Cinnamon groaned as she flopped out of her bed and dragged herself into the bathroom. It was a quarter past three in the afternoon, which wasn’t terribly surprising, given she had spent most of the night not sleeping—like a good filly should, as her mother might say. She didn’t exactly feel bright eyed, of course, but after she splashed a couple of hoofuls of water onto her face and started brushing her teeth, she felt a little better.

It was somewhat hard not to feel a bit excited, considering that today was the day that she moved out of her apartment, and moved in with Lucent. Excited, and if she was going to be honest with herself, more than a little bit afraid. Well, afraid was probably not the right word: wary or nervous, perhaps.

She had, of course, moved before, several times at that, but this was different. Every other time she had moved, it had always been into an apartment or residence complex or something similar to that. This was the first time she’d be moving into a home, someplace ponies had lived and continued to live. More than moving into a house, Cinny supposed, she was, in reality, moving into a family, into Lucent’s herd. Officially.

Which in and of itself was rather scary, when she paused to think about it. So she tried not to do that too often.

Cinny had been dating Lucent—or courting, as she supposed it was called in the nobility—for something like three months now, and she still didn’t know what to make of the ponies in the herd. After their disastrous first date, most of their dates had been just her and Lucent. Well, not really, she supposed. Some of the dates were private affairs, but more often Lucent might invite one of his other herdmates along too—usually Twilight or Scintilla or Crincile. Sometimes Glint, when Lucent was feeling particularly frisky. Those date nights always ended memorably, with memories that made Cinny’s wings stiff weeks later.

The only pony she didn’t interact with on a regular basis was Crystal Glimmer. For the life of her, Cinny couldn’t figure out why the mare was so… cold to her. And it was a weird sort of coldness too. Sometimes—usually during one of the suppers Lucent invited her to before they went off on their own—the mare would be really friendly, and then, for some reason, it would be as if she suddenly realized their relationship was supposed to be chilly, and the next thing Cinny knew Crystal Glimmer would be ignoring her all together.

In a way, it hurt. Cinnamon would be the first to admit to herself that her primary interest in the herd was really more with Lucent than any other pony within the herd, but it still wasn’t very pleasant.

If only she would be so lucky to have Star Sparkle ignore her as well.

Lucent’s lead mare, for some reason, seemed to be particularly unhappy with her. Whether it was with something Cinny had done, or just because Star Sparkle was a bitch, was a mystery Cinnamon thought she could base a Fetlock Holmes fanfic around, and reasonably present it as the case that stumped the great detective. Unfortunately, while Crystal was content with ignoring her more or less, Star liked to butt in on things and… just be… herself.

That wasn’t a compliment.

Star would show up—more than once when it was supposed to be just Lucent and Cinnamon, alone—and just be there with them, making snide comments about whatever sort of date Cinny had decided to put together, or what Cinny was wearing. When she saw Cinny’s apartment, Star nearly laughed herself into the floor.

Of course, her favourite target for her teasing was Cinnamon Swift’s career choice. In retrospect, it felt a bit stupid to bring up that she wrote erotic novels and stories, especially within earshot of Star, and the mare had made her regret it almost every time she saw her.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle a bit of teasing; Cinnamon was used to that, even from her close friends, but Star made it so utterly virulent. Her words would stick in Cinny’s head, although she had no idea why.

Thank goodness she had the sense to keep her almost published novel under wraps. Maybe when she had a nice fat paycheck—Cinny hoped it’d be a nice fat one, at least—Star would finally shut up.

It was a long shot, but who knows?

Cinny frowned as she finished brushing her teeth. Hopefully, Star wouldn’t drive her out of her mind or out of her new home. Truthfully, she was starting to get rather low on funds, and if she had to leave, she wasn’t sure she could afford a new place. At least nopony was going to be making fun of her apartment now.

She didn’t have a lot of things, of course, and what she did have were already packed away in boxes, except for her bed and a few things in the little cubby she called her kitchen. The only major thing she hadn’t packed was her writing stuff, like her typewriter.

It sounded stupid, but the last time she had made a major move—from Cloudsdale to Canterlot—it was a struggle to start writing again. Whether it was because of the fact that everything was different, or something else, Cinnamon had no idea. It was part of the reason she had been up so late the night prior—she wanted to get as much writing done as possible, so she wouldn’t feel too rotten when she couldn’t write for a bunch of days. Or weeks. Or months.

Either way, there were a bunch of boxes strewn around, so she had to step lightly to avoid tripping and hurting herself.

The kitchen was much the same way as the rest of her apartment, although most of the boxes were smaller and contained mostly things like utensils. Obviously, the fridge, stove, and what not were too big to bring with her, and it wasn’t as if she was going to be needing them in her new place either. Unfortunately, it only took Cinny a couple of minutes of opening drawers and cabinets to realize she didn’t have any food left. It wasn’t unusual that she’d eat while she worked, even late at night, and now it seemed she had eaten her breakfast long before it was time to actually eat it.

Well, in the late afternoon, at least.

All she could find were some sodium crackers and a mostly empty jar of peanut butter—hardly a filling meal. Of course, she gamely gave it a try, but after a few minutes of trying to find the peanut butter in the jar she thought was only mostly empty and discovering it was completely empty, she was no closer to having something in her stomach. Which sucked.

Cinnamon bit her lip and glanced up at the clock. It was about three forty now, which wasn’t terribly surprising, although her head insisted that much time couldn’t possibly have passed. It put her in a bit of a bind.

Originally, she had planned to just try to haul the boxes across town herself, possibly renting one of those carts or wagons and hitching herself to the haul. Lucent wouldn’t have any of it. He claimed to know a few ponies who would be more than capable of helping her move, and Lucent certainly did know a great number of ponies—but Cinny had trouble imagining most of the ponies Lucent knew as capable of doing manual labour.

If anypony showed up with Lucent, it’d probably be servants or maybe a moving company that she couldn’t afford but Lucent probably could. Maybe he even owned a moving company—or Scintilla did. He must make his money somehow, right?

Of course, the beauty of hauling the stuff herself was that she wasn’t waiting for anypony else to show up. If she wanted to eat, she’d have to go to the store—or more likely, one of the corner cafés or sandwich shops. All of those were a fair walk away, not so far that it was particularly taxing or such, but far enough that if she left now, there was a good chance she wouldn’t make it back in time. Assuming they didn’t come early.

There wasn’t much to do, except try and pack away her writing stuff, she supposed, so Cinnamon put her stomach out of her mind for a little while, folded her wings, and picked up the only empty box left in the room and started dropping the loose bits of quills and papers and napkin notes into the box. Then she unlocked the drawer where she kept her personal preprint copy of Elements of Love, and pulled that out and dropped it into the box too.

She had received it a couple of days ago, but given how Star was continually teasing her about it, Cinny hadn’t bothered to bring it up that her novel was almost published. She also hadn’t bothered to tell Lucent or Glint or any of the other mares either. Lucent, at least, found her erotic writing amusing, and she partly wanted to surprise him when it did get published—rather than walking him through the boring, messy, crappy, not-at-all-fun adventure of rewriting and fixing stupid errors. It wasn’t that he would mind it, per se. Lucent seemed to have the ability to look attentive even when Cinnamon knew he was bored out of his mind. Plus, she suspected he had already gone through all that with Twilight, who apparently was also an author.

So she buried the copy under some more papers and quills, and then found herself eyeing the typewriter. The thing was really heavy in her experience, which was why she didn’t move it much once she had placed it. The last time she had moved, Cinny had relied on an earth pony friend, but she was long gone, having moved back to Manehatten now that her education was finished. The more she thought about it, the more silly her idea to move all this stuff was becoming, and—

No sooner was the thought out of her head than somepony decided to kick her door in. Well, not really, it was more of a loud knocking, but it was enough to get Cinny to jump out of her skin, figuratively speaking. She took a moment to clear her head before heading to the door.

Rather than trying to dodge boxes that seemed to jump right in front of her hooves when she wasn’t looking, she half-jumped, half-flew over them.

Her first thought, upon wrenching the door open before the knocker could cause damage to the door and get her in trouble with the landlady, was that somepony was in trouble. Outside her door stood a rather imposing unicorn dressed in golden armour that had been painted or lacquered or something purple. He looked her up and down then smiled brightly. It was only then that Cinnamon recognized him as Shining Armour.

Of course, the fact that he was standing right next to Lucent probably should have been a give away.

At first glance, the relation probably wouldn’t be clear to a pony, since Shining was almost pure white in coat, whereas Lucent was a dark blue, but a closer look revealed they had the same ears, same curve in their jawline, same well toned flanks—

Cinny blushed a bit as her wings half-heartedly stiffened up. It wasn’t that Shining Armour wasn’t handsome, of course—in her opinion he got all his looks from his father, after all—but she was pretty much his herdmother regardless of him being older than her. Granted, it wasn’t as if she was going to be raising him or any of the herd’s foals, as most of them except Twilight Velvet’s little filly were grown. Cinnamon probably hadn’t even met them all yet!

Actually, she hadn’t really ‘met’ Shining Armour either. He had been busy—apparently as a Royal Guard, something she apparently missed when he was introduced—and Cinny only really had time to shake his hoof before he galloped off to… slay cockatrices or save maidens or water the Princess’s garden. Whatever they did while not looking like pretty statues. But she did remember his smile.

“Um, hello,” Cinny said after a second, once she had recovered from her shock. “I… wasn’t expecting you to bring anypony else.” Actually, she had expected Lucent to show up with a bunch of burly Earth Ponies she could drool over while they carried her stuff out. Her body was all confused now.

“I was, but I just happened to run into Shining here, and he so generously volunteered,” Lucent said with a smile, then he stepped forward and into Cinny’s apartment. Lucent sidestepped, mostly, but not far enough that her body didn’t rub against his. Of course, he was wearing one of those fancy suit thingers that all high class ponies wore—it was probably in their union contract or something—but it was still very nice, almost as if they were in bed and—Cinny’s wings stretched up a few more notches.

Perhaps she wouldn’t need burly Earth Ponies to watch after all.

“Yes, volunteered,” Shining said with a roll of his eyes, and took off his helmet. He followed his father into Cinny’s apartment, but naturally she gave him a far more room when he stepped past her. “I do have other things to do with my time off than help you fill out your herd, Dad.”

Cinnamon had never thought of her apartment as small, but with the two stallions in it, and with boxes strewn around where a pony would normally walk, the place felt almost claustrophobic. Not to mention Shining was a fair amount heftier than Lucent was. Not fat, of course, but in terms of muscle. After a couple of moments of calming thoughts, her wings loosened enough that she could at least hover over the boxes instead of stretching to step around them and the two ponies.

“Oh stop complaining; Cadance is going to be visiting for dinner, isn’t she? It’s on the way, and we could use the help,” Lucent said as he glanced over his shoulder. Then he turned to her. “Is there any particular place you’d like me to start, m’dear?”

“Not… really?” Frowning, Cinnamon Swift turned slowly in the air, trying to figure out how to direct the two ponies. “I guess we should take the heavier stuff first, and pile the lighter stuff on top of it?”

“Good idea,” Shining said with a nod. Despite his complaining, he didn’t seem to be particularly troubled by the task ahead of him. “What’s heaviest?”

“Well, the couch and the typewriter, I guess.” Cinny pointed to the two things in turn with her hoof, before fluttering over to the end of the couch and dropping down. “On… the count of three?”

“No need,” Shining said, and without further ado, he lit up his horn and suddenly the couch was coated in a film of magenta light. It shuddered for a second, then lifted off the ground and spun slowly so it’d fit through the door. It wasn’t until Shining had it halfway out that Cinnamon realized he had also picked up the cast iron typewriter at the same time.

“Wow.” Every unicorn could levitate an object, of course, but it took real skill to do multiple ones—or really heavy ones. Cinny looked at the spot where her couch had been and cringed at all the dust that that was suddenly visible. Yikes!

“That colt,” Lucent said fondly as the last of the couch slid through the door without such much a bump against the doorframe, “likes to show off.” Lucent grinned at her. “I’m surprised it’s only him and Cadance in his herd, to be honest, I’m sure there’s many a mare after him.”

“Who’s Cadance?” Cinnamon asked, as she grabbed her dustpan where it was sitting on one of her tables, and tried to clean up the newly visible mess without looking like she was. She thought she had heard the name before, but with a herd as big as Lucent’s, with as many foals—who were mostly at the age where they’d be pairing off into herds—names tended to get lost in the shuffle.

“I’m sure I’ve mentioned her before…?” Lucent said as he pointedly ignored Cinny sweeping the floor up. “Princess Cadance?”

“Wait, that pink Princess? Of love or something or rather?” Cinnamon frowned and let the dustpan drop to the floor. Princess Cadance was one of the so-called ‘lesser Royalty’: ponies with the same titles as Celestia and Luna, but none of the actual power that went with it. Except in social circles, of course.

“The very same,” Lucent beamed before letting out a low chuckle. “And Star says you don’t pay attention.”

Her first thought was to say something like “ugh, she would,” but in a fair bit ruder wording and tone, but instead she changed it to: “And Shining is dating her?”

“Hmm,” Lucent shrugged and poked one of the boxes with his hoof. “I wouldn’t say they’re dating, really, they’re more or less a herd. Been so for a while. But Cadance is practically part of the family, though. Even if they weren’t, she’d still be welcome.”

“Huh.” She felt a couple more questions pop into her mind, but before she could ask them, Shining returned.

He glanced around the room once, at all the unopened boxes, and snorted gustily. “What the hay, were you two making out up here or something? Chop chop ponies, time’s a-wasting!” Shining’s voice carried an unmistakable note of command, and he didn’t wait to see if they’d follow it either, before grabbing the chair and her writing desk—but thankfully not her ‘special box’ where her novel was—and headed back down stairs.

“Well, we better do what he says, Cinny,” Lucent said with a roguish wink, “before he puts us in the stockade!”

“Sure sure,” Cinny couldn’t help but want to get it over with too—the sooner they finished up here, the sooner she could get a snack or something to eat to stave off her hunger before the main meal was served.

As it turned out, Lucent had brought a few earth ponies that he had hired to help her move, but they were all hitched—or would be, once they got off their coffee break—to the wagon where all her stuff was. It wasn’t terribly fancy, more functional than anything, which was fine.

Of course, Lucent—and by extension herself—wouldn’t be riding in that.

Beside the roughly hewn wagon sat a carriage. There was a bit of gilding, around the edges of it’s window frames and door, but for the most part much of the decoration was just carvings in the wood itself. Still, it was far fancier than anything Cinny had ever ridden in before—or even really stood next to. It wasn’t like she could afford such a vehicle herself, and those that had them didn’t really like ponies rubbing up against them.

It was certainly pretty, in the sort of way that made everything else look like crap in comparison. Including her stuff, which only half-filled the wagon as she paused to drop her box off. She hadn’t really paused to think about it before, but compared to the sort of fancy stuff Lucent had, like this carriage, her stuff looked really worn and second-hoof—if not third or fourth hoofed. It made Cinny frown slightly.

Maybe she shouldn’t even bother trying to save any of her stuff, it looked rather out of place and didn’t really fit in. It wasn’t the first time Cinnamon had felt out or place with Lucent, but normally the contrast wasn’t so obvious—in her mind—to every other pony in the world. Like her whole street, most of whom didn’t even know she was dating Lucent, and were currently hanging out their windows or peeking out their doors curiously.

And they weren’t the only ones. The earth ponies Lucent had hired were mostly ignoring her as she stood there, probably because they had no idea who she was, but the two ponies pulling the carriage were glancing at her over their shoulders with puzzled expressions on their faces. Like the carriage they pulled they were very pretty, and wore some sort of dull-grey armour with gold trim. Both were mares, and they didn’t look like they were part of the Royal Guard, but what did she know?

Lucent glanced at her sidelong as he dropped his own box off in the back of the wagon, which only really reminded her that the only way she was going to get out of their uncomfortable stares was if she went and finished hauling her stuff… junk… down.

It took several trips, and if Cinnamon was going to be honest with herself, Shining did most of the work. When he wasn’t lifting her heaviest boxes, he grabbed multiples, so it was as if she had a whole army of ponies helping her pack. Within half an hour, the apartment was completely empty—except for her fridge and other things she wouldn’t be taking with her. After that, it was a simple matter of finding the landlady and handing her keys off to her.

The mare in question had stopped halfway down the street with a bag full of groceries, and Cinnamon had the good sense to trot away before the Landlady decided that her tenant having a rich boyfriend meant she should surcharge her for a bunch of things.

Once that was taken care of, and Cinny was sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind, she grabbed the box containing her copy of Elements of Love, she wanted to keep her copy with her, just so it wouldn’t slip out somewhere or get lost, and hopped into the back of the carriage with Lucent and Shining. The interior of the carriage was, if anything, more ornate than the outside, with overstuffed seats and carvings up to the ceiling. It even had a mini-bar. That was probably Star’s, and Cinny had the good sense not to mess around with the mare’s alcohol.

As soon as she hopped in, one the mares who was going to be pulling the thing closed it behind her, and a few seconds later the carriage started to roll forward. If she could have figured out how to open the window, she probably would have watched her apartment retreat out of the side as they pulled away. Like a country yokel or something. So she decided to content herself to small talk with the other two ponies in the carriage with her.

“So, Cinnamon Swift,” Shining said as she turned back towards them. Lucent was beside her and Shining was on the seat opposite. Apparently, they had been waiting for her to join in. “What’s in the box?”

“Oh, uh,” Cinny clutched the box a bit closer to her barrel. “Just you know, some writing stuff. Unfinished stuff. I don’t want to lose it.”

“So you’re a writer, then? What sort of writing?” Shining asked, although Cinnamon could tell the first question was more of a polite statement than a question. He probably already knew that, considering she owned a typewriter, not to mention her cutie mark—a quill overlaying a heart. The second question though, was an actual question, but it wasn’t one Cinny knew how to answer. Most ponies reacted poorly when she told them what sort of writing she did.

“Uh, well,” Cinny rubbed the back of her head as she tried to think of an explanation.

“Romance?” Shining prompted, eyeing her cutie mark for a second longer. Normally such attention would have roused her, but between being on the spot and trying to think of a way out of her son-in-law’s questions, well… there wasn’t much time for any other thoughts.

“Don’t be modest, Cinny,” Lucent said as he patted her leg absentmindedly. “Cinnamon here writes some of the most… stimulating… erotica, I’ve ever read.”

Cinny blushed, mostly, at Lucent’s compliment. It wasn’t the first time he had said so, and she knew he enjoyed reading the little scraps she let him see—and she always knew he enjoyed them too, rather than him just saying so. But she hadn’t expected Lucent to say so, out loud, to his son of all ponies. So a good chunk of that blush was also to do with simple embarrassment.

To her surprise, though, Shining didn’t seem to be put off or bothered in the least. “Oh, I see.”

“Aren’t you…” Cinny frowned lopsidedly as she studied the unicorn. Shining caught her eye and smiled brightly.

“Of course not,” Shining said, shaking his head. “Cadance reads enough of the stuff, so it’s not like I’m unfamiliar with it. And, as I recall, Mama used to write a few passages of straight up erotica too…”

“Hrmp,” Lucent said with a frown, “I didn’t think you kids knew about those writings of Twilight’s.”

“If Mama didn’t want us reading her stuff,” Shining said with a chuckle, “she ought to lock her doors.” Shining paused and looked thoughtful. “Well, Cadance and I, I guess. Twilight was a bit young when we found it. Took one look at it and ran off.”

“You’ve known Cadance for long?” Cinny asked, as she tried to place this ‘Twilight’. Despite what a pony might think, Mama, Cinny was certain, referred to Twilight Velvet, not his actual mother Star Sparkle. Partly because she knew Twilight was a writer like herself, except published and relatively famous—although not necessarily in the genre she wanted to be. But mostly because she couldn’t imagine anyone referring to Star Sparkle as ‘Mama’ and not saying it ironically.

Which meant there was another Twilight floating around, a pony she hadn’t met yet. Still, it seemed crass to ask who she was, since Shining sounded like he expected her to know.

“Cadance used to foal sit for us,” Lucent explained for Shining, “so I suppose you could say they’ve gone back for a while.”

“We’ve only been dating for a while, if you’re wondering,” Shining said with a laugh. “But don’t say that to Cadance, I think she’s been under the impression we’ve been dating for years. I’ve just been too thick to notice it.”

“Ah,” Cinny said, and decided she’d leave her pondering for another time. She couldn’t think of who this other Twilight was, but there wasn’t much point in beating herself up over it. “Thanks for helping me move, Lucent. And you, Shining.”

“Think nothing of it, m’dear,” Lucent said as he wrapped his foreleg around her body and pulled her into a hug. Cinnamon sighed contently and wrapped her wing around the stallion.

“I’m always happy to help,” Shining added, as he smirked at the two of them slightly. “It must be nice to move out of that tiny place, though.”

“I suppose so,” Cinny sighed, “I hope I don’t miss it too much.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be right at home in your new place,” Lucent said as he nibbled along her ear’s edge. “I’m glad you finally accepted moving in with me, Cinny, that place made me worry about your health.”

“It wasn’t all bad.” Cinny flicked her ears out of his lips. She might enjoy sex and all, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t enjoy just being close with a pony too. She suspected Lucent went after her ears because it turned her on so much. Bastard.

“And I’m glad you’ve decided to join the herd too, I know...” Lucent paused and ran his hoof down her back, “you haven’t gotten along with everypony—” by which he meant Star “—but I think in general we all care for you.”

“I hope so,” Cinny added, and tried to keep the quiver out of her voice. She wasn’t afraid of Star, of course, but…

“Don’t worry, everything’ll be just fine,” Lucent said softly, and then he reached down and guided her muzzle to his.

The kiss was electric, it almost always was, and as she felt his tongue slip between her lips, and her wingtips flutter, it washed away most of her doubts and—

Shining coughed insistently, causing Lucent and herself to freeze mid-kiss. After a second they pulled back from one another.

“Should I, I don’t know, get out and get a cab or something?” Shining’s voice was filled with more than a hint of laughter. “Or can you two keep it under your tails for the time being?”

**

“Um, I think we missed a turn or something,” Cinny said as she glanced out the window. Most of the journey had been pleasant, and it was actually really interesting talking with Shining, who seemed to have an endless catalogue of stories about his adventures in the Royal Guard. So, it wasn’t that surprising that she didn’t realize they were apparently lost until now. “Aren’t we supposed to be headed to your place?”

Currently, the carriage was heading along a fairly narrow road around the side of the mountain, one with a sheer drop off to the side—not that it bothered her too much, given she had grown up in Cloudsdale. But it wasn’t Canterlot, and she thought they were supposed to be heading to Lucent’s place in Canterlot.

“We are,” Lucent sounded a bit mystified, causing Cinnamon to frown at him.

“Has she been to Lachrimose House?” Shining asked. Cinny noticed he was shying away from the side of the carriage that was nearest to the edge, and the thought made her smile. The stallion was obviously very brave, but it was nice to know he had normal fears like any other pony too.

“Oh? Oh! I suppose not!” Lucent laughed and shook his head before turning to Cinny. “Lachrimose House is my main residence, not the townhouse you’ve been to. And yours, now.”

“It’s, um, very big,” Cinny pointed out needlessly. The closer they got, the more of the building filled her vision. It wasn’t tall so much as it was wide, occupying a huge area, although it wasn’t like she could think up the square footage or something on the fly. She wasn’t an architect. But compared to the land leading up to it, which was mostly well maintained lawns and a few equally well groomed trees, it looked relatively small.

She had always known Lucent was rich—he was, after all, a duke—but it was only now that she was realizing her appreciation for his wealth was more or less purely academic than anything else. He always seemed to be more down-to-earth than the sort of snobbish individual Cinny had always imagined would live in a mansion like this, and never complained when she took him to places that, while not cheap by her standards, were probably no better than a stable, given what he was used to.

The shadows her doubts were casting in her mind got a little bit longer, and she shivered slightly.

Lucent didn’t notice, although it was hardly his fault: “A bit big, I suppose, but that’s good, isn’t it?” Lucent asked her rhetorically. “More than enough room for you—and all my herdmates—” so you can avoid Star Sparkle if you need to “—and, of course, our foals.”

Foals? Cinnamon thought. It was perhaps ironic, given her cutie mark, that she had never really gave much thought to the idea of having children herself. She hoped Lucent wasn’t expecting her to jump on the idea or whatever, it was just too scary. And right now, she was having enough scares.

Before she could respond or ask him what he meant—not that she would, given Shining was right there, even if he didn’t appear to be paying attention—the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the front steps that led up to the door. Cinny could see a couple of servants there—several donkeys and a couple of other ponies—start forward to open the carriage’s door, but before any of them could, the door was wretched opened by somepony else.

“Shining!” The somepony else turned out to be a pink pegasus—no, alicorn—clearly, this was Princess Cadance. Especially since between saying the stallion’s name and the time it took Cinny to recognize her, she had thrown herself into Shining Armour’s forelegs and locked lips with him. They kissed for a moment, although Cinnamon did her best not to watch too closely. It was only polite, after all. Plus she imagined Cadance wouldn’t want her watching anyway. Especially not the way she pressed her body up against his, or the way her wings’ fluttering grew characteristically stiff or how—

Maybe she watched a bit.

After they broke off the kiss, Cinnamon couldn’t help but notice both of them were panting as Cadance turned her attention to Lucent and her.

“Nice to see you again, Lucent,” Cadance said with a chuckle, probably at the way Lucent was rolling his eyes. Keep it under their tails, Celestia’s backside! Cinny thought to herself, although she didn’t dare say it out loud. Clearly, she was out of her depth with these ponies. Then Cadance’s eyes shifted to her, and Cinnamon did her best not to flinch.

It wasn’t that the Princess’ eyes were particularly intense or scrutinizing, but there was a certain weight behind them. Even if Cadance didn’t really sit on any throne, she was still a princess, and Cinny couldn’t help but suspect she hadn’t missed anything about her, no matter how small the detail. Compared to her—or Lucent, or Shining Armour—she was a complete nopony. At least her smile was friendly.

“You must be Cinnamon Swift, right?” Cadance asked, and extended a hoof towards her. “Lucent’s newest herdmate?”

“Uh, Yes. Your highness,” Cinny added the last part hastily. “Yes, I’m just moving in… uh, your Highnessness.”

Cadance barked a laugh, before shaking her head and reaching over to grab Cinny’s hoof in her own and shaking it. “There’s no need to be formal, Cinnamon, this is hardly a court function!” Cinny returned the hoof shake limply and tried to smile—a weak effort that, for some reason, only made Cadance’s own smile bigger. “I can see I’m making you uncomfortable,” she said, releasing Cinny’s hoof, “and I imagine you’d like to get your things unpacked and freshen up as well, but you and I should talk later.”

Before Cinny could decline the invitation or even squeak out a reply, Cadance hopped out of the carriage with Shining in tow, and headed up to the mansion, disappearing between the huge doors that marked its entrance.

“I know she can get a bit energetic, but she’s really quite sweet, you know,” Lucent said, and wrapped his foreleg around her, pulling her into a hug. Now that Shining was gone, there wasn’t any reason not to kiss—except they probably were expected to get out of the carriage eventually. “Are you okay, Cinny? You seem a bit… reserved.”

“I’m just…” She tried to figure out a way of putting her concerns into words, without, more or less, insulting the stallion accepting her into his herd and home. She couldn’t. There just seemed to be no right way of saying ‘I’m scared of the fact that we’re two very different ponies and you might not love me if I don’t fit in’. Thankfully, her stomach rumbled, reminding her of her other, more pressing problem. “I guess I’m just a bit hungry,” Cinny half-lied. “I haven’t eaten yet today.”

“Why didn’t you say so, we could have stopped and gotten you something!” Lucent said with a chuckle. Somehow Cinny had difficulty imagining the carriage pulling through a drive through. “Well, more room for supper, right?” Lucent stood up and hopped out of the carriage, offering his hoof to Cinny.

She couldn’t help but smile as she let him ‘help’ her down the steps.

“I don’t know if your room is ready just yet,” Lucent said, glancing at one of the Donkeys—probably his major domo—who in turn, shook his head. “Right, well, it’s not a formal meal, so it’s not like you need to dress up—” although everypony there will be “—so don’t worry about freshening up.”

“I should shower, or something,” Cinny said as Lucent led her to the front door and into the house. She hadn’t done so yet today, and with all the boxes she hauled around—even if Shining had done most of the heavy lifting.

“Oh?” Lucent’s eyes sparkled merrily. “I suppose I can see your point. Don’t worry, I know just the thing.”

**

They had sex. In Lucent’s shower. Cinnamon had never done that before, if only because her own showers were never really big enough to allow something like that. Lucent’s shower, on the other hoof… Well, they weren’t cramped for space, that was for sure.

Unfortunately, it also made them late for the supper, once they got themselves and one another dried off and looking relatively proper. Truthfully, Cinny was glad Lucent was there with her, since if she had tried to find her way through the mansion unaided, it was doubtful she would have found her way there at all. The corridors were very long and filled with doors, and there wasn’t any obvious direction to anything, really.

The dining hall was, well, a hall. If Cinny had to pick one word to describe it, she’d probably use ‘stereotypical’. It looked like something out of a movie, with a long, polished wood table down the middle with seats on both sides and at the end. The walls themselves had a number of paintings, many of whom were unicorns (or, occasionally) other ponies. Almost all of them looked ancient, and none of them depicted any pony Cinny suspected was still alive, except, of course, for a couple of relatively small paintings depicting the Princesses. It was generally considered bad luck, as she recalled, among the older nobility to have portraits done of herdmates until they had died, although she had no idea why that was.

It really wasn’t surprising that everypony had already started eating by the time the two of them slipping into the room, but they all stopped and watched them as the door shut behind them. They weren’t, mostly, unfriendly stares, of course; Twilight and Crincile both smiled and waved at her as she entered, and Cadance gave her a knowing smirk as the princess caught her eye.

“I hope you saved room for supper,” Star said as Cinny took her place. As the newest mare in the herd, Cinnamon had to sit at the head of the table with Star, the lead mare, while Lucent sat on her left-hoof side. She would have rather have sat elsewhere, but tradition was tradition, and it was only temporary, for a few days or so.

“Um, pardon?” Cinny asked as she sat down and tried not to drool over the food before her. It looked vaguely like a salad, except most of it wasn’t green. But it did smell awfully good. Given she had been late, she had no idea when she’d be allowed to eat—considering every other pony had stopped—so she decided to wait until Lucent started to eat.

“Well, we wouldn’t want you to have filled up on Lucent’s seed, would we?” Star said, sounding and looking impish. There was a low-key chuckle from the other ponies at the table, but Cinny just felt herself blush. Grained, these ponies were her herdmates, and she had done more or less the same to most of them, but… “Well, enough of that,” Star added, and picked up her glass of wine with her magic.

Before Cinny could think or move, one of the servants—a Donkey from the smell of his foreleg, appeared out of nowhere and poured wine into her glass, while another did the same with Lucent’s. The sudden appearance of the servant made her flinch, but Lucent just smiled and licked his lips as his glass filled up. When the servant withdrew, Lucent’s horn lit up and lifted his glass up as well.

It only took her a moment to realize every pony was doing the same, and apparently, she was in for a toast. So she did her best not to fumble her glass as she picked it up with her hoof.

“I’m not one for tradition,” Star said, “so, welcome to our herd, Cinnamon Swift.”

As the ponies around the table tapped their glasses, Cinny found herself blinking in surprise. It had probably been the first nice comment the mare had said to her in all the time she had known her. Part of her wanted to believe Star really was being sincere and wanted her to be in the herd, but the other part of her, the cynical side, felt that it was more likely that Lucent had just put her up to it or she was just doing it because she was lead mare. It really seemed unlikely that Star would have a change of heart, and it wasn’t as if Star wasn’t… the same way, with the other ponies in the herd. Twilight and her were always fighting over something, when they weren’t just pointedly ignoring each other. Over what, Cinny had no idea.

She might be young, but she knew better than to stick her hoof into that bear trap.

Sincere or not, though, the rest of the meal passed quickly and without anything big happening or anything falling apart. In a lot of ways, she was the center of attention, but the fact that Shining and Cadance were both there as well drew at least some of the attention away from her. It let her relax without being too overwhelmed. It was, in all, a pleasant meal, and Cinny probably ate better than she had ever done before she had met Lucent.

After the meal was finally done—Cinny had never seen so many courses—the whole herd, herself included, retired to one of the many sitting rooms. Like the one in the townhouse, the place was big and full of interesting and exotic items, but unlike the townhouse, it wasn’t so cramped that Cinny felt like it was a storage room and not a place for family. She had taken to laying out next to Twilight on some sort of sofa, while the mare helped her filly read.

Well, sort of. Twilight was, in theory, reading to Guiding Light, but mostly the filly was doing the reading while Twilight acted as cushion and seat all in one, and helped her hold the book up. It looked quite heavy and old, probably from the family’s personal libraries.

Still, it was a nice sight to relax to—Cinny was technically using Twilight as a pillow too, but the older mare didn’t seem to mind—while she digested her meal. Maybe having a foal wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Then Lucent got up and cleared his throat.

“Well, I can’t say I don’t enjoy welcoming somepony new into the herd,” Lucent said, drawing everypony’s attention to him. Cinny smiled sheepishly at him. “Because my father always told me never to lie.” Lucent grinned quickly before dialling it back to just a smile. “So, welcome to the herd, Cinnamon Swift. I’m sure over the next couple of days we’ll be saying that a lot—“

“I don’t think what you’ll be doing falls under the definition of ‘speech’, Lucent,” Cadance quipped, causing Cinny to snort—and her wings to stiffen slightly. Ah well, looked like the reprieve from that was over. The Princess was occupying the only love-seat in the room with Shining, and the two seemed perfectly content—although clearly no less aware.

Lucent chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, well, that’s true enough. I do have something else I wanted to say though—”

“Actually, there’s something Cadance and I wanted to bring up as well,” Shining interrupted. Cinny noticed the stallion and Cadance exchange a look, as if they were having a private discussion between them. Then they shared a small nod and tried to get back on their own hooves.

If Lucent was perturbed by this turn of events, he didn’t show it, rather he stepped away and allowed Shining—and Cadance—to take his place as center of attention.

“We were thinking of holding this off until after we got back from the Gryphon Kingdoms,” Shining said, pausing only for a second to look at his mare. If the fact that the two ponies were going to be heading into the heart of the Gryphon territory was news, none of the other ponies in the room seemed surprised. Of course, that wasn’t the actual news.

“We’ve decided to get married,” Cadance said with a wild grin.

There was what Cinny could only call a stunned silence. She had only ever heard the phrase in books and never experienced it herself, but it was quite something. After a moment, the two ponies’ eagerness started to wear off. It was easiest to see in Shining, of course, as his grin turned to a half-smile, and then to something resembling the stony face Cinny had only seen on guards. Cadance, on the other hoof, maintained her smile, but somehow it dimmed and became dull without actually changing after a couple of moments.

Marriage was relatively unusual, but if that’s what the two of them wanted, to officially tie their hearts and souls together, well, that was up to them. Besides, both of them had been really nice to her in the short time she had known the two of them.

“Congratulations,” Cinnamon cleared her throat and struggled up into a more dignified position. She was really going to have to watch how much she ate, if every meal was going to be like that one. “The two of you will be very happy together.”

“Thanks!” In a heartbeat, whatever had disappeared from Cadance’s face resurged, twice as strong as before, and Cinny couldn’t help but grin in return. Shining’s smile didn’t reappear as quickly, and he kept glancing at—

“Oh, shut up, child,” Star snapped, glancing at Cinny. She couldn’t tell if she meant her or Cadance or both. “What’s this nonsense about getting married?”

“But mother,” Shining said at once—he had probably be expecting this. “I love Cadance, and besides, marrying into the Crown means we’ll—”

“So?” Star made the word into a curse. “It’s bad enough I had to endure Lucent marrying Crinkle here—”

“Crincile, Star,” the mare in question corrected with an air of futility.

“—but there was nothing I could do about that,” Star snapped as her horn lit up. Twisting her head, Cinny managed to notice, and dodge, a fast moving decanter of what looked like rum. Somehow Star had managed to find herself a glass, and took a quick shot. “I’ve gone through this backwards crap once already, I’m not going to go through it again!”

“I think attending another marriage could be fun,” Crystal Glimmer said, sounding a bit excited. Cinny noticed Twilight nodding, but she didn’t seem as certain as Crystal sounded. Star, perhaps naturally, ignored both ponies.

Shining opened his mouth to say something—Cinny suspected it would probably be something most of the ponies involved would regret—but before he could, Lucent stepped between Star and his son and fiancé, and murmured a quick something to both of them. It was low enough that most ponies in the room couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it wasn’t so low that Cinny couldn’t.

“Shining, Star, can we please not do this now—yes, I know,” Lucent’s voice was soft and weary. “Star, we did this enough times when I was getting married.”

“Good, so you should already be well acquainted with what I’m going to say. I’d hate to waste the—”

Cinny rubbed her face with her hoof, and realized Cadance was looking at her with a sad-looking smirk on her face. It took her a second to realize the Princess’s ears pointed towards the arguing threesome as well. Was Alicorn hearing as sharp as Pegasus hearing? She shook her head. Questions for later.

“Fine, Dad,” Shining was saying as Cinnamon refocused her attention. “I’m sorry I yelled, Mother.”

“It’s alright, Shining,” Star said in a normal voice, before waving Shining off and returning to her seat.

Shining went back to Cadance, and the two of them pressed their muzzles together briefly, before returning to their seat as well, while Lucent looked suddenly rather tired.

“Well, congratulations, you two,” Lucent smiled, but his voice sounded less than energetic. “I’m sure it’ll be quite the event.” Lucent paused and smiled a bit brighter. “Now, for my bit of news. I know most of you weren’t expecting Cadance and Shining here, but I just happened to run into them while I was holding Court with the Princess—Princesses, rather. I won’t bore you with the details, but after all was said in done, Celestia gave me—” There was a flash of light and two golden tickets appeared in his magical grasp. Cinny’s eyes grew wide. Everypony in Canterlot—if not Equestria—knew what those were. “Two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“OH!” Crystal said. The Earth Pony jumped out of her seat like she had sat on something hot. “Pick me! Pick me! I want to go!”

“I—” Lucent began, but Scintilla cut him off.

“I can only imagine the sorts of contacts I can make at the Gala,” she said, rubbing her hooves together. She was excited, of course, but apparently, not in the same way Crystal was. “Do you think the dragons will send an envoy? I know the last bunch didn’t work out so well but—”

“I need to meet ponies too!” Crystal shot back, stopping in mid canter and slamming her hoof down on the floor with a crack. As an Earth pony, it was enough that the room gently shook.

“It’s just been forever since I’ve been in the spotlight, Luci,” Glint’s sigh was low and breathy, somehow managing to sound sexual and needy. “Why not me? We could have a colt’s night and—”

“I’m going to bring Cinnamon,” Lucent had to raise his voice over the din, which was swiftly followed by another shocked silence. “We get these tickets every year, and we always fight over who gets to go. As our newest herdmember, I think I should take you, Cinny.”

“Uh,” Cinny tried to gather her thoughts. The Gala was probably the biggest party anypony could want to go to, at least it was in Equestria. On the other hoof, it wasn’t like Cinny was fitting in too well in high society either, and the Gala was as high society as a pony could get. Plus, she wasn’t sure it was worth the trouble with the rest of the herd. Twilight looked thoughtful—and Guiding Light, despite everything, had fallen asleep—but Scintilla was frowning at her, which was nothing compared to the expression Crystal was giving her. Even Glint’s expression wasn’t that friendly. The only ponies that apparently didn’t care were Cadance and Shining—who were having a private whispered conversation in their love seat—and Star. But the latter was to be expected.

“I… I don’t think so, Lucent,” Cinny said finally, managing to hold in her sigh. “Thank you for thinking of me, though, it means a lot.”

“Oh,” Lucent’s face fell. “Why?”

“Pff,” Crystal jumped up, looking eager again. “She said no, so the logical choice would be me! And—”

Crystal’s voice cut off, although Cinny could still hear her mumbling against her lips. But her mouth was being held shut by somepony’s magic, although she still hadn’t managed to clue into which colours belong to whom. Still, it only took a second to glance around the room, and to her surprise, it was Star’s doing.

“I just don’t think—I mean, it’s not like I have a dress or anything,” Cinny said, trying to explain herself. She shrugged.

“I really would like for you to come with me, Cinny,” Lucent said, “I want you to meet my daughter.”

“Huh?” Cinny tilted her head, not quite following Lucent’s logic.

“Twilight never goes to the Gala, Lucent,” Star said pointedly. At least she sounded a bit calmer with a bit more alcohol in her system. “Ever.”

“Ah,” Lucent nodded, first to Cinny, and then to Star. “Yes, but you see, that’s why Celestia pulled me aside. Apparently, she is going this year, along with all her friends. The other Element Bearers, that is.”

“What.” The only Element Bearers that Cinny knew of were the ones that defeated Nightmare Moon… The ones she had written a book about. An erotic novel about…

“I know I didn’t really get to see much of Twilight, in recent years, what with her being busy with her studies and all,” Lucent said with a forlorn sigh, “but I miss her—and I’d like for you to meet her, Cinny, I think you’d have a lot in common.

Twilight. As in Twilight Sparkle. Cinny felt a headache building behind her eyes and she tried not to frown too severely. Of course. Of bucking course. It was right in front of her the whole time—how did she manage to miss the fact that she was dating Twilight Sparkle’s bucking father? Oh sweet Celestia’s behind, she really wished she could go back in time and slap herself silly. She wanted to scream or swear or something.

Of course, she couldn’t go and do any of those things, so she just smiled sweetly, and said: “Well, when you put it that way… I’ll think about it.”

Author's Notes:

Originally written as a a single chapter, I had to break this next section into two chapters, the second of which I'll post tomorrow or monday.

You may have noticed that the title has changed, this is mostly because I realize that not including the 'Xenophilia' title in it was probably leading to a fair amount of confusion. That's why I've also decided to remove the 'excerpts' of Cinnamon Swift's book. It's possible once I've written everything I'll go back and add them back in place.

There's probably a great number of spelling errors, as this often seems to be my bane, but I've had multiple people look over it several times, so hopefully the worst of it is gone. But if you see anything, feel free to point it out.