Cinnamon Swift, her mother had told her when she was growing up, never let your stallion see you cry. That was always her way of explaining why Cadmium Dash, one of Cinny’s herdmothers, locked herself in the bedroom closet before crying. She had left the herd after a few months of those crying episodes, but Cinny had never really understood why. Until now.

Cinny didn’t really have a closet.

Oh, she had a room where she could store her clothing, of course, but the room was only slightly smaller than her bedroom in her old apartment, so it didn’t really feel just right to even call it a closet. Therefore, she ended up on the bed, trying not to cry too loudly while she let the tears out.

She was going to lose everything.

Losing the material things really didn’t bother Cinny as much as the fact that she was going to lose Lucent and Twilight and Crincile and Glint and Scintilla... she was even going to lose Crystal and Star, and neither mare really seemed to like her very much. But the… idea of having any of them angry at her, of never seeing them again...

Well, that’s why she had excused herself to her room so she could cry it out.

Her… her herd of course didn’t know that was what she was really up to, since she had begged off staying up longer with the other ponies by saying she had to unpack. Which was true, but she hadn’t bothered touching the boxes or bags by the front door. She probably shouldn’t even try, considering she’d probably be homeless once they found out.

Her first thought was, perhaps they wouldn’t find out? She could always just tell Lucent she wasn’t interested in going to the Gala, which was only sort of partly a lie. She didn’t think there was a filly or colt alive that hasn't, at some point, dreamt about going to the Gala. Some part of her still wanted to go, even though she was a grown mare and knew full well she probably wouldn’t fit in. But that would only really delay the inevitable.

Even if Twilight—or Celestia forbid, one of the other Element Bearers like Rainbow Dash or Applejack, who probably wouldn’t take too kindly to being stallions in the book—didn’t find out, it wouldn’t surprise her if one of her herdmates did. Even if it wasn’t their forte, several of them had expressed interest in reading the novel once it was published. That is ignoring the fact that Lucent certainly would. Somepony was going to find out, and everything was going to fall apart.

Cinny rubbed her eyes with the back of her fetlock. It was ironic, if she hadn’t been in such a rush to get published, to get known and established, she probably would have met Lucent, and through him, Twilight Velvet. She probably have been more than willing to help get an editor to take a second look at her more original stuff, give it a better chance. She had the sort of connections she needed.

Maybe she should just grab her things and slip out. She didn’t want to hurt anypony, but she figured she was probably going to end up doing that anyway. Although, she had no idea where she’d—

Her ears perked up and after a second or two of silence, Cinny heard it again, a faint knocking. Well, the knocking probably wasn’t faint so much as her rooms were so large that it wasn’t easy to hear. Somepony wanted to come in. She hesitated, thinking. It was, technically, her first night in the herd as a full member—she couldn’t help but bark a bitter laugh at that—so if it was anypony, it would probably be one of her herdmates, checking on her and trying to get her into bed.

She couldn’t help but bite her lip a little at that. She probably could use the companionship right about now.

Still, it wouldn’t do for them to realize she was crying, so she wiped her eyes again and took a couple of slow breaths before crawling out of the bed. With luck, her eyes wouldn’t be too puffy or red.

It took her a moment to cross the space between the side of her bed and the doors that led to… Cinny wasn’t sure what the proper term was, but given the various seats and small tables, she had taken to calling it a sitting room. That room was connected to the doors that led to the hallway, and by the time she had reached the door, the visitor was on her fourth or fifth knocking session.

Cinny took another deep breath, and pulled the door open.

“Hello,” Cadance said as her lips curved up into a smile. What was a Princess doing here? At her room? “Can I come in?”

“Uh,” Cinny said, feeling a bit numb. She wasn’t sure she really wanted to entertain a Princess. Firstly, she had no idea how, and secondly, she really wasn’t in the mood to spend the evening fidgeting nervously and trying her best to not get thrown in a dungeon for insulting her.

Cadance’s smile seemed to take on a bit of a softer edge, and she tilted her head a bit. “Don’t think of me as a Princess, just think of me as another mare.” Cadance looked thoughtful for a moment, before her crown levitated off her head and she tucked it under her wing. “Better?”

“I…” Cinnamon sighed, and sidestepped before gesturing with her wing for Cadance to come in. Another mare? Yeah right. Next she’ll be telling her Celestia goes to the washroom and puts her horseshoes on one at a time.

The Princess didn’t wait to be offered a seat, which was good because Cinny had no idea how to do that, and sat down on the biggest couch. Cinny was about to sit in one of the other seats when Cadance patted the spot beside her with her hoof.

Part of her wanted to refuse out of irritation, but after a second’s hesitation, she accepted the offer taking a seat on the opposite side of the couch so she wouldn’t violate the mare’s personal space. that lasted about five seconds before Cadance pulled her into a hug.

What.

It took Cinnamon about five seconds to do anything, which in this case was flinch in surprise and let out a squawk of protest. “W-what are you d-doing?”

“I believe the common ponies of Equestria call it a hug,” Cadance said with a wink.

It took her a moment to realize that Cadance’s grip wasn’t exactly vice like. If she really wanted to get out of her legs and wings, Cinny probably could do so with ease. On the other hoof though… it was sort of nice. “Why?” Cinnamon asked, after a second. Hopefully it wasn’t going to turn out that she and Cadance were supposed to have sex or something, because she was a princess and Cinny was the new mare in a noble herd. There were all kinds of rumours about the decadence of the older noble families, but she rather doubted that one. Never mind the fact that Cadance was supposed to be the alicorn of love.

“You looked like you needed it,” Cadance said simply. “You seemed rather upset when you left us to go…” Cadance’s gaze flicked to the stack of untouched boxes near the door, and she smirked, “unpack.”

Cinny frowned. She could have sworn she had done a better job of hiding it. Still… “Thanks.”

“Not at all,” Cadance’s legs slackened and Cinny struggled up to an upright position. “Want to talk about it?”

“No,” Cinny said at once and perhaps too quickly, earning a curious look from Cadance. Part of her wanted to talk to Cadance, explain her fears about how she didn’t fit in and now, because of her own stupidity, she was probably going to lose everything she had gained. The latter part she certainly couldn’t bring up, since Cadance was Shining’s fiancé, and unless she missed her mark completely, both she and Cadance were rather close to Twilight Sparkle. Telling her about Elements of Love would be like going and telling Lucent right then and there. At least her boxes were already packed. Maybe just getting a few of her concerns off her chest would be helpful though.

“I mean, I guess. I don’t know.” Cinnamon paused as Cadance quirked an eyebrow at her, before gesturing to the room. “I see stuff like this, and all I can think is, I’m not going to fit in. With Lucent. Or even the other mares… I mean, I know they’re not all nobility but—”

“You’ll fit in fine,” Cadance said with an airy flick of her wing. “Lucent is one of the most down to earth individuals I’ve met, and besides Crincile the other mares aren’t really that different from you.”

“But…”

“I know it seems scary, and yes, you’ll probably make a few mistakes or whatever, use the wrong fork or stuff, but that’ll come in time,” Cadance continued. “Star doesn’t typically stick to protocol when she can get away with it either. Moreover, Lucent’s a duke, and you’re a duke’s herdmate. Nobles like Lucent tend to be far more laid back about this sort of stuff than what you might expect, Cinnamon. Most ponies think Auntie—Celestia that is—would be stern and cold, but she isn’t. There’s no need for her to be because she’s already at the top.”

“Oh,” Cinny wasn’t sure if she really believed her. Even if Lucent rolled around in the mud all day, he’d still be a duke, and she’d still be a pegasus who half the time can’t fly anywhere.

“You doubt me,” Cadance said with a smile. There was no accusation in her voice, but it still made Cinny flinch.

Cinny nodded slowly.

“Let me tell you a secret,” Cadance leaned in close and whispered in Cinny’s ear, her hot breath causing Cinny to shiver. Also, her breath smelled like minty chocolate. “I used to be a pegasus, like you.”

“What?” Cinny couldn’t believe it. Ponies couldn’t just… become alicorns, could they? For a brief moment she imagined herself with a longer frame and great big pointy horn coming out of her forehead. She almost laughed aloud.

“It’s true, but it only happens rarely,” Cadance said, “sometimes we refuse the title, or an alicorn will use magic to appear normal. And so on.” Cadance looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head. “My point being that I was once in your position too, going from a filly to princess overnight. It was hard, but I survived, and so will you.”

“I… I guess. Thanks,” Cinnamon agreed. Of course, Cadance had no idea that she had written something that was probably going to get her thrown out of the herd. Then again, if she wasn’t in Lucent’s herd, she wouldn’t need to learn how to pretend to be a noble either. “Thanks for talking to me, Princess, I guess I…” Cinny shrugged unhappily.

“Call me Cadance,” she said, her lips twitching, “Is there anything else you’d like to talk to me about?”

Cinny opened her mouth to refuse, when a question occurred to her. “Why are you doing this at all, erm, Cadance? I mean, we don’t really know one another…”

“True,” she admitted, running her hoof through her tri-colored mane absentmindedly. “The Crown has always been close to the Noctis Family, going back to when Nightmare Moon was defeated and—” Cadance caught her eye as Cinny tried to hide a yawn. She really wasn’t yawning because she was bored, but the princess seemed to take it as such. “That’s beside the point, I suppose. I guess in some ways, I feel like I’m sort of an unofficial member of Lucent’s herd. He was always good to me when I was growing up… Plus, I like you.”

“Oh.” Cinny couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t a particularly useful answer.

“But don’t try to change the subject; is there nothing else you’d like to talk about?” Cadance’s lips twitched as if she was trying to resist grinning.

“Not really,” Cinny lied.

“Oh?” Cadance smirked, “So you’re okay with possibly meeting Twilight Sparkle, whom just happens to star in a rather erotic novel you’re having published?”

Cinnamon Swift felt her heart stop and her eyes go wide as she did a passable imitation of a goldfish. Part of her brain started to wonder how solidly those windows were set in their frames, and if she could fly faster than Cadance…

Cadance looked at her levelly, or tried to, since her smirk was sort of marring the effect. Cinny stared back, and after what felt like forever forced out a reply that was supposed to be ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, good pony,’ but came out sounding more like a cross between a grunt and a squeak.

“Okay, I’ve had my fun,” Cadance’s smirk dropped and she looked more concerned than amused now. “Does it help if I say I’m not mad?”

“Uhhh,” at least she sounded less like a dumb horse this time. Finally, after several tries, she got out, “H-how do you know?”

“Well,” Cadance’s horn lit and there was a popping sound as a copy of Elements of Love materialized in her telekinetic grip. Whereas Cinny’s copy of the book was well-treated and cared for, this copy looked worn and older somehow. It mostly looked well read. “I suppose you could say I’ve been enjoying my copy…” Cadance licked her lips and let the book fall into her hooves. “I'm the owner of Warm Times Publishing, my little pony.” Her grin turned wolfish, “and sometimes editor too.”

“Wait, you’re Platinum Corona?” Cinny said as her brain finally decided to make the connection for her. She had been communicating with a pony named Platinum Corona for months, slowly working to improve her novel to the point of publishing, but she had never met her. It didn’t really surprise her, she hadn’t expected to meet with her… although now she was wondering if she should have been a bit suspicious.

“Indeed,” Cadance gestured with her hoof, and mimicked a bow, “at your service. I’ll say I rather enjoyed your novel. Your grammar, not so much.”

Cinny grimaced—she didn’t need to meet her editor face-to-face to know that much. However, that left her with another pressing question:“Aren’t you… mad?”

“Mad?” Cadance echoed, sounding a bit lost. “Because…?” the alicorn blinked as realization overtook her before Cinny could explain. “Oh, I see, you mean because you wrote an erotic novel featuring my friend?”

“Err…” And here she thought Cadance had only foalsat for Twilight Sparkle. “Yeah.”

“Not particularly,” Cadance said at once without the slightest hint of hesitation. “You’ve written a story where Twilight goes out and finds friendship and love, what’s there to be mad about?” Cadance smiled warmly. “But I’m guessing you’re thinking more about the erotic parts.”

She nodded, and did her best not to look at her hooves to avoid Cadance’s gaze.

“No, not really.” Cadance’s hoof reached over and forced Cinny’s muzzle up towards her. “Sex, after all, is a part of love, yes?” Cinny wasn’t sure what to say. Of course, but that didn’t mean Twilight—or her birth herd—was going to be happy about it. “I’ll grant you that Twilight will probably be a bit… peeved, I suppose, about it, but in the end I think it’ll do her good.” Cadance smile widened a bit at Cinny’s expression. “Sometimes I think she forgets there’s more to life than books—maybe if she sees herself in a book, doing those sorts of things, she’ll think about dating again. Did you know the last time she was in a herd was when she was in school?”

Well no, Cadance, of course she didn’t know that. She didn’t even know she was dating Twilight Sparkle’s birth herd until a few hours ago. Cinny resisted the temptation to roll her eyes.

“Maybe,” Cinnamon said noncommittally. Oh sure, that’s how she’ll sell the idea to her herd. She was just helping Twilight get laid. Community service and all that. Yeah, of—or… “Maybe, but maybe we should just… stop the presses?” Is that even the proper term?

“Don’t you want to be published?” Cadance asked, tilting her head as she looked at her. For some reason the expression of bemused confusion made Cinny want to scream.

“Of course I want to be published!” Cinny snarled as she popped off the couch with a flap of her wings. Thankfully, the ceiling in the suit was quite high, so there wasn’t much chance of her hitting her head. “I want to be famous or loved or whatever, but I don’t want to…” Cinny let herself drop back down onto her hooves with a thud. “I don’t want to lose my herd over this. I’d rather you just stopped it and I tried again with something else.”

“Mhmm…” Cadance muttered, looking thoughtful. “Have you talked to Lucent about this? Or Star?”

“No, I—”

“Maybe you should? I don’t think Warm Times is going to be happy with me if I tell them they need to recall a bunch of books they’ve already printed, many of which are already being shipped,” Cadance added. “You’re afraid Lucent is going to reject you, but I don’t think he will… He’s more of a lover than a fighter.” The alicorn smiled, then she blushed—an odd sight on somepony so dignified. “In some ways, he’s kind of a pushover.”

“Hey!” Cinny snapped as she jabbed her hoof at Cadance, “Don’t you talk about… him…” her voice trailed off as she realized what she was doing. And with whom. It was one thing to get in a mare’s face when she was badmouthing her stallions, but this was a bucking Princess! “…like that… err.” Her throat seized up as she tried to choke out a ‘sorry’.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cadance said, gently pushing Cinny’s hoof off her chest. “I should have spoken with more tact. Still, I doubt Lucent would hold a grudge.”

“What about the others? Or Star?” It was a large herd, of course, so it might be difficult for the herd as a group to decide whether or not she should get kicked out. Lucent was only one pony, even if he was the lead stallion of the herd, and Star already didn’t like her. Plus, she knew from the time she had spent with Twilight that Guiding Light was her only foal, which meant Twilight Sparkle had to be Star’s.

Different herds exercised power differently, and in some herds the lead mare had rather significant amounts of… well Cinny could only think to call it political power. But this wasn’t always the case—growing up, she had known fillies who came from herds where the idea of a lead mare wasn’t something they talked about, whereas her own birth herd had been, more or less, ruled by Updraft with an iron hoof. Cinny didn’t know how it was with Lucent’s herd though, mostly because that sort of thing was never discussed with outsiders.

When Cinny had originally been asked out by Lucent, she had assumed it was because his herd tended to be more progressive than not. Now, having spent some time with the herd, many of them—like Twilight Velvet or Crincile—seemed to be more traditionalist than anything else. Perhaps not too surprising, given that the nobility tended to be slow to change with the times.

“Star… Star’s a bit of a tricky pony,” Cadance admitted, rubbing her chin. “I wish I knew her a bit better, and my first instinct is that… well, she’s probably going to find the whole thing a joke.” She let out a sigh, “On the other hoof, she is a bit of a traditionalist, even if she would never say so.”

“How can you be a bit of a traditionalist?”

“By being Star Sparkle, apparently.” Cadance barked out a laugh. “Keep in mind I’ve only known this herd from the outside, and I don’t know Star as well as, say, Lucent or Twilight would.”

Cinny nodded. It was better than her big box of no knowledge whatsoever.

“She dislikes traditions, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t hold traditionalist views, so keep that in mind…” Cadance pursed her lips thoughtfully. “You’ll notice how she reacted, when I said Shining and I were getting married?”

“She said it was backwards thinking…” Cinny couldn’t see how that wasn’t progressive, although she didn’t really agree. Weddings were fun! Or so she assumed, since she had never had a chance to go to one.

“Oh yes,” Cadance agreed, a bit sadly, “but I suspect what’s really upset her is the fact that we went behind her back. Marriage, far more than joining a herd, is about power and things like inheritance.” Cadance shrugged. “It’s a bit like getting bucked in the face.”

“I guess…” Cinny hadn’t thought of it this way. It brought to mind the times Updraft hadn’t gotten her way. She had been too young to really understand what was going on, but she did remember the shouting.

“She pretends to be progressive, but deep down her rather—I’m sure you’ve noticed—dominating personality keeps the other mares in your herd in line.” Cadance looked slightly embarrassed, “if you’ll pardon my frankness.”

Sure, why not? She was a Princess, after all. Still, that left the opportune question.

“So you’re saying,” Cinny said with a gulp and a wince, “that I should go and talk to Star?”

**
Finding Star wasn’t as easy as it appeared. Even though Cinnamon would have preferred to get everything squared away as soon as possible—Or at least, that’s what she told herself. Truthfully, the idea of approaching any of the herd with her confession was rather terrifying on several levels but at the end of the day she told herself—repeatedly—to just pony up and get it done. However, she didn’t have much of a chance to seek out Star that very night, considering Cinny was trying not to be rude to the Princess.

Cadance didn’t stay too long, Cinny supposed, after dispensing her advice, but she did decide to spend some more time to talk about herself. It was only later when Cinny was leaning against the door and just trying to centre herself again that she realized Cadance probably had done so on purpose to give her time to figure out what to say and how to approach the mare. So she had sat down and done so.

The delay, plus the fact that it was getting fairly late and between moving and dinner and finding out about Twilight and crying her eyes out… the excitement had taken a fair amount out of her, so she planned on approaching Star in the morning, perhaps right after breakfast. It seemed a bit early for anypony to be drinking, which concerned Cinny a bit since having a bit of booze in her system seemed to even Star out a bit, but it’d be better than continually waiting all day for her to get drunk.

She planned carefully, selecting words and phrases she might use—going so far as to take detailed notes on her thoughts so she could study them in the morn.

It was a little bit distressing then, when she woke up the next morning and hurried down to the dining hall, only to find it empty of everypony except a half-asleep Lucent and the servants. At first she thought perhaps she was early, but then she noticed one of the donkeys taking away a used plate and a couple of forks.

“’mornin’,” Lucent mumbled, as Cinny cautiously pulled out the chair opposite him, with Star’s spot conspicuously empty between them. Cinny couldn’t remember seeing Lucent this early in the morning, except on the occasions he had spent the night in her grubby apartment. On those occasions though, the two of them didn’t exactly make any effort to wake up early. Lucent half-opened his eyes and groped for his coffee. He kept missing, and after a second or two of watching him struggle, Cinny leaned over and nudged the mug into the path of his questing hoof. Thank goodness he wasn’t trying to use magic on it!

“’hanks,” her stallion mumbled, before he disappeared behind the rim of his mug as he took a long drink of it. When he finally emerged, he looked noticeably better, although Cinny couldn’t help but notice that one of the servants—a unicorn this time—hastened to refill the mug. “Sleep well?”

“I guess,” Cinny said in a noncommittal tone. She had managed to fall asleep fairly easily, but she had also woken several times that night with nightmares. Not that she could remember what they were about, although she could guess her herd and their reaction featured heavily. For some reason she kept recalling some sort of dark-coated mare who was either an unicorn or a pegasus, who kept showing up too. “Where is everypony?”

“hrmp?” Lucent said, having just now received a newspaper from a servant and was perusing it. “Oh, work I’d imagine. I think Glint and Crinkle might have spent the night together though. They usually get breakfast in bed after that.” Lucent started and blushed, which made Cinny smile fondly at him. “Don’t…. don’t tell Crincile that I called her ‘Crinkle’, its bad enough that Star does that.”

“Sure,” Cinny said. Yeah, because I don’t have enough troubles without making you mad at me in other ways. “Speaking of Star… where does she work?”

“Eh? Oh, at the university. Canterlot University, that is,” Lucent took another deep drink and looked slightly better. “Not in the astronomy department though, in hippology and archaeology and… some other stuff I imagine. Knowing Star she’d gone and gotten another degree behind our backs and never said a word.” He shrugged and his eyes narrowed as he peering a little closer at Cinny. “Why?”

“Oh, uh,” Cinny hadn’t really expected everyone to wake up early and leave before she got a chance to talk anypony. So much for the idea that nobility lazed around all day. So naturally she had to think of an excuse right away. “I wanted… to talk to her. She is the lead mare, after all.”

Lucent snorted and shook his head. “She’d probably call it an outdated term, if she heard you call her that.”

“Even so… I mean, I don’t think she really likes me much, and, well…”

“I see,” Lucent took a bit of his breakfast, which was some sort of light salad, as he considered her words. As she watched, Cinny’ stomach growled.

Before she could think of finding the kitchens however, one of the servants placed an equally generous serving of salad next to her elbow without speaking. He—a rather handsome looking donkey, although Cinny wasn’t really into them—held up two different pots, clearly telling her to pick one without actually saying so. Cinny stared at him for a moment before murmuring ‘coffee’. Apparently, she wasn’t the only pony at the table struggling with cognitive processes that morning.

As she helped herself to generous helping of sugar and cream, Lucent came back to Equestria and started talking again.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” he said between bites, “after so many years, I guess it’s just difficult to tell when she’s being especially prickly towards somepony. I’m partly to blame as well, I suppose. I… err… never asked Star if it would be okay to approach you—not that I didn’t tell her!” Lucent hastened to add. “But not until after you had already…”

“Oh.” Cinny wasn’t sure if she should be mad or not. On one hoof, she was pretty much in the barn already over the whole Elements of Love thing, so if anything they were even. On the other hoof, however… Well, she wasn’t sure how she felt, but she knew she didn’t like how Star had been treating her. “Oh,” she repeated at last.

“Apparently she went and bought all the flowers the same colour as your coat for a week or so before our date,” Lucent added with a chuckle, not seeing Cinnamon’s twisted expression of mingled love and anger. “I didn’t find out until I went into her ice storage place and found it full of…” he finally realized Cinny wasn’t laughing with him and let his voice trail off.

Cinny let out a sigh. Stallions…

“I don’t know if talking to Star will do you much good, though,” Lucent said, as he got back on topic. “But she’s pretty malleable if you make the effort. She might respond better to straight sex though—”

It was rather unfortunate that Cinny had just taken a big drink of her coffee at that moment, and had to spend several additional moments suffering through her windpipe being scalded.

“And if anything she’s probably more pissed off at me,” Lucent concluded, pausing as Cinny coughed several times. “Are you alright?”

“Uh,” Cinny coughed and shook her head in a weak attempt to make the sensation go away. “Just went down the wrong way.”

Sex with Star… well, that was something to think of. It wasn’t that Cinny didn’t like sex, that much was obvious to anypony who spent more than five minutes in her presence, nor was it that she was opposed to sleeping with her herdmates, as some mares tended to be. After all, she had spent several nights with most of her herdsisters and Glint. But she hadn’t approached Star yet, although she suspected it might be breaking some small number of traditions or whatever by not sleeping with the lead mare.

She liked sex, but that didn’t make her a whore. Rude or mean ponies just made her cold, and Star seemed to be both. Still, Cinny thought to herself with a mental sigh, if it comes down to it, it couldn’t be too bad… right? For a brief moment, Cinny considered seeking out Twilight Velvet for her advice on the topic, since, of all the ponies, she was pretty certain that the grey coated mare was off somewhere with Guiding Light or working on one of her books. In other words, she’d be around. Then she remembered the Velvet wasn’t exactly friendly with Star at the moment, so that wouldn’t be of much help to her.

Talking to Lucent about sex with Star wasn’t really an option either. He was far more versed in foreplay than most stallions she had taken to bed, but he was still a stallion and she doubted he’d understand a mare the way another mare would. Oh well, she’d be flying blind, but she was already pretty much in the middle of a twister anyway.

“I have to try,” Cinny said at last.

“I understand,” Lucent gave her a small nod and smiled. “Don’t worry if it doesn’t work out, okay? I love you, even if Star struggles with it.”

“I…” Cinny’s heart seemed to leap into her throat. She probably wouldn’t react that way if it weren’t for the fact that she was keeping something so big from him. “I love you too, Lucent.”

“I missed you last night,” Lucent continued, “especially since it was… you know, your first night in the herd.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” Cinny dearly hoped she’d be able to, although she suspected it was going to take a fair amount of effort to make up for her other transgressions than just her missing sleeping with Lucent.

“I look forward to it,” Lucent grinned and it made the whole room seem a few shades brighter. “Oh, one last thing with Star, bring her a bottle of gin.”

**

Despite living in Canterlot for slightly over two years, Cinny had never been able to figure out if the buildings looked the same on purpose, or if unicorns were just particularly dull and uncreative when it came to architecture. While not every building had the same sort of high-strung style decked out in white and gold, a fair number of the structures did. Except, oddly, Canterlot University.

The University was nearly as old as the Royal Palace, but where the palace soared and looked as if created on whole by a single master artisian, the University was rather squat and spread out. Bits and pieces popped up over the years, and these days there always seemed to be some sort of construction going on, renovations, or both. Despite its haphazard and transitional nature, it still managed to project a certain aura of importance and stateliness. Possibly due to the massive statues of Princess Celestia everywhere—although, Cinny noted as lightly trotted through the main thoroughfare of the university grounds, several of them had been replaced with statues of Luna as well.

In some sense the whole thing was rather intimidating, but after two years, Cinny had mostly learned to ignore it.

Truthfully, she hadn’t expected to ever come back to the university, now that she had graduated. Without the university, she wouldn’t have met Lucent or fallen in with his herd, but on the other hoof she hadn’t exactly had the best experience with the school. Mostly because she had to struggle to get her pay out of them; perhaps, if they were going to spend all those bits on making a cloud-based telescope, they should have checked to see if there were any unicorns willing to actually go up and use it. For a bunch of ponies who made their homes on the side of a mountain, they seemed to be rather skittish around heights.

Still, it was familiar, just like her old apartment, yet the familiarity here made her feel out of place. It wasn’t her school anymore, and she didn’t belong. She had no tests to write, no papers to do… for all that it was the same, it was different as well. Thankfully, the halls leading up to the Department of Archeology and Ancient History were deserted. Apparently, the only ponies who could stand Star Sparkle were ponies who were already dead and long gone. It also happened to be in a section of the campus that, as far as Cinny recalled, she had only visited once or twice before, and never to that department’s offices.

It was quite the climb, but despite her nervousness keeping her wings limber—in spite of all the sexy young stallions and mares around her—she didn’t dare fly, since her wings were currently occupied with carrying her book. She also stopped and bought the best gin she could afford, and hoped it was the sort that Star liked. Or at least didn’t hate.

The halls of the department were pretty typical, full of wood paneling and tiled floors. Like all universities, it somehow managed to look both fancy and ill-maintained. As she slowed to a walk she couldn’t help notice the walls were long-since scuffed, and several of the tiles looked like they had dirt ground into them so often that they’d be forever dirty. As chair of the department, though, Star had an office near the middle of the floor, and one with its own waiting room. It was currently occupied by only two other ponies, one who was clearly the secretary for Star Sparkle: a rather bored looking stallion with a pale yellow coat. It was odd to think of Star, of all ponies, as having a secretary, but Cinny supposed he came with the office.

The other pony was a nervous looking pegasus stallion, who despite being fully grown and well muscled, looked more coltish than anything with the way he glanced around the room nervously. Somehow, he apparently didn’t notice her entering the room until Cinnamon sat down beside him. He didn’t look half bad, but her mind just wasn’t into it—and neither was his, apparently, as he continued to fidget and twitch, occasionally checking on the clock—and Star’s door.

She was about to open her mouth and ask the soft-yellow pegasus what he was waiting for, when the door creaked open and the pony jumped out of his seat and practically galloped into Star’s office before the secretary could finish saying ‘she’ll see you now.’

It was also then that the selfsame secretary apparently noticed Cinny as well, although all he did was cock an eyebrow at her questioningly without actually asking what she was dropping in for.

Cinnamon wasn’t sure how long she’d have to wait before the student was finished with Star, since it was starting to get near lunch and she hadn’t properly finished her breakfast before running out to catch a chariot back downtown. As it turned out, only five minutes had passed before the same coltish stallion dragged himself out of the office, looking all the world as if he had taken the thrashing of the lifetime. She had no idea what he had done, but it was clear Star was the source of the pony’s distress.

Of course, seeing the pony go away in tears and the secretary not telling her Star could see her now made Cinny realize she hadn’t gone and made an appointment in advance. For all she knew, Star wouldn’t see her at all.

“Penny Candy,” Star’s voice came from within the office as she trotted out and apparently addressed the pony in front of her. “I don’t suppose you’d like to get a…” Star licked her lips “…bite?”

“Not today, Madame,” Penny Candy said. His tone suggested he got asked the question a lot.

Part of Cinny wanted to swear at Star, or throw something, since it was pretty clear what Star was implying with this ‘Penny Candy’ character. The very notion that she’d go and sleep with somepony outside of the herd—presumably without the herd’s knowledge or consent—boiled her blood. It took her a few moments to calm herself done. Extra-herd affairs weren’t unusual with unicorns, and it was probably one of the things she’d have to get used to, if she was going to stay in the herd; after all, it was mostly made up of unicorns.

But if she ever caught Lucent in bed with one of the servants or something, she was going to break something. Possibly his balls. With the bimbo’s head.

“Besides,” Penny Candy continued as he pointed a hoof at Cinny, who in turn did her best to smile back. “Somepony else is here to see you.”

Star stared at her for what felt like a minute, with an expression that suggested she was having trouble placing Cinnamon at all. It didn’t exactly help her self-esteem.

“What are you doing here, Swift?” Star asked at last. Apparently she just wanted to make her feel uncomfortable. “You’re not one of my students,” the corners of the mare’s mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Or do you want to enroll and get a real job? Admissions are—”

“No,” Cinny said firmly. Or tried to. It seemed a bit weak-sounding in her ears, all things considered. Still, if she didn’t force the issue, Star’d probably continue baiting her and they’d get nowhere. “No, I… I want to talk to you. As, you know…” Cinny wasn’t sure if she could get away with calling Star the ‘lead mare’ or not. Whether or not Cadance’s information was good or not, Star didn’t seem to like the trappings of tradition, even if she liked what it provided her.

Star’s eyes narrowed slightly, giving her joking smirk a slightly more sinister edge than normal. Clearly, she had heard the unspoken title. “Very well, my little pony, step into my office.” Her voice was a mixture of sarcasm and condescension—referring to her as ‘her little pony’ was a very old way a lead mare would exert her dominion over the other ponies in the herd.

Still, there wasn’t anything she could do about it now.

While the outer office was cluttered with all manner of stuff ranging from various pamphlets and posters about university related things, it still maintained an air of being fairly well looked after. Star’s office was not exactly in the same vein.

The room was relatively large, but Cinny had the impression that Star might have used it as a bedroom once or twice at least. It wasn’t that it didn’t look like an office—if anything it looked almost stereotypical, with papers everywhere including on several of the chairs (which Cinny suspected Star brought into the room so a pony would have them to sit, only to eventually pile onto them with work). But there was also a couch that looked suspiciously well-used and clear of the debris that occupied the majority of the room. There was—naturally, given whom she was dealing with—a mini fridge and a liquor cabinet in one of the corners as well.

But what struck Cinny the most, however, was the fact that despite the obviously lived in and well used state of the room, there weren’t any pictures of the herd. Not of Lucent or Twilight, nor of her foals. In fact, if Cinny hadn’t already known Star had a herd, she wouldn’t have thought the mare to have one at all. It made her uncomfortable, since it was clear how Star treated the room: it was her escape.

Herds can be a lot of pressure at times, even when they’re well functioning and harmonious, so most ponies, whether by intent or by accident, tended to take a small slice off of the living area and make it some place they could retreat from the pressures of herd life. For Twilight Velvet, it was her study where she wrote all her stuff, for Crystal, it was the wine cellars, and so on. It wasn’t that the rest of the herd wasn’t welcome into those areas, but it generally wasn’t done. And Cinny was stepping right into Star’s with a problem about the herd.

She sat down as non-nervously as she could manage.

Before Star could speak, Cinny ducked under her wing where she was holding the peace offering, and yanked it out. She did her best not to shiver as it tugged against some of her more sensitive areas, and with an awkward twist of her neck, she dropped it onto Star’s desk. Star blinked at it for a moment, and wordlessly, Cinny nudged it closer to Star with her hoof.

“I take it Lucent told you to bring me something to drink?” Star asked, although Cinny decided to treat it rhetorically and licked her lips. “Wise stallion, that one,” Star added, then pulled the bottle towards her and produced two shot glasses out of nowhere, causing Cinny to blink in surprise.

Star’s ability to produce liquor and drinking implements out of thin air didn’t surprise Cinny so much as the fact that the mare clearly was intending her to drink with her. She hadn’t had gin before, and she was pretty sure you were supposed to mix it with something, not drink it straight. Yet within a couple of seconds, she found herself with a shot glass full of gin.

“Well then, to Lucent, the best stallion a mare could ask for!” Star saluted, and downed the shot in a single gulp. Then she sighed and poured herself another. “So, what sort of fresh dragon droppings are you about to drop on me, m’dear?”

This would probably be a good time to start talking again, Cinny decided, although she didn’t let go of her drink: she might need it in a few minutes. “Well… let me start off by saying I’m sorry…”

“That’s not good.”

“and I never meant to hurt anypony…”

Star downed her second shot and poured a third.

“er…” Cinny’s speech stalled. It was hard to think while Star seemed to be on the fast track to getting herself drunk while she talked. She didn’t want Star to be so out of it that she confessed everything and then Star didn’t remember a word of it the next day. Partly because she needed to do something now, but mostly because she didn’t need the stress of going through this again. Perhaps she should put something in Star’s hooves. “Read this.” Cinny pulled out her copy of Elements of Love and dropped it in the middle of Star’s desk.

For her part, Star frowned at the book as if she hadn’t seen one before. Of course, outside of the title, it wasn’t really clear what the contents of the story were. Most books had covers that lied, but this book had a cover that was vague beyond belief. After a second of staring at it, Star took a sip of her shot and opened it.

“So,” Star said sounding as if she hadn’t drunk two shots in rapid succession. “This is the mysterious ‘novel’—” Cinny could hear the scare quotes around the word “—you’ve been blathering on about for the past few months, Mmm?” She flipped the couple of pages. “You know I’m not going to… edit… it… uh huh.” Star’s eyes grew a bit wide as she started reading.

Cinny took a sip of her gin out of nervousness, and then had to spend the next five seconds trying not to spit the drink all over her host and her things. Sweet Celestia’s teats it was strong!

While Cinny righted herself, the office grew silent as Cinny tried not to make noise and Star read a number of pages. She couldn’t be sure where the pink unicorn had picked up, but when Star made a sound like a cross between a choke and a gasp, Cinny was certain she had come across one of the sex scenes.

Star started shaking, as if she was about to explode, and Cinny eased herself out of the seat so her wings were free, encase she needed a quick getaway.

Then Star burst out laughing. Cinny had seen Star laugh a number of times, mostly at her, but not like this. There was some sort of genuine gaiety in the way she threw her head back and her whole body shook. After a couple of seconds, Star’s magic broke and she was on the floor, still laughing. Cinny smiled half-heartedly at her, and waited for her lead mare to recover.

“Woo,” Star climbed back to her hooves, looking as if she needed to catch her breath after such a workout. “You… you wrote this?”

“I didn’t know Twilight was the herd’s foal,” Cinny said. It was best if she couched it in terms of the herd’s problem, rather than any one individual pony’s. “I… I wrote it before I even met Lucent. Only realized last night.” Cinny looked down at the half-drunk gin bottle and took a second sip of her drink. This time it was less of a fight to keep it down. “It’s going on sale really soon.”

“Let me get this straight,” Star said, as she settled herself into her chair. “You’ve gone and written smut about Twilight Sparkle, one of this herd’s members, my own daughter, and not only that, it’s going to be sold, I presume, everywhere in Equestria?” Her voice was no longer amused. “And you didn’t even realize Lucent was her father.”

“N-no.” Cinny tried and failed to keep her voice from wavering. “I didn’t think—”

“Didn’t think what? That Twilight was born? That she might have parents out there somewhere?” Star’s eyes narrowed. “That they might find out? Why are you showing me this, anyway?”

“I…I…” Cinny drank the rest of her gin. And reached across the desk and poured herself a second. She drank that too, before continuing. “I love Lucent,” Cinny declared, which felt rather off topic but good to say anyway. “I love him and I love this herd, warts and all!” Oh, clearly she couldn’t hold her liquor. “I just wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” Cinny fell silent for a moment and calmed herself. “I don’t want to leave.”

“You expect you can just walk in here, offer me gin and say you’re sorry?” Star asked sternly.

“You laughed! You thought it was funny,” Cinnamon grunted at her. “You can’t be mad at me! It’s against the rules.” Cinny wasn’t sure it was, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

“Of course I found it funny,” Star said, “you wrote clop about my daughter, of all ponies. I think that mare’s still a virgin.”

Cinny shook her head to try to focus her thoughts. Why did she think drinking was going to help with any of her problems? “I want to fix this, I want to apologize to the herd. Or something.” There was always a small chance that Star would say there wasn’t anything to apologize for and—

“Truthfully, there’s nothing you really need to apologize for.”

Huh.

“At least not to me. You need to apologize to Twilight Sparkle,” Star continued.

“Right.” Cinny nodded her head, perhaps a bit more vigorously than was strictly called for.

“Of course, the herd’s quite fond of Twilight, so you’re probably going to be out on your rump anyway,” Star finished with a mean looking smirk.

“W-what?” Cinny could feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “But I said I was sorry.” She stared across the desk at Star for a moment, trying her best to blink away her tears, although she wasn’t sure why. Star certainly wasn’t going to help her, she didn’t even like her! She was probably glad she was out of the herd…

Ultimately, it would come down to some sort of vote, but if the herd was ‘fond’ of Twilight as Star put it, there wasn’t much chance that they’d keep her around. Slowly, Cinny dragged herself out of the seat and turned towards the door. She didn’t even bother trying to take her book back from the mare. What was the point? She was screwed either… way. Mmm.

Cinny paused at the door, and steeled herself. She knew what she was going to have to do. She took a moment to dry her tears with her fetlock. Then she looked over her shoulder at Star, and moved her tail aside.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I… I can’t do?” Cinny asked, trying to make her voice sound light and flirty. Sometimes you had to give something to get something, and Celestia knew she had seen her birth herdmothers do the same. It wasn’t always this, of course, sometimes it was a romantic evening or jewellery or… Cinny bit her lip and gave her hips a shake. “Star?”

Star, for her part, had gone back to reading the book, which rather pissed Cinny off, given she was planning to throw her out over the darn thing. However, as she called her name, Star looked up with an irritated expression on her face, only for the expression to slide off like oil on water as she noticed what Cinny was doing.

Cinny winked at her.

Star blinked.

She forced herself to smile at the mare. It wasn’t easy. Nor was it easy letting Star have a full-on view of her behind and her… bits. Her pussy. It wasn’t that she was a particularly shy mare—goodness knows her high school teachers had wanted her to be a bit more modest at times—but she also wasn’t the sort of pony who just did it to anypony. Star wasn’t exactly Cinny’s first choice in bed. Not that they had a bed, now that Cinny thought about it.

The realization that they were, for all intends and purposes, in a rather public place made Cinny blush and she could feel her body reacting to the thoughts, with her pussy winking slightly and her wings stiffening at a rather alarming rate. It was so naughty, she couldn’t help but get turned on, even if it was with Star and not, say, Lucent or Twilight.

Or it would be with Star, if the mare ever got off her behind rather than staring dumbly at her flank. In the worst case scenario, she’d be offended by what Cinny was doing, but she couldn’t get kicked out of the herd twice. Right?

“Well,” Star said at last, then paused and took a sip of her gin. “I guess I can see what Lucent finds attractive about you.”

Cinny blushed a bit more, and she took a step backwards, bringing her behind closer to Star. “Wouldn’t you rather… see for yourself?” Her wings were almost painfully extended now—not to mention it was a rather embarrassing display if Star didn’t take the bait and she had to walk through the university halls like this.

As she watched, Star’s eyes flicked towards Cinny’s wings, then back to her behind. She licked her lips and set her shot glass aside, before pulling herself out of her seat and walking around the desk.

She gave her hips a shake again, but before she could do anything else to improve the ‘display’, Star’s horn lit up and suddenly Cinny felt something like a feather stroking on the inside of her thighs. It was gentle and the sort of thing only a pegasus could do. Or at least Cinny had thought so—Lucent certainly never touched her like this with his magic. She couldn’t help but half close her eyes and moan. It was almost as good as having the feathers under her wings stroked.

Star apparently took her moan as a signal to go further, and before Cinny could recover from the pinion brushing, she felt a warm puff of air against her cheeks and lips, followed by an equally warm and wet tongue. Star lapped against the flesh slowly, carefully (and cruelly, in Cinny’s mind) avoiding all the really sensitive areas in favour of teasing her.

Still, it felt amazing, and Cinny could feel her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Despite her misgivings, Star clearly knew how to work a girl up, how to make her feel. It wasn’t that Lucent was a bad lover, of course, but there were certain things only one mare could do for another.

On the other hoof, though, this wasn’t going to work if she was the only pony receiving any attention, so, despite what her instincts were telling her, against every pleasure-seeking reflex in her body, she stepped forward and out of the range of Star’s admittedly long and muscular tongue, and spun around. It wasn’t particularly graceful, and Cinny suspected it looked rather stupid, but she shoved her wing against Star and pushed her onto the couch.

The pink mare let out a startled sounding yelp, and ended up partly on the couch in a rather compromising position. Exactly where Cinny wanted her. Before Star could move or adjust herself, Cinny dove down onto her knees and buried her muzzle right between Star’s teats. With her nose literally tickling Star’s nipples—which were stiffening in interest—Cinnamon could tell Star certainly was a mother, at least some point in the past. Star wasn’t, to use the stupid phrase, ‘wrecked’, but her teats weren’t nearly as firm as most of the foalless mares Cinny had enjoyed over the years. She wore it well, though, and oddly it only made Cinny feel more aroused—as she could clearly tell by the dribble of liquid she felt running down her leg.

Cinny bit on the teat flesh oh-so-softly, eliciting a sharp gasp from Star, and a commanding hoof between Cinny’s ears, encouraging her to go on. So she did.

Alternating between nibbles and licks and kisses, Cinny worked her way around Star’s left teat in small circles until she came to the nipple itself. It was hard and dark against Star’s flesh. She teased it with the flat of her nose for a second before gently sucking on it. Star moaned in pleasure, and out of the corner of her eye Cinny saw Star’s hind legs twitch.

Cinny reached out with her wingtip and stroked along Star’s thigh like she had done with her magic, curving in a beeline for Star’s own pussy. It was a common misconception that a pegasi’s wing was completely immobile when he or she was aroused—they just weren’t good for anything except touching another pony softly and slowly.

Still, it wasn’t the best tool for the job, so Cinny shifted her muzzle, nibbling at the flesh between her teats as she moved towards Star’s behind. Like her own pussy, Star’s was opening and closing as if it was seeking a cock. Cinny didn’t have any cock, but she had never known a mare to object to her having a stern tongue lashing with their slit either. She wasted no time pushing her tongue into Star and licking the wet inner walls. Thankfully she wasn’t the sort of pony who had a particularly foul taste, and it was easy to lap up and just enjoy the moment.

To her surprise, though, it barely took any effort on her part before Star’s legs were shaking and her breath came out in short, halting gasps. It wasn’t a particularly great orgasm, but it was one, and it made Cinny smile; at least she had done something right today.

But a single orgasm wasn’t going to give her what she needed from Star, so Cinny gave the winking muscles a kiss and withdrew, returning to her lead mare’s teats and nuzzling them and breathing on them. With her already so sensitive, it was easy to push Star over the hill again into a soft rolling orgasm. She let Star rest for a moment before continuing.

Blindly, she fondled Star’s behind with her wing, stroking the sensitive lips with her feathers’ very edges, then moved on; she pulled back and started kissing and nibbling up along Star’s belly, chest, and neck, until she was more or less straddling the mare belly to belly.

While she could have done it without kissing Star, Cinny knew it she couldn’t hold back or make it seem like she was only doing it to get something out of the mare. So she nibbled up Star’s cheekbone and then—

Before she could kiss Star, Star kissed her, turning her head by surprise and nearly shoving her tongue down Cinny’s throat. It was sudden and surprising, and felt oh so good. Cinny had trouble focusing for a moment as Star’s tongue played against all the right spots, sliding up and down her tongue and cheeks. There wasn’t anything really romantic about it, it wasn’t like the sort of kiss Lucent and her would share—the differences between making love to a stallion and making love to a mare notwithstanding—it was raw passion, hunger and need.

It was so hot.

Cinny felt her pussy contract in not exactly an orgasm but in lustful need. She also felt another trickle of that need hurry down her legs and drip off her.

Star kissed her for a long moment before they broke it off, panting, giving Cinny time to move on to her goal: Star’s horn.

Everypony knew—or thought they knew—that a unicorn’s horn was an erogenous zone, and it was. There was always the chance that it would just be wasted effort on Cinny’s part, if it weren’t for the fact that Lucent had told her (after she had tried this out on him and failed to get a reaction) that Star was particularly sensitive in that area.

First she nibbled around the base of the horn, where it erupted from her forehead, and then slowly licked up the length of it, grabbing Star’s body with her legs and using her as leverage. Halfway through the lick, Star lit her horn and suddenly the sort of dull, slightly salty taste changed. It wasn’t her first time ‘tasting’ magic, and all of it had a faint o-zone taste or scent—she could never tell which—about it, but all unicorns had a slightly different flavour too. Star’s reminded Cinny of something sweet and fruity.

Star shivered and shook against Cinny, and she could feel Star’s breath on her neck as she panted in pleasure and let out a long, almost pained-sounding groan. It was sort of amusing to see such a proud, arrogant mare brought so low just by a pony licking her horn, but Cinny also had no desire to get Star to experience a ‘horn-gasm’ as they were known in some circles. Mostly because she hated the taste of it. So she let Star squirm for a couple of minutes, bringing her closer and closer, then pulled back at the last second and wiggled out of Star’s embrace.

It took her a second to reposition herself so her head was between Star’s hind legs again. It was, admittedly, a bit disappointing that her own body’s needs were going unattended, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. This was more about Star’s pleasure than anything mutual. If it worked, maybe she’d try swirling with the mare another time. So, with her hindquarters draped haphazardly over a pile of papers, Cinny flicked her wings and pushed Star’s legs apart with her hooves.

Star winked at her, and dribbled a bit more juice down her butt and over her pucker and tail, so the first thing Cinny did was lap that up. She used short, quick flicks of her tongue, moving closer to Star’s hungry looking pussy by inches, making sure to give every part of Star a good teasing wash.

For their part, the two of them had been mostly silent, and the few noises they had let out were fairly quiet, not the sort of sounds that travelled particularly far. This time, however, Star let out a whinny that Cinnamon was dead certain Penny Candy in the office—and any student who had shown up in the meantime—could hear, and for a moment Cinny froze.

Fear only seemed to enhance her own arousal—she hoped the papers her pussy was leaking on weren’t important, or that if they were the ponies they were important to wouldn’t mind them smelling like her juices—but it seemed to turn Star on as well. If the way her lips opened and closed rapidly, flicking droplets of her own fluids against Cinny’s nose was anything to go by.

There was only silence outside, so Cinny shrugged and pressed forward, against Star’s winking flower. She nosed it, letting her lips clumsily grasp and try to pull the flat of her nose, then she opened her mouth and licked against them. Star let out a moan again, just as loud as before, which made Cinny think she wasn’t holding back anymore. Good.

It took Cinny a moment to locate Star’s clitoris, but the hard, erect nub was throbbing and firm, ready for a few nibbles or licks. She gave her lead mare a few of both.

Clearly Star was far closer to coming that Cinnamon had imagined, since no sooner had her tongue snaked around and against her clitoris than Star let out what Cinny could only describe as a roar and spurted all over Cinny’s face. The walls of her vagina clamped down on Cinnamon’s tongue, but she didn’t let that deter her from continuing to lick and nibble every part of Star’s pussy she could reach while she came.

Eventually however, Star collapsed against the couch out of breath and Cinny knew it was over, so she gave the mare’s lips another kiss—which elicited a half-hearted clench out of the muscles—and stood up.

Star looked as if she was in need of a good grooming, with her mane and tail out of place and her body coated in various fluids, some half-dry, most not. Most importantly, however, she had a goofy sort of smirk or grin on her muzzle. Cinny grinned back.

“Clever,” Star said at last, “but I’ll have you know I’m not so easily bought…”

Cinnamon frowned and then stroked her pinion against Star’s sodden lips, making Star gasp and arch her back.

“Okay, okay,” Star gasped, as she eyed Cinny with her eyes half-lidded. “I… maybe I can help you… with… that book thing.”

She smiled. Obviously it wasn’t going to be easy, but if Star would support her, and help her, then she might survive the herd’s anger at her. Then she suddenly found herself flipped over and on her back, with her wings spread out flat against the floor. It took her a moment to realize Star had done the very thing Cinnamon had done to her, but with magic. Before Cinny could react, Star slid off the couch and draped herself on top of her belly, with her nose buried up against the joint where her wing met her flank. Cinny shuddered and let out a whinny of surprise and pleasure.

“But first, let’s talk about something else…” Star added as her teeth gently tugged on her feathers.

When Cinnamon Swift finally left the office an hour later, she found herself experiencing a strange mixture of glee and morbid embarrassment. Star was going to help her, and she had managed to scream far louder than Star had.