“Stormy?” Airmail’s panicked voice split asunder the silence in the town house that the azure blue mare shared with her fiancé and marefriend. Airmail was panicked because today because today was finally the day of the wedding! Many emotions were running through the lead editor’s mind, but nervous excitement and anxiety was winning. “Stormy!” she called out again, having gotten no response, she called out the loudest yet, “Tempest!”

From upstairs in the computer room, Tempest called out in frustration, “What?” the violet weather mare purposefully left the eye roll in her voice, because in the last two hours, Airmail and her fretting had gone from cute and adorable to downright annoying.

“Does the caterer have access to the hall?” Airmail shouted up the stairs, for the moment ceasing in her pacing around the living room table. That she had worn a visible track into the carpet was neither here nor there. There were a million and one things that could go wrong with the night to come, and she could see each and every one, each more devastating than the last.

A very deep and irritated sigh could be heard from upstairs, evidence that Tempest was in the midst of her breathing exercises. “Coffee Bean is there to let them in. As you know. Not much point in hiring a caterer if they can't cater. As you know.”

“Oh,” that made Airmail pause before she could continue with her pacing, “That’s okay, then…”

From her position on the couch, Wildfire set aside her braille book. Thanks to her fiancé’s fretting, she had scanned her hoof over the same line of The Tempest several times anyway. It was a good bit too, with Prospero on his island. “Pretty, if you keep worrying like that your feathers will fall out,” she fluttered her recently healed wings, got off the couch and kissed her lover’s lips. “It'll be fine.”

Wildfire’s kiss, fortunately, was pure magic. Airmail’s nerves left her like they were never there. “I'm not wearing the dress right now…” she purred into the diminutive mare’s ear so she could hear the bedroom eyes in her voice.

“I should hope not!” Wildfire giggled brightly, “You know, we have a few hours until the ceremony. Need a wing rub to chill out?”

“She needs a rutting!” Tempest yelled from the computer room, the weather pony having heard quite enough.

“Wing rub, rutting, I wasn't far off,” Wildfire snickered. Stood as close as she was to her older marefriend, she could feel Airmail’s deep intense blush that lit up her cheeks. That said, she was up for some distraction. “So, pretty mare, you wanna do it over the dining room table?”

Airmail glanced at the living room table, though she knew the dining room one was bigger and sturdier. “When do we leave?”

“Limo will be here in two hours!” Tempest yelled downstairs.

Mind made up, Airmail tugged Wildfire’s wing towards the dining room. “Table it is.”

“Alrighty. Got the stallionator?”

“You're the one doing the rutting.”

Wildfire was perfectly okay with that. As the two mares walked through the short connecting hallway that lead from the living room to the dining room, Wildfire spread her wings. “Gimme a sec, Pretty.” She kissed Airmail’s cheek and she took off, turning to the left and flying up the stairs to get the toy.

As it happened, Wildfire did not have to go all the way to the bedroom and the toy box. Tempest was waiting for the little pregnant pony at the open door to the second bedroom that they used as the computer room / office. She pressed the strap on toy into Wildfire’s hoof and whispered, “She doesn't need to walk till you get there, Wily.”

Taking the strap on in her hooves, Wildfire giggled and returned the whisper. “I got this Mother Hen, Operation Distract Airy with a Damn Good Rutting is a go!” Giving her young herd mate a wink, Tempest patted her on the back and she returned to the computer room to follow up on that day's events. With the toy firmly in place around her waist, Wildfire hovered her way back down the stairs to the dining room. “Still there, Pretty?”

Airmail was definitely still there. In the time that Wildfire had been upstairs, she had gotten into position, laying her upper body over the side of the dining table and lifting up her summer green tail in readiness for the rutting she was hoping to receive. “I'm drooling on the table in anticipation.”

Landing on her hooves, Wildfire remembered the very first time she had worn the stallionator toy way back in the bedroom – it felt like a lifetime ago to her - and she pranced around the dining room so that the twelve inch rubber dong bounced against her belly with her teats looking like a splendid set of ball. “Me too!”

“Now I'm drooling at both ends!” Airmail giggled, though it was all she could do to not burst out laughing at the sight that presented itself to her.

Following Airmail’s musky aroused scent, Wildfire got herself behind her lover. While the temptation to just mount her was strong, the blind mare resisted it. She shoved her head under the older mare’s raised tail, messily licking at her damp slit. “Have to make sure.” She was not disappointed.

“HUummmsaAAHHHH!” Whatever Airmail had been about to say, it was replaced immediately by the moan off sheer pleasure as she felt Wildfire’s very skilled tongue lap at the entrance to her hot wet hole.

“Yuppers, that's a lot of drool alright!” Wildfire, fully satisfied that Airmail was more than ready to receive what she was about to give her, reared up behind her and she rested her forehooves on Airmail's shoulders. The little mare shuffled forwards two steps and, unlike that first time, when she was hesitant and indecisive, Wildfire had the toy all the way inside her fiancé in one smooth confident thrust of her hips.

“Yeah, I have to admit Stormy can have a good ideaaaaaaahhhhhh!” Airmail’s sentence was interrupted by the veiny plastic stallionhood that spread her marehood and filled it all the way up. “Oooooooh yes!”

“She does that, Pretty.” Wildfire pulled back her hips and, in doing so, she pulled the toy out half way and she thrusted back inside to hilt, medial ring and all.

While Airmail did enjoy what her young lover was doing – and she did thoroughly love how much more confident and self assured she was with her – she needed more! “W-Wi-Wily…I’m still thinking here!” Behind her, Wildfire did not answer verbally, instead she picked up the pace of her thrusts, rutting her with a passion. “Oh yeah, 000hhhhh yeaeaeahhhaaaahaha!”

“There's my pretty mare...” Wildfire, leaning forward, moaned in sheer pleasure and nibbled and licked up along the edge of Airmail's ear as she rutted her good and hard. In response, Airmail pushed against Wildfire and flicked her ears at the bite, her moans starting to fade from hearing as her mouth was hanging wide open.

After a few hard thrusts like that, Wildfire moved up so that her hooves were able to tug on the leading edges of Airmail's wings, her thrusts tapping the panting mare's cervix. Moments later, Airmail went ridged and Wildfire felt a tell-tale wetness running down her legs that could only be her climax. “BUUuuuUUUUUCK!” the blind mare screamed and she flopped on her fiancé's back, riding out her own intense orgasm.

“I nob tink straa…” Airmail panted, the lead editor of the Manehatten Times reduced to a babbling mass of sweaty fur and feathers.

Smiling at her handiwork, Wildfire leant down and gave Airmail’s ear some tongue action. “I needed that too, my love.”

“Well, that took all of ten minutes.” Tempest said as she descended the stairs and surveyed the scene that greeted her in the dining room. The sight of Airmail splayed over the dining table – the same one she had teased Wildfire with the chocolate chips – had her very turned on indeed. “Stay in her Wily. Do you need an ass rutting?”

As Tempest made her way into the dining room, Wildfire heard the unmistakeable sound of a stallionator thumping against a mare’s belly. One did not have to be a math genius to work out what Tempest had in mind. “Ass…” Wildfire realized with the toy insider her, there wasn’t much room for another toy. “Yuppers!” Wildfire grinned, more than on board with what Tempest had planned. “I think I might be nervous too, Honey!”

“That’s why I suggested this. After all, Airy will get a double rut!” Tempest, behind Wildfire who was still up on her hind legs, took a hoof full of her favourite strawberry lube and liberally applied it to Wildfire’s tail hole. She jammed her nose under the yellow mare’s black tail and she licked deeply, her tongue lashing all over the firefighter’s dripping anal ring. “As tasty as ever.”

Wildfire couldn’t help but giggle as she smelled the scent in the air, “I'm really worrying, Honey!” she lifted up her black tail higher to present herself to her marefriend and herd mate like she had done when she had been in heat with Tinkerer. Behind her, with years of practice, Tempest slid inside Wildfire’s ass and, in doing so, pushed Wildfire ever deeper into Airmail. The violet mare then took hold of Wildfire’s hips so she could pull her part way out before she pulled herself partway out, then she slammed in again pushing Wildfire forwards again.

“AAaaaAAAHN Yeeeeeeah Honey right there!” Wildfire screamed out in utter pleasure, as did Airmail underneath her, and her juices dripped down her hind legs, the toy she was wearing pushed deeper and deeper inside Airmail again and again as she herself was rutted good and hard.

Tempest, who had practiced this very manoeuvre many times with Mapper and Serenity, demonstrated her considerable skill and, in no time at all, she had both Wildfire and Airmail moving with speed and force and in perfect synchronicity. She just had to keep her concentration so she didn’t get lost in the rutting. By stark contrast, this was Wildfire’s first time doing this particular thing, and she was loving it, judging by her screams of pleasure. Underneath Wildfire and Tempest, Airmail was leaking everywhere like she was a busted faucet and she had a very goofy grin plastered all over her face.

Snorting like a rutting stallion, Tempest was going to town to get herself off. The weather mare was holding nothing back as she plowed Wildfire into her blue herd mate. Moments later, unable to last any longer, Wildfire screamed as she came for a second and then a third time, a goofy grin to rival that of Airmail plastered all over her own scarred face.

Although Wildfire and Airmail had both climaxed multiple times, it took another several minutes before the far more jaded Tempest could get off but, when she did, she was as deep inside Wildfire as it was possible to be and Wildfire was equally deep in Airmail. “S-So…So good!” she breathed, completely out of breath.

“O…Oh brave new world...” Wildfire giggled dumbly, for her brain had joined Airmail’s on the table, having been screwed out of her ears, “That has such wonders in it...”

Spent but happy, Tempest laid across Wildfire's heaving back. “I've so been waiting to do this with you two. Have to try again when you get back.”

Wildfire though wasn’t listening. “Our revels now are ended...teehehe...w-wow...” she babbled nonsensically, drool leaking from the corner of her mouth that she hadn’t even bothered to try and wipe away.

Seeing as how she was possessed of functioning faculties, Tempest checked the wall clock for the time. “You two both get one hour of cuddle time, then it's to the shower and ready for the limo. I'll load what you need to change on site.”

“Th-Thanks Honey…”

“Couch cuddles,” Airmail murmured, “Bed is too many steps and my wings aren't working.”

“Couch cuddles it is, Pretty!” Wildfire exclaimed when Tempest pulled out of her a moment later, leaving her tail hole a gaping mess.

When Wildfire eventually pulled out of her, Airmail leaned heavily on the diminutive yellow mare, both ponies struggling to walk their way from the dining room back to the living room. Much to Tempest’s delight, it had to be said. “That is what I wanted to see!” she declared, happily clapping her hooves together.

“That was awesomes!”

Her self-appointed task accomplished, Tempest returned upstairs so she could ‘undress' herself and follow up on some super-secret wedding things where she was sure that she wouldn’t be overheard by her two – literally – shagged out herd mates couldn’t overhear her. “Not thinking right now…” Airmail slurred, her whole focus centred on walking in a straight line, “Need cuddles from the mare with the prettiest eyes.”

When they at last reached the nearest couch in the living room, Wildfire pulled the non-resistant Airmail into a tight feathery hug. “Not thinking either, cuddling, Pretty.” Soon, Airmail drifted off to sleep with not a worry in the world, leaving Wildfire nuzzling her cheek. “Yuppers, that was awesomes...” it wasn’t long before she too was asleep.

The moment the clock ticked over from fifty nine minutes to sixty, Tempest was at the side of the slumbering pegasi like a stereotypical regimental sergeant major. First, she called loudly into Airmail’s ear, “You smell like two mares in heat!” then, she moved over to Wildfire’s ear, “To the shower with you!”

Airmail didn’t move. “Five more minutes!”

Wildfire didn’t want to move. “What she said, Momma Hen…”

Fortunately, Tempest was ready and prepared for just such a reaction. She extended one of her powerful violet wings and grabbed a mug of cold water from the coffee table in front of the couch. Smiling evilly, she then poured it on both of her herd mates. “Choice two is I clean you both here.”

“Gah!” Wildfire exclaimed as the ice cold water splashed on her scarred face, “That was sneaky, Honey!” she affected a most adorable pout, “I’m sure my mom would approve.” In fact, there was no doubt in her mind that her mother would have gotten a sponge from the freezer and held it on her belly until she got up.

“At least it wasn't a yellow storm,” Airmail grumbled as Tempest snickered and she reluctantly wiped the sleep from her eyes with her wingtips.

“Yet.”

“And that's my cue to get up!” The look of intent in Tempest’s eyes told Airmail that she was absolutely serious in her threat. “We should shower together love, to save water.”

“Agreed, Pretty.” When the two mares – albeit reluctantly – got up from the couch, Wildfire followed Airmail back through the small hallway, up the stairs to the shower and, once in, she ran her hooves over her belly. “So...I'm a month and a half gone, am I showing yet?” she asked hopefully.

Airmail giggled, because her fiancé was being adorable. “Not yet,” she knew from experience that a mare like Wildfire would start showing their pregnancies at four months. “But that isn't going to stop me from rubbing your belly!”

“I can't wait to be big and round and milky.”

“Nor can I, milky that is.” Airmail reflexively licked her lips at the very thought of her young lover’s teats swelling in size and becoming full with lovely, lovely milk. “I'll love you no matter how round you get.”

“And I loves you too, soon to be Mrs Pretty.” Wildfire grinned and, when Airmail turned on the hot water, she started to clean Airmail’s chest and belly first, using the lavender scented shower things she bought from the big supermarket that one time when the nice zebra had helped her shop.

Airmail, for her part, was happy to let Wildfire do a good cleaning, with only a little interference of nibbles to her ear when she had finished a certain area. “I wish Heatwave could see me now.” Wildfire said as she cleaned, a tiny amount of sadness in her voice. “I mean, proper firefighter, part of a herd, pregnant, marrying the most awesomest mare ever…”

“He was invited, you know, in your heart.” Airmail nuzzled Wildfire’s cheek to cheer her up. There was no be no tears this night, unless they were of joy. “So he'll just have to see you out of a shower with the second most sexy mare in Equestria.”

Her mood instantly lifted, Wildfire giggled, “I know I’m being silly, Pretty.”

Airmail didn’t think her lover was being silly at all. “I think you just want a ticket wheel so they can all peep in on you.”

Wildfire joined her older lover in her giggles, “You're probably right. So, I think you're clean. Can you do me?”

“Maybe not as well as you 'did me' but I can certainly get you clean!”

“I'm marrying a filthy minded mare,” Wildfire kissed Airmail’s lips as, by the smell of it, the older pegasus was using the shampoos that Wildfire had picked up from the mall in Cloudhatten when she and Tempest had spent the day together shopping, “and I like it.”

“You should have done a better job of cleaning my ears,” Airmail snickered as she duly stuck her tongue in Wildfire's ears, starting with her left then her right, “Like I am.”

“Naaaaaaaah!” Wildfire squeaked adorably and her knees buckled under the unexpected aural assault. It wasn’t an entirely sneaky move, for Airmail could do a better job of cleaning Wildfire's ass with her down on her front knees. Soon, the little yellow mare was in the desired position, with her head down and her ass up in the shower. “So...” she started softly, “you seemed all worry wart before. You doing okay now?”

With the loaded washcloth in her hooves, Airmail paused and considered her answer for a moment. “Wily, I've worried about plans going wrong my whole career. From the military to politicians.” She then leant forwards and kissed her lover under the pouring hot water. She was at once reminded of the time they had both stood out in the rain together. “But, I'll try to worry less unless the limo is late.”

“I'm worried too,” Wildfire confessed as she cheekily flicked up her tail, “Worried that D will upstage us with wearing a better dress.”

Airmail laughed, “I've authorized Mapper to punt into orbit anypony that tries to upstage us.”

“Alas poor Dusk. We knew her well.” Wildfire giggled under the shower water. It was so nice, feeling herself being washed by her very sexy fiancé. She could force herself to enjoy such loving treatment. “But seriously, I'm not worried. Nervous, but not worried. It's like attending a fire. We've practised, rehearsed, now we just gotta do it.”

“How does your saying go,” Airmail playfully tapped her chin, “Nothing to it but to do it.”

“That's what Eirene used to say,” Wildfire agreed, her wings fluffing nervously in the shower, “I'm getting that same adrenalin buzz as when I attended Trixie's Place, or when I pushed that eight stack a few weeks back.”

Airmail placed a wet hoof on Wildfire’s lowered shoulder, “Don't let me go cold. I want your energy, and not slip into my mission mode, emotionless.”

“I won't, sexy.” When she was cleaned, Wildfire stood, turned and kissed and cuddled Airmail in the tub. “How about you have some of my mission mode instead, I've got energy for us both.”

“I know love, still that is my biggest worry for the day.” Airmail returned the kiss with one of her own, both mares locking lips for a good few minutes. “But you will be with me, and I'm not alone on some operation. This is a mission of love.” She giggled when she realised how clichéd that sounded. “I'm sure Princess Cady would say that if she was here.”

“I'm sure she would, and it's a pure and noble mission. Now, are we ready?” Wildfire asked when Airmail shut off the water from the showerhead. “I have a feeling Honey will be chasing us before much longer.”

Airmail didn’t doubt that assertion was a hundred per cent accurate, knowing Tempest as she did. “Flip on the dryer and well give each other a rub down. They are doing our manes there at the Hall, so we don't have to worry other than getting any knots out.”

“Alrighty!” Fluttering her wet wings, Wildfire got out of the bathtub and, once she had found the dryer on the wall, she turned it on. “Can you believe this crazy journey?”

In the path of the wall mounted dryer, Airmail spread her wings wide, allowing the warm air to dry her feathers, before lowering her head to dry her summer green mane and she giggled, “It was a bright and sunny day outside the coffee shop,” she said with a smile, before turning her back to the dryer and holding her wings open once more, drying the top side.

“I swear,” Wildfire said as she lifted up her black tail so the dryer could get everywhere. This was her favourite part of the dryer, feeling the pleasant warm air blow over her hind leg and marehood. It always made her giggle like a naughty dirty filly, “If I wrote it out, nopony would believe it.”

“Serenity would, she loves stories like that. Brush time!”

“Brush time!” Wildfire agreed, reaching out with her wing and flipping off the dryer, “Then I'll have to write it, for Beauty. I've said it before, but I'm really glad Luna got Vocal the singing gig and Dusk bought me here with him.”

Using the flat of the hairbrush she had taken from the rack, Airmail lightly bopped Wildfire's nose with her chosen weapon. “No more talk of that being an accident.”

“Oh no, Pretty.” Wildfire shook her head. She was way past the point where she considered her being in Manehatten an accident. She saw, especially after the recent events with Autumn Leaves in the subway and then talking with her step-mother Emerald in Canterlot, that there were no accidents. Opportunity maybe, but no accident or mere chance. “No Pretty, it wasn't an accident. I understand now that it was a nettle.” She kissed her lover as her fur and mane were brushed out, “Life gave me a nettle, it was up to me to grasp it.”

Airmail smiled warmly as she carefully and lovingly brushed Wildfire’s straight black mane. “Your grabbing of that nettle was the brightest moment of my life.”

“Mine too!” Wildfire agreed readily, “That Thursday morning in Caffy's coffee shop changed my life.”

“I'm just glad Lavender was already married.”

Wildfire joined Airmail in her little fit of giggles and she clapped her hooves like she had just been given a season ticket to watch the Manehatten rugby team. “I can't believe we're gonna be married soon!”

“Limo!” Tempest hollered up from the living room, for the gleaming white stretch limousine had just pulled up on the sidewalk outside their town house. “Five minutes, ponies!”

“Very soon, my love.” Airmail smiled, tuning her attention back to Wildfire.

All of a sudden, Wildfire was incredibly nervous. She hadn’t been at all worried all day, but right then, at that moment, she felt like she was in freefall down the side of Canterlot mountain and there was no Mapper there to blast away the trees she was about to fly into. Thankfully, Tempest had shown her how to do the breathing exercises the violet mare used to control her temper. “A-Alrighty, let's do this…”

When they got back downstairs in the living room, Tempest was ready and waiting. “The limo is here, I've already loaded it. We can leave early if you're ready.”

“Oh we're ready!” Wildfire exclaimed as she danced excitedly on her four hooves. Now she was imagining all the things that could go wrong. “Did you remember my mum's medal?”

“It’s safe with your dress in the limo,” Tempest stated with an eye roll that purposefully came through in her voice, “Airy light.”

Wildfire detected the tone of Tempest’s voice and she fluffed her wings defensively. “Just making sure, Momma Hen,” she knew her mother would never ever let her rest if she wasn’t wearing her medal for the wedding.

Tempest, seeing the nervous state that Wildfire was getting herself into, just couldn’t resist a tease. “Well, I may have switched your toothbrushes. You'll just have to deal with it.” She judged the double raspberry she received from both Wildfire and Airmail very worth it. She opened the front door and gestured out the door with a wing. “Limo is parked in front and there’s water for you both.”

“Nothing to it…” Wildfire took Airmail’s wing and she walked out with her as always on her left side, ‘But to do it.’ As she finished the quote in her head, the driver, a tan coloured earth pony stallion in a very sharp suit, opened the door in the back. Tempest took her position sitting up front with the stallion. There was, as Tempest had said, cold water waiting for them in the back. “I ah, I could use a water, Pretty.” Wildfire sat and fidgeted her hooves and fluttered her wings.

“I think both of us could use some water.” Airmail though checked the liquor cabinet in the back of the limo and she sighed when she found that it was locked. “I think Stormy also thinks all we need is water right now.” Realising it was probably for the best, Airmail hoofed one of the chilled bottles of water to Wildfire and she took one for herself.

Gratefully, Wildfire took the water and helped herself to a sip. “I think she may be right. Pretty...everything's gonna be ok, I know it will.” Having said that though, she wasn’t sure whom she was trying to convince, her or Airmail.

“Trust me that I too think it will go okay. This is our day, and our friends will be there to see us through it.”

“I just wish we could get on with it, y'know? As soon as it starts I know I won't feel nervous or squiffy or like I could fly to Canterlot and back.”

“Relax and enjoy the scenery,” Airmail said softly, though she knew where Wildfire was coming from. She understood from her time in the military. “We planned for an hour and a half with traffic.”

“I'll be fine once it starts,” Wildfire asserted, though her voice cracked a tiny amount, “It's this bit before I don't like.”

“Look at me.” Airmail set down her water and, as the limo drove its way along the streets, she took Wildfire’s face in her hooves, holding her steady. “Now see me in that dress.” She placed their foreheads together, “You can feel the feathers. It's just us now Wily, you and me, we are to be one.”

“Mmm, I can see it, with all the feathers and the flowing gown…” In her mind’s eye, Wildfire could see the dress that her fiancé would soon be wearing. She could see the feathers that she, Tempest, Airmail and even Luna had donated to the dress.

“Soon you'll feel it too.” Airmail moved her head away, but she kept hold of Wildfire’s cheeks. “I'm already excited by your touch.”

Gently, Wildfire took her lover’s hoof in her own. “I love your touch, and I love you, Pretty.”

With a giggle, Airmail kissed Wildfire’s hoof. “I washed this myself.”

“Yuppers you did!” Wildfire affectionately kissed Airmail’s washed hoof, laying delicate little kisses all along the toe, “I will never ever get tired of your beautiful hooves, Pretty.”

“That's good,” Airmail caressed Wildfire’s mane with her free hoof, “I'll always have a hoof care expert at my beck and call, won’t I?” Wildfire just murmured ‘hmhmm’ in response as she kissed Airmail’s hoof, this time her tongue slipped along the whitewall and the sole. Airmail was happy to let her keep it up, seeing as how worshipping her hoof was visibly calming the blind mare down.

~ ~ ~

Ninety minutes later, the long white limousine pulled up outside the Zebra Hall in the heart of the Broncs. Tempest got out and she opened the back door to reveal two zebra mares already waiting for them. “Airy, this is Horizon, of the Grass tribe.” Tempest indicated the turquoise mare who was bedecked in so many golden rings she shone in the dark without the need of the street lights, “She will escort you to your dressing room. Wily,” Tempest giggled playfully, “This mare is Wildflower of the Grass tribe. She will escort you to your dressing room.” Tempest clapped her hooves, “Move it, mares, we have a wedding to attend!”

Wildfire burst out into a fit of giggles at the name of the attendant that had been selected for her to get her ready. “There's no way in Equestria that's a coincidence!”

Tempest though, maintained her straight faced innocent look, giving nothing away even though she had been banged to rights immediately by her younger herd mate. Wildflower, a grass green zebra, was also as impassive as a brick wall. “This way please, honoured guest.”

Horizon snickered, “What she said.” She then turned to Airmail with a nod of her head, “I'm Horizon, and my job is to not let you escape.”

“Alrighty Ms. Wildflower,” when she said that name, Wildfire had another little giggle as she followed the zebra inside the large Hall. She couldn’t resist, it was just too funny. “I'm in your hooves.”

“Yes,” Wildflower glanced over her shoulder and was pleased to see the little blind mare easily following her tail and her scent like she could see. “Tempest told me the story, and yes she picked me to escort you. It is a cute story.”

“Yuppers it is!” Wildfire chuckled. Inside the Hall, her hooves echoed slightly off the oak wood parquet flooring. Scents of peony and blush suede and pear and freesia assailed her nostrils from the many incense burners that lined the walls in between the tribal masks that represented the major zebra tribes. “I didn't think it was a coincidence.”

Wildflower took Wildfire through the entrance foyer, parted company with Horizon and Airmail, and lead the small pegasus to a place where she could look into the decorated Hall proper. “This is where your ceremony will be held.”

“Oh wowsers!” Wildfire exclaimed, the blind pegasus was turning her head, moving it left and right to get as much input as possible in the new environment she found herself in. “I've never been in a zebra Hall before. What's it look like?”

Wildflower glanced at Wildfire and the zebra mare felt like kicking herself. Of course she couldn’t see the Hall, she was blind! “It is a large eight sided octagon shaped room, and it can sit up to five thousand. The walls are clad in wood imported from the homeland. Masks representing the tribes adorn the walls. There are a pair of carved wooden columns that denote the altar. We have curtained off a part of the room to make it look smaller, so it can seat three hundred. We do that for functions. This is the door you will enter from. I understand that Prince Dusk will escort you from your dressing room.”

“Yuppers, he will, Ms. Wildflower.” Wildfire nodded, her yellow wings fluttering in her state of nervous anticipation. “Thanks, by the way, for getting me dressed.”

“I have delayed long enough,” Wildflower knew that by now, everything should be in place so she could do her part. “Your dress should be in the room now. Please follow me.”

“Alrighty, you're the boss!” Wildfire easily followed the sound of Wildflowers' hooves as they clopped on the lacquered parquet flooring. “So you're part of the Grass Tribe?” she only asked because she hadn’t come across any of those while she had been on the east coast.

“Yes,” Wildflower nodded with justified pride in her voice, for the Grass Tribe was the most powerful and influential of the tribes back in Zebrifica. “There are not that many of my tribe here in Equestria. Most of us do administrative work or help Coffee Bean in the Hall.”

“I've mostly encountered the Coffee Tribe since I've been in Manehatten, Ms. Wildflower,” Wildfire commented, wanting to not sound completely ignorant. Although, her knowledge of zebras was limited to Caffeinated, Cream, Amethyst and Slate. She made a mental note to pick Darkstar’s brain on the subject when she had the chance.

Wildflower looked out into the decorated Hall and she giggled, “They are a minority also in Equestria, but they are a very wealthy tribe and Caffeinated has the ear of many to include my tribe. All of us serve our Queen and she defers to their majesties, Luna and Celestia.”

“I see, and I know Luna's a big deal with the zebras,” Wildfire replied and, although she was interested in what the zebra was saying, she was mostly chattering away her nervous energy.

The grass green zebra nodded reverently, “Mungu wa Usiku will always be a 'big deal' for us, but we see the reality on the wall. Some may and they do differ in this opinion, but the Queen no longer wishes to see Princess Celestia's head on a pike.”

Wildfire had a little giggle fit at that. “Oh, I’m sorry if I oversimplified that. I didn’t mean to. I heard Mr Caffeinated say something like that to Luna at his ranch.”

“Tempest told me that you have a close relationship with the Goddess of the Night, and I know she will be in attendance to your wedding. You bring great honour to this Hall, Wildfire.”

“Through Prince Dusk,” Wildfire wanted to clarify that point, though it wasn’t a very big one. It wasn’t like she had Luna on speed dial or anything, not like Airmail or Tempest or Caffienated did. “We were at school together in Canterlot.” She smiled warmly, “The Goddess is pretty cool. As for the honour, it's my pleasure. Airy chose the Hall straightaway to get married in.”

“I’m afraid that Tempest didn't give me much of a briefing on Airmail,” Wildflower mused as much to herself as to Wildfire stood beside her. “Focused and unstoppable is what she said. Then that is for Horizon to deal with.” Once the tour, such as it was, was over – a necessary diversion to let the porters get the luggage from the limousine to the dressing room – the zebra opened a nearby door. “This is your dressing room and,” she bowed respectfully to the pony and the other zebra who were already there and waiting for them, “Greetings to you, Prince Dusk. Here Alfalfa will do your mane first. Then I will assist you in dressing.”

Dusk Melody, who had been chatting pleasantly with the mane stylist, turned his attention to his best friend as she entered the dressing room with Wildflower. Politely he inclined his head to Wildflower first. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Wily, nervous?”

“What, me, nervous? Nah...” Wildfire rubbed her right foreleg with her left, scrunched up her scarred face and she made a very equine sound that was somewhere between a snort and a whinny. “I'm not nervous...”

“Uh huh.” Dusk did not sound convinced, nor did Alfalfa or Wildflower, not that they would ever voice it, of course.

“Indeed not, Prince Dusk.” Wildflower asserted as she gave Wildfire a reassuring nuzzle, “She is ripe with anticipation, is all.”

“That's what it is,” Dusk giggled, the effeminate stallion decided to not press the issue, “Please pardon me.”

Wildfire smiled, buoyed by the support she received. “You tell him, Wildflower.”

Wildflower sniffed and affected a most superior tone, one that suited her quite well. “I'm most happy to inform the Prince of how things are, such as that is a lovely dress you are wearing, your Highness.” She then leant into Wildfire and whispered loudly into her ear so that everyone in the room could hear, “The young Prince has seen fit to not upstage you this day. As a courtesy, you should spare his life.”

“He hasn't?”

“I haven't. I'm wearing a nice understated white number, have a feel, Wily.” What he was wearing, was a simple but elegant pale turquoise dress, with white filigree swirls woven into it. Created for him by Rarity in Ponyville, it was inspired by an animated movie that his adopted colt Ivory Wind enjoyed, where the Princess in it could freeze things and make living snowponies.

Wildfire’s breath caught in her throat as she felt the dress with her hoof. Though it might look simple upon first glance, she knew from the feel of it alone the dress was an exquisite work of art. “Hmmm...I think you're right Wildflower,” she said eventually after she had felt enough, “Very well, by your counsel, I shall spare him being punted into orbit.”

Dusk merely chuckled and nuzzled his best friend’s cheek, “You're most kind, Wily.”

As Alfalfa made a start on styling her usually straight black mane, Wildfire giggled, happy to be releasing at least some of the nervous tension that had built in her small body. “I could get used to having my mane done like this!” While it wasn’t her usual style by any means, it was still feeling really nice.

“You're only getting married once, Wily.” Dusk pointed out. Alfalfa had already styled his mane before Wildfire had been shown into the dressing room into a rather fetching braid.

“Too right I am!”

“She is part of a herd,” Alfalfa stated the blatantly obvious, the stylist not looking up from her work, “So one shouldn't be to predicting the future.”

“Hey, when are you getting hitched, D?” Wildfire asked cheekily, pleased that she could literally feel her best friend’s blush.

“In good time, Wily, that's when,” Dusk answered quickly, the midnight blue stallion skilfully, or so he thought, dodging the question even though he was blushing so hard it showed through his fur.

~ ~ ~

An hour later, and Wildflower, along with Alfalfa, was performing the last minute checks of Wildfire's wedding dress and her mane and tail respectively. She looked resplendent in a green three tiered dress that flowed from her back over her hind quarters. Three black stars lined each side, representing Heatwave, her mother, and Chill Wind. On her left ear she wore the first feather that Airmail had given her attached to a red heart shaped earring. In pride of place, fixed to a pale blue choker, was her mother’s Equestrian Star medal. When she was happy that her subject was finally ready, Wildflower stepped back. “Prince Dusk, please take your station. Lady Wildfire, it is show time.”

Wildfire though wasn’t sure she wanted it to be show time. She shuffled nervously, her black horseshoes clopping on the parquet flooring. Every sound was like a canon blast to her, easily as loud as her thundering heartbeat. “I got this, I got this, I got this...” she repeated softly not quite under her breath.

Thankfully, Dusk was right by her side, ready to rest a supporting hoof on Wildfire's shoulder. “Nothing to it, but to do it, Wily.” Moments later, the door to the dressing room opened and, on the other side, the music began. As Dusk Melody took Wildfire’s wing in his and walked his best friend down the aisle, Octavia joined the piano with her cello, her gift to Wildfire and Airmail.

“Oh my,” Dusk whispered into Wildfire’s ear as they passed row after row of assembled guests. He made sure to nod to each as they went by. Hot Spot and the Canterlot First Fire Team, Professor Calculus, Emerald, Java, as well as Airmail’s family all the way from Vanhoover and Baltimare. Of course, their friends were there as well. “The whole gang’s here, even Slingshot’s here with a stallion and some mare. My mum and mom are here too. I bet mom wants Coffee Bean’s place. All the herd is here, and so is the firehouse crew. Even some profs from Uni. Nice turn out Wily.”

“Slingshot made it? That’s awesomes!” Wildfire smiled a wide, genuine smile. Somehow, the idea that Air Raid had reached out and patched things up with her old partner lifted and reassured the nervous pegasus. Knowing that not only were all the old crowd there to witness her wedding, but that Hot Spot was there too, banished all her nerves like the Fire of Friendship holding back the wendigos of legend. “The important ponies are here, and that's all I care about, D.”

“I'm glad somepony besides me is here too.” Dusk giggled as they reached the end of the aisle where the raised platform and the altar awaited. “Okay, up two steps and you'll be in your spot. Turn to face the audience.”

“My...never been more nervous in all my life, D!” As she stepped up the two steps, Wildfire reached to her mother’s medal with her free wingtip and gave the star a rub. She knew, in that simple gesture, that Heatwave and her mother were with her just as surely as the audience were. “I’m glad they're with me too.”

Just then, the music changed. The piano ceased and Octavia played the wedding march solo on her cello. “Almost there, Wily.” Dusk said softly into her ear.

“I got my vows. I got this. Tell me when you see her, describe her to me, D.”

“There she is…” Dusk Melody breathed, his breath taken from him by the majestic spectacle that walked down the aisle accompanied by her father towards them. Truly, Airmail was a pure vision. “The long cream dress is stunning with all those different coloured feathers. She wears the same earrings as you and your feather adorns her right ear and…did you know she had an Equestrian Star? Looks just like your mother’s.”

That was news to Wildfire. “I did not know that. Although I'm not surprised.” Wildfire couldn’t help but smile a wide Pinkie Pie style smile as she pictured what Airmail looked like in her head. In her head, was a pure vision worthy of a Princess. “Best feather I ever donated.”

“As soon as she steps up,” Dusk whispered, “I'll step away. When she touches you, turn around to face Coffee Bean.”

“Alrighty D.” It was all Wildfire could do to not do a four hooved happy dance right then and there in the middle of the zebra Hall. “I can't believe everypony's here!”

“It's just the two of you and Coffee Bean now,” Dusk smiled and, as Airmail ascended the two steps, her right wingtip brushed Wildfire’s flank and she took her proper and rightful place, as ever, on Wildfire’s left side. With the touch of that wing, that primary feather, Wildfire’s impossibly wide smile got ever wider and they both turned to face Coffee Bean.

“Greetings all and welcome to the Hall as we do more this night than celebrate the full moon.” The High Priestess stood magnificent in her ceremonial robes and golden rings. Though she was ancient in her years, her voice was strong and as powerful as her eternal spirit and it reached every side of the octagonal room. “For this night we join these to mares in matrimony. The Goddess of the Night bears witness to these events.” She then turned to the two mares stood before her, to the blind mare first. “Wildfire you stand before us to pledge yourself to Airmail. State for us your pledge.”

Standing at the altar, Wildfire realised the fulfilment of all her hopes and dreams was at hoof. This was what she had dreamed about since she had been a filly, one of the hopes that had kept her alive for the past five years. Noisily, she cleared her throat. “It's nothing fancy, it's just a promise.” A promise she had written in her head a long time ago.

“I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own pony,
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength, and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost
fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship
alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how.
Completely and forever.”

All through the declaration, Coffee Bean stood impassive. When Wildfire was finished, the ancient High Priestess turned to the other pony stood before her at the altar. “Airmail, you have heard the pledge?”

“I have.” It was a simple sentence, insignificant in the grand scheme of things, just two words, but to say them, it took all Airmail had not to allow her tears of joy to overwhelm her. In all her years with Tempest, and with Mapper and Serenity, she had never dared dream that somepony would pledge themselves to her like Wildfire had just done.

“Airmail,” Coffee Bean started, shaking the azure blue mare from her introspective reverie, “You stand before us to pledge yourself to Wildfire. State for us your pledge.”

Like Wildfire, Airmail had her vows planned. She’d had them in her head ever since the diminutive yellow mare had asked her to marry her when they had been on their way to Trottingham almost a month before. As she prepared to give her pledge, Airmail reflected on just how far her lover had come from the first time she had met her, how much she had changed from the frightened, scared slave to the strong, confident mare she was today. She pledged her life to that mare.

“I swear my life to your service.
I will be your shield and sword in times of trouble.
I will be your comfort in the darkness.

I swear to be one with you.
In thought and in deed.
I will lay my heart open before you.

I swear I will share my days with you.
I will be your rock when you grieve.
I will be companion when you rejoice.

I swear I shall always love you.
I will love you when we share our bed.
I will love you when we voice our disagreements.

I swear that I will stand with you.
I will stand against the herd if we must.
I will celebrate us being one with the herd while we breathe.

Upon my life this I swear.
You will be first in my life.
And even death will not separate my love for you.”

As she heard her fiancé give her pledge, her most solemn vow, it was all Wildfire could do to not make a very happy four hooved dance right then and there. Thankfully, Coffee Bean was on hoof to let her make a complete fool of herself. “Wildfire,” she intoned, drawing all eyes to her, “You have heard the pledge?”

“Yuppers ma'am, I've heard it.”

“Dusk,” Coffee Bean addressed the young Prince, who had one last sacred duty to perform, “Please present the wing band to Wildfire.” As they had rehearsed countless times over the past couple of weeks, Dusk reverently placed the wing band in Wildfire’s hoof just as Airmail extended her left wing. With the band in her hoof, Wildfire placed it over the bone of Airmail’s wing down near the barrel.

“Grain,” Coffee Bean now addressed the earth pony stallion who had walked Airmail down the aisle, “Please present the wing band to Airmail.”

Grain, Airmail’s father, recognised his big moment was at last at hoof. The proud Vanhoovan farmer stepped forward and presented the wing band that had been his wife's mother's set aside for his daughter,, a smile wide enough to rival Wildfire's plastered all over his muzzle. Taking the band from her father, Airmail secured it around the yellow mare’s left wing.

“They have shared their commitment in word, and now with the exchanging of these tokens.” Coffee Bean announced, her old voice again filling the eight sided room with ease. “May the Goddess of the Night bless this union till the last star drops from the sky. Kiss to seal this union.”

“I've been waiting for this moment, Wily,” Airmail, wasting no further time, wrapped a foreleg around Wildfire's neck, bringing her into a tight embrace as she tilted her head to one side, kissing her brand new wife full on the lips. Wildfire returned the gesture, placing her own leg on Airmail, running it through her mane as she ran her tongue across Airmail’s lips, asking permission to enter. The newspony granted it, parting her lips for the firefighter’s tongue as she ran her own over and around it, eliciting a few pleasurable moans from her. A second or two later, and Airmail thrust forward with her tongue into Wildfire's mouth, running it around the inside before briefly wrestling the smaller mare’s tongue into submission. Finally the need to breathe forced them to break the kiss, their lips coming apart with a wet smacking noise.

All of Wildfire’s thoughts left her head and they were completely elsewhere as she took the awesomazing kiss, a kiss so fantastic that her wings reacted in a rather predictable fashion, shooting out from her sides and standing fully erect. Of course, along with the applause and the cheers from the assembled audience, there now came just as many cat calls for the picture perfect wing boner. Wildfire though did not care one bit. She just took her new wife in her forehooves and really went all out for the kiss, tongue and all.

“No need to wait on these two,” Coffee Bean announced loudly to the applauding crowd. The kiss was still going on even after the guests had stopped stomping and clapping their hooves and it showed no sign of ending any time soon. “The reception is through the doors on your right.”

At last, as the guests were taking their leave and filing into the reception room, Wildfire let go of Airmail so that they could both take some much needed breaths. She heard the sound of hooves, but for now she paid them no mind. “We did it! Pretty, we did it!”

“We did,” Airmail beamed down at the smaller mare, “So…do we go to the reception, or do we sneak out of town?”

“The hotel in Horseshoe Bay is booked until the ship leaves tomorrow afternoon…” Wildfire giggled playfully, though she didn’t entertain for a moment the idea that they would really skip out on the afterparty. “I suppose we could be naughty and sneak out.”

“Coin flip to see who faces Thespy's wrath when we get back.”

“I'm still here, you know.” Tempest announced in her best ‘cold water on the bonfire’ Mother Hen tone of voice.

“I call heads!”

“Oh no!” Airmail exclaimed in such an overdramatic manner that assured her and anypony listening that she’d never ever be an actor, “Somepony took my coins!”

Tempest’s maternal frown never budged for an instant. “I'll spend it all in one spot too. Now, both of you to the reception detention!”

“Now you sound like Professor Calculus!” Wildfire giggled like a filly and, taking her wife’s wing in hers, she walked with Airmail on her left and Tempest on her right, as was the right and proper way of things into the reception. She extended her wing over Tempest’s barrel, holding both of her special mares close.

“You both did good,” Tempest said as she nuzzled Wildfire and then Airmail over the short Wildfire’s head. “Your father is a snuggly one Airy.”

“As if you didn't know that already,” Airmail snickered, “Dusk looked nice in his dress. Nothing to flashy.”

“That's why I spared his life this time, like Wildflower suggested.”

~ ~ ~

Walking into the reception area from the main meeting part of the Hall was like walking into a roaring Buckball stadium straight from a Celestia chapel. The sheer amount of noise hit Wildfire as though it was a physical force. “Wily! Airy!” Thespian was laying in wait to ambush the lucky couple with hugs and kisses the very moment they walked in. “It was a beautiful wedding. Let's eat so I can have an excuse to get some cake.”

“It was properly awesomes!” Wildfire engaged Thespian in a bone crushing hug that had become her trademark. “I'm glad you enjoyed it!” When she was released from the hug, Thespian excused herself and, along with Tempest, went to get some cake before it was too late.

“Hello Wildfire, Airmail.” Princess Twilight Sparkle, who had been invited by Luna to the wedding, walked up to greet the happy newlyweds with Calculus by her side. In truth, she would have been eager to attend in any event, if only to follow up on the spells she had cast on Wildfire and Serenity six weeks ago. And she was happy of any excuse to get away from her Princess duties, if only for a short time. “Beautiful wedding.”

“Yes,” Calculus beamed – actually beamed – something she had never, ever done to Wildfire while she had been a student at the university in Canterlot. “I will have to give you a passing mark for it.”

“Thank you, Professor Twilight!” Wildfire giggled at her old math teacher’s joke for, while the thought of sharing a joke with the older mare would have been ridiculous in the extreme a few years ago, since their meeting and reconciliation, they had become firm friends. They had spoken at least twice weekly over the phone, and Wildfire, at Calculus’s urging, had been emailing her the test results from her math course in Manehatten. All of which were passes. “At least I can say that I finally got a pass from you, Professor Calculus.”

“Other than a hall pass?” Airmail nudged Wildfire in the ribs as she winked at the unicorn and giggled brightly.

Calculus was quick with a wink of her own, “Those were hard to come by.”

Princess Twilight, a regretfully busy mare even when she was away from Ponyville, got to the point of what she wanted to speak to Wildfire about, other than offering her congratulations, of course. “Would you mind if I cast a quick examination spell on you, Wildfire? I’d like to see if the spell I cast cancelled after you got pregnant.”

Wildfire laughed at Calculus, “I sure did get a ton of those from you, Professor,” every time she was sent to the Principal’s office for fighting with Blitzwing, which admittedly was every other day. Then, she turned to the sound of Twilight's voice. “Of course you may, Professor.”

While the rest of the assembled guests helped themselves to the buffet, or chatted amongst themselves in their own little groups, Twilight lit her horn and cast her spell. After a moment, her examination was complete and the light from her horn extinguished itself. “Okay, it is still in effect.” She was making a whole list of notes in her head that would need to be transcribed later, “If you want to have a colt it will need to be cancelled.”

“I'm sure the filly you'll have will be beautiful,” Calculus offered generously.

“Thank you!” She treated the unicorn to one of her trademark hugs, again something she would never have done at the university. Wildfire then gave voice to a worry that had been plaguing her since she had gotten pregnant. “I um...I don't know if that spell can tell you how my filly's doing, can it?” She had been fretting daily, was she eating right, sleeping right, exercising right or even working right? Belle and Requiem had both assured her that sneezing too hard wouldn’t harm her foal.

“She’s developing along nicely,” Twilight confirmed, happy to see the relief wash visibly over Wildfire’s face. “Who is your maternity doctor?”

“That would be Doctor Dilate, Professor.”

“Excellent!” Twilight clapped her hooves together and another item was added to her mental to do list. “I'll drop him some of my research notes, so your file will be complete!”

“So...just to be sure, Fireflight is growing alright?” Wildfire blushed as she asked, because for the last month and a half she had been bending the ear of not only Requiem and Belle, but Thespian, Recital and any other mare in the herd who had foals. “I’m sorry to ask, I just want to be sure, y'know, 'cos she's my first foal.”

Twilight blinked at the question, “Let me do a different scan. The first was just to check on the spell matrix.”

Still smiling broadly, Calculus leant in towards Airmail. “She’s getting in the zone, so I'll say my good-byes now. I wish the both of you the best.” After a quick hug from both Airmail and Wildfire, the unicorn turned and trotted off to the bar. There was a bottle of gin that had her name on it and she wanted to make its acquaintance.

“Alrighty, thanks for coming, Professor!” Wildfire waved to the Calculus, “I'll be sure to email you the results of my next unit exam like last time!”

Calculus waved and called back, “A number of subjects revolve around math!”

Airmail laughed, “I bet she’s always waiting to say that.”

As Calculus reached the bar and stood with a few of the herd, Wildfire held Airmail’s hoof and Princess Twilight cast her second spell. Focussed on Wildfire’s womb, the alicorn’s eyes went wide with surprise just a few moments later. “Everything is fine...” Just to be sure, she cast the spell again and she got the same result. “Y-Yes, fine…”

Wildfire’s sharp ears detected the hesitation in Twilight’s voice. It set off her finely tuned ‘something’s up’ detector commonly known as Wily Sense. “What is it? Professor, what’s wrong?”

Airmail, like Wildfire, wasn’t buying it for a second. She could see by the alicorn’s body language she had detected something unexpected in her scan. On instinct, she stepped closer to her wife. “I've heard evasion most of my career, some good, some bad, and you're really bad at it, Princess.”

“Well, um, your foals are fine, really developing well. Is Fireflight what you'll name the first one born?”

“Foals?” Wildfire’s sharp ears swivelled to face Twilight, the little yellow mare now fully alert, as was Airmail beside her. “As in, plural, more than one?”

Again, Twilight blinked, wondering if she hadn’t been completely clear. “Well, yes, but the more technical term is twins as you have two. I'm sure both heartbeats will be detected on your next exam.”

Beside her, Airmail went a rather pale shade of blue she hadn’t gone in a very long time. “I uh…I-I…w-what…I...have...two?” Wildfire stuttered, sitting down heavily on the floor. Somewhat taken aback by the unexpected news, her brain tried to process what she had heard but it wasn’t cooperating. “Two...I-I'm having two!”

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed happily, “Congratulations!” she then saw the wary look that Airmail was shooting her and she held up her hooves defensively, “The filly only spell on her had nothing to do with it! It was pure random chance.”

“Hum, oh, not that,” Airmail fluffed her wings dismissively, “Just Stormy will have twice as many to spoil now.”

“Oh my gosh...” As the news began to sink in, Wildfire finally gave in and did the very happy four hooved dance that had been threatening to happen all day long. “This is awesomes!” She squeeing like an overgrown filly, Wildfire hugged both Twilight and Airmail until both mares struggled for breath.

“Greetings Princess,” Caffeinated’s deep voice rescued Twilight from the death hug that Wildfire had on her as he and Thespian returned to the newlyweds after bashing the buffet for a few moments. “It seems Wily is a bit energetic, as usual.”

“Post wedding pre honeymoon jitters.” Thespian explained, mostly from experience. Twilight took the opportunity to extricate herself from the bone crushing death hug and, with an apologetic bow, departed as fast as manners would allow to the buffet.

“Caffy, Thespy...” Wildfire was too excited to notice the Princess’s absence, “I've just been told I'm having two fillies!”

Hearing that, Thespian looked the yellow pegasus over with a rather critical eye. She noted the rather obvious thing, that Wildfire was not the largest of mares. In fact, she was little more than a very large filly. “Well then, more the reason to eat right and follow your doctor's orders.”

Caffeinated snickered and dispensed his worldly advice, “We wanted the second after the first was out of diapers. Try to prevent yourself from being out of diapers.”

Thespian nodded at her husband’s sage words. “That was bad.”

“That's good advice, I'll be sure to keep that in mind,” Wildfire grinned before gripping first Caffienated and then Thespian in one of her tight hugs. “This is...wow! I mean...wow!” that was as much as her excited brain could process at that moment. Fortunately she dredged up a coherent sentence. “Did you enjoy the ceremony?”

“It was wonderful, Wily,” Caffeinated replied, “You couldn't have picked a better location.”

Thespian couldn’t resist a tease. “Well,” she snickered loudly so that the nearby crowd could hear what she said, “Other than the moon!”

From the crowd, somewhat predictably, Luna briefly interrupted the chat she had been enjoying with Requiem and called out, “I heard that, Thespy!”

Thespian almost fell over from laughing so hard, but thankfully Caffeinated was on hoof to keep his laughing wife upright. “It does help when the mare at the alter is really, really cute.”

Likewise, Wildfire laughed, joining in on the joke. “It does, and I was so nervous! Seriously, flying a cloud to a fire was nothing compared to standing and saying my vows!”

“Enjoy your honeymoon. I need to get Thespy some cake.” Caffeinated shook his head and, with Thespian still laughing and Luna cat calling her, the two trotted off to the buffet and then the bar.

When they were left alone for a moment, Wildfire again sunk to the floor. It was a good thing the flooring was spotlessly clean otherwise her dress would have been dirtied up. “Two...Airy, can you believe it?” she hugged and kissed her wife hard, “I’m having two foals! Twins Airy!”

Seeing that Wildfire and Airmail were alone, Emerald took her chance. Walking with Hot Spot, she came over and booped Wildfire’s nose with her hoof. “How is my d-daughter tonight?”

Hot Spot, who had accompanied Emerald as chaperone on her trip from Canterlot to Manehatten, stepped up and nuzzled his favourite rookie’s cheek. “If you ever want to ditch this town, Wily, I still have a spot for you.”

“Momma!” After nuzzling Hot Spot’s cheek, Wildfire hugged her step-mother tightly as she always did. “I'm so glad you could make it!” she turned to Hot Spot and giggled, “Sir, I don't think Rung would let me get very far.”

Hot Spot snickered, “I do have seniority.”

Emerald gushed, “Everypony signed off on my trip, and Mr. Spot rode with me on the train to help make sure I didn't panic.” She nuzzled Hot Spot and then, delicately, she placed a soft tender kiss on the old stallion’s cheek. In truth, the firefighter had been doing far more over the past few weeks than helping her to not panic.

“Sir,” Wildfire started, oblivious to the kiss her old Captain and step-mother had just shared, “I want to thank you for making sure my mum got here safely, that was super kind of you,” she placed her own, much more friendly kiss, on the stallion’s cheek. “Momma, I do have some news for you.”

“Oh?” Emerald glanced at Hot Spot and the stallion moved protectively closer to his mare, “Good I hope.”

“You're gonna be a double granny!”

Blinking once then twice, Emerald looked at Airmail, and then she blinked a third time. “Are you p—pr-pregnant too?”

“Nope,” Airmail shook her head. While she had, naturally, noticed the interaction between Emerald and Hot Spot, the azure blue mare decided not to say anything about it. She surmised, correctly, that it was a fledgling relationship and that it wasn’t her business to break it before they did. “It’s too much work for me, so I'm letting her carry both.”

Emerald looked between Airmail and Wildfire twice before she settled back on her step-daughter. “Tw-Twins?”

“Yuppers!” Wildfire squeed in sheer delight as she hugged her step-mother, “Professor Twilight just told me the news!”

Immediately, Emerald started to dance with Wildfire in a wide circle, “That is the best news!”

“I know!” Wildfire squealed as she danced, “This is the best day ever!”

Hot Spot looked affectionately at his dancing marefriend and her daughter. It warmed his old heart to see her so abandonly happy. He had seen her happy in the short time they had been dating, sure, but this was a different class of happiness, one he hoped very much to see in her again. “I would say congratulations are in order for more than one thing on this occasion.”

Airmail shot the stallion a conspiratorial ‘your secret is safe with me’ wink and said, with a smile, “I can only claim credit for one thing.”

"Sir,” Wildfire beamed when she and her mother had stopped dancing and were both breathless, “Thank you for coming. I ah, I know Heatwave would've loved it, and I'm glad you're here.” She then shared a knowing nuzzle with her old captain, knowing as they both did that Heatwave would have been exceptionally proud.

“I lo-love you d-daughter,” Emerald gave Wildfire a last nuzzle to the smaller pegasus just as her belly rumbled loudly. “Be sure to stop in when they are born.”

“Take care of yourself Wily,” Hot Spot smiled, “Ms. Airmail, do try to not let her fly into burning buildings.”

“I will momma, and I love you too!” she gave Emerald and Hot Spot a last kiss and a hug before she allowed him to lead her step-mother away to the buffet table.

Just then, before Wildfire and Airmail could get to the table that was still groaning with food, Brush Stroke helped his father, Starbright over to where the newlyweds were standing, in his wheelchair. “I don't need no help, colt.” The army veteran groused, though it was clear that his state of health had gotten worse since Wildfire had seen him last, given he was no longer walking himself in the chair, he had to be pushed by his son.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Brush Stroke stood behind his father and rolled his eyes in a manner that just screamed that the two had played this particular tune many times before, “I was just making sure Wily didn't sneak off. Now, I'm going to make sure Dusky isn't eating too much cake. Back in a bit.”

“Youth is wasted on the young,” the irascible old stallion barked out a laugh at his own joke, “Wildfire, Major.”

“Colonel,” Airmail corrected him, at once recognising the stallion’s traditional method of verifying whether or not he was with a changeling imposter or the real pony.

Snapping a salute to the Colonel now he was satisfied it was really her, Starbright snickered, “I guess it really is you, Airmail.”

“Captain Starbright!” Wildfire moved her forehoof up in a very good military salute, “It's awesomes you're here!”

Starbright nodded approvingly of the young yellow pony. Now he knew her, he could see Silverbolt…no, Fireflight, he mentally corrected himself, in her more and more. “That salute and medal you’re wearing do your mother proud.” He nodded to Airmail’s chest, “I see you're not the only one with a medal.”

“I have four suns for this one,” Airmail replied as she too snapped off a salute to the old pony, “But I didn't want to upstage my wife.”

Wildfire lowered her hoof and with it she touched the bright blood red Equestrian Star that adorned the blue choker she wore with pride around her neck. “I want to thank you again, Captain, for giving me this. It was like mum was here with us.”

“As long as we remember they are always with us, right Colonel?”

Airmail nodded in agreement, “For better or worse.”

“Can't forget the bad memories lest we repeat them,” Starbright agreed with the azure blue pegasus, “I'm glad I brought peace for you, Wildfire. Fireflight will always be close to my heart.” Had it not been for Wildfire’s mother, he and what was left of his medical unit would have died at Heartbreak Ridge during the Changeling Invasion.

“Another thing,” Wildfire blushed with happiness, “I haven't had the chance to thank you for returning my mother's journal. That was really cool of you.”

“Made my life uncertain,” Airmail admitted with a rather heavy heart, though it was considerably lighter as of late. “Finding out that the Flight Cadet was Wily's mum was... eye opening, to say the least.”

“Even for me, and that's an achievement!” Wildfire giggled, “But it also told me about Chill Wind, a big brother I never knew I had.”

“Did it help you find him?”

“Yuppers,” Wildfire replied softly, “He's...he's with mum.”

Starbright gave both mares a rather harsh, critical glare. “I hope neither of you are in any hurry to join them.”

“I'd rather help keep the daises fresh,” Airmail stated, though she knew what the old stallion had meant.

“Me too,” Wildfire grinned. She had way too much to live for now to even consider doing anything like that. “Still he's family, and now he can be remembered, thanks to you. Captain, may I hug you?”

Starbright beamed, pleased that for once here was a pony who was not treating him like he was falling apart. Of course he was falling apart, but that was neither here nor there. “You don't see my husband around, do you? He can be the jealous type.”

Airmail made a show of glancing left then right, “Area is clear, sir.”

“Then let's get Operation Hug underway.”

“Yay!” Wildfire squealed happily and she delivered her trademark Wily hug to the old veteran stallion. “Thank you, sir, for everything!”

The diminutive yellow mare’s hug hurt. It hurt Starbright all the way to the core of his wasting old body, but he gave no outward sin of it except a silent, pained wince on his face that Airmail caught and gently pulled her wife back. “You're welcome Wildfire,” Starbright kept his voice even, showing no sign at all of the great pain he was in, “It helps to close another chapter in my life.”

“Wily, please sir. And I hope you have a lot more chapters in your life.”

To disguise an even bigger wince, the ill stallion laughed, “My grandfoal chapter has just begun.”

“Good!” Wildfire sneaked in another hug to Starbright, though this one was not quite so bone crushing as the first, “Oh, and watch Dusky doesn't get too much cake. Between us, when he starts he really starts.”

“That's Brush's job,” Starbright chuckled, “Between us, I don't know if he wants his intended's flank to look like his mom or his aunt!” the old stallion burst out laughing and then, thanks to his illness, the laugh dissolved into a severe coughing fits, thankfully Airmail was on hoof to supply much needed pats on the back.

Wildfire’s giggles quickly stopped and she became concerned. “Hey, Captain, you okay?”

“Time is like a sniper,” Starbright muttered, cursing himself for letting his illness show. “I just need to keep my head down.”

“You do that sir,” Wildfire was genuinely concerned, “I’ll need more hugs when we get back from the honeymoon.”

“Well, youngster, you need to stop in Trottingham then,” Starbright coughed, “I don't travel for hugs.” While he was distracted with Wildfire, Airmail gave a high sign to Brush Stroke, letting the artist know that his dad needed help.

Straightaway, Brush Stroke left the conversation he had been having with Luna, Octavia, Dusk and Dandelion and he came trotting over, cake held ready in his hoof as a cover story. “Dad, I have cake!”

“Oh, and what kind is it?”

“Carrot, of course.” Brush Stroke rolled his eyes again, producing the slice of Thespian-made carrot cake on the plate as evidence.

Just as Brush Stroke was wheeling away his father, Starbright turned back to Wildfire and Airmail. “Live, love and have fun doing it.”

“Yes sir!” Wildfire offered him one last salute and, when he was gone, she turned to Airmail, “I'm glad he came over, Pretty.”

“I'm glad too, but I hope nothing like that book drops on me again.”

“I know it was a toughie, babes, and while I share your sentiment, I'm glad he bought it to us.”

Airmail nodded thoughtfully. While the appearance of Flight Cadet 359’s journal had been a disturbing revelation, there had been at least one good thing, among a few good things, to come from the book. “It did bring us Chill Wind. Now, you need to think up a name for the second filly.”

“Well...” Wildfire shuffled her hooves together as she thought. No matter how hard she thought though, she kept coming back to the same answer. “Airy, I kinda like Chill Wind, if it's not too weird or creepy?”

“Works for a filly,” Airmail giggled, “Creepy is when she’s old enough to go see her uncle and seeing her name on a marker.”

Wildfire shrugged her shoulders. “That's for future her to worry about,” she giggled and affectionately she nuzzled her new wife’s cheek. “I've had a great day today you know.”

Airmail chuckled and kissed Wildfire’s ear, for over her shoulder she saw Amethyst, Cream and Air Raid walking up with Darkstar and Slate. All of them wore matching smiles and, in the case of Cream, Air Raid and Darkstar, their dom’s collars proudly around their necks, which did not look out of place with their dresses and suits. “And here comes your gang.”

“Hey Wily,” Darkstar was the first to reach her old friend and she nuzzled Wildfire’s cheek in greeting, “Bright says sorry he couldn’t stay, he had to take Moony off to develop the pics and let her do her magic to them.”

Air Raid was next in line, offering not just a nuzzle to her old ex, but an affectionate hug too. “Oh, Slingshot says hi, but they have left. His stallion, Silver Chord, wanted to dress him up in some new socks, and Windcharger wanted to watch.”

Darkstar grinned, “He even apologized to me and Raid.”

Amethyst sniffed airily and straightened the sleeve of the suit she wore – there was no way she was going to wear a dress – and said, “That will allow him to live.”

Slate, who was stood as ever by Darkstar’s side, snickered, “That actually says a lot.”

“So you made it good with Slingshot?” asked Wildfire with a grin. The names meant nothing to her. Silver Chord she assumed was his partner and the mare’s name rang a bell, but she didn’t recognise it enough to really care. “Raid I'm impressed!” she reached up and patted the lime green mare’s head. “You're like a proper adult now!”

Stood beside her Mistress, Amethyst, Cream snickered, “Could have fooled me.”

“Should've said 'almost' like a proper adult, Wily.”

“Ha, ha.” Air Raid stuck out her tongue at Darkstar’s cheek, “Very funny.”

Affectionately, Slate kissed his submissive partner and flicked her opposite ear with his hoof. “Darkie may start doing stand-up comedy to go with her dancing.”

Flicking her ear in response to the reprimand she had received from her dominant stallion, Darkstar kissed Slate’s lips. She did so love it when he got all commanding with her. “Only when I dance for you and Rocky, Master.”

Slate sighed softly, for he loved the way his pet purred out the last word, ‘Master’. “Too bad that 'almost' adult Raid can't watch that dance.”

When Air Raid pouted, Cream laughed at the thoroughly adorable display. Amethyst chuckled, “I can watch it for her.”

Unable to hold the pout for very long, Air Raid soon giggled, “Why do I feel like I'm being ganged up on?”

“Aww Raid,” Wildfire giggled, giving the lime green pegasus an affectionate nuzzle, “You know we all love you really.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Air Raid giggled, “And great wedding, by the way. I totally didn't cry during the vows.” When she said she didn’t cry, of course she meant she absolutely did cry, so much so that Cream had to offer her three tissues to dry her eyes.

Cream, as a playful reminder of the fact that she had caught Air Raid crying, nudged her barrel and teased, “I took notes.”

Amethyst decided to stand up for her beleaguered pet. “I totally didn't see her cry.” The sparkle in her eyes though said otherwise.

Slate then cleared his throat, “I did like the dynamic between your two vows.”

“Thank you, Slate,” Wildfire grinned from ear to ear, the enormity of the occasion still having not completely sunk into her. She was still riding the high of the adrenalin that pumped through her little body, “And I totally haven't had those memorised since I was a filly.”

Airmail giggled and then she admitted, “I made mine up the moment she accepted my proposal on the way to Trottingham.”

“Well, it was amazing, Airmail,” Darkstar smiled generously, “And I absolutely cried for all I was worth.” Unlike Air Raid, the pure white unicorn had no problem admitting she had shed more than a few tears.

Slate nodded with a contented smile all over his striped face, “The food was good too.”

“Yeah it was!” Air Raid agreed, casting her gaze back over to the buffet table, “I had to have three plates of those locusts to make sure they were good.” While she hadn’t thought of eating zebra food before she had gotten with Cream and Amethyst, since being with them, she had eaten more of that than pony food. And she liked it, too.

Amethyst selected her most deadly eye roll and levelled it at Air Raid. “Sharing it seems is still a weak point for my pet.”

Wildfire snickered, “You'll have to teach her, Mistress Amethyst, with a big paddle.”

Darkstar grinned and nuzzled her stallion. “Slate's good at teaching.”

“And learning, too.” Slate smiled and again he casually flicked Darkstar’s ear with his hoof, “Then again, I have a very attentive audience.”

Cream snickered, “Raid can be attentive.”

“I can, too!” Air Raid agreed readily, though it was usually when Amethyst had her restrained in her dungeon. Then, she was very attentive indeed.

“A crop is a useful teaching tool huh, Raid?” Wildfire snarked.

“We wanted to see you off,” Amethyst held up her hoof to silence Air Raid before her pet could say anything in reply to that. Besides, there was nothing to say. Everypony knew that a crop was an excellent teaching aid. “If you can,” the pink zebra smiled, “Do something I wouldn't do.”

Cream raised an eyebrow at her Mistress, “I think Slate would have to go with them to do that.”

While Air Raid and Darkstar both lost it in a gale of laughter, Wildfire managed to – just – keep her composure. “I promise we'll do our best, Amethyst.”

“Oh,” the pink zebra continued, leaning in conspiratorially to both Airmail and Wildfire, “And a word of warning. Be sure you well hide that top tier of wedding cake. I think your herd-mate, Tempest, was eyeing it.” With her task complete, Amethyst gestured to her two mares. “Come along pets, for I see that one heading to the head table.”

Slate took a moment to nuzzle the newlywed couple. “I wish you both the best of love and happiness. May you enjoy what I enjoy now.” That done, he led Darkstar back to the buffet table, where he allowed his pet to feed him from the zebra cuisine on offer.

Moments later there came the sound of metal on glass, drawing everypony’s eye to the head table. Once she was sure she had everypony's attention, Tempest ceased her pounding and she lifted up the champagne glass with a wing. “I wish to propose a toast,” the violet mare announced loudly, “To our happy couple. May their love be unending and their joy overflowing.” As one, the assembled guests all cheered and many of them raised their glasses in salute. “Now for the bad news,” Tempest continued once the toast had been drunk, “It’s time to see our loving couple off to their journey of shared bliss. Good news is the party will continue without them!”

Cheers, applause and the stomping of hooves resounded throughout the reception area at the conclusion of Tempest’s speech, none of which were louder and more enthusiastic than Wildfire herself, who joyfully stomped her hooves on the floor along with the others. Speech duty done, Tempest made her way over to Airmail and Wildfire. “The limo is out front. Time to go and catch your taxi.”

Wildfire was the first to pull Tempest into a tight crushing hug. “Have you unlocked the cabinet this time, Honey?”

“Maybe,” Tempest replied with a wink that came across in her voice as she utilised her pair of powerful wings and ushered her two herd-mates out of the door. Many guests along the way offered their good-byes and their best wishes, but Tempest wouldn’t let her charges stop to thank them or bump hooves because, if they did, they’d be there all night.

“Thanks Honey,” Wildfire beamed when they were outside on the sidewalk in the cool night air, “That was an awesomes speech!”

“Just ask Airy, I am awesomes!” Tempest replied, opening the back door of the stretched white limousine and revealing Mapper and Serenity waiting quietly for them inside.

“Yuppers you are!” Wildfire gave Tempest a nuzzle and then she got in the back. Immediately two familiar scents assailed her nostrils, fragrances of cinnamon and of apple that were as distinctive as the lavender and fuchsia behind her. Two strong perfumes when, combines with the other two, meant safety to the blind mare. “Hey Mistress, hey Beauty.”

“I always knew my pet could see more than she let on.” Mapper said by way of greeting.

“That, or you never change your cinnamon shampoo,” Serenity giggled, and Mapper waved a hoof in the air as if it was nothing.

Following Wildfire and Airmail into the back of the limousine, Tempest rapped on the dividing screen that separated the back from the front and immediately the limo drove off, heading towards the nearest sky taxi rank. “Yes,” she stated once she was seated, “the liqueur cabinet is unlocked.”

Happily seated between Airmail on her left and Tempest on her right, Wildfire giggled, “The shampoo was a bit of a giveaway, Mistress.”

Mapper got straight to what she wanted to say once the car was underway and they were all sat comfortably. “We should be moved in to the new house by the time you get back.”

“You can join me in the new playroom, Wily!” the excitement in Serenity’s voice was palpable. The teal unicorn’s eyes were alive and sparkly, fantasising about all the possibilities they could explore in the new dungeon. Airmail though shivered and Tempest frowned. Both mares remembered what had happened before, the last time they had all lived together. Serenity saw their reactions and shook her head. “It will never be like before.”

Mapper rested her hoof affectionately on Serenity’s flank. “My Senior Pet has learned restraint.”

“I'd love to join you in the playroom, Beauty!” Wildfire, oblivious to the slight tension in the back of the limo, had a smile on her face a mile wide. “I'm still your Middle Pet, Mistress.”

“Yes you are,” Mapper’s smile broadened, though there was a regretful look on her face, “Even if Octavia doesn't play anymore.”

Serenity shared Mapper’s wistful look, though she did completely understand. “Mistress Luna does dote over her now.”

While Serenity, Mapper and Wildfire talked, Tempest hoofed an envelope over the yellow mare’s back to Airmail. “All the tickets you need are in there. Gratuities are included, but feel free to add for extra good service.”

Nodding, Airmail took the envelope and placed it safely in her saddle bag in the vehicle. “You three don't mind moving without us, do you?”

Tempest shook her head, “Give us a chance to weed out some things.”

“Oooh so I'll have somewhere new to explore in two weeks when we get back?” Wildfire squealed, clapping her hooves like an excited filly. Her herd-mates had been talking about the move to a much bigger place now for a few weeks, and it was finally going ahead.

Placing a reassuring hoof on Wildfire’s shoulder, Tempest said, “We should have everything in its place, Wily.”

“Until my pets start moving things when they start nesting...” Mapper said with a roll of her eyes that had had both Airmail and Tempest falling about in giggles.

“Oh ooh about that!” Wildfire squeaked, her Mistress’s statement reminding her that she hadn't yet told Mapper, Serenity and Tempest about the second foal, “I have something to tell you all!”

“Quiet everypony.” Mapper silenced the back of the limo with a gesture of her hooves as effectively as if she had flicked a switch. “Pet may be pregnant. Do tell, pet.”

Though the rest were quiet, Wildfire burst out laughing at that, “I am! Well, Professor Twilight did a scan on me to make sure everything was alright, and, during the scan of Fireflight, she detected a second filly in here!”

Immediately, not a full second later, and Serenity clapped her hooves, as did Tempest, the violet mare clapped Wildfire on the back with her wing, this was excellent news! “Oh, the spoiling has been doubled!”

“It’s a good thing then that we are moving into a bigger place.” Mapper said with a warm smile on her face, “Well done pet.”

“Thank you Mistress!” Wildfire giggled, “I think Tink deserves some credit, I mean he was there. I’ve decided that I'm going to call her Chill Wind.”

Again Mapper waved her hoof dismissively, “But it was you that divided up the spoils.”

Tempest leant down and affectionately nuzzled Wildfire’s cheek. “It’s nice that you'll name her after her uncle.”

“I just thought he could get a chance at living through my filly, that’s all.”

“Three fillies in the house…” Mapper sighed in a very over-dramatic fashion and bought her forehoof up to her head, “I may need to get some extra carnival hours.”

“I have a day job!” Airmail announced brightly.

Serenity gave the azure blue mare a wink, “Good as I work nights.”

Shrugging her shoulders, Tempest laughed, “I can either deal with it, or just shut the office door.”

“It's gonna be awesomes!” Wildfire squealed in sheer delight and she clapped her delight, “I can feel it in my feathers. And no it's not the flu.”

Mapper sniffed and winked at Tempest, “My hoof isn't in your feathers.”

Tempest caught the wink from Mapper like she was a Buckball player and grinned, “That’s my thing,” she giggled before placing her hoof deep in Wildfire’s feathers.

Airmail reached down and, while Tempest was rubbing Wildfire’s feathers, she rubbed the yellow mare’s teats. “I'm waiting on the dairy to open up.”

“Hmmmm...” In heaven, Wildfire spread her wings to allow Tempest better access, and at the same time she leant back to expose her teats. She could stand to endure this kind of treatment, that was for sure. “Yuppers, Pretty's timing me to four months.”

Smiling warmly, Serenity used her magic to get drinks for everypony from the open cabinet. “The milk will flow when it does, and not before.”

Smiling so much that her face was starting to ache – not that she was going to let that stop her from smiling – Wildfire took her drink in her hoof from Serenity’s magic and still she smiled. “I can’t wait, I really can’t!”

“My toast in the Hall covered the important stuff,” Tempest said as she too took her full strength beer and lifted it up to her herd-mates, “So now I can only say, herd, family, and friends. May all find joy in your union.”

“Your speech was great, Honey!” Wildfire grinned as she sipped her non-alcoholic beer.

Airmail chuckled, “She does have a doctorate.”

“And I know multisyllabic words!” Tempest declared proudly.

Wildfire snickered cheekily, “And you know how to string them together!”

Mapper took a long sip of her beer. “She has improved at tying things up, of late.”

As the stretch limousine wound its way through Manehatten towards the sky taxi station, Wildfire settled into her seat. She allowed the chatter of the other four mares to become like cool ocean waves, washing their relaxing background noise over her. It was a safe sound, a secure sound where she felt happy, loved and wanted.

Wildfire smiled, again, because she was reminded of something her mother used to say when she had been a filly, something Silverbolt…no, Fireflight, hadn’t said to her for years. “Fly hard. Live fast. Be kind.” Her mother had called that the heart of the flame and, at last, surrounded by her herd, her lovers and her wife, with her foals, Wildfire at last understood what it meant.

She had found her heart of the flame.