Tabitha roused from her sleep with a soft groan, just to find her face was pressed into something warm and furry, and it wasn't her own barrel. She was hugging a sleeping Razz, and there was Coco curled at her lower half. She was surrounded by ponies.

She was... loved. Even as panic shuddered through her surprised system, part of her felt increasingly good. Part of her wanted to throw the both of them out and get to cleaning herself out, but their presence was calm and comforting.

"Miss Tabitha?" Coco sat up, her tail giving a few little swishes. "Good morning. We must be in the way now."

The way she said that made her feel awkward. "No! No, look. How about I get that shower I need?" She slid from the bed even as Razz stirred and began sitting up sleepily. "If one of you knows how to make breakfast, the fridge is stocked." She could at least get some food prepared out of it.

She trotted over to the bathroom and vanished inside.

Coco looked over to the one companion remaining. "So, Mister Berry, isn't it?"

Razz nodded as he looked her over. "Miss Pomell?"

She gave a smile. Tabitha might have been recovering from her first time, but Coco had no such defense against that awkward moment. "Look, we were both carried away last night."

Razz's ears wilted a bit. "You didn't like it?"

Coco's snout wrinkled for a moment. "I... I wanted Tabitha. We didn't really... I don't know you, Mister Berry. I'm sure you're a wonderful stallion, but I don't."

Razz's lips moved wordlessly a moment as the truth of it was shoved against him. What could he say? "I suppose that's true," he muttered out. He knew Tabitha, but Coco? She was just a nice enough mare he saw once in a while. "So I guess we should go?"

"I plan to make Tabitha breakfast." She hopped down to the floor.

Razz's defeat turned swiftly to anger. "Hey! I've been..." Wooing? He certainly hadn't been dating Tabitha... "I'm not going!"

"Suit yourself, Mister Berry." Her tail gave a firm flick as she pulled open the fridge door and began collecting ingredients. "We should try to be cordial about this, but we are... competitors."

Razz landed lightly on the ground with supportive wings to help him move. "Just like that?"

Coco closed the door and set her goodies on the counter with some effort. "Not all of us have the pleasure of being young and immature, Mister Berry." He went red in a combination of fury and shame. "Now don't get me wrong, I make mistakes too. We all do, but Miss Tabitha needs a calm influence to support her, not a wild one to carry her farther away from her center."

Razz felt a dizzying variety of things. He didn't want to give up. He... "I'm not nearly as bad as you say. I have a job, and I'm being serious. I'm growing, maturing."

She turned to him with a gentle smile. "And I wish you the best in that, truly I do. Grow and be a fine stallion, but you're still a colt beside Miss Tabitha and myself."

"You're the one being immature!" he practically shouted at her. Still red, his voice lowered. "Stop telling me what she wants or needs, or what I am. I'm working, for her, and myself. Why are you being such a monster about this?"

She blinked at him softly. "Monster?"

"Yeah! It's like you just haveta win that badly..."

She paused in place. Was she truly being like her old employer? "It's for Miss Tabitha's sake."

"You think I don't want her to be happy too?" He sat before her on his haunches. "If you... I mean... If you're really better for her, fine." She gave a cautious nod, but he didn't stop. "But that's a big 'If'. I'm not giving up just because you said so."

Coco turned away and got to making breakfast in earnest. She wasn't sure how much a centaur needed to be happy, so she made a large serving of scrambled eggs and mixed in veggies and grains in a big bowl to be shared.

For better or worse, Berry thought breakfast was being prepared for him as well and he smiled at it. He set the small dining room table with plates and eating utensils while she worked, so when she came over with the food, it was ready to receive it and its pony guests.

"Thank you, Mister Berry."

"Razz is fine," he practically muttered. Being called like that was disarming and alarming on some level. "Can I call you Coco?"

Coco was ready to shoot down that little motion of familiarity, but held herself, teeth clenching a moment. Even if they were competitors, there was little reason to be so... hostile. "Coco is fine. While we wait for Tabitha, why don't you tell me more about yourself? You mentioned a profession?"

There was his chance, to prove he was a good and worthy stallion! He hopped up into a chair and sat. "I work as an engineer for a hotel not too far from here."

"An engineer?"

"Custodial Engineering, mostly," he confessed with a mild pinkening. "There's an advancement path ahead of me, and I plan to climb that ladder."

She wanted to make fun of him at first, to scare him away from her target, but she felt awful as soon as the thoughts came up. Surely she could be better than that? "I'm a bit new at my own job."

"What's that, Coco?" He looked so hopeful as he leaned in.

"I'm a fashion designer." She inclined her head towards the still bloody and horrid robe abandoned on the floor. "I'll be fixing that after this. It's... the least I can do."

Razz realized he wasn't fancily dressed at all. "M-maybe I could see what you've made, Coco?"

"I'm not a store," she quickly rebuffed, only to darken in shame. "I'm sorry, no, that... If you want to look, fine, but I don't really sell to individuals as a habit." She raised a brow. "Tabitha is an exception."

He glanced off towards the bathroom. "She's a lot of exceptions."

That much they could both agree on and the conversation went quiet in that agreement.

The bathroom door opened and Tabitha emerged, clean and glistening. Both her fur and skin shone with the water she had just used, despite her attempts to be perfectly dry. She had a new bathrobe on, covering her human parts. "Sorry that took so long." She came towards them, stepping eagerly. "What smells so good?"

Coco broke into a brilliant expression. "I made food for... all of us." It was as if she only just really settled on the idea that Razz would not be scared off quite that easily. "Feeling better?"

"You look better," complimented Razz as he waved at an available seat.

While she could sit on the chair, that would put her far over the table. She nudged it aside and sank to her haunches beside the table. With her human torso reaching so high, it wasn't hard for her be on level with her plate. "A good shower can help get your head on straight, but right now, I just want some of that. Serve it up."

Coco reached and started to do just that with talented hooves, but even the most talented of hoof was no match for fingers and Tabitha was famished, especially with the food right there. She grabbed the serving spoon from Coco with a smile and got to slapping a healthy serving on each of their plates, including her own. "Sorry, I'm just really hungry right now."

"You should be, after that fight, and... other things." Coco smiled at Tabitha even as the centaur started to demolish her food. "I'm glad you like it."

Razz was mildly frazzled. His table setting would go entirely unnoticed, but pointing that out would just make him look more foalish. "Are you alright? Bubbles didn't give me many details at all about it."

Tabitha rolled a free hand. "A troll, if Spring was telling the truth."

Coco nodded "You mentioned her. She healed you, right?"

"She did." Tabitha sighed, imagining the imperious elf and her confusing sensibilities. "It didn't banish the mess it all made, but I wasn't dying."

Coco and Razz's eyes both went wide. Razz stuttered. "Y-you were dying?!"

Coco leaned forward, slapping the table with a hoof. "You're too calm about something like that!"

Razz nodded fiercely. "We don't want to lose you, Tabitha."

Tabitha started to say something, but what Razz said settled on her like a tossed blanket. "Wait what? Like a friend?" They were both turning dark red shades in their cheeks. "Look, stop. This can't keep going."

Coco sat up straight. "I didn't plan to pursue this so... directly, but yes. Miss Tabitha, I don't want our liaison to be a one time event. I want to know you even better."

Razz felt the pressure to keep up. "Tabby, you've been so amazing to me, straight from the start. Human or pony or mare or stallion, I don't care. I want to be... worthy of you. I'm--"

"Stop." Tabitha held up one of her naked hands. "Stop, please..." Having the two ponies making such emphatic entreaties for that very hand was too much. "I enjoyed that, really. I'd be a horrible liar if I said otherwise, but I'm not looking for a relationship. Let's handle this like adults. We... went further than we should, but at least we enjoyed it, right?"

Coco put on a forced smile. "We did... M--Tabitha, please don't say no so quickly. No pressure, just keep an open mind. You'll figure out who you want to be closer to."

And that was him! Or so Razz angrily thought before he shoved that part aside. "We're here for you, Tabby. We won't shove ourselves where we're not wanted, promise." He forced his own smile. "We'll be adults about this."

"Good, let's enjoy this food, together." She gave a smile that she hoped would help and things went awkwardly quiet as breakfast was shared.

When it was complete, she rose from her seated position. "We all have work to get to."

Coco hopped down and quickly retrieved the abandoned robe. "I'll get this fixed up. Thank you, again, for protecting me. I really don't know what I would have done if I was just me and that... thing, troll was it?"

Razz fluttered to the ground. "I should get to work, but I'm glad you're both alright."

"We are," agreed Tabitha. "Nothing like a damn troll to ruin an evening." She saw them to the door and waved them through.

At last, she was alone. At least, if one didn't count her lingering thoughts of her actions the night before. She had gone very far over the line, both allowing a horse to have her way and taking the stallion... She shuddered softly with mixed feelings about the entire thing.

There was a day to handle.

Author's Notes:

What's this? Why aren't they declaring undying love for one another and forming a herd? Hax! Typos!