Thomas awoke in a sticky, smelly, and almost unbearably hot mess. On the plus side, the stink was more of a musky stank, and the softness of the various feminine bodies pressed against his was certainly welcome. Then again, the fur had been terribly matted from the previous day’s exertion. In a flash, the haze of sleep had been banished and Thomas remembered what had taken place yesterday.

The human blinked his eyes open, taking in the shapes in the dark. First and foremost, his eyes made out the veritable mountain of breast flesh directly in front of him. No matter how many times he witnessed Luna’s gargantuan bosom heaving before him, it still startled an amused chuckle out of the young man. Squirming a little, he was also able to make out a mare against his knees. Based on the body shape, the texture of the muscles, and feeling of the fur, he guessed it was Moonlight.

Thomas again chuckled, this time with a smidgen of pride at his ability to make such a deduction. Being able to tell one body apart from the other just by touch was the sort of thing he’d only ever read about in cheezey fanfictions. Never would he have imagined actually being able to do so, himself. The corners of his mouth climbed up in satisfaction of his accomplishment.

Putting that aside, he resumed the inspection of his surroundings and determined his head was on Luna’s arm, somewhere very near her armpit. Whether or not the stink of sweaty armpit had been added to the gumbo of aromas was impossible to say. Honestly, his nose was probably as exhausted as the rest of him had been, thereby momentarily sparing him from such a rancid stank.

“Art thou awake?”

Luna’s voice was barely above that of a whisper. Thomas even wondered if it was her real voice at all and not that magic voice thing in his head that she did yesterday.

“Nope.”

“A pity, because we very much need to visit the little filly’s room, but we do not wish to disturb-”

Thomas scoffed. “You might as well do it,” he chuckled. “If I’m waking up first, then we’re probably already sleeping in.”

“Not quite, sugar,” added Honey with a yawn. “By mah reckoning, we still got a good few minutes before,” she yawned again, “mornin’ victuals.”

“I could use some victuals,” chirped Surprise. “Over easy with a side of hay bacon.”

“Just the bacon for me, thanks,” Moonlight groggily added, shifting around against Thomas and Luna. “I had too much liquid yesterday. Now I need something solid to settle my stomach.”

“I vote we stay exactly where we are,” asserted Silver, sounding the most awake of all the concubines. “I have staked a claim on this land and refuse to surrender it.”

“What land is that?” Surprise asked, blinking wearily as she searched for the unseen tiny mare.

“Take a guess,” giggled Luna.

The bed creaked as the mares and man began moving around, carefully untangling themselves from one another. This was easier for some than others, on account of some patches of fur sticking together like Velcro.

“Safe bet’s Luna’s teats,” Honey said, groaning as she stretched in place. She could have easily sat up and looked for herself, but that felt too much like cheating. “But, knowin’ her, it could probably be anywhere on the body.”

“Well I think we can rule out between the legs,” Moonlight suggested. Still half asleep, or at least pretending as much, she wrapped an arm around Thomas’ legs and pulled them snugly against her face.

“How do you figure that?” Thomas asked, amused by her actions and the situation as a whole.

“Because she’d be sleeping face-down if that were the case. No way we’d hear her that way.” No further elaboration was needed as her audience all giggled at the mental image.

Even Silver laughed. “That’s not untrue,” she replied in good humor. “But yes. The safe bet wins.”

“Wins what?” asked Honey.

With the game concluded and no longer fearing disturbing her lovers’ rest, Luna’s focus returned to more important matters. She quickly sat up and slipped Silver from her bosom with a soft protest. From there the little bat was gently deposited in Honey’s arms. “Thou wins being her secondary claim,” informed the alicorn in a hurry. “As for me …” She never finished her sentence, teleporting from sight. The door to the bathroom closed afterwards.

“Not a bad prize,” cooed Silver as she nuzzled lovingly into Honey’s breasts.

Honey gave a slight giggle. “Ah’d ask how that’s a win fer me, but this feels pretty nice.” She placed a hand around the smaller mare’s back to pull her in close. She was still sensitive from yesterday’s orgy, meaning Silver’s every squirm was almost akin to a sensual massage of her teats.

“How the hell are you people still horny after yesterday?” Thomas asked incredulously. His eyes had adjusted enough to see in the dark, showing him certain other activities the mares were getting up to. “Luna’s got the excuse of a magical libido, but what about the rest of you?” Guessing that their eyes had adjusted like his, he gestured down at Moonlight, who was rubbing his leg between her bosoms.

“You’re one to talk,” Moonlight teased. She reached up, pressing a finger down on the tip of his morning wood. She then released it, watching it bounce.

“Actually, morning wood isn’t arousal,” offered Surprise. “It’s the male body’s way of not peeing themselves when they sleep. Can’t pee when the peepee’s all stiff like that.”

“Is that true?” Thomas asked. He’d never heard such a thing before, nor had he ever really thought about why morning wood was a thing in the first place. It certainly sounded like it made sense, though.

“Pretty sure it is. A friend told me about it once.”

“Plausible,” Moonlight replied analytically before giving the erection a flick. “But I don’t care. It’s too fun not to play with.”

“Again, that just proves my point,” Thomas insisted, fighting against his own smile as Moonlight continued to amuse herself with his anatomy. “How is everyone still so horny?”

“Fer one thing, it ain’t Moonlight’s fault. She was jus’ born that way,” Honey teased.

“And proud of it!” she declared, flipping her head back to accentuate her horn.

“Fer another … Ah really don’t know.” Honey sat up, making sure to hold the still snuggling Silver in place. “Ah wouldn’t exactly say Ah’m horny. Jus’ feels good is all.” She slid a hand down Silver’s back and cupped her palm against the mare’s backside, humming her satisfaction.

“I think I feel the same,” Silver cooed and wiggled against Honey. “I wouldn’t say no to sex, but my body isn’t craving it, either. If anything, I’m just craving a bit of cuddling.”

“Never say no to a cuddle,” Surprise declared seriously.

Thomas eyes met Moonlight’s. As she continued playing with his little head, he tried to nonverbally communicate ‘so what’s your excuse?’

The unicorn laughed, tightening her grip around the leg between her breasts while her other hand fully wrapped around his erection. “We all cuddle in our own ways.”

Without Luna to support him, Thomas let his head fall back against the mattress. He didn’t have the strength to argue, and probably wouldn’t even if he did. That was just – as near as he understood – part of being in a herd, a relationship. In exchange for him being able to fondle and grope these mares whenever he liked, they had equal freedom to play with his body to their heart’s content. All in all, not a bad trade.

***

Following their morning bathroom rituals and the raising of the moon, Luna suggested that they take their breakfast in the bathing pool. Each of them received trays that had been enchanted to float along the water’s surface and not easily flip over. Washing up from yesterday’s leavings while eating sounded like too convenient a luxury to pass up. Besides, the water could be drained if anything was spilt.

Each of them sat on seats at the pool’s edge, sized perfectly for everyone to sit comfortably. Instead of a simple wall at their backs, the man and each mare were leaning up against a cluster of water jets that pelted their bodies in just the right ways, helping to ease the tension in their muscles. The trays not only stayed upright, even amidst disturbances in the water, but also managed to stay in ideal reach of their respective patrons. Perhaps most impressively, Luna’s tray refused to sink even in spite of the tower of food weighing it down.

“This might be the best wake-up I’ve ever had,” Moonlight sighed with a hand on her stomach. “A feeling of fullness following the best kind of workout,” her hand snaked its way down between her legs, “and top it off with a massage and a different kind of fullness.” With her magic she cut off a piece of waffle and daintily swallowed it.

“No argument here!” Honey was leaning back, propping her elbows up on the pool’s edge while swirling a glass of juice in one hand in imitation of high society. “Ah’m startin’ ta see where that stereotype fer snooty unicorns comes from.”

“We can’t all do this,” Moonlight gently corrected, “but you make a good point.”

And then some bubbles floated up beside Surprise.

“Gross,” Silver said flatly.

“What? It’s perfectly natural.”

“It’s also rude to do while bathing.”

“I heard you do it just before we got in.”

“Exactly. Before! At least one of us has to maintain a degree of etiquette.”

And then bubbles floated up in front of Luna. Many retching and gagging noises followed, with some even attempting to strangle themselves to hold back the smell. All of this was complimented by Luna’s mirthful laughter at everyone else’s expense. Miraculously, the food trays remained afloat.

Silver was the first to break the silence after the unprompted chemical warfare strike. “I think I have to disagree on this being the best possible way to wake up in the morning.”

“Oh?” Moonlight asked. “That’s a pretty tall order to beat.”

Silver grinned, confident that she could meet this challenge. “How about everything you just said, but with a special chair shaped like Luna, soft and warm, and capable of performing the massages and everything.”

Moonlight didn’t answer right away. “… shoot. That’s a good one.”

“I think I should commission one of those,” Luna thought aloud. “Perhaps one proportioned to my size, and another to sell on the open market as a luxury item.”

“As much as I’d love to own one of those,” Silver began, “I’m not sure how I feel about turning your body into a commodity like that. It seems a little disrespectful.”

“Compared ta all them body pillows ya’ll own?” Honey asked.

“That’s different! Those are tasteful, artistic renditions,” Silver defended haughtily.” They’re collector’s items.”

“Shot in the dark, but Ah’m guessin’ ya already ruined the collector’s value.” Honey’s words were met with snickers.

“Why, whatever makes you say that?” Luna asked dramatically. “What do you think Silver – my most worshipful lover – could have done to these tasteful renditions that might ruin their value for other collectors?”

With a groan, a blushing Silver slunk down in her seat until even her snoot was submerged. She blew bubbles of discontentment.

“That’s a good question,” Moonlight piped up, wanting to get in on the teasing. “What could Silver have done to body pillows that would make them less valuable to other collectors?”

“That depends,” Thomas chipped in. “Were these pillows bought before or after her coming to the harem.”

“Hah. Coming,” Surprise mused.

“What difference would that make?” Moonlight asked.

Thomas chuckled. “Those pillows are double sided, so they show the backs, too.”

“And?”

Thomas shook his head, uncertain if Moonlight was just playing along for the sake of the joke or genuinely ignorant. “If after, then I could see Silver trying to practice a bit of domination on a Luna that would actually fit over her knee.” He slapped his hand over the water’s surface for emphasis.

Silver whined like a feral cat.

“Huh.” Honey scratched at her chin in thought. “Now that ya say it, Ah can see her doin’ that, too.”

“I can imagine it, but now I want to see it for realsies,” Surprise added giddily.

All heads made slow, deliberate turns to fully face Silver. Her efforts to shrink into oblivion or spontaneously turn invisible were having no effect. They just kept staring and staring, their eyes penetrating her very soul until she poked her snoot up.

“Do I really have to?”

Moonlight beamed. “Only if you can say you wouldn’t do the same thing as us if our roles were reversed.”

Silver released a heavy sigh. “Oh fine!”

Breakfast continued much more calmly after that. The mares and man ate at a leisurely pace. They didn’t really have any obligations that warranted hurrying, nor did they feel the need to discuss their plans for the night just yet. It was, as Thomas interpreted it, what was referred to as a comfortable silence: saying nothing while also not really doing anything.

Thomas, however, was never the sort who could comfortably do nothing for long. Since it felt rude to speak unnecessarily, and using his hands to eat didn’t require much attention, he ended up passing the time with thinking. He tried looking at the mares, but without making it too obvious that he was looking at them. It wasn’t like they’d get embarrassed for being seen naked. That sort of thing didn’t happen here, and especially not after having come down from such a recent orgy. Naked was natural and no one had any qualms with it. Even staring intently at a stranger probably wouldn’t get a negative reaction. Ponies didn’t seem to be even remotely as hung up on that sort of thing as humans. Apparently, one of the side effects of living in a culture that revolved around friendship and harmony was the general ability to shrug off the small stuff, or just take it as a compliment.

As for these particular mares, seeing them lined up as they were, Thomas could not help but compare their bodies. None could be said to be objectively better than the others. Each had their strengths and varying appeals that matched all sorts of body preferences. Silver was small and lean with the fewest curves, but still had an elegant charm about her. Moonlight was taller, with a good amount of muscle that made her resemble an athlete. Honey’s muscle was far more prominent, as were her curves, almost making her the most amazonian of the amazons present. Surprise was tall, but she easily had the fullest figure and the curviest curves that always seemed to jiggle in just the right ways to please the eyes. Luna was worshipped as a goddess. That was both an objective truth outside the bath, and perfectly fitting a mare of such beauty. Okay, so maybe there was one body type that had both muscles and softness in perfect balance, or maybe Thomas was just biased, but that wasn’t everything.

These mares were more than just sexy bodies. Moonlight acted like Moonlight. It would be weird if she started talking with a country accent, or went out of her way to act poised and dignified, or suddenly became all chipper and bubbly. Thomas presumed the same went for himself. Of course, being himself, he wasn’t too sure if or how his own personality was significantly different from the others. Was he being silly and just overthinking things? That was always a possibility. This might just be a case where you get so used to a smell that you go nose blind to it. Maybe he spent so much time with himself that he’d grown numb or dismissive of his own distinctive qualities?

I’m certain there was a speech in the Fruits Basket anime that talked about this.

Unfortunately, Thomas couldn’t simply ask Luna to cast the memory enhancement spell on him just so he could recall something so insignificant. For one thing, it would be unbearably rude to break this comfortable silence that everyone seemed to be enjoying. For another thing, it seemed too petty and borderline petulant to make such a demand of Luna. Granted, treating her as a pony and not just a Princess was precisely what he was here to do, but this particular task still seemed to be crossing a line in treating her like an object of convenience. Lastly, there was the health issue. Although it had been a while since the spell had been cast to improve his storytelling, it still seemed like a good precaution to do without whenever possible. These were but a few reasons Thomas was able to rationalize his continued silence.

Recognizing the impending negativity, Thomas’ thoughts veered back to thinking about the mares’ personalities. Specifically, he wondered just how much he actually knew them. They’d hung out a lot and only just woke up after an orgy, but did that mean they really knew each other? Were there still walls between them? He was still hiding the fact that he was from another world, after all. Should probably put that on the to-do list, he reasoned. Come to think of it, maybe I should come up with a few more things to fill up the list.

“You look like you’re in deep thought.”

Thomas was startled out of his navel gazing, only to calm when he saw it was just Moonlight. He laughed. “You could say that.”

“Anything you’d like to share?”

Thomas chuckled again, only more nervously this time. With no one else saying anything, all attention had fallen onto him by default. He’d have preferred to talk this idea over with Luna or Moonlight alone, but it couldn’t be helped. “I was just wondering how well we actually know each other.”

“How so?”

“Well, we spend about every waking hour together, and I certainly consider you guys my closest friends, but I’m wondering if that’s enough.” Fearful of coming off as rude, Thomas took a second to sort his thoughts. “When I took business classes in school, one of the things brought up was synergy. That’s what you call it when the whole is more than just the sum of its parts. In business, that means everyone working together to achieve something more. However, unlike a machine, which only needs you to put Cog A into Slot B to work, people are more complicated.”

Thomas paused to check the expressions of the others. He hated to think he was boring them with pointless rambling. However, if they were bored, they were certainly doing a good job of hiding it. “Where I’m from, I heard a lot about companies setting up games and trust exercises to help build team cohesion and improve their synergy. I was just thinking that, maybe, we should try some stuff like that, to help us get to know each other better.” And with his freshly formed idea put out for all to witness, he held his breath and quietly awaited judgement.

Luna was the first to reply. “Sounds promising.” She sounded optimistic. “What did you have in mind?”

Doing a double take, Thomas checked the mares’ expressions once more, searching for any hints of hesitation or disapproval. He found none. Whether they were just hiding it to be polite, his own ability to read faces was still lacking, or they were genuinely curious about his proposal was impossible to tell. Regardless, he decided to assume the latter and just roll with it. “Well, the exercises we did back in the beginning were all about us getting physically comfortable with one another. Those dates we went on were about affirming that we’d succeeded on that front. However, to improve on mutual trust, I’m thinking we should go out on more dates like that.”

“Just more dates?” Silver asked.

“It doesn’t have to just be dates, though. We could just go on more outings, but change up the dynamics a bit. We can go as one big group one night, but then pair off on another. Mix things up and see different sides of one another.” At this point, Thomas was reasonably certain he was just taking various bits of advice he’d heard on TV and from various seminars over the years, haphazardly slapping them together, and trying to pass it off as a well-reasoned mission plan.

Luna clapped her hands together. “I love it!”

Thomas blinked. “You do?”

“Verily. We should all go out on more dates together!”

“I like the small groups part,” Silver added. “Ponies tend to act differently depending on who they’re with, so going out in different pairs would be ideal for building more intimate bonds.”

“Ah like that we don’t gotta call ‘em dates. Takes the pressure off so we can jus’ enjoy ourselves.”

“I like the idea of getting even closer with you guys,” cheered Surprise. “Despite what some might say, sex is always better when there’s lovey dovey stuff mixed in.”

Thomas chuckled. “Given that I lack the full context of cultural norms around here,” his gaze trailed between each of the mares, lingering the longest on Luna and Moonlight, “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Aww!” the mares sounded as one.

“Well,” he grunted, somewhat dreading this next part. “Since the point of this is to help build trust, I guess I might as well start with a certain secret.”

“As do I,” added Luna, sharing a resolute nod with Thomas.

Silver and Moonlight adjusted themselves, indicating they were present for emotional support, but would otherwise let the secret keepers take the lead.

“I’ll go first,” Thomas volunteered, turning to face the others. He glanced between Surprise and Honey, finding their expressions attentive. A part of him wondered which bit of news would get the bigger reaction. Oh well. “Long story short, I’m not from this world.”

Honey’s brow made a slow climb up her forehead while Surprise tilted her head, her flopping ears resembling a confused and adorable dog.

“No one’s sure exactly what happened. Royal magicians are still looking into it.” Thomas glanced at Luna, checking to confirm this was the case. “I’m from a world without magic,” he confessed. The newest mares blinked their surprise, but remained silent. “At the time, I was going about a pretty mundane life when,” he chuckled, “a hole in the fabric of reality tore itself open right beside me… Or maybe it was below me? Direction wasn’t exactly a priority at the time. Anyway, I think I fell unconscious for a bit. When I woke up,” he waved his hand out, “I’d landed right smack in Luna’s bedroom.”

The two newbies continued to listen in silent patience. When Thomas appeared to have finished, wrapping up with a few relevant events following his arrival, they turned their querying gazes onto each other, and then the other mares. They were checking for signs of stifled laughter, of any indication that this might all be some elaborate joke. There was none to be found. Even so, Honey still felt she had to ask.

“Ya’ll serious?”

Thomas nodded. “The whole thing about me being from another country was just a cover story.” He grinned. “Princesses thought ponies might go into a panic at the idea of aliens popping in unannounced.”

“Ah should think so,” Honey agreed stoutly. Her expression remained thoughtful as she continued to process this new information.

“Yeah. How’d we ever handle all those surprise dinner guests?"

“Not what Ah was gettin’ at,” Honey corrected, “but also important.”

Thomas made a face. He certainly hadn’t expected a reaction like that.

“But that ain’t gonna happen, right? The droppin’ in part, Ah mean.” Honey added, glancing between the others.

“From what little we understand, no,” Luna answered. “Although anomalies like those Thomas described are more common than is generally known, his case was exceptional for a number of reasons. First and foremost being that random, unstable portals are rarely bigger than a speck of sand. One could appear right now and none of us would ever notice the exchange of a few air particles.”

“This sounds a lot like a comic Ah read once,” Honey interjected. “Ain’t it also a fluke that Thomas went from wherever he was – presumably on the ground – to way up on a mountain side that jus’ so happened ta have a room?”

“The magicians actually showed me the odds once,” Thomas added, trying not to think about how easy it would have been for him to have appeared somewhere without convenient access to a floor. “Zeroes filled up, like, half the paper.”

The newbies eyes went wide and Moonlight scooted closer to her mate. None were pleased about his implications of what very nearly could have happened.

“So basically, thanks to a random fluke of the universe, or maybe universes, I’ve been tossed across the time-space continuum, almost literally right into the arms of a bunch of horny mares.” Said mares quietly laughed, appreciating the levity.

“So… you’re an alien?” Surprise asked.

“An illegal alien,” Thomas corrected with a hint of pride. “Bypassed the customs office like nobody’s business.”

Surprise whickered sullenly. “Oh poo. There goes my hopes for making friends with all the other cute humans.”

“Want to know something worse?” Thomas offered mischievously, much to the mares’ confusion. “You might have heard this already, but a big reason for why I’ve had so much difficulty adjusting to Equestrian norms, besides human cultures having a nudity taboo, is that the human sex ratio is 1 to 1. Like, 51% of the population is female to the male 49%.” He grinned as the impact of his words were absorbed by the newbies.

“Sooo…” Surprise began. “On the human world, there’s cute guys literally everywhere, and not just every other where like it is here?”

Thomas nodded with a smug grin.

Surprise’s expression sunk even more and her bottom lip quivered. “You’re right. That is worse!” she cried.

“What about yer family?” Honey asked, feeling that it needed to be said.

Thomas smiled flatly and sighed. “Honestly, I’d been growing a little distant with my parents and other relatives for years. I’d always been an introvert, but it had been getting worse with me basically becoming one of those shut in nerds that only left the house because he had to.” It hurt the most to tell this part. While he felt sadness at the idea of never seeing his family again, he was also a bit disgusted with what a worthless waste of space he’d been. At least here he was actively making people happy, even if the job was unorthodox.

Thomas would have said as much, but soon found the air squeezed right out of his lungs as the surrounding mares swarmed and hugged him. His resistance to the surprise touching – a thing he’d always detested from strangers – was short lived. The soft warmth of mare bodies, it seemed, were the ultimate in stress relief. He smiled and gave into the embrace, thinking how no household should be without a mare to hug.

When the hug ended, Thomas found himself sitting in Moonlight’s lap while the others continued to crowd around him. It was like they were antsy for another excuse for hugging, which was par for the course for Thomas’ experience. Ponies were a physical species, in every wonderful sense of the word, and he nodded his appreciation to each of them.

Then Thomas looked at Surprise once more. “As far as human-pony relations, it actually gets worse from here.”

Surprise’s eyes widened to almost comical proportions as her lip quivered at full power. Thomas almost didn’t have the heart to break the news to her like this… Almost.

“Secret number two. Whatever reason you might have heard for me having my own personal guard,” he gestured at Moonlight, “the truth is that I’m actually an oracle.”

“An oracle? Like Celestia?” Surprise asked eagerly.

Honey looked equally enraptured by this revelation, more so than the first. “Ya’ll see the future?”

Thomas chuckled, as did Luna and Moonlight. Silver merely rolled her eyes. “Not with any kind of accuracy, and my ‘visions’” he said with literal air quotes, “are through a pretty unusual filter.”

“Oh. I heard about this!” Surprise chirped. “Some oracles, like Celestia, get prophetic dreams, but it’s totally random on when they happen or she sees. Other ponies have a talent for using this sort of advanced scrying with crystal balls,” she described while molding her hands around the invisible sphere. “Then there’s stuff like reading tea leaves and putting animal bones in fire. And that’s not even the weird stuff.”

“Ah don’t think Ah want ta know.”

“You really don’t,” Surprise giggled apprehensively.

Finally seeing a break, Thomas jumped back in. “I think mine falls onto the weird side of things.”

Surprise furrowed her brow. “Does it involve staring at poop?”

Thomas blinked. “Weird in that it’s uncommon, not gross,” he corrected. “You know the stories I’ve told you guys from TV shows and movies?” They nodded. “Well …” And he told them about the show My Little Pony and its main characters. Once the newbies had recovered from the initial shock, Thomas further clarified some of the differences between the show and the Equestria they all knew. Not least of which, he brought up the incident with the ursa minor and stressed how it proved his predictions weren’t 100% accurate. Somehow, the idea of a television show depicting future events in another universe being only partially accurate only made the scenario seem even more implausible. When it was over, Surprise and Honey were granted a moment’s reprieve to process the utter bizarreness of what they’d been told.

Honey was the first to break the silence. “So … ya’ll only got a rough idea o’ what’s happenin’?”

Thomas nodded.

“Which ya only know ‘cause o’ some TV show?”

Thomas nodded again. “It was about magical, candy colored quadrupeds that had a popularity that surprised pretty much everyone, especially with its appeal to older men.”

“So, if that fiction was real, then … Fable Mable might be real, too?”

Thomas chuckled and shrugged. He really should have anticipated that reaction. What nerd wouldn’t wonder about such a possibility? “Maybe. For all we know, there’s a world where Fable is real, but actually a boy.”

Honey slumped in her seat. “Now that’s jus’ takin’ things a smidge too far.”

“Shot in the dark, but I’m guessing you’re not allowed to tell us the future?” Surprise asked.

Thomas looked to Luna.

“I fear it will be up to you to decide how best to use your visions,” Luna informed. “You have already told ‘Tia and I all you know, and plans have been put into motion. However, you are far from an impulsive stallion. At times you can even be cautious to a fault.” She grinned playfully. “As such, I trust you to use your own judgement in such matters.”

Thomas pursed his lips a moment before eventually nodding to Luna. He was grateful for the trust, but still wasn’t certain he was ready for such responsibility.

“It’s okay. I didn’t really want to know, anyway,” Surprise cut in, confusing the others. “A surprise party isn’t as fun if it isn’t a surprise, and that’s how life should be. One big surprise.”

“Verily,” declared Luna as she wrapped one arm around the white mare’s back and under her breasts, pulling her into a wrestling hold. “We now possess one big Surprise.”

Surprise giggled and stole a boop of the royal snoot, making Luna’s face scrunch. “Got you back.”

“Is that it, then?” Honey asked, sounding even more exhausted than before. “Any more world changin’ secrets? ‘Cause Ah think Ah need a nap after all that.”

“Just one,” Silver spoke up authoritatively, leveling a stare up at Luna. “But I think you will be more appreciative of this one.”

Luna nodded and released Surprise, although the white mare continued pressing herself to the alicorn. Luna saw no reason to change this and began her tale. It was the story of many hundreds of years ago, when the alicorns first came to this land and fell in love for the first time. Being immortal, they were forced to watch as these loves grew old and died. Yet still they found the strength to press on, falling in love all over again with new ponies. However, Destiny was a rather cheeky thing. Perhaps in thanks for all the Princesses had done to maintain harmony, they were blessed with meeting the reincarnations of past loves. The bonds of true sole mates were forged and reforged generation after generation. Not all who were welcomed into the Princesses beds were lovers from past lives. However, the general size of the harems did get just a little bit bigger with each passing generation.

“Us?” Surprise asked in awe, gesturing to herself.

Luna smiled gently and nodded between the newbies. “I am truly blessed to meet you aga-”

The alicorn’s words were cut short as the pegasus threw herself at her larger lover, embracing her tightly. Honey wasn’t in as much of a rush. She stood slowly, letting the water cascade down her voluptuous figure as she strolled casually up to the pair. She smiled patiently and waited for Luna to make some room before joining in the hug.

Thomas watched the sweet scene in fascination. Just as with Silver and Moonlight, the revelation about the reincarnation seemed to be the easiest pill for the ponies to swallow. It made its own kind of sense, though. Destiny and reincarnation were already a part of these people’s culture, so of course they’d accept it intellectually. It was, however, how easily they’d emotionally taken to the revelation that most captivated Thomas. Knowing you had relatives you’ve never met was an entirely different beast from being invited to the family reunion, yet these ponies barely even batted an eye. Then again, all things considered, learning the future from watching a cartoon designed to sell toys really did seem like the least plausible thing said so far.

But no matter. The point was that this group of perverted weirdos was setting out to strengthen the bonds they shared. Thomas and Luna had set the tone by confessing their secrets, ensuring that there would be honesty and openness between them in the future.

If you think about each ark like its own miniature story, then this would be the falling action following the overblown and over budgeted climax. We’re now going into a period of more slice of life and characters just hanging out and being friends.

For a bit, I was thinking of having the confessions happen off screen like I did with Silver, given that the audience is already familiar with that particular story. However, given the premise of characters getting to know one another, I figured it was appropriate to actually feature their reactions to the confessed secrets.