The day had been a long and somewhat hot. I was glad that we were finally stopping for the night.

I looked over to the two steeds that grazed in the meadow nearby. Luckily both of the horses were loyal to John and wouldn’t deter far from the campsite, if that’s what one would call it. It was hardly a campsite and only consisted of a small stone fireplace with two spots cleared away on the ground for sleeping along with all our equipment.

“We should’ve bought some items in town.” I mused and he shrugged.

“The thought never bestowed itself upon me.” He replied as he added some wood to the fire. I sighed as I sat across from him at the fireplace.

“Then maybe next time we should think ahead.” I told him and he looked over to me with a smirk.

“Now that’s thinking ahead.” He chuckled sarcastically. I was about to open my mouth to reply to his smug remark but he suddenly lept up and started swearing and cursing.

“GET OFF HER YAH DUMB MULE… GET THE BUCK OFF HER… GODDESS DARN-IT, GET OFF HER BEFORE I BUCK YAH IN THE REAR!” He roared and I couldn’t imagine what he would be yelling at until I followed his gaze.

My face went expressionless as I realized that Nostalgic had mounted Marry and was trying to align his penis with her vaginal opening, though he did a rather poor job of it and tried to simply thrust his way into her every few seconds. John went up and booted Nostalgic right in his gut. The horse wasn’t deterred and still thrusted his erection towards the prize.

John kicked the horse again but this time lower. He kicked about a foot away from the horses largely erected penis and Nostalgic neighed in minor pain then dismounted Marry before trotted off, snorting and threshing up dirt as he went about angrily.

John trotted back over to the campsite and I gave him a curious look. “Uhm… might I ask why exactly you did that?” I asked albeit shyly due to the nature of what was happening.

“I couldn’t let him get Marry pregnant now. If she got pregnant then when she began to show I’d have to take her back home to properly care for her. I just can’t go riding around on a horse that’s pregnant is all.” He informed me. It made sense really, pregnant horses that were showing were usually less likely to let some-pony ride them let alone trek across long distances. Don’t even get started on galloping.

I licked my lips then pulled out my canteen. I sighed to myself as I realized that I only had a small portion of water left. I looked back to John. “How long do you think it’ll be before we get to Dodge?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Tomorrow at about noon ah reckon. If all goes nicely anyway.” He replied and I nodded. I decided that maybe I should keep the last fraction of water for tomorrow but right now I was parched. I almost wished there was a lake or something nearby to drink from. I swallowed dryly and my saliva was dry and sticky, seeming to stick to my throat.

“Thirsty?” John asked and I nodded. He probably already knew the answer. “Well best to be keeping water for tomorrow until we reach Dodge. Ain’t no water anywhere near here. We were lucky that we got a meadow to be in or the horses wouldn’t have been too happy.” He told me and I nodded.

‘Damn… I really could go for a drink right about now.” I thought to myself and almost as if he read my mind, John pulled out the jar of rainbow coloured fluid.

“Don’t reckon yah know what this is?... Do yah?” he asked but I shook my head. I figured he would’ve told me but his next statement caught me off guard. “Yeah… neither do I… well let’s have a taste see, shall we?” he asked and uncapped the jar.

“John! You don’t know what that is! For all we know it could be poison!” I exclaimed and he looked over to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Why would some-pony give us poison as a reward?” He asked and the question did give me thought. Why would some-pony give us poison as a reward?

“Who knows?! John just don’t… ugh.” I groaned as he took a sip anyway, not heeding my warnings. He licked his lips in satisfaction then offered me the jar. “WHAT?! NO! I’m not gonna drink that stuff! It could be poison!” I nearly shrieked but he snickered in return.

“So the great and fearless Daring Do is afraid of a little drink? Mmm it’s kind of good actually. Maybe you’re right. I should just keep it all for myself. It reeeeaaaally wets my whistle.” He said slyly. Ooh I hate him for poking at my pride.

‘Great and fearless Daring Do’. I had only been on a few adventures so far which ended up becoming a novel series. ‘Daring Do’ which had gotten me fame by many a pony. But my fame wasn’t all it would be cracked up to be. I got many threats from other treasure hunters stating that they’d kill me if I continued in my work.

My mind snapped back to reality as I heard the mocking ‘Mmm sooo good’ of John. I sighed. “Okay-okay! I get it.” I scowled and he raised an eyebrow.

“Get what?”

“Get that it’s probably not poison.” I replied and held out my hoof in defeat. He just looked at me with a blunt expression. “Well?” I asked but he just continued to give me that stupid look.

“What?” he asked curiously and I scowled again but this time more irritably.

“Can I have some?” I asked and he looked down to the jar then back to me.

“Can you say please?” he asked and I rolled my eyes.

“Please?” I asked as I shook my hoof, kind of wanting that rainbow coloured stuff. But he didn’t hand it over. “Hey what gives?! You said if I said please!” I exclaimed.

“Pretty please?” he asked and I rolled my eyes in frustration. Goddess, for a shy, timid, soft spoken stallion, he was impossible.

“Pretty please?” I asked, a little bit more than irritated with his behaviour.

“With a cherry on top?” he asked with a smug look on his face.

“JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN STUFF!” I yelled, but rather quietly and not in an angered tone but more of a joyful and playful tone, knowing exactly what he was up to. He didn’t see it as playful however and gulped then quickly handed me the cider.

“I’m sorry… I was just playing…” he apologized, almost in a whimper. My heart sank in depression.

“Oh John… I wasn’t angry. I was just playing too. I’m not mad, promise. I’m sorry.” I informed him and he nodded then sat up more attentively. “Thank you.” I thanked him and he nodded. I took a rather large sip from the jar and was absolutely blown away by the flavour.

It didn’t have a particular taste but rather a changing one. It tasted like just about every fruit that grew on trees just flushed onto my taste buds. Everything from Bananas to Oranges, Apples to… well you get it.

I took the jar away from my lips and licked them, savouring the absolutely blissful taste. I handed the jar back to John, not wanting to drink the majority of it on him. He pressed the jar back to me.

“Go ahead. I think you need a drink more than I do.” He told me. His words made me smile happily. I gave him a graceful nod and took another sip but only a small one as to savour the taste again. It was almost better than the last time.

The explosive taste of fruits returned to my mouth and sent my mind into an abyss of tasteful pleasure. It was just too much. Whoever had created this stuff was a genius. I took the jar away from my lips and licked them again.

Everything seemed to just feel fine, like nothing in the entire world was wrong. I smiled as I took another tiny sip from the jar, we would have to save some to find out what this stuff was called so we could by another jar of it.

As I took the jar away from my lips and licked them again I looked to John. “What should we call this stuff?” I asked and he chuckled.

“I think it’s already been named.” he replied and I scrunched my nose. He reached over and handed me the lid which read ‘Zap cider’. Well at least now we didn’t have to save any to ask what the stuff was.

I took another drink from the jar but allowed more of the fluids to enter my mouth. I swished the contents around then swallowed deeply and sighed contently before handing the jar back to John.

He took a few sips then sighed as well. He smiled then screwed the cap back on the jar before placing it back in his saddlebags. He got up then trotted into the meadow which consisted mostly of flowers and grass that spanned up to one’s belly. He suddenly collapsed and I gasped as I quickly stood up and rushed over to where I had seen him collapse.

“JOHN! JOHN ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” I gasped. I didn’t get a reply and soon spotted a spot of grass that was being held down by what I presumed to be John’s body. I rushed over to see John just lying there, starring into the night sky blankly.

I rushed up and knelt beside him, wondering what had caused him to collapse. “John! John are you alright? Please John say something!” I pleaded.

“Uhm… I’m fine… does that answer both questions?” he asked bluntly and I let out an irritated sigh then gave him a light punch to the shoulder.

“Don’t do that! You scared me half to death!” I exclaimed and he gave me a confused look.

“I uhm… I’m sorry… I just wanted to look at the stars without the glare from the fire.” He apologized and I let out a deeply relieved sigh. “Uhm… are you alright. You know I’m not hurt, right?” he asked curiously, probably curious to why I was acting the way I was. Actually, even I was wondering why I was acting the way I was.

I quickly thought to myself why I had seemingly overreacted and came up with the best possible answer I could. “John, next time you drink some strange fluid, don’t go trotting off into a meadow then collapse… okay?” I asked and he nodded then shrugged.

I let out another sigh then collapsed beside him. He gasped sarcastically. “Oh my gosh, Daring! Oh no are you okay? Oh goddess please don’t be dead on me! I don’t know what I’d do without you!” he chuckled, mocking me terribly.

“I seriously doubt that’s what I sounded like and besides, I know what I’d do without you. I’d be left with one less annoying stallion in my life.” I chuckled. He got up and raised his head over mine with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh you think that if I was to just leave now that you’d be fine?” he asked and I nodded playfully, teasing him.

“Oh okay missy. Where would you be if I just up and left with my horses? Stuck in a desert with no-pony.” He laughed playfully and I scowled along with his joke.

“Oh yeah? Well… maybe I’d just play banditry on you and steal your horses before you left.” I countered.

“Well that wouldn’t get you far because I’d just whistle for them and they’d buck you off and return to me.” He countered back. I was at a loss.

“You win this one.” I said scornfully, though all in the playfulness of it. He laid back down into the tall grass beside me which concealed our bodies as we watched the night sky.

He pushed the thin wall of grass that separated us down and looked to me. “You ever wonder what’s up there? The stars I mean?” he asked. I shrugged.

“All I know is that when you’re lost that you can always use the stars to find your way out of the forest or wherever you need to go. That and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.” I replied. He sighed, obviously not getting the answer he wanted. “Why? What do you think?” I asked him. He let out a contempt sigh.

“Well… some-pony once told me that…” he trailed off, obviously being very hard for him to think what he needed to say. “That when ponies die they travel and become one with the stars so that they can watch over their loved ones when they sleep.” He told me.

I laughed at the statement. “Seriously?! That’s ridiculous! Who would’ve ever told you that?” I laughed, not really thinking. It kind of sounded funny to me and I couldn’t help but to laugh.

“My… my mentor told me that… a few days before she left me.” He replied and I felt my heart lurch in pain. I felt terrible for making fun, I didn’t mean to seem insulting it was just funny at the time.

“John… I… I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry, I never knew.” I apologized quickly and truthfully.

“It’s okay… You’re right… it is stupid anyways.” He said in defeat. My heart sank further.

“No it’s not! And besides, I didn’t say it was stupid. Just ridiculous. If your mentor told you that, then it’s probably true… John I’m sorry, sometimes things just slip… you know?” I asked apologetically and he nodded but continued to look into the night sky with a blank expression.

I shuffled over to him and gave him a tight hug as my way of showing that I was truly sorry. “John… I never meant to hurt your feelings… She’s probably watching you right now.” I whispered and I could feel his heartbeat against my head.

For some reason that was the last thing I really remembered because I ended up falling asleep on his chest.

I felt the sun’s warmth creep up against my face and it made the fur on the back of my neck prickle up. A shiver was sent down my back and I stretched my forelegs out as I yawned. I realized that I was no longer on the meadow ground but rather in the coarse dirt by the campsite.

I mouthed my tongue around as my stomach grumbled for the need of food. I could just trot over and eat a few flowers from the meadow but that was rather… primal and not something I was interested in doing.

I went to rub sleep from my eyes then noticed that a duster coat covered my body. I mumbled to myself then pulled the sleeve closer to my face so I could examine it better. My vision was still somewhat blurred from morning tiredness.

As I looked to it I realized it was the brown duster coat that belonged to John. Soon a rather foul smell filled my nostrils and I realized it was from the coat. “Ech” I groaned and quickly pulled the coat off my body and sniffed my body fur which also reeked of the same foul odour that his coat did.

I let out a prolonged groan as I realized that I would need a bath of sorts when we got to Dodge. I looked over to see that the campfire had burned out. Probably sometime early this morning judging by the still smoldering ashes. I looked around in the close vicinity for John but couldn’t find him.

I immediately stood up in shock. He wouldn’t have left me would he? I began to fret in thought that he might have left me but then heard him cursing in the field out the way some.

“SO HELP ME GODDESS IF YOU GOT HER PREGNANT THEN I’LL CUT OFF YOUR BALLS!” He yelled. I snickered from his anger at the stallion and turned to see that he was trying to kick Nostalgic who was trotting away with a happy look about him.

I looked over to Marry who now trotted around aimlessly with a rather satisfied look about her. I sighed then stood up. John soon returned and groaned to himself. “Well… he got what he wanted… I seriously hopes she doesn’t take it.” he commented and I raised an eyebrow.

“Take it?” I asked curiously, wondering what he was referring to.

“Sometimes when a mare and a stallion… well you know? Anyway there’s a slight chance that her body won’t take pregnancy, though it’s a rather slight chance.” He informed me and I nodded.

He whistled and the two horses quickly trotted over to us, despite John just having yelled at Nostalgic.

He placed both saddles on the horses along with our equipment then looked to me. “Well… ready to go? We got a long road ahead of us.”