“I hope that Surprise contacts me back soon,” Derpy sighed as she stared around the kitchen, looking at various splatters of foal food on the walls. She had lost this battle, and the one earlier, but there was always dinner… or tomorrow.

“Is that strained carrot?” Berry Punch asked as she made a silly face at Harper, who was still stuck in her high chair. She stuck her tongue and waggled her ears at the foal, then, with a slurp, she sucked her tongue in and looked at Derpy. “Surprise?”

“We have all these griffons… they need a flight license,” Derpy huffed, sounding impatient and frustrated. She looked at Harper and heaved another sigh.

“Mama bad,” Harper announced. “Burpy no. Want teat.”

“Are all foals this rotten when you wean them?” Berry asked, looking vaguely concerned. She and Derpy were carrying twins, and her concern was well founded.

“The little stinker zapped me,” Derpy grumbled. “Bucky is actually training her to zap ponies… I don’t know what to do… but she knows she is only supposed to zap if she is threatened. Or so Bucky and Lyra says. I don’t know. It stings. I don’t think she’s actually trying to hurt me, she just wants to be teat fed.”

“Just wait till I tell your mama about what you’ve done!” Berry said in a scolding tone to Harper.

“What mama?” Harper asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Mama mama,” Berry Punch replied melodramatically.

“NO!” Harper shouted, kicking around in her high chair and banging her front hooves on the tray. She threw back her head and began to wail while still thrashing about.

“She has an amazing pair of lungs, doesn’t she?” Berry remarked as she rolled her eyes and then glanced at Derpy.

“When I tell mama mama what you’ve done you’ll-”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” Harper screamed, cutting off Derpy, her eyes wide with fear.

“-be sorry,” Derpy finished.

“Dinky was never this much trouble,” Berry commented, her ears pinned back against her head as she spoke. She shook her head and clucked her tongue. “Or maybe she was and I just don’t want to remember… which is bad.”

“Dinky had her moments but she was a good foal. Harper is a good foal. She’s just having a tough time. Every time she eats she has tummy troubles and somepony has to rub the farts out,” Derpy said in a voice of motherly stoic resignation.

“The other night, Bucky held Harper, rubbed her, pointed her backside to my ear, and squeezed her. The blast was almost deafening. I still want to get him back,” Berry said as she looked at Derpy.

Shaking her head, Derpy laughed. “Bucky is a bad pony.”

Crawling through a large pipe, Spanner wiggled along in the damp and the dark, holding a magical light orb in front of him in his talons, looking for holes in the pipe, trying to determine the possible cause for a loss of pressure.

“Nobirdy knows… the troubles I’ve seen… Nobirdy knows my sorrows…” he sang to himself as he crawled along, his sharp eyes looking for the source of the problem.

Spanner had the most amazing body for fitting into tight spaces, he could basically crawl into anything he could fit his head into and wiggle along in a seemingly boneless fashion. Spanner liked being squeezed… and he liked it even more when it was Lugnut that was squeezing him.

Life had almost become like some fairy tale in some book. He had a mate, he had young, he had a good job, and a kind king. Spanner had everything he wanted, everything except for one little thing. The source of the cursed leak in the system.

Lugnut watched as Spanner’s head popped out of the pipe, rotated around backwards, and then looked at him. Lugnut’s crest raised in a hopeful gesture, one eye going wide in an expectantly pleased fashion.

“Nothing!” Spanner shouted, looking at his mate.

Squawking, Lugnut watched as Spanner squirted out of the end of the pipe and worked himself free. The smaller griffon was greasy and black, covered in filth, and quite irritated looking.

“We found it!” a griffoness breathlessly reported as she dropped down the series of pipes she was climbing and into the small maintenance access cubby. “One of those silly ponies didn’t put any pipe sealant on the end cap when they screwed it on.”

Lugnut smacked himself in the beak with his talons and let out an angry peep, his wings flapping in irritation. He looked at his mate and then at the griffoness, feeling annoyed and a bit angry.

“To be fair, unskilled labourers were laying these pipes and doing this work. They don’t know what they are doing,” the griffoness said patiently.

“Radiators explode if not properly maintained,” Spanner hissed.

“That’s why we’re here. We can fix what they’ve screwed up,” the griffoness said sweetly. “They didn’t know. But we do. We’re making everything right and there will be no explosions. Our king will be angry if something explodes and a foal is harmed.”

“Foals must never be brought to harm. Our king’s first law,” Lugnut said as he scratched his belly. “Come on Spanner. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Filthy Rich looked at himself in the mirror, thinking about everything that had brought him to this point in life. His beliefs were shaken, quite a few of the old ones had been destroyed, his previous wealth was gone, but he was recovering, able to make a new fortune on his own, and to top everything off, he was getting grey hair.

He needed to fix his life and get a few things sorted out. Gala Appleby was still upset with him. She had been kind, she had led him along, but she had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in a physical relationship.

Until he had his lunch with Ivory Scroll, the mayor, who had certainly wanted a physical relationship. That had certainly changed everything. All it took was one mare to bed him and the game changed.

Gala Appleby had changed her mind, saying that she had always been interested in a relationship with him, but now she was hurt and rather upset about his actions. Filthy Rich was forced to wonder if Gala really wanted him. Previous to his dealings with the mayor, she had kept herself just out of reach, leading him along.

Now there were accusations of him ruining everything, and Filthy Rich wasn’t certain he would ever understand mares. He couldn’t understand why Gala Appleby had not simply made her intentions known from the beginning rather than string him along.

Filthy Rich smoothed back his hair and steeled his nerves. He was about to have lunch with the both of them to try and sort things out. He sighed, wishing he could keep them both, and gave his reflection a saucy wink.

Cadance was so glad to see her sister in law, and the cotton candy pink alicorn flashed a coy smile. “How is married life Twilight?” she asked as she studied Twilight. Her sister in law was larger now, tall, as tall as Cadance and Luna, and Cadance could not help but feel a stirring of pride.

“I’m really happy,” Twilight answered in an exhausted voice.

“Shining Armor and I really hoped that things would work out between you and Flash Sentry. Having your best friend join you was quite a shock and a surprise to the both of us,” Cadance said, her joy spilling out as she spoke. Her eyes twinkled merrily and the corners of her mouth were pulled back into a broad smile.

“Was quite a shock to me too… my friends and Bucky, they all had this planned,” Twilight said as she sank down into a chair and rested her head against the overstuffed arm.

“The best sorts of friends will all work to look after your better interests,” Cadance said in a soft voice, worried for Twilight’s weariness. “Buckminster, for all of his faults, he loves you Twilight. You would be wise to let him protect you.”

“I know Cadance,” Twilight remarked. She yawned, exposing her perfect square teeth, and then she blinked her heavy eyes a few times. “Bucky is my dear friend. He brought Sunset Shimmer back through the mirror and we get to see one another. He’s saved my life and the lives of those I love. I doubt I will ever be able to repay him.”

“Forgiving him for blowing up Las Pegasus would be a good start,” Cadance said, giggling.

“WHAT?” Twilight demanded, her eyes flying open wide.

“You haven’t seen it yet because of your investigations and what not, but Buckminster blew up about a quarter of Las Pegasus and was probably the one who mysteriously teleported away thousands of innocents before the city was rocked by the blast,” Cadance said demurely. “There is a full write up in the paper. Auntie Sunshine sent a message that Buckminster also brought her back a very thoughtful gift, a souvenir from Las Pegasus. And there is the matter of Glass Slipper.”

“The foal that was taken?” Twilight replied, still wide eyed and befuddled about how Bucky had blown up Las Pegasus and teleported away thousands. It didn’t make sense.

“Auntie Moon Drops and Auntie Sunshine have Glass Slipper now. They’ve told her the heart breaking news. They do not want to send her back here, to the Crystal Empire, and I agree. Glass Slipper is safer in their shadow. Our aunties want Glass Slipper to stay with you, you could keep her safe, give her a good home, and being a focuser, she would help you in your magical endeavours,” Cadance explained, her eyes flashing a sad look for a moment.

“Another foal? Celestia wants me to look after it? We’ve just taken in Scootaloo… I just got married. I don’t know what I’m doing… things aren’t perfect Cadance,” Twilight whimpered, looking afraid.

“If you run into trouble, turn to Buckminster. He’s your family too. He’s good with foals,” Cadance said in a soothing voice.

“He is… I get jealous Cadance. I see him with Harper or Peekaboo or anything really, and he just knows what he’s doing. I tried to hold Harper and she wouldn’t stop squirming, fussing, or crying… she had gas and I didn’t know it,” Twilight grumbled, her exhaustion settling in again and making her ears droop.

“Foals gotta fart Twilight,” Cadance said, failing to hold back a faint titter after she spoke. She looked serenely at the sleepy alicorn she called her half sister. “Shining Armor is looking forward to being a father. I’m having twins Twilight… my spell backfired and I’m going to experience what Berry Punch and Derpy are going to go through.”

“Twins? That’s wonderful,” Twilight responded. Unable to stop herself, she yawned.

“Shiny is so happy. We’re so happy. The Crystal Empire is so happy… Everything is so perfect Twilight… even with the trouble, even with the disturbances, everything just feels so right,” Cadance said, her voice falling into a silky whisper.

“Cadance?” Twilight asked in a low voice.

“Yes Twilight?” Cadance replied.

“I had a threesome. I kinda want to brag about it,” Twilight Sparkle stated.

Cadance stared at her sister in law, feeling overjoyed. She watched as Twilight Sparkle yawned and unable to help herself, she found herself trying to visualise how Twilight might act in the middle of a threesome. All she could mentally conjure up was a very befuddled Twilight Sparkle with a checklist and a book explaining how things were done, politely asking somepony to stop licking her so she could read her study notes and make sure everything was going correctly and followed the plan.

Unable to help herself, Cadance began to giggle.

“I’m going to sleep now,” Twilight announced.

“But there is a bed,” Cadance protested.

“Chair is nice. Chair works. Too tired for bed. Sleep now. Twilight Sparkle is a sleepy pony,” Twilight said in a soft foalish voice, her eyes closing.

Cadance waited for Twilight to fall asleep, and once her sister in law was slumbering peacefully, Cadance intended to carry her to bed. She sighed, smiled, and reveled in the feeling of carrying life in her belly.

Author's Notes:

I think I might go take a nap.

Lemme know if I missed any typos.