"It's been a while."

Civil blinked. Languidly cruising over Dallas on a special VFR (Visual Flight Rules only) route condoned by ATC, her statement snapped him out of a rather peaceful contemplation of his own existence. With the sun out on a bright Saturday just short of noon, the thermals working to his favor, he had zoned for a few minutes and was reminded of the slightly annoying sister/mother on his back. Oh, and there was a box too, just larger than her and just as secured aft of the saddle. He glanced back to make sure both were firmly strapped down and then looked ahead. He had to make sure he didn't cross any airline approach lanes when they crossed north of DFW airspace. They would be stepping down in altitude, and while he did have permission to get under the lanes as they got closer to a certain little girl's house, violating flight regulations was not on his agenda today.

"It's been a while...since what?" He muttered back. Hopefully a while longer so he doesn't have to explain the box to her. Again. For the umpteenth time.

Testily, Liberty responded, "Since you've said anything. You know, the story? Some might think you've given up on it and moved on." She leaned forward and eyeballed the little Deadpool figurine hitching a ride with them. It was stuck to the top of the saddle pommel. That part of the saddle had been shaped to fit the figurine bubble case perfectly via magnets. Otherwise, it was the perfect cup holder, and Civil didn't want to give Liberty any ideas on inflight drink service.

The figurine was given to him when she was still human, originally as sort of a joke. Now it was a reminder that his long-lost mother would always be with him, in some form or another. In her current form, he groused to himself, she was just another monkey on his back.

He snorted and shook his head. "Been busy."

She tapped the side of the pommel and retorted, "What busy? Everypony has been waiting for you to continue. Hello."

They were making good time. Even considering the average speed of a pegasus, it wasn't going to take long before they reached their destination. Already, he was typing in a message to ATC to request loiter time over his destination. Getting there too soon would cause complications. That also meant more conversation filler with a filly. He could already feel the tension building behind him. "It's just you and me here. What are you talking about?" He just wanted to be moody and silent for a while.

"Just get back to the part where you went all moody and silent."

He frowned at nothing in particular. Yah, okay. He was moody. He had plenty to be moody about. There had been enough cause to be moody for the past week leading up to this day, for that matter. He had to think back to what she was talking about. Let's see. Oh, there was the phone call that started this little trip in the first place....

"Sarah, put it on speaker so both of you can hear me," Civil stated. He and Liberty were sitting at the kitchen table. Well, he was AT the table. She was ON the table.

"Okay," the girl on the other end replied. After much foreleg twisting, Liberty had finally convinced Civil to make 'the call.' He could only imagine what showed up on her phone as caller ID. When she had answered, she was pumped full of energy. That meant something like 'Awesomemest Pony Ever!!!!' or some such nonsense. Liberty shook her head at his dopey look. Yeah, she knew him too well. Thankfully, Sarah's mother was nearby to reign her in. Barely.

"Civil! It's on speaker now! You promised you would be here for my birthday and it's only a few days away-! MOM! Give that back!"

"Dear, he's a busy pony, and the party is a full seven days from now, not a few." Bless that lady's heart, she was trying to keep the lid on a powder keg sitting in a volcano. He sighed to himself. The burdens of duty. He knew he had to attend.

"I swear I will be there," Civil cut in. "My mom....moms.....both put it in their phone calendars, so we definitely won't miss it."

"Moms....?" Sarah's voice was definitely confused. Liberty wrinkled her brow at him.

Civil slowly looked away from the phone and narrowed his eyes at the filly. He muttered, "You didn't tell her." She blinked and looked away wistfully, one hoof rubbing the other foreleg. The stallion huffed disgustedly and turned back to the phone sitting on the kitchen table.

"Oh...uh...well, that's what the thing was, that thing that caused me to miss your letters...and texts. My mom came back, my pony mom. You remember Renee? Turns out she...uh...turned into my mother. My pony mother. But she remembers only being my sister. The human one."

There was dead silence.

He added quietly, "And she's a filly...now...."

Liberty facehooved and stared at him. "You are such an idiot when you describe things. Ahem. Hey guys, it's formerly Renee. I am now Liberty, Civil's mother! And I am his human sister, now in pony form." She hissed at him, "Was that so hard?"

"Right. That totally makes more sense," he said sarcastically.

More silence at the other end.

Sarah's mother chimed in. "Sarah is crossing her arms." Both ponies shrugged at each other. They hear muffled conversation on the other end. "She thinks you are making that up as an excuse for ignoring her all this time. And...you roped your sister into it, too? Sarah! Renee would not stoop to that."

Liberty's eyes widened.

Civil sat back smugly. "You dug yourself into this hole."

"Me?!....this was your fault! Your...act of neglect....hole. You know what?" Liberty smirked back at her son. "I have not begun to fight! Wanna see a digital cruise missile?" She pulled the phone over to her, gently tapped at it with both her hooves. She searched pictures, chose one, hit share. Then she hit send.

The filly sat back. Holding up a wing, she used a hoof to count off the last couple primary feathers near her wingtip. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1...." She waited another second, eyebrow quirking, then nodded to herself. "Impact."

No sooner had she finished the word, a juvenile squeal emitted from the phone. Civil peered at the phone and saw Liberty had sent a recent selfie to the girl. The picture was of both ponies looking up at the camera, Liberty sitting on his head holding the phone while he had a disgruntled look.

Apparently, Sarah's mother had to wrest the phone from her daughter again. "That is so adorable! Look Sarah, that's Renee. She really did change. You can see it in her eyes."

Civil sat up, frowning, leaned forward again and stared at the filly. She blinked demurely and pranced in a circle while maintaining eye contact with him. He rolled his own eyes and looked away, mumbling, "I don't see it."

The young girl exclaimed, "Oh I do see it! You look so cute Renee, oh I mean Liberty! You are a pony now, too? Right?Awesome!"

"It so is!" Liberty pranced around as though she were a show pony. Civil had to give her that one. It was a tad awesome.

"And you said 'we definitely won't miss it.' So, you are coming to visit too, Renee? Liberty?"

Liberty blinked. "Oh...well I don't know-"

"She is DEFINITELY going to be there, because awesome ponies show up for awesome birthday girls." Civil was all teeth with his huge grin.

His pony mom slapped the mute button.

"There are going to be a BUNCH of girls there! Young, hormonal, pony loving girls and I am TINY. Hello!" She waved her dainty hooves at him in a panic. He patted her head.

"Honestly I thought all girls were well behaved and it was us boys who are the troublemakers." Liberty emphatically motioned over her whole body again with her front hooves, as if that was supposed to add more to her argument. He glared in irritation and whispered, "Oh, and throwing me to the wolves was a zero-sum zero-shits-given thing for you, am I right? Welcome to my world....mooooom."

She eyed him back. "You're getting way too smart lately. Besides, I threw you to the wolves because it's for a good cause. And why are you whispering?"

He glanced down and saw the phone mic was still muted. Oh. He unmuted it. "Sorry ladies, us ponies are still working out some things."

"Don't mind us we are still gushing over your picture."

"Speak for yourself, mom," Sarah answered.

Liberty stuck her tongue out at Civil.

He opened his mouth to give a retort, then closed it. He really had no good excuse to feel heated at all...except that his sister/mother was being a pain. "It's for a good cause. Remember?"

Pursing her tiny lips to the point they turned white from the strain, she leaned over the phone and was all sunshine. "I would absolutely LOVE to be there! And we are bringing a third full grown pony. It will be a blast."

Whispering over the phone, Civil asked, "How do you turn your attitude on and off like that? And I didn't even ask Pink yet!"

She waved him away. "Easy, and simple."

He blinked at her in confusion, "Wait, which answer goes to what question?"

Shaking her head, she said, "I take it back, you are not getting smarter. I can't believe Pink still feels the way she does...."

"Hold up, are you talking to her behind my back?"

"No, just texting once in a while."

"That's still behind my back!"

"Says you."

"Damn right says...uh, darn right. Um, is Sarah still listening?"

"Yes," came two voices.

He groaned. Tapping his hoof on the table, he muttered, "This isn't over, Libs." The filly stuck her tongue out at him again. Even silent, she was still loud. "Sarah, can you put your mother on the phone and step into another room? We have to discuss some super-secret stuff, like your present."

"Oh, right away!" The younger voice said.

"Is she gone?" He asked.

"Yes, she is. I know she likes ponies a lot and with the popularity of the TV show coming back, you could get her anything and she would love it. Just having you visit would be enough. I wouldn't spend too much on anything."

Civil said, "Don't worry about that, I got this. Soon as Liberty is done pretending I'm a cow doctor and leaves the room, we can talk. I have something special in mind, but I will need your approval since you will have to deal with it until she leaves home for college." Liberty still had her tongue out this entire time.

"Oh my, this does sound interesting. I shall wait."

Liberty stuck her tongue back into her head with a disgusting slurp. "Huh? Wuh....what are you planning!?! You're not going to...you're not posting pictures of me, like, online? Or making posters of me, are you!?! I will not be some adolescent girl's pony pinup!" Oh, now she was indignantly righteous, as opposed to...never being indignantly righteous, like, ever.

"What? No, you sicko. You really think I'd do something like that?"

"No of course not, just that some people post those on pervy websites to get money and I thought you needed money to get Sarah her present...." She looked away with her eyebrows raised, then glanced back at him curiously.

"First, screw you. Second....screw you! I have half a mill in the bank. Remember? Now get lost, adults have to pow wow, now."

Cute little glare.

"Trust me."

She stared at him dubiously. "There are few times I feel fear in my life. You saying 'trust me' is like, all of those times."

"Yah. Third, screw you. Get."

"You kiss your mothers with that mouth?"

"Nooo, not that one."

He grumbled and thought of more recent arguments, like today. Earlier....

They had just taken off from home...and...Liberty was the one being moody.

"Again with the riding? I want to fly. Fly!" She made an effort to flex her wings, which threw his flying off since it changed his aerodynamic profile. He shook back and forth, then quickly checked to see both she and the package were still secure. They had JUST taken off from their house and she was starting this.

"Well, you could go for your part 107 certification." He snorted at his own suggestion.

Quickly snapping her wings back in, she growled, "Part what?"

"You know, for unmanned aircraft systems? You definitely weigh under 55 pounds to qualify."

Scrunching up her snout, she said slowly, "I am not a drone, dipshit."

"You sure drone on about wanting to fly solo. And language, sweety." Liberty huffed and stomped at the saddle with her forehoof. He grinned and shrugged as they got up to flight altitude. "Yer right, rule such and such stipulates the aircraft cannot be physically touched or ridden by the pilot, so that does disqualify you-"

Glowering, Liberty worked her jaw. "You KNEW that disqualified me, which makes you an asshole for suggesting it."

Nodding, he said, "-whiiiich, makes you my rider."

A solid minute of silence ensued. Bliss. "I hate this pony shit." Bliss over.

He chuckled, coasted on one wing while he used the other to reach back and pat her hip. "It's just an age thing, Libs. Get over it."

"I am not a filly!" She flicked away his wing. He resumed powered flight again.

"I already had a discussion with the FAA over it. To avoid liability with the general public should something happen, especially because your body does not have the muscle mass or practice of an adult pony, they are going with the age rule as it pertains to your current physical age, not mental. So yeah, past lives don't count."

"....I REALLY hate this pony shit."

He tilted his head so he could eye her as she sat atop his back. The black leather saddle with silver accents really did work well with his black and white coloration. "At least you will be arriving in style. I have the Cadillac of saddles. Come on." He looked ahead.

"You are getting a cup holder installed-"

Whipping his head around, he angrily said, "You are NOT drinking alcohol in flight!" She stuck his tongue at him.

She had the gall to smile sweetly when he kept staring. "What's in the box?"

"No."

"No is in the box?"

He shook his head. "No, you can't see it. It's not for you."

....

"That's not going to work," he warned her.

"But you can feel it."

Now it was his turn to "...."

"Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous!" He said a little too quickly. Liberty smiled smugly. "She's gonna want to talk about relationships and shit. I'm not ready. Not yet." Liberty groaned.

"She's a little girl, Civ."

"I'm not talking about Sarah!!!"

"Me neither."

That got his attention. He twisted around and stared at the filly sitting there. "Huh?"

Liberty pressed her hooves together and took on a prim posture. "Hot Pink lost everything, had to start over. Yeah, she's cautious with her feelings, but wants to take a chance with you...and even though it may seem fast, she's actually going fairly slow, as though it is her first time. From what you and she have talked about, I would say she was very sheltered growing up in her family business back in Equestria. She is protecting her heart, which is why she is reaching out to you instead of dating some random pony much more accessible in her hometown in Frontier. Cautious as a little girl stepping out into the world."

He tried to think through all of that. "Wait a sec. You contradicted yourself, like three times. Cautious is an adult thing."

"We are women."

"Mares. And that doesn't prove anything!"

She smirked at him. "Well, it proves to me you still have a lot to learn. Anywho, have you ever wanted to know why she chose you?" He shook his head and went back to staring ahead, almost as though he did not want to hear it. "She chose you the moment she saw you, because she zinged." He snorted loudly. She lowered her voice, "Almost anybody with their head on straight would."

He glanced back, "What was that last bit?"

"Nothing. Cloud." He looked forward and banked hard left to avoid a small puffy cloud that was hidden by a larger one behind it. When he finally righted himself, he grumbled about backseat drivers. She waited a full minute.

"So, what's in the box?"

"YOU, if you don't pipe down!"

Another minute of silent flying. Then, "That could be fun."

"ARGH!!!! If you positively won't shut up, can you at least come up with something that doesn't have to do with mares!?!"

Glancing around at the sky innocently, she asked, "Mmmkay. I noticed yesterday you came in all moody and quiet. Something rub you wrong at the academy?"

Oh...that moody. "Ahem," Liberty nonchalantly pressed. "Yeah. That." He had clammed up most of the trip after she had asked about his academy training. He supposed now was as good a time as any to discuss things.

"Fine." After a few more minutes spent dropping in altitude, he spotted the house. He also spotted several children in the backyard, adults scattered throughout to keep the hellions in check, a table with a cake on it, lots of presents piled up on one end of said table, several attractions in the yard such as the inflatable slide (Liberty squeed), bounce house (she squeed more), slip and slide (Civil rolled to the side to stop her from squeeing incessantly. Scanning the skies, he found a suitable cloud that was moving slowly and not due to pass over the house for the next several minutes. He flew toward it and landed. Reaching back to loosen Liberty's straps, he jerked to the side, tossing her gently onto the cloud surface.

"Ah, much better. Needed to get that monkey off my back."

With a yelp, the small filly rolled once and popped back up onto her hooves. "No, you haven't, you are still sitting on whatever it is making you a total wet blanket. Spill it!"

Pointedly he stared at her, but she wasn't going to acknowledge which monkey he was talking about. Ultimately, she was going to have her way as usual. He sat back and sighed. "We got in trouble and were exercised to death because one of the other cadets had a misfire."

"Punished for a malfunction? That seems unfair."

"Well...a couple of us exercised poor safety, too."

"Exercised for poor exercise of safety. Yah. Got it." He huffed and shook his head. Liberty rolled her eyes. "Dingus. They do that stuff all the time. It's called hazing. College frats, sororities, academies. What's the prob?"

"When we were asked if his gun was pointed down range, we said yes. And it WAS aimed downrange, toward the targets. Technically."

"Technically. So you claimed you did nothing wrong...but you kinda did?"

"But it almost hit another cadet, and it did clip me. I flung out my wing on instinct."

"On instinct!?! What moron gets shot on instinct!?! You got hit!?! Where?" She squirmed around to see the injury.

"It broke a single feather. Nothing more." After a minute of her fussing around his wings, he finally showed her where the missing feather used to be. It was still a little sore.

".......soooo, you fucked up."

He shook his head in frustration. "I didn't fuck up.....I...."

"You didn't tell the instructor the whole story, did you? Because you didn't want to look like a tattletale to those you would be working with. That about sums it up?"

His ears twitched a little. It was starting to be a tell for Liberty when she knew she was on the right track with him. He sighed, "When you put it that way-"

"Any lawyer and garbage rag news outlet will put it that way. You did know what you were signing up for, didn't you?"

".....yes. I want to protect. All people, not just ponies."

"That means protecting the truth," she shot back. He stared at her in silence. She said in a lower voice. "You think mentioning you got nicked would have gotten him kicked out?"

Nod.

She inhaled deeply and sighed. Just when she thought this poor boy had finally learned the ways of the world, he opened up a can of these kind of worms. "Civil, having too big of a heart will make you do something good instead of right. That's all fine and dandy for Hollywood, but we aren't rich and we can't afford lawyers for every little crusade you come across. We certainly aren't politicians either, so there's no immunity for any screwups. We are ponies. We will be judged harsher than any other living thing on this planet. Dragons will be judged as dragons, griffons as griffons, kirin......I'm not even going there. But we are so diverse in our abilities, from unicorns to earthers to pegasi, we will be natural targets to anything remotely political. You think it is bad now with all the gender and sexual preference arguments? As a police officer, you get to have two targets on you, the front one for pony, the back one for cop. And bad guys love hitting in the back."

"So what are you saying, that I should tattle on every little-?"

She hopped up and smacked him on the back of his head. She is not a bad guy, spbpt. "Use your brain as well as your heart. You should have told the whole truth. That's why it is bothering you, because you are used to telling the whole truth your entire life, as far as I know. For you, leaving some truth out is almost as poisonous to you as outright lying."

Silence again. Only this time he wasn't staring at her. His eyes took on that thousand yard stare, when one stares at oneself inside. He had thought this whole gun business was simply 'bothering' him before. Now he felt....

She stepped up onto her hind legs and put two hooves on his chest fluff. "Look, Civ...I get it. You want to fit in and you also want to do the right thing. Military always told you what to do, how to do it. This line of work...you are going to make some heart-rending decisions that permanently alter the lives of those you come into contact with, and your own. It is an all or nothing deal. Just like the truth. All, or nothing." He stared down at her. For a pint-sized filly, her eyes could have been mountains of irresolute fortitude.

Slowly she sat back down, her gaze softening. Slowly, after minutes of letting it sink in, he nodded. She was right. He knew he should have said more at the range. He had been fighting the wrong notion in his head. It wasn't about the other cadet. It never should have been. It was about straying from who he had grown up to be, in both lifetimes. As he finally accepted the truth of the matter, a tension he was not even aware of began to leave his body.

He murmured thanks, the wind barely bringing it to Liberty's ears.

She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the sun on her face as their cloud slowly drifted above the rooftops. They were almost directly over the girl's house and would soon be drifting away. Liberty murmured, "Anytime. Just...don't...fuck up!"

A melodious female adult voice carried down to them from overhead, "Did I hear some dashing stallion in the best saddle in the world fuck up?" Hot Pink coasted just above them, wheeling around in tight circles until she gently landed, one last flap of wings to make a very smooth landing.

Liberty crossed her forelegs and smirked. "Gee, Civ, she can land with all four hooves at once, AND without shaking the heavens while she's at it." He glowered at the filly, then slowly walked over to Hot Pink. No, he didn't rush. He trotted. With alacrity. Certainly not rushed.

Civil only had one word pounding in his mind. Stunning. Her mane and tail must have had hours of treatment because they had a lot more body than when he last saw each her. Fur practically shimmering, a dozen different delicate scents tickling his olfactory senses. He recognized a few of them, but a couple were definitely exotic, and all played a nice bouquet of sensuality off her. What really got his attention was the black and pink leather saddle she was wearing, silver accents as well. It was a different style than his, and yet the colors suited her. The stallion's stare must have shown obvious approval.

She nuzzled him lightly and said, "Don't worry, I didn't copy yours in a vain attempt to match." He lifted his eyebrows as he pulled back to look at her, his face and ears turning red. He knew she was forward in a playful manner, yet his awkwardness was already tripping up his thoughts. Liberty rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Uh...I wasn't thinking anything of the sort. I was admiring...the colors." Both mares exchanged looks. Liberty fell onto her sides, cackling. Civil's face felt incredibly warm and he shook his mane out. Looking down past the edge, he said, "Whatever. Anyway, I think the party is underway. This cloud won't stay over it forever."

Pink watched him with a knowing smile and nodded. "Whatever you say, Civ." She waited until Liberty was back in the saddle before the two larger ponies coasted down in lazy circles. On of the kids started screaming and pointed up in the sky. Soon all the children were yelling. No sooner had they finished their spiral to the ground, all the kids started running up to them.

"The ponies are here!"

Liberty tapped the side of the saddle hard, yelling, "Civil, fly. Fly! It's a kidpede!" While accustomed to chaotic situations, he did open his wings again, preparing for a power liftoff, thrown children be damned.

"Stop!!!! Remember the rules. They are people, not animals!" Sarah came pushing up between her friends to get to the front.

He grinned and made a strange voice. "Aw am not an animal, I am a human being..."

Pink snorted. Liberty said, "Oh please, NOBODY here is old enough to know that reference, including you. Or me."

He snorted too and glanced back wryly, "The benefit of AMC channel, mom. Sarah, dear. Go watch a movie called The Elephant Man."

Sarah's mother came up behind her and patted her daughter on the head. "I think that one has a little too much drama for her age. In a few years, maybe." Civil shrugged and nodded.

One boy pointed out, "It's a mommy pony, a daddy pony and a baby pony!"

Liberty retorted, "I'm not a baby!"

Before Civil could argue the point, another girl said, "It's a whole family of ponies! Wow. How come the baby pony doesn't share either of your coat colors?" He turned red and didn't trust himself to argue THAT point.

Sarah turned to her friends and stated, "She's a filly, not a baby."

"I am not a filly!" Yelled Liberty.

"A ruler says otherwise," Civil argued.

Liberty growled, "If I paddle you in front of all these people, THAT will say otherwise. I'm still your mother."

Sarah tried to keep everyone from swamping the ponies with questions. "Listen! They're not a family, not like human people. They call them herds." Some of the children tried out the words amongst themselves.

Civil raised a hoof and said, "Uh, we're not a herd."

One boy pointed out, "They sure argue like a family."

"A herd," stated Hot Pink.

Civil whipped his head around incredulously, "Pink! You're not helping!" She grinned and knew absolutely she was not helping.

Another girl stepped around Sarah and asked Civil directly, "Are you really the mommy and daddy ponies?" Civil blustered as he tried to argue any point at this point. Pink merely grinned and blushed, but she did shake her head 'no' slightly.

Slightly.

"We're...uh...not..." Civil finally stammered out.

"-attached," Pink finished.

"Yet." Both of them looked at Liberty. Civil glared. Pink merely smiled and winked at Liberty.

"Are you the daddy pony?!"

Civil choked out, "It's the other way around!" He realized what he just said and waved his wings in denial trying to rephrase it. The crowd of children erupted with even more embarrassing questions and started to encircle the ponies, despite Sarah trying to block them. To be honest, there was NO way he could rephrase that. After a few minutes of Pink and Civil trying to untangle that mess with Sarah insisting everyone stop yelling, the questions became more benign, though thankfully the attending parents hadn't noticed the X-rated nature of some of some of them. Everything was asked with the innocence only children could provide, further raising Civil's apprehension. He simply wasn't good with children.

Sarah finally wrestled control back from the crowd.

"Get back! Give them room!" She stood between the two groups, forcing her friends to squeeze back into a smaller crowd on one side, the ponies behind her. "I will introduce them to you, as is proper. Just, everyone behave!" She started with telling them Civil's name and how they first met. She moved on to Liberty and explained the extraordinary nature of her transformation. Then she got to the mare and hesitated.

Pink stepped up next to her and bowed her head to the children, "My name is Hot Pink. Shortly after Civil arrived to this world, he and I were classmates in a flying orientation seminar held by the United States military in San Antonio. Since then, we have kept in touch." She definitely had everyone's attention, including Civil. In particular, he was nervous about what she would say. As was her usual mystique, she ended it there and stepped back. Some of the kids started whispering, eyeing Civil and Pink. He cleared his throat.

"Uh, Sarah, I noticed you have a party here. Anything fun to do?" Immediately she gently took his wing and led the ponies over to the inflated castle and other attractions in the yard. On the way he was able to say hi to Alice, Sarah's mother, but the precocious girl dragged him along. Liberty pranced behind him, laughing and enjoying all the attention the kids were pouring on her, but making sure she was close enough to the stallion in case things got hectic. Pink elected to stay behind and converse with the adults, making more formal introductions with them. She had also managed to lift the large present box off his back and put it on the table. Her touch was so light he never noticed until after he panicked while jumping on the air castle, and then noticed it had been moved. She merely grinned and winked at him from a distance, then went back to conversing with some of the parents.

After some maniacal bouncing around on the air castle and the slide and a dozen other kiddy attractions, Civil wandered back with Sarah. Liberty was perched on Civil's back, where he could keep an eye on her. She looked glum, having wanted to do more bouncy stuff, despite her earlier apprehension to being crowded in. Most of the kids were having too much fun around the yard, but a few were sticking near the ponies. He had figured this might happen, groupies being groupies. Of the kid variety, he was willing to tolerate it. Sarah led them to her parents.

"Mom, can I open Civil's present? Please?" Despite having been told to wait until their guests left for the day, this one was going to be the exception. Alice already knew what was inside. With a nod from her mother, Sarah clapped her hands and ran over to the table where the pile of presents was stored. Grabbing the big box, she tore into it and screamed when she looked inside. Letting the box fall to the ground, she held up a stuffed animal over her head. Instead of watching Sarah, Civil grinned and stood sideways, giving Liberty a good view.

Liberty's face was a mixture of awe, shock, and embarrassment. Held in Sarah's hands was an exact replica of Liberty, right down to the green body, coppery mane and tail, and a perfect replica of the statue cutie-mark. Liberty slowly turned to Civil, staring at him. He never once lost his grin. "Really? Build-a-pony?"

He shrugged and said, "Sure. Bears are out, ponies are in."

Pink stepped up beside him, a very loving expression coming over her. "Civil, that is the most heartwarming thing I have ever seen! I knew you were a softy. They do cutie-mark stitching, too?"

He shook his head, now watching Sarah as she ran over to her parents to show off her knew lifetime friend. The other girls were fawning over it while some of the boys were trying not to, but still stealing envious glances at it. "Naw. Had to take the finished pony to one of those ballcap padodas at the mall. In fact, they did it for free, as long as they got to put it on some hats as well. A lot of onlookers were begging for hats after they saw the pattern get stitched on the pony."

Pink closed her eyes and shook her head. "Civ, honey, we have got to teach you some business sense. The second we get back to that mall, you are reclaiming rights to that mark on account of its owner not giving you permission, nor receiving fair share for a unique design."

He started to say the owner of the pagoda was there at the time and did give permission, but then stopped, thought, and asked, "Wait, we?"

She nodded her head. "Soon as we are done here, we fly straight there. The owner of the cutie-mark is Liberty."

Liberty's mouth dropped open, then snapped shut. "Oh yeah, that's right! MY mark! Which means...." She had a hopeful look on her face, waiting for Hot Pink to confirm it.

The mare nodded. "Which means, your proceeds on any profit made. I doubt they will find some other background character to show up with that same image on their flank. Plus, they can print Statues of Liberty all day long in the human form. Pony form, that's different." She raised a wing at Civil when he started to protest. "And Hasbro can't claim ownership of cutie-marks, period. They've already lost that one in court. I checked."

Civil muttered to himself, "Hm, that was quick. Okay. Yeah, being a wee filly with an adult mind, she could do for her own line of income, I suppose. What about the hats they sold so far?"

Pink smiled as though it was obvious. To her, these things were. "Grandfather them as products of good faith prior to the changing market circumstances. Plus, they are too small to drag you through a Civil lawsuit. Making a contract with them would open up markets with other pony products. Having the heroine of Manehattan as their very first design would be like Nike and Jordan."

Despite Liberty hoof-pumping as the ego boosts just kept on coming, Civil rolled his eyes and snorted. "Air Liberty. Sounds like a budget airline to me." Liberty squawked at the offense.

"Plus," the mare added, "Liberty's pseudo-minority status lends weight to you dictating terms. Child labor laws, Equestrian style."

The stallion's eyes widened, as though getting a new glimpse of Pink's nature. "Woh. That's dirty."

She shrugged, "That's business. Tell you what. I'll be your legal consultant, bang out a contract for limited runs, a percentage of the proceeds will go to Liberty's trust fund and to charities set up for fledgling pony communities that are still trying to get off the ground. Frontier has grown beyond that, so they wouldn't benefit. The shop will get prestige and precedent, as well as advertisement when humans are walking around wearing those hats. Everybody wins."

Before Civil could even begin to comment on the savvy advice, Sarah came over and hugged him, including the stuffed pony in the hug. A muffled voice emitted from the plush. "You are the awesomest pony ever! Right next to ME!!!" It was Liberty's voice. Sarah shrieked and hugged him harder, setting off the sound again. Now everyone around him was impressed.

He said, "They sew a special heart into each one. I chose the voicebox one. Figured you would like it."

Liberty tapped the back of his head, "Hey! I didn't know you were recording me when I told you that. That was me complimenting you when you taught me to finally fly on my own power."

He glanced back at her and said, "And?" Then he nodded to the girl hugging them. Liberty sat back and looked away. Far be it for her to wreck a little girl's birthday gift. And, it was pretty slick the way he turned a selfish phrase like that into one that meant the pony was now physically next to the girl whenever she squeezed it. Liberty shook her head. Damn slick.

Once Sarah was done hugging, she coaxed Civil over to the table and placed the stuffed pony as the centerpiece.

"Civil, Liberty! Can we take a picture with my new pony?! Oh, you too Miss Pink!" The ponies obliged and Civil deposited the smaller pony on the ground. "Liberty, can you get up on the table and stand next to the stuffed you, but face the other direction, so you are like twins?!" Everybody, minus Liberty, oh'd in emotional approval and got out their cellphones to take pictures. Liberty grinned and followed Sarah's directions.

She also hissed through her teeth, "So getting you back for this one. I don't care how happy she is."

Civil stuck out his tongue and replied, "You definitely care how happy she is. Now smile."

"I AM smiling!"

>click click click click click click click<

He leaned over to Pink in between picture taking and whispered, "I can see why they want you so involved in Frontier. What are your consulting fees?"

She grinned back and lightly bumped him on his flank. "There might be hope for you yet." He just shook his head. He knew damn well what some of those fees might end up being. Dinner, movie, sunset watching from a slow moving cloud.

When the picture taking and the oohs and ahs were done, oddly enough, Liberty remained where she was. On a more fundamental level, it was kind of neat, albeit eerie, to be standing next to something her size for once. Even if it was fake. And hundreds of times less fun than her! One boy scratched his chin in thought.

"So, how did you get that mark, anyway?" Several other children agreed to the question and asked the same thing, begging her to answer. Not wanting to lose the limelight, she answered and told her story. She saved a city and they built a statue.

Another girl turned to the others and asked, "Wait. If they built a statue of her, and she got her mark of the statue........before the statue....they made a statue of her cutie mark?"

"No.....I don't think...." Civil pondered, then blinked and stared at Liberty.

Her mouth dropped open again. Today was full of surprises. "Oh, wow! We didn't think of that." After all the other stuff that was going on, that visit with the doctor never quite explained why the great heroine, immortalized as a statue...was wearing a toga. Or a crown, or holding a tablet. Or standing up on two legs?

Come to think of it, what the Tartarus DID happen to make them make a statue quite like that? He needed a few more answers from that ASCUE group.

"But which came first, the mark or the statue?" Another kid asked.

He knew Liberty was around before the statue, but couldn't resist saying, "Well I figure it's like a chicken or egg kinda thing." He shrugged with his hooves out, a goofy look on his face.

"I am not a chicken!" Liberty exclaimed.

"I dunno, yer small enough to be one," he quipped. Several kids agreed.

"Take that back!" She demanded.

"Take what back? It's either chicken or egg. You don't get back both."

Before she could retort, another child said, "She's too fuzzy to be an egg!"

She spun around to glare at the child. "I'm not an egg! Or fuzzy!"

Civil snagged a balloon, rubbed it against her flank quickly and stuck it to the side of her face. She glared at him, balloon slowly rolling back and forth vertically on her cheek. "I totally hate you for this." Liberty blew at the balloon out the side of her mouth. It drifted back and stuck to her face again. "Total hate."

"Hey, I can see his junk!" One of the younger boys had snuck around to his rear.

"ACK!" Civil squawked, pulling his tail and rump closer to the ground to cover himself. He glared at the boy with a horrified and offended look. The boy's mother came over with an embarrassed expression.

"Nathan! They aren't animals, remember!? Treat them as you would your friends....then again, just be respectful, okay?" Nathan nodded, though he kept looking back at Civil, who pointedly made sure nothing was showing to anyone now.

"Yah," Sarah added, "and as Sherlock Holmes always says, they are dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle!"

"Thank you, Sarah, that will do," Alice groaned. Pink chortled softly. Liberty laughed. Civil shook his head at Liberty but let it go. He was willing to take some ribbing in return. Before the awkward silence stretched out too long, Liberty piped up.

"Check it out, he used to be a navigator in the Air Force."

"Oh, wow I want to go into the air force." Others chimed in, swamping him with questions on what it was like, how to get in, what planes he flew. He wasn't exactly happy with the subject. Thanks Libs, he thought to himself.

"You have to work hard, wake up while it is dark, fly long hours, get back late, do it all again the next day. Get paid the same whether you work 40 hours or 60 hours a week."

She glowered at him, "Gee don't make it too exciting. Oh yeah. He got to be on the AWACS!"

"What is a wax?"
"Like a bee hive?"
"Bees? Why would they have bees?"
"Why were you on a bee hive?"

He sighed. This is why he didn't not talk about the military to children. "No...AWACS. A. W. A. C. S. Airborne Warning and Control System."

"....." That was pretty much everyone's response.

"The E-3?....a Boeing jet with a big radar dish on it?" He looked around at the audience.

"..."

Shaking his head, he sighed again. "Fine. It was the first plane to get wrekt in the movie Independence Day." Yes, wrekt.

"Ooooh yah that one..." They all degenerated into telling each other scenes from the movie. Again, this was why he didn't talk to children much.

"Yes...that one." He raised his voice slightly, but honestly, he could have cared less if they didn't pay attention to him.

"Did you see any cool stuff? Aliens, ufo's, angels?" Alright, now that was a decent question.

"Uh, no...nothing like that. I did see what I thought was St. Elmo's Fire once-"

"You saw ELMO!?! What about Big Bird???"
"GROUCH! Do you know him?"
"Burt and Ernie!"

He closed his eyes and just clamped his mouth shut. He knew it.....he knew it the instant it left his lips. He was so excited to describe the spidery Christmas trees of electricity dancing on the plane's windows that he completely forgot he was talking to a bunch of hyper human children. Liberty rescued him. Sort of.

"He said he was at an event once and was sitting behind a B-2 bomber. A stealth bomber." She beamed, proud as though she were the one to have seen it.

He raised a wingtip to make a point. "That was an exercise in Nevada. They practice wargames and such. High level security that I can't talk about-"

"You got close to a B-2? Can you talk about that?" Some of them were pretty sharp, especially with Secret topics in the news these days.

He thought about it. "Yeah...I guess that is okay to talk about-"

"Does it shoot lasers?" Damn they whipped out the questions.

"Um, no. They were working on something, like an airborne laser a while back, but the project never got off the ground-" He never got the chance to chuckle at his own joke because Liberty jumped in.

"It drops bombs. Like big ones and nuculer ones. It can fly all around the world nonstop, deliver payloads, come back, air refuel both ways. It was the one in the movie Broken Arrow with John Travolta-"

"What?" Civil interrupted her. She looked up at him.

"What?"

".....Nuculer?" He raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged at him. "Yeah? So what? You told me they do, sometimes. In the movie it did, and Travolta made the bombs drop in the desert, but they didn't explode-"

"I said nu-CLEAR."

Pink snorted softly and sat back, picking up her red cup and dropping a teaspoon of salt in it. Swirling it around, she leaned over to Sarah's mother and a couple of the other adults that were standing there, entranced at what was unfolding in front of them. "I'd settle in with a drink and some snacks. This could take a spell." They took her advice and took some of the popcorn she was offering all of a sudden.

"I know, nuculer," Liberty replied.

Civil grr'd softly. "Okay, say nuclear."

"Nuculer."

"NUCLEAR."

"NUCULER!"

Civil paused. Then he said, "Say new."

"New."

"Say clear."

"Clear."

He grinned. "Nuclear."

"Nuculer. So, when they dropped the bombs, he also made Christian Slater eject. And I really like Christian. He's kinda hot, like in a dirty I'm gonna take him home and piss off mom kinda way." She lad turned back to the kids.

"Liberty, Dammit!"

She glared at him, "Hey! Kids are here, you cretin! Watch the language!"

"What!@? You said pi-...the 'p' word!.....argh! Look, if I give you water in a glass and it was sitting for a few days, it was old water. Right?" Liberty was starting to get an annoyed look.

"Yah....?"

"But if I give you a fresh glass, new water, right?" By this time, EVERYONE was enthralled with this odd conversation. Alice had to make a few trips to keep everyone supplied with popcorn and drinks. She definitely needed a drink to follow this one.

"Duh."

"Okay...say new water."

"New water."

"Now if you can't see through it, it's muddy. Like....old muddy water."

"...you want me to say old muddy water?"

"No! ...BUT! If I give you fresh water, it won't be muddy. It is clear. Got it?"

"Clearly."

"So, say new water."

"New water."

"Clear water."

"Clear water."

"New clear water."

"Nuculer water.

"No!!!! Say new!"

"New!" She yelled back at him, now clearly enjoying his mounting frustration. She still had no idea what he was talking about.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Say new, pause, clear, water." He had such a hopeful look on his face.

"New pause clear water." He did ask her to say that.

"Dammit, don't say the word pause, just say new......clear.....water." He was near to tears. Tears she gladly lapped up metaphorically.

"New, Clear, water."

"THANKYOU! Now. Say nuclear water."

"Nuculer water." She turned back to the kids. "Anyway, so when Christian is in the desert there is this whole plot-thread about not stepping on this mound of dirt because it was like, 10,000 years old-....Civil would you stop flipping out and going nuculer over nothing? It's just a movie." He was hopping around, flapping his wings and wringing out his mane. Several of the adults didn't know what to do, but thankfully Hot Pink took it upon herself to grab his foreleg and drag him away before he last anymore of his good looks.

"Hey hon, she's young, let it go," she consoled him as he was led away.

"It's not that difficult to say nuclear! Nuclear! Anypony can say it. I can say it. You can say it!"

"...." She did give him a coy look. All she had to do was say it the wrong way and-

"Well, say it!"

She laughed instead. "You need to relax! Hmm. What if we do a song. Something with a bit of Harmony in it. Yes?"

Grumble.

She lifted up his chin with a wing. "You can choose the song." After a few minutes of watching Liberty have her fill of entertaining her audience, he started to get an evil thought. Watching his face, Pink nodded. "I knew that would do the trick. Get to it, Popo, protector of ponies." He chuckled as she used her own version of a slang term to call police.

Liberty and the children had moved on to the subject of Equestria and if the cartoon was accurate. Such as the different species involved. That was what gave him the idea.

"Hey sis....or...uh, Libs. How 'bout them reindeer."

She smirked back at him. "Jokes on you. We don't have reindeer, we have kirin. I looked it up!"

"Kirin!" One of the younger boys piped up. "I want to hear about the kirin. They're like reindeer, right?"

"Yeah! Tell us more about Equestria"
"No! Tell us about Canterlot!"
"If the kirin stampede, does anybody get run over?"
"Like if a tree falls in the woods?"
"Well duh! They are usually silent. Get it?" Several of them laughed.

Liberty was whipping her head around trying to regain the crowd. Civil snorted, "I'm sure Liberty would get run over by a reindeer, she's so small." Liberty's face went white and she hopped up and down, about ready to lay into him, when bells began jingling and some music started playing. A guitar twanged along with the bells. She barely got out, "No, Civil! Don't you dare-!"

At the proper moment of the music, Civil stepped forward and sang, "♪ Liberty got run over by a reindeer! ♪" Liberty growled and ran toward him but he swept her up and swung around with her on two legs as though she were a babe. "♪ While she was chasing Santa's sleigh! ♪"

Liberty spat out, "We don't even know if Equestria has a San-!" Civil stuck a hoof in her mouth.

"♪ We all told her not to do that......but she ignored us anyway. ♪" Despite her trying to bite his hoof, he went on anyway. His metal shoes could take it.

"♪ Liberty got run over by a reindeer.......you may be asking how that was? Well that first sleigh was a fake one......and then the real one gave her a buzz. ♪" He sat down and gently put her on the ground, the children forming a ring around them. She spat out his hoof and glared up at him, then hunkered down as the children watched her and sang along. She didn't even question how they knew the words.

"♪ Now let's not blame it all on Liberty....she is normally sharp and wise. ♪" He nodded somberly to the lilt of the music. She smiled ruefully up at him. The smile never reached her eyes. "♪ But if you wave a shiny present, then her wits go off the deep end to their demise. ♪" The adults and kids laughed, while Liberty groaned and muttered about unforgivable rhyming.

"♪ So if you're wondering how she's doing, ♪" he glanced down and nudged her shoulder, where she whapped at him in return. "♪ I can assure you she's just fine!" Giggling and chuckling ensued. "♪ But do you think she really listened? HECK no, she kept on yelling 'that one's mine! ♪"

All the adults and ponies raised their heads and began singing. Minus one irate filly.

"♪♪♪ Liberty got run over by a reindeer......while in a Hearth's Warming parade. ♪♪♪"

"♪♪♪ She got distracted by some presents, but now she ducks and covers for those sleighs! ♪♪♪"

They all stopped with the music and bellowed laughing. Even Hot Pink, normally reserved, couldn't help herself and laughed. Not that she was also a singing participant, surely not.

When all the mirth and energy of the moment calmed down, the kids crowded in and gave Liberty lots of hugs to assure her they weren't really making fun of her. Civil did not. He was most assuredly really making fun of her. From in between hugs, she eyed him as though reading his mind.

"I want another song!" Someone yelled.

"No, I want to hear more about Equestria and everyone in it!"
"It's everypony."
"No, they are not all ponies so they can't be everypony."

Liberty lit up and hopped onto the table in the middle of all the other gifts and stood next to the plushie again. All fierce and proud, at a few hooves high.

"Gather around," she announced and waved her front legs at the kids. "Okay, we're gonna do one more!" Instantly there were cheers as she became their hero again. Civil heard Sarah's mother walking up to them, a steady swishing sound as her shoes brushed against the grass. She was holding a gong in one hand and was balancing a cake in the other. She must have felt she needed it to round up all the children from the various attractions at once. He didn't wait for Hamony to kick in, so he pried up a stone with his hoof and kicked it. The stone made a beeline for the gong and ricocheted off the center black spot, ringing it loud and clear. Other musical instruments started playing. After the song was taking effect, Sarah's mother nodded, set the cake down on the table and struck the swinging instrument again at the appropriate times. She was all in.

Walk Like an Equestrian

Stepping in time to the music, she deftly made her way between presents and bowls of chips and drink cups. Somewhere she had gotten a microphone.

"♪ All the Royal Guards in Canterlot, they stand so still, statues, doncha know? ♪"
"♪ If they move at all (oh whey oh), they're falling down, just like fainting goats. ♪"

Civil nodded, "It's true."

"♪ All the bizarre ponies by the hive, they steal your love if you get too close. ♪"
"♪ All full of holes (oh whey oh), they gnash their fangs hoping they get more. ♪"

"♪ Foreign dignitaries all yell (Where oh where is Civil, that mad guard?!?!) ♪"

Civil raised his eyebrow but let that one pass. To be fair, they did used to yell that.

"♪ Walk like an Equestrian. ♪"

Liberty was strutting around, chicken necking and moving her wings like they were arms in the characteristic dance.

Gong....

Gong....

"♪ The bluff pegasi flash their wings, they spin around as they cross the sky
"♪ They show off moves (oh whey oh), you drop your jaw, then they show you more. ♪"

"♪ All the earth ponies diggin dirt, they like to buck trees and go to sleep. ♪"

"♪ When the clock rings four (That's A.M.), they're walking like an Equestrian. ♪"

"♪ All the foals at the birthday party say, (Where oh where is Civil, awesome Civil?!?) ♪" All the kids sung that one.

Civil looked away in embarrassment. Kids.

"♪ Walk like an Equestrian. ♪"

Liberty grabbed Sarah's new guitar off the table near the presents and started playing the solo as the kids did synchronized dance moves of a desert kingdom variety. For a guitar almost bigger than her, she handled it pretty well, standing up on two short legs and jamming away. Once the music peaked, the children started whistling the theme of the song. Once the second phrase was done, she went back to singing.

"♪ Slide y' hooves up the street, bend your neck, shift your legs then you pull them back. ♪"
"♪ Life is hard you know (oh whey oh), so strike a pose, then you arch your back ♪"

She actually did all that. He was caught between amazement and the outrageous antics of a naked filly doing all that on a birthday table.

"♪ If you wanna find un-i-corns, they're hanging out in the pastry shop. ♪"
"♪ They spell and charm (oh and EAT), they spin their manes, then they strut the street. ♪"

"♪ All the kirin sing with their tongues, they party hard when the sun goes down. ♪"
"♪ And the ponies know (burn oh burn), you get them mad, then it's time to run. ♪"

"♪ All the 'corns in the pastry shop say 'Abra Abra Abraaaa cadabraaa!' ♪"

The music halts and Liberty sings to the tambourine.

"♪ Walk like an Equestrian.... ♪" Liberty's wide eyes looked left and right.

"♪ Walk like an Equestrian.... ♪" She did the eye thing again. Civil rolled his own eyes and laughed.

It took about another minute for the music and the kids to calm down and stop walking on all fours. Like an Equestrian. Civil must have missed when they started doing that, but he shrugged it off. Hot Pink was right. The song had brought everything back around to a semblance of Harmony. He was definitely falling in...he wasn't quite sure he was ready to think about that just yet. He was falling for her, though. Once everyone was settled down and the parents could think straight, and walk straight for that matter, it was time for cake.

Dishes were handed out and held by eager kids and adults alike. The birthday girl stood behind the table with a rather large knife, waiting for her mother to give the go ahead. Candles were lit and the traditional song was sung. Civil had taken the necessary step of grabbing Liberty off the table with her dirty hooves and all, wrapped her up in his wings and kept her mouth covered while she squirmed around during the song. Alice smiled appreciatively at him. Once it was over, she nodded to Sarah, who took to her job with enthusiasm. She stabbed the cake in the center and began slicing.

Civil was a little taken aback with how she was wielding that thing. He tilted his head and examined the cake. It was shaped in the likeness of a unicorn bust, the neck and head with a candy cane cone spiraled horn. The frosting was white, with a pastel-colored mane and pink eyes. The eye color was a bit off but he didn't care. It was Celestia, after all. The inside was a very bright red velvet. He wasn't sure how he felt about the little girl cutting away at the cake in sheer bliss with that knife, though. It was just cake...

He made a mental note to ask Alice if Sarah should be around knives, given what she had been through not that long ago. The thought completely disappeared as he was approached by another girl.

"We can do pony rides? You wore saddles and everything."

He stared at the girl, her name a total blank. "Uh, Journey, was it? Yeah, you see, that was to carry Liberty. Uh...we don't exactly give rides..."

"Oh come on, Civ," Liberty exclaimed and tapped his knee softly, having already wriggled out of his grasp, gotten AND eaten a healthy share of cake, then had the temerity to come back over and sell him out as a dog and pony show. She leaned in and said in a whisper, as if nobody knew, "We. Are. Ponies." To his horror, she raised her voice and looked out to the crowd of children paying attention to them. "Pony rides for everybody!"

He ducked his head and growled in her ear amidst the cheering, "If you think I am flying around and trotting like a beast of burden with fifteen plus kids on my back, you have another think coming!" She pulled away from him and stared at him. Once the cheering died down, they were both staring at each other. After a while, it got really awkward, so he sighed and said, "What?"

"What was that?"

He blinked. "No, don't pull this 'what' crap again, I asked 'what' first." Some of the kids wandered over to Hot Pink and she shared yet another bucket of popcorn with them.

Liberty jabbed a hoof up at him. "You said think." She sat back and crossed her forelegs.

"I know I did! If you think-"

"-you have another THINK coming. What the poop is that?" The children started laughing at the word poop. Civil was not about to be derailed.

"What do you mean what the....stuff is that? Make sense already."

"You make sense. It's SUPPOSED to be 'you have another thing coming.' Thing."

"...what?" He stared at her.

"Exactly."

Pink leaned down to the girl next to her. "This is where Civil flips out. Most males do this when we ladies splice hairs. Learn to splice hairs as you get older, not split hairs. The world is more fun that way." The girl had a wondrous expression on her face and nodded solemnly at the sagely advice.

"No! No no no! It is an early 19th century phrase. It is supposed to be think, not thing, as in you thought one thing but now your thought is another thing....think! I said think!" His mane started looking a bit frizzled. Pink was quietly pointing out the telltale signs of the onset of flip-out. She had acquired a lot more students now who were murmuring in agreement. Pony Study 101 was cool!

"Yes to the first part, yes to the second part," Liberty counted off her hooves. She only held up two, so...yeah. "But only so far as it exists up to the fourth dot. And we are in the 21st century. Get back to the future, Marty." Perhaps if she had not delivered those statements in a flippant manner, he might have found it all funny. She hadn't. He didn't.

"I..........what dots......argh! I am not giving pony rides-!" By this time his wings were out in an alarmingly aggressive manner. While the humans were fascinated, the more knowledgeable of the involved species knew better.

Before Civil could do or say anything else, he froze as a very warm muzzle chose that moment to nuzzle into his ear from behind. Hot Pink whispered, "You knew there had to be pony rides. Why do you think I wore mine as well?" She pulled back to see his ears were stiff and quivering. His eyes were wide as saucers, too. She smiled and said softly, "I'll take half, you take the other half. It's a birthday party, let them have their fun. What do you say?"

He glanced over at Sarah who was beaming at him with excitement. Then when he glanced back at Pink, her eyes were sparkling. She even flicked her tail in perfect timing as though a fly had landed on her, and he knew damn well no flies were around. Whatever she was wearing for perfume, and it was subtle, had some kind of insect repellant in it. He sighed and nodded.

"Expect the worse, and then have fun anyway, right?" He muttered.

Pink grinned. "That's my boy."

Liberty snorted. "Technically, that's MY boy."

Reminded of a certain annoying little pony, he snorted back. "Yeah well don't expect the Wonderbolts or anything. Most of my flying skills depend on a fillaway, lately." He deliberately turned back to the children and let one of his wings pomf Liberty in the face mid-turn.

Making overly dramatic spitting sounds as though she had swallowed feathers from his wing, Liberty raised an eyebrow at him and gasped, "...a what?"

"You know. A fillaway," he replied. Pink tried to hide her smile. Oh, he's got tricks, she thought to herself.

Liberty looked around to see if she was the only one hearing this. Apparently, she was. "What's a fillaway."

He shrugged and tilted his head at her. "Meh, based on you? About 10...15 pounds, tops."

Hot Pink lost it and slumped onto the grass, bawling and kicking her legs. Liberty's eye twitched from the scene Hot was making and the children's laughter. Civil was finally loosening up and laughing, too.

She glared at him anyway. "You are such an asssss-" Her s's hissed away as the other children looked alarmed. She was swearing. ".....ssssssuming pony, you know that...Civil." She growled softly. "I'm getting you back, later."

He grinned. "Bring it, Momsis."

"MOMSIS!!!!!" The kids started repeating the new name. "MOMSIS MOMSIS MOMSIS!!!"

Big massive GLOWER. She retorted over the chanting, "Start flying kids already!!! They want to fly!"

Hot Pink and Civil set up two stations, with parents helping the children sit on the saddles one at a time. Each adult pony would talk the child through how to sit properly and what to expect. Some of them made special requests like a barrel roll or a low pass over houses, or even a visit to the clouds. Pink's made for a more stately trip while Civil made his rides a bit rambunctious. All in all, once the pony rides started, all the other attractions were flat out ignored. The less brave of the kids hung out with Liberty, petting her and cuddling when she gave approval. And she never said no.

It was late into the day when other parents who had dropped their kids off started showing back up to take them home. The hardest part was to convince everyone that the party was winding down. As far as Sarah and her friends were concerned, unless the ponies left, the party was still on. Alice had a pained expression on her face and was trying to figure out how to ask when Civil finally said the 100th no to those still wanting more rides. He raised his voice. "I know you guys would love to do this all day and night, but I have a little filly that needs her beauty sleep." He made a mock whisper to the children, "And just between you and me, you do NOT want to see an ugly filly cranky in the morning, do you?" They all cheered NO!

Liberty stewed off to the side, knowing full well what he was doing, but not appreciating she was being used to wind things down. Still, the move worked. One by one kids and adults were bidding each other farewell, thanking everyone, and everypony, for the hugely successful birthday party. Liberty was mullified by several hoofbumps with the kiddies.

During the reprieve, Hot Pink took one of the unicorn-decorated napkins off the table and pressed her muzzle to it. A nice frosting stain impression of her lips was left behind. Deftly she used a wingtip to burn a series of numbers onto it and held it out to Civil with her wingtip.

"Here's my number."

"I have your number," he replied awkwardly, taking it. Blinking down at the napkin, he raised an eyebrow at her. "You did the exact same thing back in San Antonio."

Smirking, she nodded. "Glad you remember. So call me maybe." She sauntered around him and hoisted Liberty up into his saddle.

"The song?" he asked dubiously.

Hot noddled back at him, grinning.

"I'm not doing another show. Two is enough in one day.

"Uh huh. Keep telling yerself that, tiger." From somewhere she produced a lollipop and stuck it in her mouth. Swizzling it around, she smacked her lips as she drew it out slowly, then leaned in to kiss him. Cherry. A few seconds later he realized his eyes were closed and he opened them. The lollipop was back in her muzzle. She snorted softly. "And you need to tell me about your new job." There was no mistaking the look in her eyes. There was heat there. He knew deep down, there was always heat there, when she gazed at him. He gulped.

Before he could respond, he felt something tiny whack the back of his head. Liberty exclaimed, "See? Even she knows when the moments are. And she has to totally cramp her style waiting for you."

"I know when the moments are! I'm being a gentlecolt about it."

Pink murmured, "It's ok Liberty. The best ones don't come in fighting. They practically volunteer." Liberty nodded and Pink smiled. Civil glanced between the two, then shook his head and pointedly walked over to Sarah and her parents, Pink quietly following. They thanked the ponies for everything they did and how truly wonderful they had made the event. Civil was a bit hesitant, trying to remember something, but it escaped him. He shrugged and nodded to what the two adults were saying. Sarah thanked him again for the present and hoped she would get to see him again soon. He was a bit evasive on the matter, notwithstanding Liberty undermining him the whole time and promising future play dates. He scoffed at the whole idea of play dates but wasn't about to put a damper on the goodbyes. Sarah's parents thanked the ponies profusely for showing up. After all was said and done, the ponies separated and prepared to leave.

Right before Pink could launch into the air, Civil exclaimed, "Wait! Pink, didn't you say we were going to the mall after this?" She lowered her wings and turned to him, saying nothing. He watched her. She watched him. Liberty watched the back of his head and was about to whap it when he spoke up again. "You know, the whole cutie-mark hat thing?"

She grinned and flicked an ear. "Are you requesting my services?" He grew beet red and she cackled, walking over to him to gently brush her wing against his cheek. "And here I thought you were going to wait another couple of months before our next date. I accept."

He blustered, "Wait, a date? I thought...you said...."

Sarah was giggling and exclaimed, "Girls are tricky, aren't we, Mommy?" Alice clapped her hands over the girl's ears, but the damage was done, and Civil finally understood he was well and truly hooked to this dazzling mare in front of him.

He shrugged to himself. At least until the hat thing was taken care of-

Liberty did whack him this time, because she knew exactly what he was thinking.

Yes, I had that nuclear conversation with my young one. No, I didn't pull out my hair. Almost.

Happy Father's Day.