That last crash I had? It was due to fog, of all things.”

“So you can't manipulate clouds at all?”

“Nope!” Air Raid replied with a giggle. “The bike I was trying out just shot straight on and I was plastered on the end of the fog bank, it was just like a cartoon!”

Cyclone snorted, and in the couple of seconds it took for her to fully realise and picture that mental image, she raised a hoof to her sides and broke out laughing. Really properly belly laughing. So hard the hug was broken and she rolled on the bed. “Oh…oh…teehee! Ah, ah…I’m sorry, ahem, sorry, but that is...that is…”

“Really funny?” Air Raid supplied for her guffawing mare. Struggling to get her laughter under control, Cyclone just nodded and wiped away the tears from her cheeks. “It didn't do my neck any favours, but apart from that I'm fine, only the pride was hurt.”

Cyclone’s laughter died away to a fit of giggles. “Why I wear a nappy. Saves my pride when I get scared pissless from heights.”

“Hmm…” Air Raid tapped her chin as if she were considering it. “I don't think I'd fit one under my racing suit. You know how very, very tight that is.”

“I do,” Cyclone purred as she wiggled her eyebrows. “I do indeed.” Thoughts of her marefriend dressed in her figure hugging racing suit, obscenely tight in all the very right places, crossed her mind. “I might like that better than you in onesie. Almost as revealing as you parading with your tail up.”

Air Raid leant in to her partner and kissed her lips just as her cell phone rung. “Uuugh!” She grunted in frustration at having to break the kiss. “Hang on a sec, love.” Reaching for her ringing phone on the nightstand beside the bed and answered it, flicking the device onto speaker so Cyclone would hear it.

“Hey Raid!” Darkstar’s chirpy voice sounded from the speaker.

“H-Hey…” Air Raid tried to keep her voice even. She failed. Picturing Darkstar and Cloud Blossom in bedroom together she tried so hard not to giggle like a filly. She failed completely. “H-Hey Darkie…”

Rolling her blue eyes at her immature marefriend, Cyclone decided to speak up. “Sleep well?”

“Very well, thank you, Cy.” Darkstar replied. This much was certainly true. “It was a long day yesterday.” Not to mention she had been, in the modern parlance, ‘shagged out’, by the time her and her mare were finished. “Raid?” Darkstar asked down the line, for all she could hear from the other end was a certain mare’s sniggering. “Why're you laughing?”

Thinking quickly so that Air Raid didn’t say something to land them both in a mountain of horseapples, Cyclone jumped in with; “You said 'long' and Raid's horn can be very long!” Her mouth already half open to indeed say something incredibly witty, Air Raid burst out laughing instead.

“Huh...” Darkstar at least sounded amused at that. “I take it you two had fun last night?”

Air Raid mouthed 'You Tell Her' to Cyclone as she laughed on the hotel bed. Shaking her head like a disapproving teacher, which made her laugh even harder, Cyclone said, “We did! There was some role playing and…” she broke off with a giggle, “Did you and your friend play dress up?”

“My marefriend, Cy.” Darkstar corrected her. “And speaking of dresses, I'm having some measurements taken at the boutique if you want to come over before we leave. I'm leaving for Canterlot afterwards with my Cloudy.”

At that, Cyclone quietly gave Air Raid a very meaningful 'look' and the lime green mare finally stopped laughing and returned the 'look'. It was safe to assume both pegasi were thinking the same thing.

After a moment of silence, Darkstar asked, “Are you two still there?”

Cyclone gave her lover a hard nudge with the elbow of her foreleg to her ribs. “Yeah, we're still here, when you going?”

“Ahem...” Air Raid blushed. “Yeah, still here Darkie.”

“In an hour or two maybe,” Darkstar replied with a silent nod from her partner who was stood next to her in the kitchen of Sweet Apple Acres. “After I'm done over at the boutique.”

“Okay, we'll stop by.” The jet black pegasus winked at her lover. “Do we need to give your marefriend the 'talk'? I don't want you coming home pregnant now, young filly.”

Darkstar laughed out loud, as did Cloud Blossom. “No Ma'am, I'll be sure to be safe.”

Cyclone simply nodded and allowed Air Raid to close up the conversation. “Jeez...what d'you make of that?” She asked once she’d put her cell back on the nightstand.

“Maybe she's seen the light?” Cyclone asked rhetorically, with an appropriate shrug.

Air Raid couldn’t resist. She’d been such a good mare all through the phone call, now she gave in. “Huh…I thought we saw the light, erupting from her horn last night?”

“I'm so not going there.” Instead, Cyclone reached for her ever present supply of clean nappies and her spare, dry, onesie.

Impishly, Air Raid giggled as she fished in her other saddlebag for the racing suit she’d bought along, in case the situation called for her to wear it. “It had an effect on you though,” she kissed Cyclone’s ear and started to get dressed. “I thought you'd never stop last night.”

“Not that you were complaining.” Cyclone replied with a blush as she strapped the new clean nappy around her waist.

“Not at all, my love. Not at all,” Air Raid gave the younger mare a naughty wink as she tugged the tight white racing suit up her hind legs and over her hind quarters. “Oh, I have suffered, with those that I saw suffer!” She giggled with the passage from her favourite play and continued to shoe horn herself into the tight suit while Cyclone dressed herself in her sun yellow onesie.

~ ~ ~

“It’s a short walk to Carousel Boutique and we can do breakfast afterwards.” Cyclone commented a short time later out on the sidewalk. Walking side by side with her marefriend, wings both draped over each other, they’d not long since left the Manefair Hotel and already they had passed Roseluck’s Flower Emporium.

Deferring to Cyclone’s greater local knowledge, Air Raid nodded her agreement, and giggled like a filly when Roseluck gave her a foul look as they passed. It was then that the lime green pegasus noticed a tray of very familiar flowers being offered at a substantial discount. “What have you got in mind?” She asked, a bright red blush colouring her cheeks.

“Sugarcube Corner.” Cyclone replied quickly. “Maybe the royal ass will be having breakfast.”

Quick as a flash Air Raid’s grey eyes narrowed to slits and she snorted through her nose. “I'm not eating if Dusk is there after what he said before!” Angrily she stomped her forehoof into the pavement of the sidewalk and sped up.

Cyclone giggled. Normally she’d be content to ogle the perfect hindquarters framed perfectly by the skin tight racing suit, but she really didn’t want a funky mood clouding their day. “Okay, I got it. Maybe we can do some cloud walking instead?”

“I swear I'll do time for him Cy!” She then performed a series of deep calming breaths. She really had no desire to revisit Big Red, after all. “Wait, what...what about Cloudsdale?”

Cyclone nodded eagerly, happy to see her diversionary tactic worked. “We can stop by my place and I know some other places to go that would be fun.”

“You got Trixie's clubs in Cloudsdale, right?” Air Raid asked, though the question was somewhat redundant. Trixie’s chain of adult clubs were everywhere, and almost as popular as the MiAC stores. “Plus, I wanna see this hotel of yours that isn't fit for a cloud mite.”

“Okay,” the jet black mare grudgingly admitted, “maybe it is fit for a dead cloud mite.”

Air Raid sighed a very deep troubled sigh. She’d been wrestling with these particular thoughts since herself and Darkstar had met Cyclone at Ponyville train station yesterday morning. She had a pretty good idea how the conversation was going to go, but regardless she opened her mouth. “Look, Cyclone...”

Now, the actual use of her full name did get the black mare’s attention. The last time Air Raid had called her ‘Cyclone’ was back when she’d had the lime green pony tied up at her house in Canterlot. As they rounded a corner and moved on to Canter Avenue with Aloe and Lotus’s Day Spa on their left with Bangs’s Mane Salon on the right, they saw the boutique was in sight just a few blocks away. “Yes, Raid?”

“I ah...” ‘Oh jeez how do I say this so I don’t piss her off?’ She thought quickly to herself. “I can help you out, if you want outta the hotel sooner…”

Now Cyclone sighed. She knew her lover meant well, and really for a famous pony Air Raid never really flaunted her money around. Cyclone kinda liked her for that. Still. “We've covered this.” She said gently but firmly putting her hoof down. “I'm going to talk to my dad. I just want my own place. What I have isn't bad, but the cost is.”

“I know you wanna do it on your own Cy, and I get it…” Air Raid replied perhaps a little too quickly. She thought of her bank balance and the money resting there not doing anything. “It's just, my money isn't doing anything, and I wanna help!”

“I know you do, Raid.” Cyclone knew her marefriend only wanted to help, that was why she wasn’t tearing her a new one right now. “Come up to the clouds with me and that is help enough.”

“Alright.” Air Raid went quiet as they walked a little further past the salon and spa and on past the chocolate shop. The irony of a chocolate shop situated next to the pampering businesses escaped her for the moment as she was thinking. “Out of interest...” she started as casually as she could manage, “Suppose, let’s just say, if I were interested, what are the house prices like in Cloudsdale? Y’know, if I were interested?”

“Well, it all depends on neighbourhood and size.” Cyclone answered, not catching Air Raid’s tone straight away. “Low end is about five hundred thou and the high end can go up to ten mil bits.”

“Huh...” Air Raid processed that. Five hundred thousand wouldn’t make a dent in what she had in the bank, thanks to her race winnings and sponsor pay outs. She could easily afford that, or maybe something even better. “That's not too bad. So, you’ve been checking out house prices in Cloudsdale. What about larger than single bedrooms, you know for guests?"

Cyclone shrugged. “Depends on what you want.”

“What would you want,” Air Raid started, subtly – for her – asking what she wanted to ask. “Y’know, supposing you were interested?”

Now the bit dropped. Shaking her head with a wry smile, Cyclone cut that bud before it had chance to flower. “Air Raid. You're not buying me a house saying you're buying it for yourself. And Raid, you're not buying a house so you can have me as a permanent guest either.”

‘Damn!’ Air Raid kicked her forehoof at an imaginary rock on the sidewalk. “Darn...you caught on to my subtle ruse.”

“Yeah, as subtle as that rock you kicked.” Cyclone sniggered and tightened the grip of her wing she held around her marefriend’s back. “Raid, I loves ya, but I'm not taking your money. You can buy breakfast though.”

Recognising when she had been shut down, Air Raid dropped the issue. She wasn’t happy about it, but she knew there was nothing she could do. “You got a deal love, and I promise not to bring it up again.”

“I'm cool with that.” Cyclone replied, glad that was out of the way. Looking both ways for traffic, of which there wasn’t very much at all, the two mares crossed the dirt path over the street to Carousel Boutique. “So, what’s the plan if Darkie is telling the truth?” She asked, changing the subject just in case her lover changed her mind.

“What can we do?” Air Raid asked, distracted by thoughts of their friend. And what they had seen her doing last night. “She's a big mare. A sexy mare who by the way ranks higher than me…” she winked at her partner’s outraged look. “As long as she's happy who are we to judge whether it's her brother she's with or a mare?” Then she grinned a mischievous grin. “We can of course wind her up something rotten.”

“I like that plan.” Saying that, Cyclone noted the ‘open’ sign and pushed open the door with a little ring of the bell above it. Nodding, Air Raid walked in beside her and surreptitiously licked her ear. As Cyclone squirmed in her yellow onesie, she saw Darkstar positioned on a low platform in the centre of the main showroom and Rarity, with her back to them, was using her magic to move the tape to measure various points of her lithe body.

Nearby on her aunt’s chaise, Cloud Blossom was sat watching every movement the pure white unicorn made at the behest of her aunt. All three mare’s turned to look whom had entered as the bell rang with the door opening. “I'll be with you in a few minutes, darlings,” Rarity greeted the two newcomers with a pleasant smile, her eyes immediately drawn to the black mare and her onesie. “Please feel free to look around.”

“No problem, Ma'am,” Air Raid started, taking a moment to look around the boutique. Like Darkstar, she was accustomed to the Canterlot Boutique run by Sassy Saddles. “We're friends of your new ponyquin over there.”

“Oh, hey guys!” Darkstar waved at her two friends, earning herself a frown from Rarity for moving.

Over on the chaise, Cloud Blossom thought she recognised the voices from the phone call the night before. “Those the ones that called you at dinner?”

“We are, yes.” The lime green mare walked over and held her hoof out for a bump, which Cloud duly returned. “I'm Air Raid and this cute little foal is Cyclone.”

“Cloudy,” Darkstar spoke up but otherwise stood perfectly still lest she be tapped by Rarity’s tape measure. “These are the ones you said I was lucky to have watching out for me.”

Cloud Blossom smiled. “Did my Aunt Pinkie set you up right?”

Wandering over to a selection of faux leather dresses that Air Raid was sure left absolutely nothing to the imagination once worn, she nodded. “Uh huh, streamers, balloons, disco ball AND an apple and rhubarb cobbler.”

“Was a good cobbler!” Likewise, Cyclone was browsing. She’d seen a rail with the cutest foal clothing she’d ever seen, and she was wondering if Rarity made them in her size.

‘I’d love Cy to parade me wearing these…’ Air Raid thought as she admired the dresses. “But how did she...”

“Just go with it Raid,” Darkstar snickered, remembering what Cloud had told her. “Don't question it.”

“Even Princess Twi doesn't question Aunt Pinkie.” Cloud smiled and blew her lover a kiss.

Rarity smiled and levitated over her notepad to scribble down the measurements she had made. She attributed it to her age, but her memory wasn’t what it used to be. Something Sweetie delighted in reminding her. ‘Three…two…’ “No one does, dear.” She smiled and continued her mental countdown, reaching ‘one’ just as the door burst open behind Cyclone and Air Raid to reveal her pink tornado.

“Question what?” Pinkie Pie bounced into the boutique, making a beeline for her wife.

“How much I love you, darling.”

“It's like you summoned her or something…” Air Raid shook her head, wary in case another cannon went off from nowhere.

‘I could so see me wearing these…’ With a concerted effort Cyclone tore herself away from the rack of foal clothes and turned her attention back to Darkstar – to say nothing of the two very famous mares hugging – “Ahem...so ah, you two, you're together now?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Cloud Blossom asked, inured by long exposure to her aunt’s antics.

“Not at all, Miss...” Air Raid tried to rescue the situation, only to be cut off by her marefriend.

“We just always thought of Darkie as straight, y'know...” Cyclone interrupted, and rolled her blue eyes when her partner cut across her.

“…'cos she said she was!” Air Raid finally finished the sentence, making the two of them look like an ill-timed comedy act.

“Whaaaaaat?” Pinkie Pie pulled away from her impromptu make out session and looked intently at the two mares, her innate Pinkie-ness kicking in. “You two lovebirds never heard that door opens both ways?”

“What my love is trying to say is, she’s bi.” Rarity supplied for the benefit of those ponies who didn’t speak Pinkie. She then got back to her measurements. Blushing as she had to retake a couple as she had forgotten them already.

“What she said.” Pinkie, naturally being fluent in Blush as well as Ear Flick, of course caught the meaning of her wife’s blush now and effortlessly bounced over and gave her a kiss. Thankfully both mares spoke Kiss.

“Raid, Cy, I'm happy.” Darkstar felt the need to say something at this juncture. “We're happy.”

“Cool, what's your plans?” Cyclone found her eyes drawn back to the foal clothes. “You said something about going back to Canterlot.”

Darkstar nodded, standing with her four legs to let Rarity get her inside leg measurements. “I was going to take her to my place, maybe let her meet mum.”

Now that immediately got both of her friend’s attention. Air Raid’s ears perked straight up. “Darkie...” she knew what a huge step that was and would be for her.

Darkstar took a defensive stance as Rarity turned to her clipboard that was held by Pinkie. Shame it was bouncing. At least until the pink mare got pouted at. “Well, it's only fair, I met hers.”

“Okay Darkie,” Cyclone offered gently. Understandably, none of their group had met Shining Star, but they all knew where she was and what that meant. “But, you really should talk a bit before you meet her.”

“I can handle it.” Cloud Blossom stated confidently. Looking from mare to mare, she could tell there was an undercurrent of ‘something’ between them, as if the room had dropped several degrees at the mention of Darkstar’s mother. “After all she already said I was better than that Bright stallion.”

“And we will, Cy, it's a long train ride to...to…” Darkstar started, her brain took a few moments to catch up with what Cloud Blossom had said. When it did she went silent.

“She told you about her brother?” Air Raid blurted out with all the tact and grace of one using a heavy battle tank to crush a walnut. The boutique, already frosty, grew virtually arctic, especially with the withering look that Darkstar was now giving Air Raid.

“Brother?” Cloud asked, again looking from mare to mare, and hoping against all hope she was never on the wrong end of the icy death stare that Air Raid was receiving.

“Horseapples.” Cyclone muttered.

“Love,” Rarity put down her tape measure. “We have a chocolate emergency!”

“On it!” Pinkie Pie put her wife’s clipboard in her mane, to keep it safe, and zipped like a blur through to the kitchen.

“He teehee he...” Air Raid rubbed the back of her blue maned head, looking desperately for a way out. There wasn’t any. “Um…did I ah, did I say brother?” She tried hitching up a wide fake smile. “Ha...what I meant was...”

“No, Air Raid meant what she said.” Darkstar held her head up high and spoke with a confidence. After all it was the truth. “Yes. The Brightstar I've been intimate with is my brother. And no, by the way, I'm not ashamed of it.” Certainly she wasn’t ashamed. She loved her brother dearly, and at the time considering the absence of mother and father, Brightstar was all she had.

Moments later, an impossibly short time, Pinkie Pie showed up with a chocolate fountain and lots of stuff to dip in it with pointy sticks. Rarity smiled her thanks to her wife. “Thank you, my love.” While entirely nothing to do with her, she was nonetheless grateful for her partner’s intervention.

“Not a big deal.” Cloud Blossom shrugged, not concerned in the slightest. “My uncle is my father.”

“He is? I mean, of course it's no big deal!” Air Raid flustered, desiring very much for the ground to open up and swallow her, she helped herself to a pointy stick. “We've always been cool with Darkie!”

“Cloudy, there's a reason why, and I promise I'll tell you on the train.”

“Okay.” Cloud Blossom puffed up her chest, full of pride. Not just at her new lover and her open honesty but at her own abilities in bed. “After all, I'm still better than him.” She finished with a giggle.

Cyclone crept over and quietly helped herself to some of the fondue. “I think I'll just stay quiet.”

Darkstar lit her horn and levitated a chocolate covered stick over to her. “Yes you were.” She gave Cloud a wink. “A lot better.”

“Well ah, we have news too,” Air Raid said, fishing for any excuse at all to change the subject. “Right, Cy?”

“I'm not Raid's brother.” Cyclone said quickly, earning herself a gale of laughter from all the mares in the boutique, in particular Cloud Blossom.

“Cy and I are dating.” Air Raid supplied, and Pinkie shot her a very knowing look.

“And not Dateline's dates.” Cyclone put in, and Cloud Blossom opened and then closed her mouth with a smile while Air Raid beamed a happy beaming smile.

Darkstar floated her fondue stick back to the fountain, all at once concerned. “You ah...Nana and foal, together or 'together', together?”

Air Raid understood the need for the question, given Cyclone’s recent past with the little filly and why she was living in Cloudsdale now. The question was necessary. “We're together in all ways, right Cy?”

Cyclone too understood why Darkstar had asked that, and she was grateful her friend felt comfortable enough to ask it. She pointed a hoof to Air Raid. “Nana,” she said simply and put the hoof on her chest. “Foal.” Leaving the hoof there she said, “Dom,” she pointed the hoof back at Air Raid. “Sub.” She put the hoof on the floor. “I think it will work out.”

“What she said, Darkie.” Air Raid sniggered, realising she sounded a lot like Pinkie then as she went over and hugged Cyclone, her marefriend and her dominant, tightly.

Now it was Darkstar’s turn to beam out a happy smile. “Then, I'm happy for you both.”

“Finished!” Rarity declared melodically once her measurements were completed and jotted down. “The two items will be ready in one week.”

“That's our cue.” Cloud carefully got up from the chaise and walked on her three legs to hug her lover.

“Indeed it is.” Darkstar welcomed the hug and returned it as tightly as she could, then she made her voice sound clearly in Cyclone's ear. “You spank her ass good, she's a very naughty pony.”

Grinning, Cyclone nodded. “I guess we can grab a cab and head up to Cloudsdale. Have fun Darkie, I know I will.”

Darkstar smiled. “You two be good, now.”

“Yeah we can, that's no problem Cy.” Air Raid smiled at the white unicorn. “Take care of her, Cloud.”

“Thank you Auntie Rarity, Auntie Pinkie.” Cloud Blossom swatted at Darkstar’s ass playfully, “I’ll see you both when I'm next in town.”

“You wanna head out Cy,” Air Raid started, “we can go get that breakfast.”

Cyclone smiled at her marefriend, then she spoke to the pink earth pony. “Excuse me, Ms. Pie, are there any royal stallions over at Sugarcube Corner?”

Without looking up from her new make out session with Rarity, Pinkie shook her head. “Nopes!”

“Sweet, then we can go.” Air Raid sounded relieved at that but didn’t go into details then and there. Instead she turned to follow Darkstar, Cloud Blossom and Cyclone out of the boutique. “Thank you, Ms. Pie, Ms. Rarity.”

~ ~ ~

“While my uncle is my father, he wasn't related to my mom, but that is neither here nor there.” Cloud Blossom said presently, wrapping her right wing around her young lover. They’d been on the Friendship Express for forty five minutes in complete silence and the pale green pegasus knew they weren’t far away from Canterlot now. “It is about trust. I'll take it you really trust your brother.”

“There was nopony else.” Darkstar replied bleakly, staring as she had been for the past twenty minutes or so out of the train carriage at the scenery whizzing past. Usually she’d be happy and smiling as she watched the steam train climb higher up the side of Canterlot Mountain, but today her brain felt disconnected from the rest of her body. “Our dad is who knows where and mom's gone.”

“Gone?” Cloud Blossom asked, immediately picking up on the irregular verb at the end of her lover’s sentence. “But, you said you'd take me to see her.” Pausing, the pale green mare proceeded carefully. “Is she...well...is she?”

“No.” Darkstar sighed heavily, still looking out of the carriage window at the scenery. “It'd be easier if she was. It's…complicated.” Straightaway she hated herself for saying that, but it was how she felt.

Turning the younger mare around, Cloud Blossom wrapped her forelegs around her shoulders and hugged her tight. “Hey,” she said gently, “life is neither easy nor is it fair. If it was I'd have four legs.” She lightly bopped Darkstar’s nose. “But never wish anypony dead.”

Darkstar looked her partner in the face but she wasn’t looking at her. “Mom's insane.” She said simply without any window dressing. “She's been in Canterlot Asylum for five years now, since me and Brightstar were fourteen.”

“Oh…” for a few moments the silence between the two mares was only broken by the clackity-clack of the Friendship Express’s wheels on the rails as it thundered up the mountain. “Momma Jack tells me about when she lost her folks at a young age. Took me there many a time to see them. I thought that was hard, but you...does she know you?” Cloud felt a huge burst of sympathy for the young unicorn. To have your relatives gone was one thing, but to have them ‘gone’ but still there at the same time, well she didn’t know how she’d cope with that.

That this pretty young mare was coping with it and making a success of herself only made Cloud love her more.

“Sometimes.” Darkstar nodded. “Then again, sometimes she thinks she's the embodiment of Nightmare Moon. Or General Firefly or anypony in between.” The pure white mare nestled deeper into Cloud’s body. “She was an illusionist like me. Shining Star. She supported Trixie Lulamoon in her stage act, before she opened up the chain of clubs. Then, she started to lose control of her magic. Soon she couldn't tell what was real or illusion.”

“So,” Cloud probed, “could you go down that path?”

“Yes, Cloudy.” Darkstar admitted it, and doing so she felt a weight lift from her shoulders. “There's every chance I could lose control of my magic just like mom did. She was thirty four when it happened, but age means nothing here.”

‘I don’t care…I love you!’ Cloud Blossom didn’t voice her thought, she simply tightened her hug to the point that her marefriend could barely breathe. “And the best way for you to not go down that path without giving up on your illusions is?”

“Well,” Darkstar replied a little guiltily, “there's a yearly check up at the hospital that assesses brain patterns and other clever things, and there's medication I should...I mean, I do, take as well.”

Cloud Blossom giggled. “So you just need a nudge. I'll guess that was Bright's job?”

“Hmm.” Darkstar murmured. “He keeps telling me not to skip the hospital appointments. Says I'm not doing myself any favours.” She gave a little sigh now that they had come full circle as it were. “That brings us back to Bright. After mom left it was just us. Sure we got friends, but I soon started going into heat...and, he was there, and it was easy, and it just sorta, kinda happened. We didn’t plan it. It just felt right.”

Cloud nodded her understanding. “I take it your friends know?”

“They do.” Darkstar giggled, “One time we forgot to lock the front door. Apparently I’m a screamer.”

“They all must love you then as they aren't telling anypony else.”

“You said it.” Darkstar kissed Cloud’s nose. “I'm lucky to have them.”

“I'm short on friends.” The admission almost killed her to say out loud, but it was true. “Lots of admirers, but very few care about me, and more about my art. I have my aunts though that that is nice.”

“What about your sister?”

It was a very innocent question. Asked innocently. Cloud Blossom tried to remind herself of that as she took several deep breaths and silently she counted to ten. “We have parted ways and haven't seen eye to eye in many years.” She answered simply and shortly, though she tried her best to keep the terseness from her voice. It wasn’t Darkstar’s fault by any stretch. “She feels I was favoured because of my disability. I leave her alone and she leaves me alone.”

“That's stupid.” Darkstar blinked once then twice. “Was that why she was arrested?”

‘Grrrr…’ Cloud growled inwardly. “If you please, Darkie, can we not talk about Apple Honey?”

“Oh um, sure thing.” Mentally Darkstar kicked herself. “Never mention her again.”

With a questioning look on her face, Cloud Blossom smiled sweetly. A little too sweetly. “Mention who?”

Darkstar tried. She really did try. But she failed utterly. “You gonna ring her?” Quietly, Cloud Blossom just looked at Darkstar with that same questioning look and patiently waited. “Alright, I'm sorry. That was the last time. I Promise.” Just then her phone beeped to alert her to the receipt of a text message.

Cloud Blossom sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hoof. “Darkie, you can't fix the world.”

“No, you can't.” Darkstar agreed, somewhat sadly. “Like mom used to say, ‘The hardest thing in the world is to live in it.’” Checking her phone, she scowled like it had personally wronged her and put it away in her saddlebag.

“One of your friends?”

“Hardly, babes.” There was no disguising the irritation in her voice. “The hospital. Shouting at me for missing my appointment yesterday. They want me to go in tomorrow.”

“Why yes, Darkie, I'd be happy to escort you to the hospital.” Cloud Blossom smiled and gently nuzzled her marefriend’s neck, peppering it with lots of little delicate kisses. “Thank you for asking.”

Pulling away from the tender nuzzle, Darkstar looked down at the table, and in a tiny voice said, “Thank you.”

Satisfied, Cloud pulled her into another tight hug. “I may as well get my check up too,” she started, “They say using a chisel will ruin my hooves eventually.”

Willingly Darkstar nestled into the hug. Idly she wondered if this was going to be her default position for the rest of her life now. She smiled as that was a very nice thought indeed. “Your hooves are perfect.” She sighed happily, contentedly, breathing in Cloud’s scent of aloe. “I was going to tell you all this, I promise.”

“And you've kept that promise.” Cloud Blossom whispered caringly in Darkstar’s ear as the Express entered the long tunnel that lead on to Canterlot station. “Anypony ever tell you that you worry too much?”

“Um, Bright...and Raid, Cy, Dusky, Wily...um, the mail mare and Java who owns the cafe, Professor Rosetta...” Darkstar paused and smiled just as her marefriend giggled in her ear. In turn the pure white mare giggled and kissed her nose. “Yeah, I suppose I do worry a bit. Or a lot.”

“I try to only worry about the things I can and should change.” Cloud Blossom said with a smile. “I get less grey hairs in my mane that way.”

“I dunno, I think grey would suit you.” Darkstar smiled. “Your mane is as perfect as your hooves. But, I've been rather naughty. I've kinda skipped the last hospital appointment.”

“Out of fear?” Cloud asked gently, nuzzling her lover’s cheek. “I don't skip, as the worst they'll tell me is I can't carve anymore, and I'll just ignore that.”

Darkstar nodded. “Fear, maybe. I really don't like hospitals.” First her mother had left her in a hospital, and so had Wildfire. No, she didn’t care for hospitals.

“I like leaving hospitals.” Cloud whispered, kissing gently up to her marefriend’s ear in the tunnel, “But in order to leave you have to first go in.”

“Alright.” Darkstar conceded, “You win, but just because you're cute.”

“All of me is cute, but this one feather here…” she raised her wing and tickled Darkstar’s ear and then her muzzle with the leading primary feather, “is really cute.” Under the feathery assault, the pure white unicorn burst out laughing. “See, my cuteness has overwhelmed you!

Laughing uncontrollably, Cloud pulled her wing away thankfully before any hiccups could set in, and Darkstar thought for a moment. “Cloudy? Thanks, for coming to see mom with me. I don’t like seeing her on my own. It's...” she sniffed away a sudden tear, “it's not…” she sniffed again, this time two tears made it through. “N-Not too bad when she's herself...b-but o-other t-times it's hard!”

“Thanks for agreeing to go to the hospital with me.” Cloud Blossom tightened her hug when she realised her lover was crying. “You're not alone. I can't imagine what it’s like, but you're not alone.” She paused while Darkstar snivelled and cried in her hug for a good few long minutes, letting it all out in floods of hot salty tears. Not knowing what else to do, Cloud Blossom just held her and said nothing as the steam train exited the long tunnel with the city of Canterlot now in sight.

Now back in the fresh air, Darkstar wiped her eyes and nose as the train started to slow down. “Ahem...um…t-thanks, I'm ah, fine, now.”

“Yeah, when are any of us fine.” Cloud Blossom stroked the younger mare’s grey mane affectionately, lovingly comforting her as the Friendship Express pulled into the station in a screech of brakes and a billow of white smoke. “Take it a day at a time. So, you want to go to my place first or yours?”

Once the conductor had announced their arrival at Canterlot, and opened the doors on all the carriages to allow the passengers to disembark, the two mares exited the train, only to have a group of three autograph hunters immediately swamp them. More accurately they swamped Cloud. Stopping to sign the autographs before they could even think about escaping the station, Darkstar noted that none of the autograph seekers bothered to ask about her. She was cool with that. A bit. Still, she could have a little fun. “Gee, Miss Famous Pony,” she patted Cloud’s flank like a filly bothering her mother, “can I has an autograph too?”

“Of course you can little filly.” Cloud Blossom snickered playfully, warding her off with the nib end of her pen. “You have something for me to sign?”

“Hmhmm!” Darkstar thought of ‘little Brightstar’ the sex toy in her saddlebag with a smile on her face and looked around at the throng of ponies milling around on the station. “You might not wanna sign it out here though.”

“Hmm…” Darkstar’s suggestive wink gave the sculptress an idea. Studying her flank, in particular her three black stars cutie mark arranged in a triangle, she grinned. “I think I can get my signature under the top star, or I could get a white marker.”

Immediately the pure white unicorn presented her flank to her lover. “Please sign my flank. I'd just love everypony to know who I belong to.” As Cloud Blossom proceeded to do just that, a few ponies stopped to stare and more than a few sniggered as she signed her name between the top one and bottom two black stars. She even made the O's in ‘Cloud Blossom’ look like hearts. Looking at her flank, Darkstar giggled proudly. “Hmmm, thank you love.”

Putting her pen away, Cloud Blossom thoughtfully hailed a yellow cab. “Let's get a taxi to my place. Too far for me to walk, and way too far for you to fly. Your chariot awaits, sexy pony.”

“Thank you Ma'am!” As she sauntered over to the taxi cab she provocatively swayed her fine shapely ass. ‘Hmm, it’s a shame that signature isn't permanent…’ then, another thought occurred to her. A more serious thought. “Actually, Cloudy, is it okay if we go to my place first? Sorry I um, I think I'd like to end up at yours, especially if we’re going to see mom.”

“Not a problem. I don't have anypony waiting for me at home, and I didn’t even plan on being back today.” She cuddled her gently. “How far is it?”

“Um…” Darkstar spoke to the cab driver. “Lower Residential District, over on the east side, twenty eight Bridle Way, please Sir.” She got in the back of the cab wearing a very pronounced blush, as she was well aware that both of them were aware that was where the very cheap seats were. “We used to be over in the Upper District, a much nicer place, until mom left anyway…” she felt the need to explain this, the fact that they used to have money, until her mother’s institutionalisation took almost every bit from them. The Asylum wasn’t cheap.

Getting in the cab next to her marefriend, Cloud Blossom carefully selected and deployed eye roll number sixteen as she silenced the worrying unicorn with a hoof to her lips. “Home is where your rump rests.”

Glumly, Darkstar nodded as the cab lurched into motion. “I guess so.” Then she had a thought. She didn’t know where or how it crept into her head or why it chose that particular moment, but it did. “Cloudy, I got a question.”

Cloud Blossom giggled. “Truth, my love.”

“Alright.” Darkstar took a deep breath. “Yesterday, at the farm, I saw a picture of two foals on the wall, um…Hush and Apple Kicker, I think they were called. Who are they? Are they around somewhere?”

“My older brother and sister.” Cloud Blossom explained. Her tone changed ever so slightly, but there was still a smile on her face. “I never met them in pony, but I can take you to visit them.”

“Oh...oh…” Darkstar instinctively knew what that meant. All of a sudden the fluffy padding around the foals in the picture made sense. As did the fact they were ‘sleeping’. “Cloudy, hun I'm sorry, back on the train, when I said it'd be easy if mom was dead...that...I'm just sorry.”

Wrapping her obviously upset lover in a tight hug – she adored her but she didn’t care for the way she beat herself up. After all she could do that with some rope and a paddle – and affectionately nuzzled her. “They were dead before I was born. Momma Shy talks about them and won't let Momma Jack take down any of the pictures. I've learned to not ask Momma Jack about them.”

Again, for what felt like the millionth time, Darkstar huddled into the aloe scented hug. “I'll assume there was an accident?”

“Yeah,” Cloud Blossom agreed quietly. “Momma Shy got in the way and Momma Jack bucked her good. She was hurt bad, but she lost the foals.”

“Oh sweet Luna's mane!” Shocked, Darkstar just hugged her marefriend tighter.

“Hey, I'm here so it wasn't the end of the world, but Momma Shy loves them both and won't let Momma Jack despair.”

“I'm glad you're here.” Darkstar kissed the hollow of her neck and worked her way up to her ear. “I’m really glad you're here.”

Under the rather sensual assault, the older mare smiled. “I'm right happy about it too.”

At that point in the journey the yellow cab started to leave the 'nice' picturesque part of the Residential District and kept on going over into the East side. Here the houses were only one or two storeys, the facades in a state of general disrepair – a metaphor for the state of Canterlot as whole perhaps - the gardens less well kept. Some were even overgrown with fridges or washing machines out on the yards. As the cab carried on some houses had broken windows, doors hanging off the hinges and smashed boundary walls.

A far cry from the Upper Residential District and an even further from the Noble Quarter. “Heh...” Darkstar blushed bright red. “It's um, it’s not that bad an area, really…” she went quiet as they passed two burnt out cars.

“Darkie, I grew up on a farm.”

“Yeah, but your farm's nice, and this is Canterlot.”

“Hey!” Cloud Blossom pulled away from the hug and put on a fake offended look, nudging her playfully in the ribs. “I’ll have you know I live here.”

“I’m sorry. Cloudy you know full well what I mean.” By the sympathetic look on her face Darkstar could tell her marefriend knew exactly what she meant. You only had to scratch the bright shiny gilded surface of Canterlot to see the rot and corruption underneath. When the cab pulled on to Bridle Way and began to slow down, she said, “Um...can you um, are you okay to ah, get the fare, please?” She hated being broke, and purchasing the yoga set the day before had cleared her out.

Cloud Blossom gave her a light kiss and both mares got out of the cab. “I got it, Darkie.” Smiling she paid the sixty five bit fare she looked over at Darkstar’s place as the cab disappeared in a screech of tires. The stallion driver obviously wasn’t hanging around. “Huh…” she said critically, “from what I’ve heard, I wasn't expecting a roof.”

“Oh ha, ha.” Quickly, Darkstar kissed her marefriend and led the way up the uneven garden path and, pausing to open the several locks on the front door including one dead lock seal that required her specific magical imprint to open, stood aside to allow her partner to enter ahead of her.

Walking carefully into the living room, Cloud Blossom looked around noting, without judgement the faded peeling wallpaper and the mismatched furniture and choosing to ignore the fact that almost everything – from the carpet to the old style television and radio - had an old, battered thrift store look to it. As her parents were fond of saying, ‘Judge a pony by the quality of their heart rather than the quality of their possessions’…or something like that.

She did take note of the fact that on a pair of old bookcases sat a set of pristine, almost gleaming, university languages and magic books from various branches of magic but mostly illusion, as was to be expected. “Alrighty,” Darkstar spoke up, drawing her attention back to the lithe white unicorn, “In this marvellous little palace, we have living room,” she indicated the room they were stood in, “the kitchen through here…” she led Cloud Blossom into a closet sized area. It was all clean but shabby and, in keeping with the rest of the house, nothing matched. Appliances and cutlery were of different colours, makes and ages. “Then, upstairs is our room.”

“Still one bedroom?”

“Hmhmm!” Darkstar murmured as she led the way up the narrow flight of stairs to the upper floor. “Bathroom’s down there at the end of the hallway and the other room still has mom's stuff in it.”

On the upstairs landing, Cloud gave her young lover a leering look. “Will he be watching when I do you?”

Smiling, Darkstar kissed her nose. “He most certainly will. Bright loves to watch…” entirely unnecessarily, she paused in the doorway to their bedroom and with a snicker she bent over to touch the toes of her forehooves with her nose, hiking her grey tail aside to fully display herself.

In appreciation, the sculptress licked her lips – her pale green muzzle scant inches from Darkstar’s lips. And not the ones she kissed with, either. “I think I has here a randy filly…”

Standing up again, she flicked Cloud Blossom’s nose with her tail. “Hmm, you think right, sexy.”

“We’ll have to see if your bed can stand up to the test.”

“Oh...I’m sure it can…” inside the bedroom the room was dominated by a huge old style four poster bed, doubtless it was grand in its day but with the paint chipped, the wood notched and the drapes dusty and worn that day was well past.

The one thing, other than the obvious bed, that Cloud Blossom did notice was the large wall opposite to the bed and to her right was nothing but shelves. Those shelves covered in dance trophies and awards. Drawn to the trophies, Cloud didn’t notice Brightstar’s awards from Stormclaw Academy in Griffonstone. She only had eyes for Darkstar’s things. “Well, you can colour me impressed.” And she was. On the wall there were third place, second place and lots and lots of first place trophies dating from primary school all the way up to university, easily fifteen years’ worth of effort and dedication that Cloud could well emphasise with.

Having seen enough of the many and varied trophies, Cloud walked over to the four poster bed and poked at it with the toe of her hoof. “Want to be sure it doesn't fall through the floor.” She said in response to Darkstar’s questioning look.

Darkstar snickered, “the floor's not that manky…” as she walked over to the bed though, said floorboards did creak rather dangerously, but that particular board always creaked, so the pure white unicorn wasn’t too concerned when she jumped on the bed and bounced on the mattress like a little filly. “See?”

Cloud Blossom wasn’t entirely convinced. She knew her young lover weighed practically nothing. “You kept playing up this place like it was standing on one stick!” Deciding more testing was needed, she jumped up onto the bed and tackled Darkstar onto her back for some serious tongue kissing.

Caught momentarily unprepared, Darkstar nonetheless held her own in the all-to-brief kiss battle. “Well…maybe I exaggerated a little teeny bit.”

“Maybe,” Cloud smiled down at her, “but now I have you where I want you.”

“Yes you do,” Darkstar looked up at the older mare and bit her lip. “Um, you said you know your way around rope?” She asked hopefully (and a little eagerly).

Cloud Blossom paused. “Yes, but on the first date?”

Reaching up and kissing her nose, Darkstar smiled, “we could die tomorrow.”

‘She does have a point,’ Cloud Blossom had to concede that much. Unfortunately, “I don't seem to have any on me right now.”

Grinning, Darkstar lit her horn, and in the bright yellow of her magical aura she levitated over a little toy chest from underneath the bed, roughly two feet across by one feet deep and high, made of lacquered teak. “Bright likes to play cops and robbers.” She said by way of explanation as she rested the box on the bed next to them. “Or there's other toys in there you can use.”

Curiously, Cloud Blossom flipped the lid and opened the box. She was most impressed with the contents, inside were; hoof cuffs, dildos and butt plugs, blindfolds, gags, vibrating eggs, ropes, copious amounts of lube and something that impressed her the most, a pair of very sturdy medical grade shears. That told her a lot. “Well these cuffs would work out nicely right now. On you back, legs in the air.”

“Yes Ma'am!” As Cloud extricated the set of cuffs Darkstar flopped onto her back, her four legs in the air.

Using her wings to steady her lover’s legs, she cuffed each one, buckling the restraints snugly just above her hooves. “I now understand why you have a four poster bed.” Smiling, she lashed the end of short ropes high on each post and she tied the ropes to the hoof cuffs. Once that was done she tightened each rope so that there was no escape and Darkstar was fully immobile.

“Nggh...y-yep!” Darkstar wriggled, or more to say she tried to wriggle, as she tested her bonds. ‘Damn…she’s good at this…’ completely at her marefriend’s mercy, her head was all she could move. Still, she had her magic. “Four posters have their uses.”

Looking in the box once more, Cloud Blossom checked for and found a magical inhibitor. Very carefully indeed, with due reverence for the artefact and what it represented, she lifted the inhibitor out of the box and, noting that it was in fact a level eight ring, looked at the bound mare. “For you or your brother?”

Darkstar’s yellow eyes went wide when she saw the inhibitor. Was she ready for this? To give this mare complete control of her? Immediately she knew the answer to her own question. “It’s ah, for him to use on me, for when the copper has caught his little thief.”

Taking a moment, Cloud asked, “May I?” It needed to be asked. It also needed to be answered truthfully. After a moment, when Darkstar nodded, the pale green mare smiled. “Somepony must be a naughty filly.” Using her wings, she lowered the gold and silver ring onto Darkstar’s horn, making sure to brush the entire length of it with her feathers.

“Aaaaah...” Darkstar quivered in the hoof cuffs as little jolts of pleasure shot down her horn. “Aah I'm n-not talking!”

Once the inhibitor was on, and the game begun, Cloud Blossom trailed her wingtips slowly around Darkstar’s bound and exposed body looking for any weak ticklish points she could exploit later. “Oh, you’re not talking, eh?” Her tone was slightly different, more domineering, definitely in control.

“N-No!” Darkstar liked this change. Whether it was her bindings, or the change in Cloud’s tone, she noticed her voice had changed too. She wasn’t as confident. She was afraid, but it was a good fear, an aroused fear. “I-I…I n-never took the cookies, c-copper!” She flinched as the feathers brushed over her underarms and her belly.

Cloud Blossom of course immediately caught this reaction. With an uncharacteristic smirk, she asked, “And what would happen if I tell Aunt Rarity's lover you're a cookie thief?”

“I-I ain't n-no thief!” Darkstar played along, getting into her role, however the nervous anticipation was entirely very genuine. “Ya c-can't pin it on m-me!”

“Of course the same earth pony says unicorns taste really sweet,” in a stark contrast to the nervous shivering of her lover, Cloud Blossom was utterly in control. “And, she should know what sweet is.” Cloud teased, but she was observing her marefriend all the time. She could tell the nervous stutter was not an act. ‘Time to make this fun again,’ with that thought in her mind she moved her muzzle down between her spread open hind legs and breathed deeply of her aroused and puffy marehood.

“Ooooh...I w-won't talk...” Darkstar’s resistance was fast crumbling though with each exhalation breath that washed over her hard swollen clitoris. “L-Lo-ousy fuzz…” Cloud Blossom merely giggled into her glistening marehood as she lapped away, her experienced tongue running over her labia. “Aaaaah n-no!” The white mare squirmed in the bindings as she got very wet indeed. “No m-matter what you doooooo!”

Now she had her warmed up, Cloud Blossom decided to take a risk and moved herself around on top of the younger mare so that they were now in a sixty nine position. Darkstar, having watched Air Raid and Wildfire enough times, knew that was expected of her, she knew what Cloud was asking. “Wow...prettiest officer ever...” presented with the immaculate vagina mere inches above her face she took a moment to breathe in her scent – as well as to muster her nerve - and gave it a tentative probing lick.

Cloud Blossom took that as a ‘yes’ and lowered herself further onto Darkstar’s muzzle as she probed deeper with her tongue. “Mmmm!” Darkstar moaned lustily and slid her own tongue into Cloud’s moist marehood, licking the muscular walls. Getting into it, the pegasus sat on her face and dived in deep.

“MmMM!” Darkstar breathed in, inhaling just Cloud’s aloe scent as she attempted to pleasure her. On top of her young lover, Cloud Blossom wasn’t worried about Darkstar’s technique, or lack thereof, just that she was there. She however put her experience to work.

“Oooooh!” Darkstar bucked her hips a little, as much as she could move given how she was bound, now very wet indeed. She realised she was lacking experience, and in the throes of her pleasure, she just registered that Cloud had liked what she had just done. ‘Huh...she licked like that...I'll try and copy…’ she thought, and tried to copy roughly what she was doing to her.

Cloud Blossom squirmed as Darkstar lapped at her marehood, but she was determined to make the unicorn cum first, and as she wrapped her lips tight around her clit and sucked upon it, she got her wish. With precisely two more hard sucks Darkstar let out a very loud, very muffled scream as she climaxed into Cloud’s mouth.

Happy at a job – and mare – well done, Cloud Blossom drank what Darkstar produced and moved on to lick her crotch clean while underneath her Darkstar lapped with a renewed vigour to get her off as well. “Yesssss!” Cloud moaned as now fully relaxed she orgasmed all over the unicorn’s white face. “Oh…I so needed that!”

“Was um...I was I, did I do it right?” Darkstar asked hesitantly. She knew for a fact she hadn’t been as good at pleasuring Cloud as she had been at pleasuring her.

“Can’t say I know a wrong way to do 'it' unless you don't do it at all.” Cloud Blossom replied kindly. While Darkstar had lapped at her like old Winona had once lapped at her bowl of water, there was no need to tell her that. “Well that sure worked me up an appetite.” She said, deftly changing the subject as her belly rumbled. “You said you could cook.”

“I can cook.” Darkstar defended herself. “Do you want pony or zebran?”

Going from one leg to the other, Cloud Blossom unbuckled the hoof cuffs but left them tied to the bed’s four posts when Darkstar waved a hoof at her. “Anything that ain't got no apples in it, please.” She giggled and carefully removed the ring from around her white horn. “Isn't zebran that fancy Manehatten food?”

“Yup!” Darkstar giggled as she flexed her freed legs. “I love zebras. I studied their language at Uni.”

“Hmm, I guess I'm game for that, but I do have one rule on food.” She looked seriously at Darkstar for a moment. “If I'm going to eat it you're going to eat it too.”

“Alrighty!” Still giggling, she got up and skipped off of the bed. “I has grasshoppers and a whole load of other good stuff to feed you.”

Getting up as well onto her three legs, Cloud Blossom snickered. “I guess one way to keep the vermin from eating the crops is to eat the vermin.”

“Huh…I never thought of it that way.” Darkstar smiled and she swished her grey tail. She hadn’t considered that, but of course living on a farm she’d be familiar with bugs and other staples of zebran cuisine. “C'mon sexy…” still swishing her tail teasingly she led the way downstairs to the kitchen. Without question, Cloud followed her swishing tail, eyes glued to the white hindquarters.

“I think you'd follow my tail anywhere…” Darkstar commented from in the kitchen.

“Most likely true.” Cloud admitted openly.

“I hope so...um...let's see, grasshoppers and locusts with casu marzu cheese and garlic bread sound alright?”

Cloud smiled, “My cooking is take out or microwave.”

Darkstar giggled. “Just like Raid.” Using her magic, she turned on the electric oven and set it to the right temperature to get the oven preheating. “Cloudy, can you pass over that red pot there? That's the grasshoppers.” She pointed to a collection of different sized, different coloured pots on the worktop behind her as she got out two frying pans, both different. “Sorry, everything's not matching.”

Hovering around the small kitchen, Cloud Blossom hoofed her marefriend the pot she had asked for and sighed. “I'll have you know, that when I was growing up, Momma Shy always served food on the good china.”

“Thanks babes.” Darkstar, having retrieved the garlic bread from the freezer that had seen better days, she set them on a tray in the oven and she emptied the insects from the red pot held in her hooves and from a blue one held in her magic into the two heated frying pans, she then pointed to a stack of plates of all colours shapes and sizes. “That there, that is, the good stuff.”

Cloud Blossom nodded, watching with a fascination as her marefriend fried off the dead grasshoppers and locusts. “When I was a filly I broke a plate washing it. Thought I was in big trouble. Momma Jack asked me what happened and I knew to tell her the truth. She said I had to replace it. Gave me some bits and sent me to Three Shoe's Odds and Ends. Said to get a pretty one. That is when I realized that none of our plates matched either. Just all were pretty and china.”

Darkstar smiled as she cooked. “Sometimes I love Canterlot, then sometimes I hate it, everything's ‘image’ all the damn time.”

“True,” Cloud agreed, she knew all too well what Canterlot was like. “But, that is part of what sells my art.”

“And I love your art.” Darkstar took hold of the two frying pans in her magic and flipped the insects over. “So, any more fun stories?”

“Like the time I thought I should be able to run by myself in a three legged race?”

Concentrating on cooking, Darkstar wasn’t ready for that and she snorted out a laugh. “Oh…oh I'm sorry...” she sniggered, “r-really?”

Cloud shrugged, “Made sense to me.” She giggled, “Then there was the one time I tried apple bucking. That was a sight to see, at least Momma Shy says so.”

“I can equal that.” Darkstar had to release the frying pans, she was giggling so hard. “A year or so back, I had a zebra over on student exchange to learn the language, and "I welcome you" is apparently easily confused with "I want to do you".”

“Did the zebra agree?”

“N-No!” Darkstar laughed as she opened the oven to retrieve the freshly cooked garlic bread and lay it out on the work surface beside the cooker. “No, the poor stallion was so embarrassed, bless him.”

“He missed out on a good thing.” Cloud purred sexily in her lover’s ear.

“I'm glad you didn't.” Darkstar smiled and, turning she kissed her lips. “Cloudy, can you get the cheese from the fridge please? It's the one on the middle shelf in the green dome thingy.”

Nodding, Cloud Blossom fluttered her way over to the fridge and, following a brief inspection of its interior, found the green cloche and holding it in her hooves she brought it over to the waiting unicorn. “My worse art sculpting bit was a stallion. When I was done he complained I made him a bit small. I took a chisel and lopped off a couple inches and said 'Fine, it’s life size now’.” She giggled and set the cloche down. “Got paid, but never got any repeat business.”

Darkstar snickered at that, imagining the scene in her mind as she tipped out the fried insects onto wadded sheets of absorbent kitchen roll to soak up the excess cooking oil. “I once cast an invisibility bubble around two of my friends so they could do it on a teacher's desk at University.” She then served up equal helpings of garlic bread, grasshoppers and locusts onto two large plates. “You go get sat down, I'll bring everything through.”

“I bet they had fun.” Cloud Blossom laughed and walked on through to the dining area.

“Well, they did,” Darkstar followed her marefriend from one room to the other and levitated all the food in behind her. “That is until they got caught.”

“Did you get in trouble for that?” Cloud Blossom asked as she sat herself at the old worn dining table.

Darkstar shook her head. “No, oh no, Raid refused to tell them who'd cast the spell.” She floated over the plates of food and set it all down on the table between them both along with the cutlery. “Are you squeamish, sexy?”

Cloud Blossom looked over the rather generous spread that had been prepared for her. Piles of fried locusts and grasshoppers along with fresh garlic bread as well as the cheese which, she had to admit, she’d never heard of. It all looked very nice. “I'd say yes if this was Griffon cook'n.”

“Noooo.” Darkstar grinned and picked up the knife in her magic. “Brighty is the one who loves everything about Griffons.” Lifting up the cloche she sliced open the luxurious maggoty cheese and served them both a wedge of it onto a smaller plate.

“That was good of her.” Cloud commented as she noted the maggots in the cheese were alive. “Was the pegasus from the boutique the other one?”

Darkstar tucked in to the food like it was nothing, taking a mouthful of the casu marzu cheese on garlic bread and chewing it over. “That that wasn't Cyclone then, it was her marefriend Wildfire...” at the mention of Wildfire’s name Darkstar went quiet. Cloud Blossom merely nodded and followed suit, eating what her date was eating. Darkstar then got a bit of everything on a piece of garlic bread and ate it quietly. “I miss her, Cloudy. Wildfire I mean.”

“Oh,” Cloud put her fork down and looked up at the melancholy sound in Darkstar’s voice. She didn’t like it. It didn’t suit her at all. “Did she move away?”

Sighing deeply, Darkstar swallowed the mouthful of cheese and proceeded to give Cloud Blossom a brief abridged recounting of the blinding, of Air Raid dumping her, moaning about Canterlot’s obsession with image and Wildfire’s mysterious disappearance just over six months ago. “She moved away but we don't know to where. She's just…gone.”

“Life can be hard if you're crippled.” Cloud passed her comment with a sympathetic smile. “I was lucky to have Momma Shy and Momma Jack along with my aunts. It hurts when somepony close to you betrays you. I don't know what more to say.”

“I know.” Darkstar nodded. “Air Raid isn't a bad pony by any means, she just got scared that's all.” She sighed then smiled a sad smile. “Now she tortures herself with what she should’ve done…and, and now you has me!”

“I do!” Cloud Blossom smiled and for the next quarter of an hour both of them dug into the zebran cuisine that Darkstar had made for them.

Darkstar smiled proudly when she watched her marefriend clean her plates, leaving nothing but crumbs. “What did you think to it?”

Cloud Blossom sat back on her seating pad and licked her lips. “Bit moister than I was expecting.” She gave a very satisfied smile and patted her belly. “Weevils on the farm are a bit dry.”

“I'll have to remember that for next time.” Darkstar stood up and, placing a very tender kiss on her lover’s lips she levitated the empty dishes into a stack to remove them to the sink. “Would you like some coffee?” She smiled a shaky, nervous smile. “Institution vending machines suck.” When Cloud nodded, she said, “I'll get it. How do you like it?”

“Sweet like my unicorns.” Cloud Blossom giggled as Darkstar carried the stack of dishes through to the kitchen and deposited them in the sink. “Some mare's milk if you have it.”

“As it happens I do, just a tick…” with that she got to fixing the rather expensive zebran Brazebren coffee – the good stuff that only got brought out on special occasions – and carried the two mugs through to the living room on a tray.

“This is excellent!” Cloud Blossom exclaimed as she took a sip of the exotic coffee. “You so did not get this in Canterlot.”

“Hmhmm! Air Raid bought it back from Manehatten for me, last time she raced there.” Darkstar replied, happily swallowing a mouthful of the coffee. “She said her co-driver found this zebra run coffee shop...Stripe’s Cup of Java, I think she said it was called.”

Cloud made a note of the name in her phone, resolving indeed to check it out. “I'll have to remember that next time I have a showing over there. So!” She exclaimed, once her mug was empty, “I have a very happy tummy, so what’s next?”

Darkstar looked away as she too drained her mug. “It’s ah…time to go see mom…”

~ ~ ~

“Hello Darkstar,” Doctor Grey, a pale grey unicorn with a charcoal grey mane and sparkling crystal blue eyes, greeted the two mares as they left Shining Star’s room at Canterlot Asylum. He looked over his half-moon glasses at the pale green pegasus stood very close to her. “And, I do believe you must be Cloud Blossom.”

“Oh hey, Grey!” Upon seeing the middle aged stallion, who was to her the only father figure she had ever known, Darkstar immediately tackle hugged him, creasing up his perfectly white doctor’s coat. She shouldn’t be so surprised, he always met her after a visit to her mom. “I mean, Doctor Grey,” she smiled, “yes, this is Cloud Blossom, my marefriend.”

“Darkie, your mother really does enjoy your visits.” Doctor Grey smiled, immediately pulling the mare into a tight hug.

“Uh huh.” Darkstar pulled away from the hug and couldn’t help but look away. She hated the way he could see straight through her and get right to the heart of what was bothering her. Still, in this instance she was unconvinced. “It was fun meeting Princess Celestia today.”

Doctor Grey nodded and allowed what he had come to see as a ‘daughter’ of sorts to grouse away. He however knew his patient and her family. Having none of his own he was particularly protective of this one. “And tomorrow A Saddle Arabian Princess will talk about her visit with two Equestrian Ambassadors.”

Nonplussed, Cloud Blossom shook her head. Having never been anywhere near the Asylum before, she had no idea what to think of the whole meeting. “Nothing she said was based in reality.”

“Grey, she didn't even know it was me!” Darkstar tried her best to not sound like a petulant teenager. She failed. Miserably. “I'm her daughter and she thought I was Princess Luna!” In a tantrum she threw up her forehooves and stomped them on the pristine tiled floor. “She thought Cloudy was their cousin, Queen Chrysalis!”

“Darkstar…Darkie…” Grey felt a great swell of pity and sympathy for the upset young mare and he pulled her into a second, equally tight hug, stroking her grey mane comfortingly as he did so. “She talks about your visit for days and then makes plans for your next one. Cloud Blossom, that is true, but she is in remarkably good shape for her condition.”

“I don't get it, Grey,” Darkstar sniffled in her ‘dad’s’ embrace, “isn't she getting any better?”

Doctor Grey sighed a very deep, measured sigh and chose his words very carefully. It pained him no end to see her troubled like this. “She can feed herself, bath herself, she can make use of the entertainment available. Who she is, what she is doing or eating, and where she is at may have nothing to do with reality.” He placed a very tiny fatherly kiss on her forehead. “Yet, she connects with you. No matter who she is or who she thinks you are, you are important to her. As to getting better, I don't believe your mother will return unless it is a personality she takes. I'm sorry you miss the few times she does.”

“Well, she isn't always elsewhere, remember my last birthday?” Darkstar replied, earning herself a hug from Cloud Blossom as well in the Asylum’s foyer. “She was herself for a good hour that day. That was...special.” She nuzzled her marefriend’s cheek. “We had a picnic in the grounds.”

Doctor Grey held the hug for a good few minutes before pulling away. “It is unlikely she will leave this place unless you can provide round the clock care. Here she is free to be herself. And what about you, young mare?” He asked suddenly, crystal blue eyes twinkling over his glasses as he gave her a very knowing look. “Are you keeping your appointments?”

“So…go with the flow is the best way to approach this?” Cloud Blossom asked, and Doctor Grey nodded.

“Um...” Darkstar rubbed her right foreleg with her left, she was thinking about lying, when she looked guiltily at her lover. “Ah...no, I've kinda missed the last couple. The hospital want me to go in tomorrow, and I will.”

Once more, Doctor Grey nodded. “Don't be a stranger. No matter who she is or who she thinks you are, in her heart you're always her daughter. When she is herself and asks, I'll let her know about Cloud Blossom.”

“I won’t Grey, I promise!” Again she tackle hugged the older pony she thought of as ‘dad’ and he hugged her back just like he always did. Darkstar loved the way Grey never refused a hug from her. “Thanks, Grey, I appreciate that.”

“So, straight to my place and I can make you a microwave lunch, or out to eat?” Cloud Blossom asked as they walked out of the institution building and through the extensive grounds and she nudged her lover’s barrel. “My treat.”

“Hmm…let's eat out,” Darkstar smiled as they passed a couple of patients – a pegasus with their family and an earth pony with a member of staff – on their way to the street beyond the perimeter. While she walked she found her spirits lifted somehow. Grey always managed to do that to her. And Cloud being there helped too. “I've always wanted to eat with Queen Chrysalis.”

“Well, who better should I dine with other than the Princess of the Night?” Cloud Blossom asked with a lovingly tender smile as she draped her wing over her marefriend’s back and held her close to her.

Darkstar actually laughed at that as they both reached the sidewalk together. “C'mon then, cousin Chryssie…” idly the pure white mare wondered if Celestia and Luna really were Chrysalis’s cousins or whether it was just an invention of her mother’s delusional mind. Eventually Darkstar realised she didn’t really care. Besides, not as if she could march up to Luna and just ask her.

“I hope you don't mind if we don't eat bugs.” Cloud Blossom laughed, “It is a bit too close to home with me.”

Giggling, Darkstar shook her head. “Take me out then my love. I'm all yours.”

Cloud Blossom nodded with an appreciative smile. “You'd make a good take out.” She hailed a yellow taxi, who stopped in front of them. “Appaloosa Road House please,” she said their destination to the driver as she held the door open for Darkstar to get in.

“Why thank you, my Queen!” With a low bow, and a blown kiss, Darkstar entered the taxi cab and sat down. As she made herself comfortable and Cloud Blossom cuddled up next to her, she reflected on how this day had gone and as she snuggled into her marefriend’s aloe scented side, smiled a truly happy smile.