“We’re heavy, this is going to be exciting!” Lugnut cried out in terror.

“It’s not a crash if you can walk away from it!” Spanner gripped his mate and hung on.

“There is always just enough wreckage to get you to the crash site!” Lugnut felt relieved that in what might be his final moments, he had Spanner holding him.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that both of you shut up! The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you land this craft on its wretched untrustworthy wheels and that we all live through this!”

The gyrocopter approached the runway behind Canterlot castle, one intended for pegasi and sky chariots. The engine buzzed, a steady drone, and the occupants of the craft readied themselves for what was certain to be an interesting landing.

Berry Punch clenched her plot furrow together and thought about how the landing was going to make her bounce up and down on Bucky. She bit her lip and then spit her lip out, realising she might just bite it off when they landed.

Unicorns lined up on the runway, their horns ignited with fierce glows. They served two purposes; to light up the runway and to slow the craft so there would be no crash. Pegasi guards were swarming into the area and some flew around the craft.

The Lord of Winter cackled, a ceaseless endless stream of pure madness poured out of his mouth, a cackle worthy of Discord himself. His mad laughter could be heard over the droning buzz of the engine and it filled the air with manic energy. And then, the Somewhat Troubled and Perhaps Disturbed Trixie began to join him, and the two unicorns cackling together made a discordant cacophony with their laughter.

This was Canterlot. High Society. The location of the Royal Pony Sisters’ School for Gifted Unicorns. From this school, in this city, there was a rule. A rule taught from an early age, a warning passed from teacher to student, mother to colt, father to filly, brother to sister, every unicorn in Canterlot learned the warning: A unicorn was never supposed to cackle.

Surrounded on all sides, Loch Skimmer lowered Sparkler and Ripple down to the ground. When Sparkler had her hooves on solid ground, Loch hit the release on the sling to let Sparkler and Ripple go. Sparkler, who held Ripple in her magic, eased the blanket wrapped filly down to the ground and then sprinted away with all haste as the blanketed bundle thrashed and wiggled.

Ripple emerged from the blanket, foal like, her legs wobbling as she stood. She trembled, unsteady, still drugged, and looked around. She saw Princess Celestia standing a few feet away and held in Princess Celestia’s magic was a small pink alicorn foal. She blinked a few times. Everything was blurry for the doped filly.

“Ripple, darling, don’t do anything foolish,” Rising Star said as he stepped forward.

With an almost drunken wobble, Ripple staggered off sideways and then got her legs steadied. She looked at Rising Star and Bittersweet. Loch Skimmer was landing beside them. Sparkler approached, looking fearful.

“I’m having a bad day,” Ripple said, her words somewhat slurred. “Donkey…”

“We’re all together… look Ripple, we’re all together and we can sort this out.” Loch Skimmer gave her sister a fearful but hopeful smile.

As Ripple took a step forward towards Celestia, there was a single massive clank of armor as dozens of guards bolted to attention. Ripple blinked, looking confused, and she shook her head. “Foal. Little sister.”

“Auntie,” Bucky whispered. “Do you trust reason or instinct?”

“Reason can be faulty and instincts can be cruel,” Celestia replied, not knowing what her nephew was talking about.

Saying nothing else, Bucky plucked Cadance out of Celestia’s telekinetic field and with a great deal of caution, he moved forward. Celestia followed, looking worried, not certain what Bucky was up to.

“The plan was to zap Ripple with love! What are you doing Bucky?” Berry Punch asked, her voice almost a whine from worry and fear.

Undeterred, undaunted, Bucky crept forward towards Ripple. “Ripple, baby, daddy needs you to foalsit… I need your whole herd to foalsit. You know how important Cadance is… can daddy trust you?” He held Cadance up in front of him like a shield.

Cadance, seeing Ripple, held out her forelegs as though she was begging for a hug. She cooed and burbled at the disturbed pegasus. “Ripple?”

Hearing Cadance’s voice, Ripple stepped forward, almost fell, and then got herself balanced again. She pitched forward once more, staggered, veered off to one side, and then shuffled closer to Bucky and Cadance.

“Daddy… my head hurts,” Ripple said in a pained voice. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

Moving at a swift trot, Bittersweet broke away from her herd and headed for Ripple. Following her lead, Rising Star also took off. Shrugging, Sparkler looked at Loch Skimmer and then followed after Rising Star. Alone, Loch Skimmer realised she was being left behind and the flaming pegasus hurried after Sparkler.

Stretching out her neck, Ripple nosed Cadance and then a moment later, Ripple buried her face against Cadance’s belly. She closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sobbing sigh and then her legs gave out from beneath her.

Before hitting the cobblestones, she was caught in a blue-green field of telekinesis.

“Come on, let’s get you inside so you can get some rest. All of you, follow me. Ripple needs you. Let’s go. Indoors, now!” Bucky took off at a tired trot for the large double doors leading into Canterlot Castle.

“I guess Bucky trusts instincts,” Celestia said in a low voice as she took off after Bucky.

“This isn’t what I expected to happen.” Rising Star lifted his head a little. He was laying on his stomach, his legs tucked beneath him. On his left was Sparkler and on his right was Loch Skimmer, both of them were also lying on their stomachs. Bittersweet was curled up against Loch Skimmer and sleeping.

Sprawled out over all four of them was Ripple, who was holding Cadance cradled in her forelegs, and her head rested on Cadance’s back. Ripple had been given a mild sedative that she herself had requested and Ripple was now floating in the euphoric bliss of her medication as well as having her herd back together.

“Well, just so long as Ripple is feeling a little better,” Rising Star said in a low voice. “I had no idea things were this bad.” He lifted his head a little more and looked over at Bucky, who was draped over a sofa, sound asleep. There was a sharp -CONK!- to the back of Rising Star’s skull and with a pained moan, he dropped his head back down. “Right… nesting. Therapeutic nesting.”

Closing her eyes, Ripple tucked her foreleg back under Cadance and dropped her head down on Cadance’s back once more. Cadance giggled and her wings fluttered. She squirmed against Ripple, glad to have the reassuring weight of Ripple’s chin against her back.

“Stings, don’t it Rising, she got me too.” Loch Skimmer looked over at Rising Star but did not raise her head. “Now hold still you dunderhead and don’t disturb the nest.”

“I think I am going to talk to Thunderlane about cutting back my schedule. Maybe try getting home at midnight or one in the morning.” Sparkler’s eyes darted over so she could look at Rising. “It isn’t perfect, but at least I’d be home for part of the night.”

“We need to cut back on the shagging. Never thought I’d be the one to say that.” Loch Skimmer closed her eyes. “And no more doing it in our big bed, no matter how fun it is to have all that room. Ripple has a right to sleep there and we’re not being fair to her.”

“So we buy another bed? Put up more walls in that big open space of ours and maybe invest in some soundproofing?” Rising Star asked.

Sparkler lifted her head and looked Rising Star in the eye. “Eventually, but not right now. For right now, we lay off and we do more of this.”

-CONK!-

“Oh feck, that stings.” Sparkler’s eyes watered over as she dropped her head down. She didn’t dare raise up her leg to rub the pain away either. “I’m gonna be a two-hornicorn when that lump grows out.” She bit her lip and waited for the dull throb to die down.

“How about we organise a time where we all do our homework together?” Loch Skimmer, careful not to raise her head, turned her head to look at Rising Star. “Also, we need to start eating meals together. Ripple had a lot to say about that.”

“Okay, so we make sure that we eat at least one meal together in a day and we set up a time that we all do our homework together if possible. We spend more time sleeping together in the same bed. Sleeping, not shagging. And we spend more time talking.” Rising Star glanced at Loch Skimmer and then at Ripple.

“And we make more of an effort to learn ear language from Bittersweet,” Loch Skimmer said, looking over at the donkey curled up against her side. “In the long string of obscenities that poured out of Ripple’s mouth earlier, that was mentioned.”

“We can do that.” Rising Star looked over at Loch Skimmer but kept his head down.

“Ripple doesn’t feel like she gets enough of your attention,” Lock Skimmer said to Rising Star. “She mentioned that. You shag Sparky and I to pass the time and scratch the itch, but you have almost neglected Ripple and she is kinda upset about that. She said she was thinking about letting you screw her just so she could get your attention for a little while and so maybe she could see your smiling face. She said that right after she called me a dirty strumpet whorse and just before calling me a filthy cum encrusted foal batter guzzling slut.”

“Oh stars, Ripple, I’m sorry,” Rising Star said, his voice sinking into a pained whine. His ears, burning with shame, dropped against the sides of his face and Rising Star closed his eyes.

The only reply from Ripple was a slurred incomprehensible mumble.

His eyes squeezed shut, Rising Star lifted his head high and gritted his teeth. A moment later, there was a hollow sounding -CONK!- on the back of his skull. He let out a whimper and lowered his head, his nostrils flaring from pain. “I deserved that, I did it to myself.”

“She got you right on the spot where she got you the first time, didn’t she?” Sparkler asked. She pressed her neck against Rising Star. “She’ll get this out of her system and she’ll feel like a normal healthy broody pegasus again and everything will be better. We deserve our lumps.”

“We’ve been especially bad foals and we’ve messed up our nest. Think of this as nature’s way of making sure that we keep our nest clean and free of trouble in the future… broody pegasi are nature’s blessing, they guard the home, look after foals, and police family squabbles.” Loch Skimmer kept her head down the entire time she was speaking and kept her voice low. “They need to be listened to because they are the ones that will tell us if something is wrong.”

“I remember when Bucky was sick and how my mother wouldn’t leave his side. She had powerful nesting instincts… we’re blessed to have Ripple.” Sparkler drew in a deep breath and heaved out a sigh. “Ripple will care for us if we get sick, look after us if we are down, be there for us in times of trouble, and shepherd us back into better behaviour if we upset the flock.”

“I can’t believe we screwed up and made my sister sick.” Loch Skimmer pressed her face up against Rising Star’s cheek. “I feel so ashamed. I should have known something was wrong when she was saying all those horrible things to me. Instead, I was just angry and I said stuff back. Awful things. The Ripple I know, my sister, would never say those things to me and mean them.”

“Or cram me through the floor.” Sparkler sniffled and felt tears coming once more. “It’s time to grow up and start holding ourselves accountable.”

Author's Notes:

So... this happened.

Something to laugh about and tell the grandfoals.

Shh, Ripple is keeping the nest safe from typos.