Love Tap inhaled deeply and held her breath. She humored the idea that maybe, just maybe if she let the air sit for a while that it would mingle with the feeling of dread currently residing in her stomach. Ideally, the feeling would leave when she also vacated the air she was holding in her lungs.

It didn’t.

Also still present were three mares Love Tap was now apparently in charge of. Though, Love Tap admitted to herself it was a bit much to expect even one of them to magically disappear without a trace.

Not only was she in charge of the three young mares, all three apparently lived here now. In her house with her family. Financially secure for life or not, the sudden change to Love Tap’s situation was nothing short of overwhelming. The feeling of dread from the sudden change was compounded by the fact that in Twilight Sparkle’s rush, the princess didn’t tell her anything about the girls except what she could fit in one rapid-fire sentence.

At least she had their names.

Adagio Dazzle sat at the table next to Love Tap’s son Gibson. The orange unicorn’s eyes kept on drifting back and forth between Gibson and Love Tap as if Adagio was debating which tasty morsel to sink her fangs into first.

Gibson originally walked into this room in something of a lovestruck daze. A daze he himself broke when he pointed to the fridge in the room and announced, “FRIDGE! FOOD! THERE!” After that rather odd outburst, he elected to silently sit down at the table and cover his head with his forehooves. If it weren’t for the fact that Adagio sat next to him and started giving Gibson hungry looks, Love Tap had no doubt that ‘face down with his head covered’ probably would have been Gibson’s current state even now.

It took Love Tap a moment to connect what had happened. Though Gibson didn’t seem shy around women, it was likely the words said to girls outside of ‘Hi, my name is Gibson. I play the guitar and I’m in a band’ were few and far between. This coupled with the reality that Gibson would now have to converse regularly with three beauties likely hit somewhere in between the short walk from the front door to the kitchen. His initial act upon speaking seemed to embarrass him so much, he likely immediately abandoned his chances with any of the girls. However as it so happened, he looked up just enough to catch Adagio’s eye. She had elected to waggle her eyebrows when she noted Gibson was looking at her and now Gibson was nervously sitting with his eyes on the table and his forehooves shoved between his back legs.

Love Tap also gathered the reason for Gibson folding in on himself like that. He was probably trying to hide something… Something she didn’t want to spend a great deal of time thinking about, or anytime thinking about, really.

Sonata Dusk was also sitting at the table. The light-blue Pegasus was apparently transfixed by the propeller hat of her youngest son.

Button Mash was busy describing in great detail his latest exploits in some digital world or another, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Sonata was more interested in his hat than anything he was saying.

Aria Blaze was holding open the door to the fridge.

‘CRUNCH!’

‘THUD!’

Correction: Aria Blaze was standing in front of the broken fridge while the door to it lied on the floor in a horrible mess of crushed food and splattered liquid. The purple earth mare elected to glare at the door as if the situation was somehow all its fault.

“Hey!” Aria called out in a somewhat miffed tone. “Your stupid fridge broke!”

Love Tap took another deep breath and let it go. Once again, her breathing utterly failed her in making the situation better. “Never mind! We can buy a new fridge! Just sit down!”

“Ugh… Whatever…” Aria said in a bored tone as she trotted over to the table and sat in between Adagio and Sonata. She leaned back in her chair and placed her back legs on the table.

Love Tap took another scan of the room. It could do with a little pruning. “Gibson, could you please leave? I just need to talk to the girls.”

Gibson flinched. “Now is really not a great time for me to stand up and walk away…”

Love Tap sighed and placed a forehoof against her face as she shook her head from side to side. “Fine, you can stay. This is going to concern you anyhow…” She turned to look at Button Mash.

“… so when you fill your settlements with corn, mutfruit, and tato, you have an unlimited supply of adhesive, and—”

“Button, dear?” Love Tap said sweetly.

Button turned to face his mother. “Yeah, mom?”

“Could you give us all a minute? I just need to talk to the girls.”

“Sure! So can I go base jumping with Sweetie Belle and her friends?”

Love Tap flinched. “We’ll talk about that later, alright?”

Button frowned slightly and began to trot out of the kitchen. “Alright…” he uttered in a slightly disappointed tone.

One of Sonata’s hooves shot up.

“Uh… Yes, Sonata?”

“Can I go, too?”

Love Tap stared in bewilderment at Sonata for a second then quickly shook her head as if to clear it. “No… I just said I wanted to talk to ‘the girls’! That includes you!”

Sonata puffed out her lower lip into a pout. “But I wanna play with the spinny hat kid!”

“You can play with Button later!” Love Tap said. “Right now I need you to sit down and be a good girl for me, okay?”

Sonata sighed. “Okay…” she uttered in a sad tone.

Love Tap paused for a second, trying to process the fact that she had just addressed an adult in a way she didn’t even have to address her youngest child anymore. She decided to shelve that thought for now and deal with it later. However, said mental shelf was starting to get rather full and possibly even buckling under the increased weight of oddities and quirks that required further thinking and discussion on her part.

The mares had been in her house for a matter of minutes, if that.

She cleared her throat. “Okay, so ground rules.”

The girls all let out groans of protest.

“Rules are boring!” Sonata cried.

Adagio nodded. “You’ll find that we don’t operate well under—” Adagio trailed off slightly and narrowed her eyes “—rules.”

Aria nodded and thrust a forehoof into the air. “Yeah! Anarchy in Equestria!”

Love Tap stomped the floor hard. So hard in fact that the entire house shook. Caught off guard, the girls' eyes all opened wide as Aria fell forward and caught herself on the edge of the table.

“Look…” Love Tap began in a tone laced with threats that she seemed more than confident to make good on. “If you’re going to live under my house, you’re going to live under my rules.”

The three mares exchanged glances that suggested they weren’t totally happy with the current situation. Despite this, Adagio turned back towards Love Tap and nodded. “Proceed.”

Love Tap returned the nod. “First, you’re not allowed to physically hurt my family.”

Adagio and Aria’s hooves shot into the air.

“Uh…Aria.”

“Does that include you?”

Love Tap chuckled darkly. “Well yes, but I seriously doubt any of you three are capable of hurting me.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed. “Oh really? Care to test that theory?”

“Hey!” Adagio protested as she shook her hoof about. “My turn to get a question answered!”

“Yes, Adagio?”

Adagio lowered her hoof. “Does this rule count if the physical harm is consensual?”

Love Tap stared blankly at Adagio for a second. “… What?”

“You know…” Adagio motioned to Gibson. “Say I have Gibson here tied to a bed and—”

“RIGHT!” Love Tap interrupted. “I’M JUST GOING TO GO AHEAD AND SKIP A FEW RULES!”

Another hoof shot up, this time Gibson’s. “I really don’t think we’re done discussing rule number one!”

“Gibson!” Love Tap said in a stern tone. “I really don’t need your input here! I just need you to listen.”

Gibson sighed.

“Okay, I’m just going to skip right past mental trauma since I think that’s pretty unavoidable for you three—”

Adagio nodded. “You read us well.”

“—So, the next rule we’re going to cover is no sleeping with my sons!”

“What?!” Gibson cried. “Oh, you cannot be—”

Love Tap leveled a forehoof at Gibson. “I told you, that I just wanted you to sit and listen.”

Gibson extended his lower lip as it trembled. He looked back and forth between the girls at the table with glassy eyes, as if he was desperately trying to hold back tears.

“No.”

Love Tap looked at Adagio in surprise. “I—I beg your pardon?”

“I said, ‘no’,” Adagio said. “I refuse. I mean, the small one in the hat, of course. You won’t have to even think about that for quite a few years. But other than that, ‘no!’”

Love Tap grit her teeth. “This isn’t up for debate! If you live here there is no way I’m allowing any of you to sleep with my son!”

Gibson let out a pained whimper analogous to that of a wounded animal.

Adagio sighed. “And here I thought you cared about your son!”

“EXCUSE ME?!”

Adagio motioned towards Gibson with both her forehooves. “Just look at him! He’s not going to last a day, let alone the next few hours with that sort of restriction hanging over his head!” Adagio pointed a hoof at Aria. “Plus with a rule like that, you’re going to have to worry about Aria as well. She’s likely to break it purely out of spite.”

Aria nodded. “She’s right, you know.”

Love Tap narrowed her eyes. “I can’t in good conscience just let you have your way with my son.”

Gibson bit his lower lips with enough force, Love Tap feared for a second it would start bleeding. She decided to focus her attention on Adagio.

To her great surprise, Adagio was grinning at her. “Come on! Certainly you remember what it was like to be young once.”

Love Tap felt her left eye involuntarily twitch as her ‘urge to kill’ suddenly began rising. “What are you implying?”

Adagio continued. “It’s just for a mare with a teenaged son, you look so young!”

Urge to kill lowering…

“One can’t help but wonder how old you were when you had Gibson here.”

RISING! “That’s none of your business!”

“Oh, really?” Adagio cooed. “Considering the topic at hand-er-hoof, I think it warrants discussing.”

Love Tap’s eyes shot open wide as her ‘urge to kill’ was suddenly replaced with an ‘urge to run away and hide’ as what Adagio was getting out became apparent to her. No… She wants this… She wants me to back down…

“So? How about it?” Adagio said. “How young were you when you had Gibson?”

“Well, I certainly was older than Gibson is now if that’s what you’re implying!”

Adagio leaned forward on the table, propping her head up with a forehoof as she smiled wickedly. “Fine then.” She turned towards Gibson. “How long have your parents known each other?”

Love Tap swallowed. Maybe she should have insisted that Gibson leave.

“Huh? Well… They’ve known each other since they were just foals.”

“Reeeeaaaallly…” Adagio purred as she glanced at Love Tap briefly before turning her gaze back to Gibson. “Have they always been together?”

Gibson nodded. “Pretty much!”

Love Tap sighed. “You know what? I think I want to discuss that mental trauma rule now.”

Adagio chuckled and continued. “All those years as teenagers together…” She turned to Love Tap. “You two must have had some pretty fun mating seasons.”

Gibson cringed.

Love Tap narrowed her eyes. “I am absolutely not discussing this with you!”

Adagio got out of her chair and walked behind Gibson. She stood up on her back legs and draped her forelegs over his shoulders. Gibson’s eyes suddenly shot open with an expression that pretty much screamed, ‘OH MY GOSH! THERE’S A GIRL TOUCHING ME!’

Adagio continued, “Well, if not with me, certainly you should discuss it with your son! You wouldn’t want him to think you’re a hypocrite, now would you?”

Love Tap scrunched her lips up. “I er… umm… er… I’m sure he'd rather not know, so…”

Gibson nodded his head up and down.

Adagio lowered her muzzle slightly, shifting it until it was practically inside Gibson’s ear. “Do it!” she said. “Only with your twisted curiosity can you get laid, boy!”

Gibson’s eyes fired open like two massive explosions of sky-blue fire. “Mom, how-old-were-you-and-dad-when-you-two-first—”

“AHHH!” Love Tap cried. “Rule rescinded!”

Adagio cackled to herself. “Ahahahahahaha! Good! Good!”

“YES!” Gibson said as thrust his forehoof into the air. This was accompanied by a sharp ‘bang’ on the table as he stood up. Gibson quickly fell back into his chair and thrust his forehooves back into his thighs.

Love Tap’s eyes became unfocused and distant. “Maybe we should break for dinner.”

Finally speaking up, Aria nodded towards the mess of fridge door, liquids, and food on the floor. “Is part of it under there?”

Love Tap sighed heavily. “Maybe we should break while I go to the store or Hayburger’s.”

As Gibson got ‘settled’ in his chair, Adagio walked back towards her own, her eyes clearly focused on Gibson, but far, far below his own eye level.

“Take your time,” Adagio said. “In fact, I think I’ve already found something to snack on.”

Love Tap could practically feel Gibson struggle against… er… himself as he sat down. She closed her eyes hard as if the act would banish all the shooting pain she felt in her head once she opened them again.

It didn’t.

Adagio batted her eyelids at Gibson. “Well lover boy? Do you want me to take care of that little-big problem in between your legs?”

Gibson stared at Adagio. “It’s only the thing I currently want most out of life.”

Adagio chuckled. “Good answer. Where’s your room?”

Desperate to establish even a modicum of control, Love Tap blurted out, “I don’t want you two screaming down the house where everypony can hear it!”

Gibson was just as quick to return fire. “The-basement-blocks-out-pretty-much-all-sound!”

Adagio laughed to herself once more. “The basement it is.”

Gibson looked down sheepishly. “I er… Could everypony but Adagio maybe turn their head or leave? I’m not really comfortable getting up…”

Love Tap let out a long continuous sigh, not so much hoping her anxiety or any negative feelings she had might leave, more that her soul would escape and find respite somewhere far away from here.

“No problem!” Adagio replied. Her horn glowed lavender and soon Gibson was floating in the air as he kept his back legs clenched tightly together and his fore hooves sandwiched in between them. Soon Adagio was trotting out of the kitchen, Gibson floating behind her much like a balloon. Adagio began singing to herself in a rather upbeat manner as she trotted down the hallway.

“Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

You didn't know that you fell

Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

Now that you're under our spell!”

“Uggghh…” Love Tap groaned as she raised a fore hoof to her face. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

“You’re even dumber than I thought if you think you can outtalk Adagio.”

Love Tap removed her hoof to glare at Aria, the only other pony left in the room… Wait… Only other?! Love Tap turned her head from side to side. “Where the heck did Sonata go?!”

Aria raised an eyebrow. “Dude! She left like… five minutes ago!”

“WHAT?!”

Aria nodded. “You tried to have a frank discussion with Sonata without using any of the three ‘p’s, what did you think was going to happen?”

“How was I supposed to know the girl had no attention span?!”

Aria crinkled her brow at me. “Wow, you are stupid. I would have thought that was obvious.”

Love Tap grit her teeth then remembered there was a seemingly psychotic pony on the loose. She shook her head as if to clear it. “Well, what are the three ‘p’s’?”

“Pictures, puppets, and Pizza.” Aria frowned. “Technically tacos work better, but we had to come up with a third ‘p’ word and ‘taco pizzas’ are certainly a thing.”

“Well, where would—?”

Love Tap was cut off by a rather familiar scream. “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Button?!” She cried out in alarm. Love Tap made a move for the kitchen door as a giggle suddenly joined the screaming.

‘Whoosh!’

Love Tap stopped. “I think I heard a ‘whoosh’.”

“Outside,” Aria said casually.

Love Tap rushed for a massive, rectangular window that was sectioned into squares and split down the middle. She threw the window opened and peered outside.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Her son Button Mash was currently riding an airborne Sonata. Button held on for dear life as Sonata made her way to the top of Twilight’s castle.

A sudden realization hit Love Tap as she remembered what Button had asked her several times that day. “Base jumping…” she murmured. She suddenly did a 180 and began galloping for the door.

“Wow, you really do suck at taking care of your own family, don’t you?”

Love Tap stopped dead in her tracks. She took a deep breath and held it, hoping the air she just inhaled would mix with the feeling of unfathomable rage that just struck her and intensify it.

It did.

Love Tap turned to face Aria Blaze with a look that would have vaporized Aria and probably a good chunk of Ponyville if the intensity of a glare also meant how destructive it was.

Aria stared in surprise at the look on Love Tap’s face momentarily. Then slowly a smile crept across her face like a spider that was gingerly walking towards prey it had already wrapped up tightly in its web.

“Alright, Aria,” Love Tap said in a calm voice unindicative of the expression she wore. “You think you can take me?”

Aria chuckled and shook her head. “A mare that spends all her time fussing over her kids? I know I can take you.”

Love Tap simply nodded towards the kitchen door. “Alright then, let’s take a walk to the edge of the Everfree Forest. I’d hate to destroy some pony’s home with your face.”

Aria got off her chair and onto all four hooves. “Pfffft…. Ahahaha… You certainly talk a good game.”

“Oh, you’ll find I can do more than talk,” Love Tap said as she walked out the door.

Aria followed. “Hey, doesn’t me hitting you violate your first rule or whatever?”

Love Tap turned to smirk at Aria. A wild, uncontrolled smirk that came with violent promises of what was about to come. “Oh, don’t worry about that. If you even lay a hoof on me, it’ll be consensual.”