As she rested on her belly on Thomas and Moonlight’s shared bed, Honey diligently sounded out the words of the sentence. “And. Then. She. Took the… sc-sca-scahaaa,” she strained to say.

“Break it down,” Thomas encouraged from beside her. “You got the first part down. Use your finger like I showed you.”

Honey nodded and placed her finger over the first part of the word. “Aaab. Aaa-buh… buh… bard?”

“It reads like ‘bird,’” Thomas corrected.

“Sca-ba-ird. Scabbard!” Honey exclaimed. “And then she took the scabbard!”

“Knew you could do it,” Thomas said as she shook the mare’s shoulder.

They’d been at it for about an hour. While Silver and Surprise were out doing their thing, Thomas had decided to make good on his promise to help Honey read. He’d even bought her a practice book, an abridged Daring Do novel marketed for foals learning how to read.

“Ya know, this would probably go a lot better if you got an actual tutor,” Thomas reminded for what was probably the twelfth time.

Honey frowned and faced away. “Ah don’t trust them educated types, ‘specially if they’re unicorns.”

“What’s wrong with unicorns?” Moonlight asked in warning. She was sitting across from the bed with her back to the others as she typed away on her and Thomas’ book.

“Now don’t make it a tribe thing,” Honey complained. “You know. You’re a Canterlot… ian?” she said uncertainly. “You know how full of themselves unicorns in this town can be.”

Thomas kept his mouth shut as he watched for Moonlight’s response.

Moonlight grimaced and gave a reluctant sigh. “A bit prejudiced, but not entirely inaccurate,” she admitted.

“See!” Honey stated, sounding like she’d won the argument.

“Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Thomas is right,” Moonlight continued. “You’d be doing much better with a trained tutor.”

Honey grabbed hold of Thomas and pulled him in close to her chest. She was wearing her maid uniform, but the feel of his bare skin was still nice. “Ah like the way Thomas teaches.” She leaned in and took an audible sniff of his hair. “‘Sides, he smells nice.”

Thomas blushed from the compliment, but kept his eyes on Moonlight.

Moonlight smiled good-naturedly as she shook her head. Seeing no reason to argue, she turned back to the typewriter and went back to work. “If you say so.”

His mare’s relaxed reaction put the human at ease as he cozied up against Honey. Thomas still experienced moments of doubt when it came to the polyamorous inclinations of ponies and how he fit in it. Mostly he’d watch either Moonlight or Luna, using their reactions to gauge the propriety of what he did or allowed others to do. Thus far, ponies continued to surprise him with their incredibly high tolerance of just about all forms of intimacy. However, he still kept his guard up, just in case. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt those he loved.

“And I say that I’m still impressed that you can smell so strongly of apples without using some kind of special shampoo,” the human commented.

“Work long enough on an apple farm, it kinda rubs off on ya,” Honey explained proudly as she went back to looking at the book.

Thomas nodded and joined her. “I just hope I’m not teaching you any bad habits.”

“Eh. Ah don’t expect ta be writin’ Shake Spear any time soon,” Honey said with a shrug. “All Ah want is ta pick somethin’ off the shelf ‘n’ start readin’ on mah own. That,” she added, “an’ not look so dumb when readin’ them fancy menus.”

“Then I’d recommend learning from Silver next,” Thomas informed. “She’s one of the few I know who can read that much cursive.”

Honey chuckled and messed the human’s hair. “Funny colt.”

The next hour passed in relative peace as Thomas coached Honey through the pages. They broke once for lunch and once more for Luna’s booty call. Afterwards the officially tired concubines were only able to collapse on the bed, unable to resume their prior work.

Smiling sympathetically at her tired friends, Honey cozied up beside Thomas and pressed him between herself and Moonlight, glad that the other mare was too tired to put her armor back on. “Hard work, huh?”

“Unusually so,” Thomas panted happily. “I guess she’s just feeling especially amorous tonight.”

Moonlight could only giggle to herself.

Honey smiled flatly as she braced herself for her question. “Ah know this stuff’s top secret ‘n’ all, but…”

“What did we do?” Thomas asked, still wearing a goofy grin as he stared straight up at the ceiling.

Honey nodded gingerly.

“For starters,” Thomas began, “she ate Silver ALIVE!”

Honey covered her hand over her mouth to hide her chortles. “Oh wow. That sounds like fun.”

Thomas just beamed at her. “What’s funny is you think I’m exaggerating.”

At the evenness of his expression, the smile slowly faded from Honey’s lips. “But ya are, right?”

Thomas just stared back at her, unblinking. The look she gave made it hard not to smirk.

“Oh Faust,” Honey whispered in a mix of horror and curiosity. However, that passed soon enough after Moonlight cracked, bursting out in a fit of deep belly laughs. She was followed shortly by Thomas. “Oh thank Faust,” the earth mare sighed in relief. “Ya’ll had me worried there for a sec.”

“R-really?” Thomas asked after coming down from his laughing fit.

“Well, yeah,” Honey chuckled nervously. “Ah mean, just ‘cause she eats meat don’t mean she eats live ponies, right?”

Thomas and Moonlight shared a look. The question on both their minds was whether or not it was yet appropriate for Honey to know about Luna’s inclinations just yet. After a moment, they shared a nod.

“Right?”

The pair turned to face Honey as Thomas explained. “She hasn’t done that, but I’m pretty sure she wants to.”

Honey blinked in disbelief.

Moonlight swallowed nervously. “She’s been dropping more and more hints how ‘delicious’ we are, so I think she’s working up to asking us.”

Thomas grabbed Moonlight’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Luna’s what humans call a vorephile, someone fascinated by the idea of consumption,” he explained. “It’s something that doesn’t really exist outside of pictures and stories, but I guess magic allows for all kinds of weird stuff.”

“Hush,” Moonlight hissed chidingly. “Don’t call her weird.”

“Why not? I’m into vore too, so its okay when I do it,” Thomas explained. “You’re the one who’s not allowed to call it weird.”

With maturity and poise, Moonlight blew Thomas a raspberry.

“So,” Honey resumed, smacking her lips together. “Luna might want ta… eat me, like mouth ‘n’ stomach ‘n’ all that?”

“Not if you’re not up for it,” Thomas assured as he grabbed Honey’s hand too. “Moonlight’s uncomfortable, too, so she’s exempt. Luna only did that stuff with me and Silver because, like I said, I’m a weirdo who’s into that, and I think Silver has some psychological impediment keeping her from refusing anything Luna asks for.”

Honey visibly relaxed at the human’s words. “That’s a relief,” she sighed. “Ah mean, Ah ain’t gonna say ‘no’ right off the bat before givin’ it a try. Ah could, ya know, watch ‘n’ see how it goes.”

Oh yeah. She’s curious, Thomas thought appreciatively.

“If vore is physically impossible for humans, how did you discover your interest with it?” Moonlight asked.

Thomas smiled contentedly as he flexed his grip on the mares’ hands, hoping to show his appreciation rather than speak it. These mares were genuinely curious, asking from a place completely devoid of judgement. No way I’d ever have the nerve to tell anyone this back home.

“In hindsight, I guess I kinda always was,” he began. “I always really liked toys of animals with mouths and hollow insides. I’d pretend to feed other toys to them.” He glanced between the mares, checking for any signs of disgust or disapproval. There was none, so he continued. “Then, like most people, I guess, I stumbled on pictures on the internet.”

“That’s that magic forum thing you were tellin’ me about, right?” Honey asked.

“Yeah. A forum’s a good way to put it. People can post whatever they want from wherever they are in the world, everyone else can see it, and it’s all anonymous.”

Honey frowned. “Sounds like an excuse for jackasses ta give everypony a hard time.”

“In many ways, yes,” Thomas conceded. “But yeah. One day while doing a random search, I came across this video of a giant woman trying to eat this regular sized woman. There wasn’t any blood, but I found it pretty scary and I kinda went into a crisis of conscience for a bit. I guess it stirred up some feelings that I didn’t know how to deal with at the time. Anyway, I was so freaked out that I tried doing everything I could to distance myself from that sort of thing.” Even started reading the bible a lot more. That’s how freaked out I was. “Later, after I’d calmed down, I looked up the video again and found some of the related content. One search led to another and, well, I figured out I like vore.”

“And you did this all on your own without anypony’s help?” Moonlight asked.

“Never told a soul,” Thomas confirmed to the apparent displeasure of both mares.

“Well that just ain’t right,” Honey declared flatly. “Impressionable foals figurin’ themselves out need somepony they trust ta talk to.”

“I’m still not completely clear on human sexual views,” Moonlight added. “Did your parents or school tell you anything?”

“Well, yeah,” Thomas admitted. “My parents went over the basics and school went over the technical stuff. Everything else we’re kind of left to learn on our own.”

“By the anonymous jackasses on the net?” Honey asked, disapproval more than evident in her tone.

“I want to say that’s a gross exaggeration,” Thomas began uncertainly, “but that’s basically true for a lot of people.”

Moonlight tsked. “You really had to learn about your own preferences anonymously?”

Thomas sighed. “That’s kinda what weird people do. We like things that are weird, so we keep it to ourselves so those close to us don’t look at us funny and usually only share it with people we know can’t find us.” Like admitting you like clop.

“Well Ah’m glad we ponies aren’t so stuffy ‘bout what comes natural,” Honey boasted. “Mah folks were always there for me for whatever Ah needed. When they weren’t, which wasn’t often, Ah could jus’ go to mah other relatives.”

“Same,” Moonlight added. “Honestly, I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to go through my first heat without their support.”

“Well keep in mind I’m weird even by human standards,” Thomas reminded gently. “And that’s before all the sexual stuff. I know some parents are more open about that sort of thing. Maybe mine would have been if I just told them, but that kind of talk was never easy for me.”

“Yer talkin’ now,” Honey pointed out with a soft smile.

“It’s different with you guys,” Thomas said dismissively as he waved his hand around. “Also just this whole place. Everyone’s just so open about everything that, after a while, the weird stuff doesn’t look so weird anymore.” He hummed thoughtfully. “It’s hard to feel weird when you’re surrounded by other weirdies.”

“Oh you,” Moonlight chided as she playfully pushed him away.

“Hey, keep ‘im away from me,” Honey laughed as she pushed him back.

In retaliation, Thomas stabbed his fingers into the mares’ tickle spots, earning howls of laughter. Their spat didn’t last long, as the human and unicorn were still recovering from their earlier exertion. It ended with both Thomas and Moonlight pinned beneath Honey’s impressive bulk. There they stayed for a while, just studying one another in close contact as Honey did what she could to keep her weight from crushing the others.

“It’s a funny thing,” Moonlight stated. “I’ve read how other races view ponies as so conformist because of our herding instincts, but it seems humans have it even stronger.”

Thomas hummed as he thought. “In a way, I guess. I think it’s true that, in any given society, the majority are going to conform to the norm while the outliers do their own thing. Sometimes it takes guts to do that. Other times you’re just weird and find a way to deal.”

“Ah know what that’s like,” Honey said sympathetically as she clambered off the others, allowing them all to sit up. “Foals at school were always givin’ me a hard time, callin’ me stupid jus’ ‘cause Ah had trouble with the readin’. Ah could do the math stuff just fine ‘n’ Ah usually remembered what the teacher said, but…”

Thomas put a hand on Honey’s knee and looked into her eyes. He couldn’t find the words, but hoped the action was sufficient. Based on her warm smile and warmer lips against his, he figured he did well enough.

Moonlight also watched with a smile. “I’m so proud of both of you,” she stated plainly. “You’re both doing so much to move past your limitations and become better ponies.”

Thomas’ smile faltered. “Better pony, huh?”

Moonlight gave a half smile and rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“I do,” Thomas sighed. “But you’re kinda right. I’m the foreigner, so I’ve got to assimilate with the local culture.”

“Well, yeah,” Honey said as though it were obvious. “Jus’ don’t go assimatin’ too much. Ah like ya the way ya are.”

Thomas chuckled at Honey’s flub. “It’s assimilating. ‘Assimatin’ sounds more like something Luna will be in the mood for later.” That earned a round of light chortles. “But speaking of which, there’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Oh?” Honey asked and adjusted her position.

“What is it?” Moonlight inquired.

Thomas smiled flatly. “It’s kinda something specifically for Honey. I mean, you probably know,” he assured, not wanting to hurt his mare’s feelings, “but she’s the only one actually living it.”

“Livin’ what?”

“A herd,” Thomas answered. “I know the harem is supposed to be like a herd, but you’re the only one here who’s actually coming into the harem from what passes for a normal family setting around here.”

Moonlight made a sound of understanding. “That makes sense, I suppose.”

“Good, ‘cause Ah hope somepony can explain it,” Honey stated with mild annoyance.

“Humans are overwhelmingly monogamous,” Thomas informed. “Polygamy either exists as an idealized fantasy, or is frowned upon for all kinds of stigmas it’s tied up with. I was raised all my life with that sort of thing drilled into me, so it’s still weird to look at what’s basically my girlfriend,” he faced towards Moonlight, “and see her just smile at me getting physical with other ladies.”

Moonlight frowned. “I’ve said I’m comfortable with it. Why would I lie?”

“You wouldn’t,” Thomas agreed insistently. “I know you wouldn’t, because you were brought up to not have a problem with it.” He sighed. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I’d just really like to get an outside opinion, okay?”

Moonlight took Thomas’ hand and rubbed her thumb gently over his knuckles. “That’s perfectly fine with me. But just so we’re clear, I want you to be happy. I want you to help me make Luna and Silver happy, along with every other pony that comes into the harem. I’m proud of you for doing so much for so many, even when it goes against what you were raised to believe.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Honey,” Moonlight cut him off. “I believe my stallion asked you a question.”

“That right there,” Thomas said with a chuckle. “That’s just one of the things that makes me worry you’re too good for me.”

“Ain’t nothin’ any other good mare would do for her stallion,” Honey stated proudly. “Alright, so what do ya wanna know?”

Thomas smiled appreciatively and nodded. “Well, what did your herd think when you said you wanted to join a harem?”

“Ah guess they acted the same as any other herd would,” Honey said casually. “They freaked out at first. They called me crazy for sayin’ Ah wanted ta go ta Canterlot ‘n be a Princess’ buck toy.”

Thomas smiled as the scene played out in his head. “But they weren’t angry or anything?”

“E’nope.”

“No accusations about you being unfaithful, ungrateful, or anything like that?”

“E’nope.”

“But they weren’t entirely accepting at first either, right?”

“E’yup. Jona was goin’ on about how many applicants get rejected ‘n’ Plow was worried what it would mean if Ah did get the job. Would we all have ta leave everythin’ behind ta move ta Canterlot ‘n’ get jobs here? Where would we all live? Things like that.”

Thomas straightened as he listened. “So they never questioned your loyalty to them because you wanted to have sexual relations outside of the established family unit?”

Honey motor boated her lips in dismissal. “Don’t recon that even crossed their minds.”

“Well damn,” Thomas said in awe. “You ponies have a lot more trust in each other than we do.”

Honey frowned, uncertain how she felt about what Thomas was suggesting. “Ah’m guessin’ all those accusations you was describin’ would be how humans’d react?”

“For starters, yes,” Thomas affirmed with a morbid nod. “I imagine the argument to follow would probably lead to a break up, too.”

“I should probably point out that pony relationships aren’t as perfect as you might be imagining,” Moonlight interjected. “We still fight, and sometimes break up over the stupidest things.”

“Do half of all pony marriages end in divorce?” Thomas retorted.

Moonlight blinked in shock as she felt Thomas tense up. He would sometimes get like this whenever they talked about certain aspects of his old life. “N-no. Marriages are mostly a political thing and almost never break up. But if you’re referring to herded relationships, it happens, but not nearly that much.”

Thomas nodded and turned back to Honey. “So, and this is probably not a pleasant thing to think about, but what would have led to your herd breaking up?”

Honey definitely looked uncomfortable, but still gave the question due consideration. “Ah guess if me ‘n’ Jona couldn’t agree.”

“You said she was your lead, right?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah. Me comin’ ta Canterlot was a pretty big decision that affects the whole herd. If stuff like that isn’t approved by the lead mare, it don’t happen.”

“So if you insisted on going, but Jona forbade it?” Thomas asked leadingly.

Honey sighed. “That would’ve led to some issues,” she admitted, only to perk back up. “Thankfully, she’s mah special somepony, so it weren’t too hard ta convincer her ta let me give this a try.”

“What about now? Like, how does it feel now that you’re actually trying to woo someone outside of your family?”

Honey pursed her lips in thought. “Ah don’t rightly know, ta be honest. Ah mean, I get what yer sayin’. Flirtin’ with ponies Ah have no plans on invitin’ in the herd should really feel like cheatin’, but… it don’t. Ah’m not sure how ta put it in words. Ah was up front with Jona ‘n’ Plow, they came ‘round, and now that its startin’ ta look like it might actually happen,” her lips split in a grin, “Ah’m excited ‘bout it.”

“Excited?” Thomas asked. “So you’ve really got no hang-ups about,” he paused to think up a fitting term, “divided loyalties?”

Honey shrugged. “No more ‘an Ah do with Jona ‘n’ Plow, or with mah own parents. Ah love ‘em all ‘n’, after spendin’ so much time with ya’ll,” she scooched closer and fluttered her eyelashes at the small male, “Ah’m startin’ ta fancy ya’ll, too.”

Thomas swallowed and did his best not to look away from Honey’s violet eyes. Wetting his lips, he racked his brain for something else to say, one last question that had been bugging him. “And your stallion? Did he get a say?”

“Well, sure he did.” Honey sounded confused, as though the answer should have been obvious. “He’s our only stallion, so his vote is pretty important, but mostly the big guy just goes along with what me’n Jona decide.”

“And that’s normal for stallions to just defer like that?” Thomas asked worriedly.

“Mostly. Yeah,” Honey agreed with a casual shrug.

I know that’s kind of what I’ve been mostly doing since I got here, deferring to those with more knowledge than me. Though, come to think of it, all of them were mares. I guess when you factor in the role reversal, a guy acting all meek and helpless and relying on female support to get by would have its appeal on both a biological and sociological level. So I guess that confirms one way I’ve already assimilated without really needing to change anything. Wait… Thomas blinked as it came to him. God dam it! I’m a freaking damsel in distress!

“If ya want, ya can always ask ‘im yerself,” Honey offered.

“Really?”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Moonlight chirped, grateful for a change to the heavy conversation. “We should invite them up to the castle for tea sometime.”

“We could have a potluck?” Thomas suggested.

“A what?” both mares asked.

Thomas smiled. “It’s a social event where everyone brings their own homemade dish for everyone to share.”

Both mares blink as they processed this new concept.

“We’re doin’ that,” Honey declared, leaving no room for argument. “Right after we head fer the gym. Ah need ta get mah workout on!”

Thomas is still having lingering doubts about polygamy, which was part of why Honey was created in the first place. While I do have an appreciation for the large, busty body type (which should come as a surprise to no one), I also hope to basically use Honey to explore herd relationships and give Thomas a preview of what’s in store for him and Moonlight.