Tuesday morning and Requiem was at North Park Hospital bright and early. It was seven a.m. when the red and blue painted earth pony mare trotted through the main entrance. Any earlier and she would’ve beaten Celestia for raising the sun. Announcing herself in her official capacity as a psychiatrist, she got a pass up to Wildfire’s room on the fifth floor. On the way, she encountered a nurse and she liberated from her a breakfast trolley.

Smiling sweetly, she entered, pushing the trolley with Wildfire’s breakfast on it in front of her. A quick scan of the room and she saw the little blind mare asleep in the hospital bed, snoring very gently following the nightmare of the night before, though she noticed that her ears twitched at the hoof-steps. Requiem was wholly aware of the nightmare that her herd-mate had endured, thanks to a letter that had been delivered to her during the night by dragon mail, signed simply, ‘L’. “Hello Mapper,” she smiled to the only other pony in the room.

Mapper turned bleary eyes to the annoyingly sparky earth pony. She looked like she had slept on a seating pad the whole night. She felt like she had slept on a seating pad, too. “Requiem.”

Requiem, by contrast, practically skipped into the room. “Where's Stormy?”

“Coffee run.” Mapper replied, a little bit more irritably than she intended. Heaving her pink carcass from the seating pad, she stretched, cat-like, until she was rewarded with several cracking joints and popping muscles. “She is only getting for three though, sorry.”

“I'll survive.” Requiem tried, and failed, to not giggle at Mapper’s stretching. If she held that downward pony position any longer, she was tempted to pet her mane and call her a good doggy. Instead, she cast a glance over Wildfire. “Is our patient sleeping or just pretending?”

Wildfire, as it turned out, was genuinely asleep. She wasn't pretending, although the flicking of her ears would give that impression to those that didn’t know her habits. While she was asleep, thanks to the care home, she was a very light sleeper. “Huh...” she murmured, the voices in the room waking her, as did the smell of food. Carefully, she started to sit up. “M-Mistress?”

Requiem took the only other seating pad in the room, the one that Tempest had moved to beside the bed. She left the breakfast trolley inside the room. “Hello Wildfire.” She greeted her herd-mate and patient, “Do you know who I am?”

Sat up properly now, Wildfire frowned in concentration. “You sound like Requiem.”

Requiem wasn’t surprised she wasn’t trusting her straightaway, given what she had read from ‘L’s’ report and the report from Airmail and Serenity when she had spoken to them at the police station. “Thank you for remembering my voice,” she said in that same calm, familiar way she had. “Would you like to touch me for confirmation?”

Wildfire could tell, just from listening, that the voice was not far from where her right forehoof was. “Yes, please.” ‘She could be anypony!’ she thought to herself as she carefully felt for the older mare. ‘Autumn Leaves sounded different until...until she...’ as her internal monologue continued, her hooves were very shaky indeed. She was a long time feeling the offered muzzle and face, Wildfire cast her memory back to the BDSM night, remembering every last detail of Requiem’s face. ‘Hmm, there's the indent behind her left ear...’ presently, she lowered her hooves. “You feel like Requiem.”

Requiem caught the apprehensive tone, the guarded reaction. “Still not sure though.” Understandable. “I like to free fall, and Luna let me do that while Thespian, Airmail, Tempest, Sonic, Trails and you gave Dusk a makeover on the couch.”

“Okay.” That was enough to convince her. Slowly, she lowered her hooves back to the bedsheets. “I accept you're Requiem.”

“Do you trust me?” Requiem asked simply.

“I do now.” Came the equally simple reply.

Just then, the door to the hospital room opened and Tempest entered carrying three coffees on a tray on her back. “Coffee delivery,” she sounded artificially cheery, seeing as she normally wasn’t active earlier than eleven in the morning. Thankfully, for the sake of her sanity, the coffee shop a block away opened early. “Oh, hi Requiem. Sorry, I didn't get you one.”

Requiem shrugged the apology away with a shake of her head. “That’s okay, I brought Wily her breakfast. Why don't the two of you get some?” With the not-too-subtle hint hanging in the air, Tempest and Mapper shared a look between them. Both silently agreed, with a flick of their ears, that they could use something better than institution food this early in the day. Tempest had calls to make anyway, to Rung and to Emerald.

Mapper shrugged in defeat. “Well Pet, it seems the Mistress has been put in her place. We won't be gong long. Leave Pet her coffee and follow along, Stormy.”

Wildfire turns her head sharply towards the sound of Mapper’s voice, flinching a little as she did so. “Don't be long Mistress, y-you too, Honey, please?”

At the door, Mapper sighed, resisting the urge to shake Wildfire like a ragdoll. While it was sweet to be needed, she was a pony, not a crutch. “Pet, what are the two jobs that Requiem has?”

Wildfire knew that! Quickly, so as to please her Mistress, she answered, “Ms. Requiem works in the theatre,” she used the honorific, now she was sure that it actually was Requiem she was sat with. “She also is a licensed psychiatrist, Mistress.”

Mapper rolled her eyes at the very proud look she was getting from her earth pony herd-mate. “And which of those jobs would require us to leave the room?”

“The psychiatrist one, Mistress.”

“My pet is very smart.” Mapper shooed Tempest out of the room before her. “I'll bring you back a cookie for a reward.”

“Does that bother you?” Requiem asked, her ‘shrink’s hat’ firmly in place, once the door was closed, “Mapper treating you like a common house pet like that?”

“Oh no...” Wildfire hugged herself with her forelegs when she answered. She could feel the stitches in the wounds on her chest. She liked the physical reminders of what had happened in the subway. It reminded her it had really happened, and that it wasn’t a figment of her imagination. “That's my place, and Mistress and Ms. Tempest have kept me safe here.”

Requiem watched. She watched and she observed. Mentally she made notes. The act of hugging throwing up a barrier between her and her patient. One she had to get through. “May I touch you?”

The little blind mare nodded, in doing so, the bedsheets fell away from her. “Yes, Ms. Requiem, you may.”

Without another word, Requiem moved and, as she was larger than her herd-mate it was a relatively simple manoeuvre, she kissed Wildfire’s eye socket furthest from her and then the nearest one, her lips brushing against the heavy scar tissue that covered her face. “May I now ask you questions?”

“Hmm...” Wildfire purred like a little kitten with each kiss of her mutilated face, “of course, Ms. Requiem.”

“Thank you, before I do though, you need to know I've talked with the rest of your mini-herd.” Requiem explained simply and honestly, “That is why I'm here. Does it upset you that they think you need to talk to me?”

“No,” Wildfire replied after she had sipped her black coffee with three sugars that her herd-mate had pressed into contact with her hooves. The smell and taste helped to ground her in the here and now. “No, Ms. Requiem. Mistress knows what's best for me.” and, like a good Pet, she trusted her Mistress.

Of all the many things she hoped to talk about, the painted earth pony led off with one that had particularly caught her interest. “Why were you so afraid to go to the hospital, Wildfire?”

Immediately, Wildfire’s yellow ears slicked back to her head, a gesture that made Requiem almost regret asking. “Hospitals are bad, Ms. Requiem.” She answered in a very scared voice. “Warden Glory came to the one in Canterlot after...after m-my dad and R-R-Raid happened...after they left me,” she went quiet for a long time after that, sipping her coffee to gather her nerves. “Nopony liked being sent to Doctor Mindbender at the home. He,” Wildfire shivered in fear, “He liked to play with us, experiment on us. He gave us drugs that enhanced fear, or pain, or both.”

‘Bucking bastard!’ Requiem thought, her hackles up as she snarled internally. ‘I hope Luna made them all suffer!’ What she actually said though, with a professional mask of detached calm, was, “Are you at the home now?”

“I...” Wildfire slumped a little on the bed, were it not for half her cup being empty she would’ve spilled it. “I don't know. May I be honest with you, Ms. Requiem?” she asked hopefully, suddenly pleased they were alone. She didn’t want her Mistress to hear what she had to say.

Requiem smiled. “I would really like that, Wildfire.”

Wildfire drained the rest of the coffee to muster her nerve. “Mistress Mapper sounds a lot like Warden Glory. They talk the same, they walk the same...it is hard, to know which is which.” She paused before continuing, “I...I don't think I'm at the home, though. It smells wrong, it sounds wrong and it feels wrong.”

“I understand,” Requiem fought the urge to hug the poor little yellow pony until she squeaked. Now was not the time. She did, however, appreciate the fortitude it had taken for her to tell her that. “Was Warden Glory a harsh Mistress?”

Looking down, Wildfire passed the empty coffee cup back and nodded sadly. ‘Harsh’ was an extremely kind word to describe Amethyst Glory. Uncaring, ruthless, heartless, sadistic and merciless were less kind and far more accurate. “She is, I mean, was...is...yes, Ms. Requiem.”

Requiem sighed. It was painfully clear just how confused her herd-mate was. “Well, I know that Mistress Mapper is a harsh Mistress. So they are sort of the same. I think there may be one important difference though.” She wondered if Wildfire was capable of getting it on her own.

“Mistress Mapper loves me?”

‘Yes!’ Requiem wanted to do a happy four-hooved dance of celebration. ‘And the home team scores! Wohoo!’ However, calmly, she asked, “Did Warden Glory love you?”

“No, Ms. Requiem. I was...am...was...ugh!” Wildfire shook her head. It was extremely hard for her to focus on her tenses. She was having to remind herself all the time that the home was in the past, and that she wasn’t there anymore. “I was her favourite, but no, she didn't love me. I don’t think she could, love, I mean.” She added that last sentence quietly, like she was scared to speak it out loud.

“Does love matter?”

“Mistress Mapper values it, so it matters, Ms. Requiem.” Wildfire smiled, remembering something she had heard not so long ago. “Without love, there is just abuse.”

‘And the home team takes the ball and smashes the goal!’ Oh, how much the Requiem want to cheer and hug her at that moment. She didn’t, yet, anyway. “This is a hard question, so you can think about it while you eat,” as she said that, the psychiatrist pulled over the food trolley and she set up the food tray for her patient. “Wildfire, if you were given a choice, do you want to be free or safe?”

As she slowly ate her chocolate oatmeal and picked at her blackberry pancakes, Wildfire did indeed think about it. With each bite and swallow she mulled over the question. She didn’t know how long she had taken, for Requiem didn’t rush her along. ‘Free,’ she thought, ‘I get to ride whaling boats, play tag, but safe...I'm safe, my foal is safe...’ that sealed it for her. “Safe, Ms. Requiem. I’d rather be safe.”

Clearing away the breakfast tray back to the trolley, Requiem smiled and pressed the glass of fruit juice to Wildfire’s hooves. “Both are good answers. Freedom is to be independent, but safe is to be dependent. So, you know where you are now?”

“I'm in a hospital, Ms. Requiem, where I need to be.”

“Why do you need to be here?”

Wildfire took a moment to sip her juice before she answered. “Mistress Mapper says I need to be here. I was hurt on the subway platform. I wasn't safe there.”

As carefully as she could, which, thanks to her innate earth pony magic, was very carefully indeed, Requiem moved her hooves back along Wildfire’s body. She felt the stitched together wounds from the whip as well as the casts around her wings. “You were hurt,” she said thoughtfully, “but I've seen far worse. You weren't hurt that bad. Why is that?”

Wildfire snapped her head to ‘look’ where Requiem was feeling, the instant she felt her hooves touch her. “I...I...said Wildflower...Ms. Airmail...Airy, she came for me.”

Her brief inspection complete, happy that these Manehatten doctors seemed to know what they were doing, Requiem sat back down on her seating pad by the bed. “Airmail? Really? Why would Airmail do that for you?”

“She...” Wildfire paused then, frowning hard like she had just been given a hard math paper – or, indeed, any math paper – to solve. “She loves me?”

‘Mapper’s right,’ Requiem thought with a smile, ‘You are a smart Pet.’ “Oh, does she love you the same way that Mapper loves you?”

“No...no, no...it's different.”

“Do you love her?”

Wildfire nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yes, Ms. Requiem, I love her so much!”

Requiem then asked, “Do you miss her right now?”

Again, Wildfire nodded. “I'm trying not to think about her not being here.”

Requiem took a deep breath. She knew she was at the heart of the flame, as it were. This could go very well from here, or go badly. “If she loves you why isn't she here right now?”

“D-Don't...please…”

“Why isn't Airmail here?” Requiem pressed on, knowing they were almost at the turning point.

“Th-They took her...the ponies took her away!” Wildfire, having drank her juice, hugged herself and she rocked back and forth on the hospital bed. “They took her from me!”

“Why would ponies take Airmail away from you?”

“B-Because of h-her...what she did...”

‘Just a little more, we’re almost there,’ Requiem though, and pushed her herd-mate once more. Mapper called it stripping them down in order to build them stronger. She wasn’t far wrong. “For loving you?”

Wildfire shook her head, though she didn’t stop rocking on the bed. “N-Not her...she tricked me, she said her name was F-Fall...Fall Foliage! I believed her, I helped! I tried to help! Then...then it happened...and Airy saved me!”

“How?”

“She...” Wildfire took several deep breathes, very deep breathes, she didn’t know why, but she felt stronger all of a sudden. “She, Airy, she killed Autumn Leaves.”

Requiem nodded thoughtfully. Of course she knew what had happened. As she was Airmail’s sanctioned psychiatrist, she was privy to all the details. She was just pleased her newest patient had got there herself. “Does that make you sad that Airmail would kill a pony for you, Wildfire?”

“Yes, Ms. Requiem.” Wildfire replied solemnly. She had been told of her fiancé’s past, of course she had. Airmail had told her many times in no uncertain circumstances what she had done and, she had accepted it. It was, though, quite another thing entirely to have her do that for her.

Now, at last, Requiem laid a hoof over Wildfire’s foreleg. “Do you think Airmail would rather be with the ponies that took her away, or with you, here in hospital?”

“With me, Ms. Requiem.” Wildfire answered, sounding far more confident in her reply. “I'm not sad that Autumn Leaves is dead, but I'm sad Airy had to go there for me, I'm sad for what it cost her.”

Lovingly, feeling uncannily like a mother with her daughter, Requiem rubbed Wildfire’s leg. “Sadness at death reminds us we are not gods. Yet, I feel that to Airmail you are worth any cost. Do you think that?”

“I agree she feels that way, Ms. Requiem.” Wildfire smiled, she just wanted the earth pony to keep rubbing her leg. She wasn’t sure if it was the magic in her hooves, but it felt wonderful. “To me, Airy is worth any cost.”

Requiem glanced over at the door when she heard it bump just a little and she snickered, “Should I let the eavesdropping unicorn back in, along with her partner in crime?”

“Yes, Ms. Requiem.” Wildfire felt a lot better with herself now she’d had their talk.

“You've fallen down a rabbit hole, Wily.” Requiem said kindly, still stroking her herd-mate’s foreleg. “Believe in yourself, and trust those that love you as you love them, and you will find your way out of that rabbit hole.” She hugged the diminutive yellow mare as tightly as she dared, without hurting her further. “You can always ask to talk to me, and I'll make time for you. We are herd.”

“Yes...Y-Yuppers...th-thank you,” Wildfire grasped blindly at Requiem’s hoof as she released the hug, for something had occurred to her. “It's just...I'm confused, and scared, but thank you...there's um, one more thing…”

“Yes, Wildfire?”

“Before I went to Ms. Belle's...I had decided to not be Mistress Mapper's Pet anymore but now, now...I'm not so sure.”

As she was halfway to the door, Requiem returned to her seating pad, she had to think on that for a little bit. At last, she had her answer. “You tasted freedom and something very bad happened to you. You need to be safe before you can venture out into freedom again. There is safety in pet play, for there is discipline and order. You're not sure because part of you wants that safety, and part of you craves that freedom. I can't tell you how to run your life, but at this point in time, you need safety more than you need freedom.”

Wildfire nodded her head, understanding what was being said to her. “I want to be safe. I need the order, the discipline, Ms. Requiem. I'm safe, inside. Inside it's safe. Out there,” she pointed her hoof to what she hoped was the window but was actually the wall, “It's not safe out there.”

“Dear Wildfire, it is never truly ‘safe’ anywhere.” Requiem explained, a sympathetic smile on her face, “We do what we can to be safe and keep those we love safe, but freedom calls. Stormy told me you used that freedom to go shopping. Even if it isn't truly safe, do you want to go shopping again for those you love?”

All of a sudden, Wildfire wasn’t so sure about that. “Um...um...well...o-outside, you mean? Outside, alone, outside?”

“Yes, not today, and most likely not tomorrow, but yes.” Requiem said gently but firmly, “Even though something bad happened to you, how many of those that love you came to you?”

“All of them came. When I called, they all came…” Wildfire smiled, then, she turned her head to the sound of the painted pony’s voice. Something had crept into her head, something that made her worry. “Do um...do my friends know?” she asked, “Does the Chief know?”

Requiem giggled, she just couldn’t help it. Wildfire was just too adorable. “One of your lovers is Tempest. What is it you call her?”

“Honey.”

Requiem giggled some more, for she was even more adorable when she was being clueless. “Not when you are teasing her.”

“Mother Hen.”

Requiem leant in and nuzzled Wildfire’s cheek. “Trust that Mother Hen made sure those that needed to know where you are do. What I can't say is how much she told them. You could be a better judge of that.”

That instantly put Wildfire’s mind at ease, as much as it could be at ease, at the moment. She should’ve realised that Tempest would’ve been on the phone to everypony that needed to know. “Thank you, Ms. Requiem. It was...nice, talking with you, you've helped remind me where I am.”

“The rabbit hole is deep,” Requiem said again, “But it’s not as scary when you know it is just a rabbit hole.” That said, she got up from her seating pad and noisily, she trotted over and opened the door.

“Prognosis, Doctor?” said Mapper immediately as the door was opened. In their defence, she and Tempest had gone for breakfast, if two chocolate and haybacon muffins with maple syrup each counted as ‘breakfast’. The pink unicorn and violet pegasus were both in agreement that it did.

Requiem cast a glance back at her patient. “She needs the safety of the herd,” she giggled and winked at Mapper, “and maybe a bit of discipline. I trust your understanding of boundaries, Mapper. I also trust the other mares will aid you in that.”

Mapper, so happy that not more damage had been done to her herd-mate’s already delicate psyche, actually hugged and kissed Requiem. “Thank you. From my heart, thank you.” Then, she once more assumed the role to which she was so suited. “Pet, are you pleased with Doctor Requiem's time spent with you?”

“Yes Mistress, I'm very pleased.” Wildfire answered quickly, for she knew her Mistress liked quick responses. “I've thanked Ms. Requiem for her time.” She then tapped her hooves together. “Mistress, may your Pet please make a request?”

“In a moment.” Mapper said sharply. “Here is a cookie in lieu of payment.” Requiem laughed at the offered cookie and as she ate it, Mapper placed a second chocolate chip cookie under Wildfire’s nose and held it there until she took it in her hooves. “Your reward, Pet. You earned it for being good.”

“I brought more coffee,” Tempest spoke up, passing out the coffees to one pony after another. “This is for you, Requiem.”

Requiem blew Tempest a playful kiss and mouthed ‘Thank you’ as she, Mapper and Tempest all sipped their coffees together as one pony. Having drank a good portion of her own drink, Mapper turned her attention to her Pet on the bed. “You may now make your request, Pet.”

“Please Mistress, could you put the collar back on me?” she asked as she lifted up the cookie and nibbled on it like a hamster nibbling its food. “I need it, Mistress, please?”

Mapper rolled her eyes in such a way that it was audible. “You are a silly Pet.” She condescendingly ruffled Wildfire’s mane with her hoof. “You will always be my Middle Pet, even if we choose to not engage in pet play. Oh look!” she just happened to rummage in her saddlebag, and she just happened to pull out a certain pink collar. Almost as if it had been there all along, just for this occasion.

Tempest snorted as she sipped her delicious coffee. “What are the odds you'd have a pink collar in your saddlebag, Maps?”

“What,” Requiem asked innocently, “Is there ever a time that she doesn't have a collar in her bag?”

As Mapper took a moment to deliver a well-deserved raspberry to the both of them, Tempest and Requiem burst out laughing as a result. While her herd-mates were still laughing, the pink unicorn took the collar in her hooves and, lifting up Wildfire’s black mane, she buckled it in place above the blue and purple one she was already wearing. “I'll let Airy decide if she want's hers on top.”

“And what about me?” Tempest asked with an over exaggerated pout.

Mapper just pointed with her hoof to Wildfire’s neck. “It is blue over purple right now, so…” she finished her eloquent speech with a second loud raspberry, this one aimed solely at Tempest.

Wildfire sighed happily, as soon as the second collar had been fastened around her neck. “Thank you, Mistress, thank you!”

“Well, I have another appointment.” Requiem said as she finished her coffee and placed the empty cup on the food trolley. “As always, we are herd.” With that, she closed the door behind herself as she left the fifth floor hospital room, leaving three fifths of the mini-herd to its much-needed snuggles.

~ ~ ~

Several hours after Requiem’s timely visit, and the clock had just ticked over to three in the afternoon. Mapper, who was by this point bored, was napping on her seating pad while Tempest was busy chatting with Wildfire about her current work schedule. The violet mare knew most of what she was saying was going over Wildfire’s head, but she was listening, regardless.

Tempest was partway through an extended detailing of her schedule later that day – going into way too much detail than was strictly necessary – when the door to the hospital room opened. When the weather mare saw just whom was there on the other side, she went unexpectedly quiet mid-sentence.

Wildfire, who had been listening with rapt attention to what Tempest had been saying, after a whole morning spent teaching Tempest how to read braille, looked from Tempest to Mapper when the former went silent and the latter stood up. “And then what, Honey, after you clear the skies over Celestia this evening?” She heard Mapper standing up, she heard Tempest’s telling silence. “Honey?” she was unaware of the presence of the new arrivals.

Unaware, that is, until Airmail stepped into the room. The moment her hooves clopped on the tiled floor, Wildfire knew it was her. Amongst her herd, the blind mare knew each mare’s hoof-steps, each as unique as hoof print. “I'm sorry, Wily.” Was all the azure blue mare could say, once she had reached her fiancé’s bedside.

At the sound of her voice, Wildfire shuddered involuntarily in her bed, the nightmare of the night before still very vivid in her mind. Still, that didn’t stop her squealing like a filly. “A-Airy!”

A clopping of hooves later and Airmail moved a little closer, though she wasn’t quite touching the bed. Almost like it had its own force field preventing her from touching the side. “Will you forgive me?”

Wildfire let out a very loud sniff, a sound somewhere between a whinny and a sneeze. This close she could smell the intense jasmine scent of her beloved. She turned her head to the sound of her voice. It was as if she’d never heard the twang of her Vanhoovan / Manehatten accent before. It washed over her like a soothing balm. “You are absolutely forgiven!” she held her hooves out for a hug that she so desperately needed.

Still, Airmail did not run into Wildfire’s outstretched hooves. “But-but…I said I'd never leave you and I-I left you…”

Wildfire did not lower her forelegs. She held them out like a filly asking for ‘upsies’. “Well...y-you did, but you came back, didn’t you?”

Now, at last, thanks in no small part to Mapper seizing her in her magic and giving her a rough shove, Airmail fell into Wildfire’s outstretched forelegs and she pressed her muzzle against her neck. That bit, Mapper didn’t have to ‘assist’ her with. As the blind mare felt the moisture from her eyes, the pink mare released her magic and stepped up. “Let me fix something.” She removed the pink collar and fastened it back around her Pet’s neck, this time underneath the blue and purple one. “Stormy, I have a craving for some sweets.” She said with a nod to Airmail, “Please escort me to the coffee shop.”

Tempest, who was faster than Airmail on the uptake, nodded towards the door and the patiently waiting Serenity stood there on her own. “Sure thing Maps. This way.” Without another word, both mares left the hospital room, leaving Wildfire alone with Airmail for some much-needed alone time.

Wrapped up in Airmail’s legs, Wildfire didn’t even notice they had gone. The little blind mare was a sniffing mess as she hugged the older, larger mare as tightly as her stitches would allow. “Ai-A-Airy! Oh Airy I w-was so scared! Ev-Everything was so quick, and it was her, back again...and then...and then...there was a dream, and you left...”

Airmail, who had in the last month seen Wildfire upset, was taken aback. She’d not seen her quite this upset. Awkwardly, she didn’t really know what to say. So, she settled with, “I'm sorry.”

Wildfire, however, sobered up almost straightaway. “Don't you dare say sorry,” she said, pulling away from the hug and ‘looking’ at her fiancé. “Th-That's how the dream went…”

Knowing nothing of this dream, Airmail let out a little giggle. She could guess, by the way Wildfire was reacting, that it hadn’t been an especially pleasant dream. “Okay, um, I'm not sorry?” she tightened up her hug, holding the little mare until she gasped for breath. “I-I, um, I was so afraid I'd be too late.”

“In...In the dream, you said sorry, and that you were old, and then...then you left, for good.” She so desperately wanted to cry. Instead she sniffled until she almost couldn’t breathe. “I knew you'd come. I could hear you coming.”

Airmail chose to silence her partner with a well-aimed kiss straight to her lips that she held for a very long time. “I would promise to never leave you again, but I don't like breaking my promises. I love you, Wily, and that will always be true.”

Wildfire sniffed, but not as pronounced as before. “I know, Pretty. Were um...were you okay, where they took you?” She asked, but she didn’t ‘really’ ask. “And...I-I'm sorry you had to go there, to that place, for me.”

“I'd kick down the gates of Tartarus for you, my love.” Airmail laid a very affectionate nuzzle on her soon-to-be wife’s face, wholly ignoring the cuts and bruises on her cheeks and muzzle. “I wouldn't have gone with the police if the other three didn't put some sense in my head. I want to marry you a free pony.”

Still sniffing, though she didn’t care, Wildfire asked, “Did they charge you?” She may not know much, but she knew a bit, about how the police worked.

“Yes,” Airmail admitted, “at first to take me in, but after seeing the security film, they let me go. Called it self-defence on another pony.” The lead editor was just grateful that there had been a third security camera that Autumn Leaves hadn’t been aware of, positioned over the other side of the train lines and focused between the two large columns.

“Airy...I think...I think I'm a bad pony.”

Airmail giggled again, though this time she kissed Wildfire’s lips. “All ponies are bad ponies.”

Wildfire shook her head. She was in no mood for that, not yet, anyway. “No, but seriously, I um...I'm not sorry that Autumn Leaves is dead.” She took a breath, to steady herself as she continued. “I'm happy she's dead. I'm sorry you had to do it, but I'm glad she's gone. That makes me bad, right?”

Smiling, Airmail moved her kisses from Wildfire’s lips up her face and she lingered over each eye socket. As she had done before, she lovingly kissed the scars on her fiancé’s face. “It makes you real, Wily.” She said once she had finished kissing her face. “I've killed a lot of ponies, and some of them I killed real slow so that they would suffer. Am I a bad pony, Wily?”

“I don't think you are.” Wildfire said, feeling far more confident and self-assured of herself when she said that. “You're my Pretty, and you'll always be my Pretty.”

“And you're my love, good, bad, or a bit of both, that won't change.”

Wildfire carefully felt for and she kissed Airmail’s lips. “I'm really glad I came to Manehatten now.”

“As am I,” Airmail now let out a deep heartfelt sigh at the mention of Wildfire coming to Manehatten, because that made her think of Dusk, and the chewing out she had given him over the phone the day before. “But right now I'm very upset with the pony I should be most thankful for. The one that brought you to me.”

“Dusk?” Wildfire went extremely quiet in Airmail’s embrace. She really didn’t know what to think about her best friend at the moment. She loved him dearly, of course she did, but, in light of everything that had happened, she just didn’t know what to think. “He said...he said they had taken care of the wardens.”

Again, Airmail sighed. “I know what he said, and we know that just wasn't true. They screwed up and I'm upset about that.”

Wildfire too thought about it. She thought long and hard about what Airmail had just said. “I suppose...I suppose it comes down to whether or not he screwed up on purpose.” Having thought about it though, she shook her head. “I um...I don't think he did. Amethyst was clever. Autumn was clever.”

“I've seen many a screw up. Do you think Dusk lied to us?”

Wildfire was quiet for a few long, quiet minutes. “No.” she said definitely. “I think he got it wrong, but he didn't lie. I know my best friend, Pretty.”

Airmail really had to agree with that. “I don't think he lied either, or I would be facing Luna's punishment right now. Still, he did a piss poor investigation…” she trailed off and let out an extremely deep sigh. She had to be honest, though. “I called him and did some yelling, but that was all. Sooner or later he is going to show up.”

“I hope he does.” Wildfire commented thoughtfully, “I hope he doesn't do what he did when I yelled at him.”

A moment of thought on that and Airmail knew what her lover was referring to, specifically, to when Wildfire had screamed at Dusk in the hospital and he had retreated in on himself for the next five years. “Oh, yeah. I don't think so.” In fact, she was almost certain that the Prince would not do that this time. “I think this is going to eat at him. Just, try to be nice when he does show. Did you ever tell him about this pony?”

“No, Pretty.” Wildfire replied. “Come to think of it, I don't think Autumn Leaves was there when Dusk came to visit me at the care home. I know, before he bought me to Manehatten, he dealt solely with Amethyst.”

“I do hope the idiot wasn't too scared to interview you, but even so, there were a lot of others he could have interviewed instead.” Happy that everything would, in time, work out for the best, Airmail kissed Wildfire’s lips. “Thank you for forgiving me for leaving you there, but I'll never apologize doing something that would save you and the precious foal you carry.”

Wildfire thought on that, as she was kissed. Hearing Airmail’s voice was just as soothing as smelling her jasmine scent. “Pretty, I think Dusk was the wrong pony to investigate the care home. You saw him that day. He was angry. Angrier than I've ever seen or heard him. He's not stupid though, and he is thorough. There's only two ways that Autumn Leaves got away.”

Airmail decided right then and there that she had heard quite enough of Autumn Leaves and she didn’t want to hear about her any more than she already had. She solved this with a long hard kiss. “Enough about her. Let's not speculate and see what he has to say for himself.”

“Glmmmmmmph!” Wildfire’s dark world lit up with a shower of pleasure as she took the hard passionate kiss. Had her wings been able, and not had casts on them, they would’ve no doubt sprouted a most impressive wingboner. “I...I agree...wow...”

“When will they let you go?” Airmail asked, a bight little giggle in her voice.

“I think sometime today, later this afternoon, maybe?”

Airmail glanced at the clock and she saw it was just after half past three. Time though wasn’t a problem for her. She’d stay by her fiancé’s side as long as was necessary. “Okay, that would be nice.” She looked down at the casts on the little yellow mare’s wings. “Scoot a bit to your left.”

When Wildfire obediently scooted over, making room on the hospital bed, Airmail flapped her azure blue wings and she hovered up next to her right side. “You know,” she said as seductively as she could, “it was lonely last night. They wouldn't let Ser stay with me, even after she offered to let them interrogate her.”

“I missed you too.” Wildfire smiled, a smile that only grew wider when she felt her lover’s body heat next to her. “Mistress warned me not to whine about you. It felt odd, not sleeping with you.” And, it had, too. The last night had been the first night in a month that she hadn’t slept in the midst of a blue and purple cuddle pile.

Airmail could sympathise. While the cell she had been kept in wasn’t exactly a hole in the ground, it was by no means a comparison for her own bed. “It felt very strange not waking up next to you. It was a very, very long night.”

“Yuppers, it was. I haven't had a night that long for a while.”

Snickering, Airmail chose that moment to drape her left wing over Wildfire’s little back. “Let’s you and me do some hot sweaty snuggle bunnies then, we need to make up for lost time. Only, if you tell me if I'm hurting one of your injuries.”

“Deal, Pretty. I really, really need to be sweaty with you…” Wildfire trailed off then, as she was subjected to twenty glorious minutes of snogging and blue hooves roaming all over her body. It was as if Airmail was discovering her lover’s diminutive body again for the first time. Wildfire did, of course, give as good as she got, well, almost.

At just before four, Tempest, Mapper and Serenity let themselves into the hospital room. They were greeted to the sight of Wildfire and Airmail entwined in a very close and intimate post-coital cuddle-fest on the bed. As they were all three of them bearing scones and coffee, this did alert the blind mare to their presence. She did not, however, move from the snuggling she was doing. She sniffed the air, detecting the heavenly whiff of scones and coffee mixed with the even heavenlier scent of jasmine and sex.

Mapper simply paused at the raunchy sight that greeted her and raised an eyebrow. “I wasn't aware the doctor authorized sex.” She commented dryly.

Likewise, Airmail didn’t move, either. “Since when did I need authorization?” the bundle of blue fur replied, sounding remarkably like Airmail.

Tempest snickered and licked both mares’ ears, making them sit up, albeit reluctantly. “Nurse said she is free to go, but she has to take a wheelchair out.”

Stepping forward, with her own distinctive – according to Wildfire, almost constantly dancing – gait, Serenity spoke up. “But that can wait on the snacks that Mistress brought.”

“Mistress,” Wildfire started, though she had her ears slicked all the way back and her head bowed in deference, she was sniffing and listening, so she had a good idea who was stood where. Mapper and Tempest were both stood at the foot of her bed, Tempest to Mapper’s right, making her furthest away from the door. Serenity was stood to her Mistress’s left, and to her right. Airmail was still sat on the bed with her. “May I please have a scone?”

When Mapper nodded, Serenity asked, “Would you like blueberry, or orange cranberry?”

Given the choice, Wildfire knew what she wanted. What she really wanted was for Serenity to keep talking. Her melodic voice was like a sweet birdsong. “Orange cranberry please, Senior Pet.” She settled for the scone.

Another nod from Mapper and, with her Mistress’s permission, Serenity lit her horn. The very capable teal unicorn selected the nicest looking – as in, the biggest – of the orange cranberry scones and she levitated it in her hazel aura over to her fellow Pet. With a smile she rested it right on Wildfire’s hoof, earning herself a little swat for showing off. “Here you are, Middle Pet.”

“You think Octavia is still going to play the game?” asked Tempest curiously as she helped herself to one of the blueberry scones. She looked dead straight at Airmail and mouthed ‘I’m eating you…’ which earned her a silent raspberry for her efforts.

Mapper just shrugged, going for one of the orange cranberry scones and taking a big bite out of it. “Matters not, Stormy. Any other Pet would be junior to these two.” If she was honest, she doubted whether Octavia would still be willing to be her Junior Pet, but hey, it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

“Thank you,” Wildfire murmured, lifting up the scone to her nose, she very delicately gave it an experimental sniff and a tentative lick, just to see if it was what she asked for. She was neither happy or otherwise that it was. She was allowed her scone and that was that.

“Blueberry for me, please.” When Airmail made her choice, Serenity floated over one of the requested scones to the alpha of their mini-herd.

“I have your coffees,” Tempest said with a smile in her voice once she had eaten her scone. The past couple of days she had developed an appreciation for the coffee shop that was just a couple of blocks away. “But they were out of celery syrup, Wily. I hope that is okay?” she couldn’t resist the tease.

“That's okay,” Wildfire shuddered involuntarily, just a little, at the mere thought of celery. She absolutely detested the foul vegetable. The scone she held in her hooves though, she was giving much more attention than it rightly deserved. It didn’t escape any of the four other ponies’ attentions that she was licking and nibbling it to make it last. “I'd rather not have celery, thank you.”

Airmail giggled and, though she shot Tempest a ‘look’, to which Tempest shrugged and looked at her hooves, she licked Wildfire’s nose. “Not up for teasing quite yet, huh?” She could wholly understand it, though.

Tempest did feel a little bit bad for teasing her lover and her herd-mate. Not bad enough to apologise for it though, as it was a gentle little tease. As far as she was concerned, she wasn’t treating Wildfire any differently than she had before the incident, and she certainly wasn’t one for walking on eggshells. “Your coffee is on the nightstand to your left, Wily. Here's yours, Airy.” She said, placing the black and Celestia coffees on the side of the bed.

While Airmail and Wildfire both thanked Tempest for putting their drinks so close to them, Wildfire knew from feeling around that the nightstand was just by the bed, the little blind mare again nibbled the scone. She knew she had to tell her herd what was on her mind. “Um...Airy, I've decided, after I had a chat with Ms. Requiem, I'm going to be a Pet, again.”

Airmail and Tempest both raised their eyebrows at that. For a moment, a very quick and silent ear-flick conversation passed between the four ponies as the two pegasi filled Mapper and Serenity in on what had been discussed at the Canterlot themed restaurant on Friday evening. Eventually, Airmail hugged her fiancé. “Are you bringing back Wildflower?” she asked.

Sensing the underlying tension in the room, Wildfire nodded. She knew what that nod meant, what she was giving up and what she was gaining just from that simple little gesture. “Just for a little bit, please, I um, I need her.” Already, the yellow pegasus felt that much safer. “I'd rather be safe than free, right now.”

Mapper wanted so badly to dance a happy little dance. Alas, she had an image to maintain. The pink unicorn allowed the corners of her mouth to curl up just slightly, so slightly that only Serenity recognised it for what it was. A happy cheer. “So,” she said calmly, “you will also remain my Middle Pet?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Noted.”

Serenity, receiving a mental nudge from her wife and Mistress, stepped forward and, once again, said aloud what Mapper wanted to say but could not. “Welcome home, Wildfire.”

Wildfire smiled a very happy smile at that, the sense of warmth and well-being flowing through her now that Wildflower was back and she was back amongst the fold. “Thank you Mistress, Senior Pet. It's nice to be home.”

Mapper blinked rapidly, several times. Had she not, she would’ve cried tears of happiness. “You are on free time for me, but I'm not so sure about the other two crazy mares.”

Airmail kissed her fiancé’s cheek, as did Tempest, who came up along her other side and affectionately nuzzled her herd-mate first and sub second. “I'd like to have some fun with Wily for now.” Airmail said, getting a nod of approval from Tempest. “Finish your scone and coffee and then ring the nurse so we know what the limits are and we can take you home.”

“In other news,” Mapper announced, sounding rather like a newsreader reading out the day’s events, “I'll be able to close on the house this Friday. Have you even put yours up for sale yet?” she asked, knowing full well that her herd-mate’s had not.

“Not yet,” Tempest sighed, reminded of what she still had to do. “I'll list it once we start moving.”

As Wildfire spent the few minutes quietly eating her orange cranberry scone until it was finally gone, she listened to the conversation flowing around her. She was reminded, sat on the bed and surrounded by her second ‘family’ of sorts, that she had family elsewhere. After taking a long sip of her sugary black coffee, she decided to ask, “Um...Mistress?”

Mapper caught Airmail’s eye and she flicked her ears at her herd-mate. “Yes?” it was Airmail who responded, as per the pink unicorn’s urging.

“I'd um...I'd like to go and visit my mothers in Canterlot at the weekend, but if it's a bad time...” she trailed off, hoping that it wouldn’t be a bad time. In light of everything that had happened recently, with the reappearance of her war journal, she really needed to talk to Silverbolt and, more to the point, given what had happened to her personally, she really needed a hug from her step-mother, Emerald.

“You can always go,” Airmail reminded her gently, “Do you wish to go alone?”

Wildfire did not want to go on her own. Not at all. No way. Not now, at any rate. “Um…well, be-before Monday, I'd have gone on my own, Mistress…” Now, as it was, she didn’t even want to go out of the hospital room on her own. Indeed, the few times she had gone to the bathroom, she had to have Tempest escort her or she would’ve stayed in the bed.

As Airmail and Tempest busied themselves with nuzzling and kissing Wildfire’s face, Mapper glanced at her wife. Sadly, Serenity shook her head. “I do not have free time from the shows, Mistress. This week is play week.”

“I have loads of vacation piled up.” Tempest offered while Mapper nodded at what Serenity had said. “I can easy swing this weekend.”

Airmail was immediately relieved. “Thanks, Stormy. My work has piled up, my love. Would Stormy be okay instead of me?”

“Yes Mistress,” Wildfire ‘looked’ down at the bedsheets once her coffee cup was empty. “I'm sorry, I just don't feel safe out there on my own, I'm sorry…”

“Love,” Airmail smiled, her heart just melting as she took the empty cup from her. “Please don't be sorry for how you feel. Share that with us so we can be there to support you.”

Mapper, on the other hoof, was far less diplomatic. “Mopey ponies are little fun, Middle Pet.”

Tempest giggled at that. Fortunately she had drunk her own coffee so she had nothing to snort up. “Nothing a pretty maid outfit can't cheer up.”

“Or a cute slave outfit.” As soon as those words had left Mapper’s mouth, Serenity looked at her wife so hard she almost cricked her neck. “Oh!” Mapper caught the look and resisted the urge to facehoof. Silently, via their link, she explained it to her wife as she turned to Airmail. “Airy, there is a really nice book you need to feel.” The pink unicorn first showed off the queen / slave outfits. “I think the idea is for Stormy to be the queen while you two are her slaves.”

Imperiously, Tempest sat on the floor and inspected her hooves. “I like that idea.”

Mapper couldn’t resist. “Alternate is me as queen with Ser and Wily as my slaves.”

Serenity chuckled, even her laugh sounding as melodic as her voice. “I like that option, Mistress.”

Wildfire managed a weak little smile at the banter going on around her. “Both options sound equally fun, Mistress, though it was Tempest's dream that inspired the purchase.”

All four mares shared a laugh at that, however Mapper delved once more into Wildfire’s remaining saddlebag. “This though. This is the most erotic book I've ever touched.” And that was saying something, as the pink mare’s own collection of books ranging from BDSM instruction to sensual literature was quite extensive.

After Mapper had passed the Pony Sutra to Airmail, the azure blue mare opened it curiously. “Oh, wow it is embossed!” her curiosity was rewarded almost instantly by the contents of the pages. “Woah, you can feel the folds and the cocks. That’s so cool.”

Both Tempest and Serenity made sure to get a good look at the book. Both were not disappointed, in the least. “Puts a new meaning to 'touchy feely'.” Tempest snickered, passing her judgement. She looked forward to working her way through every single page with her herd-mates, though she was sure that page twenty-five was physically impossible. Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try, though.

“It is a good book, isn't it Mistress?” Wildfire smiled, “I'm glad you all like the feel of it. I thought you'd all like it when I felt it in the store.”

After one more feel of the book, Airmail gave Wildfire a kiss. “Almost as pretty as you, my love.”

“She got some other braille books and Ser has told me she has already read the print versions and that I wouldn't like them.” Mapper smiled at Tempest whom she knew had been learning braille while she had been napping. Serenity giggled, for anything her Mistress didn’t like usually resulted in her getting a spanking. If she was lucky. “Then this could only be worn by one of two mares, and the one that will chose is you, Airy.” Carefully, so that it wouldn’t make any noise, Mapper hoofed over the cowbell.

“Oh...” Wildfire giggled at the clanging peal as Airmail rang the bell. “Remember I said I'd wear one for you, Mistress? Moooo!”

Serenity couldn’t resist. She sang out loud and proud, “MoooOOOoooOOOoooooOOooo!”

Airmail just raised her eyebrow at the large brass bell, a massive blush colouring her blue cheeks. “At least I'll know when it is milking time.”

“I am looking forward to milking time, Mistress.”

Tempest giggled, “You'll have to make a trip to her office every time you come to Manehatten, Wily.” While they had all been talking though, the violet weather mare had been checking her phone. “Okay, we can take the overnight express at six p.m. on Friday and be there in Canterlot by eight a.m. Saturday. Hmm, we can do the same for Sunday. It leaves at three in the afternoon on Sunday and gets back here at seven a.m. on Monday.”

“Not flying?”

Tempest looked at Mapper and rolled her eyes. “With passenger we'd only save an hour or two and I'll be too tired to do anything Saturday.”

“Okay,” secretly, Wildfire was pleased they weren’t flying. The last thing she wanted be was a burden to her herd-mate. Besides, the train sounded like a much safer option right now, and she wanted safe. “Um, I'm sorry you'll miss the open mic night just for me, Tempest.” She thought for a moment. “Should I call the nurse now?”

Tempest however laughed, “They should be sorry, I can hear you sing and do poems without the rest enjoying the show!” she just laughed all the more when Airmail raspberried her. “But, yes, please do call, Wily.”

Reaching for the phone that was at the side of the bed, Wildfire called the nurse. After a few moments, and a “Thank you,” she set the phone back down. “She says they'll be here shortly.”

Airmail was quick to pounce on that. “Good. More snuggle then.”

“More snuggles, Mistress.”

After exactly fifteen minutes of snuggles, the door opened and the doctor and nurse walked in, as it happened it was the same pair that had treated Wildfire when she had been admitted Monday afternoon. “Well,” the doctor smiled to the four ponies, three of whom were around the bed and the one that was in it with his patient. “Quite the crowd you have, Miss Wildfire. Okay, all your tests came back positive. There is a healing enchantment on the cast, so that will come off in three weeks. Then, I'm putting you on light duty for another three weeks so you can get your strength back up. After that you should be able to return to your normal work…”

He took a moment to look at the chart, while the nurse stood quietly, ready with the wheelchair. “As a firefighter,” he concluded after a few moments looking over Wildfire’s full medical records that had been supplied via dragon mail from Canterlot. “You may experience some weakness in the left wing for up to a month after that. I have a script here for some pain meds, but take only as needed, and no more than four a day. Any questions?”

Being a good patient and a better Pet, Wildfire had listened to all this quietly. Now though, with her ears well back, she asked, “So...I can't work for three weeks? Is...Is the chief gonna be okay with that? I mean, I was only there for a week, I've gone and let him down already…”

Though it was clear and obvious that Wildfire was getting herself agitated, Mapper snorted. It was Tempest though, who spoke first. “Well, somehow the chief managed for years without you. Now, he got a taste of you in that last big fire. What do you think, Airy?”

Airmail shrugged, “Well I'm not going to take the job, I like my office. So I guess he'll just have to wait for another blind pegasus to stumble into his office or three weeks. Whichever comes first.”

“I'm sorry, doctor,” Wildfire lowered her head, her ears seemingly permanently slicked all the way back to her scalp. “I guess three weeks will be fine.” Now she was able to, following the care home, she couldn’t imagine not flying for three whole weeks. On the other hoof… “I'll be healed then just before we're due to get married, Airy.”

“Good,” Tempest smiled, just as Serenity was whispering quietly to the doctor and nurse, who both nodded and took a polite step backwards. “I can do a full preen before the wedding!”

Mapper, who caught what Serenity was whispering even without the mental link she shared with her wife and Pet, laughed a little harshly. She knew she had to step on Wildfire’s mood before it got too far out of hoof. She was grateful though that Serenity was explaining it to the doctor and nurse. “Sad pony is a naughty pony in not a good way. Honesty time, Wildfire.” At least she got to do some ‘Mistressing’. “Why were you hired for this job in the first place?” As soon as she had said that, Airmail flicked her ears, but the pink mare waved her off.

“Because...” with her head still down, Wildfire thought back to her interview with Rung and the meeting with Hot Spot. “Because Rung and Hot Spot both believed I was capable of doing it, Mistress. Because I'm good at what I do, Mistress.”

Not the answer Mapper was looking for. “Rung has a squadron of pegasi that are competent, and that is the primary reason you were hired. You are competent. What is the reason he hired you, instead of a pegasus he already has?”

“He said it was so he didn't have to get a weather pegasi pulled from the weather team to deliver clouds.”

“When you are on vacation,” Mapper pressed, determined to make her herd-mate see, “That is exactly what he does. That doesn't answer the question, Pet. He could have one of his fire pegasus fill your job.”

“Then I don't know, Mistress.”

Internally, Mapper sighed loud enough to make Serenity flinch. Such a disappointed sound was not something she would ever wish to hear. Probably why it was silent. At her Mistress’s urging, the teal unicorn stepped forwards toward the bed. “If you'd open your eyes, you'd see why you were chosen.”

“I can't, Senior Pet…” instantly, Wildfire regretted snapping, but as she thought for a moment, she couldn’t see how she was supposed to open her eyes when she didn’t have any. “I'm not like the others, I can do stuff they can't, that's why he hired me.”

Mapper hadn’t realised, due to not spending quite so much time with the yellow mare as Tempest and Airmail had, quite how literal Wildfire was. That was her fault. “Closer pet. Do you really think none of the others could push a cloud?” she asked while Airmail nuzzled her fiancé’s cheek.

Wildfire didn’t get it. “Well, no, but like Tempest said, I'm a precision flier. Not every pegasus can do that, right?”

Airmail shot Mapper a dangerous look. “Mapper...”

“Not now, Airy.” Mapper again waved the look away like it was nothing more than an irritation. Again, she was thankful to her wife that the doctor and nurse were not interfering in this. “Pouty Pony needs to know this. No use hiding it from her.”

“But why now?” Airmail agreed she needed to know, she just didn’t agree with the timing.

“Because I'm a harsh Mistress, isn't that right, Wildfire?”

“Yes Mistress,” Wildfire nodded. She was unsure what she should say, but agreeing seemed like a good idea. “But a loving and fair one.”

Tempest caught the look being shared between Mapper and Serenity, as well as the uncertain one between doctor and nurse. She decided to have a go. “Love, you said you are different form the other pegasi on the fire team.” She started gently, “How are you different?”

When Wildfire replied, her voice was deadened. “I'm blind. I can't see, so I use the headset to get around, where I need to be.”

Mapper was very close to having had quite enough of this nonsense. She went straight for the heart of the flame, rather than dance around the subject. “You said you were hired because they can't do what you can do. The truth, Pet, is very different. Why were you hired?”

The diminutive yellow mare had her brow furrowed deep in thought. Try as she might though, she just couldn’t see what her herd-mates were trying to show her. The more she tried to think, the less clear things seemed to be. “Well...it must be then because I can do the same as them, right?”

Mapper snorted, shaking her head. “She really is blind!”

As Airmail growled – herd-mate or not, she wasn’t going to take the insult – Wildfire felt Serenity’s hoof press lightly into her chest fur. “Wildfire.” For once, there was no melody in her voice. “Can you truly do all the things the rest of the fire team pegasi can do?”

Wildfire was about to answer when she shook her head. “No, no I can't.”

“Does that make you a less valuable member of the team?”

“No, it doesn't.”

Serenity kissed Wildfire’s lips and, while Airmail hugged her as tight as she dared, the teal unicorn communicated mentally to her wife and Mistress. “Now Pet,” Mapper tried again, “Why did Rung hire you to do a job that any of his other pegasi could easily have done?”

All of a sudden, like a light going on in her head, Wildfire understood. “He hired me because I can't do what they can do.” She understood and she was okay with that. “Because, he can't spare them to do my job. Because I can do the job that needs to be done without taking one of the others from the job they need to do.”

Relieved, Mapper let out a contented sigh. Perhaps her Middle Pet was not as blind as she first assumed. “You get a cookie, after your spanking, Pet.”

“Thank you Mistress, for the cookie and the spanking.”

“Ah, Pet,” Mapper couldn’t resist a little fun now the situation had been resolved, “but which is the reward?”

“You’re okay with this, Wily?” Airmail asked, not willing to release her hug just yet.

“Yuppers,” when Wildfire responded this time, the yellow pegasus sounded a lot more like herself than she had since the doctor and nurse had entered the room. “I'm okay with it, Airy.”

That confirmation, as well as the she sounded, earned Wildfire an extremely long kiss from Airmail. Only the doctor giving a polite little cough caused her to break it. “Okay, so I'm moving.” The lead editor giggled and hopped out of the bed to the tiled floor. “And you get a free ride to the front door!”

“Must they use a wheelchair, Mistress?” Wildfire sighed, rolling her eyebrows and head in place of eyes. “My wings were broken, not my legs!”

“We must!” the nurse laughed, relieved that the little drama was at last over. “It’s the rules! Or a charter, or something like that…personally I think it is just to embarrass ponies.”

“Okies then,” Wildfire sighed a very over-dramatic sigh as she made her way from the bed to the wheelchair. She was grateful nopony tried to help her. What she couldn’t see was Airmail wanted to help, but that Mapper shook her head ‘no’. “In that case,” she grunted as she – clumsily – got sat down, “consider me embarrassed, nurse.”

Thankfully, it was a short and easy journey from Wildfire’s fifth floor room down to the main entrance. The doctor took his leave almost straight away, summoned by his pager to another patient. Serenity, at Mapper’s behest, carried hers and Wildfire’s saddlebag full of MiAC goodness while Tempest insisted on carrying her own. The only thing Wildfire was allowed to carry was a bright green sticker with ‘Perfect Patient’ written in yellow bubble writing which was stuck to her blue and purple collar.

“Want a lift,” Airmail asked once they were all stood on the sidewalk outside the North Park Hospital, in the cool breeze of the early evening, “or shall we take the subway?”

As much as she trusted both Airmail and Tempest, Wildfire really didn’t want to fly, unless it was under her own power. That, and the very solid ground was remarkably safe and reassuring under her hooves. “S-S-Subway, pl-please, Airy.” She wasn’t cold, by any means, more she was exceedingly nervous.

Lovingly, Airmail kissed Wildfire’s cheek. She was incredibly proud of her fiancé for wanting to get back on the rodeo bull after being throw off in the manner she had. “Subway it is!” Fortunately, or perhaps by design, there was a subway entrance right by the front of the hospital.

The five mares took up a familiar formation as they walked along. Airmail was on Wildfire’s left with her azure blue wing draped over Wildfire’s back. Tempest was on her right side, and both Mapper and Serenity were on point ahead of the trio. All four were alert for any and all signs of any trouble. “Thank you,” Wildfire said quietly, “I um...I'm not being scared, just because of what she did…” in spite of that though, she huddled very, very close into Airmail's feathery embrace.

“That pony will never harm anypony ever again,” Tempest stated definitively as they walked to the subway entrance, “nor will she ever escape the prison Airy put her in.”

Mapper saw where they were going and she approved. She was also pleased, for her herd-mate’s mental state if nothing else, that there didn’t seem to be many ponies out this evening. “I'm all for the subway. I doubt Stormy can carry two for long, and it would only take me a couple hundred teleports to get home.”

“I like the subway.” Serenity giggled, for her wife’s lack of skill with teleportation was well known amongst the herd. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, but that she couldn’t get more than a few feet at a time. Then again, she wasn’t much better.

Walking along, sniffing the cool Manehatten air, feeling a gentle breeze on her yellow fur, Wildfire felt distinctly braver with her four mares all arranged around her. “I like the subway too, Senior Pet.”

The subway ride, when the train finally arrived in the station, was, thankfully, uneventful. As ever, Wildfire was stood in the yellow handicapped zone. Also as ever, Airmail was stood to her left, her blue wing draped protectively over her fiancé. The other three mares were stood nearby outside the box area, if their scents and the sounds of their voices was anything to go by. Wildfire couldn’t help but smile as she leant in to Airmail’s side. “Pretty, do you know, you always stand on my left?”

Airmail thought about that for just a moment. She was about to argue the fact before she realised that Wildfire was right. Every single time they had gone out anywhere, or even when they were indoors, she was always on her left. “I do, don’t I? Or do you like to be my wingmare on my right?” she asked with a playful giggle, “You do know that if you stand on the right at the wedding you will have to be the one to defend me from being stolen away by another suitor.” She nuzzled her cheek, “Like Stormy over there.”

Tempest, who, like Mapper and Serenity, was close enough to overhear, snorted out a laugh. “I don't think I will, why, when I'll have two servants. One can do coffee and the other donuts!”

Mapper approved of that. “I like your thinking, Stormy.”

“I do, like being your wingmare, I mean.” Wildfire said as she felt the train thunder along the tracks. No matter how many times she used the train, she doubted she’d never not find it relaxing. There was the gentle sway of the carriage, the clickety-clack of the wheels…everything was just soothing. “And,” she smiled, “I can do coffee, once I'm done chasing chocolate chips around the dining table.”

Tempest had to try really very hard not to laugh. She only just succeeded. “Very sneaky those chips are,” she commented, making Airmail giggle.

Wildfire nodded. “Tricksy they is!” They were even more tricksy when you happened to be blind and you had a certain purple mare constantly moving them around the dining table. Still, that had been a very fun day, if she didn’t count the heart attack she almost had when she had been made to dust the china cabinet. “You know,” she continued after a few moment’s silence, “This reminds me of the very first subway ride I shared with you. You stood on my left then, too.”

“That was a fun trip.” Airmail snickered, for she remembered it as well as Wildfire did. “You almost sitting on that wheelchair pony, and how kind that little filly was.”

While Airmail and Wildfire spent the rest of the subway ride back reminiscing about Haymarket and Dewdrop, several ponies lined up to ask for Serenity’s autograph. The very famous opera singer and theatre performer made sure she obliged each and every one. Once the train had arrived at their destination, and they were on the platform – again in the same formation as before – Tempest, Mapper and Airmail had a silent ear-flick conversation between themselves. Presently, as they left the station altogether, Tempest spoke up. “Maps, you want some help packing for the move?”

Mapper shot a sly look at her wife who had been behaving way to well as of late. “Well, Senior Pet could use some packing…” she was cut off by the sound of Serenity doing a happy hoof dance on the tile floor. The pink mare giggled, they’d have to get round to some real packing at some point. Not tonight, though.

Tempest beamed. “Always happy to help.”

“Don't forget we need to pack too.” Airmail pointed out as they walked along the sidewalk in the cool of the evening.

“I'm sure you'll do fine while me and Wily are in Canterlot,” Tempest waggled her eyebrows suggestively and nudged Airmail’s ribs with her elbow, to which the azure blue mare replied with a well-executed raspberry.

“At least there isn't much of my stuff to pack,” Wildfire interjected. She didn’t mean what she said to be in any way derogatory, it was just a simple fact. Aside from her flight suit, her computer and tablet, her small collection of four braille books, few outfits, one CD and her poem diary, she had nothing. “Um, maybe that should help?”

Airmail couldn’t help but giggle. Her lover was adorable when she was being dense. “I don't know if you got the type of packing Stormy is going to do, love.”

“I do think I heard Senior Pet doing a happy dance.” Wildfire replied with a giggle of her own. As dense as she might be, she wasn’t quite that dense. “I'm going to guess the packing involves a stallionator and a teal mare’s tail hole?”

On the street, Airmail paused and kissed Wildfire’s lips. “You are a very smart little pony.”

“Try to avoid the ice cream place on your way home.” Tempest laughed, knowing full well there was as much chance of that as her flying to the moon, before the three mares turned and walked off towards the north of Stallion Island and to Mapper and Serenity’s house.

“I don't know if that is possible,” Airmail smiled, “what do you think, Wily?”

“I think...” Wildfire started, then, when she realised they were all alone on the street, she huddled in close to Airmail’s hug. Not that she was scared or anything, because she totally was not. It wasn’t a scared hug. Not at all. “I um, I think we should pay Miss Scoops a visit.”

“Yes,” Airmail agreed, “I think we should too, lest they think we moved.” The older blue mare kept her much smaller lover huddled close to her as she led her away down the street on the way to Scoops’ ice cream shop. On the way, which was, for the most part uneventful, Wildfire jumped a little as a stallion yelled at a mare somewhere behind the two of them.

Wildfire, who was trying to convince herself that she was not scared, at all, let out a defeated sigh. “I’m sorry.” She couldn’t keep up the pretence after she had almost wet herself like that. “I thought I was over jumping at every little thing around me…”

Airmail saw just how scared her fiancé was, and how much of a brave face she was attempting to put on. She stopped on the sidewalk and took a moment to lay an affectionate nuzzle on her cheek and neck. “We all jump at every little thing,” she said kindly, “it is how we do it that makes us different. I've grown jaded to noise. You use sound as a big part of your life. I will only be as far from you as you let me be, and as close as I can be.”

Wildfire gratefully returned the nuzzle, though she did so with another long, deep sigh. “I know, it’s like I thought I was over the whole ‘being a Pet’, thing...I um, I just think I need it a bit longer, that’s all.” She flashed Airmail her best smile in an attempt to reassure her. “So, ice cream?”

“Remember when you first wanted to be a Pet.” Airmail stated as she began once more to lead her lover along the street. “You felt more comfortable with somepony else in control. Sort of being in your comfort zone. If Stormy and I didn't object then, why would we now?” It was a rhetorical question, sure, but one that needed to be asked. “Safe, Wily. I want you to feel safe.”

From her memory of their walks together, and with her familiarity of the area, Wildfire was sure where they were and where they were going. She did so love the ice cream spot. It was perhaps her second favourite spot after the lake. “Again, I know, Pretty.” Wildfire stepped from the sidewalk to the grass, she knew they weren’t far away now. “It is just that, isn’t it? It’s the whole ‘comfort zone’ thing.” She cocked her head and sniffed, feeling the ground change under her hooves. “We aren't far away, are we?”

Airmail didn’t answer straightaway. After another ten minutes walk, she stopped. “We are here.” Surveying the menu board outside the ice cream shop, which actually looked like a giant ice cream cone, complete with vanilla and chocolate scoops topped off with two big flakes, she grinned. “Oh, look, they do have peach on the menu!”

“Oh, joy…” Wildfire deadpanned, though her remark was ruined somewhat by a loud giggle. From the smell of the place, there was indeed peach, but even better was the very strong scent of chocolate she was getting. Another plus of the evening hour was there wasn’t many ponies inside. She couldn’t hear many, at any rate. “I wasn't aware I'd been a naughty little pegasus, Mistress.”

Outside the ice cream shop, Airmail licked Wildfire’s nose. “I was thinking of getting it for myself and then kissing you repeatedly.” She playfully nudged her, just below her wing joint. “And I was teasing you, too.”

“Hmm...well, I think I could eat it that way,” Wildfire smiled, “and I know, now.”

Airmail tapped her chin with her hoof, umming and ahhing at the menu board. “I'm going to make a wild guess and say you'd like the dark chocolate, but can you guess for me?”

“You'd be guessing right.” Wildfire replied as they walked in to the almost empty ice cream shop. It was, too, but for a couple of earth pony stallions sat in a far booth who were sharing a humongous sundae with just one spoon. “I think you'd like the chocolate and coffee with fudge sprinkles, Mistress.”

Airmail giggled as they stepped up to the counter. She giggled even harder when Scoops hurriedly put down her latest raunchy book that she had been absorbed in. “You know me so well. Still, you are right, I think I have coffee every time now. But, adding chocolate is due to the influence of a certain yellow pegasus I know. You may know her too.” She grinned at the heavily blushing mare behind the counter who was desperately trying to hide her book and her flagging tail. “Hi Scoops. Chocolate and coffee sundae for me with some fudge sprinkles and hot fudge topping.”

Stood next to her, Wildfire was quiet until she got a dig in her ribs that told her to order her own. “Oh, right, um, can I have the dark chocolate ice cream, please Miss Scoops?”

“With hot fudge and fudge sprinkles too.” Airmail reminded her with a long slow lick up her yellow ear.

“Eeek!” Wildfire squeaked loudly, earning herself a laugh from both Scoops and her fiancé. “Y-Yes, with hot fudge and fudge sprinkles too, please.”

As she paid the bill, and as Scoops got to fixing the order, Airmail giggled. “Was my smart little mare a bit distracted?”

“A little…”

“Then, I need to work harder.”

Wildfire shook her head. “No, I think I need to work harder. I shouldn't let her get to me like this, should I?”

Airmail knew just who she meant by ‘her’. As far as she was concerned it was entirely understandable for her to react like she had. Especially given her past. “Oops. I’m sorry, I was trying to distract you, but I do understand. Those events still haunt you. Forgive me, Wily.” Thankfully, as Airmail placed the sundaes on a tray, Scoops knew enough not to ask what was going on. Besides, she wanted to get back to her book. “Let’s sit, eat, and have a more heart to heart talk.”

“Alrighty,” when Airmail moved, she brushed her summer green tail over Wildfire’s nose, getting the little yellow mare to follow her over to an empty table in an opposite corner to the two stallions and she sat down. “You're right.” She said solemnly, “Those events do still haunt me, Airy.”

About to dig into her ice cream, Airmail pushed her bowl to one side and reached over the table to gently hold Wildfire’s hooves. “I'm here for you Wily, The herd is here.” With a smile on her face, she scooted around the table and, now sitting next to her, she reached down and rubbed the diminutive mare’s belly. “I'm glad she is safe. I will do all I can to keep her, and her mother, safe.”

“I know Airy,” forgetting about her ice cream, Wildfire placed her yellow hoof on the blue to hold it there. “She's safe because of you, and I love you so much for it.”

Taking a spoonful of her ice cream, Airmail gave her fiancé a coffee and chocolate flavoured kiss. A very long, very passionate coffee and chocolate flavoured kiss. “Wildfire…I'm so thankful for your emergency word. I barely beat Stormy to the scene.”

Blushing rather heavily, Wildfire took the kiss and offered Airmail a chocolatey kiss of her own. “I'm glad you decided to invent it. That was a good idea you had, love.”

“It was,” Airmail agreed. While she was never one for self-aggrandisement, she had to admit that was one of her better ideas. “But, that was not how I thought you'd need it. I was thinking wing fatigue, or some punk trying to rob you with a knife.” Definitely, in all her forty-eight years, she would not have thought a nightmare from her past would try and kill her on the subway.

“Well,” Wildfire sniffed, “I suppose you weren't a million miles away with the second one.”

“She will never hurt anypony ever again. I'm just sorry you had to be the last one she hurt.”

“Thank you, Pretty.” Then, with her mouth full, Wildfire gave Airmail a very chocolatey kiss indeed. “My azure blue hero, sent by the goddesses on wings of deliverance!”

Now, it was Airmail’s turn to blush. Nopony in all her years of service had spoken of her so eloquently. “I would rather just be your wife, and mother of your foal.”

“A wife and mother still makes you a hero. At least to me.”

Again, Airmail smiled. Again, she treated her lover to an ice cream flavoured kiss. “Then, you are my hero, Wildfire.”