Gazing out upon the faces of curious and eager students, Princess Twilight Sparkle offered up a shy smile and waved with her wing. She saw bright beaming faces, curious faces, and thankfully, she saw no sleepy faces. She ignored the nervous itchy feeling in her left ear and tried to contain her excitement about being a teacher instead of a student.

“So, class, we only have a little bit of time left, so let’s make it count. Your headmaster spoke to you about non-lethal alternatives that can be used to pacify, and he’s really good at those actually, being an enchanter and a transmuter of exceptional renown. I specialise in abjuration… defensive magics. I did it because my big brother was always talking about how important a good defense is and as everypony knows, I idolise my big brother, best friend forever,” Twilight said in over enthusiastic tones as she bounced in place, her knees flexing as her leg bent and then straightened. “Any questions?”

“Remember Twilight… young little foals… telling them about redundant matrices and multiple counter spinning oscillation layers to act as suspension for major impacts is not going to be very helpful to them.”

Turning her head, Twilight looked at Bucky as he spoke, taking note of his slightly teasing tone and the wry grin he had. She knew when she was being ribbed and she know how to give back as good as she got. “Bucky, the thing is, I could probably explain those things to this class and I think a few of them would get it… maybe one of them might teach you if you asked nicely.”

The class erupted into laughter and Twilight flicked one ear at Bucky, waited a moment, and saw him flick an ear back. Twilight understood that the class had to have moments of fun. She allowed herself to chuckle for a moment, cleared her throat, and then addressed the class.

“Physical shields are only as good as your telekinesis. If all you can lift is a pen, a quill, or a pencil, then your shield, should you make one, will only stop a pencil if it is thrown at you. There are exceptions… I know for a fact that Bucky can lift several thousand tons in his telekinetic fields, yet his shields still tend to fizzle out pretty quick. Shining Armor, at least as he was before he became the Crystal Defender, couldn’t lift very much with his telekinesis, but his shields could stop many thousands of tons of force when it collided with them.” Twilight stopped speaking and gave her students a little bit of time to allow everything she had said to settle in. She looked around the room, looking at different faces, trying to get a feel for who might be having a hard time taking this in. After almost a full minute of silence, she continued.

“So, for you unicorns, it is very important that you work with your telekinesis constantly. Every day. Keep lifting things. Heavy things. Offer to move furniture for your friends. Offer to carry heavy loads for your family. Be helpful to others. Be sure to lift every day and push your own limits. Keep struggling. Keep trying. You might struggle to lift a toothbrush today, but in time, if you work hard, you will be able to lift so much more.”

Much to Twilight’s delight, she saw a hoof raise. “Sweetie Belle, please, do you have a question or a comment?”

Turning her head, Sweetie Belle looked at her classmates and then back at Twilight. “Um, this is a good lesson for unicorns, but we have pegasi and earth ponies in class too… how does this apply to them?”

Like a ravenous predator, Twilight sprang upon the question. “Good question! By understanding how a shield works, an earth pony or a pegasus can know how to take it down. By slamming the shield with a tornado, you might be able to take the shield down. Earth ponies can buck the shield or hurl rocks at it… like Maud Pie the earth pony might do. I know some pretty strong earth ponies that might kick through a common unicorn’s shields without too much trouble. With this in mind, if you are a unicorn, and you have earth pony friends, let them kick your shields for the workout. Pegasi too.”

“I can’t even cast a shield spell, or anything else,” a unicorn colt said.

Twilight turned to look at the colt and offered him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, pretty soon, there are going to be practical lessons in how to construct a simple shield bubble. It is basically just using your telekinesis to push out in all directions at once.”

When she glanced at the clock, Twilight realised that time had escaped her. She felt the corner of her eye twitch in annoyance as she continued her lesson. “Okay class, question and answer time… if you have a question, I want to hear it…”

For Lugus, it was good to be home. The farm was home. The room in the attic was his roost. Yew was his mate, and he would be very happy to see her. Peekaboo was his foal, something that he loved and held very dear to himself.

His gear stowed in the makeshift armory that was a spare room in the back of the forge, Lugus took wing once more, landed on the balcony, pushed open the doors, and entered his roost, his room in the attic. It was fully finished off now, comfortable, open, spacious, the floor was basically the whole of the house below, and while some of the walls were angled because of the roof, he still had plenty of room to move around in here.

Yew Wood was right where he expected for her to be. No doubt she had seen him, Ripple, and the Raptors coming home. Sprawled on the bed, laying on her belly, her tail swishing from side to side over her kicked out hind legs, Yew Wood was giving him a come-hither stare that could melt butter.

“I’ve been waiting for you. It just isn’t the same when I play with myself.”

Lugus let out a small squawk. Yew’s words were little more than a sultry whisper, a faint soft silken suggestion that she wanted something from him. And Lugus knew what it was that Yew Wood wanted. He could see it, plain as day.

Near the bed, on the floor, the mat for Twister was laid out and waiting for both of them.

Ripple found herself buried in a pony pile on the living room floor. It had started with Derpy tackling her and nearly squeezing the life out of her, then Bittersweet had joined in, somehow, Sparkler found out she was home, woke up, and had come down the stairs to join in on attempting to squeeze Ripple until she popped.

In the midst of all of this, Harper came wobbling across the floor and climbed over Ripple’s face to hug her, and Ripple could feel her snoot pressing into Harper’s belly. Realising she had a perfect opportunity, Ripple blew a raspberry.

Giggling, Harper slid off of Ripple’s face and fell over on her back, she rolled around for a moment, kicking her four legs in the air, and then shouted, “Rippy!”

Derpy, who had Ripple still pinned, feigned mock outrage. “You raspberried your little sister! Bad filly! Sparky… what do we do with bad fillies?”

“Um, I think we raspberry them?”

“That’s right Sparky!”

“No!” Ripple cried as she tried to squirm away. She didn’t try very hard, she didn’t actually want to hurt anypony, but her belly was especially ticklish. Outnumbered by a pegasus, a donkey, and a unicorn, Ripple tried begging. “No! Please?”

Squealing in panic, Ripple felt three muzzles all pressing into the tender flesh around her navel. She gently tried pushing them away, but it was no use. She tried to wiggle and squirm free, but Derpy was all too used to wrestling with Sparkler, and Ripple was fearful of accidentally kicking Derpy’s belly.

Unable to do much about her current situation, Ripple internally swore revenge upon Sparkler and Bittersweet later.

“You skipped out on school! Bad filly!” Derpy scolded as her head dipped down to raspberry Ripple once more.

Overcome with joy, Ripple actually felt tears in her eyes as she realised she was glad to be home, even if she was pinned down on the floor flat on her back and getting slobbery raspberries blown into her tummy.

Setting down her bag full of yarn and knitting needles, Berry Punch gave a curious stare to Fluttershy’s now rounded belly. After a moment, she looked up at Discord, who immediately looked away, trying to find something other than Berry Punch to look at.

“I don’t know what happened,” Discord said with a haughty sounding sniff.

Figuring the blunt approach would serve her best, Berry Punch said to Fluttershy exactly what was on her mind. “You’re pregnant.”

Stepping forward, Berry Punch nosed Fluttershy’s side, then rubbed her cheek against Fluttershy’s surprisingly large belly, and she heard Fluttershy say, “I went to the hospital and got checked… they said I have an egg inside of me.”

Confused, Berry Punch kept her ear pressed up against Fluttershy. “I thought Discord was the one that was pregnant.”

“I was… and then I wasn’t,” Discord snapped as he folded his forelegs over his chest and sulked, something Berry Punch could only barely see out of the corner of her vision.

With her cheek still pressed tightly against the flesh just behind Fluttershy’s ribs, Berry Punch felt Fluttershy relax a little bit, her body trembled less, and her breathing slowed down. Berry Punch smiled to herself, the sudden movement of her muscles caused her ear to twitch, which thumped against Fluttershy’s side, which tickled Fluttershy and made her giggle nervously. “Hi baby.”

Hearing Fluttershy’s voice rising into a faint whine, Berry Punch heard the sunny yellow pegasus say, “I couldn’t possibly pass an egg.” Considering the pegasus mare’s words, Berry Punch found herself wondering just how large this egg must be to have made Fluttershy look so rotund.

“I feel so lonely now… and empty!”

“Discord, you’re not alone… you have me you silly goose,” Fluttershy said in response to Discord’s pained exclamation.

Pulling away and turning around, Berry Punch looked around the cottage. It was nearly spotless, as it usually was, if a little cluttered in a few spots. Either Fluttershy was able to stick to her routine or she had somehow managed to get Discord to clean. A balding eagle rested upon a tall perch stand, half of his feathers gone, probably from some terrible ailment of some kind. Around the eagle’s neck was an orange scarf, and the bird was slumped down onto his perch, sound asleep.

“I’m so glad that you came… I’ve been wanting ever so badly somepony to knit with.”

Fluttershy’s words snapped Berry Punch out of her distracted state. She turned to look at Fluttershy. “You know, all that cannabis you gave my husband was really very kind of you. It leveled him out, kept him in a good mood for a while… and I think we’re going to brew some beer with it. I think the little break was just what he needed.”

Fluttershy blinked, and Berry Punch saw the shy pegasus blushing. “Oh, you’re very welcome,” Berry Punch heard Fluttershy say.

“That stuff grows like a weed… there is a massive field of that stuff out behind the cottage, and when Fluttershy cleans all of the chicken droppings from the henhouse, she dumps them back out in that field,” Discord said.

“Chicken droppings are always good for plants.” This was simply conversation now on Berry Punch’s part; she didn’t know what else to say. She felt a little distracted, out of sorts, she was worried about Fluttershy, and she really wasn’t in the mood for talk about farming.

“How about some tea before we start knitting?” Fluttershy asked.

“That would be wonderful…”

The school day was mostly over. Holding a stack of books in his levitation field, Bucky headed for the small office that he kept inside of the school proper. It was not the office where he planned to see troublesome students, this was just a place for books, his desk, and a place for him to have a quiet spot to retreat during the school day.

There were still students in the halls, foals, little ones, talking to one another, asking about homework, and most of them seemed fairly happy about school based on the bits of conversation that he picked up as he passed.

Turning the corner, Bucky drew nearer to his office, he heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that this part of the day was over. Tonight, there would be golem creation. Twilight Sparkle had brought the arcano tech motors and left them in the ground floor room of his tower.

Reaching his office, Bucky unlocked the door, pulled it open, and was immediately covered by an avalanche of popcorn that spilled out the door, into the hall, and didn’t seem to stop coming for quite some time. Standing there, feeling a little stunned, Bucky suddenly understood what it must have felt like for Celestia. He snorted away a piece of popcorn stuck to his nose, shook popcorn out of his mane, and then, feeling a little peckish, reached his head down and took a bite of popcorn as his stunned students stood staring.

Chewing, Bucky cast a simple spell to detect magical signatures, and he nearly choked on his popcorn when he figured out who had done this. Still chewing, trying not to choke, Bucky grinned.

The magical signature was unique to Celestia herself.

Author's Notes:

The new style progresses.

Maybe?

The typos flee!