I sat back, half awake in my office chair. Wayne and the new foal Baux were sitting in my lap, a few other foals gathered around my legs. The foals from Transylmania were slowly easing in, Baux's wound healing nicely, the others slowly accepting the help I offered. The paperwork to head home to Vermont was slowly getting sorted, the passport photos fun as could be.

Exposing the foals to cameras was possibly the best introduction into technology they could have had, and oddly enough Feros had brought a human photographer back from Canterlot. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the man, Feros, even being a pony, was rather attractive. She was lean, her features sharp and her voice squeaky enough to be adorable but not enough to grate.

"Ben...." A tired voice cut the breathing of the foals. "Papers...." I looked up from Wayne's green head, finding Moon Light dumping a box onto my desk. "Nearly seventy passports...filed, checked out, record and bound in leather." She huffed, her white mane frazzled and loose. "Now...before you go, I think there's a matter we should discuss."

I nodded, "Just be quiet. Don't wake them." I pet Baux's ear, the blue maned filly covering her face with her hooves and snuggling against Wayne's belly. "Cute how they just hunt out warmth."

Moon scoffed, "Truly...but this really isn't a matter suitable for children." She tapped her hooves on the ground, "I think you--"

"About that night I promised you?" I asked in English, "Oh...sorry, about the--"

"Equestrian is fine...." Moon stated, "I know it's easier for you."

"Yeah...but the kids know English." I stated, rolling my neck, my hands wedged warmly between the foals.

Moon stared at me. "Equestrian."

"Same thing." I shot back, a bit of annoyance in my voice. "I mean honestly, not sure how it worked out, I mean Thestrali is a bit like Romanian, like noise wise. But it's odd that English and Equestrian converged so nicely."

Moon stared at me, defeated, and with a bit of tired sorrow behind her frown. "...Ben, please...I was up all night filing papers and I'd really like to spend that night with you. The last time I had sex was before your arrival, and I'm cold, tired, and would like to lay with something warm."

I looked down at my lap. "...Want some foals? They're pretty warm."

"Ben!" Moon shouted, "Please...just...polygamy is legal, so is extramarital copulation, and you promised me--"

I took a deep breath and reached around my desk. I found the buzzer I was looking for and leaned forward. "Harlem...can you get the sample over here?"

The small speaker box cut back in. "Office, left wing, right?"

"Yep."

"On my way." The perky courier shouted, leaving me sitting with Moon.

Moon looked around the office, flexing her wings a few times. "Sample?"

"Sperm sample." I clarified. I pulled my hands away from the foals, forced to tug my fingers out of Wayne's mouth. "I know what it's about, and as creepy as it is, I kinda like the idea."

Moon's face went sour, "...Ben...are you serious?" She propped herself up on my desk. "Perhaps it's a tie to the castle, yes, but it was also a bit of... I, you--it was earned, and you bit me, and you mounted me-- I'm owed a night!"

I stared at the bristling mare. "I'm married...and I'm going off my own laws now. Err, I'm rewriting the laws...."

"You can't just do that!" Moon shouted, leaning against the desk. "You made a parliament, you--"

"How long did that last?" I asked, thinking back to every session I sat through. "It's always each house arguing about where to spend money, and everyone stonewalling everyone else." I leaned back in my chair. "Except for the cow thing...beef is worth a little bit of sacrifice I guess."

"Damn the cows!" Moon shouted, clawing at her face with her hooves. "You can't just go back on your decisions like that!"

I shrugged, "Moon...I'm a count, in my county my word is law unless disputed by a duke or a king level person. Learn feudal infrastructure...bitch." I whispered my last word, sliding a raised middle finger into my hair. "...Wow that felt good."

Moon fell down the desk, her chin hitting the surface. "I was promised a night with you, and now that you're stronger than ever, more powerful, now that I might have had a chance instead of your wife...you say no."

"Whoa, what!?" I shouted, leaning far back in my chair. "You--"

"You're strong, you're...well, not exactly hansom--" Moon looked off to the side. "Human features haven't really grown on me, too thin and lanky."

"Ow, my pride." I grabbed my heart in jest. "But you're...Moon, what are you--"

"You know...I could have loved you." She stated, looking at her muzzle. "I wouldn't have tried to stab you in the back, I was honest with my attempt, and you prevailed. But no...you chose the lying, cheating animals that always win! They cheat, they fake, they claw their way into the castle each time! It's not fair Ben, it's not--"

I put my hands on her ears, holding them between my fingers. "...That's some really screwed up stuff you just told me." I rubbed her ears between my fingers, "But...I uh...." I looked around the room. "I love Foxglove, I mean, some times I can't tell you why, and there are times when I have to question it, but it's a gut reaction. She's sweet to the kids, she's given her body up for her family, even if they'd never really know her name past mommy. And yes, her real family, blood family, is rotten to the core, but so are all of you!"

"I'm not!" Moon shouted, shoving against the desk and looking towards me. "I was honest with you at every turn! Not once have I lied to you! Perhaps my truths were dangerous, perhaps you weren't in a state to make a good choice, but I was clear and truthful!" Moon shook her head, freeing her of my hands. "But you just...you--"

I pulled her onto the desk by her hooves, wrapping my hand around the back of her head and picking her up. I leaned forward, planting a heavy kiss against her lips.  It lasted only a short time before I broke away, pulling the mare against my shoulder and holding her head against my own. "I know." I pet her mane, rubbing her ears softly, "But it's not going to happen." I carefully picked her up, seating her on my desk. "I just need you to understand, it's not going to work. Now...are you going to be okay?"

Moon took a deep breath. "Am I not pretty? Do I sound odd?"

I frowned hard, "Moon, it's not about that. I made a promise to Foxglove, and I love that mare, I love her tone, her- maybe not all of her actions, but without her I wouldn't have met these foals, without her I wouldn't have been taken along for this ride, I would be sitting in Vermont, jerking off. For all the screwed up shit, the backstabbing, all of it, I'm...learning, growing from it." I turned to the passports, "But too much of this place is killing me, and I need a break. I want to go, leave this place for a time and enjoy some time with the mare I love, without her worrying about this place or about the stupid castle."

Moon lowered her head in defeat. "Love makes us do odd things, doesn't it?"

I took a deep breath. "It does. Now-" I carefully put the foals onto the desk before standing. I picked up Moon, dropping her in my place and slowly piling foals on her. "-relax."

Moon slowly settled into my chair. The foals returned to their tight knit balls on and around her, Wayne leaning chin up against her stomach. "Ben...I don't want this, I want you to--"

"Shh." I pet her head, "Relax."

Moon sat there, staring ahead. "Ben...I think I love you, or...I don't know. You leaving with notice hurts." She closed her eyes as I played with her ear. "When you left the first time, when you went to sleep for those months, it felt different, unavoidable, but this, it burns."

I leaned my head against her own. "Just a little too attached. Trust me when I say I'm not that special." I leaned back. "Did you want me to throw the sample away?"

Moon frowned hard. "...No, I'll take it." She carefully pawed at the foals. "Ben...if I come back to you, can you baby me?"

"Bab--"

"...I've seen...magazines...mares with pacifiers and--"

"Whoa- uh...." I looked away, Moon talking to me about things dangerously out of my league. "I'm not--"

"Please Ben...if not your mistress, then give me something." Moon whimpered, "I don't know why you do this to me, and I don't like it."

I turned away from her. "Gonna have to ammend those laws.... I slowly turned around to her. "Uh...so...about the night and all that, you can take it up with my wife...and if she doesn't bite your head completely off, I'll talk to her, and we'll see where it goes." I looked around my office, spotting a thick cotton blanket in the corner. "Until then, and until I come back, just relax." I swung the blanket around the ponies, making sure to cover them as much as I could without covering their heads. "Okay?"

Moon took a deep breath. "I don't know why it's bothering me so much.... Just, I don't like you leaving...not Transylmania, not me." She grew a bit red, "It didn't hit this bad until now...I don't like it."

I nodded, "I'm just leaving for a little while. Gonna leave you guys in charge while I'm gone, Pyrrhic's gonna sort out the laws, don't know about the rest but you'll figure it out."

Moon took a deeply shaken breath. "Ben, can you touch my ear again?" She lowered her head, "Or tuck me in...either way I need to feel you."