“I don’t understand why you’d be upset… about me buying Sentinel a dirty… magazine,” Bucky gasped and grunted as Berry Punch worked on his spine with her hooves. She was straddling him and he could feel her warmth upon his croup. As she worked, little pops and cracks came from his spine, and the occasional burst-fire crackle.

“Because you bought it you oaf!” Berry retorted as she kneaded along Bucky’s back just behind his withers, feeling out knots and crushing them gently, rubbing and moving her hooves, pressing in and twisting gently, and savouring the feeling of his warm body tucked between her hind legs as she sat on his back.

“I don’t get it, you’re no prude, I can’t… ugh… yeah right there… oh by the stars… that’s wonderful… I can’t understand why… you would… be upset,” Bucky moaned, his words forcibly extracted by Berry’s hooves making each rib along his spine pop.

“The whole point of a colt his age having porn is that somehow, they bought it on their own, or traded for it somehow, or did something to get it, so it feels special to them. The sense of triumph. The feeling of accomplishment. Good grief Bucky, what did you do to your back last night? Anyway, a colt or a filly has to feel like they are doing something sneaky, that somehow they are smarter than their parents. It is an important part of growing up. Part of the rush of having porn is the thrill of being caught. And Sentinel deserves that little thrill,” Berry explained as she continued to work on Bucky, using the hard edges of her hooves to press into the grooves alongside of Bucky’s spine and grind the kinks out. She slid herself forward, dragging herself over the knobby bumps of his spine, feeling his croup brush along her nethers. She let out a slow hissing breath that sounded like a tea kettle as she worked, and felt rewarded by the unicorn going limp beneath her.

“I get… I get it now… ah… AH… oh… oooooh… oh yes Berry, right there… that spot… I get it now, Sentinel… ah… oh my… needs to feel a little… dirty… about it… so it… will do… him some good… EGADSSHOULDMYSPINEDOTHAT?”

Berry slid off of Bucky’s back and laid down beside him on the bed. She was feeling aroused, but there was no point in getting Bucky worked up and undoing all of her hard work, not to mention the fact that right now, he probably wasn’t able to move, nor would he be able to move for a fair bit of time. “Just stay down for a while. Your back was messed up in a way that’s usually seen on an earth pony pulling wagons. Your spine was out of alignment. I put it back. You should feel a strong tingly feel-” Berry Punch paused as Bucky began to cry out, he let out a whimper and banged on the bed with his remaining right front hoof. “Like I was saying, you should feel a strong tingly feeling in your hips and hind legs as sensation returns and it might hurt a little,” Berry continued, wiping a tear out of Bucky’s surviving eye as she spoke.

With her ears perked for danger and every muscle in her body ready to spring into action, Ripple stood watch. She stood on the edge of the sloping roof of the farm house, looking down upon the donkey and two foals down below. Bittersweet herded the foals in her care, keeping them together, not letting one or the other wander off. Ripple trusted Bittersweet’s eyesight, and they were far from the Everfree treeline, but Ripple decided long ago that she didn’t like taking chances.

There was something about her that appealed to Ripple; being mute, she had a quiet mysteriousness, and to understand her, Ripple had to spend a lot of time looking directly at her, looking directly into her eyes and at her lips when she mouthed words. Bittersweet had the most marvelous script and it was delightful to read Bittersweet’s written notes. While reading Bittersweet’s notes was pleasant, watching Bittersweet’s lips as she mouthed her words ever so carefully was one of Ripple’s favourite new pastimes. You had to pay attention, you had to hang on every word, you had to make your mind recognise the patterns of sounds if you wanted to understand what was being said.

And Ripple always watched with rapt attention when Bittersweet had something to say.

There was much to learn from Bittersweet, and Ripple was an avid pupil when it came to the ear language that Bittersweet offered to teach. She had already spent a number of silent quiet hours watching Bittersweet’s lips, reading her fine spiderwebby script, and focusing on Bittersweet’s long rabbit like ears, trying to learn the alphabet of the ears.

Scanning the horizon, Ripple squinted and looked for anything that might be a danger. The Everfree was behind her, behind the house and past the lake, and ahead of her was the front yard, the road, and the copse of forest that existed along the road that led to Ponyville. There were a few curious rabbits that wouldn’t live for very long if her brother Sentinel saw them, a few tree dwelling rodents that were far too cheeky, and two phoenixes preening one another and necking.

Looking at Bittersweet directly, Ripple felt strangely nervous. Her frogs felt sweaty and her underwings always felt itchy. Her throat felt hot and dry, and Ripple suddenly wanted a cool drink of water. She had been feeling this way a lot lately, and she wondered if she was under too much stress. She wanted to talk to Sparkler, she felt compelled to do so, but she didn’t know what to talk to Sparkler about. There was just need to talk to somepony she trusted, but first she had to figure out what to talk about or why she wanted to talk.

Nothing made sense, and as Ripple stared at Bittersweet, completely unaware of the fact that she was doing so, the feeling of confusion grew considerably.

“This is a personal organiser. I have taken the liberty of filling in all of the names and addresses of the various newspapers you have obligations with, as well as the contact information of the editors and directors you have been in touch with, including their home addresses that I gathered from my father’s agents,” Diamond Tiara said, her hoof resting on a small ornate book that was trimmed with brass caps along the corners. “And this is an agenda. I’ve taken all of your current deadlines and due dates and marked them in on this month and next month’s calendar. You had everything scratched out on loose bits of paper on your desk, including one that fell behind your desk and could no longer be seen. That would be disastrous if you missed a project due to a lack of organisation. So I am going to help you. When you get a project, let me know all about it and I will keep these two books current and up to date for you,” the highly organised earth pony offered as she reached over the table and touched Sentinel’s forehoof with her own.

The agenda was almost identical to the personal organiser. Both were bound in smooth but grainy green material, had brass caps along the corners of the covers, and were filled with beautiful ivory coloured paper.

“Thank you,” Sentinel said, trying to sound gracious as his voice came out in a nervous squeak. He felt his muscles tense as his voice nearly cracked. Her fetlock folded around his leg, squeezing slightly, lingering over him, and he could feel her softness and her warmth.

“Success is all about organisation. If you want to make your father proud, ahem…” Diamond Tiara paused for a moment after her voice had become a faint squeak and her ears drooped down to the sides of her face. She cleared her throat a few times before she continued. “Erm well, sorry about that, if you want to make your parents proud you have to succeed, and if you want to succeed you need to be organised. So we can clearly see that organisation is key to making your parents proud. Especially your… especially your mothers. It is important to keep her proud.”

Sensing that something seemed off, Sentinel’s ears perked forward. Diamond Tiara looked incredibly sad for a moment, and also in pain. It had only been on her face for a brief second, but Sentinel was certain he had seen it.

“I, er, um, I need a moment to myself,” Diamond Tiara said, excusing herself from the table as she slipped out of her chair and landed upon the floor. She took off in a hurry, one ear twitching, her tail swishing, her barrel heaving.

Leaping from his chair, Sentinel went after her, coming up alongside her in the hallway as she attempted to escape. He overtook her, turning about as he past, and then stopped while facing her. He saw tears in the corners of her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Sentinel asked, his tone insistent, his snoot an inch away from Diamond Tiara’s. Her breath still smelled like toothpaste and orange juice. As he watched, more tears began to trickle down, making the fine hairs on her cheeks turn a darker pink.

“Please, let me go,” Diamond Tiara begged.

“No,” Sentinel stated, not budging, and ready to move if she ran off in another direction.

Her barrel hitching, and pained whimpers coming out of her throat, Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and stood there, unmoving, trying to breathe. “Don’t look at me, not like this,” she pleaded.

“I’ve watched my sisters cry. You’re no different,” Sentinel said, all of his previous nervous squeakiness now gone. The scent of lavender and lilacs teased Sentinel’s nostrils and made him want to sneeze. It was her scent. Lavender, lilacs, toothpaste, orange juice, and something else. Something feminine. He leaned in just a little closer, unaware that he was doing so. “Talk,” he commanded.

“Mmm… mmm… mmm… my mmmm… mmm.. mmm.. mother left mmm… mmm… me,” Diamond Tiara moaned, her utterance coming out in pained panting gasps, the tears now flowing freely. Her backside fell to the floor and she sat upon her dock painfully, which did not help her condition at all.

“So is this acting to get my attention as it was with Luna or am I seeing something real?” Sentinel inquired, his tone analytical and curious.

The words caused Diamond Tiara’s whole face to contort with pain and she began to scoot away from Sentinel, pushing herself with her front legs and sliding her backside over the hardwood floor. “I… I… I deserve…” she stammered, her words dissolving into a plaintive wail. “I deserve that,” she sobbed.

Sentinel came to the sudden and painful realisation that she was not acting. He moved to her side and sat down, and as she tried to squirm away from him, he wrapped one wing around her body and forcibly pulled her close. She slapped him, once, twice, and finally a third time, striking him solidly in the chest with one front hoof, but he ignored her feeble struggles. She was an earth pony, but he was a lunar pegasus that lived in a world made out of paper and glass that he always had to be oh so careful with, lest he wrecked and destroyed everything he touched. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“So am I,” Diamond Tiara cried, almost hiccuping from her sobs. She resisted for a while longer, wanting to pull away from Sentinel, but then realised her efforts were futile. She went still and allowed herself to be held, feeling embarrassed and ashamed.

“You lost your mother?” Sentinel asked, his voice gentle, his tone soft. He flexed his wing and drew her in closer, and he could feel her ribs pressing against his own. Her body was soft and had give to it when it was squeezed. It was entirely unlike Moonbow’s body, which was like hugging a fuzzy stone covered in a fine silky shaggy pelt. He squeezed a little more, feeling her warmth seeping into his own flesh. He heard her gasp and he turned his head to look at her.

A moment later, two lips brushed up against his own, and Sentinel discovered he was once again, the victim of a surprise kiss. This one was timid and clumsy, it was salty and flavoured with tears, toothpaste, and orange juice. Diamond Tiara’s whole muzzle was soaked from her weeping. He felt her body twist against his own, turning, trying to face him, and Sentinel found that he could not let go at this moment even if he wanted to, and he squeezed even more, discovering just like his father had, that earth ponies were in fact, quite durable and solid, and made to be squeezed. The kiss progressed, becoming even more confusing, as Diamond Tiara continued to cry even as she pressed her lips even harder into Sentinel’s own.

Finally, she pulled away and then buried her face against Sentinel’s neck, still sobbing, pressing her whole body up against him, no longer ashamed and finally able to let go.

Unbeknownst to the pair, a grey pegasus, a cream coloured earth pony, and a mint green unicorn all watched silently from the kitchen archway, their expressions solemn as they stared down the hallway. The earth pony leaned on the pegasus, and the unicorn kissed the earth pony with a swift peck on the cheek.

Author's Notes:

Bucky gets schooled, Ripple has her self fooled, and Sentinel just drooled. A succinct chapter summary I believe.

And there are probably typos in all three parts. We hates the tricksy typos we do.