On the way back from the book store, Wildfire had chosen to go and visit Winter and her family, what Tempest affectionately called the ‘seasons’ family. It hadn’t been a long visit, because they were on a schedule, but Winter had insisted on providing coffee and cake all round. Now, in the cab going to Emerald’s house, both Tempest and Wildfire were very full and extremely content. “They were really taken by Mapper and Serenity's visit, weren’t they?” asked Tempest, nestled into her yellow cushion.

“Yuppers they were,” Wildfire smiled and cuddled Tempest, wrapping her foreleg around her marefriend’s shoulders and pulling her in close to her so that her snout was pressed into her fur. “I'm glad though. They deserve it, all of them.”

“Those two colts are night and day.” Tempest said with a chuckle, casting her mind back to Summer and Autumn. She wasn’t one for motherhood, but if she was, she liked to think hers would be like them. “The future fire pony is hyper, and his brother is studious. Have they always been like that?”

Wildfire had to think hard on that, as the cab rattled and bounced its way along the cobbled streets of Canterlot in the very late afternoon. “The few times I was with them, I noticed it. Autumn was the first one to come to me in the burning building. Summer took a little more convincing.”

Buried in Wildfire’s chest, Tempest giggled so hard she tickled the yellow mare too. “Hi there earth pony, just jump out this really, really high window. Everything will be just fine!”

“Something like that, yuppers!” Wildfire snickered. There had of course been more to it than that, but Tempest just about summed it up perfectly. “I asked them if they wanted to go flying with their auntie Wily, and Winter said it would be okay.” She smiled at the memory, “It's super cool that Inferno's taken Autumn under his wing at the firehouse, like Heatwave did with me. That's how I started, helping to clean the equipment.”

“Then again,” Wildfire continued, “Summer's cool too, studying to be a paramedic. First Aid said he was a natural.”

“I think Spring was okay too,” Tempest commented in between kissing and nibbling at Wildfire’s fur, “not anywhere near as bad as Mapper made out.”

Petting Tempest’s ears and mane like one would a cat, Wildfire paused to consider her reply. “Well, to be fair, I think he's under a lot of pressure though. Senior surgeon at Canterlot hospital. Bet that's not a lot of fun these days.” She didn’t imagine for a second that an already hard job was made any easier with all the police buzzing around.

“Well, we are still on schedule,” Tempest stated as she lifted her head reluctantly from Wildfire’s chest to check her watch, “I need some real food before I have to eat train food again.”

“Yuppers, me too,” Wildfire leant in and kissed Tempest’s cheek, adding in little licks and nips here and there like she was cleaning her. Not that Tempest minded in the slightest. “Mind you, I'd hate to be Air Raid's dad. You couldn't pay me enough money to be on the hospital's board of directors about now.”

Tempest laughed, part of her wishing her marefriend would kindly shut up and go back to what she was doing. Although, if she did, there was a very good chance she’d pounce on her in the back of the taxi. “I doubt the Fire Department will give you extended leave so soon, anyways.”

“Thank Cadance for small mercies!” Wildfire giggled just as the taxi arrived back at her step-mother’s house. “Are you gonna read your new Phantom of the Opera on the train back or are you gonna bury a baster in me again?” either or was okay with her.

“I think I'll read to you, but you could still earn a baster in your pretty little marehood,” she giggled. Getting out, she enjoyed a brief stretch on the sidewalk before she paid the patiently waiting cabbie and allowed Wildfire to lead the way to the door.

No sooner had Wildfire knocked twice on the front door than Emerald was right there ushering them inside with an orange wing. “Come in, come in!”

“Hey momma!” Wildfire exclaimed, seizing her step-mother in a tight hug the very second she was inside.

“Welcome back,” Emerald beamed. She hadn’t ever seen herself as a mother, not while she was with Cold Front, any way but, since she had met Wildfire, she found she was warming up to the idea. “So, tell me, how did the book signing go?”

“I thought my hoof was gonna drop off!” Wildfire groused good naturedly, though everypony in the living room could tell she didn’t mean it. “Thank Cadance that Professor Twilight knows fetlock healing spells…”

Immediately, Emerald took hold of her offered left forelock, concern all over her face. “You're okay, now?”

Wildfire pulled a very quivery lip pout, determined to milk this for all it was worth. “I think it needs kissing better…”

At first, Emerald was puzzled. Then, she caught Tempest’s and Wrangler’s faces. “Oh,” Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. “Oh!” the orange pegasus kissed her daughter’s forelock and nuzzled her. As she gently kissed her cheek, she decided it wasn’t bad at all, being a mother.

“I may have gotten a rash when I flew over a cloud and it went between my hind legs,” Tempest teased, “Although I did finish this excellent book.”

Having got what she wanted, Wildfire happily nuzzled her mother’s cheek. “That feels a lot better momma, thank you!”

“Hey Tempest,” Butternut called out from the couch in the living room that Wildfire and Wrangler had been sat on earlier, “Pistachio will kiss that rash better for you!”

As Pistachio blushed, the pegasus’s cream cheeks turning bright red, Wrangler came out from the bathroom. The moment the pink mare saw Wildfire, her scarred face lit up in a smile. “Ah, my hyper little sister has returned!”

In a clear melodious voice that reminded Wildfire a great deal of Serenity, Whisper said, “Em says you're going to visit your first mother, if you don’t mind, may I tag along?”

“Yuppers!” Wildfire agreed quickly, for she saw no reason to say no. These were her step-mother’s friends, after all. “Anypony else want to come too?”

“Me!” Emerald giggled, her hoof high in the air like she was trying to get the teacher’s attention in class.

Wrangler though shook her head solemnly. “Not enough action for me, or on the other hoof, way too much action.” She wasn’t a mare for graveyards.

“Are you sure you can't take Wrangler?” Pistachio joked, “She smiles when you're around, Wily.” For her snark, the cream pegasus was treated to a lengthy raspberry that made them all laugh.

“First we have coffee,” Tempest stated firmly, “then we have adventure!”

Butternut knew in her heart that the weather mare was a pony after her own heart. “I got it, Tempest. Coffee sisters!” she declared, sharing a smile and a hoof bump with her.

The group of seven mares shared some small talk and gossip over coffee and chocolate cake. The weather, the Princesses love lives, who was Celestia’s secret lover – because everypony knew she had one, quite possibly the scullery maid – the monster attack in Ponyville eight months ago, presently, the conversation turned to Wildfire “What happened to your first mother, Wily?” asked Wrangler.

As always, the mother hen in Tempest went on alert, unsure how Wildfire would handle that question. As always, lately anyway, she needn’t have worried. “A lot happened to her, Wrangler. In many ways, she died twice.” While Wildfire sipped her coffee, Wrangler had a faraway thousand yard look but said nothing. Wildfire nestled into Emerald's side for nerve. “She fought in the Changeling War a few years before I was born. She was called Fireflight back then.”

The diminutive yellow mare took a deep breath and she continued, “After the war, she went by Silverbolt. Then, when I was twelve, at school, she was on weather duty in Canterlot and she was training a bunch of recruits when she was shocked to death by a rogue cloud.”

“The war…” Wrangler’s voice was hollow, as were her eyes. It was obvious to them all that the pink earth pony mare had seen things. Things that they didn’t want to ask about. “Now, that goes back. My parents were in it too. They both came out. Just.” What she herself had seen and done, she wasn’t ready to talk about.

“Mom was honoured for her actions at Heartbreak Ridge,” Wildfire said with justified pride. “Princess Celestia gave her a medal, the Equestrian Star. But...she couldn't stand it. She lost her best friend to the Changelings.” Tempest, having gained wisdom, said nothing about Airmail, she just gave her lover a cuddle, as did Wrangler. “We studied it in school, but I got hold of mom's diary the other week. Reading about it from her made it a lot more 'real'.”

Pistachio though was impressed to hear that Wildfire’s mother had been decorated. “Quite the revelation to find out you mother was a war hero, huh?”

Wildfire smiled, “I'll never forget when I found out, Pistachio.” She then went on to tell them all the story of her, Tempest and Airmail going around the country, from Canterlot, to Vanhoover, then on to Trottingham and meeting Starbright and getting the scrapbook that her mother had made. “That's when I got mom's medal. My dad had sold it, and the captain gave it to me.”

The other six mares all shared an uneasy look between them. It was an unspoken thing, but they all them knew to not talk about Wildfire's dad. Cold Front was a name that was not mentioned within twenty feet of Emerald’s house. “It is good to have a part of her to hold onto though,” Wildfire continued before she gave her step-mother a kiss and a nuzzle, “And I got a super pony to cuddle and call when I need help too!”

“Never underestimate a Power Pony,” Tempest snickered around her coffee.

“Nopes!” Wildfire agreed quickly, giving her own super special Power Pony a very tight hug. “So um, Butternut and Pistachio, how did you two get here, if you don’t mind me asking?” She remembered what Wrangler had said the day before about her stallion beating her and now everypony knew about Whisper.

Butternut let out a long, deep sigh. “I killed my father after he killed my husband. They said it was justified, but I needed a place to get my head straight, and don't see me leaving here anytime soon.”

“Damn, I'm sorry, Butternut,” Wildfire got up and offered her a hug, which the green earth pony accepted “You're in a good place now, I know that.”

“Not as bad for me,” Pistachio commented with a sniff. “My husband was a snake. He sold everything out from under me. Took the money and ran off. I was left on the street, when a social worker who found me suggested I come to Em's place. I hope to be moving on in the future, as soon as I’m all set.”

Wildfire and Emerald could both definitely sympathise with Pistachio’s plight. Seeing as how that same thing had happened to the both of them. “You'll all keep in touch, though, right?”

“Hard to say when I move on what I want from my past,” Pistachio replied honestly, “I love you Em, but I will have to see where I end up.”

“I wouldn't mind getting your number, Wily.” Wrangler again surprised all but the blind mare. “You're okay, for a hyper little pony.”

As Wildfire scribbled down her number and email address, just to be sure, and passed them to the scarred pink mare, Butternut giggled, “I'll be here till Em kicks me out.”

Emerald shook her head at that. “As long as you continue to make excellent coffee, that won't happen.”

“Aaaaaah, the bonding power of caffeine. It brings ponies together and raises Tempest from the dead. Is there nothing it can't do?” she giggled playfully and, in addition to her number, there was an invitation to her forthcoming wedding, which she extended to the others as well. “And besides, we're all going to Serenade's first show, aren't we?”

There was a general agreement to that, and at last, when she had consumed all her coffee, Tempest stood up, checking her watch. “Thank you for the coffee and hospitality, but it is time to go.” She hated to be the buzz kill, but they were on the clock, as it were.

“Sometimes I hate time…” Wildfire pouted adorably and gave them all hugs, especially Wrangler, who she considered to be as much a 'big sis' as the earth pony thought of her as the ‘little sis’. Goodbyes taken care of, Tempest hailed the four of them a taxi which she instructed to go to a flower shop first. In the cab, Wildfire explained for Whisper’s benefit. “We need daffodils. Lots of daffodils.”

“At least two dozen,” Tempest clarified. As it happened, there was a pop up flower seller with a mobile cart for a stall just outside the cemetery, so they bought the flowers from there, cleaning the stallion out of daffodils in the process. “Lead the way, Wily.” The violet mare said once she had the flowers safely under her wings.

Whisper was amazed. “You can do that?”

“Yuppers!” Wildfire giggled. Taking a step forwards, she felt a wing to her right, that was Tempest. Always she was on her right. Then she felt another wing on her left. It felt heavy, like its owner was thinking on something. “You okay, momma?”

“I'm fine, Wily.” Emerald assured her, though she was wishing she had more time with her daughter.

Unerringly as ever, Wildfire led the way down the dirt path past the immaculately kept grass to the intersection where she turned right and on to the grave as good as any sighted pony. “And how are you doing, Whisper, you good?”

“Oh, I’m okay,” Whisper replied with a warm smile that reached her voice, “the landscaping is absolutely beautiful.”

“Yuppers, it's not bad, is it?” Wildfire smiled, for she could remember the way it looked. She wished she knew who kept the cemetery, she’d give them a big hug. There were never any weeds on the dirt path, the grass never allowed to grow too high. The gravestones were always clean, the engraving always sharp no matter how old they were. It was a wonderful place. “Momma, when we're done visiting here, can you take me flying?”

The request didn’t surprise Tempest in the slightest but, she had to check with their guest first. “Whisper, are you good to get back on your own?”

“Sure,” she answered, “That’s no problem.” She was a big pony now, after all.

“Here we are!” Wildfire declared after a few moments’ walk on the path, she stopped – to nopony’s amazement but Whisper’s – at precisely the right grave that belonged to her mother and her older brother. “Hey mom, hey Chill, I said we’d come back. We bought momma and a friend who wanted to say hi too.”

Emerald facehooved when she saw the grave next to Silverbolt’s. Wildfire had told them all about her brother last night at her place after they had come back from Ponyville. “I didn't even think to look next door when I was here last…I’m sorry.”

Looking around the cemetery, Whisper was inspired all of a sudden. “Wily, if you don’t mind, may I sing a song?”

“Don't beat yourself up momma,” Wildfire nuzzled her mother’s cheek in an effort to comfort her. “Nopony knew about Chill Wind.” She then turned to Whisper with a wide grin on her face. She had heard her sing at Emerald’s house. She loved her to sing for her now. “Of course you can! I'd love you to sing!”

As Wildfire sat in a listening pose, Whisper cleared her throat to prepare herself. “Wildfire, this is a song from Silverbolt to you.” The song that the cobalt blue unicorn sang was one of her own composition which she entitled ‘Wildflowers’. As such, Tempest had to turn around so that nopony could see her laughing.

Wildfire was clapping her hooves in utter glee by the time Whisper had finished, as were Emerald and Tempest, although the later was still laughing. When she did finish her song, the unicorn turned to face the snickering pegasus with a frown on her face. “Was something wrong, Tempest?”

Still giggling hard, Tempest turned back with tears in her eyes and a hoof holding her belly. “Oh no, nonono…I just don't think Sliver could have sung a better song for our dear little Wildflower, that’s all.”

Now, Wildfire joined in the laughter, her hoof pointing to the collar she wore at her neck. “Whisper, I should explain, Wildflower is my pet name.”

Whisper’s eyes went very wide indeed. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn't know!”

At last able to stop laughing like a foal who had been told a particularly rude joke, Tempest placed her hoof comfortingly on Whisper’s shoulder. “And you didn't need to know, which makes the song that much more precious. Honestly, it's cool, really.”

While Whisper was working on a rather intense blush, Wildfire had finished giggling. “Do you know ‘Prettiest Eyes’?” she asked, hoping that the newly healed singer did, she had a great voice that deserved to sing. “That was my mum's favourite song.”

“No,” Whisper admitted sadly, “but I promise I'll learn it for your next visit.” The club she had sang at didn’t do pop songs.

“I'd sing it for you, but I'm not that great…” Well, Wildfire giggled internally, she kind of was, but only when she was wearing a bridle, corset, stockings, panties and hoof cuffs and was being led through the carriages of a train by her fiancé and Mistress, with Tempest bringing up the rear with a crop. Then she was okay.

As it happened, Tempest’s mind had also wandered to the time on the train coming back to Canterlot from Vanhoover. That had been a good trip. “She is better than she lets on.”

“Alrighty guys, but don't shout at me if it rains!” Wildfire, having given them what she considered to be fair warning, reared up onto her hind hooves – an act that at least put her at head height with the other three ponies at the grave site – and she sang ‘Prettiest Eyes’ with gusto and enthusiasm, but little tone, while Tempest danced. When she was done, she blushed, “See, I told you I wasn't great.”

When it was clear she had finished, Tempest led the clapping and stomping of hooves which Whisper and Emerald eagerly joined in with. “Not good enough to wake the dead,” the orange pegasus grinned as she nuzzled her daughter’s glowing cheeks, “but it was good.”

“Thanks momma. You want to lay the flowers?”

“I'll lay them for Silver, you can do Chill, okay?”

“Not bad Em,” Tempest chuckled as she passed Wildfire and Emerald a bunch of daffodils each. “You should have heard the jokes Airmail and I cracked on our first visit.”

Had Wildfire possessed eyes, she would have rolled them. As it was, she settled for an exaggerated sigh which she hoped did the job just as well. “Hey Chilly,” she smiled, stepping over to her brother’s headstone and setting down the flowers, “Yeah I called you Chilly. Whatcha gonna do, gonna pull my mane and tell mom on me?” Quietly, much to the amusement of Emerald and Whisper, Tempest reached out and pulled Wildfire's mane. “Oww!” the little yellow mare jumped a clear few inches off the ground in fright, “ooh Honey, jeez!”

“Silver!” Tempest immediately grassed her marefriend up, “Wily called him Chilly! I heard it! I think I'll stick with Chill, Chill Wind.” Laying the flowers down, Emerald giggled and so did Whisper.

“That was sneaky!” Wildfire giggled when she had recovered from her little shock. “I bet you found that funny too bro, huh?” she said as she hugged Chill Wind’s stone.

Tempest laughed, proud of her little prank. “I think they both did, Wily.”

Joining in on the joke, Wildfire stomped her hoof and affected a very foalish whine. “Moooomma, tell them! The big ponies are being mean!” The three older mares then gave Wildfire a tender three-way nuzzle, though she was sure she could still feel the smile on Tempest’s face. In a flash though, Wildfire brightened up. “There, that's better!”

“Are you sure you're okay on your own, Whisper?” asked Tempest, ever the mother hen.

Whisper laughed delicately, “I see why she calls you mother hen, I'll be fine, I promise. Enjoy your flight.”

Wildfire though wasn’t convinced. “Are you absolutely sure, Whisper?”

“Yes, mother hen junior, I’m sure.” As Tempest giggled, Whisper continued, “I'm going to do a bit of shopping and then take a taxi back to the house. I’ll call to let Pistachio and Butternut know, then I’ll call Em to let her know I got back safe, okay?”

“I don’t blame you,” Tempest laughed, “It's a dead market here.” Whisper and Emerald both facehooved at Tempest’s really awful joke.

“Stiff crowd?” Wildfire added, drawing a series of groans all round. While they were still groaning, Wildfire found Whisper and gave her a last tight hug for the road. “Take care and enjoy your shopping, okay?”

“Thank you for everything you've done for me, Wily.” Whisper returned the hug as tight as she dared to not hurt the little mares casts.

“It was my sincere pleasure, Whisper. I look forward to ‘Serenade’s’ new single.”

Tempest hollered, somewhat unnecessarily loudly, “Let's mount up!”

“I bagsy momma!” Fortunately, Emerald didn’t mind being ‘bagsied’ by her daughter. She crouched down and allowed Wildfire to get on her back and the orange pegasus stretched her healed wings. She hadn’t flown properly in over a year and a half, thanks to Cold Front clipping her wings.

It was a short, uneventful flight to the train station, which Emerald was grateful for, even though as Tempest said, her flight skills were excellent. There were tearful hugs all round when it was time for them to part, especially between Wildfire and Emerald. The train was on its final whistle before Tempest had to drag Wildfire on board. As the train started to move, the violet mare made sure her herd-mate was waving in the right direction as the train left the station. “Honey, that was a great weekend,” Wildfire said eventually, when she knew the station had been left behind them.

“It was,” Tempest said warmly, pulling Wildfire away from the window and onto the couch for a much needed snuggle, because she looked like she could use one. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

Even though she had been pulled into a cuddle that resulted in Tempest’s snout being buried in her chest fur in just the way she liked, Wildfire couldn’t help but look a bit saddened. Not because her lover was kissing and nibbling all across her body, but what she was leaving behind. “I'm sure time is funny. How does it drag when dull stuff happens but whizzes when you're enjoying it?”

“Never stare at a clock,” Tempest said, lifting her head up for a moment from the blind mare’s chest, “it will move backwards when you least expect it.” She placed a soft tender kiss on Wildfire’s lips, a kiss that found its way back to her chest. “Seems we had an easier time getting to our compartment than last time.”

“Pr-Probably…hmmm…mmmmm…because I'm in a better frame of mind as opposed to last time.” Wildfire moaned softly, every kiss, nibble and lick sending electricity coursing through her body that went straight to her core, “And I didn't need yelling at this time.”

“True,” Tempest purred, her kisses finding Wildfire’s collar bone in just that right place that made her hind leg twitch, “so, if I was the sub, what would you like to do?”

Thanks in no small part to what Tempest was doing to her, the question caught Wildfire a little off guard. “If you were the sub?” she had to roll the idea around in her head for a few moments. “I don't think I've been top, other than that one time on the train with Airy.” Then, it came to her in a flash of inspiration. “Well, I taught you the awesomeness of hoofing, I think I'd show you the finer points of hoof worship!”

If she was honest, Tempest was rather expecting that, given that she knew she had a massive hoof fetish. “That sounds like fun, Wily.” She placed a tiny trail of kisses down to the little yellow mare’s breasts.

“It is!” Wildfire squeaked, again thanks to what Tempest’s lips were doing. “Then again, I'm biased.”

The more Tempest thought about it, distracting Wildfire with kisses all the time, the more she really wanted to give it a go. It was at that moment, when she got up to use the washroom to get soap, a wet cloth and a dry cloth, that she was glad she had booked a stateroom. “First, before we start, I'll need to wash your hooves missy.”

“Airy has taught us both well,” Wildfire giggled playfully, before a thought occurred to her. “You know, sometimes I catch myself cleaning a hoof first before I lick it and I'm amazed how far I've come.”

Equipped with the soap, wet cloth and dry cloth, Tempest washed all four of Wildfire's hooves. She took her time, lavishing attention on each one in turn, cleaning the soles and the frogs of each. It had never struck her before how pretty the sole of a hoof was. “You have come so very far since we first met in Caffy's coffee shop. Too bad I wasn't there when Airy first met you.”

Wildfire had to really concentrate, otherwise she would be lost in the pleasures of having her hooves cleaned. It wasn’t just having somepony else do it, it was the way Tempest was doing it. The soap, the feel of the cloth, it was heaven! “I do recall Airy dragging you over and telling you I was a fun pony,” she answered after a long moment.

“Then again, Lavender had first shot too, and she also liked you.” Tempest punctuated each word with a long, loving kiss to the toe of each cleaned hoof, her tongue running along the white wall.

“Yuppers,” Wildfire sighed happily, for each time she felt Tempest’s lips on her hoof made her insides turn to mushy goo. “But you were the first to pee on me. That's special!”

The violet weather mare smirked, “I was the first to poop on you too, before I knew you weren’t ready for that,” she then took Wildfire’s left forehoof in hers and she licked the back of it, dragging her wet warm tongue between the bulbs and up the frog.

“Hmmmm ooooh th-that's very good!” Wildfire’s shoulders slumped and her body seemed to lose all its tension as Tempest continued to lick her hoof. “We ah, we need to get around to that, don't we?” she asked with a goofy happy smile, “You have a talented tongue, Honey!”

“I had a good instructor…” Tempest then suckled on her fetlock and slowly, she ran her tongue along the periople.

“Ooooh! oh yessss, I think I rather like receiving this!” Wildfire moaned in sheer bliss as Tempest worked her way back to the bulbs, her sensitive frog and then she lavished her attention on the sole. “Hmmm Honey I love your technique! It's different to mine but...damn...” the yellow mare squeezed her hind legs together because she was getting very wet indeed.

Tempest knew that where Wildfire liked to go front to back, she was doing the opposite. On purpose, as it happened. Once she was done, she moved on to the right forehoof so she could repeat the process. Wildfire had a bit of a devious little thought though and she dipped the first cleaned hoof into her marehood and rubbed her slit, getting it all wet. “Oh no, it's all dirty!” playfully she booped Tempest's nose. “I thought you'd cleaned it?”

“I must have done a terrible job of it then.” Tempest could see what Wildfire was up to, it was cute, if anything, the way she was trying to be a dominant pony. It was obvious though that she’d hardly done it before. “I'll get back to it after this hoof, Mistress.”

When she felt Tempest’s tongue slather its way all over her right forehoof, Wildfire giggled and rubbed herself harder, panting softly. Soon, the smell of her arousal filled the compartment. “I think it's getting dirtier, Honey…” Silently, Tempest finished the second forehoof and pulled the first out of Wildfire’s wet snatch so she could start it again. Straightaway, the blind mare lowered her right hoof now to her marehood but she ended up giggling. “It feels odd with my right hoof…Ahem, I mean, Pet!” she blushed, “it's getting dirty again…”

Tempest rolled her eyes. She might be terrible, but Wildfire was trying, and that was the important thing. Still, she couldn’t imagine Mapper giggling while she was doing this. She made a mental note to tell her herd-mate to give Wildfire dom lessons. Once she had again cleaned the left hoof, Tempest pulled up the right hoof to her lips. “This won't do, Honey.” Wildfire declared between halting, panting breaths, “What's between my legs keeps making my hooves dirty!”

The older pegasus had a quick retort on her lips, but she swallowed it down. The only way Wildfire would improve was by encouragement, not being told how rubbish she was. “If I ever finish these forehooves, Mistress,” she said with just a hint in her voice, “I'll be able to do the hind hooves and resolve what is between them.”

When Tempest went back to cleaning her right forehoof for the second time, Wildfire caught the barely concealed hint and allowed her to continue. Perhaps Mapper would give her lessons when they got home. “You make a good point. You may continue, Honey.”

When she was done with the forehooves, Tempest kissed her way down to Wildfire’s hind legs and got to work on her lover’s left hind hoof. She was grateful that ‘dense Wily’ had taken a vacation and she had taken her hint, otherwise they’d be here all night. She couldn’t however ignore the scent coming from between her legs, “Smells nice down here.”

“Mmmmm Sweet Cadance your tongue feels sooo nice!” Wildfire moaned lustily, aware that her inner thighs were wet though thanks to what Tempest was doing to her. Lowering her hooves, she held her head and stroked her black mane.

To get from the left hind hoof to the right hind hoof, Tempest kissed her way up Wildfire’s leg and she bravely navigated the Neighagra falls that was between her legs, giving her diminutive Mistress a probing lick up her slit and suckle on her clit to help with the wetness before moving down the other leg. “GAaaAAAH!” Wildfire jumped a teeny bit and her hind legs quivered. “There's the lightning! I must say Honey, receiving is as good as giving...”

“No complaints here,” Tempest smiled, nibbling and kissing her way down to the right hind hoof. It was, admittedly, more fun than she had thought it would be. Making her lover turn to jelly though was always fun.

"Oh nonono,” Wildfire keened, longing for nothing else other than for Tempest to carry on doing to her what she was doing, “no complaints at all, in fact I think you're earning a reward…”

When Tempest finished tongue lashing the last of Wildfire’s four hooves, she slowly kissed her way back up her hind leg until she was at her dripping wet crotch. However, she bypassed her prize for a moment and moved up to her breasts. There, she took the time to lick and suckle upon each nipple. “Airy will be a very happy mare when these fill up,” she said with a smile.

Wildfire wasn’t left with much time to process what Tempest had said though because as soon as she did, she left her stiffened nipples and went south, burying her face in her marehood. “MmmMMMMM I'm sooo gonna be her little milkmare and I'll love it too!” Wildfire cried, thrusting her hips upwards to her lover's face.

Tempest gave Wildfire a few experimental licks and kisses, but even that, in her already aroused state, was enough to make Wildfire start moaning in pleasure. The violet mare wrapped one foreleg around Wildfire’s left leg and placed her other hoof on her lover’s thigh to get better leverage.

Wildfire started to buck her hips as much as she could in an effort to make Tempest go even deeper, as if she needed the encouragement. "AAaaaAAAH!" the blind mare exclaimed as she felt Tempest’s talented tongue start to reach inside her, soon rolling her tongue around her muscular tunnel. Her back arched as she flung her head back and her mind clouded over with pleasure.

Letting go of Wildfire's clit, which she had been sucking on for a few moments, Tempest began to run her tongue along her marefriend’s tender sex. Wildfire could feel more and more heat racing through her loins, pushing her closer and closer to the edge.

Though she was giving it her all to get Wildfire off, Tempest still managed to take her time. Applying licks and nibbles to her labia and her hard nub, Tempest took it slow and carefully, using just her tongue, was able to tease the climax out of her, content to drive her crazy with little tentative licks around the outside mixed with plunging deep ones inside her snatch.

After a few large licks right against Wildfire’s centre, the little yellow pegasus finally reached her climax. Her head flung back, her back arched in pleasure and, with a squirt like a geyser, she screamed, “BUUUUUCK YESSSSS!” as blood flooded her face and she shook with the force of her orgasm.

Proud of her work, Tempest remained at Wildfire’s crotch and she drank it all down. It was the responsible thing to do, after all. She didn’t want the couch to get stained. “That was fun,” she commented, licking her lips. “I see why you like it.”

Wildfire was sure she could see stars. “I think...” she panted, “th-that was the first time mine have been treated like that…”

“Didn't you get Airy to do your hooves?” Tempest asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, um, I think you're right.” Wildfire wasn’t that sure, if she was honest. Then again, right then and there, she wasn’t sure if the sky was blue and rain was wet, so good was her climax. “I'm sorry, so much has happened I'm afraid I forgot.”

“That's okay, we don't have to tell Airy I did it better,” Tempest crawled up her marefriend’s body, closed her eyes, leaned down and kissed Wildfire deeply. Wildfire wished the kiss could go on forever, she could taste herself on Tempest's tongue as it explored her mouth. Each mare was content to just lay together and enjoy each-others’ company for a while.

“Our secret?” Wildfire smiled, “I'm ready to give you that reward I mentioned if you want it?”

“I do!” Sitting up on the couch, Tempest clapped her hooves like it was Hearths Warming morning and she had been given the best gift in the world. “I do, I do!”

“Who's an eager filly?” Wildfire, after a few moments fumbling around, finally found her saddle bag by the side of the couch and, reaching into it, eventually produced the stallionator she had bought with her but hadn’t had the chance to use yet. “I'd very much like to mount you, Honey.”

“I'd like that too,” Tempest smiled, licking her lips at the thought of Wildfire mounting her and having her weight on her back, “but not in the tail hole, if you please.”

“Not a problem Honey.” Wildfire had no problem with that whatsoever. “It's odd, I like to receive it there, but giving it just feels…iffy.”

“I don't mind giving there, but I lose myself and try to only do it to Serenity. Or when Airy’s here to stop me.” Tempest giggled, “Personally, that hole is an output devise only.”

“That's why Airy had to bite your ear that time on the train, I remember that.” It wasn’t like Wildfire was ever going to forget it. That had been one of the most intense ruttings of her life. “Gimme a hoof getting this on, then I can get on you.”

“Right away ma'am!” Tempest even saluted her, even though she knew she couldn’t see her gesture. Quickly, eagerly, she helped Wildfire step into the straps of the stallionator and, once it was in place with the little part of the toy in the blind mare’s pussy, Tempest turned and presented herself, her black tail lifted up and to the side. “Ready to receive Mistress.”

Wildfire had to fight to keep from laughing. She only just succeeded. “That just sounds odd being called that,” she didn’t object to it though, as she reached for the lube she had taken from her bag at the same time as the toy. She generously squeezed on some of the strawberry flavoured lube, because one couldn’t ever use too much, and reared up at Tempest's hind end.

Looking back over her shoulder, in order to see at the angle Wildfire had, it was Tempest’s turn to not laugh. It looked to her that the tiny mare was trying to do her belly button. Celestia, it was funny! “Um, not to say anything, but you could stand on the couch and I could back up to you?”

Wildfire frowned, “Are you saying I'm small?” her frown dissolved into a smile and then into giggles. She really couldn’t argue. She was small. “Alrighty, your way sounds good to me!”

“Judging what’s hanging between your legs, you're not small at all.” Tempest couldn’t help but stare at the phallus bouncing against Wildfire’s belly. It was a most captivating sight indeed. “Your legs may be a bit ‘under-height’ though,” she giggled and, once Wildfire was stood on the couch, she moved backwards.

“Not my fault I wasn't left in the miracle-gro long enough when I was a filly!” Wildfire pouted adorably. A moment later and she felt Tempest back up into her. Reaching forwards, her forehooves found the violet pegasus’s wing joints and she hooked on.

Tempest felt the toy prod her entrance and she let out a rather desperate moan, “Oh yes, give to me good, Mistress!” As Wildfire tried to do as she had requested, Tempest felt her hooves slip a little on her back, which caused Wildfire to slide the rest of the toy in her sopping marehood to the hilt as she got stable again. “Ahhhhh Yessss! You don't have to balance your hooves on my back. You can hook them over my wings. Mmm…that feels so good with you in me.”

Wildfire duly moved her hooves from the violet shoulders down her back to the joints of her spread out wings, holding just where they meet her body. Tempest smiled, panting with the pleasure in her core. Hilted now, Wildfire paused. She knew from experience that Tempest really liked a good hard rutting. Pulling back almost to the point of withdrawing from her completely, Wildfire thrusted back in to the hilt, her hips slapping Tempest’s ass a lot harder and more confidently than she had before.

With the force of the hard thrust, Tempest's body lowered a bit as she spreads her legs wider for balance. “Give it to me, Wily!” Spurred on by her marefriend’s encouragement, the blind mare withdrew midway and she thrusted forwards a third and fourth times, picking up her speed with each buck of her hips.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes buck me girl!” Tempest screamed, lost in heaven with each hard thrust giving her more pleasure than the last, “buck me into next week!” The rational part of her that could still think was impressed with how firm and hard she was being bucked, the sheer confidence that Wildfire was rutting her was sexy in itself. That part though was quickly being screwed out of her ear by the mare on her back.

“Want it do you?” A little switch seemed to flick in Wildfire’s head as she bucked her hips the roughest yet, getting the toy right to the hilt. She was encouraged to go harder and faster by the extremely lewd squelching noises the toy made as it plowed Tempest’s depths and the mewling moans coming from Tempest herself. Grunting loudly, she pulled back for a harder thrust which mashed herself into the older mare’s ass end.

“Yes! Yes I want it.!” Tempest begged as her eyes rolled up, “I want it bad!”

Feeling her way, Wildfire lowered herself to Tempest’s ear. “Scream then, you pretty little mare.” She growled as she ran her hooves over the leading edges of her violet wings only to roughly pull her back as she thrust forward hard.

“Oh give it to meeeeee!” Tempest screamed, pushed as she was to the very edge of her climax, then with an ear shattering “OOooHHHHHH IIIIII GAAHAHHAHHH!” She reached her climax just as the train picked up speed on the tracks.

As she gave a particularly hard thrust, Wildfire could feel the force of Tempest's orgasm under her barrel. “That's it my love, scream my name for the train to hear!” She pulled out and thrust in as hard as she could, screaming, “GODEEESES!” She held it in as deep as she could, riding her own climax as she felt Tempest under her do the same.

“I love you!” Tempest screamed as she came down from her high after a few moments of sheer bliss. “Oh, that was good, sooooo good!”

“I love you, Honey!” Wildfire squeaked, her own second climax clouding her thoughts a little as she leant forwards and she sucked on the weather mare’s largest primary feathers.

“Oh, do I get a preening bonus?” Not that Tempest was going to pass up a preening. Not ever, not while she was drawing breath, anyway.

“Yuppers. For being awesomes!” Aware she was still buried inside Tempest, Wildfire moved slowly along her lover’s feathers. Even with her impressive wingboner, the weather pony had enough control over her wings to ensure that Wildfire could reach all the feathers. The little mare took her sweet time getting all the feathers. She realigned those slightly wonky ones and used her lips to straighten up those that were crooked. Seeing as how Tempest took extremely good care of her wings, there were none that needed removal. “Done!” she exclaimed.

“Would you like a preening too?”

Wildfire clapped her hooves together, “Yes please!”

“I don't know if I can get to them with you anchored. Ready for me to move forward?” When Wildfire nodded her head, Tempest carefully moved forward and turned around. Instantly, she felt empty now that the toy had been withdrawn from her. “Oh, let me clean that off first…” while it was still attached to Wildfire though, she gave head to the stallionator ensuring that her marefriend felt the bit inside of her wiggle.

“Ooooh my goodness!” Wildfire exclaimed, getting that squiffy feeling all over again. Once Tempest was done, she helped Wildfire out of it and then nosily she cleaned the other end. “Th-That was a lot of fun!” Wildfire grinned, now sat on the floor to recover.

“It was,” Tempest said once she had finished the cleaning of the toy, “now for that preen!” in her element, Tempest was determined to take her time and get lost in the sensual aspect of the preening until the last feather was done. Each and every feather that she could reach – thanks to the casts – got attention, whether it needed it or not. Given how good Tempest was, Wildfire came a good two times during the preening. When Tempest finished, she sniffed. “I may have zoned out there, but I sense I missed something…”

“O-O-Oh,” Wildfire panted hard, “I think you missed two somethings, at least…”

Tempest giggled and hugged her lover from behind. “I should place a caution slippery floor sign by the door, just in case. Don’t want the staff slipping, do we?” she placed several long slow licks up the length of Wildfire’s ears, ending with a little nip at the tips. “I think we’ll do some clean up and we can go to the dining car. Good idea?”

“I agree, Honey. I'm getting hungry after all that exercise!”

~ ~ ~

In the dining car, Tempest and Wildfire had just enjoyed a hearty meal of onion broth served in a bread bowl along with two Stable Hopper beers for the weather pony and alcohol free versions for the firefighter. Dinner consumed, they were now sharing some light conversation over an ice cream sundae that was a big as Wildfire was. “I'm so looking forward to the wedding!” Wildfire squealed happily, spooning some chocolate and vanilla ice cream into her bowl. “I'll have these casts off, and my dress, and it's gonna be awesomes!”

“I have to agree,” Tempest said as she helped herself to some of the coffee ice cream, “and I'll be sure to say something embarrassing for the toast.”

Wildfire was counting on that. “You'd better, that's how we know you aren't a changeling!” she giggled and, after swallowing her ice cream, reached for her beer. “It's going to be a great day, I just know it. I can feel it in my feathers.”

With a mouthful of ice cream, Tempest leant over the table and nuzzled Wildfire’s cheek before sharing her ice cream by way of a deep kiss. “I love that you came along to give Airy direction.” Another mouthful of coffee ice cream found its way into Wildfire’s mouth. “I love how you have restored the mini-herd.” She paused and fed her lover again. “Now to make it work together.”

“I really haven't done anything special, I’ve just been me,” she nuzzled the older pegasus and she took her turn to feed her some of her ice cream. “But I'm special, so…yeah!” she then sat back down and took a long drink of her beer. “I honestly can’t believe how everything's changed in just a month and a bit. I've gone from existing to living, thanks to you, Airy and our herd.”

Tempest had to agree with that. As she too sipped her beer, she mulled over what Wildfire had just said. She was right. So much had changed in just a month. “Did you like it when Airy and Lav were two timing you in Caffy’s café?”

“My...that feels like a lifetime ago now!” Wildfire giggled at the memory of what she now deemed her ‘birthday’, “It was the first time anypony told me I was beautiful, since the accident, I mean.”

Leaning over the table again, this time Tempest kissed the scars that covered both of Wildfire’s empty eye sockets. “You are beautiful, and now I'm the latest to tell you.”

Wildfire smiled and blushed, and just like that, a thought struck her out of nowhere. “You know what? This is the same train I was on with Dusk, when he took me to Manehatten with him. I was so scared back then.”

“Let's finish our dessert and go back to the cabin for a snuggle.” Tempest saw the way the conversation was going and it wasn’t that she didn’t like it, rather that this wasn’t the place for it. That was a comfortable fold down bed under a warm duvet.

“I'm up for snuggles, Honey,” Wildfire stated as she finished up with her ice cream and her beer. All of a sudden, a snuggle in their compartment sounded like a very good idea. “I'm sorry if that was getting all heavy. Sometimes I can't help but reflect on stuff.”

Getting up from the table, Tempest placed a comforting wing over Wildfire’s shoulders on the way back. “It's not that it got heavy, Wily. I think we need to continue this in a more comfortable setting than the dining car.”

Smiling, Wildfire nestled deep into Tempest's side on the walk back. Unlike the other times on the train, there was no impromptu singing sessions. “To be honest, Honey, I'm getting that scared feeling again.”

Back in their cabin, Tempest settled on the now turned down bed, and the violet weather mare pulled an unresisting Wildfire in for a tight hug that saw the both of them laying side by side. “Are you getting scared like the first time you thought you were going back?”

“I was scared of that back at Caffy's that Thursday,” Wildfire explained, “It was so strange, being so far away from Amethyst, so far out of her control.”

Tempest remembered it as clearly as Wildfire did. The way she had ran up the stairs from the Mare’s Club Room to tell Caffeinated what she had learned, then the zebra had told Dusk. The look on his face as he had taken off into a Rainboom would be etched on her mind for a long time. “I worked hard to keep Airy in the dark on that. Still, Dusk did what needed to be done, even if he didn't do a good job of it.”

Wildfire though was in a mood to be more forgiving where that was concerned. “Well, it wasn't entirely his fault he missed Autumn. She was a smart pony.” She smiled, “Do you think Amethyst Glory was scared when I came out here? I like to think she was.”

“I think it’s best to think that way too.” From what little Tempest knew of Amethyst Glory, she had her own personal opinion that the mare wasn’t one to get scared very often. If she was scared, then ponies would end up disappeared. “Scared that her little empire was crumbling beneath her hooves and she couldn’t stop it.”

Wildfire nodded solemnly. “She tried to dissuade Dusk from taking me, but he just got all up in her face and put on his royal voice and was like, "She's coming, and that's that." I don’t think Amethyst liked that. Sometimes I wonder about her, Honey. What happened to make her the pony she ended up as?”

Tempest thought about that in silence. After a very long two minutes of such thought, she said finally, “I think that would be a good question to ask your wife on a quiet night in front of a fireplace.”

“I think you're right.” Wildfire snuggled deep into Tempest’s chest and she kissed her neck, “I mean, of course she got what she deserved, but I refuse to think she was born that way.”

“I don't know,” Again, Tempest considered what they were talking about. Her own questionable past drifted to the forefront of her mind. “I think I beat up my first foal in kindergarten. It was a choice I made at the time.”

“I can understand choices and consequences. Like Dad,” Wildfire chose to use Cold Front as her example. “I remember when he was nice, he was honestly the best stallion ever when I was growing up. We went to the park, he bought me my first Shakespony book. Then mom died as you know, on duty with the cloud, and that’s when he started drinking.”

“Did you ever try to hide his booze?”

“I hid it, stole it, poured it away, that's when he started to get violent. But, I chose to remember him as the stallion who bought me my first Shakespony book, the daddy who walked me home from school when I was bullied for being small, the daddy who read me The Tempest for a bedtime story and kissed me good night.”

“That’s the result I thought would happen. My parents were blind to what I was doing. My brother tried to get me turned around. Took some crazy pony shooting at me to do that. Then Airy never saw it coming with her parents. I don't know if the two of you have had that conversation?”

“We've spoken about it, Honey, how what happened to them was completely out of the blue.”

“Of course, Maps’s mom was a whore,” Tempest laughed as she laid out on the bed, thoroughly content to snuggle with her little lover. “Serenity is the only one with a ‘normal’ family, and they are really nice to meet. A lot like Caffy and Thespy, but they’re both unicorns.”

“It's amazing, isn't it?” Wildfire asked a little rhetorically as the steam train thundered on its way towards Manehatten, “One little choice and the consequences can change everything. Like, it can literally make or break your whole world.”

Tempest had to agree with what Wildfire had just said. “Yet, I chose to not be what I was. Maps chose to not be her mother. Airy chose to accept she had new parents that loved her. Choice never stops, Wily.”

“You're right, completely right.” Wildfire concurred one hundred per cent with what Tempest had just said. Thinking about it, she had examples of her own. “Like Cyclone chose not to be her mother, or Air Raid chose to finally move on, Dusk and Oils adopting Ivory, Emerald choosing to help other mares like her, it goes on and on, doesn’t it?”

“You have choices to make, so I can understand that you'd be nervous, and even a little scared.”

“Oh, I'm a lot scared,” Wildfire smiled and giggled with the admission she had just made. “I've suddenly got everything I ever wanted. I'm so very scared it's all going to be a dream, or that something will happen to take it all away.”

Smirking, Tempest nipped Wildfire’s right ear, hard enough for her to notice, but not hard enough to draw blood. “Still think you might be dreaming?”

“Eeeeeeek! Ow,” Wildfire playfully flicked her ear. “No, I’m not dreaming.” She wished she was though, because now her ear hurt. Totally worth it, though.

Rolling onto her side, Tempest faced Wildfire and very lovingly, she kissed her face right on her prettiest eyes, paying careful attention to each socket. “You are cute enough to be a dream.”

“You sweet talker…”

“Honey is my name!”

Wildfire giggled, for a moment, she was just enjoying the feel and the sound of the train rocketing along the track. “I want it to be like that old movie, you know, the one about the magic chocolate factory. When Wonka says at the end, "Do you know what happened to the colt who got everything he ever wanted? He lived happily ever after."

Tempest knew the movie that Wildfire was referring to. She had enjoyed it, but on some level it had unnerved her. “Yes, but I disagree. I'm not big on getting as I am on achieving. You have worked hard to be here today, and I know you will continue to do so.”

“Damn right I will. It'll only stay good as long as I work at it.” She was mature enough to know that nothing good came to anypony unless you worked at it.

“You do have a herd with you to keep it going,” Tempest said with an affectionate nuzzle, “and I know that your other friends will help you along too. Should you falter, I'm sure one of us will apply a stick to your ass.”

“Oh, I'm sure there'll be a long line ready with the stick.”

“Yes,” Tempest nudged her marefriend’s barrel, “I got two from the number wheel.”

Wildfire considered that as she felt the train slowly turn a corner. “Well, sometimes Wildflower needs her ass spanked, doesn’t she?”

“True, we must keep it nice and tender.” Tempest kissed all the way from Wildfire’s jaw to her ear, “Just don't be afraid to put Airy in her place when needed.”

“I won't, I promise,” Wildfire returned the nuzzle with one of her own. “So, your new book. Shall we read it?”

“We should!” Tempest exclaimed happily. With everything they had talked about and discussed, she had almost forgotten about the Phantom of the Opera she had bought from the book store earlier in the day. “Just don't expect me to do voices.”

“Deal!” Giggling, Wildfire placed a foreleg over half of her face, “Look, I'm the Phantom!”

Tempest thought that Wildfire’s impersonation was pretty much spot on. She would have to remember this for Nightmare Night. It wasn’t that far away now. “Serenity would be a far better Cristine than me,” she admitted, “but I like the part of a villain, I could be Carlotta!”

“True that, my love,” when Tempest had the book out of her bag and was back on the bed, they both got settled back next to each other under the fluffy warm duvet. As Tempest began to read, Wildfire was a very little pony indeed. Being a night pony at heart, Tempest was more than happy to press on with the whole book as long as Wildfire stayed awake.

After about two hours of reading, Wildfire began to fade. Another hour or so and they were roughly three quarters of the way through and, rather unceremoniously, the diminutive blind mare’s head slipped from the hoof it was propped up on and she snored.

Although Tempest was quite happy and willing to read on, she found herself seriously debating between reading the rest or going to sleep right then and there. Ultimately, she decided upon sleep. She knew it would be way too early when they eventually arrive in Manehatten otherwise, so she stopped reading and snuggled into the snoring mare’s chest, pulling the duvet over them both.