In the early morning, just moments after dawn, a flock of pegasi and one alicorn gathered, settling into a fluffy cloud bank that glowed pink and purple from the dawn. Twilight Sparkle looked at the gathered pegasi and studied each one in turn. Rainbow Dash, her trusted and loyal friend, Thunderlane, now paying off his penance, and then Flitter and Cloudchaser, who were oddly eager to help out, and who stood, even now, anxious to give a report.

“It is my belief that yesterday an act of kindness was witnessed,” Thunderlane said, his head bowed. “It was a humbling experience for me,” he finished, Flitter touching him briefly as he did so, gently pressing her muzzle unto Thunderlane’s shoulder.

“And chowderhead here told Berry Punch that her foal was in the hospital,” Cloudchaser added. “No brains at all.”

“You thought Berry Punch was Piña’s mother,” Thunderlane retorted.

“She might as well be, you don’t tell a big sister that sort of thing either you big dunce!” Flitter exclaimed, glancing at Cloudchaser, who gave Thunderlane a swift kick in the fetlock.

“Dinky Doo Hooves and Piña Colada went to the hospital and visited Diamond Tiara. There was a mutual exchange of forgiveness between all parties. It was an act of kindness that brought all parties involved together and I do believe that it created a new friendship,” Cloudchaser reported, retracting her hoof.

Twilight Sparkle nodded.

“Good work you three,” Rainbow Dash complimented. “Continue to keep Chowderhead here in line you two, I am surprised that both of you fell in to this task so easily.”

“We want our marriage recognised and out in the open. We will do anything to that end,” Flitter answered, her ears perking forward. She reached out a wing, touching her sister briefly, and then rubbed a foreleg against Thunderlane.

“We just want what everypony else wants," Cloudchaser said, rubbing her side against Thunderlane’s and rubbing an ear against his neck.

“Well, I think you should have it,” Twilight Sparkle announced. “I’m talking with Cadance soon. Pony to pony. Something has to be worked out.”

“I want to be able to acknowledge Rumble for what he really is, and not have ponies judge us or have foal services breathing down my neck,” Flitter whispered. “It hurts.”

Thunderlane gently wrapped one wing over Flitter and made soothing sounds in her ear.

“Wait, you mean, Rumble?” Twilight asked, looking baffled, pulling her head back and her eyes going wide in disbelief.

Thunderlane glared at Twilight pointedly, suddenly becoming a very different pony. Gone was his apparent buffoonery and incompetence. His nostrils flared and his ears splayed out sideways from his head. The cloud beneath his hooves began to turn grey.

“Flitter shouldn’t have said that. If it goes beyond this cloud, there will be consequences,” Cloudchaser said, now bristling.

“Slow down girls, you know I’m alright with it,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And I have no intentions of damaging a perfectly good family structure,” Twilight Sparkle reassured, still looking surprised. “I was just caught off guard, that’s all.”

Thunderlane calmed visibly.

“We had to go to Cloudsdale and talk to the wrong sorts of ponies,” Flitter confessed. “We have to be so careful. That’s why we came here, Ponyville is so much more tolerant than some other places.”

“Fillydelphia,” Cloudchaser growled.

“What about Fillydelphia?” asked Twilight, her voice filled with apprehension.

“Nothing,” muttered Thunderlane, slouching.

“Just an unpleasant place,” Flitter said. “That’s all.”

The two mares were practically snorting now, standing on either side of Thunderlane, showing visible signs of distress. Twilight couldn’t help but notice that the two sisters and Thunderlane behaved very much like one body, moving together, constantly touching, reassuring and comforting one another almost reflexively. She made mental notes to tell Celestia about this behavior. The cloud continued to darken.

But Twilight knew that she would not tell Celestia about Rumble. It didn’t feel right. The wings she had now had changed her profoundly, and she had strange new feelings to go with them. One of them being a pressure to conform to the flock, something that conflicted mightily with her unicorn individuality.

“I just want to know, Rumble is…” Rainbow Dash said in a low voice.

“Flitter’s,” Thunderlane replied, looking Rainbow Dash directly in the eye and flaring his wings slightly.

Rainbow Dash moved forward, her head high, and gently bumped snoots with Thunderlane. She stood there, looking up at him, looking him directly in the eye. “The flock looks after its own. Rumble is one of mine as well. You have my word as your flockmate,” she said solemnly.

“So then, we potentially have kindness covered,” Twilight said, gently restoring the conversation back to task.

“I think so,” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Good. You three, keep watching. And thank you so very much for agreeing to help,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Thank you for being merciful on Thunderlane. He’s a good pony, just a little thick headed,” Cloudchaser replied.

The three pegasi took wing and flew off, off to face the day together, leaving two friends standing on a cloud together. Twilight looked agitated and flustered.

“Dash, I’m going to be gone again, I’m going to Fillydelphia. I don’t know what is going on, but I know a mother’s broken heart when I see one. Keep an eye on things. Spike can help you reach either Celestia or I. I might be gone a while. I know I can count on you,” Twilight said.

“Of course, because I’m awesome,” Rainbow Dash replied with a cocky head toss.

Twilight rolled her eyes, hugged her friend briefly, and then took off at an unsteady high speed, a lavender contrail streaming out behind her.

“This herd discrimination needs to stop,” a lone pegasus mumbled to herself. “I’m too awesome to marry just one pony,” she said to nopony in particular.

Another herd of ponies lay together in a bed. Two were cuddled together, spooning, while one lay on the edge of the bed, as far apart from the others as possible, alone.

The lone pony awoke, confused and disoriented, hearing birdsong and feeling a keen sense of loneliness. He glanced over at his two bedmates, wishing he could throw himself among them, but instead steeled his resolve and remained where he was, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the air temperature. There were just too many concerns about sleeping in a bed with other ponies, the primary concern of course being the embarrassing and uncontrollable factor of morning wood. There mere thought of waking up with something embarrassingly poking into either Berry or Derpy was enough to cause Bucky to have a painful spasm of panic in his barrel, and made his breath quicken. And then he would have to spend the rest of the day, trying to avoid eye contact, thinking about the awful thing he had done, constantly remembering it in his mind, playing on an endless cringe inducing loop, spending the next few days distracted by a painful memory that just would not go away.

It was enough to drive a pony mad.

The lone pony slipped quietly from the bed, crept out the door, down the hall, and into the bathroom, where he shut the door and took care of morning necessities, gritting and grinding his teeth together when the stream of urine hit the water, making a sound that Bucky was certain would wake up everypony, a very painful and embarrassing sound that had been made in a house full of females.

Bucky cursed himself for forgetting to cast a sound muffling spell before relieving himself, the sound of streaming urine roaring in his ears, the sort of sound that was certain to give a foal a complex. Bucky felt his throat closing from panic. The urine flow stopped abruptly, and Bucky was most grateful. He cast a quick muffling spell, waited, tried to calm, and eventually the flow resumed again, this time in near silence. The panic did not leave however. It had found him last night, had its way with him, and was now an unwelcome morning visitor, every bit as stiff and rigid as morning wood, but not at all pleasurable to wake up to.

His breathing increased to painful levels, his throat felt seared. Bucky tried to hold the panic back, determined not to give in. It was just a break in routine, a little slip up, from waking up in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place. Slowly, he willed his breathing down, brought his heart rate down, and finished relieving his bladder. He drove everything down, cramming it inward, letting nothing get the best of him and escaping.

He would hold everything back, because that is what unicorns did.

He opened the door, peered out into the hallway, looking left, then right, seeing nopony, and then began to slink down the stairs, doing so as quietly as possible.

Once into the kitchen, he began to fix breakfast in large quantities, fixing oatmeal, scrambling some eggs, and pulling frozen fruit chunks out of the freezer. He did all of this effortlessly, sitting in a chair, not even looking at the controlled chaos behind him, yawning and rubbing at his eyes as he began to also set the table.

He heard sounds upstairs. Bucky started the coffee. He had always been more of a tea drinker, tea had ritual, ritual brought calm, calm quieted the inner turmoil, a careful chain of events that allowed Bucky some small peace in his life.

But he was trying new things. And so coffee it was.

He took the eggs off of the burner before they were done cooking, knowing that they would finish cooking and be perfect from the residual heat of the cast iron skillet. Butter was pulled from the fridge, brown sugar came out from the pantry, hot sauce for the eggs, knowing that Berry was sure to appreciate it, everything coming into place, Bucky never leaving his chair.

Derpy poked her head into the kitchen, one eye closed, peering around, just as the cast iron skillet was being set on top of a pad and placed on the kitchen table.

“Usually we have granola and milk,” the grey mare murmured. “All of this takes time and work.” She licked her lips hungrily.

“I wasn’t in the mood for granola this morning,” Bucky muttered, craning his head from one side to another, causing his neck to crackle.

“I think I’m in the mood for you this morning,” Derpy confessed, causing Bucky’s eyes to open wide. “You just keep looking after my foals.”

Bucky said nothing, but waited for the coffee to finish. Derpy took a seat at the table, watching everything flying around her. Sparkler came into the kitchen next, leading two foals who watched with wide eyes. Berry stumbled in last, not batting an eye at the impressive magical display.

“I need to go check on the fuel supply,” Berry mumbled as she filled her bowl with oatmeal and scooped out some scrambled eggs. She saw the hot sauce, smiled, and then proceeded to pour an obscene amount of liquid fire on her eggs.

The foals began to devour the frozen fruit chunks, ignoring everything else.

Coffee was floated to the table, and Sparkler was the first to pour a cup, adding milk and sugar in vast quantities. Berry, stuffing food into her mouth with a spoon in one hoof, poured herself some coffee with the other, making pleased sounding “om nom nom nom” noises as she gobbled. Derpy was fixing her oatmeal, piling on cubes of butter and clumps of hardened brown sugar, freshly broken from the densely packed package. When the opportunity presented itself, she poured herself a cup of coffee and Bucky one as well.

“All this breakfast needs to be perfect is a tin of beans, straight from the icebox, spread over toast,” Berry said groggily.

“Noted,” Bucky said. “Beans on toast.”

“You feeling alright from last night?” Sparkler asked, looking worried.

“I’m fine,” Bucky replied.

“Mmm pineapple,” Piña Colada said with a mouthful of pineapple, juice running down her chin. “My favourite food I think.”

“It is almost the only thing mom could eat when she was carrying you Piña, you were a bratty little foal. If she ate anything but pineapple and coconut, you’d make her get sick,” Berry said teasingly to her sister. Piña stuck out her tongue in reply but said nothing.

“I had a thing for waffles when I was carrying Dinky,” Derpy said, shoveling in oatmeal with a spoon, eating in a hurry. “No syrup though. Had to be jam of some kind. Mmm jam.”

“Funny, I love waffles,” Dinky replied.

“And I had a bit of a muffin kick while pregnant too, ponies teased me all the time for eating them by the dozen,” Derpy confessed, looking a little sheepish as she shoveled in some scrambled eggs. “And now, when I see muffins, I think of Dinky. Waffles too I guess.”

“Somehow, I’ve never been pregnant, not sure how that’s happened, by all rights I should have been a few times now,” Berry said, guzzling down hot coffee when she was done speaking. “But I look forward to it,” she added, pointing a lewd stare at Bucky.

Bucky froze mid gulp, his brain shutting down all unnecessary functions as panic settled in. Not his usual panic, but a special guest panic, that he was utterly unfamiliar with. He set down his coffee cup before his magic fizzled. One eye twitched alarmingly.

“Oh come on Bucky, she’s an earth pony and I bet her biological clock is raging at her age,” Sparkler said, giggling as she did so.

“My age?” Berry asked.

“Well, you are a little older than mom,” Sparkler retorted.

“Your mother,” Berry replied, looking first at Sparkler and then at Derpy, and then taking a deep breath, “only just reached the legal drinking age imposed by the out of touch with reality monarchy just this year. I am not that old.”

“Relax Berry, you’re still young enough to be cool,” Sparkler said.

Berry Punch exploded with laughter, throwing her head back and guffawing, nearly falling from her chair. She banged on the table, making things clatter, causing Bucky to start several times. She chortled and snorted until tears came from her eyes, sucking in great gasps of air, only to let them back out again as she bellowed with laughter.

“Is she always like this?” Bucky asked.

“Pretty much,” Sparkler said, shrugging.

“Morning ponies,” Bucky muttered.

“I’ll show you morning pony you stuck up snob!” Berry said, her laughter dying. She pounced from her chair and dethroned Bucky, pinning him to the floor. “Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis!” she cried. After that she then plunged her muzzle forward into Bucky’s, kissing him violently and biting his lip as she pulled away, making Bucky cry out. “Anarchy!” Berry crowed in triumph, reminding Bucky that her family were anarchs, and Bucky had peerage.

Derpy watched the two ponies on the floor and chuckled. Berry was always good for a laugh. “Sparkler honey, take note, this is how you deal with a colt or a stallion who is a grump,” Derpy said patiently, instructing her daughter, pointing out valuable life lessons.

The obnoxious plum coloured mare pressed her advantage, straddling Bucky’s prone form. She looked down at him, now smiling broadly, and gently booped his nose. She looked up at Dinky, then Piña, over at Derpy, and then her gaze rested upon Sparkler, exchanging a knowing glance. She looked back down at Bucky, and then something in her face changed, a profound change, her smile melting away. She continued to stare for a few moments, and then, without a word, she rose up on to her hooves, and helped Bucky get up with one extended foreleg.

Still not saying anything, Berry helped Bucky into his chair, and then sat down in her own, and doing so silently. Derpy scowled, sensing something had changed, and Sparkler’s brow wrinkled in concern.

“Berry?” Derpy posed the question slowly, her voice full of concern.

“I don’t know how to talk about it,” Berry said, blushing furiously.

“Talk about what?” Sparkler asked, getting more eggs.

“I- I… I looked into his eyes and I knew,” Berry replied, sounding flustered.

“Knew what?” Dinky asked around a mouthful of frozen banana.

“That I loved him,” Berry replied, very quietly, unable to meet anypony’s gaze. Bucky choked as he heard the words, and Derpy nodded her head slowly. “It’s been fun and games up to this point, but something changed just a moment ago,” Berry explained in a low whisper.

Derpy looked pointedly at Bucky, one eye closed, her good eye focused on his face, trying to read him. He was sitting, silently, looking down at his plate, sitting very very still, totally silent and not even attempting to say anything. “You broke my Berry best friend,” Derpy said, “you made her go all serious and now I’m the one trying to make ponies smile.”

The foals giggled, Sparkler laughed, but the adults made no such sounds of happiness.

“Well, that is both of you then, I heard mom talking in her sleep,” Sparkler said, a faint smile on her lips. “And what about you Buckminster?”

Bucky looked up at Sparkler, his eyes narrowed and full of concern. “Words seem so worthless and petty right now to express how I feel,” he muttered, his eyes falling back down to his plate, and his shoulders slumping.

“Well then, show it,” Sparkler suggested just before she let go a huge belch that made the objects on the table rattle frightfully.

“So my best friend is broken and moody and I have a sad lovesick unicorn in my kitchen,” Derpy summarised. “Life has certainly been interesting.”

“I’ll clean up and make sure Dinky and Piña get to school,” Bucky said, still staring at his plate, slowly lifting up his coffee cup to take a sip.

“I need to go and check on the fire,” Berry said. She raised her eyes, her usual fire returning, and turned to look at Bucky. “Don’t keep us waiting,” she said, prodding him roughly, rocking him in his chair. She then shoveled the rest of her breakfast into her mouth, chewing noisily, swallowing a few times as chewed food became swallowable, cleared her mouth, and belched a bassoon note of thanks.

“I have to go. Please look after my foals,” Derpy said, looking at Bucky, biting her lip after a moment of gazing at him. “And please stop being so sad.’

Bucky had stopped by his apartment on the way to school, picking up his spellbook, wanting to give a simple display in practical magic in school today, determined to get Dinky through the day, keeping her in school along with Piña.

His saddlebags also contained a few other common elements for teaching magic, popcorn chief among them. They bounced at his sides as he walked. Dinky and Piña followed closely alongside of him, chatting and giggling together, being foals.

Bucky was horribly distracted as he walked, thinking about the events of the morning, starting with waking up, which was awkward, his bathroom visit, which was painful, and then breakfast, which was troubling.

So very troubling.

He couldn’t deny it. Not any longer. He felt something, even if he wasn’t totally sure what it was. He felt very different things about both of them, but needed both of them in some odd way that bothered him a great deal. Bucky didn’t like being dependant on anypony but himself.

As the trio walked, Bucky thought about being packed up and sent off on the train ride, his family living in Baltimare at the time. He had been sent off alone, his bags packed, and he wasn’t much older than Dinky, who was almost helpless without an adult. And Bucky realised he had been much the same way. During his time at school, his parents had moved back into the old ancestral home they had in Canterlot, living there sometimes and living out in the sprawling estate in Baltimare at other times. There were several large homes his family owned. All of them empty and loveless. Derpy’s tiny house, only three bedrooms and a few rooms on the ground floor, was full of love and life, and felt more like home. Her home had warmth. Her home had sounds other than the sounds of pages being turned and the stuffy butler clearing his throat.

And Bucky wanted to be part of that home very badly. Any home really. He had become acutely aware of his own loneliness as of just recently.

Berry had straddled his chest his morning. Very intimate parts of her anatomy had been in contact with his body… And she hadn’t even paid it a single second thought Bucky realised. She had simply been playful, and obviously didn’t have his hang-ups. But the very idea of such close contact burned Bucky’s mind, and would not leave him alone. He had felt her and now, the knowledge would not leave his mind. A powerful sense of shame burned through him, and he hated himself for his physical desires. He should be above these needs.

But he was not.

He could not push the thought out of his mind. The brief contact had been somewhat humid and damp, and Berry’s perfume had left a lingering trace on him. He could feel her moving and shifting against his body as she had straddled him, it lingered like a white hot coal trapped in between his ears.

It was then that Bucky made a terrible conclusion.

It wasn’t perfume.

The thought struck him like a slap in the face and he was suddenly ablaze with shame and embarrassment, a physical sensation of self-revulsion. He felt painfully stupid. He had stopped casting the pheromone blocking spell quite some time ago. The spell never made you fully immune to their effects, there was always a lingering faint effect that was easily squashed down, but it also blocked out certain scents. He recalled smelling it even on the day of the birthday party, not all that long ago actually.

He nearly had a panic attack on the spot realising he was walking two foals to school while reeking of freshly applied mare musk, courtesy of Berry Punch and her careless scent marking of him, pressing her female anatomy up against his barrel and rubbing vigorously…

The flustered unicorn tossed his head around crazily and gritted his teeth, holding back the panic, holding back everything. He exerted an enormous force of will and crushed it all down, compressing it into his psyche.

And this was why unicorns repressed everything. So you didn’t carelessly scent mark some poor pony and cause them to have a nervous breakdown walking some foals to school.

He subdued the terrible beast that dwelt in the basement of his mind, whipping it down and forcing it to submit. It did so, but promised retribution later as it sank back into the unknown darkness of Bucky’s mind.

The schoolhouse loomed ahead, and the day was bright and promising.

The morning had gone by mostly uneventful, the class behaving themselves a little better today. Not one foal wanted to meet Bucky’s gaze, and he had sat in his chair in the corner, reading a book and looking up occasionally. He had helped Cheerilee with a practical demonstration how an eclipse worked, levitating a tiny sun, a moon, and a planet.

And now, Bucky sat outside with a few unicorn foals, popping popcorn, having fun, and explaining simple magical principles. The gathered foals oohed and aahed when he pulled out his spell book and opened it, opening to a page in a beginning.

“Okay. I am going to teach you the Blink spell. Any unicorn can cast this spell, and it is a spell every unicorn foal should know. Blink will allow you to call for help. Any pegasus that has been to flight camp will immediately move to investigate a Blink spell if they see one,” Bucky patiently explained as many foals munched on popcorn.

Setting down his book on the blanket he was sitting on, he lifted up his head, cleared his throat, and smiled, trying to show the foals that magic was not scary or dark or spooky. At least, not this spell.

Bucky spoke the words carefully, pronouncing each syllable just so, demonstrating how to chant the verse to summon the magic it had been tied to. As he spoke, a blinking light shot from his horn and rose up into the sky.

Almost like magic, two pegasi appeared a moment later, circling, swooping, and finally landing, looking around, both very concerned looking.

“Somepony called?” Flitter asked.

“Is there trouble?” Cloudchaser added.

“Just a practical demonstration of the Blink spell, I am really glad you two answered. Shows the foals that it works,” Bucky answered, grinning nervously.

“Of course it works. You foals pay attention. This might save your life someday. While we are here watching, let’s see how many of you can cast it,” Cloudchaser commanded in a gentle voice, her wings fluttering slightly, still in a somewhat aggressive posture that Bucky was now able to recognise.

“This is an easy spell that any unicorn can cast. Just light your horn and say the magic words. That’s it. You don’t even have to concentrate much, other than lighting your horn. You should practice this spell indoors until you can cast it in seconds without thinking. As you can see, pegasi, whom you should be most thankful for, watch over us all and keep us safe,” Bucky explained to his students.

More pegasi were landing now, quite a few, and Flitter made a few silent gestures that put them at ease. They watched as the first blinking light from a foal shot upwards, flashing green. Another blinking light rose, flashing yellow.

“That’s it, just say the words, see, it is so very easy, and you are casting spells just like a proper unicorn should,” Bucky praised.

An enormous purple globe of strobing light exploded from Dinky’s horn and shot upwards, making Dinky gasp in delight. Even the pegasi seemed impressed. You could see Dinky’s globe from a long ways away.

Everything that type threes did was pure spectacle and bound to attract attention.

Even Snips and Snails were able to send blinking orbs of light rocketing skyward, which boosted their self-esteem greatly.

“The fireworks class spells are an upgraded version of Blink. They can be very simple and very complicated. Even type ones can cast simple versions of the various fireworks spells, like Rocket Pop,” Bucky said. “Rocket Pop is basically Blink with a whistling sound as it rises and an explosion at its apex.” Bucky cast one, sending it skyward, whistling as it went, making the foals gasp in delight.

“Keep practicing your Blink spells,” Cloudchaser asked. Bucky looked at her, and she looked at him, giving him a faint nod of approval. Bucky felt a powerful emotion of something he could not describe flood through him.

The foals kept casting and eating popcorn, sending balls of blinking lights skyward, and occasionally a new pegasus would arrive to see what the hubbub was.

“This is a lot better than learning about weather patterns and crop rotation,” a foal commented, causing the others to agree, little heads and horns bobbing.

It ended up being a very pleasant afternoon.

It felt good to be home after a long day. Bucky had taken the foals by the hospital for a short visit, Dinky complained of being hungry even after all of the popcorn, so Bucky had also purchased the foals a snack, and now, they were home.

And Bucky felt like he was home.

It wasn’t the house so much, as it was the foals with him in the house. The empty house he realised. There was a note on the table beside the overstuffed chair that explained that Derpy and Berry had gone off to the Riverside Farmer’s Market to get some groceries. Bucky blinked a few times after reading, realising he was going to be alone with the foals for a little longer. He lifted away his saddlebags with his magic, setting them gently on the couch, and looked at Piña who was heading up the stairs, singing a song about her need to pee.

Bucky blushed and realised he needed to go as well. He too went up the stairs, not singing, to use the second bathroom.

Dinky, alone, realised this was her perfect opportunity to have a look at Bucky’s spellbook. She pulled it from his saddlebags, touching the wooden cover, it felt warm and it tingled slightly. It hummed, and Dinky could feel it in her horn.

She sat down and opened the book, but not the front half. The front half she reasoned, was full of basic spells , beginner spells. Foal spells. Like Blink.

“Double - yoo,” Dinky muttered to herself, now in the back of the book, where the good spells were. She was on a page were every spell started with ‘W’ and there were quite a number of spells.

“Want it need it,” pronounced Dinky carefully, reading the spell description, not understanding what she was reading. “I want a daddy, I need a daddy,” Dinky murmured to herself. “Mommy needs Bucky,” Dinky reasoned. “If Bucky wanted me, he could be my daddy, and mommy could be happy,” the foal said in perfect foal logic.

She read through the tricky words several times, carefully pronouncing each word, feeling an odd tingle in her horn as she did so.

Bucky came down the stairs and saw Dinky looking through his spell book. He panicked, but before he had a chance to say anything, he felt a powerful attraction for Dinky. A maddening feeling of lust and infatuation. Unnatural lust and infatuation followed by a powerful sense of arousal.

Bucky knew right away that something was terribly wrong.

His brain flooded with terrible images of all the things he suddenly wanted to do with Dinky. He cried out, shaking his head, repressing everything and shoving it down. He knew magical compulsion when he felt it, and this was powerful.

A tiny fragile part of his mind cried that he really didn’t want to engage in unnatural acts of love with a foal, pleading for him to hold on.

And Bucky dug in and got his grip. Repression was finely tuned in his mind, and he summoned up every ounce of his will he had. He struggled, his brain flashing with terrible images that fanned his lust. He shoved them back. He loved Dinky, real love that existed outside of magical compulsion, and he would never allow himself to bring harm. It was a powerful revelation that rooted his sanity and gave him strength to fight.

But the compulsion was overwhelming. Dinky was the most desirable female he had ever seen. She was beautiful. Perfect.

Bucky slammed his head into the wall, dazing himself, and leaving behind a bright smear of blood that trickled down the wall. He did it again, making his ears ring painfully, shoving down every unwanted emotion he was feeling.

He heard hoofsteps on the stairs behind him, and then Piña was running for Dinky, saying things Piña should never be saying. Bucky bit down on his own tongue, nearly splitting off the tip, holding back a scream, and then hoisted Piña and Dinky up in his magic, keeping them apart. Touching Dinky with his magic was a bad idea. It filled him with burning desire for the foal, flooding his body with unnatural lust, fueling his arousal.

Bucky slammed his head once more into the wall for good measure. One ear was already beginning to swell alarmingly.

Twilight can fix this he thought to himself and he willed himself towards the door.

Crushing everything down, he pushed the door open.

And realised he had made a terrible mistake.

The moment he was outside, ponies turned towards Dinky, held aloft in his magic, and were immediately overtaken by unnatural arousal, the same arousal that had nearly overtaken Bucky. Profanity spewed from Bucky’s mouth, a steady torrent that would make Berry Punch faint if she heard it.

Ponies began to bolt towards him. Bucky lashed out with his magic, not wanting to do any harm, but not wanting Dinky to get hurt. He slammed the incoming crowd with a wave of telekinetic force, bowling them backwards.

Bucky ran.

And most of Ponyville began to give chase.

Holding Dinky and Piña aloft, he ran as fast as he could, trying to slam ponies that drew too close away with magical slaps, hoping that he wasn’t hurting them.

And he wanted to hurt them. They wanted Dinky. His Dinky, Dinky who he wanted all for himself, to satisfy his aching needs. He hated them all, and dark thoughts of killing the interlopers invaded his mind unwillingly. He crammed those thoughts down deep inside as well. REPRESS EVERYTHING! he screamed inside of his own head.

Neurosis became a powerful ally, and Bucky’s neurosis was a multi-generational gift that was rapidly becoming an evolutionary advantage among his kind.

Pegasi were swooping down now. Bucky cast a cloud of cold, freezing their wings with thick crusts of solid ice that made them crash into the ground. He had to fend off several waves of incoming pegasi, while still holding back incoming ponies charging from the ground.

He sent out a massive telekinetic ripple that sent hundreds of ponies flying backwards, spilling over one another. This bought Bucky time. Bucky tapped into his own desperation, reaching deep, and doing the unthinkable.

A roiling black flame rose from his horn, his eyes turned green, and a purple mist drifted from his eyes as well as from the black flames around his horn. Dark magic. Bucky had learned a spell called “Horror” from a book in the Forbidden section of the library, and he had used it once, to scare a fellow student on Nightmare Night. Nopony ever knew about him popping the lock and sneaking in.

And it certainly worked now. About one third of the ponies bearing back down upon him suddenly turned tail and ran, screaming in terror, Bucky having become the image of their worst nightmare. The dark magic spell only worked on those of weaker minds.

Bucky ran, and kept running, his barrel heaving, real terror welling up in his own mind, knowing that his head was going to roll later for this, and, the terrible knowledge of what would be done to Dinky by hundreds, if not thousands of ponies if he failed.

The assault from such a mob would be fatal, Dinky would die from such a mob committing sexual assault.

His own need for Dinky was growing almost unbearable. It was all he could think about. It was battering down his barriers, eroding his defenses, and wearing down his will.

All he could think about was sexual release.

NO NO NO NO he shouted inside of his own head.

He sent out another telekinetic ripple, sending the pressing horde of ponies sprawling backwards and away from him. His energy was getting weaker now. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to cast at all, and that would be it for Dinky.

The library was in sight, he bolted for the door, shoving ponies aside with powerful telekinetic blasts and freezing pegasi to knock them from the air.

He pounded on the door, which was opened by a small dragon, who stood staring wide eyed at the chaos all around him.

“TWILIGHT!” Bucky screamed raggedly.

“She’s not here, she’s gone, I’ll call Celestia at once!” Spike cried in panic, slamming the door and locking it. “Run, get out of town, try to survive until she gets here!”

Bucky, having no choice, ran.

Discord strolled up the lane, having had a very pleasant visit with his dearest friend, Fluttershy. He whistled as he strolled, feeling marvelous, when he began to notice a bit of a commotion ahead of him.

No, that is quite a commotion up ahead he thought to himself. A lone pony ran, holding two foals aloft in magic, and behind him was most of the population of Ponyville.

Several red bricks dropped from Discord’s backside as he stood in the lane, slack-jawed by what he saw. “What in Tartarus?” The Herald of Chaos uttered, totally flummoxed.

He stood, waiting, as the unicorn approached, sensing a most dreadful spell centered on the foal. An awful spell. While Discord personally liked this spell, he had been the one who taught it to ponies in the first place after all, the notion of it being cast on a foal appalled him. While there was many terrible things Discord would do, this was not one of them.

He snapped his fingers, breaking the dreadful spell and then striding quickly forward, fanned the dark magic away from the unicorn’s smoking horn. He patted the unicorn gently on the head for a job well done, looked at the foal, saw it was no worse for wear, and then, the world suddenly exploded.

Darn Celestia and her dramatic entrances!

Bucky lay on the ground heaving, Celestia standing over him, Discord standing nearby, holding two foals in his forelegs, looking oddly concerned and talking to them both.

“Bucky? Can you speak to me?” Celestia asked, looking concerned. She looked out at the enormous crowd of confused ponies, all staring at her, all of them quite confused looking, all of them wanting answers.

Bucky could not reply, everything was finally crumbling away, and Celestia saw the signs. She cried out in her own panic as Bucky began to seize, his body going into convulsions as a terrible panic attack finally worked its way free. Spittle and foam flew from his lips as he sank into whatever black realm claimed him. Celestia took him in her magic and tried to keep him safe, holding his body and trying to prevent him from self-harm.

Inside of his own head, Bucky sank into the black abyss laughing, knowing that he had not given in. He had proven to be the stronger pony, and took comfort in this as the blackness swallowed him whole.

Author's Notes:

Whew... The chapter did not lend itself well to being split into multiple parts. So, giant chapter!

I'd love to hear feedback on this one. Finally, the unicorn neurosis as a strength.

I'm mentally exhausted and I've been up since 4am, with very little sleep before that. If there are errors, let me know, and I will fix them. Thanks so much all of you for helping me make this story what it is and giving me a chance to entertain you.