“I missed you,” Bittersweet mouthed, her lips moving to form the the words, her eyes locked on Ripple’s own. “I was scared,” she added silently, her ears moving around, repeating her unspoken words in ear language.

“There were some tense moments,” Ripple replied, moving her lips as well but saying nothing, her snoot only a short distance away from Bittersweet. “To be honest I was scared a few times. I got blinded. All of my training paid off though.”

“Sparkler and I have been talking,” Bittersweet said wordlessly. “And Rising Star too. He’s been very kind to me and I kind of like him. Loch Skimmer and I have become friends.”

“You do? You have? What have you been talking about?” Ripple questioned, her eyes going wide with curiousity, her lips moving but no audible words coming out.

Saying nothing, Bittersweet wrapped her leg around Ripple’s neck and pulled her in, kissing her softly, warmly, pulling the pegasus close. She groped Ripple clumsily, one foreleg sliding down from Ripple’s crest to her withers.

Finally, the two broke apart after a very wet, slobbery, and clumsy kiss. Staring at one another, not needing to say anything, Ripple held tightly to Bittersweet and did not let go. She pulled the donkey close again and squeezed her, glad to be home, glad to be safe, glad for the fighting to be over. Their necks twined together and Ripple could feel the throb of Bittersweet’s life blood against her throat.

Feeling safe, feeling secure, and finally in a place where she no longer had to be so stoic, the horror of everything that had happened finally overcame Ripple and she began to weep, finally letting it all out as she held on to Bittersweet.

Alone in his closet under the stairs, Sentinel was grateful to be home again and have his private space. Already, he was missing Spike, but took a bit of comfort in knowing he would see the dragon at school. Maybe even tomorrow if he could convince everypony to let him go right away.

He closed his journal, set aside his pencil, rolled over onto his back, and then stared up at the underside of the wooden stairs. He just wanted things to go back to normal as soon as possible, whatever normal was. He wasn’t sure what normal was, but it involved some kind of routine and a repeating pattern of predictable events and activities that took place every day without fail.

The news papers had been carefully folded and saved for him, and he had even looked at a few of them. Rising Star’s election. General Iron Sky facing criminal charges. Spitfire being elected to the Stable of Representatives. Coco Pommel organising a toy drive to collect toys for needy colts and fillies for this year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve. The paper with the news that his father had been shot in the head and the other paper about his father’s speech later that same day, given by Belisama, the queen of the griffons. The papers that talked about the massive blizzard that raged over what used to be Griffonholm.

There was a lot to catch up with and Sentinel had a lot of reading to do.

He thought about Moonbow, wishing that he could see her, and thought about sending word to Princess Luna, a request to see his betrothed. It would be nice to see Moonbow and get her perspective on everything that had happened.

There was a soft knock upon his door and Sentinel rolled over. As he did so, the door opened and he saw Berry Punch smiling in at him, her ears perked forward and her eyes twinkling with merry mischief.

“You have a visitor,” Berry announced and then stepped aside.

A pink blur hurridly pushed its way into Sentinel’s cubby and the door was shut by Berry, leaving two foals trapped in a very confined space with one another. Before Sentinel could protest, Diamond Tiara had her forelegs around his neck and was squeezing him hard enough where most ponies would have strangled.

“I was so scared,” Diamond Tiara admitted, her voice a soft squeak.

Wrapping his own forelegs around her, Sentinel pulled her close and without a word of warning, pressed his lips against Diamond Tiara’s, giving her a mostly innocent but wet sounding smooch. The earth pony filly froze, her eyes blinking rapidly, her eyelashes fluttering, and her tail swished from side to side.

“You actually missed me,” Diamond Tiara stated in a low whisper.

“More than you know,” Sentinel confessed, still holding the filly he fancied.

“I missed you… I missed you so much… I’ve been a mess without you actually,” Diamond Tiara confided in a low soft breathy voice. “My father keeps teasing me and saying I’m lovesick. Maybe I am.”

“You’re so soft… and you smell good,” Sentinel murmured, snuffling along Diamond Tiara’s neck with his sensitive nose. He rubbed the spot just under his ear against her, unaware that he was marking her with his scent glands, leaving behind a slightly oily smear and marking her as his territory, just as he did with everypony that he loved, only this time, it was accidental.

“Are we making out?” Diamond Tiara whispered.

“I have no idea,” Sentinel replied, pulling her closer and grasping her tighter. “You… you’re very special to me. I thought about you while I was gone.”

“So Sparkler, Rising Star, and Loch Skimmer all approve of me courting you,” Ripple said wordlessly, mouthing her words carefully so Bittersweet would understand.

The donkey nodded and offered up a shy smile.

“You’ve no doubt figured out the end result of all of this, I’m in a herd… I’m married. If we want to be together, this means…”

Bittersweet nodded, understanding Ripple’s unfinished utterance all to well. “I understand where this ends and I don’t know yet. Give me time. I’m still thinking about all of this, but I do not deny that my heart beats for you. Rising Star promised me that he would be affectionate but also leave me be,” Bittersweet silently mouthed. “Sparkler has begun courting me as well, hoping to lure me in. I don’t know how I feel about her just yet, but I do know how I feel about you.”

Smiling broadly, Ripple learned forward and kissed the donkey on the cheek.

“More than my herd, I have other duties,” Ripple mouthed, looking into Bittersweet’s eyes. “My griffon guard unit and the empire that I serve.”

Seeing the word griffon, Bittersweet looked terribly afraid for a moment but relaxed when Ripple stroked her with a wing.

“I have given my guard orders to keep you safe, happy, and earn your trust,” Ripple said carefully, making sure that Bittersweet could see her lips move. “Are you going to be okay with that?”

It took several moments, but Bittersweet finally nodded in reply.

“They get treated like donkeys do,” Ripple mouthed. “Treated as servants and slaves. I know this is troubling with you, but you have something in common with the little griffons. I’ve talked with them, they were horrified by what their larger kin did to the donkeys.”

Bittersweet threw her forelegs around Ripple’s neck and squeezed, pulling the pegasus close as the first tears began to fall. The donkey began to weep silently, her ears going limp against her head.

“Bucky, we need to talk,” Derpy said in a low voice.

“What about, love?” Bucky responded, not lifting his head from the arm of his chair in the library. It felt good to be home.

“Thistle isn’t the only one facing some complications from pregnancy,” Derpy said in a soft voice.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked, lifting his head and looking at Derpy in concern.

“I’ve been noticing some pain in my pelvis Bucky,” Derpy answered, shaking her head as she spoke. “Just little pain, but pain. I was worried so I told the doctor about it. You remember how I told you about how they broke my pelvis to get Dinky out?”

“Yes, the symphysiotomy,” replied Bucky, recalled a painful conversation from the summer. “They had to smash your pelvis, breaking it to get Dinky out.”

“I have some arthritis down there Bucky… they’re telling me as my pregnancy progresses and the winter sets in, it is going to get worse and worse,” Derpy said in a subdued voice, staring down at the hardwood floors as she spoke.

“How bad?” Bucky inquired in a raspy voice made gravelly from pain.

“They don’t know how bad just yet,” Derpy said in a low voice. “But they are telling me it has the potential to become unbearable,” the pegasus murmured. “They talked with Berry Punch about the possibly of me being bedridden and if I would have somepony to look after me.”

“But the pain isn’t so bad right now?” Bucky inquired, looking at his mate in concern.

“No, I’m fine for shagging,” Derpy said, offering a warm smile and a soft fillyish laugh. “I thought it was a bladder infection actually. I had a bad one while I was carrying Dinky and oh gosh did it hurt.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Bucky stated, looking defeated and helpless.

“Nothing anypony can do. I’m just going to have to grin and bear it,” Derpy said, her nostrils flaring as her ears splayed out sideways. “It’s worth it, I’ve wanted more foals. Dinky needs siblings.”

“And I suppose Berry is fine,” Bucky sighed.

“Berry has a body made for pregnancy the doctor said. She has wide foal bearing hips, a sturdy spine, and she has hip joints that are in magnificent shape from all of the running and wagon pulling she’s done,” Derpy said, her smile growing a little broader. “You and I both know from experience that Berry Punch has a body made for foal making as well.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle paced in front of the library, looking at the twenty pegasi guard scouts assembled before her. Her head was held high and she towered at her new full height over all of them, her wings fluttering nervously as she walked back and forth.

“As stated in your mission briefing packets, his name is Cheese Sandwich. You’ve seen pictures of him. His current whereabouts are unknown, but I want him found and I want him brought to Canterlot. Move quickly. Once he is located, I don’t care what you have to do, get him to Canterlot immediately. Tell him that Pinkie Pie is in terrible trouble and she needs his help. Do you understand your orders?” Twilight Sparkle said, offering instruction to the solar scouts standing before her.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” the scouts all replied in unison.

“Well, don’t just stand there, get moving!” Twilight snapped in irritation.

The guard immediately responded, taking off in different directions towards Equestria’s major cities and settlements, leaving Twilight Sparkle standing in a cloud of dust.

“I hope they hurry.”

Twilight turned and looked at Rainbow Dash, who had come out of the library.

“How are you feeling Dash?” Twilight asked.

“Still woozy sometimes. I got hit in the head pretty hard, the doctor in Canterlot said it might affect my balance for a while. And my emotions,” Rainbow Dash replied, thinking about how much she had been crying lately.

“What is Flash doing?” Twilight inquired, her eyes lingering over the blue pegasus as she looked at her friend in an entirely new way now.

“He and Spike are playing cards together and having fun,” Rainbow Dash answered. “They’re getting to be good buddies. Spike doesn’t want time to settle in, he wants to go to school tomorrow. He’s so excited, he won’t shut up about it.”

“Rainbow, you feeling up for a little trip?” Twilight questioned as she cautiously approached Rainbow Dash. Leaning her head down, she gingerly kissed the now smaller pegasus on the cheek.

“A walk?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Before the sun sets, we have one more family member to look after,” Twilight said nervously to her fellow-wife.

“Today? Right now? Really?” Rainbow questioned excitedly.

“Raven sent the official order from Canterlot when we were there earlier,” Twilight Sparkle stated. “Consider this my wedding gift.”

“So we’ve just got to go and pick her up?” Rainbow squeaked, her eyes watering over with tears once more as her ears drooped down.

“Yes. But she doesn’t know we are coming. It’s a surprise,” Twilight responded.

“Do you know where she is?” Rainbow Dash questioned, looking up at Twilight as she cried, her eyes full of unabashed adoration and love.

“If everything has gone as planned, she is at the Carousel Boutique with Rarity, Coco, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. They were having a little welcome home party for Rarity, and that was the plan to lure Scootaloo there,” Twilight explained.

“I can walk to Rarity’s place,” Rainbow Dash said as she staggered dizzily off.

Author's Notes:

And a second chapter for today. This took forever to type and with each press of the keys, it felt like somebody was smashing my finger knuckles with a hammer as my joints flexed.

Ugh. Totally worth it though.

Might be typos.