>You are Daylily the bat pony, and you have to ask yourself, is this real life, or Tartarus you’ve been thrown into?
>Long story short, you took the job Midnight Delight offered you, and now you’re helping at the orphanage
>It’s your fist night and it’s halfway through the night and you’re feeling like you are never, ever going to get kids of your own
>One of them is doodling on your wing with a marker
>Another one is pulling on your tail like he was a terrier puppy
>Tulip is balancing on your head and making sure every other orphan knows that you’re hers
>This, this is tiring
>Suddenly you let out a yelp as one of the young colts slaps your behind
>”Daybutt Daybutt Daybutt!”
>You glare at him as she quickly turns around and takes flight, kekeke-ing as he flies away
>but he also knocked over another young colt to the ground and he rubs his hoof like he hurt it
>At least now you can do something that won’t make you feel like you’re being useless, you know exactly how to handle this
>You shake off the other little batties and make your way to the hurt colt
“Did you get hurt?”
>He gives you big sad eyes and nods as his lip wobbles like he was about to shed a tear or two
“Let big sis-“
>You can hear Tulip protest about you calling yourself a common big sister rather than just her big sister
“-kiss the pain away”
>You give his hurt hoof a peck and then ruffle his mane, just like how your mom used to do to you when you were young
“There, did it stop hurting?”
>The blushing, wide eyed young colt slowly nods his head and you return to the rest of the demon seeds
>While said colt shyly gets up while covering his crotch and scoots away silently
>”Daylily stop calling yourself everypony’s big sis, you’re my big sis...”
>You give the sulking Tulip a ruffle too
“How could I forget, you practically live in my house already as it is...”
>Things between you and Tulip are as they used to be, except these days she stays at your place more than at the orphanage, only coming in to play with her friends and to take lessons from Midnight Delight
>Seems like she’s not only a matron of the orphanage but also serves as a school teacher of sorts so that if these little ponies get adopted they are not behind the other kids when joining them into a proper school
>Tulip lets out a squee and then turns to brag about that fact to some other orphans
>Suddenly you spin around and snatch up the young colt who slapped your behind earlier as he was sneaking up for a second strike
“And what do you think you are doing?”
>The colt gives you a goofy, toothy smile
>”Touching butts!”
“You know that’s a crime, I could arrest you for sexual harassment if I was a guard”
>The young colt tilts his head
>”What’s a sexual harassment?”
“You are”
>The colt suddenly seems really happy
>”Yay I am a sexual harassment!”
>You sigh and let go of the little pony, and he once again slaps your butt before flying away and excitedly yelling out that he’s a sexual harassment
>Just then Midnight Delight walks in into the room
>”How are you-“
>The young colt suddenly changes course towards Midnight
>”I AM A SEXUAL HARRASMENT, GIVE ME YOUR BUTT!”
>Midnight Delight rolls his eyes and in a swift move grabs the little pony and places him firmly on the ground
>”What have I said about touching the behinds of other ponies hmm?”
>Suddenly the young colt gulps
>”I mean delightful to see you Matron, pleasant night we are having.”
>Midnight Delight’s brows furrow
>”You haven’t been giving Daylily some of your inappropriate behavior have you?”
>The young colt starts to sweat furiously
>”N-no...”
>Midnight looks at you next
“He slapped my rump”
>The young colt looks devastated as Midnight Delight starts to ask if he would want the same treatment to happen to him
>Suddenly a small hoof pulls on your coat
>It’s one of the orphan fillies, a very timid little filly with no cutie mark
>”Umm...Tulip is being mean...”
>Tulips suddenly zooms to hover around you
>”No I’m not she’s lying!”
>You turn your head and stare Tulip right in the eyes
“Is she?”
>Tulip’s ears flop down and she lands
>”I’m sorry...”
“Go and apologize properly”
>”Yeah...”
>Tulip seems a bit upset but offers an apology to the shy little filly and the two start to apologize back and forth as you sit down and rest against a wall
>Midnight Delight comes and sits next to you
>”That hard?”
>You blush
“I’m not good with kids”
>Midnight Delight giggles
>”I’ll let you in on a little secret, I felt the same way the day I started. Come, let’s round them up for dinner, they’re more docile after it and easier to manage”
“I hope you’re right...”
>Fast forward to after dinner, she was right, half of them are taking a nap and the rest are just lying around and reading or stuff as they digest their fruits
>Which gives you and Midnight to take a breather in her office
>”So, how are you holding up?”
>You let out a weak laugh
“Does it show on my face?”
>Midnight Delight gives you an amused nod and you sigh
“I don’t know if I’m any good at this”
>Midnight Delight pats your shoulder
>”Nonsense, the orphans like you and you’re holding up pretty well, you haven’t shouted your head off at one of them or been reduced to tears yet...wow you feel tense”
“I feel tense too, I should do some stretching, or even get a massage”
>”How about I scratch your back and you’ll scratch mine?”
>You blush a little
“Well...I mean if it’s not too much trouble and all...”
>Midnight chuckles a little
>”Come on, it’s not like we’re complete strangers to each other’s bodies”
>She pulls you against herself, but ends up pulling herself against you instead of you against her because you’re stronger than she is
>Stronger, not heavier, muscle weight a lot and it’s not because you have been eating a bit more sweets than when out on the road
>...you kind of miss that life if you’re honest
>The two of you get to doing some light stretching, helping each other to reach those hard to get positions, and you end up learning a few more poses than you did from Midnight Delight
>She mentioned something about doing a hobby called yoga?
>just as you have Midnight Delight lying on top of you, trying to get you to bend properly, the young blushy colt that you gave a kiss on the hoof to opens up the door
>”Ms. Midnight Tulip...”
>He pauses and stares at the two of you
>”Do I...need to come back later or something?”
>Midnight Delight climbs off of you and fixes up her bun
>”Nonsense, now what is this about Tulip?”
>You get up too, cracking this and that in the process
>Whatever this yoga is you’re not sure if you’re a fan
>”She uhh...kind of ran away”
“What?”
>The young colt hands apiece of paper to Midnight while you make your way to the two of them
>She reads it over and groans
>”Daylily, can you go and fetch her please? She got jealous of the other orphans and is throwing a hissy fit of sorts again”
>You shake your head
“Doesn’t that filly already get that I lov-care, about her”
>Midnight Delight raises an eyebrow
>”Ohhh? I happen to have a form for adoption here at hoof and-“
“No I mean...I’ll just go and fetch her now bye!”
>And you fly out of the little orphanage and scout your surroundings
>Actually she might just be at your house once again so you fly there
>But after checking it you didn’t find Tulip there so you started flying around in Hollow Shades, hoping you’d spot her
>And as you did you caught a few ponies talking about seeing an upset looking filly matching Tulip’s description rushing towards the train station
>She...wouldn’t be so stupid she’s actually board a train off to somewhere would she?
>You change course towards the Hollow Shades train station and hope that it is so
>Hollow Shades train station, how to describe it? It’s your usual everyday small town train station
>A few ponies here and there, a train getting ready to leave, vendors selling fresh mangoes and an assortment of other fruits and the few newspaper selling ponies yelling about the local headlines
>”Extra, extra, local mare screes so hard she spooks herself, Banana stocks are plummeting down and...”
>You look around and try to spot Tulip while remembering how she was supposed to be extremely good at hiding
>But then you spot a tail you recognize from anywhere entering one of the trains
“Tulip!”
>Her head peeks out from the doorway to the cart and scrunches instantly as she notices you and pulls back in
>You quickly rush in and look around but can’t find her anywhere
>Great, she must have gone into another cart
>You try to push onwards but there’s ponies all over the place, blocking you from moving on
“Excuse me, coming through, sorry...”
>You try to get past them but there’s elderly ponies taking their sweet time to get seated, foals, fillies and colts playing around all over the place and-
>With your patience running short you simply lift up protesting ponies and place them randomly onto the seats while moving forward through the blockage
>But just as you’re about to move onto the next cart you see Tulip walking into the opposite direction where you are going, outside of the train
>And then the train whistles and starts to gain momentum as it departs
“Wait!”
>You quickly run to the door and just barely make it out, tripping in the process and falling flat on your face on the platform
>With a few ponies pointing at you and laughing you make a mental note to slap Tulip’s tushy really hard when you catch her
>Just by chance you glance at the train as it departs and find Tulip aboard it again and blowing a raspberry at you as the train leaves the station
“Grrrr!”
>You quickly hop back up and almost fly out after the train, but you’d never catch it
>instead you look at the two train yard worker ponies with their little handcar
>Maybe with that you could catch up enough to board the train, you quickly rush to the two stallions
“Quick, my little sister boarded that train on accident, could you help me get on?”
>You point at the train and the two stallions seem less than interested
>”Yeah...I don’t think we should abandon our post for any reason”
>”Yeah, sorry mam no can do”
>You glance at the train again, it’s even farther away now and makes you panic a little
“Please lend me the handcar, I’ll catch up to it by myself!”
>They shake their heads
>”No can do this here is our employer’s property, we can’t just loan it to any random pony”
>Oh no if this keeps up any more longer it might be to late, is there anything you could barter with...no, you left your money at home and you have nothing on you to offer
>But...these two are stallions and you’re a mare...
>You blush and clear your throat nervously, you can’t believe you’re about to pull a card like this here
“W-well if you two help me I might be able to make it worth your while and l-let you two...”
>You trail off as you fiddle around uncomfortably and the two stallions lean closer, curious
>Another blow of the whistle from the train lets you know just how little time you have left, no time to feel bashful!
“I’ll let you two spit-roast me!”
>As the two of them stare at you with wide eyes and suddenly the older one springs up and instantly gets ready
>”Quick son let’s catch that train now!”
>The younger stallion looks at the older one with shock
>”D-dad!?”
>”Come on my son when ever is an attractive mare going to offer her orifices for tag teaming like this! Things like these don’t happen often!”
>You try to avoid a few looks of various kind cast in your way by random ponies within ear-shot as you hop on the handcar
>”B-but what about mom?”
>”Son your mother, how lovely she is, has not let me near her hoohaa after you popped your ugly face out of it, I have been walking around with years worth of sexual frustration pent up in my ballsacks for as long as you have lived!”
>”Wow that...that’s a lot of years...”
>”And now a hot piece of ass like this”
>The older stallion points at you and interrupts himself
>”With all respect of course mam, offers herself up like this who am I to say no?”
>The younger stallion who also appears to be the older one’s son gives his dad a weak smile
>”You could be a good husband and-“
>”Get cranking you little homo we’re going to catch up to that train and we’re going to sink our dicks deep in this mare and douse her insides with our genes from both generations!”
>The younger stallion does as he’s told and the two start to furiously crank the handle up and down
>And you yourself start to feel a bit bad on lying, you’re not going to offer these two any sexual favors but you needed a surefire way to get them to help
>Luckily they were not gay or this plan would have been a bust, but still you feel awful how you just crossed the line into becoming a mare who has cheated something for herself from a member of the opposite sex with the promise of sexual favors
>But neither do you want to become that mare who slept with two stallions to get them to do what you want...Oh why did you have to go and blurt that out?
>Even threatening them with violence would have been better than this...you should have just done that...
>But back to the matter at hoof, the handcar is catching up to the train pretty fast
>”CRANK IT BUY THERE’S PUSSY ON THE STAKE!”
>”I AM CRANKING DAD I AM CRANKING!”
>The two stallions are sweating buckets as they work in a flurry
“Ok that’s enough!”
>But your words fall to deaf ears as they keep moving and chanting
>”HARDER HARDER HARDER!”
>”FASTER FASTER FASTER!”
“WAIT STO-“
>The handcar crashes against the train and all three of you fly aboard the caboose as the handcart breaks to pieces
>As you collect yourself a very buff conductor pony opens the door and looks at all of you lying on the floor
>”You three do have tickets right?”
>You and the stallions all shake your heads and the conductor pony grins and flips his shades down
>”This here is my train and we don’t take kindly to stowaways here. That is unless you have the coin for the tickets that is...”
>You sigh and hang your head
“I don’t have any on me...”
>The older stallion grunts
>”Me neither”
>And his son shakes his head
>”Nope I’m flat out broke”
>The conductor grins
>”Then follow me without resisting”
>And soon enough you and the two stallions find yourself in a makeshift jail cell inside an otherwise empty cart
>...this is a weird train, but since Tulip was not here she must either be hiding, or then she has money for a ticket
>And you have no idea where this train is even headed for during these late hours into the night
>...You hope you’ll never meet them again, or that they are not pegasus ponies who actually live in Hollow Shades, you don’t want any rumors to fly around about your...silliness in the jail cell
>Suddenly the door opposite of the one where Tulip came and went is kicked open by a familiar pony, the conductor and there’s a few ponies with him
>Your eyes go wide, guard ponies from Hollow Shades! You quickly hide, breaking out of a jail cell would not look good on your resume, especially if you ever hope to become an outstanding protector of peace and justice!
>Oh no, they’re coming towards the barrel you’re hiding behind and soon they’ll find you, what can you do!?
>”Hey they’ve broken out!”
>”Wait I saw that barrel move!”
>You quickly look around for anything that might help you as the guard ponies stomp towards the barrel you’re hiding behind
>And your goddesses of luck must be smiling upon you tonight, for you see a scarf and a cowboy hat, you quickly put them on to cover your identity before jumping out from behind the barrel, spooking the guards
>”That’s the mare, grab her!”
>The guards glance quickly at the conductor before snorting aggressively and stomping their hooves like they were about to charge you
“Easy there boys...”
>You make sure to make your voice sound different, just in case
>Suddenly the other guard drops the aggressive act
>”Wait hat cutie mark...haven’t I seen you in Hollow Shades somewhe-“
>He’s silenced by a random horseshoe you grabbed in panic and threw at his head, knocking him unconscious
>The other guard pony stares at his fallen bat brethren in horror
>”Javier! My token Spanish amigo for forced cultural diversity what has this succubus done to you!”
>you crank up your act in the hopes of not having to knock any other ponies unconscious
“I’d settle down if I were you, unless you want me to knock you unconscious too”
>The guard pony mans up suddenly, taking you by a bit of a surprise
>”No, turn yourself in you desperado or I’ll have to restrain you!”
>You smirk under your scarf, you’ve never actually tested your strength against a member of the guard
“Come at me if you have the pearls to cowboy”
>Wait what are you doing, you shouldn’t be riling the guard up any more than he is-oh no he’s already flying towards you
>Uh uh do you dodge or restrain or-oh no he’s here!
>You end up punching the pony in the face
>Hard enough to dent his helmet...you cringe as he just collapses to the floor
>That...that looks very painful, you clearly panicked and overdid it...
>The conductor lets out a womanly shriek before quickly rushing to the huge safe in the same cart
>He opens it up and grabs a pile of gold bars, shoves them into your hooves while you stand there confused and then quickly rushes into the jail cell and covers under the bed
>”Take it, just take it! Please let me go, I won’t tell a soul, promise!”
>you just stare at the pile of gold in your hooves
“Wha?”
>The conductor looks at you with horror before running out of the cart and into the direction Tulip went to
>”Oh no she’s a lunatic out for blood, run while you can! Hide yourselves there’s a monster on board!”
>You can’t hear the rest he is screaming but pout a little under your scarf
“...rude...”
>You drop the gold and you’re about to leave when you stop and turn around to look at the gold
>that’s...wait what are you even thinking, taking this gold would be a criminal act
>You turn around sharply and hold your head up with pride as you trot away from the pile of gold bars and towards the passenger cabins
>After passing through a few of them, with various ponies being afraid of you and some shoving valuables into your hooves and you giving them back and trying to tell them to not do it awkwardly you find what you’re looking for
>Tulip, sitting on one of the benches
>You undo the scarf covering your mouth and then walk to her and sit next to her
“Hi.”
>Tulip lets out a sigh and hangs her head in defeat
>”Hi...”
>You pat her back with your hoof
“I was worried...”
>Tulip replies with a scrunch and a gentle blush
>”I didn’t ask you to be...”
>Suddenly you tighten your grip on her and pull her closer with the aid of your wing
“Just so we’re clear once we are home I will be giving you a spanking so severe there’s no possible way for you to enjoy it on any level physical or mental”
>Tulip freezes and gulps loudly
>”By the way sis...what was with that dance?”
>Now you loose your grip on the filly
“I was just...rewarding them for helping me”
>Tulip looks a it appalled
>”That’s dirty sis...don’t tell me you reward all the stallions that help you with things like that”
>You let go of her and at the same time you hear some kind of a commotion behind you
“I do not do that!”
>Suddenly there’s a sad sounding whimper coming from multiple sources behind you and after turning your head around you find a small group of stallions that is already breaking up behind you
>One of them notices you looking and speaks up
>”We were thinking of becoming your hench-stallions until you said that...”
>You draw in a sharp breath and blush even redder
>T-these stallions would have wanted you to do things to them? This many? But you’re not even gorgeous or pretty like most mares...
>”Sis why do you look a bit smug all the sudden?”
>You quickly wipe the grin off of your face, you can’t be happy about things like that!
>The train cart is now completely empty beside you and Tulip
>Then the conductor suddenly rushes in with two more guard ponies with him and points at you
>”There she is! She defeated two of your guards and robbed all the gold that was on its way to Canterlot! And now she’s going to molest that filly!”
>You stare at the conductor, making him flinch and hide behind the backs of the guard ponies, while making a disgusted face
“I’m going to what!?”
>Tulip lets out a snort and rolls her eyes
>”I wish...”
>Suddenly the room goes silent and all eyes are on her
>She notices it and looks around
>”...what?”
>Tulip groans and looks directly at you
>”You know what we did once, and haven’t done it again, and I...”
>Fresh tears start to form on her eyes
>”Do you hate me so much you can’t do things like that again to me? Or even give me a proper hug?”
>...yes, it’s the one thing you have a hard time accepting, and who can blame you
>the filly you are supposed to be a sister to, who wanted you to be her mother at the beginning, ended up doing the dirty with you
>Long story short, the two of you had a night of passion, and after it had happened the two of you got awkward, really awkward, too awkward to even hang around each other
>So you started to pretend it never happened, and she followed your example, but you only avoided physical contact with her because it felt...
>no, not right, but neither was fiddling her, or was it?
>You’ve had to struggle with a lot of thoughts
>But now you have grabbed Tulip for a hug and she is sobbing against your chest as you hold her close and the other ponies stare
>But first thing’s first, the guards haven’t really seen Tulip enough, especially with her held against you like this, and you’re wearing a disguise so your identities are safe, but for how long
>So you decide to grab her and dive out of the window, shielding Tulip as you roll along the ground as the train speeds away
>Tulip looks at you with wide eyes as you open up your eyes and check if she’s ok
>She is, which is good, but now the two of you are stuck in a random forest, and you have this matter that has needed to be dealt with for a long time
>The two of you get up and get away from the tracts and locate a good hollowed out tree to sit inside and rest a little
>Tulip has been silent after you jumped out of the train, and you think that it is time to make a decision
”Tulip, you’re right, I’ve been avoiding you because of what happened that one time”
>Her ears droop as she looks sad now
“But that is because I don’t know what to do, and I can’t do both, so...”
>You hold out both of your hooves
”This one means family, it means I will think of you as family and I’ll become your legal, proper mother and adopt you once and for all. But it means there will never be any closeness like that one time, nothing sexual at all, ever, from neither you or me. This other hoof means fuck, what it means is that we can keep on doing indecent things and sexual stuff, but I can never be a sis or a mother to you at all, our relationship will be left as an indecent one and you’ll need to accept that and find yourself a proper home someday”
>Tulip seems worried so you give her a smile
”I would not abandon you or think any less of you whichever you choose, but you must make a choice for me and for yourself.”
>Tulip grabs a hold of both of your hooves
>”I don’t suppose I can do this can I?”
>You feel a tinge of...something, yet you shake your head
“No Tulip, I’m sorry”
>Tulip hangs her head with a melancholic smile on her face
>”I figured as much”
>She lets go of both of your hooves and you gulp as she grasps one of them with both of hers
>”I choose family”
>You keep looking at Tulip as she stares at you shyly blushing but a smile on her face
>”I want you as family more than I want you to, you know, touch me”
>You can’t help but to sweep her up into a hug
>”I’m not saying it felt bad or anything, it actually felt really good and-“
>You cut her off
“Yes, I know, you did look like you were enjoying yourself”
>You quickly stop thinking when you feel your face heat up as images return to your head
“But that’s in the past and we’re going to start anew now, as proper family”
>You break of the hug and Tulip lets out a yawn
>”I feel kind of sleepy...”
>Now that she mentions it, the sun is starting to rise
“Maybe we should take a rest here before continuing”
>You lie down and Tulip snuggles against you, and then you use one of your wings as a blanket for her
>”Yeah...goodnight...mom...”
>You enjoy the warm feeling in your chest as you hold this little filly safe, instead of fighting against the strange feeling you let it run free, and it starts to feel less strange as you feel Tulip’s gentle heart beat against your tummy
>But then the warmth starts to travel within your body, spreading around and you blush as you feel just a hint of warmth down...there...
>You shake your head and resist any more warmth, this is shameful, even if you have not felt that much closeness from other ponies feeling something like that is not allowed, especially now
>You just need to get used to this feeling, and stop confusing it for something completely different
>And with that you too fall asleep and have an ok sleep
>But then you wake up into a weird sensation, and find Tulip with some of your mane in her mouth, absentmindedly nibbling on it
>You give her a confused stare and she lets go of your mane
>”I’m hungry...”
>Almost on cue your stomach lets out a loud grumble so you get up
“Let’s look for something to eat then”
>You and Tulip come out from the hollowed out tree and find it to be the very late evening / early night
>”What do you mean look, are we going to find a food vendor in here somewhere?”
>Your mouth twitches upwards in an amused smirk
“Vendor? We’re going to look for our own food”
>Tulips suddenly looks unsure
>”Look? You mean we’re going to be eating stuff we find in the woods?”
>You nod and Tulip extends her tongue out
>”Gross”
>You let out an amused giggle
“We’ll see about that”
>You’ve put some distance between the train tracks and yourself but you are constantly following them towards Hollow Shades while on the lookout for some stuff to eat
>And soon enough you spot some wild greens and herbs you know of
>You grab some and Tulips looks worried
>”We’re going to eat leaves and roots? But I wanted a juicy fruit...”
>You divide the greens into two portions and hand another one to Tulip and stick yours into your mouth
>It’s not the best, but it’s nutrients and sustenance
>Tulip too stuffs them in her mouth and becomes gradually more and more depressed looking as she chews her plants, before swallowing them
>”They’re bitter and not sweet at all!”
>You spot something else now while Tulip wipes her tongue from whatever was left of the plants
“Hold on, we’ve got something in here too”
>You walk over to a fallen tree and roll it over
>Tulip climbs onto your back and peeks to see what you’re picking up
>”Why are you picking up all those grubs?”
>Much to her horror you lift one up and place it on your lips, and then suck it in like it was a string of spaghetti
>Tulip makes gagging noises as you begin to chew the insect, it’s a very down to earth flavor
>You swallow it down and then hand a big fat grub to Tulip who stares at it while looking nauseous
>”No way!”
>You wiggle it around in front of her nose
“It’s good protein and not that bad”
>Tulip pulls her head away
>”No way no that’s too gross, Daylily you’re gross!”
>You shrug and happily eat the big fat maggot, sort of enjoying the squishiness of it
>Sure it’s not the best tasting thing and kind of unorthodox, but they’re really filling and keep the hunger away for some time
>Suddenly you spot something else that even Tulip might enjoy
“I have another idea”
>Tulip slumps down on your back
>”Don’t tell me we’re going to drink each other’s pee next...”
>You blush furiously
“No Tulip that’s stupid! We’re not going to do that, there’s a fig tree over there!”
>Now she perks up and gets off your back before flying to the tree
>”You’re right! They’re actual food and not bugs and random plants!”
>Tulip happily grabs a few figs from the tree and starts to eat them mid-flight
>You join her and grab one fig, you’re pretty full from the insects
>It’s good, better than the bugs but...it could be a bit meatier
>After a while Tulip’s tummy is bloated from all the figs she’s eaten and she lets out a content burp while resting on one of the branches
>You land down next to her and she snuggles up against you
>”Let’s rest a little bit, I’m bloated”
>You pat her tummy
“You did eat a lot, hopefully not too much, be careful not to get a tummy ache”
>”If I do you’ll just carry me right?”
>You let out a sigh but ruffle her mane
“Yeah...let me guess you want me to carry you anyway?”
>Tulip suddenly jumps up and wraps her hooves around your neck as she hugs you
>”You’re the best mom ever even if you eat bugs!”
>You freeze up for a few seconds but then pat her
“Yeah...and you’re an ok daughter...besides I don’t eat them all the time, only if I have to”
>It still feels kind of weird to call Tulip that but she lets out a delighted eeeee~ and almost chokes you with her hugging, and that makes you feel happy how she got so happy herself
>And after getting down and Tulip settling into a comfortable position on your back you trot forwards towards Hollow Shades while Tulip hums something happily
>The vegetation in the forest looks familiar enough so you can’t be that far away from Hollow Shades and if you keep following close to the train tracks you should-
>Suddenly you pause and try to remember the map of Equestria in your head, or more importantly, where the tracks go
>And you realize you can cut a lot of time by taking a shortcut through the woods so you change course
>After a little while of walking through denser areas Tulip pokes you to get your attention
>”Dayli-I mean mommy, I’m thirsty”
>You perk up your ears and stay quiet while listening around, there, the sound of flowing water
“There’s a spring nearby”
>Tulip tries to copy you and listens around too
>”I can’t hear anything, are you sure?”
“Yeah, just follow me. We’re flying”
>Tulip takes flight and you do that too once she’s off of your back, and after a wee bit of flying you two arrive at a natural spring of fresh water, with a little waterfall even
>”Wow, this place looks amazing”
>Tulip flies over to the falling water and takes a drink
>”And it’s really tasty too!”
>She gulps down to her hearts content straight from the waterfall before moving over and letting you have a drink too
>It must have some natural minerals in it because it tastes so fresh
>Suddenly there’s a splash and you find Tulip taking a dip in the spring
>Only to suddenly get a shocked look on her face and swim to shore while wildly splashing water everywhere
>”Screeee i-it’s cold!”
>You chuckle while the wet Tulip shakes herself off of the water like a puppy before standing there looking miserable and shivering with her lips in a pout, tail between her legs and her ears flat
>You land down near her and she instantly grabs onto you and presses herself tightly against you
>”Warm me up...”
>Not much choice here, you sit down and cuddle the still moist filly while she leeches off of your bodily heat


