After the first day, the rest of the week at Stallion's Landing was actually relaxing. Likely due to his ascension, his enslavement to his will was lessened to him being able to shift his intention away from a single objective and onto another. His will demanded he rest, and so he rested, even pretending to sun under the false quartz sun on a lawn chair for kicks.

It took the entirety of the unicorn members of the male members of the guards charged with protecting the civilian stallions to capture and teleport Luna and Celestia back out of the secure cavern city, and by then it had been a whole day, and several stallions had been forced to copulate with them before they were stopped. The fiends! Kamina would be laughing about this for a long time.

The only reason they couldn't get in anytime they wanted, was because while the doors were closed, and the runes inside were set right, not even Luna or Celestia could get into the mountain, they designed it themselves that way so they couldn't abuse their male subjects like what had happened this year due to the extenuating circumstances of Prince Kamina falling ill, and needing their personal medical attention.

The “victims” of the royal sisters were exhausted, genuinely spent, and also beyond happy. They would go the rest of their lives, telling the tale of how their goddesses had their way with them until the day they died. Kamina, however, while usually one for hearing such raunchy tales, was disgusted at hearing any details from the lucky bastards since they were his mom and aunt respectively, and thinking of them like that just disturbed him.

Now, Kamina was annoyed and disturbed at the parallels he could draw between the situation he faced at Stallion's Landing and Jeeha Village, but he could also justify it so that it wasn't oppression so much as it was protection, unlike what Genome did where it was oppression in the name of protection. This was just a once-a-year thing, and totally optional unless you were hogtied and forced to go like he was.

Not to mention there were other havens for stallions to retreat to during the Cycle in the more distant locales of Equestria, they were just nowhere near as big or as crammed as Stallion's Landing, and were more often than not just hidden small towns on the surface. So overall, Kamina could let it go far easier than the fact that Ponyville was pretty much specifically made for intercepting Nightmare Moon. Yeah, still sore about that.

Anyhow, Kamina had spent the rest of the week relaxing, and when it came time to leave, he was able to change his desire to relax to returning home to his friends and loved ones. Kamina loved his fixation on fulfilling his objectives, he was always a big-picture guy, but now he could utterly devote himself to completing anything he set himself to, and make it feel like he put forth barely any effort.

Usually, his original way of doing things took a lot of effort in showboating, willpower, charisma, and even dumb luck. Now though, it was as easy as: choose option, commit, complete, cash-in on rewards.

That may not seem special, but it is.

For instance; usually Kamina could barely lie his way out of a paper bag, but he was able to totally bluff himself out of explaining the truth for just how serious his sudden illness was that required the Royal Sisters to see to his health in Stallion's Landing, because there was no way in Tartarus at least half of Equestria would have heard about them being there, what with the “victims” of their royal highness' romping boasting about it.

He was able to convince his friends and marefriends that he'd contracted a violent stomach virus that was eating through his stomach lining; from when he ate something near Zecora's hut like an idiot. It made Zecora feel awful in spite of his and everyone else's assurances that it was fine since he was ok, but Zecora decided she would begin looking for residency in town proper if only so Kamina and her friends could visit without having to brave the Everfree.

And so this is where it leads....

“Thank you again friends, I am glad for this situation's happy end.” Zecora beamed at Twilight, Trixie and Kamina from next to the front door of the library she just entered, and paused before pouting. “Darn, so close to not rhyming too.” Next to Zecora was a massive bag, filled to the brim with all her possessions. Considering they still had the spare room, Twilight instantly extended the invitation to live with them to the zebra. It was definitely a good idea, since not only would she be on-hoof for more magical or unusual maladies and situations she might be able to help with, she'd be with them period, and all her things could actually all fit into the spare room upstairs, considering Zecora's hut was literally just one room with a storage closet.

“I'll help you settle in.” Trixie stated as she levitated Zecora's bag, and turned to lead the zebra upstairs, said zebra clearly trying to contain her marvel at just how big her new home was.

“With her here, the town can now basically include Golden Oaks as a sort of clinic too.” Twilight tittered in excitement. “I can't wait to learn more about zebra magic and alchemy. The things you've been telling me only have me beyond interested Kamina.”

“As you should be, because I'm interested, and I don't get interested in egghead things often.” Kamina joked, getting a stuck-out tongue at him in reply, making him snicker and Twilight to slyly grin in victory.

“An egghead am I? Well this egghead needs to get confirmation from a certain Pink Party Pony about Zecora's house-warming party like we had for Trixie, which also doubled as her “welcome to Ponyville party”.” Twilight paused, and then felt the need to mention her thought. “Wait, has Pinkie even given Zecora a “welcome to Ponyville party” yet?”

Kamina blinked, and then paled. “Uh-oh, you know how Pinkie gets when she forgets to give someone a party.” Kamina was unsure of who he feared more; an enraged marefriend/marefriends, or a “IFORGOTAPARTY” Pinkie. “Oh no, remember when Pinkie forgot Rumble's birthday?”

Twilight shivered and broke out in an ironically cold sweat. “W-what'll we do? I can't handle a PFPTSD Pinkie right now!” Twilight then looked like she had a light bulb light up over her head, and she looked at Kamina evilly. “And maybe I don't.”

“T-Twilight. Let's be reasonable-!” Kamina didn't get to finish his plea.

===//////>

Kamina appeared in the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner in a flash of violet light, making him fume. “TWILIGHT~! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!”

“Get her for what?” Kamina froze at the familiar peppy, high-pitched, squeaky voice, and slowly turned towards the source to see a beaming Pinkie who also looked somewhat confused. “Whatchadoin' in the kitchen hm?” Pinkie didn't mind, but the Cakes might. Well, if they were in that is. Today the bakery was closed, since it was Friday. You'd think they'd be open on that day, but it was the day their supplier came to town, so they were out of the house/shop on business, and they didn't trust Pinkie to run it alone what with her vicious sweet-tooth. “It's not that sweet silly.”

“Um, what?” Kamina was confused, who was she talking to? He hadn't said anything.

“Oh~ nothing, *giggle* I just had a random moment. Are you here to bake cupcakes too?” Pinkie's question threw Kamina off more, before he looked at the spot of yellow and soft red that was Apple Bloom, who was happy to see him.

“Hey little sis! How're ya doin'?” Kamina asked happily as he lowered himself for the pouncing hug the filly launched herself at him in.

“Kamina! It's been almost two weeks since Ah last saw ya!” Apple Bloom loved Kamina like an adopted brother. He inspired her, he helped give her ideas for what she wanted in life, he was a role model to her just as much as her big sis and actual big bro. Only unlike them, he actually listened to her, considered her thoughts and feelings, and even reciprocated with telling her things about him that he could relate with her about. None of her family did that, in spite of how close they were.

She also might have a bit of a crush on him.

But, she knew it was silly to try and do something about it, after all, her big sis already called dibs when she shoved one of her turnovers in his mouth first, before all the other mares at the reunion he'd first met them at. Apple Family tradition and all. Even if he did have mares already, only a straight no to AJ would get her to change her mind.

“Sorry Bloom, but I had to leave for a bit, and things have been rather hectic since I got home.” Kamina put her down from the hug, and decided to voice his curiosity. “Speaking of hectic, I've never seen you here before, especially not in the kitchen. What're you up to?”

“I'm trying to get my cutie mark.” Kamina willed his shiver at the horrid title of said flank mark for girls to be contained within himself, only allowing his heart to quiver in terror at the awful name. “Big bro? Are you ok?” AB looked at him in worry, and the quivering of his heart, combined with AB's deadly cuteness, triggered it.

“HNNNNNNG~!” Kamina fell over.

===//////>

“Breathe! BREATHE DARN IT!” Kamina woke up with lips to his, and hot air blowing into his lungs. His eyes snapped open to look up at the pink mare performing CPR on him. “FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA! BREA-oh! You're breathing!” She had him pinned on his back, straddling his stomach in a compromising position. She'd been fervently breathing into him and from the pain in his ribs; frantically compressing his chest. “Oh thank goodness! I thought you died from overexposure to cuteness! Stop doing that!” Pinkie shouted the last bit into the air, which is just boggling. “You know I'm talking to you!” The unknown entity she was claiming to be speaking to clearly does not exist, maybe she's delirious from the adrenaline high dropping off. “Stop rationalizing! I can hear you!”

“Pinkie...you saved me.” Kamina was surprised to be sure. Sure, Pinkie was in her own ways; an incredibly amazing mare. She was deceptively beautiful, invigorating just to know, intelligent beyond what her ditzy personality would suggest, and despite her massive consumption of sweets, she never gained a pound, lucky mare. But now; she'd just saved his life. Sure, she was his friend, it was expected, but to be expected is one thing; to actually have it happen was another. It painted an even brighter light onto his pink on pink friend. “Thank you.”

“Just keep breathing K, don't want to have to do that again anytime soon.” Pinkie replied in a surprisingly nervous and worried tone. They stayed like that for a few minutes. “Um...should I...get off?”

“If you want.” Kamina offered, she didn't get off of him. “I know I'm comfortable, but really?”

Pinkie's cheeks turned red, and she ran her forehooves over his chest. “Yeah~...about time I got a ride on the pony express.” Pinkie wagged her eyebrows before fluttering her eyelids, making Kamina gape at her. “Bet you didn't see that coming.”

“See what comin'?” Finally, the little yellow and red elephant in the room announced itself, quickly drawing an embarrassed look from Kamina and Pinkie, who both froze like deer in the carriage lamps at being in such a state with a filly looking on at them. “Are ya gonna kiss or what?” AB asked impatiently, making them both blink at her in surprise. “What, ya think Ah'm too young to learn this stuff? Miss Cheerilee is lettin' us learn bits n' pieces of things we'll need. Like for sure, Ah at least know that when somepony saves somepony they like, they tend to kiss. Like the princess kissin' her knight! Or in this case; the prince kissin' his knight.” AB then clopped her hooves together. “Now kiss already!”

At the filly's excited prompting, Pinkie beamed down at the baffled Kamina. “No arguing with that logic! Pucker up!” Pinkie dove onto his face, mashing their lips surprisingly gently, but the kiss was kept chaste, likely due to current company, and she made a cute obnoxious smooching noise. “MWAH! A fitting reward for your knight in saving your life milord?” Pinkie asked as she fluttered her eyes again, making Kamina and AB burst into laughter, Pinkie shortly joined and rolled off of Kamina to roll on the floor with them in amusement. “Ah~ you can really make silly things happen. There's that at least.”

“What was that Pinkie?” Kamina asked as he began to calm down.

“Oh~ nothing~.” She giggled a bit more, and then sighed. “Right, well, I was going to teach Apple Bloom how to bake cupcakes, see if that got her inspired for her cutie mark.” Kamina admirably didn't even hiss at the words, he willed himself to accept that it was what it was called, at least for girls.

“Oh, that right?” Kamina asked rhetorically, before he took his shades and cape from his hammer space, and put them on, standing on his hind legs and pointed at them dramatically. “I might not seem like it, but I was one of the best cooks in my village! Let's do this!” Kamina leaped through the air, doing a seriously legit triple-flip before sticking the landing on his hind hooves. “Cook the uncookable, bake the unbakeable. GAL, GAL PASS THE FLOUR!”

===//////>

After Kamina finally got taken out of “the zone” he let AB have a turn at making some mean cupcakes. No, seriously, these cupcakes were so mean, they made you cry. Tears. Of agony. “BLEGH!” Kamina refused to admit his projectile vomiting was anything but awesome, considering he managed to shoot it into the nearby trash can. And didn't even move from the spot he stood on to test her baked bads. Didn't mean the two members of the fairer sex in the kitchen with him didn't disagree.

“EW!” They both backed away, and looked disturbed.

“Bloom. Never bake. Ever. Unless you plan to kill somepony.” Normally Kamina would be all for positive reinforcement, of just about anything aside from evil or nasty things. And this was NASTY. “Baking just isn't your thing, at least as far as cake-like foods goes. You can make apple treats right?”

“Well of course Ah can! What Apple can call themselves an Apple if they can't even make apple treats?” AB asked sarcastically, only to blink, and face-hoof. “Oh darn it, Ah could've just used my know-how of baking fritters for this huh?”

“Yeppers! If you can bake something like that, cupcakes are even easier. But wow, I haven't seen somepony throw up that bad in a while! I'll just dispose of these.” Pinkie rebounded on the matter of the projectile vomit, considering it didn't get anywhere, and dropped the evil, vile, cruel, disgusting- “We get it, move on.” Right, well then.

“Well, thanks for tryin' to help you two. I guess baking isn't it, since Ah already bake at home anyway. Oh, wait! Kamina, you're a really strong unicorn aren't ya? Ya also learn a lot from Twilight, so you might know how to make a cutie mark appear right? Also ya got those fancy blue lines running through your fur, so ya must know somethin'.” Bloom asked in anticipation, only for Kamina to lower his shades and look at her incredulously.

“Bloom, these lines and forms running across my forelegs, chest, shoulders and neck are nothing compared to a mark. Watch.” Kamina turned to the side and took off his cape so his flank could be seen, and then charged a spell on it. Shortly, his own mark began to try and change a bit, only for each attempt to bounce back and return to normal. “Not even magic can make a mark appear before its time. You have to discover your talent for yourself Bloom, like how I found out about my talent for making others do better.”

“Aw...thanks anyway. Ah'll just be goin' then.” Bloom sadly trudged out of the kitchen, leaving a saddened Kamina and Pinkie Pie.

“Poor Bloom, she'll find it, she just needs to let it happen naturally.” Kamina commented, before Pinkie suddenly blinked at finally noticing something.

“Wait, WHY are you here K? Not that I have anything against it, I'm just wondering what you're doing in my kitchen.” The Cake's kitchen. “Right, the Cake's kitchen.”

Kamina was suddenly struck with the horror of what he was originally sent here to do, and paled as he started to sweat, and gulped nervously. “Well, Twi sent me here to ask if you could set up a house warming party for Zecora moving in with us.” Pinkie gasped and seemed to swell with excitement.

“Of course! I'll be happy to-wait....” Pinkie seemed to grind her processes to a halt, her mind finally catching on to something. “No....” Kamina slowly edged away as Pinkie's hair flattened out, becoming a straight curtain of hair that was surprisingly long, and if Kamina were daring to say to her; beautiful. “I...I....” She burst into a fountain of tears, her hair now shimmering with the wetness of her tears drenching everything nearby. “WAH~! I forgot to give her a welcome to Ponyville party! I'm a horrible pony!”

“No you're not! You just forgot! It's just fine!” Kamina tried to console her, only for her to stop crying and round on him with a furious face that struck terror into his heart.

“FINE?! It is NOT fine! Zecora was basically lynched from the town the moment she showed up, I was one of the biggest meanies to do it too, and now I didn't even welcome her to town properly when I had the chance?! WAH~!” Pinkie began crying again, and Kamina decided he had to help her, so he trotted right up to her and hugged her, surprising her. “K?”

“You're not a terrible pony. Sure, you're quick to jump to conclusions, but you're one of the sweetest ponies I know.” That corny joke got Pinkie to giggle a bit. “Also, I'd like to take this chance to say that your mane is really beautiful like this.” Kamina stated as he pulled away, making Pinkie blush.

“R-really? I always thought it made me look sad, or lonely.” Pinkie's mane and tail weren't just left unattended you know, she painstakingly curls them with love, energy, and curlers at night. “Aw shucks, thank you!” You're welcome.

“You're welcome. It's true after all.” Kamina calmly returned, and was only slightly surprised when Pinkie leaned up and pecked him on the lips.

“You're sweet K. Thanks. I needed that.” Pinkie looked at her straight shiny mane, and smiled at it. “I think I should let my hair down a bit huh? Tee hee!” Pinkie was laughing at the irony of her statement, beings the saying usually means to relax and have fun, which she does a lot already. “I'll admit, it feels good to have my hair in it's natural shape.” Pinkie flipped her mane, making Kamina gape in surprise at how gorgeous the action was. “Well...I guess I can just roll two parties into one, but it'll have to wait. Today in the afternoon; when the Cakes get back, we're hosting a cute-ceañera.”

Kamina groaned at the horrid name. “WHY must it be cute?” Kamina bemoaned, only to be truly taken by surprise by the sudden deep kiss Pinkie pulled him into, and he moaned in amazement at how good she was with her dominating tongue, before she slowly broke away, and she smirked cheekily at him.

“Some things just are cutie.” Pinkie turned and slowly walked out of the kitchen, emphasizing her gait so her plot sashayed as she looked back at him with lidded eyes. “Thanks for the reward kiss my prince.” Pinkie finished leaving, and Kamina stared blankly at where she'd walked out.

“Oh Kami...am I blessed or cursed that all my friends are so damned sexy?”

===//////>

Kamina entered the library quietly. He'd walked home sedately the whole afternoon, just trying to wrap his head around his odd fortune with the mares. Sure, he was drop dead sexy, a stallion all stallions strive to be. He's practically a sex icon in the mind of his mares, but that's not it. 'When Pinkie kissed me like that, my heart was pounding against my chest like Twilight, Trixie or Zecora were kissing me. I know I actually love them, so what, does that mean I love Pinkie too? Why? Why am I in love with them all? Why do they love me? I'm awesome, but why, specifically?'

He wandered upstairs and opened his bedroom door, only to freeze and calmly look upon the frozen mares. Zecora was pinned under Twilight, who was clearly in the act of kissing her, and Trixie was currently Trickster, his head being near their plots giving Kamina some ideas as to what he was doing. “Eh, whatever, not in the mood right now. Is Spike back from Rarity's yet?”

Trickster chuckled nervously as he stood up. “Um, yeah, he should be in his room. We had the silencing charm on...but forgot to lock the door.”

“Fair enough.” Kamina then turned his focus to the utterly embarrassed Zecora. “Don't worry about it Zecora, this is an average day here. Have fun.” Kamina turned the lock on the door handle and closed the door. “Hm...I could actually use some quality time with my little bro, been a bit.” Kamina trotted down the hall to Spike's room, not at all concerned with his mares having a go without him at the moment.

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the lag in update. My neighbor a few houses over was shot dead the next street over. It really drove home just how vulnerable I am here, beings I live in the only room on ground level exposed to the street. I have some protection now, so I can get back to focusing on this without fear for my family's safety.