Her punishment it seemed, was not over. After getting cleaned up, having a long drink, eating lunch, and then returning to their room, Dinky found herself gently pushed away by her own mother. This was worse than anything she had endured this morning. This hurt. She wanted so badly to be hugged, but now understood that her mother was furious with her.

“You were a brat,” Derpy said in a wavering quiet voice. “You made everypony miserable. We have the wolves making ponies miserable. We don’t need you making it worse. What you did was rotten. Piña cried and couldn’t pay attention in school. Your father’s legs are paining him from following you around. I raised you better,” she added in a cold voice as she pushed Dinky down on the bed.

Dinky crawled away from her mother and cuddled into Bon Bon’s side. The earth pony did not wake. She buried her face into Bon Bon’s well padded ribs and forced herself to not cry, not wanting to add any further misery by waking the sleepers.

Derpy walked away from her foal slowly, shaking her head from side to side as she did so. She exited the room and carefully shut the door behind her. She stood on the other side of the door and took a deep shuddering breath.

Failing to hold it in any longer, the grey pegasus mare burst into tears all alone in the hallway.

Bucky stared at the massive expanse of the canvas gasbag. It was mind bogglingly large. Absolutely huge. He was going to have to enchant one side of it, and, when that was done, crawl inside the canvas tube and enchant the other side of it. He groaned in anticipation of the task ahead. It was going to mean a lot of time on his legs, moving around, going from section to section as he cast various enchantments on it to make it cloud worthy.

For one brief moment, he worried about Dinky and felt a shudder in his barrel. Seeing her in the condition she had been in had almost made him cry.

Just spreading the gasbag out from its wadded up state had physically worn Bucky out. It lay spread out in the meadow next to The Scorned Mare, more than twice the length of the ship. It was going to kill the grass and bugs would nest under the canvas. The very notion of infestation caused Bucky to shiver.

Resigning himself to his task, Bucky set about enchanting the vast expanse of canvas.

Loch Skimmer lay half dozing in the sun. She felt pretty good about everything in life at the moment. All of her fears about Rising Star were now gone, replaced with a strong feeling of closeness. She could hear him and Sparkler splashing in the water not too far away. She rolled over onto her back and sprawled out, just like she had seen Berry do so many times. She could feel the sun on her teats and shining on places that usually she did not present to the sun. She rested her bad leg on her barrel and heaved a sigh of satisfaction.

Without even realising it, she started to whistle, something she had only done when she was truly happy and safe. Her mothers had scolded her for whistling, telling her that it only made other ponies think that pegasi were part bird and that whistling made them all look bad. Loch Skimmer had taken to doing it when she was all alone or with Ripple.

In the trees all around the lake, birds joined in and sang along with Loch Skimmer. She was completely lost in song now, feeling a rapturous sense of joy, and sunning her belly. She was unaware that the splashing had stopped and that her mates were enraptured by her song.

She was completely unaware of the new mark adorning her hips as she continued to chirp and warble her song of joy. She just wanted the world to feel as happy as she did. And now, following her lead, the many birds in the trees echoed her song, filling the woods and the loch around them with a feeling of happiness.

Without knowing why, the fisherponies and the farmers in the area felt happier, their spirits lifted. The nets weren’t so heavy and their tasks were not so arduous. There was now a spring in their step. Those in love or falling in love felt their passions quicken. Kisses became far more fevered.

In mainland Equestria, pegasi managed the moods of the day with dawn songs, and certain rare pegasi manifested rare magic to influence animals capable of song. It was old magic, primeval magic, one of the cornerstones of harmony magic, and it was one of the many ways that the equine civilisation had tamed the earth. Music was a magic all its own, and nature was full of many voices. All that was needed was a conductor of sorts to bring them all together into harmony.

Rising Star stood next to Sparkler, frozen in awe. Both of them could feel it, strange magic in the air, it made their horns tingle as their spirits lifted. The birdsong was breathtaking. And the cause of it all was a pegasus in the grass, sunning her belly and whistling. The pair clung to one another, realising they were seeing something wonderous. Both wanted to say something, but were fearful to interrupt something so beautiful and precious.

Rising Star could scarcely breathe and Sparkler leaned against him trembling. As he watched, there was a flash of light and then Loch Skimmer was changed forever. On her hip was a glorious golden sun with a music note in the middle. Rising Star had witnessed a few things in his life that would forever leave a lasting impression upon him, but this was a moment he knew he would treasure, seeing the pegasus that he so loved getting her mark.

He pressed his cheek against Sparkler’s and did nothing to break Loch’s concentration, hoping the song would continue.

As Bucky worked, he couldn’t help but notice that the birdsong was becoming louder and more focused. His legs didn’t hurt as much and he found that it was much easier to work. The song was soothing and after the troubling morning he had endured, he felt strangely happy.

His horn tingled strangely and Bucky realised he was feeling magic. Old magic. Primal magic. He had felt it coming from Cadance on the day he was married. He lifted his head and looked around. Whatever this was, it was strong. It carried with it a demanding magical compulsion that was difficult to resist. Not that Bucky wanted to resist. He closed his eye and let the moment take him. Something was focusing the latent energy of the nearby ley lines and turning it into raw emotional suggestion.

Realising that the magic was being focused caused an alarm to go off in Bucky’s mind. You needed a unicorn to channel this sort of magic, and there shouldn’t be any unicorns this powerful on the isles. His eye opened and he cast several warding spells upon himself in rapid succession. He then cast several more spells that would allow him to locate the source of this strange magic. He then went shambling off on unsteady legs to investigate the source of the magical disturbance.

Loch was oblivious to the effect she was having on the world around her. The sun on her teats and her delicate bits was arousing, and she reached down with her good leg and rubbed her navel, reveling in the sensation of her own touch.

Belly rubs felt good.

Her folded fetlock traveled further down as she thought of the events in the library just yesterday.

This felt good too.

Her whistling changed with her mood, becoming a bit more amorous. She rubbed the soft flesh just between her teats with the soft velvet covered knuckle of her fetlock. She moved in a slow lazy circle that made her whistle warble and change in pitch.

“Rising… is she…”

“She is or she is about to…”

“Rising Star, this is hawt, what is she doing?”

“Shush Sparky, I want to keep watching… just a little lower Loch… you can do it, that’s my filly.”

“Rising Star, you pervert.”

“I said to shush Sparky… don’t tell me this isn’t turning you on, enjoy the show.”

“Oh I am Rising, I am.”

“Oh sweet mercy, she is! Go Loch…”

“The song… the music… it is driving me crazy. Oh who would have thought watching a pegasus stroking herself off would be so hot?”

“I could watch this all day Sparky.”

“You and me both… wow Rising she is really getting into it. Look how she kicks.”

“Uncontrollable boner Sparkler…”

“Oh I’ve gone hard too Rising… wait, are those ducks doing what I think they’re doing?”

“Uh huh.”

“How is she doing this Rising?”

“Look, I am trying to watch a really sexy pegasus rub one out, I have no idea how this works.”

“I know that pegasi can affect the weather and the atmosphere, but she’s affecting the atmosphere with what she’s doing.”

“Sparky… shush.”

“So uh, wanna fool around?”

“Maybe… but let her keep doing her thing. She just got her cutie mark Sparkler.”

“Watching those ducks go at it and making me kinda good to go.”

“Sparky…”

“I am a horny teenager Rising, what, you think just because I am a filly that I am somehow immune to looking at something and not getting turned on somehow? I went shopping with my mom and Berry one time, saw a display of bananas, nearly lost my cool, turned around and then ran right into a display of cucumbers. Berry Punch laughed at me because she knew what the deal was. Mom was kinda confused.”

“Oh Sparky, you’re not helping me at all.”

“I just heard something hitting the water… are you dribbling?”

“Sparky, please, this is embarrassing…”

“Eeeew you’re drooling!”

“I can’t help it, I’ve gone past the uncontrollable boner stage and into the I am going to explode stage.”

“That’s kinda hawt. So, uh, anything I can do to help you explode so I can watch?”

Bucky approached the lake, moving slowly and cautiously. The animals were acting… strangely. Strong primal magic was in the air. He could feel it. He had felt it before when Cadance had bound them together. Ahead of him was whistling… a loud clear whistling, a warbling wavering whistling.

He pushed ahead through the tall grass and wove in between the many saplings all around him.

As he approached the small private clearing where Thistle had made her home and the other ponies tended to stay away from, he saw a lone figure sprawled out in the grass.

Several things happened all at once. Bucky realised it was Loch Skimmer. He came to understand that she was the source of the magical disturbance and it was her whistling that was the cause. He saw Rising Star and Sparkler a short distance away standing in the shallows of the lake. He discerned that Loch Skimmer had turned herself into a musical instrument and she was giving herself a good strum. There was a conclusion that he was terrible at metaphors under these sorts of circumstances. If anything, she was some kind of woodwind or a horn, but she was incapable of giving herself a good blow. He understood that Rising Star and Sparkler were engaged in a very private act.

At the end of these realisations, he realised that he needed to go. He had seen too much. He turned tail, and, on aching trembling legs, left the young trio to have a private moment to themselves. As he departed, he thought about the deep primal magic he was feeling, how it was a pegasus of all creatures who was channeling it, and then he came to his final mind blowing conclusion.

Princess Cadance had been a pegasus before becoming an alicorn.

Loch Skimmer basked in the sunny afterglow, feeling alive. Her whistling had ceased during her shuddering gasps. She was vaguely aware that Rising Star and Sparkler had probably watched her. She hoped that they had enjoyed the show. The itch in her nethers felt a little easier to bear now, just as Berry had said it would be if she gave herself a little nudge now and then.

Loch intended to give a very heartfelt thanks to Berry Punch.

She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out slowly. As she lay there recovering, she heard hoofsteps approaching. She rolled over and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw Sparkler and Rising Star, and both looked more than a little flustered.

“Enjoy watching me?” Loch inquired.

“Oh you have no idea,” Sparkler replied.

“Loch Skimmer, you crazy crazy pegasus, you have a cutie mark,” Rising Star said proudly.

“You can get a cutie mark for doing THAT?” Loch cried out in alarm.

Author's Notes:

Hopefully, everybody remembers the dawn song from earlier in The Chase.

See a typo?