Buckminster Bitters stood with his family, watching as the sun set off the left side of the ship. They were heading northward, more or less, and according to the captain, making good time. Both of his mares kept giving him suggestive glances, both of them looking quite pleased.

Sparkler stood with Rising Star, both of them quiet, looking ahead, and not at the sunset off to the side.

The wind whipped at everypony’s manes and tails.

Dinner in the ship’s cafeteria had been pleasant. They were the only passengers, and there was about two dozen crew members, some of whom also ate dinner in the cafeteria. It was odd being on an almost empty ship.

There was a fully stocked bar on board. Once the foals were in bed with Sparkler and Rising Star to watch them, Bucky, Derpy and Berry had plans to get completely plastered.

Piña was doing surprisingly well, she had endured the train ride and was now managing to survive the voyage on board the ship. She stood near her sister, leaning on Berry’s leg, afraid to stand too close to the railing.

Dinky didn’t mind the railing and looked overboard every chance she got, watching the white waves wash up against the sides of the ship.

“I need to talk to you all,” Berry said, her voice grim.

Every ear perked, every head turned, and every pony present paid attention.

“There are some things you should know before we get the Shetland Isles,” Berry said in a slow hesitant voice. “This is not going to be a pleasant trip most likely. Well, I mean we can have a nice time, but things are going to be different.”

“Different?” Bucky asked.

“The Isles are a bit backwards. You are not going to find any grocery stores. There is no electricity. There are no refrigerators, but there are iceboxes, and unicorns that make ice for ponies to use. Indoor plumbing really doesn’t exist. There are no toilets. If you want water, you have to pump it yourself. Some of the isles don’t even have fresh water. The ponies that live on those isles have to depend on pegasi bringing them fresh water from the other isles. Ponies still live here though, even with all of these troubles, because they want to be free,” Berry explained.

“Oh my,” Derpy said, spreading her wings slightly to catch a cooling breeze.

“I can conjure water if there is any close by, I have magic to preserve food, or to make ice, and I suppose I can learn to live without the other things. And I thought adjusting to life in Ponyville was difficult,” Bucky said.

“Life on the Isles is different and difficult, and that is why some ponies from there ditch the old ways and move to the mainland. I came to the mainland hoping for a better life. Ponyville has always been an odd place. And there are a few herds there, hidden in plain sight. Hopefully, we can take care of whatever needs to be dealt with and go home,” Berry said, her mane whipping in the wind.

“There is always the option that I take us home and then dare other ponies to stop me,” Bucky said in a low voice.

“There is that, but that won’t win us very many friends I don’t think,” Derpy acknowledged in a low voice.

“Bucky, you would have to sleep sometime,” Berry said.

“You are right of course. Both of you. I’ll shut up now,” Bucky replied.

“Did you try to make foals with my mother earlier?”

Derpy went as still as a statue at the sound of Dinky’s voice, her mane blowing and tangling around her ears. Her mouth moved once to make a reply, and then moved no more. She stood, staring at her foal.

Bucky, also taken off guard, froze in panic, unsure how to respond to this question. He stood, blinking rapidly, Dinky’s words echoing in his ears.

“Dinks darling, what do you know about making foals?” Berry Punch asked, sitting down upon her haunches and pulling Dinky close.

“Well, everything. I know a stallion sticks his woo woo into a mare’s hoo hoo and there is something called ‘semen’ that squirts out after a lot of hugging,” Dinky whispered, her cheeks turning apple red.

“Yes Dinky, that about covers it. Yes. Bucky has been sticking his woo woo into our hoo hoos and we’ve been hoping to make foals. And there has been a lot of hugging and love between all of us,” Berry explained patiently. “Does this bother you? Are you upset that your mother is doing this? Do you feel angry or sad?”

“Well, it bothers me a little, because it sounds gross, but I want a little brother or a little sister or both… and I want mommy…” Dinky paused, her muzzle getting a thoughtful set of wrinkles. “I want my mother to be happy and I want to make sure she is getting the love she deserves. My… I don’t know what to call him because he isn’t my daddy, he did bad things to my mother and now I want good things to happen to her,” Dinky explained, trying to sound grown up.

Berry gently wrapped a foreleg around Dinky and pulled her close. “So Bucky is your daddy now? For realsies?”

Dinky nodded shyly, stealing one glance up at Bucky.

“And you are okay with him sticking his woo woo into her hoo hoo? If you feel jealous about him getting some of your mother’s affection, that is normal and it isn’t anything to be ashamed of... or if you feel uncomfortable with him doing things with your mother,” Berry said in unexpectedly Berry mother-ish tones.

“Really, I don’t mind him sticking his woo woo into my mommy’s hoo hoo,” Dinky admitted. “And I am not jealous. I promise. If there is somebody sticking their woo woo into my mommy’s hoo hoo, I am glad it is him. He’s doing the right thing and being a daddy after he does it.”

“Yes, yes he is Dinky. And a lot of stallions wouldn’t so readily take in a foal not their own,” Berry said gently, her foreleg still around Dinky’s withers.

“I know. I hear about it from other foals in school,” Dinky replied in a low voice. “Makes me sad. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

“Well, your mother had to be very brave and run Bucky down first, and then she had to be patient and draw out the good pony she saw in his eyes when she first met him. And here we are. And we owe it all to your mother being a brave pony,” Berry said in sage tones. “I would trust my life to your mother’s instincts.”

“Mommy was a very lonesome pony Dinky, and she needed her hoo hoo looked after by somepony that really loved her and that she could trust,” Derpy explained in a wavering embarrassed voice. “And I love you so much right now for being such a big filly about all of this.”

“Do you have any more questions?” asked Berry Punch.

“No, I think I’m good for now,” Dinky quipped, her ears drooping down to the sides of her face.

“I have a question,” Piña squeaked hesitantly.

“Yes little sister?” Berry replied, waiting patiently, still being Berry motherly.

“How do two hoo hoos work together?” Piña asked, her pink pelt turning pinker.

There was a faint embarrassed titter from Sparkler and a groan from Rising Star.

“Piña, honey, what kind of answer do you want? An answer that will make you feel better about what you don’t know, or an honest answer?” Berry asked, answering Piña’s question with a question of her own.

“Ummm,” Piña replied nervously. “As an earth pony we are meant to be honest,” she stated nervously, unable to look up and meet her sister’s gaze.

Bucky shifted nervously. This was a side of Berry Punch that he had not seen, and he felt intrigued. Brash Berry Punch, the Warmonger of Ponyville, had the makings to be an excellent mother, just like Derpy did. His reaction to her display of motherhood was rather odd. He really wanted to stuff something into her hoo hoo and love her gently. Not that she would enjoy that probably, but the thought crossed his mind and lingered.

“When two mares enjoy each others company they can kiss each other on the filly bits. They can also rub against one another, using different parts of their bodies, and it is possible for two mares to make each other happy in the same way that a mare and a stallion can make each other happy. Stallions and stallions can also make one another happy. And Piña, you must never be a bigot about such things, telling other ponies what is right or what is wrong about how they find happiness with other ponies. A lot of ponies think that what we are doing is wrong,” Berry explained patiently. “Do you need to know more?”

“No, not at the moment, I am good,” Piña gulped, her eyes closed. “And being a family isn’t wrong. Stallions and stallions, mares and mares, a herd, it is all family. And family is all that matters. You taught me that.”

Derpy snatched Piña with a wing, pulled her in, and began to squeeze, making the foal groan from the crushing force.

“I have good foals,” said Bucky, “I have me some wonderful foals already. I don’t know what to say. I have three wonderful foals already. By sheer luck. My foals.”

“Oh, you included me,” Sparkler quipped, sounding emotional.

“Of course I included you. Look at you. You are here. With us. Even after I gave you my opinion on what I wanted from you, you chose family. And you did right,” Bucky praised, his tone sincere, warm, and honest.

“Oh bother, I don’t want to cry right now,” Sparkler said, rubbing her eyes with a fetlock, but unable to stop the tears.

Three ponies were sprawled around a table, looking comfortable, and were laughing with one another. Two little foals and two responsible someday soon to be adults watched over them, down in a darkened stateroom.

The three ponies around the table had been drinking quite a bit.

“That was something else earlier today,” Bucky said, his words only faintly slurred.

“Good foals,” Derpy agreed. “And Berry was sexy.”

“I know. I thought about wanting to stick my woo woo into her hoo hoo when she was being a good mother,” Bucky confessed somewhat drunkenly.

“I am Berry ruttable,” Berry spoke, and then lifted a pitcher of sloe gin fizz and drank from it greedily.

“Is it getting any easier for you two?” Derpy asked.

“It still feels like somepony is sticking their whole hoof and part of their leg up my backside,” Berry said, wiping her mouth with her foreleg after she was done speaking.

“All this talk makes me feel entirely too good about myself,” Bucky blurbed. “You know, you two never took a turn with one another today.”

“We all took a nap instead, and that was nice,” Derpy said.

“At that point, I was exhausted,” Berry admitted. “And my plot was sore. Well, still is actually. Hurts to sit down.”

“Well, you wanted it rough,” Bucky muttered.

“Yeah I did,” Berry replied, lifting her pitcher of sloe gin fizz in salute. She downed a dozen or so swallows and then belched a belch that would make Sparkler jealous.

Derpy knocked back a glass of whiskey, grimaced, shuddered, and poured another glass. “I am one happily married mare,” she announced, the whiskey burn in her throat making her voice husky. “I honestly believed that this would never happen.”

“I never thought I’d be one for marriage and family,” Bucky confessed, and then tossed back the remainder of his glass of rum. He set the glass down and went to work on the bottle directly.

“I wanted a family more than anything,” Berry said. “But both of you knew that.”

“You had a good chance at getting a family… look at me… I just got lucky,” Derpy said morosely.

“You… shut up,” Bucky ordered, his words a bit more slurry than before.

“But it is true though. With my eyes-”

“Berry, shut her up,” Bucky interrupted with his command, making a gesture as he spoke.

Berry lunged at the pegasus and tackled her, planting a Berry drunken and Berry affectionate kiss on the grey mare’s lips. The two mares began to make out, hooves rubbing wildly as they groped one another.

Bucky watched the mares making out with a great deal of inebriated interest. He took a long pull of the golden coloured rum from the bottle, belched, and tasted apricots as an aftertaste. The two mares continued to roll and writhe, rubbing and grinding against one another, and Bucky took another long drink.

“I love every hairy inch of you, from your eyes to your trumpeting plothole,” Bucky stated, causing the two mares to pause their making out. “So don’t ever put yourself down ever again,” he commanded.

Derpy nodded, still pinned beneath Berry, her eyes glittering with her heated feelings of love and arousal.

“I am getting as drunk as a lord,” Bucky announced, closing one eye and staring down the neck of his bottle. “Almost gone. Horrible.”

Berry pulled herself free from her entanglement with pegasus and reached for her pitcher of sloe gin fizz so she could get a drink.

“I love you both so much,” Derpy said, speaking from her heart.

Author's Notes:

Here ya go. Another chapter.

I hope you like it. I always intended to deal with the "sex talk" at some point. It was going to come later. And then I realised I had a chance for Berry to show her education and her maturity, and little ones always have a few questions after a wedding when a family begins to integrate. So I slipped it in there.

I hope nopony is terribly offended. I do understand that is a very mature topic for some folks.

Discuss your feelings below if you feel like it.