Without their guides, the human, griffon, and unicorn guard were left to wander the streets at their leisure.

“We could simply ask where the library is,” Moonlight suggested, her ears swiveling about anxiously. That last encounter hadn’t exactly been an attack, but it still left her charge feeling distressed, meaning she had failed twice in one day.

“But that takes away the fun of exploring,” Talon shot down the unicorn’s idea.

“I heard the library was built into a giant tree,” Thomas put forth. “Did you see any place like that?”

“Erm… no?” Talon denied unconvincingly.

Moonlight watched Thomas carefully. He’d been holding up better than she’d expected. Perhaps that discussion last night had bolstered him better than she’d expected? Regardless, something told her that he was most likely putting up a front, so she decided to abandon her post behind him and stepped forward until their arms were touching. When he noticed, she gave her best reassuring smile, which he returned with an appreciative one before looking back at Talon.

“For some reason, I don’t believe you,” Thomas said bluntly.

“Well I think we can both agree that that’s your fault, not mine,” Talon affirmed before taking off once again, only to immediately get knocked down by a rainbow colored missile and hit the ground with a mighty crash.

Thomas reflexively moved his arms in front of him to protect from the shock of the impact while Moonlight had quickly stepped between him and the blast. Her horn lit as a large shield of blue light, similar to the one on her cutie mark, materialized in front of her. “Are you alright?” she shouted towards the shield.

After realizing she was talking to him, he ran his hands over his body to quickly check if anything was out of place. “I think so,” he admitted with an air of relief. When the dust settled, Moonlight motioned for Thomas to stay back. Keeping the shield in front of her, she took several small steps forward until she could see inside the crater. There she found Talon entangled with her assailant, a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane.

“Ow,” the griffon whined.

“Sorry about that,” the mare apologized as she stood, not noticing the magical shield above her. “I was trying a new trick and it kinda got out of hoof,” she reached down and offered her hand to Talon.

“No problem,” *cough* “I know how it goes.” Talon took the mare’s hand.

“Gilda!?” The mare exclaimed.

“Who?” Talon asked as she slapped the dirt off her feathers.

Hearing the familiar name spoken by a familiar gravely voice, Thomas dared to step forward. When she noticed, Moonlight put a hand over his chest to keep him from getting closer, wordlessly shaking her head. But through the blue tinted light shield, Thomas was able to see yet another pony he recognized.

“Sorry. You look like somepony I used to know,” the mare reflected mournfully.

“Was she hot?”

Once the initial shock wore off, the mare began to chuckle. “Ya know, you’re alright.”

“I’ve been called worse,” the griffon shrugged before extending her claw. “Name’s Talon, by the way.”

Thomas saw Moonlight glare into the crater. Seeing her friend act so casually with a mare who didn’t seem hostile, she wasn’t as tense as she had been a second ago. But clearly she was displeased with the way the griffon was handling this.

The mare took the claw in a hearty handshake. “Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in all Equestria. The pleasure is all yours.”

“Hey! That’s my line.” They shared a laugh. “It’s a good thing you added ‘flyer’ to that, otherwise it wouldn’t have been much to brag about.” The laughter returned, but louder than before.

“Sweet Celestia, not another one,” Moonlight groaned as the light shield faded away.

Talon led the way out of the crater. Once free of the dust cloud, Thomas got a much better look at the anthro pony embodiment of a pride flag. She was only slightly taller than he was, which made her fairly short by pony standards. Pegasi were the smallest of the tribes since their bodies were built more for speed. Rainbow Dash epitomized this trend with her lean, athletically toned body and small breasts. Her multi-colored mane was frazzled and looked like it hadn’t seen a brush in ages, which made sense if the speedster’s depiction in the show was any indication. As if to emphasize this point, both griffon and Pegasus gracelessly shook their bodies like dogs to expel the excess dirt. Oddly, the only part of her that seemed well groomed, aside from her muscles, was her rainbow pubic hair shaved into a lightning bolt.

Why? Just… why?

“Anyway, these here are my friends. Moonlight and Thomas,” Talon gestured respectively, though she watched the Pegasus carefully for her reaction.

“Wow,” Rainbow nodded approvingly as she eyed the human up past the still wary unicorn guard. “Thomas, you say? That’s an odd name for such a cute filly.”

“Ugh!” Thomas groaned. “Why does everyone keep thinking I’m female? I mean seriously. I thought you ponies could at least smell the difference.” He was understandably annoyed, but at the same time relieved that this meeting had started out a lot better than the last two. At the very least he wasn’t being attacked.

“You’re a dude?” Rainbow tilted her head as her eyes followed the same path across his body. “Meh. You’re still pretty cute for a… what are you exactly?”

“Human,” Thomas said flatly.

“Human? As in those things Lyra keeps ranting about?” Thomas nodded. “Guess I owe her an apology.” Rainbow then looked to the less than pleased looking pony still standing in front of Thomas. “Moonlight, right?”

Moonlight nodded. “Private First Class Moonlight Shield of Princess Luna’s House Guard,” she declared proudly, hoping to intimidate the other mare with her title. It didn’t work.

“Cool,” Rainbow shrugged, “Anyway, what brings you guys to Ponyville?”

“We were looking for the pony who lives in the library,” Moonlight spoke up, regarding Rainbow much more softly then she had with the last three mares. “Do you know where that is?”

“You looking for Twilight?” Rainbow asked.

“You know her?” Talon cocked her head.

“Know her? Me and Twilight are the best of friends. We single hoofedly saved all Equestria from certain doom! Well, we and four others, but it was still awesome. And I got some sweet bling out of it,” Rainbow set her hands on her hips proudly.

“Certain doom, huh?” Talon nodded skeptically. “That’s nice and all, but I saved Princess Celestia’s very life.”

“What? No way.”

Great. Thomas groaned internally. Another tangent.

“Yes way. In fact, Sunbutt was so enthralled by my heroism that when I recovered from my harrowing task, she invited me to her royal harem,” Talon waved her claw down to her loincloth. “And now, I get to call her Sunbutt and you don’t.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw looked like it was ready to fall from her face.

“You think that’s something? You should hear the whole story.” Talon proceeded to regale her audience with the full tale of how she had saved Celestia.

“That’s so… awesome!” Rainbow cheered. “You were in the RGR and now you sleep with the Princess. I mean… you’re… wow! You’re like the coolest griffon in all Equestria.”

“Oh stop. Stop,” Talon held out her claw, but was clearly enjoying being showered in praise.

“Ya know,” Rainbow composed herself and stared casually at her nails. “That’s neat and all, but I bet you’ve never flown fast enough to cause a sonic rainboom.”

“The sonic rainboom?” Talon cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s a sonic rainboom?” Moonlight asked, remaining vigilant but much more relaxed.

“It was all over the papers about a decade ago,” Talon explained as she looked more intently at Rainbow. “A little blank flank filly in Cloudsdale was just having a little race with her friends when suddenly she broke the sound barrier and let loose a shockwave of rainbows. That was you?”

Rainbow tilted her body to show off her cutie mark. “None other.”

“Starswirl’s secret sex dungeon!” Talon cheered as she slapped Rainbow across the back. “The coolest griffon in all Equestria meets the coolest pegasus. We were destined to fly together.”

“I’m up for a race any time you are,” Rainbow answered boastfully. “Just not now. I, uh, promised to hang out with another friend today and she doesn’t really care for racing.”

“No worries,” Talon waved her claw. “My bummed wing keeps me from flying as fast as I used to anyway. I’m certain we could find something else we could all enjoy. I can be very… flexible,” her eyebrows danced suggestively.

“Oh? Oh. Ooooh!” Rainbow finally caught on to the griffon’s meaning, her cheeks turning red.

“Do you seriously have to flirt with every pony you meet?” Moonlight asked.

“Do I have to? No. But I really really like to,” Talon smirked.

Moonlight glared silently at the griffon, but a bump of her arm from Thomas’ shoulder eroded the last remnants of her tenseness. She was annoyed, but a much more relaxed sort of annoyed.

“Yeah,” Talon shrugged uncomfortably. “I guess we got off on a bit of a tangent there. So, enough about the coolest griffon in Equestria for now, Rainbow. Moonlight here, like she said, is a member of Princess Luna’s House Guard. She’s been give the special assignment of protecting her Senior Concubine.”

Thomas froze at the mention as Rainbow turned her attention back to him. “Are you… really?”

Shrinking under her piercing gaze, Thomas shrugged “yeah?”

Remembering the mythical creature standing less than a meter away, Rainbow took to the air, hovering right in Thomas’ face as she assailed him with a torrent of questions about where he came from and what Luna was like, ignoring the guard’s efforts to ward her off with only a stern glare.

“Wo, now,” Talon yanked on Rainbow’s tail. “The little guy startles easily.”

“No worries,” Rainbow assured, still hovering. “That friend I told you about. She’s the same way. Shy is literally in her name. I found the best approach for ponies like that is ta stick by their side and give em a good push outside their little box.”

Talon nodded approvingly. “Great minds think alike. Though I kinda slip up a lot and say things that upset him when he doesn’t know that I’m just fooling,” she added, offering Thomas a sideways apologetic glance.

“Speak of the anti-Faust. There she is,” Rainbow pointed.

Talon followed the mare’s directions, only to limply release Rainbow’s tail as her shoulders slumped in awe. She was a yellow cream-colored mare with a swirly pink mane. Despite being a pegasus, she was as large as an earth pony with massive breasts and a lusciously round figure, something Thomas had come to learn was the standard of beauty for mares, though this one seemed to surpass that. Even a quick glance up at Moonlight showed the unicorn was stunned by the other mare’s beauty. She surveyed the crowd nervously until perking up at the sight of Rainbow waving her over. “Hey Fluttershy. You’ll never guess who I met today.”

“R-really?” Fluttershy’s voice was practically a whisper in its softness, but still had a musically feminine quality to it. “Who?” As she approached, the difference between small but boisterous speedster and large yet bashful animal care taker was almost comical.

“Over here we have…” Rainbow began, only to barely jump out of the way as Flutershy stampeded forward, grabbing Thomas from his position behind Moonlight and pulling him between her titanic titties.

“Oh my goodness,” she squealed as she spun with Thomas pressed firmly into her flesh mounds. “You’re the most adorable little thing I’ve ever seen. What’s your name little guy?” She asked as she crouched down and set Thomas back on the grass, not noticing how Moonlight had retaken her aggressive stance and relit her horn as she reached out to grab him.

“I-it’s alright, Moonlight.” Thomas assured the guard quickly. “I don’t think she means any harm.”

Moonlight’s answer was to levitate Thomas in her magic out of Fluttershy’s grip until he was standing directly in front of the unicorn where she put her hands firmly on his shoulders, This seemed enough to calm Fluttershy down as the Pegasus began fumbling her fingers nervously.

“Anyway,” Thomas continued in the hopes of breaking the newfound tension. “You can tell I’m a guy?” A flushed Thomas asked. Damn, her boobs felt nice.

“Well of course I can, silly,” she laughed cheerfully. “My name’s Fluttershy, by the way.”

“That’s pretty amazing,” Thomas cheered gratefully, wondering if his sudden enthusiasm came from appreciation of being recognized as male or if the Princess-grade pony boobies poking at his chest earlier were having an effect on him. “I’m Thomas, and you’re one of the only ponies to figure that out just by looking. Please, tell me how you did that?”

“Well,” Fluttershy blushed. “It wasn’t all by looking,” she glanced down.

Thomas followed her line of sight and quickly crouched down, covering his hands over his groin.

“Aww,” Fluttershy cooed. “I’ve never seen a Thomas before, but you really are just the cutest little thing.”

“Sir Thomas is not a thing,” Moonlight corrected sternly, bringing the Pegasus back to reality. “He is a member of the royal night court and deserves the due respect of his station.”

“Oh. Oh my,” Fluttershy whispered as she stepped up to Thomas, but a quick glare from Moonlight made her hesitate. However, the yellow Pegasus pressed on, her concern for adorable critters overwriting any sense of worry. “I’m so sorry if I surprised you, little guy. I just get so excited when I meet new animal friends.”

“He’s not an animal either,” Moonlight snorted, stepping up until her chest armor was pressed into Thomas’ back.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it,” Thomas defended. “This is Moonlight Shield, by the way. She’s my body guard.”

“Right,” Rainbow nodded. “And over here we have…” Rainbow was once again knocked aside by a larger flyer.

Talon stepped forward. “Well hello there,” she greeted in a sultry tone. Though she made no other sudden or boastful movements, the yellow mare, who was a couple inches taller, still froze.

“Oh. Um, hello,” the yellow mare greeted sheepishly, ears splayed in a sign of meekness. “M-my name is F-”

“Fluttershy,” Talon cut her off breathlessly, forcing the larger mare to squeak in fright. “Sorry,” she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

“Oh no. It’s alright. You don’t need to-”

“I do!” Even Talon recoiled at her own volume. “I mean, ugh. Sorry. My name’s Talon and I, uh, don’t usually have this problem.”

The others watched the scene in silent fascination as the griffon who, not a few minutes ago, was proclaiming herself to be the coolest in all Equestria, had suddenly become a mirror of the shy pony she was talking to.

“No need to apologize,” Fluttershy assured. “I have this problem all the time.”

“You trip over yourself whenever you meet a beautiful mare for the first time too?” Talon grinned, hopeful that her comment wasn’t as awkward as she feared.

“Wow,” Rainbow deadpanned. “That may have been the cheesiest thing I’ve heard all week.”

“Shh!” Moonlight hushed the cyan mare, giving her a ‘don’t you dare’ look.

“B-b-beautiful?” Fluttershy stuttered as her ears shot up. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her mane, blushing the entire time. “N-no o-one’s ever called me b-b-that before.”

“Now I find that hard to believe,” Talon smiled gently, cautiously closing the distance between them. “You mean to tell me you weren’t the most popular filly at school, colts and fillies throwing themselves at you just for a date?”

Fluttershy’s cheeks turned a brighter shade of red as she fiddled with her mane with greater vigor. “N-not really.”

Still hovering, Rainbow leaned down and whispered between Moonlight and Thomas. “She was totally the cutest filly in school. But a few mean words from the local idiots and she basically shut down whenever somepony worked up the nerve to ask her out. I tried to help, but she was convinced they were all just making fun of her. Eventually, the offers just stopped. She wouldn’t even let me be her date to the dances.”

Now that right there is the Element of Loyalty. Thomas thought approvingly, not making comparison between Fluttershy’s life and his own.

“Well then,” Talon took another step forward and gently brushed Fluttershy’s mane out of her eyes. “Perhaps we should remedy that.”

“R-remedy?”

Talon reached into the tuft of feathers above her chest and pulled out a pencil and note pad. “This is my address,” she explained as she scribbled away. “It doesn’t seem like either of us are free right now, and my schedule can be pretty inconsistent.” She tore the paper and handed it to the meek pegasus, along with the pencil and pad. “Write me some time and we can set up a time to meet.”

Staring nervously between the griffon and the materials that had been shoved in her hands, Fluttershy let out an unintelligible squeak.

“Hold on,” Rainbow called as she swooped in and pulled Fluttershy away by the shoulder. “Give us a few.”

While the pegasus members of the mane six whispered, Thomas approached the griffon. She looked to be in a trance, mesmerized by the yellow mare. Cautiously, he tapped Talon’s elbow.

“What!?” Talon jumped. “What happened? What’d I miss?”

Thomas recoiled in surprise. “Did you just black out or something?”

“I’ve never seen you act like that,” Moonlight added, unable to hold back her smile. “It was rather sweet.”

“Act like what?” Talon quickly surveyed the area until she found Fluttershy talking with Rainbow Dash. A look of horror donned on her face. “Oh no. Oh-no-oh-no-oh-no. Don’t tell me I just proposed!”

“Wo now,” Thomas waved his hands. “Calm down. You just asked her to write you.”

“Really? That’s all?” Talon asked nervously, to which Thomas nodded. “Oh thank Celestia,” she sighed in relief. “I was worried I’d proposed… again.”

“You want to back track a little, because I’m not following,” Moonlight frowned.

“Riiiiight…” Talon trailed off. “Well, that’s kinda a personal thing. You want the long version or the short version?”

“What’s the short?” Moonlight asked.

“I’m a hopeless letch who jumps into relationships without thinking?”

Thomas exchanged a look of confusion with Moonlight. “And the long?”

Talon quickly glaned over at Fluttershy. “I’ve always had a thing for… that kind of body. Big females with wings. In fact, she could be the spitting image of my first wife.”

“Wife?” Thomas asked. “Oh yeah. I guess you’re into females too.”

“I ain’t bent,” Talon protested. “But that’s kind of my other problem. I used to jump into relationships after one or two good ruts without much thought to the important stuff. That’s how I ended up with two ex-wives and an ex-husband.” Talon blushed as she resumed rubbing the back of her head. “I really did love them, but… I’m also a bit of a hopeless flirt, batting my eyes and even presenting my tail to anypony, or griffon, that’d give me the time of day.”

“You cheated?” Thomas asked.

“No! Well, not really, but it’s not something I’m proud of either,” Talon lowered her head shamefully. “The Griffon Kingdom is a lot more stoic and we don’t have much in the way of couple’s counseling. I flirted outside the relationship, which is just as bad as cheating for griffons, so I was out. I kept telling myself that this time would be different, but it never was. I’d all but given up on finding my, as you guys say, very special somepony until that day ten years ago. Heh,” she shrugged. “Turns out, all I needed was an enabler.”

Thomas looked back at the griffon in confusion. She was opening up to him and, much to his surprise, something told him he’d best handle this delicately. “I’m still getting the hang of this stuff, so what exactly kind of relationship do you have with Celestia?”

“A pretty awesome one, but I think open is the word you’re looking for,” Talon informed. “Celestia knows who I am and what I’m like, but she likes me regardless. It doesn’t hurt that ponies are a lot more open about this stuff, too. She’s like the port to my ship,” the griffon explained dreamily. “No matter where the winds or waves carry me, she knows I’ll always return to her. She loves me for me, stupid urges and all, and I love her right back.” She sighed. “I couldn’t imagine ever finding love again if I had to leave the harem.”

Thomas glanced over at the pegasi, then back to Talon. “So all those mares you’ve been having me kiss…”

Talon nodded. “Drinking buddies, mostly. Sometimes we’d have one too many and wake up in bed together. I was clear that I didn’t want to be anything more than that, and they were mostly fine with that. Nothing wrong with the single crowd hooking up from time to time, right?”

“I suppose,” Moonlight nodded along. Pony relationships were a lot more fluid and liberal than griffon ones. “Tali. If you say you didn’t cheat, then you didn’t cheat,” she added firmly, causing the griffon to beam with gratitude at her friend’s acceptance.

“So what was that with Fluttershy just now?” Thomas inquired.

Talon glanced over at the pegasi, her feathers flushing as she smiled longingly. “I guess she just triggered something in me. She’s easily the hottest mare I’ve seen outside the Princesses. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t tap that if you had the chance.”

“I’m still getting used to the idea of this whole harem thing,” Thomas groaned. “Kissing other mares is one thing, but actually sleeping with them is just… I don’t know.”

Talon straightened up and put on her serious face. “We’ve had this talk before, chimp. Harems aren’t exclusive. They’re like I said, open relationships, but also like a herd. I share Celestia with other ponies just like she shares me. It’s fine because we always come back to each other.”

“I know. I know,” Thomas grumbled. “Sun Dancer pretty much said as much.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash hollered as she approached, dragging her friend by the hand. Talon froze at the sight of the incoming yellow pegasus. “Fluttershy,” Rainbow began soberly. “The nice griffon, who used to be in the RGR and now works as Celestia’s concubine, gave you her mailing address so you can write her. What do you say?”

Fluttershy nervously stroked her hands through her mane before offering the pencil and note pad back to Talon, a new address written on the front page. “Um, thank you for the offer,” she averted her gaze as she mumbled. “I’d l-l-love it if we could write each other.”

The instant Talon took the pencil and note pad from the shy pegasus, she bolted off at a speed that even left her speedster friend impressed.

“Um,” Rainbow glanced between Talon and the smoke trail Fluttershy had left behind. “I kinda gotta go take care of this,” she explained as she began flying away. “Look me up next time you’re in town.”

“You got it,” Talon saluted as the Pegasus fled from sight. Turning to her companions, she grinned as she waved the note pad teasingly at them. “Looks like I got me a new pen pal.”

Talon falls head over paws for Fluttershy. Can’t really blame her, though. Thankfully, the encounter with these two Element bearers went better than the last one. A shame Moonlight couldn’t relax a bit more, though.

Originally, the explanation of how herds work was supposed to go here, but I think cutting it out keeps this chapter more focused.