Grinning, Bucky looked at the Tourmaline sitting beside his reflection in the mirror. At the moment, she didn’t look like Tourmaline at all, she looked very much like a miniature, foal sized version of Princess Celestia.

“You keep trying to change how you look,” Tourmaline said, explaining to Bucky what he was doing wrong. “You can’t change how you look. You have to change how others see you. The change is inside their heads.”

“Hmm.” Bucky looked down beside him at the real Tourmaline, not the reflection.

Celestia’s image shimmered and vanished. Tourmaline became herself once more.

“Tourmaline, you should go and play. Thank you for the lesson. Go pester Dinky and Piña or something,” Bucky said as he lowered his head down. He gave Tourmaline a kiss, patted her backside to get her moving, and sent her on her way.

“What plot?” Harper asked as she turned around, trying to catch her own tail, chasing after her own backside. After a few turns, she stopped and looked around at the other ponies in the room. “What call plot?”

“Why is your cute little bottom called a plot?” Yew Wood covered her mouth with her hoof and began to giggle.

“Yes, what plot?” Harper asked again.

“I have always heard that it was earth ponies who started that. There’s a crack back there and it sort of looks like a plowed furrow in a field. A farmer’s field is called a plot. I don’t know if this is true or if it is an urban myth,” Yew replied. She left out the other references about planting seeds.

“Plot!” Peekaboo said in a loud voice.

“Now, be good fillies, no shouting.” Yew Wood reached out her left foreleg and booped Peekaboo on the snoot. “Indoor voices.”

“Yes, indoor voices,” Derpy said as she lifted her head up off of the arm of the couch.

Without warning, without provocation, Erebus rose up on wobbling legs and charged Harper, his stubby wings out, his tiny fangs bared. He stumbled forwards, his wings flapping, a low growl rumbling out, and his ears perked forwards.

Unconcerned, Harper stepped aside at the last moment. Erebus kept stumbling forward, smacked headfirst into the couch, bounced, fell over, landed on his backside, and then Erebus let out a yowl of frustration as he could not quite figure out what had just gone wrong.

Standing close, Harper turned and watched the colt, a smile upon her muzzle.

Broom, who had watched the whole thing, began let out a slow laugh. Yew turned her head, glad to hear the mare laughing, and watched as Broom continued to chuckle. Yew glanced at Derpy, and noticed that Derpy appeared to be listening.

“I need help in the kitchen,” Semillon called out. “I’m making au gratin potatoes and mushrooms.”

“Ooh, busywork.” Still chuckling, Broom rose up and teetered off into the kitchen. She nosed Erebus’ ear as she passed, who was still sitting on the floor, looking befuddled.

When Broom had left the room and had gone into the kitchen, Yew Wood looked over at Derpy. “Still no word about a funeral. No word about Door. I wonder what is going on.”

“Bucky says that Door is going to be studied so they can figure out what was done to those poor ponies. Broom asked for it,” Derpy replied. “Other than that, I don’t know what is going on.”

Erebus, who had recovered, looked around the room for his next victim. His eyes narrowed as he peered around, and his tail swished, causing his diaper to crinkle. He began to stalk Cadance, who was asleep on a round cushion that sat between a chair and a couch.

“No Erebus… don’t do it,” Yew warned, shaking her head.

Closing her bad eye, Derpy focused her good eye on Erebus, feeling sorry for the colt, but she did nothing to stop what was about to happen. Some lessons had to be learned the hard way. She watched as Erebus tried a clumsy crouch, and when he almost fell over, Derpy giggled.

But Erebus did not pounce on Cadance. At the last moment, when it appeared he would attack the sleeping foal, Erebus made an awkward reversal, lept, and slammed into Peekaboo, bowling her over.

Peekaboo, no stranger to rough and tumble combat, was on her hooves in a moment, and with a few quick movements, she flipped Erebus over onto his back, subduing him, and then she sat down upon him, pressing one of her front hooves down onto his head to make him submit.

“She’s gonna grow up and be a terror,” Yew Wood said, feeling proud of her filly.

“Oh, I dunno, look how gentle she is.” Derpy watched as Peekaboo gave Erebus a few playful, light smacks on the muzzle with her hoof, but nothing that would hurt the colt, it looked more like a cat batting its prey with its paw. “How are you feeling Yew?”

“A little queasy now and then, but mostly okay,” Yew replied. “I’m having an easy go of it I think. After I drop my foal, I think I am going to look into long term birth control options.”

“Really? Why?” Derpy turned to look at Yew.

“Because I wanted to give Lugus a cub. Well, I wanted one too, don’t get me wrong.” Yew paused and reflected upon her thoughts for a moment. “As Lugus’ wife, I have certain obligations. I intend to support him in the field. I look after the Raptors. If Lugus and I ever want more foals or cubs, there is always adoption, which we feel is a better option. There are a lot of needy foals right there in the Ponyville Orphanarium.”

“I have forbidden Bucky from ever setting hoof inside of that place,” Derpy said in a low flat voice. She shook her head. “He has been forgiven for bringing home Sukari though. I wonder where she is.”

“She went upstairs,” Yew replied.

Narrowing his eyes, Sentinel lowered his voice into a terrifying and dramatic growl. “But under the bridge, there was a horrible and boogery troll that liked to gobble up all those who dared to cross the bridge. The three goats, the son, the father, and the grandfather, were hungry, starving, and they needed food. They had to cross the bridge so they could get to the grass on the other side.”

Sukari shivered and pressed herself up even tighter against Sentinel. Her eyes were wide with fright and her ears were pinned back against her skull.

“The littlest goat, who was brave, gritted his teeth with determination, lifted his head high, and he started to cross the bridge. When the troll came out, the big, gross, horrible troll, who had big nostrils because he had big fingers, the littlest goat looked up at the troll and said, ‘you don’t want to eat me!’ and then the troll replied, ‘well, why not?’ and the littlest goat smiled and was very polite, because being polite is important.” Sentinel paused and let Sukari have a moment to recover. She had covered her face with her front hooves and had closed her eyes.

“So the littlest goat looks up at the troll and says, ‘if you eat me you won’t have room in your tummy to eat the much bigger goat that is following after me.’ The troll, being a fat, stupid, greedy creature, looks down and he sees that the littlest goat is scrawny and there isn’t much meat. Drooling, slobbering all over himself and the bridge, the troll lets the littlest goat go, and the littlest goat runs off, off to the meadow so that he can eat all of the grass.”

Sukari let out a little whimper, of fear or relief, Sentinel could not tell.

“So the troll goes back under his bridge, hiding in his squalid filth, picking his nose with his fat, horrible fingers, and eating a few boogers to tide him over as he waits on the big fat goat. He doesn’t have to wait very long until he hears the sounds of hooves upon the bridge.” Sentinel tapped his front hooves together and leaned his head down closer to Sukari’s ear. “The troll begins to drool as it climbs out from beneath the bridge, it roars, but the goat is unafraid. The goat looks up at the troll and he says, ‘I’m not much of a meal. But the goat behind me, he’s huge. If you eat me, I’ll only fill up half of your belly, but if you eat him, you’ll have leftovers.’ So the troll stops and he thinks about what the goat said, the troll is not very smart at all, he picks his nose some more, and then he lets the goat pass because the troll is very, very stupid and very, very greedy.”

Sukari opened up one eye and peeked out.

“So the troll is wondering how he is going to cook the goat, if he will even cook the goat at all, because trolls think eating goats alive is also a very good way to serve them. And then, the troll hears hooves upon his bridge. The troll is very, very happy because dinner has shown up. As the troll is climbing out on top of the bridge, he sees the biggest goat he has ever seen, a massive shaggy buck goat with huge horns. As the troll stands up and gets ready to snatch up the goat, the goat leaps into action, jumps around, and kicks the troll right in the groin. While the troll is down, the big buck goat kicks him a few more times, headbuts him, and fearing for his life, the troll crawls beneath the bridge, where he lives out his days, never once attacking any goats that crossed his bridge, forced to survive on river algae and boogers.”

Sentinel leaned his head down and kissed Sukari on the cheek. “Now, if you ever get in trouble and something wants to eat you, you tell them that there is a much bigger pony right behind you and you let me deal with them…”

Pushing open the door, Belisama did not see Bucky. She looked around, her tail swishing from side to side, and she crept into the nursery. She saw Magpie in the in the rocking chair and Bucky was changing Bell Heather’s diaper.

Almost overcome with good feelings, Belisama lept up onto the changing table, sat down upon the edge, and looked Bucky in the eye, her crest rising as she saw the flash of grey in Bucky’s surviving natural eye.

“Hello kitten,” Bucky said as he finished his task. “You look happy.”

“Oh, I had a good day. Violet and I got a lot done in city hall. There was very little fighting and some good compromises were made… and I also stopped by and saw the doctor.” Belisama’s whole body swelled as she fluffed out, her feathers and her fur expanding and almost doubling the appearance of her size. “I got a clean bill of health. I’m free to give your tail a yank.”

In the rocking chair, Magpie squawked and then began to laugh.

“Bucky… there is something I need to tell you,” Belisama said, looking Bucky in the eye.

“And that is?” Bucky replied, taking note of the seriousness of Belisama’s tone.

“I asked the doctor about birth control. Bucky, there are things I’d like to do… if that’s alright—”

“Woah, slow down there,” Bucky said, interrupting Belisama. He patted Bell Heather, lifted her with his telekinesis, set her down upon the floor on a quilt, and then turned his attention back to Belisama. “I have no issue with you being responsible. I don’t own you, and I have no intentions of forcing you into doing anything.”

Belisama deflated, her body mass shrinking as her fur and feathers unfluffed. Her crest dropped. “I don’t know what I expected I guess.” The griffoness’ eyes narrowed. “I want to do more with the Raptors. I want to learn how to fight. I am enjoying politics… for some reason, I thought you’d be upset—”

“You thought I’d be upset about shagging without the worry of consequences?” Bucky asked.

“Well, no… I… Bucky… you… I… we…” Belisama stammered. She blinked, and then shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever figure you out.”

“This was a good move on your part. The spells aren’t as effective as one might hope, as I’ve seen with Loch Skimmer and Twilight Sparkle.” Bucky’s face became quite serious. “I should make Thistle go talk with the doctor about birth control options. She’s frisky and needy and the last thing I want is her getting pregnant right now. She deserves to enjoy being a teenager for a while.”

Leaping from the changing table, Belisama landed in the middle of the room, looked up at Magpie, flexed her talons, and asked, “Might I please have Bandua back?”

Author's Notes:

Erebus has discovered the perfect way to meet fillies.

Typos have discovered the perfect way to meat you.