Two and a half years after moving to Crystal Heart

It was sundown in Crystal Heart and I, along with most of the city, including our whole family, were waiting in expectation for the first wave Thestral settlers to appear. Technically Mera and I could be counted as the first wave, but we were unplanned. This wave, from what we had heard, would involve ten couples, four of those with foals, and six younger adults looking for spouses. All in all it would be thirty-three more Thestrals coming into the city today to live, bringing our total to thirty-five. Another wave would arrive in six more months that was supposed to be bigger. I hoped that some of the second wave would include some older ponies, as it stood I was going to be the oldest Thestral in town already.

"Aww, is someone feeling old," Mera laughed as she leaned against me. "Might as well get used to it, but you'll always be young to me."

"I'm older than you," I replied back.

"Which just means I will be young forever too," she giggled back to me, and then came over and planted a kiss on my lips, quickly followed by another.

"You two are disgusting when you get like this," Peridot sighed beside us.

"Oh hush," Mera scolded her sister. "You are likely going to be just as bad when you find a special somepony, Miss-I'm-Not-That-Loud-When-I'm-Masturbating."

"I haven't made a peep in months," Peridot said defensively.

"You aren't on your estrus cycle right now either," I pointed out.

"Who's side are you on Pearl?" Peridot said with a huff.

"Um, my wife's side," I giggled, stating the obvious.

"Twilight preserve me from my sexually minded foals," Tibia sighed from off to the side.

Just then a gasp went out from the crowd. I could see what the commotion was, off in the distance I could spot the settlers in the air. They had a number of sky wagons with them as well. I couldn't see any settler in armor, indicating most likely that they were all civilians. My breath caught as I spotted one that was definitely familiar though. Mera tensed up next to me as she too noticed the particular stallion.

It was Brush Fire, there was no mistaking it being him. I had forgiven him at the trial, but there were a lot of emotions still caught up in the incident, despite me not remembering it any more. Mera had even more emotion caught up in it, and I wondered what was going through her mind right now. This was the pony that had personally attacked her, and the one that had kept her from helping me.

"Keep calm Mera, we don't need to get hostile," I said to her.

"I will restrain myself, but I am not happy. How dare he come here. Knowing he will be here makes me want to..let's just leave it with I will restrain myself," she growled.

"Um, Sis? Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Peridot said cautiously. She was looking at her sister with concern.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Peri," Mera told her sister.

"But you seem really.." Peridot began.

"I said nothing you need to concern yourself about! Now don't make me repeat myself again," Mera snapped at her sister. Peridot visibly shrank back.

"Mera! There is no need to treat your sister that way!" Diamond scolded.

"Well then she needs to know when to not ask questions when told not to," Mera growled back at her father. There were a lot of ponies staring at us all now.

"I am going to go back home for now. I have lost my interest in this. I am not talking about it anymore either. If you want answers talk to Pearl." And with that final declaration she quickly took to the air and darted off back towards the house.

We all watched her fly off. I was extremely tempted to go flying after her to try to calm her down, but got the sense she needed to have some time alone. The others turned their taxes to me looking for explanation.

"She'll be okay. She just needs some time to calm down," I tried assuring them.

"What has her so angry? Mera never gets angry like that. She looked like she was ready to kill some pony," Peridot said, stepping hoof to hoof anxiously.

"I was raped back in Harmony, we don't like talking about it. She was attacked as well, and was forced to watch as I was raped. She changed a lot after that, it is what drove her to learn to fight. One of the settlers is the pony that attacked her and held her against a wall while I was raped," I explained in a quiet voice, head held low.

The others gave me a sad look and Tibia came over and gave me a hug. Peri looked up at the settlers and I swear I could hear her growling. Peridot might still be a filly but she definitely had a protective streak in her just like her sister.

The settlers descended from the sky and landed in front of the excited throng of Crystal Ponies. I tried to put a positive smile on, but the presence of Brush Fire had dampened my mood. My mood went down further when he seemed to spot me, and I could see him speaking briefly to the pony I assumed to be his wife. After consulting with her a moment he started walking over towards me, and I could see his mate giving a worried look at us as he approached.

"Hail, Pearlwort, honored of her holiness Luna," he greeted me as he got close.

"Brush Fire, forgive me for not being more friendly, but there are still some hard feelings," I responded. My family tensed up around me.

"I understand, and you are right to feel that way. I have some hope though that I might make a better impression for myself this time around. My previous actions were disgraceful to our tribe and to holy Luna," he said with lowered ears and a submissive posture.

"It won't be hard to do that I suppose. I would avoid my wife if you value your well being," I said with a smile that only reached my muzzle.

"I was informed by holy Luna and holy Rarity about her current status. I was told to keep the information private from other ponies at large, but I have informed my own wife about yours. I admit, I was a little shocked when I learned about her current form. Having her fighting spirit counted among our tribe is a bit of an honor to tell the truth. Stories have leaked from the Medical Guard about the prowess she developed in such a short time, and the holy Alicorns have confirmed those stories. If you would, I would ask you to pass on my apologies to her once again," Brush Fire explained.

I was a little annoyed that he knew that Mera was now a Thestral, and that he had been told that by Luna and Rarity. It felt like a violation of privacy. I was also suspicious as to why he was told and why he was even here.

When I didn't answer he continued. "I needed to talk to you, both for personal reasons and official reasons, otherwise I wouldn't bother you. Personally I needed to reiterate my apologies, and try to make you see that I have nothing but regret. On official reasons I needed to talk to you because I am overseeing the settlers on orders from Luna and Rarity. A lot of them have high opinion of you, and will no doubt seek you out. The younger generation is much different in what they were taught to believe than you or me, and I wanted to make sure they don't bother you too much while keeping you alert. If any of them get too much for you just let me know and I will do what I can to curtail them a bit. They are good ponies though, and you might be better than me with helping them integrate into living side by side with another tribe. I would like your advice as well, if you are willing, because this is very new to me as well and I want to do right by every pony."

I considered what he said. There wasn't anything really bad in anything that he said, it was all very reasonable and cordial actually. It was going to take a lot of time for me not to look at him and know he was the pony that assaulted my wife, but I could give him a chance.

"I will try to work with you. I know that this is important, and yes, the treatment I have gotten from other Thestrals since the trial has been a bit overwhelming, and I will welcome some pony to step in when I need a break from it. Just don't try to approach my wife, and only refer to her as Mera. She will talk to you only when, and if, she is ready," I said with as much command as I thought should be expected from the Homered One, which wasn't much.

"I can accept all of that. If it will make it easier for you to deal with me my wife has volunteered to act as a go-between. She doesn't know what she is going to do for work in this new place, a concern many of us have. She would be grateful for something to do and has been wanting to aid me," Brush Fire suggested with a gesture to his still worried looking wife, standing in the distance.

I looked over at her and could see her gulp as I did. Hopefully this pony wasn't going to be like one of the ones in Sire's Hollow that were falling all over themselves trying to please me. I motioned for her to come over and she slowly made her way over to us.

"Greetings Honored One. Forgive me, I am just really concerned about my husband's well being. I beg whatever mercy you might have for him. He is a good pony who made a mistake and has become an even better pony while trying to atone for it," the mare said, after joining us.

"I have no intention of doing anything to your husband..um..what's your name?" I asked.

"Star Water," the mare supplied.

"Star Water," I finished my original sentence. Then continued. "He should be wary of getting near my wife for the time being. Brush Fire had suggested you as a go between for contact if you felt the need to be in touch with us. I am fine with that, and I am pretty sure Mera holds no animosity towards you, so it should be alright with her as well. I'll give you the address we can be reached at if you need anything. I don't know what help we can be for the newcomers here, but we are willing to help."

"Thank you, Honored One," Star Water said with relief, bowing her head.

"Um, please don't do that. I can be called either Pearl or Pearl Bottom, not Honored One. I can see where this gets on the Alicorns' nerves with all the titles and overdone signs of respect. As far as you need to be concerned I am just another Thestral who has a little more experience with the city than the new settlers, okay?" I requested in the most polite voice I could manage, given I was still a bit on edge about Brush Fire's presence.

"Of course, Pearl Bottom," Star Water said quickly, apparently deciding that my full name was better than trying to address me in a more personal manner.

"Is there anything I can do to help right now? I don't know what arrangements were already made," I asked, hoping that everything was already taken care of and this only needed to be a polite question.

"Our housing has already been arranged by Flurry Heart, so we are good on that. But little else has actually been arranged. We have many that will be in need of work in short order, and we would be grateful on any suggestions," Star Water said. She seemed ready to slip into this new troll right away. I gave Brush Fire a quick look and got a nod from him confirming he agreed with his wife on what they felt priorities were.

"I know Mera will be in need of workers for her new farm as soon as it is ready, that can likely employee several ponies at that point, but done just yet. I am aware the Crystal Guard is open to the idea of recruiting Thestrals into its ranks, and has been asking Mera to take a position in the guard or an instructor position. A lot of companies would be more than eager to get delivery ponies who could fly, and I am sure your compatriots only need apply around to those to hear back multiple offers quickly. If any pony has any expertise in teaching I am sure that some of the local schools would be eager to have more non-Crystal Pony teachers, they seem to believe it makes them better if they have a more diverse teaching staff. I don't think the Crystal Ponies will be that hard to find work with, just keep tempers under control if any of them have any misinterpretations about us. A lot of the city has already gotten most of these myths dispelled by interacting with me and Mera, but there are a few holdouts," I explained.

"This is all very helpful information, Pearl Bottom. We are glad you have made it so this transition can go much more smoothly. I will try to seek you out once a week only so not to be too much of a bother, though I might come more if there is something urgent we need help with. We will pass all that you said onto the others," Stat Water said. She almost bowed again, but seemed to catch herself before she did it.

"Whatever I can do to help. I think you should see to getting your ponies to where they are going to be housed for the time being. I am sure they are tired, and the Crystal Ponies will wear them out further with questions if you let them. They need to socialize, but they need to see where they are going to be calling home too," I said as I looked at the swarms of ponies crowding around some of the settlers.

"That is very good advice, Pearl Bottom," Star Water said. It seemed like something obvious that she and Brush Fire would have known to do on there own. I was just looking for a way of ending the conversation. Her supplicating attitude was making me uncomfortable. I hoped that she would get better as time went on, and that the rest weren't this bad.

"We'll leave you be then," Brush Fire said, with a polite, but more natural, bow of his head. They then went back towards the settlers, and began shouting out instructions about getting the sky wagons to wherever the housing was supposed to be.

"I think that Mera will be very happy to hear how you held yourself through that," Diamond said after they left.

"I didn't really do anything," I replied.

"You conducted yourself with dignity, and gave them direction," Diamond pointed out.

"I told them what they could already have figured out on their own. It wasn't much for direction," I said with a raised eyebrow at my father-in-law.

"But they wanted to hear it from you. Like it or not these ponies have a great deal of respect for you. Being cordial and speaking to them as if you have their best interest at heart is good for your position in the community. Crystal Ponies were watching that exchange too you know, and now they understand you are a pony of some importance," Diamond said with a smile.

I looked around at the nearby Crystal Ponies and saw them looking at me and whispering among themselves. Just great, I had finally gotten them more or less used to me, and now they were going to start up again with going to me with every outlandish thought they might have about Thestrals. I wanted to take off right then and there and join Mera in just hiding out.

"It won't be so bad, Sweetie," Tibia said sympathetically. "Since the locals are used to you it just means they are going to be more receptive about anything you say involving the newcomers. You can do a lot of good for every pony."

"I don't like being in the spotlight that much, and given my unique..um..life circumstances it is kind of a bad idea for me and Mera to be in the spotlight. Ponies like us should keep as low a profile as we can," I explained.

"Says the the ponies who were up to today the only Thestrals in Crystal Heart, and stood out big time for that," Peri laughed.

I glared at my young sister-in-law, and she just looked at me smugly. The snide teenager was right though, Mera and I had stood out. Perhaps when more settlers came and had less need of us we could finally slip into obscurity.

"I am going to go find Mera, and let her know we sort of had a new job dumped on us. I need to see if she really will be okay with dealing with Star Water, given who Star Water's husband happens to be," I announced. "I'll see you all back home."

Seven years after moving to Crystal Heart

Mera, Tibia, Diamond, and I sat patiently waiting in our seats of the small auditorium. A few of Peridot's fellow recruits were also present to cheer their comrade on. Today was a special day. Today was Peridot's eighteenth birthday, and the day she graduated her officer training, today my sister-in-law was officially a grown mare.

Tibia had been very emotional all day, and Mera, surprisingly, wasn't much better. Diamond had been doing nothing but boasting about his pride as a father and wasn't much use in calming either his wife or daughter. So the task fell on me to try to calm the two.

"Mera, I can see why Mom is getting so worked up, but what's gotten into you?" I asked my wife.

"My sister is all grown up, next thing you know she'll be getting married, and having foals, having grandfoals. It is all just happening so fast," Mera sobbed.

"Um, I understand time with family is precious, but I think you are thinking a little too far ahead for the moment," I said with a bemused expression.

"She has had her eyes on that one young buck for a while, and next thing you know she'll be going after him. I can feel it, it is going to feel like a blink of an eye," Mera continued to sob.

"Well, we will take our time with that blink. She might take her time with doing all that too, you never know. She might just want to focus completely on her career in the guard for now," I tried to soothe.

"Maybe, but then..," Mera began before I cut off the thought.

"Mera, stop over thinking it and come over here and cuddle me. It will help calm you down," I interrupted her. If she cuddled with me she could balance out her mood with what she absorbed from me.

Mera nodded while still crying, and left her mother's side to come cuddle. A moment later Tibia did the same with Diamond. Changelings had the same kinds of emotional empathic traits Mera had, and she was likely looking for the same calm. It wasn't something Tibia did much, which I always wondered why considering her high strung nature.

"Mom, why don't you seep emotions off others more often?" I decided to ask.

"It is a little different for me and Peridot than it is for Mera. We don't copy the emotion into ourselves like Mera does, we are just aware of it. Plus if I am very upset absorbing other's emotions can make me feel a bit ill, like I eat something that disagreed with me. I am feeding after all when I do it, unlike my daughters. Diamond helps me with giving me a good feed a few times a week in our bedroom," Tibia explained. Having to stop and explain did seem to calm her down some, which I was grateful for.

"Mom! We don't need to hear about that!" Mera protested at the thought of her parents sexual exploits.

"Oh? My sex crazed daughter is uncomfortable that her mother still gets it on?" Tibia smirked, now distracted from her earlier crying.

"No, I am glad you do, but..I just don't want to picture it," Mera said sheepishly.

"Well, I hope Peridot doesn't wait too long. I am flat out of luck when it comes to getting grandfoals from you. Which I am not mad at you about, mind you. I am not getting any younger and I want to see the next generation before I get too old," Tibia said.

Mera looked at her mother and started tearing up again. Now she was likely getting upset because she was thinking of her mother getting old and passing on. I put a leg around Mera and snuggled her closer to try to mitigate Tibia's unfortunate reminder to Mera. Mera rubbed in against me as I did and managed to keep herself under control.

"Actually, Peri talked to me about her planes not long ago," I decided to spoil.

"Really? She didn't talk to me," Mera said. She tilted her head to listen into my feelings, verifying I wasn't fibbing. My parents-in-law looked at me with interest.

"Yeah, she plans on serving steady for a few years, and in about five or so taking a break for a few years to start a family. She wants to help Mera with the pipe weed business while the foals are really young. She wants to be involved for when she eventually retired and is in need of something to do. When they get old enough she doesn't have to watch them every moment she will re-enlist," I explained.

"Wait, she is interested in Mera's part of the business, but not my flowers?" Tibia said with disappointment.

"Um, she may have possibly, maybe, perhaps sneaking some pipe weed for a good part of the last year when she thought no pony would notice. You didn't hear that from me if she finds out you know," I said with a scratch of my wing against my ear. I didn't like be a tattletale, but Tibia was bound to find out sooner or later anyway. I was actually kind of surprised Peridot hadn't been caught by any other family.

Tibia looked like she was going to get angry with her youngest for a moment for the bad behavior, but deflated with a sigh.

"Not even going to fuss about it. She is a grown mare as of today anyway, so not going to treat her like a foal. At least she has a plan. Since I am involved with both sides of the business I guess this counts as her being interested in something of mine. I'll take it as a little victory that I didn't think I would have with trying to bond with her better. Plus I have something to pretend to be an all knowing mother about, which is always fun," Tibia said with a halfhearted laugh.

"I had no idea she had been doing that behind our backs. She is getting better at being sneaky. How did you catch her?" Mera asked. She sounded almost proud that her sister was sneaking a drug. Likely more for the sneaking part than the drug part, though this being Mera that was hard to tell. Peri had a reputation for failing to do anything with stealth.

"Saw the edge of the pipe sticking out of her bag one day and then spied on her for a while until I caught her in the act, she really doesn't pay attention to what is going on in the air. Confronted her about it and she agreed to help run some errands on and off to keep me quiet," I said.

"You blackmailed her?" Mera laughed.

"Blackmail is a really dirty word. She spends a lot more time looking up now when walking around though," I said with a smile. Mera laughed hard in response, attracting the attention of the other ponies in attendance.

"Attention all!" A Crystal Pony stallion in dress armor said loudly, bringing all conversation to a hush. "I am here to proudly honor our newest graduate of the officer training program, Peridot Glow. Private Glow has dedicated her life to the guard from before she reached her teen years, and enlisted immediately upon completion of primary school. Since her enlistment she has spent an additional year in officer training and it has been deemed that she is now worthy of taking the her first rank as an officer in Her Holiness Flurry Heart's Crystal Guard."

A small cheer went up as the officer paused.

"Private Peridot Glow, please come forward and present yourself before these witnesses," the stallion instructed towards an out of sight alcove.

Peridot walked forward from the alcove that was hidden from view. She had her dress uniform on, and even in the dress uniform she had an intimidating figure. When she presented herself in front of the officer she easily towered over him, and would easily tower over any pony in Crystal Heart save for Flurry Heart and any visiting Alicorn. I knew Peridot was not just big, she was strong, and capable off literally smashing through the wooden walls that obstacle courses typically put up to climb over. At eighteen years old she was the most physically imposing pony that I had ever met that wasn't an Alicorn.

Mera could kick her flank any day of the week though, and had demonstrated it time and time again. If this ceremony had been a week earlier Peridot would be walking in with a swollen muzzle and black eye. To Peridot's credit she never seemed to develop any resentment that she couldn't beat her sister. She just heaped that much more praise film Mera. It was enough for her that basically no pony other than her sister or an Alicorn could stand in a fight against her.

"Private Glow, your successful completion of the officer training program, and your continual impressive combat prowess has earned you today a promotion. As of this moment I promote you to the rank of corporal. May you continue to serve well and do the Crystal Guard proud," her superior officer said loudly. He then put a pin on her uniform showing her new rank.

"Yes, Sir!" Peridot said loudly and saluted him once he finished pinning the rank on her dress uniform.

"You are now Corporal Peridot Glow, you are given a week of leave and will be given orders on where you will be assigned sometime within that week. Enjoy your week of leave as you will be will be working hard once you return. Once again congratulations on your promotion. You may now be at ease, and your leave starts now," the superior officer said, and then shook hooves with her.

We waited outside for Peridot to exit out, collectively making use of our pipes and just quietly chatting. Conversation was small chit chat about military uniforms, speculation on where Peridot would be assigned, and if we should make any final changes to our plans for our celebration that we planned for her.

Peridot eventually exited out, now simply wearing a saddle bag, her uniform likely packed away inside. She gave us all a big smile as she spotted us and hurried over. She was assaulted by a hug from Tibia as she walked over.

"My little filly is all grown up. You looked the perfect guard pony today. I am so proud of you. Congratulations on becoming an officer and happy birthday," Tibia said happily as she nuzzled her head against Peridot's much larger form.

"She definitely isn't little anymore. She makes you look like a little filly with the size difference, Mom," Mera laughed as she blew out some smoke and shaped it so it showed a little filly standing next to a Changling and then having that filly rapidly grow so it towered over the Changling in an extreme exaggeration of how much bigger Peridot was.

"Since you are adult now I guess we can start charging you rent," Diamond said with a smile smile.

"Nice one Dad, but that's not funny," Peridot said with a smile as she continued to give hug her mother.

"Who said I am joking? Mera and Pearl pay rent. It is only fair you pay rent too now. You get a salary from the guard, you can afford it. If you don't want to pay rent you are welcome to go find your own place. I'll even help you look," Diamond said. At this point I, myself, wasn't sure if he was really pushing a joke or if he was being serious.

"Um, how much rent?" Peridot said with lowered ears. She had apparently decided that he was being serious.

"I am sure we can figure out a fair price, and we need to set some new ground rules now that you are a guest of the household," Diamond said, still smiling.

"New rules? I am officially an adult and I get more rules now?" Peridot said, slightly indignant.

"Well, a noise suppression spell is definitely going on your door now. If you decide to have companionship I don't want to be listening to it. Mera is right, you are loud enough masturbating, I don't want to even guess what kind of noise would come if you actually have a stallion in your bed," Diamond said impassively. Peridot somehow managed to go from green furred to bright red with embarrassment. Mera and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Rule two is no stallion sleeps under our roof without our knowledge, and we reserve the right to kick anyone out of the house, including you if need be," Diamond continued.

Peridot gave a small nod, still bright red.

"Also, any previous rules are lifted, aside from we expect you to respect the privacy of every pony's rooms and property. Beyond that, what you do is your business. If you are going to not return home for the night we would like to be informed, just so we don't have to wonder if anything happened to you, but you don't need to tell us where you might be if you don't feel like it. Is this all acceptable to you, or do we need to go house hunting?" Diamond finished.

"I can agree to all of that. That was all very surprising. I didn't expect you to just suddenly treat me like an adult the second I turned eighteen," Peridot said breathlessly.

"Oh we'll probably still needle you on and off, we do with Mera, but our job was to see you safely to marehood. From here on in and is all on you," Diamond said with a the same smile.

"Oh, and another thing," Tibia said with a giggle

"What?" Peridot said suspiciously.

"Doing one other change as well. You know how we made sure you wouldn't get pregnant all up to now? Completely scrap that, now I want to know when I am getting a grandfoal. I am out of foals to snuggle and love, and you dear daughter are the one responsible for giving me some," Tibia said in a dead serious tone.

There were no words to describe the color Peridot turned at that point.

Next Chapter: Chapter 34: The Epidemic Returns Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 31 Minutes