No one was really in the mood to do much of anything that night. They were taking a break from dates and just having a stay-in night. All on-call concubines had assembled in Luna’s room as their default gathering spot; save for Honey, who had the night off, and Moonlight, who was on Luna duty – as they called it – for the evening.

Thomas was sitting on some pillows at the Princess’ desk where Moonlight had brought their typewriter for the evening. The words just weren’t coming as he’d have preferred, so he hoped some healthy conversation might offer some stimulation. “Out of curiosity, what do you do when you’re on call but not actually doing anything?” Thomas asked.

“I do not follow,” Silver answered. She was relaxing off in a chair in the corner with her nose buried in a book.

“Well, even when you’re there, you’re not having sex all the time. There’re sessions. For me, when she’s not scratching that itch, I’m just off to the side reading,” Thomas explained. “Usually she gives me a glamour so I’m not noticed. Saves me from being stared at while I’m trying to relax, it lets Moonlight and I chat it up without looking like we’re shirking our ‘responsibilities,’” he said with air quotes. “It also lets me move around whenever she needs me. Is that the same for you guys?”

“I like playing with the perception filter,” giggled Surprise. “So long as I keep my distance, no pony notices me, not even when I’m flying around singing, or making fart noises with my armpits, or just doing whatever.” She flew around the exceptionally high ceiling to demonstrate her activities.

“I would chastise you for being unprofessional,” began Silver tiredly, “but I fear you would only take it as a challenge.”

“Yaperoony! I just have to steer clear of where everypony is staring at Luna. That’s where they’re all focused, so they’d notice any disruptions. She can see me, of course, and I can tell.”

“Tell what?”

“She’s fighting not to laugh. Even though she’s really good at it – might even have a spell to help her cheat – I can tell she’s struggling not to just fall to the floor and surrender to the giggles.”

“I think I’d like to see that,” remarked Thomas. “Hmm, you know, if that perception filter spell is, like, supercharged, could you touch people without them noticing?”

Surprise ceased her circling and froze, hovering in midair. A dangerous and frightening expression had taken her face. She was in deep thought.

Silver groaned. “Why do you insist on giving her ideas?”

“Hey, I was just asking a question.”

“That kind of spell isn’t exactly easy,” informed Surprise, “or all that legal. You need a special license for that sort of thing, not to mention there are oaths you’ve gotta take.” At their confusion, she elaborated, “Guard reserves, remember? Not too many unicorns up in Cloudsdale, but we still have to learn the basics for what is and isn’t legal.”

“Thank the stars. I shudder to imagine what mischief you might get up to if you were utterly impervious from notice,” Silver said, flipping the page she’d finished.

“So what about you, Silver? What do you do between sessions?”

“Same as you, more or less. I maintain my dignity with some mild reading when I am not called for.”

“Yeah?” Surprise asked. “And what about when she’s got you all stowed away under her dress? Are there pockets for you to store your books, or do you just go all out until she has to pry you out with a crowbar?”

“I’m thinking the latter,” contributed Thomas.

“I like the first one. She gets all warm and cozy somewhere, trying to be all refined, but then she thinks, ‘Hey. Princess boobs are soft.’ And off the book goes as she turns herself into a migrating itch. As for the book, well… The pocket I’m thinking of isn’t in her dress,” Surprise tittered, giving a suggestive wink and a lewd gesture below the belt. “If you know what I mean.”

“What are you-oh. Oh!” Silver pulled away, utterly offended. “That is not a pocket!”

“With enough magic, anything can be anything.”

Silver shot the human a death glare. “Stop helping.”

“Make me.”

“Well, uh, what do you think Moonlight is doing right now?” Silver’s only hope was to try to get this discussion on a less arousing topic. There was nothing wrong with becoming aroused in the presence of her friends, especially over this of all topics. However, under these circumstances, she couldn’t help but feel that giving in to her primal urges would constitute some sort of loss. “Honey has those comics of hers.”

“Manga,” Thomas corrected. He didn’t much care about the argument of comics vs. manga. As he saw it, even if there were notable differences in style, books in different countries were still the same kind of medium. He just felt like being difficult. “But yeah. I guess she probably reads, too.”

“And Moonlight?” Surprise asked. “You guys are always together, so what about when she’s alone?”

Thomas furrowed his brow. “That’s actually a good question. Huh. Come to think of it, I think this might be the first time she’s ever been on Luna duty without me.” He looked over to the empty spot on the bench. When they were writing, they’d be sitting side-by-side and taking turns between reading and writing. That’s how it’d been ever since they got this typewriter. But now, there was a notable cold spot to his side. “I guess with Jet around, we won’t be together as much.”

“You okay with that?” Surprise asked, fluttering down behind him and setting her hands on his shoulders.

“I guess. I’m an introvert. I’ve got a natural tolerance for being alone and not really doing anything.”

“I don’t know whether to be jealous or not,” Surprise informed.

“And it’s not like we don’t see each other in the mornings and… mornings.” He frowned. “How does night schedule terminology still throw me off?”

“Lack of practice?” Silver suggested idly and turned the next page. “Just flip the script. Your mornings are what the sun-stroked masses call the evening. Their domination over the language is an affront to those of us blessed with the gentle kiss of the moon. And as a follower of Luna, you have a responsibility to use the proper vernacular to further the cause of Lunar domination.”

Thomas blinked. “You said that so matter-of-factly,” he said, unsure if he was allowed to chuckle at what may or may not have been a joke.

“Because it is a matter of fact,” deadpanned Silver, never tearing her eyes from her book. “You have shared a bed with the Princess of the Night, and have therefore been conscripted into her service.”

“Oh-oh-oh!” Surprise shot her hand up as though she were in class. “Me. Pick me!”

“Yes, Surprise.”

“Can I help with Lunar domination, too?” She tilted her body and gave her rump a mighty roll where all could see. “The supremacy of the full moon can no longer be ignored.”

Thomas gave the white mare’s ‘moon’ an appraising look and nodded. “Okay, but I don’t think I have all the qualifications.” He gestured down to his seat and lifted his butt up a tad. “I’m basically flat back there.”

“Don’t worry, Thomas!” Surprise looped an arm around his torso and held him tightly against her breast. “The shining glory of the moon accepts all,” she said as if she were imparting some divine truth. “Even if you’ve got a little colt’s butt, so long as you worship correctly, you’ll be allowed to serve.”

Silver finally set down her book and gave a hearty one-mare applause. “Well said, Surprise! Well said!”

Surprise gave a bow to her audience while Thomas, looking resigned to his fate, let himself be carried along. It wasn’t the worst thing to be smooshed against the heavenly warm softness of Surprise’s chest pillows.

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” continued the white mare, “while we wait to confer with our fellow conspirators, there was something else I wanted to say.”

“By all means, fellow disciple,” Silver said with a dramatic gesture. “Speak. Share with us your great wisdom.”

“About what we were saying before, with the invisibility thing.” Silver tensed. “I was just thinking that Luna could-”

“You just said they were illegal!” Silver cut her off. She reached for her book, ready to wield it as either a projectile or a shield against the white mare’s dangerous mind.

Beaming, Surprise left Thomas behind and fluttered over beside her fellow flyer and new prey while he watched. “Actually it’s more like those spells are restricted. And so long as it’s just between us,” her eyebrows bounced lasciviously, “no pony would even notice.”

Sensing the growing pinkness of her cheeks, Silver attempted to hide behind her book.

“Come on, Silvs. You saying you wouldn’t want to try some invisible play? It’s super popular in unicorn erotica. They cast the spell and do whatever they want to their partner. Sure, they all agree beforehand and the un-spelled pony knows something’s up while the game is on, but they can’t consciously feel anything being done to them.” Surprise leaned in, creeping ever closer as Silver tried to pull away while pretending to read. “You could do anything you wanted to her,” she whispered huskily.

“A-anything?” Silver dared ask, her armored will cracking before such temptation.

Surprise nodded. “Pet her. Kiss her. Reach under her dress while dozens of ponies watch without seeing. Her body will know, though,” she whispered into Silver’s ear. “She’ll get all hot and bothered the more you do. She’ll know it’s you, but she won’t know what you’re doing, and not knowing just makes it so much more exciting. She’ll be totally at your mercy, helpless to your every whim. The pleasure you give her, the pleasure which she will feel, will come from you. You’ll get to dominate the famous and wielder of the highest authority in Equestria, all without the need for ropes or other restraints. How does that sound?”

Silver was leaning so far out of her chair that she was at risk of falling off, still pretending to be engrossed with her reading. “You have,” she cleared her throat, “given me much to think about.” She then planted a hand just above Surprise’s breast and gave her a firm shove.

The white mare play pouted, but let herself be pushed away. Thomas could tell she’d been satisfied with the results of her teasing. Taking more interest in this topic than his spiritless writing, he decided to join in. “Then again, this could actually work in a lot of other ways.”

Silver groaned, cursing the damnable human’s imagination while Surprise listened with ears at full attention.

“It’s a supercharged perception filter we’re talking about, right?” He wanted to make sure that he understood the concept. “No one will notice what’s going on. So what if Luna casts the spell on herself so that she’s the one who goes unnoticed? Maybe she can throw in some hypnotic suggestions. Tell you to go places and do things, all while she has fun with you.”

Silver gave a mewling whine, unable to cross her legs hard enough to stem the tide of her tingling. Surprise was far more shameless. Standing beside the shorter mare, she let her imagination run wild as her hands made themselves busy.

Pleased by this reaction, Thomas decided to press the issue. “Maybe we can have some kind of competition. Team invisible vs team oblivious. We alternate who’s who and the group that climaxes first is the loser.”

“Dibs!” Surprise called. “I call dibs on team oblivious. We’re not married to that name, are we?”

“No, but I just said we’d be alternating.”

“Don’t care. I want to see what kind of naughty things you guys can pull off while I’m not noticing. Oh! There should also be a way to remember what all happened after it’s done. Not knowing is exciting in the moment, but it’d be a real waste to never know all the things your body experienced.”

Grinning at Silver’s obvious distress, Thomas grabbed a pencil and a spare sheet of paper to start writing. “Super perception filter spell. Team competitions. Ability to remember afterward,” he listed off. “What else?”

*Knock Knock*

“Oh thank Luna!” exclaimed Silver as she jumped to the floor and hurried to the door, unconcerned for her flushed state. “I do not care who it is, so long as they get you two to behave.” She briefly paused to straighten out her fur and loincloth before opening the portal to greet the newcomer with all due pomp and circumstance. “Hello there. Who might I ask isss-it’s you,” she finished with a groan.

“That it is, tiny bat butt,” acknowledged Talon, unbothered by her disappointed tone. “That it is.” She then turned to Jet and said, “See. Told ya they knew me.” The wren didn’t even wait for the guard’s reply before shoving her way inside and closing the door behind her. “What’s up, yawl?”

“Hey, Tali.” Elated, Thomas hurried over and threw himself at the griffon. Her fur was soft, but the muscles beneath were as sharp as ever. She returned his embrace with even greater vigor, pulling him up into a near-bear hug.

“Oooh, it’s been too long!”

“Good to see you again, Tali,” greeted Surprise. She bounded forward and threw herself into the hug as well, but off enough to the side so that she didn’t accidentally crush the human.

Talon accepted this second hug partner with open arms and the pair shared a snoot-to-beak nuzzle. Surprise also had her hooves up, flapping just enough to hover and make it look like the wren was supporting all of them.

Standing off to the side, Silver attempted to sneak past the trio. Talon smelled like she hadn’t showered in a while and the bat would have like to avoid needlessly messing her fur. Alas, it was not to be.

“Not so fast, you!” crowed the griffon as she snatched up the bat and wedged her into their interspecies sandwich. The four stayed like that for very nearly a minute before the taller females released their shorter friends.

“Where have you been?” asked Thomas. “I told Moonlight you were back, but she hasn’t seen you around the castle.”

“Yeah,” Surprise chimed in. “And we never really hung out that much before you up and vanished. You owe me cuddles!”

“Can’t argue there,” agreed Talon as she wrapped a claw around the tall mare’s waist and pulled her into a half hug and letting herself partially sink into the white mare’s plush frame. “Big and cute mares have always been my weakness.”

“That aside,” began Silver, “I was also wondering why you did not visit sooner.”

Talon rolled her eyes with enough force to shift the planet off its axis. “I’ve been trying to sort through the flaming trash pile that is the castle bureaucracy. Basically, I kind of forgot to sign some forms no one told me existed before I left, and so kind of lost my room.”

“Lost as in lost access, or that it wasn’t where you left it?” asked Surprise. “Because I’d believe either one.”

“Lost access. Apparently, it was some new protocol even ‘Leste didn’t know about. And by new, I mean written up more than a decade ago. There was so much legalese to sift through, not to mention having to track down where they shipped my stuff, that I haven’t really had time for anything else.” She slumped in the white mare’s arms, taking advantage of the position to bury her face in those ginormous mammaries. She exhaled her relief and relaxed into their warm softness. “It’s been a nightmare and a half. Though I wouldn’t put it past ‘Leste to have done this as a kind of welcome home prank.”

“Aww, you poor dear,” cooed Surprise. “Here. Let’s get to the bed so you can have a rest.” She guided the wren to the oversized mattress, planting her hooves back down and walking awkwardly to continue cradling her head between her bosoms. They maintained this position even after sitting. “What?” the pegasus asked of her short watchers. “I like how her face feathers tickle.”

“So tired,” Talon wheezed, sounding dreadfully parched. “So thirsty. So cold.”

Thomas chuckled at the wren’s hammed up performance. “Glad to see you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Seriously, chimp. I need a drink.” She then fake coughed. “And maybe some extra bodies to warm me up.”

“I will fetch some water,” offered Silver. She turned to the human and added, “I give you permission to stay behind and be molested.”

“I can live with that.” Thomas strolled over, bracing himself to suddenly be yanked forward into another constrictive embrace. He got in reach, but none came. Putting his confusion aside, he hopped up onto the mattress and cuddled up to Talon’s other side. It was a welcome change from what he’d expected, her letting him cozy up on his terms. Her warmth was inviting and her smell, though rank, also aided in his relaxation. Talon was the second creature he’d ever cuddled since coming to Equestria, giving every part of her presence a kind of nostalgic feel.

“Here you go.” Returning from the bathroom, Silver handed over the glass of water, only to receive a felinoid tail swat to the twat, making her shoot up to the ceiling. The tuft of fluff didn’t actually hurt, but it was startling.

Talon downed the glass in a single gulp and said, “Thanks, babe. You’re a treasure.”

“That reminds me,” Thomas spoke up. “Before, back at the pool, you said you’d been spending time in Ponyville.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what was that like?”

“I’ll bet it was super exciting,” chirped Surprise. “That town is in the papers, like, every other week for something or other. Bet you never got a chance to get bored.”

Grateful to finally be out of everyone’s focus, Silver made her subtle retreat back to the table where she’d left her book. Leaving would be rude, plus she did want to catch up with her pseudo-mentor. The two of them were friends; at least as far as Silver believed. And though the griffon was loud and obnoxious, there was no denying that she had an inviting charm about her. Silver would just prefer to enjoy the mammal-avian in moderation.

“That’s one way of putting it,” agreed Talon with an exhaustive chuckle. “Almost everything that happened was a direct result of whatever Twilight – the element of magic,” she explained for Surprise’s sake, “was getting up to. She and her friends almost always had their noses shoved up whatever shenanigans were running loose. A lot of the time they were even the cause of it. Though there are these three fillies that also started stirring up their own brand of trouble. They were trying to get their cutie marks.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Surprise questioned. “Foals of any age can get all kinds of crazy trying to find their destinies. I know I did.”

“The issue is that two of the three are sisters to the Element Bearers, so now I’m convinced that causing trouble is hereditary,” Talon stressed. “Some of the stuff they get up to, all that work they put into some big stunt or project…” She trailed off with a morbid giggle. “More than once I about peed myself when it all came crashing down.”

“Oh r-really,” snickered Surprise, trying to cover her mouth out of a sense of etiquette. Laughing at foals with trouble getting their cutie marks was just punching down, though everypony knew that one foal who always got into the most ridiculous messes. “Like what?”

“Well, this one time they went zip lining and… I didn’t really get all the details. But somehow they ended up covered in so much tree sap that they got stuck together and…” She trailed off, snickering more mirthfully this time. “Stuff just kept sticking to them. Eventually, there was so much stuff stuck together that they literally snowballed down the streets. Everyone and everything that didn’t dodge in time was snatched up and absorbed into the ball. Also, I’m not too sure, but as it was happening, I could have sworn there was this music playing. It went kind of like la lala la la laaa,” she sang to the beat of Katamari Damacy.

Thomas had buried his face in Talon’s side boob to muffle his chortles. The sticky ball thing seemed like classic CMC chicanery, but the song, too? He really ought to have been more surprised than he was. It seemed like he was finally learning to roll with some of the punches of Equestria’s weirdness.

“I’d lend a claw whenever it was needed, but mostly I tried to steer clear of all that crazy. You know, for reasons.” She gave a knowing look to Thomas. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally change something I shouldn’t.”

Thomas snorted and replied, “More like you didn’t want to get lectured about interfering and told you had to leave.”

“Also yes.”

“And speaking of staying, you didn’t really say what was going on with you and Fluttershy. I forgot to ask the last time.”

“Fluttershy? She’s the butter yellow pegasus with the pink mane, right?” Surprise asked.

“Yup.”

“I like her. She always looks so shy in photos. I just wanna pick her up and make her feel safe in my arms.”

“Too late. That’s pretty much been my job since I got there,” boasted Talon. “And believe me, that mare makes it real hard not to huggle her every chance I get.”

“She as soft as she looks?” Surprise eagerly pressed.

“Softer. Not to mention being the Element of Kindness makes her just a treasure. The one drawback is that she usually smells like a zoo from working with animals all day. But when she showers, she’s got this natural aroma that…” She shuddered, mumbling incomprehensibly. “Yeah. How that filly stays single is a mystery.”

“Is that the type of mare you go for?” Silver asked, daring to draw attention back to herself. “If it had to be one of the Mane Six, I would have thought that you would prefer one of the more athletic mares, somepony who could keep up with you.”

“Nah. Surprise kind of hit the nail on the head. That filly’s sweetness incarnate. She’s got some pretty bad social anxiety, but I think I’ve got a thing for projects.” Talon gave Thomas a friendly shove. “At first, I was just planning on bunking with Twi for a week or so. For whatever reason, the Ponyville library doubles as a living space with spare apartments. I think whoever designed that place might have been drunk, or maybe was a bigger bookworm than Twi. Anyway, it was all casual at first. I’d hang out with whoever looked fun, just living in the moment, but the big yellow butter ball just kept catching my eye.” She swooned wistfully. “And not just because she’s smoking hot, either.”

Thomas nodded. “Right. You said you liked big mares with light colors.”

“Who doesn’t?” questioned Surprise while pressing her arms together to push up her breasts. “We’re awesome!”

“I prefer the gentleness of cool colors, though I won’t argue the size.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Thomas remarked. “Big is nice, but I’m also partial to more lean ladies. Most I know are super confident in themselves, which is always a bonus. I think the slogan goes: Big Tit Power, Small Tit Body.”

Surprise blinked as she considered Thomas’ words. “You know, I think I’d buy that shirt.”

“Pretty sure it’d look more fitting on me, though,” countered Talon. Her breasts weren’t exactly small by human standards. However, if they were all human and not blessed by magic, she definitely wouldn’t be having as many late-life back problems as the more well-endowed mares.

“He was looking at me when he said it,” argued Silver. Her book was down and she was sitting up straight, posture perfect, and arms folded beneath the second smallest chest in the room. “Never underestimate something just because it is small.”

“But yeah. Big ladies and light colors,” Talon continued. “That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing; and in more ways than one. Also steering clear of trouble.”

Silver asked, “So what brings you back? You left so suddenly and you almost never wrote.”

Talon guiltily rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Hate to say it, but I kinda suffered an extended bird moment.”

Surprise and Silver made knowing o sounds, leaving Thomas as the odd man out.

“What’s a bird moment?”

“Weird instincts in us winged creatures,” Talon explained. “We just get these urges to fly the coup. Sometimes it’s because we spend too much time grounded, but mostly it’s totally random. Nature calls and we just have to answer doing bird stuff.”

“My dame had a thing for nest building,” Surprise added. “One minute everything’s normal. Then we take our eyes off her and she’s out picking up twigs around the sky trees and building nests in the back yard.”

Silver gave a forlorn sigh. “That happened to my sisters more times than I can count. Every time my father would bring us all into the living room and lecture us about flying around the city to keep the urges satiated. We did, but it never seemed to help.”

“It’s totally random,” Talon agreed, sounding vindicated. “Making nests, migrating, or even just breaking down into fits of squawking. Those are the worst.”

“How come I’m only just now hearing about this?” Thomas asked. He looked Talon in the eye and added, “This really seems like the sort of thing that should have come up in your lessons.”

“Sorry. I was teaching you about touching. Never really thought about dealing with winged ladies going into squawking fits. Eh. Let’s call it a bird moment.”

“You never answered the question, though,” reminded Silver. “You sound like you have come back full time. What about Fluttershy?”

Talon heaved a tired sigh and slumped forward. “I’m tempted to say I got lost in that mare’s eyes, or something equally stupid that I can just pin on my bird moment. Maybe that’s part of what happened, but really I was just being dumb.” She fell back on the bed, not taking the others with her as her legs kicked idly off the edge. “What was going on with me and Fluttershy was, well, hard to explain. At first, it felt like just a fling. She checked off enough boxes for me that I kinda fell in lust with her.” At Thomas’ confusion, she elaborated. “I just wanted her for her body. Loins were a yearning and I just needed to get it out of my system.”

“Ah. And she was okay with that?” he questioned warily. “Using people like that isn’t all that acceptable for humans.”

“So long as you’re upfront about it, ponies are cool,” Talon explained. “I was like a heat buddy, only minus the heat. We’d hang out a little during the day, but at night we’d ride each other so hard we walked funny the next day. It’s just a bit of harmless fun.”

“Humans call that hook-up culture. I’ve heard some solid arguments about why it’s ruining marriage and breaking down society.”

“Wow. Human society doesn’t sound all that fun,” Surprise observed.

Talon scoffed and continued. “Like I was saying, it was simple at first. The plan – if you can call it that – was to bang until I was ready to return to the nest. But,” she groaned, “that filly proved sweeter than I expected. After a point, it was like I was feeling real feelings for her. As you might guess, it only got more complicated from there.”

“Love tends to do that,” Surprise agreed wisely.

“I’m not even sure if it was really love, though. I tried to see, tried taking her out for some real dates and stuff. She seemed into it at first, but then we’d start talking about what it’d mean if we wanted to go further, and that’d always ruin it.”

“How though?” Silver asked. “Is it normally hard for concubines to date outside the harem?”

“Not usually, no. The problem here was, well… the chimp’s fault.”

“Hey. What’d I do?”

“Because of you, I knew that she wasn’t allowed to leave Ponyville,” Talon grumbled. “Prophecy and stuff. Couldn’t tell her, but she wasn’t willing to leave, anyway. Too attached to her animals and friends. And me, well, I wasn’t willing to uproot myself either. Too attached to Canterlot and all the fine pieces of tail within.” Her sigh was long and powerful enough to shake the curtains on the far wall. “Long story short: I got my heart kicked in the teeth after falling for a mare I couldn’t have.”

“Aww, you poor thing,” Surprise cooed. She cuddled up along Talon’s side, draping most of her body along the wren’s like she was a living blanket. The pegasus tenderly nosed under the griffon’s chin while holding her in a gentle embrace.

“Yeah. Sucks to be me,” Talon grumbled, staring vacantly up at the ceiling as her claw snaked its way down the pegasi’s back. However, she sounded more disappointed than heart-broken. “Not fun, but I’ll get over it.”

Thomas hesitated only briefly before mirroring Surprise. Ponies were tactile creatures and griffons – in his experience – were no different. This situation was too foreign for his words to do much good, but hugging always seemed like the safest and most reliable course.

Silver, not wanting to be left out, fluttered over to the interior of the bed. With Talon’s cooperation, she maneuvered the wren’s head into her lap and began tenderly running her fingers through her head feathers. The sounds the griffon made suggested her appreciation. “What about Fluttershy, though? How did things end?”

Talon sighed again. As much as she hated being pitied, she wasn’t about to do anything that might dissuade this kind of attention. “It was amicable,” she admitted. “Romance just wasn’t in the stars for us, but we still liked each other’s bodies. I’ll definitely be spending the night with her the next time I’m in Ponyville. And she knows my bed’s always open to her… just as soon as I dig it out of all that red tape.”

“Didn’t you have a roommate?” Thomas recalled.

“Yup,” Talon affirmed, accentuating the last letter with a pop of her beak-lips. “She had a bird moment shortly after me. But for some reason, she wasn’t hassled as much as me when she came back. Still had to change rooms, but whoever’s in charge didn’t drag their hooves like they are with me. Now I’m technically staying with her illegally. It’s a hot mess.”

“Sounds like the sort of thing someone ought to get fired over,” observed Thomas.

“Here’s hoping.” Talon raised her empty claw as if in a toast. “Talked with ‘Leste and she agrees the System needs a serious overhaul.”

“Well I’m still glad you’re back,” Thomas hummed and stroked his palm over her abs. “Starting to worry I might be addicted to all these hot bodies, though.”

“Welcome to the club,” chuckled Talon. “Withdrawal is a pain in the ass, but at least the dealers are friendly.”

Surprise squeaked after feeling her butt being pinched. “Hehe. Super friendly.”

And that seals it with Talon being officially back. She’ll make some more appearances here and there, though I feel her role as a mentor for Thomas has mostly run its course now that they’re closer to equals. Also the cast is just getting a little on the big side. I’d started this one with no plans for Talon and just wanted to have Thomas and a smaller cast minus Moonlight bounce off one another, but after hitting a bit of writer’s block, Talon seemed like the best solution. I’d also tried writing Talon’s stay in Ponyville as its own flashback chapter, but that didn’t work out either. So hopefully this works for you guys.

Thanks to my Subscribers
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