Derpy stretched her wings and her back, feeling her spine crackle. Sunlight streamed through the window and into the room, filling it with a golden light. With the coming of the sun, the terror of the night seemed to fade. She had not slept well after everything that had happened. And now, she was awake and aware. Bucky and Sentinel were sleeping together. Dinky and Piña were also up against his side.

“He’s going to be okay,” Bon Bon said soothingly to the grey pegasus.

“Where is Berry?” Derpy asked.

“Berry went off to talk to Keg Smasher as soon as the sun rose. She’s fine. All of your ponies are fine,” Bon Bon said reassuringly.

“Our colt is burnt,” Derpy replied with a hint of anger in her voice. The grey pegasus’ legs went stiff. “I wish I wasn’t a solar pegasus. I’d give up my ability to walk on clouds and manipulate the weather to go pick a fight with whatever remains of Sombra,” the mare growled. “I wanted to thank you… for last night,” she added.

“Think nothing of it,” Bon Bon replied. “If Sentinel wakes up, see that he gets a few more sips of whiskey. Not too much, but enough for him to dull the pain,” Bon Bon requested. “Berry Punch was a berry clever pony last night getting him to drink that.”

“Ugh, more puns,” Derpy grumbled, unable to rouse her sense of humour. She yawned and then disappeared behind the privacy barrier.

Bucky poked at his pease porridge and could not bring himself to eat it. He had learned to tolerate the bland dish and prefered fried oat cakes for breakfast. He actually liked those.

Except that this morning, they didn’t taste right either.

He leaned against the table and pushed his bowl away from him, which earned him the stinkeye from Derpy and Berry. His ears dropped and he cringed.

“After your magical outburst last night, you had better eat Bucky,” Berry demanded.

“I can’t,” Bucky protested.

“Feeling sick?” Derpy asked.

“No,” the stallion replied as he stared down at the table.

“Mouth hurting?” Berry inquired.

“A little, but that isn’t why I am not hungry,” Bucky answered. “Doesn’t taste right,” he muttered.

“Tastes like it always tastes. Horrible,” Berry grumbled.

“Neither one of you can figure it out, can you?” Thistle said. She wasn’t eating either. She could eat pease porridge, but it caused a great deal of distress in her stomach.

“What?” Berry replied.

Derpy looked at Thistle curiously but said nothing.

“Different teeth, different digestion,” Thistle said, baring her own fangs to try and make her point.

Bucky gagged and turned away from the table. The idea of eating flesh turned his stomach. He shuddered in equine revulsion and felt his mouth go dry. “I can’t even bear to think about it,” he muttered in disgust.

“Buckminster Bitters, don’t be a pig headed lout,” Thistle scolded. “You pull yourself together this instant. You and I are going to the lake and I am going to get you a fish for breakfast,” the kelpie commanded.

Bucky stared at Thistle in shock and surprise.

“And Sentinel is coming with us,’ Thistle said.

“Give us a chance to finish up, we’re coming as well,” Berry said.

Sentinel yawned and turned his head after hearing his name. “Fish?” he asked sleepily.

“I will get you both a fish,” Thistle promised.

Thistle stood at the water's edge and cast a glance back at the ponies in the grass. Bucky was sitting and watching her, which made her feel a faint rush of heat in delicate places. Derpy was laying in the grass and Sentinel was sprawled out over her back half asleep. Berry Punch was sunning her belly and rubbing herself.

She stepped into the shallows, walked to deeper water, and felt her magic take hold. There was a tingle in her belly and her hips and she could feel her hind legs merge into a tail. Long fins formed on her front legs. The living plants of her mane flowed out into the water behind her and she could feel the sunshine flowing into her through her mane. Gills formed just behind her jaw line. She swam through the water in the same way that a pegasus soared through the air, with speed and grace.

Her ears changed as she submerged, now used more for feeling vibrations in the water and not so much for hearing. Even with her large pregnant belly, she was swift and graceful in the water. On land, she was becoming a bit slow and wobbly.

It didn’t take long. She caught the first fish she needed and headed back to the shoreline. She pulled herself into the shallows, still in mer-pony form, and tossed the fish ashore. She watched as Sentinel slowly rose and stumbled after the fish, his movements stiff and jerky from being in pain. As soon as she saw that he had his breakfast secured, she pulled herself back to the deep water using her front legs and dragging her tail over the rocks.

She dove deep, looking for the bigger fish, the sort of fish that ate the other smaller fish. She was the biggest fish in this loch and this was her domain. Soon, she found her prey. She sank her teeth into it and battered it with her front legs until it was subdued. She returned to shore, pulling the fish with her. She eased into the shallows, willed her body to change, and then strode onto land on four legs.

Bucky was watching her curiously.

She dropped the fish at his front hooves, placed her own hoof on it, sank her teeth into its fleshy sides, and tore away a strip of still wiggling flesh. She chewed and swallowed. She was starving this morning. Keeping four legs for so long had taken a lot out of her body. She tore out another strip and presented it to Bucky, holding it out to him.

Bucky felt a strange mix of revulsion and desire upon seeing the fish. His mouth watered even as part of him gagged. He felt his gorge rising when he heard Thistle tearing off a bite and chewing it. And then she tore off a second strip and offered it to him.

Much to his shock, his body betrayed him and he felt himself moving forward. His lips parted. And then the flesh hit his curious and still injured tongue. The response was electric, and he felt hungry. It was an odd hunger, and it coursed through his body and pulsated in his horn. He took the strip of fish flesh from Thistle and his lips brushed up against hers. The taste of the fish and the pleasurable sensation of Thistle’s lips silenced the screaming equine in his brain that protested the madness taking place.

Berry Punch watched as Bucky took his first bite of flesh and she felt something in her heart ache as he eagerly chewed it and then swallowed it. She had endured watching him make many changes, but this one bothered her on some level. Something had been taken from the pony that she loved. Something had forcibly changed him.

She felt angry and possessive.

As she stewed, Derpy eased herself down beside her and rested her head upon her belly.

“He is still Bucky,” Derpy said as she settled her head on Berry’s navel. “We have other herdmates who are flesh eaters,” the mare said soothingly, aware that Berry was hurting.

“They were born that way, it is natural for them… Bucky was… he was… he was violated and changed against his will,” Berry snarled in a low voice. “I’ve dealt with everything else. The loss of his eye. His horn. His breakdown where he fell silent so long. At least he came out of that with a powerful respect for life. Now he has to take life for food.”

Thistle felt a raging fire down below her navel as once again, Bucky’s lips brushed up against her lips as she fed him a bite of fish. Feeling brave, she brazenly flicked her tongue over one of his long curved fangs. His teeth were bladed along one edge and rounded on the other side.

She tore free a bite for herself and chewed it slowly, gazing up at Bucky, and trying to deal with the strange new sensation she was feeling. She was nervous and every muscle twitched under her still damp hide. She swallowed and licked her lips.

The kelpie lowered her head, pressed hoof down upon the fish carcass, and tore away another strip. She raised her head slowly and extended her neck. This time, when Bucky took the morsel, she did not let go. She gave a bit of a tug on the strip of flesh, and it caused Bucky’s eye to open wide with surprise.

Much to Thistle’s relief, he tugged back gently, understanding that she was being playful. Bucky was a quick learner to the ways of being a predator.

“Look at them Berry,” Derpy said as she peered at the couple. “Look how happy they are… see, something good is coming out of it,” the pegasus said as her head continued to rest upon the earth pony’s navel. Inches away from Derpy’s snoot was a taut teat. It took all of her willpower to not extend her tongue and give Berry a lick. It wasn’t so much about sex, but about trying to make Berry feel better. Derpy wasn’t sure how Berry would deal with such an act right now.

Derpy lifted her head when she felt a body press up against hers. Sentinel had finished his own fish and was now curling up against her.

“Are you in much pain?” Derpy asked her colt. “Don’t lie to me Sentinel. Squires should be honest.”

“I am in a lot of pain,” Sentinel confessed in a voice that sounded like it was full of shame.

“In a little while, we will take you home and you and Bucky will have another drink together. And then maybe you can go to sleep with Bon Bon and Lyra,” Derpy said to Sentinel.

“I will have to teach father how to fish,” Sentinel said as he buried his face against Berry’s side and snuggled his backside against Derpy.

“I would be very proud of you if you did that,” Derpy whispered to the sleepy colt.

Bucky gave a half smile to the playful kelpie as she tugged on the tidbit of food. He pulled the fish into his mouth with his lips and worked his way closer to Thistle’s lips. Finally, his lips grazed hers and she let go of the bite of fish. He barely even chewed, but swallowed. He could feel Thistle’s warmth. He could smell her, the smell of wet pony. And something else.

He saw Thistle tremble and he loomed over her. She did not appear to be afraid, but she was shaking. He pressed his muzzle to hers and licked away a scrap of fish flesh that clung to her lips, giving Thistle an introduction to pegasus manners.

He saw her front legs wobble and she looked as though she was going to fall over at any time, sitting down on her haunches or no.

He reached out his foreleg, wrapped it around her neck, and pulled her to him, pressing his muzzle against hers. She stiffened for a moment and then relaxed into the kiss. He could feel her warmth and it stood out in sharp contrast against the memory of her cold dead body.

He needed to feel her warmth.

He grasped her with both forelegs and fell over backwards, pulling her down on top of him. She squealed in alarm and squirmed in his grasp. His body warmed as she felt her soft pelt against his. She was warm all over, except in a few places that pressed up against him that were searingly hot. He rubbed his forelegs over her crest, down to her withers, and finally slid a leg down to her croup and pulled her hips down even tighter against his navel.

“Things just got a bit hotter,” Berry announced.

“They sure did,” Derpy said.

“Oddly enough, Bucky doesn’t seem all around aroused. I mean, if he was, certain things would be a lot more visible,” Berry quipped. She paused and remembered that Sentinel was snuggling against her side.

Derpy eyed the two teats poking upwards inches away from her snoot. She was feeling a bit more aroused herself. She sighed and allowed herself to be content with simply spending a close moment with Berry.

“I am still a bit bothered by everything, but Bucky seems happy at the moment,”

“You’re so warm.”

Both mares ears perked at Bucky’s sonorous rumble.

“He keeps talking about how warm we are… or how he needs his foals. Or how warm his foals are… he was so frantic last night when he asked for his foals. He wasn’t at all like his usual self,” Berry mused.

“I saw the bodies… I saw all of you… you were all dead. Cold. Perished. Father was all alone in a room full of cold dead ponies and he believed with all of his heart that it was his fault because that damnable shadow pony made him believe it was true… I could feel his pain,” Sentinel said. The colt shuddered. “I’m gonna kill him somehow,” the lunar pegasus growled. “I could feel all of father’s pain. ALL OF IT!”

Derpy lifted her head and planted a kiss on an a spot that wasn’t too burnt. “Be calm,” she said soothingly. She could feel Sentinel’s body shaking and she realised the colt was sobbing and trying to hide it. “I am going to take you back. I’ll have a drink with you I think,” Derpy offered. “Get on my back, I’ll carry you.”

Sentinel climbed on to the pegasus’ back without protest, and Derpy realised that something was seriously wrong. The colt should be complaining, protesting that he could do this on his own. This wasn’t like Sentinel at all, the stoic who endured affection silently and under protest. She felt a pang in her heart. She could feel him bury his face into her mane and she felt his hot breath as he sniffled and sobbed.

Sometimes being a mother meant getting foal snot in your mane.

Author's Notes:

Most of this chapter was already finished before the previous chapter. So I edited it, finished it off, trimmed some away, added a bit more, and switched perspectives a bit more than I had previously planned.

I have a few more chapters near completion, so expect another one soon. Maybe.

Let me know if my editor failed me and missed any mistakes. He's a stupid lout and misses things occasionally.