Prince Blueblood stood in the middle of the living room of the small stone cottage that Tarnish called home. He wore a fleece lined flight jacket—something more commonly seen on Wonderbolts—and a strange hat that Tarnish didn’t know what the name was. With Blueblood was a mare that Tarnish had never met before. Pale orange pelt, slim, short legs, a muted pink mane, and thick, heavy glasses. She was wearing the same jacket and hat as Prince Blueblood.

“This is my associate, Summer Squash,” Prince Blueblood said, introducing his companion. “Mister Teapot… my associate and I represent an agency which for now, must go unnamed. There is something we want from you.”

Eyes narrowing, Tarnish gave Prince Blueblood a wary stare. Lots of ponies wanted things from Tarnish these days, and he wasn’t always in the position to refuse them. Behind him, Pebble snuffled and he could hear the sounds of Maud’s breathing. More and more, Tarnish was feeling like a little, teensy-tiny fish in a great big pond.

“Whaddaya want, Blueblood?” Tarnish asked, fearing that he was about to enter a situation that he had no control over.

“Nothing onerous, so relax.” As Blueblood spoke, the thrum of an airship engine could be heard and it made the entire stone cottage vibrate. “On behalf of the empire, of which I faithfully serve, I came here to make a polite request, and to address another issue as well, but we’ll get to that in a moment.”

“Fine, I’m listening.”

“You may come across powerful artifacts in your travels—”

Tarnish knew where this was going.

“—and my companion Summer Squash and I would very much like to have them. I shall pay you most handsomely and I know with absolute certainty that you would never sell or otherwise give away these artifacts to other interested governments.”

“You’re both spooks, aren’t you?” Tarnish demanded.

“We don’t like that word, it has negative connotations.” Summer Squash took a bold step forward and looked Tarnish in the eye.

“This is some next-level spy shit, ain’t it?”

“Tarnish, not in front of Pebble.”

Clearing his throat, Blueblood responded, “This is merely a precaution. We feel the best way to inspire loyalty in our beloved subjects is to make sure they are paid well for the job they do, and to see that they are rewarded. You have shown time and time again that you can go into incredibly dangerous places and come back out again… often with some… curious artifacts.”

Inhaling through his nose, Tarnish considered Blueblood’s words and wondered if Daring Do had to deal with this. He had no doubt that she had, and he made a mental note to talk to her about it. Having a chat with his boss would be a good, responsible thing to do. He studied Summer Squash for a moment, then looked Prince Blueblood right in the eye. There was a bit of pride in Tarnish’s stare, an almost haughty look, because he was looking down at the prince. Tarnish only looked up to one pony now, and did so with a great deal of respect.

Swivelling his head around, Tarnish looked at Pebble and Maud. Maud was still quite rotund from pregnancy. Quite a number of thoughts bounced around inside of Tarnish’s head, his worries, his wants, and his desires. He wanted to be a good father and a good husband. Maud was owed that and he knew that he had messed up a few times. This was a chance to do right.

“I’ll do it,” Tarnish said as he turned his head to look at Blueblood once more. “I’ll steal, pillage, and rob for you if I’m well compensated. There’s a lot of slimy, skeevy types in the world, and I’ll be more than glad to take what is rightfully ours from them.”

“Excellent!” Summer Squash proclaimed.

“Speaking of slimy, skeevy types”—Prince Blueblood grinned at Tarnish and pulled out a wooden scroll tube—“I am now indebted to you for a service that you performed for me. Here you go.”

“What’s this?” Tarnish took the scroll tube, opened it, and pulled out a sheet of parchment. He unrolled it, had a look, and didn’t know what he was seeing. He did see a few numbers though. 500,000. Blinking, puzzled, he pulled the sheet of parchment away from his face and looked at Blueblood. “What’s going on?”

“That is a promissory note,” Blueblood said in a low voice and one perfect eyebrow arched. “A very, very valuable promissory note. Five hundred thousand gold bits.”

With his mouth so dry, Tarnish had a hard time speaking. “Why?”

“You recently ran into some bills, I think.”

“No, really,” Tarnish insisted. “Why? This is just too much money to be generous.”

“You mustn’t tell Auntie.” Blueblood leaned in closer to Tarnish and his eyes narrowed as his expression became one of pure, unadulterated malice. “It has come to my attention that you shot Doctor Caballeron right in the, how shall we say… plot, I believe is the common parlance now amongst the commoners.”

“Yeah, I shot him right in his fancy, aristocratic ass—”

“Tarnish, that’s it, I’m telling mom.”

Wincing, Tarnish cringed and tucked his tail between his legs, knowing that he had stepped in it now.

“Last year, during the big holiday charity ball, Doctor Caballeron and some esteemed guests of the Crowned Heads of the Grittish Isles were in Canterlot.” Prince Blueblood leveled his imperious gaze upon Maud, let out a sniff, and then continued, “The doctor lobbed a terrible insult at me. He called me a ‘pontificating, poncy little faggot.’ When I got word that you shot him in the, ahem, plot, I couldn’t stop smiling. My face ached and I think I pulled a muscle. Auntie Luna thought I had come down with some dreadful disease because I was in such a good mood.”

“Tarnish, I told you—”

Still wincing and cringing, Tarnish waited for Maud to begin her lecture.

“—a good deed is its own reward.”

“Indeed it is,” Blueblood said while Tarnish let out a huff of relief and untucked his tail. “I can’t stay. My apologies, but I must be in Manehattan. I have to give a speech.”

“Thanks, Blueblood.”

“You are most welcome, Mister Teapot. We shall speak again, I hope. Good luck!”

Pebble was little, fuzzy, and oh so chocolate brown, just like he was. Tarnish was entranced with her, and was still quite taken by the fact that she had come squirting out of Maud. She was tiny, a little pudgy, and she had her mother’s mane and tail, but that wasn’t the only thing she had inherited from her mother. She also had a thin, silky coat, very much like Maud’s, and Tarnish knew that the sun would be Pebble’s enemy.

He was still mystified that he had helped to make this marvellous creature. Sure, he understood the mechanics, he knew how foals were made, but knowing it and witnessing it in action were two very different things.

“You made your mother say ‘ow’ over and over for hours,” Tarnish said to Pebble, whose eyes were wide and expressive. “And then you gave everypony a good scare because you decided to come out backside first, and we didn’t know if the cord was wrapped around your neck or not. Cloudy had fits.”

Grinning, Tarnish nuzzled the little filly and continued to pour his heart out. “After you were born, when you were still all wet and slimy, Cloudy put you in a pie tin and presented you to me. It’s a family tradition, presenting the new father with a pie fresh out of the oven.”

“You helped me make a pretty good pie,” Maud said to her husband as she eased herself down onto a cushion. “I might be biased, but I think she’s beautiful.”

“You’re not biased at all, Maud.”

“How reassuring.” Maud gave Tarnish a sleepy blink and then she yawned, revealing an orange tongue and a mouthful of peg-like teeth. She rolled over onto her side and with a sweep of her hoof, she pulled open her maternity smock, causing Tarnish and Pebble both to look at the bare, revealed flesh on display.

“I feel giddy,” Maud deadpanned. “I love the way you look at me, like right now.”

“Here you go.” Tarnish lifted Pebble a bit, moved her over, and set her down so she could feed. Moving closer to Maud, Tarnish pressed his snoot against hers, and thought about the day they had been married. It put him in quite a mood, which he could do nothing about. Crawling on his belly, he encroached onto Maud’s cushion, and then began rubbing necks with her, just because he knew that Maud loved it.

The neck rubbing was returned and Tarnish let out a sigh of contentment as Maud pressed up against him. All of this would be over far too soon and he would have to go. He felt Maud’s forelegs wrap around his neck and he was surprised to discover that it was time for happy husband hugs.

“I’m a really happy pony, Maud.”

“Being a father suits you, I think.”

“Well, yeah,” Tarnish replied, and then he chuckled. “I also just got paid for shooting somepony I can’t stand in the a—”

“Tarnish, I’m still telling mom.”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter is the departure. We finally begin. And the chapter title innuendo can start!