With Twilight and the many guests busy in a group-fitting, Sniff entered Rarity’s boutique to the surprise of seeing the shop full of new faces, as well as new races. They weren’t anything like he expected.

Sadly, he had no time to process this as the sound of the bell let the others know they had company.

"Peter!" Twilight excitedly called out, partially wearing what had to be a three-piece dress as she rushed over to him. "I'm so happy you made it. I was just telling everypony about-"

She instantly detected the familiar scent of a mares lust on him as she got close. Sporting a coy grin at him in response, she let him know she knew that he had stopped for some fun along the way.

"Ahem. I was just telling them about your idea for the ceremony. And I take it you went and saw… I'm guessing, Mayor Mare this morning?"

Slowly, Rarity caught the scent and smirked wickedly enough that Sniff knew it would be impossible to deny anything. Thus, he simply opted to play it cool and kept his posture as relaxed as possible.

"Yeah, I was going to go over to discuss some plans for the Wonderbolts show, but I ended up handling some other matters she’d had laid out on her desk. Hopefully, something you and I or Ovens can help me go over more thoroughly tonight."

With her devilish grin widening, Twilight fought off an ear twitch at the cleverly concealed subtext.

"I'm all yours tonight when you need me," she happily answered as she turned back to Rarity with a wink. "Come on, let me introduce you to the representatives who agreed to the demonstration for the summit."

Given the proverbial flor and stepping up to the new ambassador first, Ember switched claws with her staff to shake his hand.

"Dragon Lord Ember, Princess of the Dragon Lands. Twilight has had nothing but good things to say about you. And that's quite the handshake you have. No wonder Twilight is so happy to be with you."

Oddly taken in by her exotic figure, Sniff returned the gesture, still pleased to meet another princess.

“Likewise, Princess. But enough about me, I was told you displayed both the amazing prowess you dragons are known for, while also finding the wisdom to see the power of friendship with Spike. The Dragon Lands are lucky to have a leader with both brains and brawns to match her beauty.”

For a moment, Ember stood motionless, staring blankly at Sniff. Twilight had mentioned in passing that he was a sweet talker, but she wasn't expecting her first real compliment of being a leader to hit her so intensely.

Sadly, before she could respond, Benny spoke up to ruin the moment.

"Fucking poacher."

Not knowing what that meant, Ember snapped out of it and finally responded, keeping a neutral appearance despite the compliment.

"Yes. Sorry, I mean thank you. I'm looking forward to showing off my brawns with Twilight. Oh, and this is Smolder. She'll be joining me for the event."

Ruining the moment again, Benny spoke up with a warning.

"Don’t call her cute unless you want a fireball to the face."

While that might have been a joke, Peter knew how to work with that and pointed to Benny with a play 'ahh' noise to buy him some time to think. Not that he needed much time, it was more of narrowing down the list of how to appeal to the dragon’s more aggressive nature Twilight told him about.

So, settling on how to approach the younger, angrier dragoness, Sniff started with an innocent smile.

"Don't mind him, he's just bitter about not looking cuter when he doesn't shave. Although, just like him, being cute doesn't mean you can't be dangerous."

Quickly looking over to his little protégé, Sniff thought of another example.

"Just look at Spike. Sure, at first glance he might look all cute and innocent, but he’s as hard as they come when it matters most."

It was all Twilight could do to stop herself from yelling out 'phrasing,' but opted for a resolution to this claim.

"They know about Spike fighting with us in the Everfree Forest. That should be proof enough.”

Sniff nodded but knew there were others left waiting to meet him. Next on his list was the largest and hairiest of the group he stepped closer to.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume you're Prince Rutherford."

Excited to meet another human, the prince trotted up to Sniff and extended his hoof.

"Humans good guessers. And Sniff must be the greatest warrior to win Princess over."

With a goofy grin, Sniff shook the prince’s hoof...or at least tried to since the yak’s hoof was so large he couldn’t wrap his hand around it. Still, he couldn’t accept such a claim.

"Unfortunately, I think the greatest among us is Cerb when it comes to being a warrior. I just got lucky I guess."

Oddly intrigued by these humans, Gilda stepped up and raised her claws and shook his hand."

"Name's Gilda, not a princess, but I'm pretty hard-core myself. The little guy with me Gallus. The old, feathered stick in the mud is Grandpa Gruff.”

Gallus raised his claws, smiling with his beak, which should’ve been impossible, while the older griffon simply huffed and nodded his head.

Taking a closer look at these new three, they were different for sure. Gilda looked like a bald eagle stuffed onto a lion's body—a very stereotypical griffon, and no bigger than a pony. Gallus was strikingly different, with a blue coat and an egg-shell, off-white, chest that went down to his belly, looking more like a parrot than a traditional bird of prey. He still had the lion's tail and eagle claws, though a few spiked yellow feathers rose from the center of his head like a stylized mohawk. Grandpa Gruff meanwhile, was more akin to a molting buzzard wearing a Shriner’s hat.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you all,” Sniff greeted the rest as he shook Gallos’s claws. “Is there no Griffin royalty joining us?”

Gilda rolled her eyes, though less out of disinterest and more out of disappointment. A look he’d seen before from children with neglectful parents.

“We don’t really have any kings or queens anymore. After our kingdom basically crumbled, only the lords and nobles kept any power. Lord Gestal received the letter from Twilight, but he’s lazy-”

“He’s busy!” Gruff barked while eying his tag-along to try and end the discussion there.

Paying the old bird no mind, Gilda continued to talk, completely unphased and likely smirking internally at her little act of defiance.

“-or too cheap to not show up without getting paid.”

Growing angrier, Gruff grumbled and raised his claws into a fist, for lack of a better word, giving Gilda just enough encouragement to stop badmouthing their Lord’s leadership. However, try as he might, Gilda wasn’t going to be threatened so easily, nor silenced, her usual cocky smirk present as she continued to speak.

“That, and while Lord Gestal is all about peace and prosperity, I don’t think he’s ever had a fight in his life he didn’t try solving with his words or a bribe.”

Even if it was true, and it almost certainly was, Gruff marched over to set the record straight. Quite literally putting his foot...or claw down.

“Lord Gestal has no experience with what the letter asked us to come here for.”

Hoping to get a rise out of his guardian, and finally be involved in the conversation, Gallus asked, “I thought you said he was busy.”

In a flustered huff, Gruff continued without addressing his verbal blunder.

“This whole mess of a request is about showing beauty and power. And if ya haven’t noticed, I’m old and ugly, but Gallus is-”

“If you call me beautiful, I’m flying home without you Gramps,” Gallos coldly interrupted, glaring especially harshly at the old vulture.

Only more flustered with the accusation, Gruff puffed up, shedding a few feathers, and fussed comically.

“I was going to say younger and fit the part for power. Gilda, on the other claw-”

“What?!” Gilda shrieked. “I’m way more powerful than Gallus.”

Not wanting to leave room for another argument, Gruff got right into Gilda’s face and stared her down with his one dead eye, practically towering over the younger griffon.

“And a far better flyer, which is where you fit the part of beauty. Now quit yer bellyaching. You sound like a hungry hatchling.”

Amused, and figuring he knew enough to guess what they all would be doing for the event, Sniff figured he wasn’t going to get much of anything else done here.

“Well, I’m guessing you’re all going to be keeping Rarity busy with the fittings, so I’ll have to come back later to get sized up for what I’ll be wearing.”

On cue and trotting over to Sniff, Rarity presented him with a large box and a gleeful smile.

“Not at all, Peter. Ever since seeing how wonderful your ideas for our party attire worked for us last night, I’ve been inspired in ways I never thought before and have been working with such crystal clear precision that I’m nearly done with Twilight and the rest of our friends. It won’t take me any time at all to complete the final touches on your new suit.”

Benny, who had been standing off to the side with Spike for most of this, cocked an eyebrow.

“Dude? You ordered a suit already?”

Just as confused, Sniff turned to Benny with a look of utter bemusement.

“No… I came here a few days ago to get sized up for some pants and shirts. I didn’t even tell her what all I wanted yet. We were too busy working on all of this for Twilight.”

Giggling and lost in her own little world, Rarity opened the box for Sniff, revealing not a suit, but a tuxedo that would put Armoni to shame.

“Using your measurements, I figured you would look simply dashing, parading through Canterlot with Twilight in this number.”

As Rarity continued to beam with pride, Sniff pulled out the vest for his new tux, taken in by its simple elegance yet eye-catching design sewn into it.

“Holy shit… How long did it take you to make this?”

Trotting back to help Twilight onto the podium, Rarity laughed into her hoof all the way.

“Like I said, I have been truly inspired. It only took me about thirty minutes or so.”

While both the humans in the room looked utterly floored at the number, Twilight looked indifferent, somehow not even phased by her friend’s claim.

Rather her mind opted to focus on…. other topics of a different nature that had inspried her fashionable friend.

“I’m thinking it wasn’t the fashionable designs Rarity wore last night that inspired her to push herself to new heights. If I had to guess, she was just excited because of what happened after the skirts came o-Oww!”

Rubbing her butt where a needle had just poked her, she glared at Rarity who wasn’t hiding her intent very well behind a tight smile and lightly clenched eyes.

“Sorry, darling,” Rarity quickly replied, not overtly phoning it in. “But whatever you were about to say must have distracted me from keeping my concentration on what I was doing.”

She motioned with her eyes to her ear and intentionally let it flicker back and forth. It was a not so subtle hint she hoped Twilight would catch on to her point.

“You know how easily a mare can get distracted these days, don’t you?”

Suddenly, thinking about her own experiences of what happened after her skirt came off, Twilight could understand why Rarity had to stop the mental images from invading her thoughts.

“Sorry, Rarity. You just keep on doing what you’re doing while I talk about… theeeeee-"

Twilight and Rarity’s predicament was so obvious to those in the know, that even Trixie looked at the pair with little amusement, her eyes wandering all around the room. However, Twilight's saving grace from having to explain more intimate details to the others, came from one she wasn’t expecting.

"Tell them about the final fight with the Timberwolves," Benny suggested.

Quickly turning her attention to Benny, and him giving her a smirk as if he knew what topic she was trying to avoid.

At least this would keep the others entertained so long as she didn’t let too many details slip out.

"Right… Oh! Rarity, how about you start us off where Zecora was running by you."

Lost in a sudden giggle fit at the chance to talk up both of her newly devoted lovers, Rarity opened her eyes to see all the delegates huddling closely around her.

"Oh," she yelped in surprise before collecting herself. "Well, a little back story, first. Justin had agreed to join Fluttershy in the Everfree Forest to search for some medicinal ingredients for one of our new friends. My dear Justin had strained his leg from overexerting himself, so I insisted on assisting them back to town."

Behind the sales counter, Hard Hat was doing his best to stop from trembling. The rumbles of a large human-machine grew to a stop, then two doors outside closed, leading with steps approaching the store's door opening.

Sure enough, Lumberman pushed Applejack in, who was all smiles. Lumberman on the other hand wore a neutral expression.

And it was at this moment he was wondering which of the two terrified him more.

"Good morning," Hard Hat nervously greeted the two with a shaky wave.

Trying to stay positive, Applejack held her smile as she met his gaze and returned the gesture.

"Morning, Hard Hat. Ya got a minute?"

With the shelves stocked, floors swept, and isles cleared of customers, he nodded, even though more than a few parts of him were telling him to stay behind the counter. In the vain hope that if his apology was to be granted with a beating, he could make an escape.

"Yes. I mean, yes mam. Miss Applejack."

Seeing just how frightened this stallion was, Applejack felt a lot of her optimism evaporate. This was only magnified when she saw the less than pleasant look Lumberman was giving the still shaking stallion.

"Awe, shit, Woody. Ya done scared the guy all but senseless."

After putting Applejack's parking brake on her chair, Lumberman pulled out a small basket. He placed it on the countertop, then set a large thermos next to it and was ready to get this started. The entire time he still had the same neutral expression, his eyes often taking a quick glance at Hard Hat.

"The crew's not working today. I need time to take care of Applejack and get this tension between you and me fixed."

Sulking behind the counter, Hard Hat felt just as weak and helpless as he did in his dream.

"There’s nothing to fix. I've never put my hooves on a client before. All I can do is apologize and head out."

That explanation left a lot open for interpretation, inspiring Applejack to ask, "Head out?"

A lot had happened in a short period of time that only made things worse for this construction pony.

"The whole town knows what I did, but I can't explain myself when I'm asked." He took off his trademark yellow hard hat and set it next to the register. "It's like, ever since I discovered my special talent I had this voice telling me to trust myself, that I knew the best way to get the job done... and it never steered me wrong until you showed up and I didn't have that confidence."

He cracked a grin for a moment, almost laughing at himself, though it was dripping with self-cynicism.

"I had that voice come back to me after you left, and it just got me so mad that I knew I wasn't right… but after that led me to do what I did, I don't want to listen to that voice anymore, and now I think I need some time away to work on myself."

Lumberman was a little shocked at how well Hard Hat had explained his arrogance. Knowing how this world must work, he probably never had anyone show him up or tell him he was wrong. It might have been childish, but he accepted it, knowing his own history with that mentality while growing up. This pony deserved the same second chance given to him.

"Is this really bad enough that you have to leave town over it?"

With a slow shake of his head, Hard Hat grinned.

"Maybe… maybe not. For now, though, I'm just gathering my things and closing up my shop for the time being. And to be honest… keeping me here is bad business for Lug Nut. I agreed to work here on commission, so he's not really losing out when I leave."

This resolution came about so quickly from the stallion's guilt, it almost felt like it was undeserved. However, Lumberman could respect him owning up to what he had reaped and extended his hand.

"You apologized and I wish you no ill will. Have a safe trip to wherever you're going."

Grateful that his apology was finally accepted, Hard Hat shook the human's hand.

"Best of luck to your new business as well. Ponyville needs a good crew to keep it standing. I think you'll do just fine."

Seeing how well things ended, Applejack thought it best to keep the good vibes going.

"We brought coffee and muffins. I thought this was going to take a lot longer."

Being how no customers were expected, Hard Hat accepted.

"I've got some time. Wanna talk shop?"

Walking down the hallway, Rainbow was already bored following Becky around.

"What are we doing here again?"

Also not thrilled to be there, Becky searched for one doctor’s office in particular.

"Nurse Redheart was lucky enough to be there with us for Applejack. When I’m gone, she's going to be the most capable medical provider for the friends we're leaving behind. And after what happened to Ovens last night, I want to know why he wasn't there to help and why he wouldn't see me before the party when I was here… I think he's been avoiding me."

With all the hard work Becky was putting in, the fact that Doctor Horse wasn't doing his best to learn from her only seemed to anger Rainbow.

"Avoiding you! But he's supposed to be… Oh, he's going to get it if he's not doing his best to learn from all that stuff you've been teaching."

Finally, seeing some familiar names, Becky saw the nameplate for the doctor she was looking for and knocked on his door.

"Doctor Horse, it’s Becky. I need to talk to you."

Something inside the office tumbled onto the floor with a crash and the sounds of a pony fumbling about were heard before the doctor nervously answered.

"Oh! Hi Becky! Uhhhhh, I'm very busy at the moment. Could you come back in twenty or thirty minutes?"

Not willing to take any shit or let the doctor blow Becky off, Rainbow was ready for action.

"Hey, jackass! What's up with you dodging Becky and skipping out on the party? We needed you there yesterday and you're still dodging her, now open up!"

With Rainbow already at the door and looking ready to literally kick it in, the good doctor finally responded. Sadly, not in the way they were hoping.

"No! Just come back later. I'm not seeing anypony right now."

Now, having been shown the proverbial door, Rainbow responded accordingly by turning her backside to offer her answer to the literal door.

"Oh, yes you are!"

BAM!

With a crack like a high powered rifle, Rainbow mule kicked the door, smashing it against the wall, snapping its hinges loose, and busting off the lock, frightening the stallion under his desk.

"No! Get out! Close the door! I-I-I can't, ugh…"

Not fast enough to stop her action-oriented friend, Becky followed Rainbow into the doctor's office, offering only a single glance at the now dislodged door.

"Rainbow, that wasn't necessary." She looked down at the doctor's face barely peeking out from behind his desk. "But doc, this is serious. I'm getting ready to leave and I need to know if… What are you doing down there? Dash isn't going to hurt you."

When he didn’t immediately raise his head, Becky quickly shifted her gaze to the still steaming Rainbow. “Dash, mind turning it down a moment? I just said you aren’t gonna hurt him.”

Dash naturally offered a look of surprise at the request, but was quickly shot down any chance at an argument and finally pulled herself back, now hovering next to Becky instead of intruding on the doctor’s desk.

Now safe from the new Wonderbolt’s wrath and realizing he didn't have the means to hide himself any longer, he stood up, looking ashamed.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you, but I've… Something’s wrong with me. I haven’t been able to see most of my patients. But again, please, just give me a few minutes and I should be fine to talk.”

Now concerned, Becky started to look the doctor over, searching for any signs of injury or illness.

“Dash, close the door if you can. Doc, what’re your symptoms? What’s been happening?”

Horrifically embarrassed to the point he huffed angrily, Doctor Horse took his seat behind the desk and dropped an ice pack into a drawer while Rainbow struggled to make the door close.

“Miss Landon, I appreciate your concern, but I do not feel comfortable discussing my… more private, medical needs. And don’t think I’m happy with missing out on the knowledge you have to share, and I’m terribly sorry about the party, but I was in no condition to be out in public.”

Highly skeptical, and free to intimidate the Doc again since she managed to get the door to stay closed, Rainbow slammed her hooves down on the desk, glaring down at the visibly flinching doctor.

“Listen doc, I know you did a good job fixing my wing a few years back, but if you haven’t noticed, Becky is a lot fucking smarter than you. So if you have a problem that’s so important that it’s keeping you from learning more about what she has to offer, you might want a second opinion.”

If the doc was being serious, Becky couldn’t force him into divulging anything, but it seems as though Rainbow’s message had stirred up enough thought to convince the doc to come clean. Even if he was more angry than embarrassed for doing so.

“Your book referred to it as Priapism. I appear to be suffering from the effects of its early stages. Prolonged stiffness and pain that lasts well after the swelling goes down. Unfortunately, the swelling has become more unpredictable and I was icing it down before you barged in so rudely.”

While that sounded legit, it was well beyond the scope of Rainbow’s knowledge, so she deferred to Becky, looking especially awkward at her obvious lack of insight.

“Uh… Becks, that’s a real thing, right?”

Knowing exactly what that was, Becky was stuck half believing that he was being honest, but also half convinced he had misdiagnosed himself. Regardless, she waved her hand to Rainbow to back up and give her some space so she could sit in the open chair in front of the doctor's desk.

“Doc, I’m going to ask you some questions, but I’m going to need Rainbow to stay with me for this. She’s obligated to keep private matters concerning me confidential, so this will stay between us unless Twilight or the other princesses need to get involved for the public's safety.”

Taken back by both the call for involving Twilight and the public’s safety, Doctor Horse responded with a shaky voice.

“Pu-public s-s-safety? Why would y-y-you have t-to-”

Taking the most serious outcome as a possibility, Becky didn’t water down the risks.

“If you have Priapism, that’s still a blood-related condition. Especially if you have sickle cell anemia, a hemoglobin deficiency, or some type of cancer affecting your blood production. All of which can cause it. And last night, I treated another patient with a blood-related injury. So, if these are becoming more common, I need to know exactly what your symptoms are and how you're treating it. Because, if the ice packs don’t work, and I doubt you have the medications needed for the injections, the next solution is open surgery to correct the swelling. Otherwise, you risk organ failure of the affected area. So, can you tell me, or should I just wash my hands of this hospital altogether if you can’t even trust me to help you?”

Off in the corner of the room, Rainbow gulped, not used to seeing Becky being so serious or stern, and the mention of surgery wasn’t helping either. Certainly not after what she witnessed with Applejack being cut open.

For the doctor, though, he degraded into a much sadder state, having read the diagnosis himself.

So, with the fear of all the complications weighing down on him and his face staring at the floor, he let Becky be his doctor.

“The swelling starts in the mornings, making urination all but impossible, and it returns periodically throughout the day. The longest ones have lasted over an hour or longer. When they do, I have a pain that aches anywhere from a couple of minutes to nearly an hour… when that happens, I can barely walk, but the ice packs help.”

This was quickly sounding very much not like Priapism, but now she wanted a little more information.

“You said the swelling returns periodically throughout the day. What are you doing when it returns?”

Somehow looking even more embarrassed, the doctor opened his drawer and returned the ice pack to his lap, his face growing redder as he did so.

“I first noticed them returning while doing research with Nurse Redheart, but they’ve also occurred while examining patients and while…”

Despite already figuring it out, Becky wanted to know what else brought about his symptoms.

“And while… what?”

Painfully, Doctor Horse added more pressure to the ice pack, triggering a few ear twitches.

“While reviewing your medical records from the examination.”

With a heavy sigh, Becky figured the stupidest diagnosis was the right one, but a visual examination was still required… despite how awkward it was going to be.

“Alright, I’m guessing your swelling hasn’t fully gone down, so let me see.”

Pitifully, Doctor Horse sulked as he removed the ice pack and made his way around his desk. Once in clear view, he stood up on his rear legs and braced himself against the desk, revealing his very stiff erection.

“Please don’t touch it… it’s very sensitive.”

Giving his penis only a few seconds worth of examination, Becky turned away, pitying the poor stallion. Although, turning away let her see Rainbow gawking at the sight, now unable to keep her recently sex-educated thoughts to herself.

“Wow… If that’s what I think it is, I don’t think I’m ready.”

Rolling her eyes at the immature response, Becky facepalmed, ready to educate the poorly informed doctor.

“Doc, you can sit down again. I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

Uncomfortably taking his seat again, he prepared for the worst.

“Well? What’s the good news?”

Doing her best to make her smile seem genuinely optimistic, she folded her arms in hopes to give a better presentation of herself.

“The good news is your stiffness only going for an hour means that you don’t have Priapism. If it was four or more, that would be a problem. The bad news is that you’re going to feel really dumb when you realize that your morning erection is normal and your periodic hard-ons are caused by your sexual arousal towards females.”

Naturally, the doctor sat there looking like someone had stripped him of his medical license, though he also looked utterly baffled by the explanation.

“I… what? I’m not even married?”

This was going to be a hard one, no pun intended, for Becky to explain. Yet, as a semi-medical professional herself, she had to deal with awkward body situations in classes before and would just have to power through.

“Yeah, well, from a medical standpoint, I’m telling you that marriage isn’t required for getting aroused and sex isn’t limited to getting a mare pregnant. Or at least not the desire to simulate coitus. Also, I can recommend a treatment to help limit the recurrence of your... swelling.”

In the corner, Rainbow groaned, finally figuring out what was happening.

“Wait-Wait-Wait… He thought he was sick because his dick got hard after eye-fucking all the mares around the hospital and imagining you naked?”

“Not exactly the words I’d use but, yeah,” Becky answered, utterly carefree, but hoping not to offend, looking back at the doctor. “And Doc, I’m slowly figuring this out with the help of Dash and a few others, but for some reason, you ponies don’t respond to anything sexual until… I guess properly aroused or fall in love? It’s still confusing why most of you don’t know about sex.”

At that, Doctor Horse’s eyes went wide as his ears snapped, looking as though he’d just been accused of a serious crime.

“Sex? I didn’t say anything abo-”

“It’s fine,” Becky quickly cut him off. “And just so you know, when you wake up with an erection, that can be caused by a mix of testosterone flooding your system in your REM sleep, nitric oxide production, or your bladder pressing on your prostate. Otherwise, having a sexual attraction to… I’m not sure who all you're looking at when you get hard, but thanks for being the first guy in town to admit having the hots for me. That’s not unnatural.”

Thoroughly embarrassed, the good doctor hid his face under his hooves, while moaning in complete shame.

“Ooooh, why me? This is terrible. What am I supposed to do?”

Still in the corner, Rainbow snorted at the question with a knowing look on her face.

“You ever thought of getting a marefriend? Have someone to… help rub off that swelling for ya?”

The doctor looked utterly lost at double entendre while Dash was left chuckling happily at her joke.

“Quiet Dash,” Becky ordered, albeit while laughing.

As funny as it was, she took pity on the doctor for all his naivety and innocence.

“Well, for cutting back on your random erections, I recommend masturbat… fuck… you’re not going to know what that is.”

Still snickering in the back, Rainbow continued making things worse.

“I do!”

“Shut it, Dash!” Becky again ordered, still laughing inappropriately, yet managing to reign herself in. “But seriously, Doc, first thing when you wake up and your penis is hard, massage your glands until you stimulate yourself enough to… ejaculate. That’s both going to remove all the swelling, as well as stop you from getting Blue Balls.”

Finally raising his head, Doctor Horse asked a rather strange question, “Blue Balls? What does my cousin in Fillydelphia have to do with this?”

Again, another explanation that was going to be awkward for the now unlicensed resident sexual health medical professional.

“No, no. Look, when you get hard like this, blood flows into your penis and scrotum...the parts you’re currently icing. If you’re not doing anything with it, the blood continues to engorge the spongy tissue. Blue Balls is when the blood stays there too long and you don’t relieve yourself by ejaculating, so your body doesn’t release the hormones needed to signal your blood vessels to constrict and remove the swelling. So, while your ice packs help, just taking care of it yourself is a lot faster… or you can take Dash’s advice and get a marefriend.”

With the doctor still reeling from the explanation, Becky opted to change topics and was ready with a joke in mind to get back at Rainbow for being rude. She turned back to her loyal friend, with a subtle smirk on her face.

“Hey Dash, you’re still single, right?”

Not taking the bait, Rainbow blew off the question, along with blowing raspberries.

“Pft. Yeah, but dating the local ponies is the new human trend. He’s all yours, Becks.”

Intrigued, Doctor Horse looked at Becky in a whole new light.

“Are you single? I mean… We both have a lot in common with our medical professions. And even better yet, you know how to cure my-”

“Goddamnit, Dash!” Becky belted out, rising out of her seat in a hurry and giving both ponies a jolt. “Walk away rule. I’m out.”

Already at the door, Becky gave her farewell, ready to be out of this place.

“Best of luck to ya, Doc. Just watch out for the mess after the massage.” After stepping out, she popped her head back in for one last suggestion. “Oh, and you might want to stop by Rarity’s to invest in some pants. Just an idea.”

Laughing hysterically, Rainbow flew out to catch up with her poor-sport of a friend.

“Hey, wait up! You didn’t give him a hands-on demonstration. What kind of marefriend are you?”

From down the hall, Becky wanted to be angry but was laughing too hard.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Dash!”

Running short of breath, Cerb held tight as the last stroke sent him over the edge and Fluttershy’s inner walls went into overdrive feeling his release.

"That's it," he groaned as he finally allowed himself to move and thrust his hips as hard as he could against hers.

Their pants and groans harmonized together as he released himself deep inside, sending Fluttershy into a paralyzed state of drunken bliss. So strong was this orgasm, that despite her extreme exhaustion, her body found the strength to deliver a few more thrusts down before letting Cerb take over again. He did as he promised and began to grind their merged bodies together and pulling her into one last passionate kiss.

As his peak began to wane, he held their embrace, lowering the intensity of their warring lips until Fluttershy’s will power to continue expired.

“It’s… soo… muuuuch… better.” Her body went limp over his chest, still connected in coitus. “When you... cum inside… Rarity… is going… to love… this.”

Despite Fluttershy no longer moving, deep inside, he could feel the muscles of her hungry love canal still working him over, trying to pull him in deeper. Even the post-sex was better than anything Cerb could remember.

“I’m just sorry it takes me so long to cum for you. It’s a shame it wears you out so fast. I’d love to go again.”

Fluttershy’s ear twitched and she tried to move up to start for a second time, but it wasn’t happening. Her body was too utterly drained, and she could barely breathe she was so exhausted.

“It’s a good thing we have Rarity to take over,” she weakly answered, still loving everything she was feeling despite all her sore muscles saying otherwise. “I still would like a chance for just the two of us, though. We were each other’s firsts, but we didn’t know everything else we could do.”

A few days ago, Cerb would have laughed off such an idea and thought it to be disgusting. Now though, after what these two could do for him?

“That sounds really hot… Am I allowed to watch?”

Hearing him say that had her laugh, as best as she could at least given her current state.

“I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you and Rarity. I’ve never been this happy before… or this tired.” She giggled. “But sooo worth it.”

Fighting his damnedest to keep her conscious, Cerb agreed.

"You girls are amazing. I can’t begin to explain how much better off I feel now that I have you both with me." A sudden recollection came to mind when he thought of everything that came with them. "So, how are we going to explain this to Sweetie Belle?"

Optimistic as ever, Fluttershy weakly snuggled in closer. His sweat mixed with hers, coating her in a concentrated dose of his already strong scent.

"She already likes you a lot, plus she and I always get along. I'm sure she'll be fine with it."

Hoping that was the case, Cerb stroked Fluttershy’s back with one hand and ran the other through her mane as he readjusted to pull himself free from her vaginal prison.

“Seems like all the kids like me, but looking back, Sweetie Belle must have really wanted me to be with Rarity.” He chuckled for a moment, thinking about the new dynamic. “It’s probably going to be weird for her, but you’re all so accepting, she’s probably going to look at it like getting a new brother and sister at the same time.”

Brother and sister? He was talking like he was already planning on settling down with them for good. Then again, if he was never going home, or simply chose not to, who better to settle down with?

“Hey… just speculating, but if I’m going to live here permanently, how would a marriage work if there’s-”

Before he could finish his question, he noticed the blissful silence coming from Fluttershy was actually her sound asleep.

“Oh… shit… Maybe that will be a question for another time.”

Laying there, astonished with how at peace he was, still tenderly attending to his no longer shy and bashful mare, his mind went to its most simplistic of thoughts.

“I could totally get used to this… Damn, I really wanna fuck Rarity again.”

Hovering in the air, a pair of boxing gloves were slowly being warped and stretched to fit their new owner by one very proud unicorn.

“That was so nice of her to just give you these,” Starlight beamed, doing her best to guess how much altering the gloves would need to fit Chris’s hands. “And a free trial membership?”

Not so impressed, Chris didn’t feel good at all about the free everything, eyeing Starlight with little amusement.

“You told the owner I thought she was cute.”

Ignoring the moral grey area she was working in, Starlight played it off like it was no big deal.

“You told me you did though.”

“Because you asked me,” Chris retorted, maintaining the moral high ground. “I didn’t think you were going to tell her.”

Still pretending like there was nothing wrong done, Starlight gave her response while keeping her eyes on the gloves she made sure would fit right.

“Oh, please, Chris. You probably made her day by-”

“Did you tell her I’m six times not single so she doesn’t try to fuck me while you’re gone?”

Stopping in the middle of lacing up his first glove, Starlight realized the error of her ways.

“Shhhhhhhhit.”

Now that he had her attention, Chris wanted to make the real point clear.

“She seems nice, but the reason I probably made her day is because she’s probably single and looking like everypony else before we started up this little harem of yours.”

“Don’t you mean ours?” Starlight asked, trying to curb the lecture with her sad eyes.

As much as that sad face tugged at his heartstrings, Chris didn’t give in this time.

“If I drop this whole friendship lesson you’re trying to guilt me out of, I’ll just have Twilight pick up where I left off.”

“Ugh,” Starlight grunted, angry for both slipping up and not being able to slip out of it. “Okay, yes that was… goddamnit, that was pretty bad. And I’m sorry, I just wanted this to be a nice experience for you.”

While that might have been a good reason in her mind, Chris knew better and wasn’t going to let Starlight’s behavior become a bad habit.

“Doing something good shouldn’t have to come at the expense of hurting someone else. Just imagine that nice gym lady was Derpy, or Prim, or any of the other girls who were looking for that special guy to come around. How’s she going to feel when she finds out she doesn’t stand a chance with me because I already have six beautiful mares that are already running me ragged?”

While for many this might have been a touching moment, Onyx, unfortunately, was growing annoyed at the time they were wasting and queasy at the abhorrent display of affection.

“Look, it’s a free trial and those gloves are old and worn out. You two are overreacting and it’s getting kind of gross. Can we please just start punching each other already?”

After a rather amused giggle, Starlight reared up to lovingly kiss Chris as she finished tying off his gloves. With her man now suited up, she backed off to see exactly what he could do.

“I wanted to see you in action before I stepped into the ring with you.”

Just as excited to test the metal of his new coach, Onyx stepped up over the mat, tapping his gloves together. Happy to finally get involved in an exchange that didn’t include spit or sappy dialogue.

"What are we doing first?"

Doing one final set of stretches, Chris sized up his opponent again. A big ass black Earth pony stallion with a mohawk and a heavy-weight championship belt attached to his name.

"I figured we just spar a little first. I haven't done this in… wow… way too long. But, yeah. Thought it would be good to see where our strength is comparatively."

Still on his hindlegs, Onyx got an old familiar feeling of the overconfidence he had against Cerb. He knew he shouldn't, but Chris didn't look so big this way, being the shortest human as he was.

They touched gloves and started their match. Circling each other, Onyx moved in to take advantage of Chris's larger exposed midsection but right away Chris caught him with a left jab on the snout.

He stumbled back, more shocked than anything else from not immediately crumpling to the floor.

Still standing, he eyed his opponent suspiciously.

"Are you… pulling your punches?"

"Yep," Chris answered, almost sounding like he was having fun. "I’m also not angry. That's supposed to have something to do with it. Now come on. I'm more of an Out- Boxer than a Slugger, so if you keep broadcasting your punches you're just gonna keep getting hit."

Not sure how Chris anticipated the punch or how he was broadcasting his moves, Onyx moved in again. Taking his time and picking his target more carefully, he stepped in just in time for Chris to step back.

Trying again, he stepped in, but Chris leaned forward, bringing them into a clinch. They struggled for a moment, neither getting any jabs in, eventually ending with both pushing away from each other.

For all his time training years ago, Chris couldn't think of anything fundamental to offer this pony. Probably didn’t help he was using boxing against an opponent who traditionally walked on all fours and didn’t punch with a pair of fists.

"Alright… how about we just go at it for a bit? You're a pro-level boxer, so I can't teach much outside of dirty boxing. Maybe help switch up your style a bit, too. Make you more unpredictable."

Of course, this only made Starlight worry.

"Chris? Maybe you should still start slow. I don't want you to get hurt."

Unphased, Chris shook his joints loose one last time before answering as he raised his guard up.

"Getting hurt is part of the sport, hun. Just in case though, I’m going to get a little mad."

While the jokes at Becky’s expense had died down, there was still some competitive tension between the two friends to see who could get the next good quip in. Passing a few other members of medical staff, the jokes they exchanged seemed to fall on deaf ears from the random nurses and doctors. Even as they found their way into the records room, things seemed to be leading towards a victor for the walk-away rule.

That is until Becky found her medical records.

"Dash, how well do you know the Crystal Empire or Cadance and Shining?"

The sudden change in Becky’s tone gave Rainbow the impression that something was wrong.

"Uh, well, while I haven't spent a lot of time in the Crystal Empire, I can’t say I’ve, got anything bad to say about any of them. Why?"

Suddenly looking a little disheartened, Becky pulled out all records for her and her few friends that had been examined and slowly closed the filing cabinet drawer.

"Because I don't like how things have been working out over here. Not just what happened with Doctor Horse… I feel like I'm not actually teaching them anything. This whole thing of dropping in or only dealing with emergency situations is not enough."

"Awe, don't get so down, Becky," Rainbow cheerfully encouraged as she bumped herself into Becky’s side. "I'm sure things will be better with Cadance and Shining. And what you said earlier with potions being a possible cure for you, you're still in the best hooves with everypony we know. So if it takes a while to teach them what you know, you'll have plenty of time to help them learn."

Somehow that cheerful little speech actually managed to brighten Becky’s spirits a bit. Apparently one of the perks of being in a magical pony world was it was a lot easier to stay positive.

"You know what, you're right, Dash. Things are going to get better."

With a brighter outlook, Becky took one last look at the files, thinking of what progress has already been made with Nurse Redheart. Things couldn't be all that grim if even a nurse had become as invested like she was.

Eager to start their lunch date, Derpy let herself in as she knocked.

"Hello? I'm here for our lunch date. You still here, Red?"

From deeper in the house, Redheart welcomed in her midday rendezvous.

"Come on in, Derpy! I was just changing my bedsheets!"

Eagerly trotting her way inside, Derpy quickly caught a mix of some very sexual scents still hanging in the air. Strong enough to overpower the lunch she brought in a basket still carried in her mouth.

Managing to power through the lingering aroma and walk into the bedroom, it was clear this was the source of action she must have missed. Humorously, Redheart could tell Derpy knew she missed something fun, watching the mare’s mismatched eyes scanning around the room while her ears occasionally twitched.

"Sorry… I guess you can tell why I'm changing the sheets," Redheart sheepishly apologized as she rolled the linens into a ball.

Taking it in stride, Derpy set the basket down, looking more excited than disappointed.

“There’s no need to apologize, but… what happened?”

Still limping with her bad hoof off the floor, Redheart hopped up on her bed and welcomed her lunch date to join her. Already, she was reliving the events as Derpy joined her.

“Well, after we all split up last night, Chris, Starlight, and Cheerilee all escorted me home. Since none of us had any reason to call it a night at that point, we took advantage of our time together and Chris-”

The nurse pony took a moment to sprawl out, melting into the fresh linens as Chris’s scent drifted up from the pillows. “Oh, Derpy… it was amazing. All four of us, together with Chris, it was the most glorious thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. And everything Starlight said about how it feels to swallow him, I can only imagine what it must feel like to have him rutting us and cumming inside.”

She started to rub her thighs together and turned to lay on her side to face Derpy. There was no mistaking what she wanted again, and that lunch was going to have to wait. Likewise, if Derpy’s more erratic twitching ears were any indication of her shifting plans, Redheart was going to get what she wanted. Maybe sharing the details of last night would help get them both even more in the mood.

“We all wanted to do something together, so Chris showed us how he could fuck Starlight while her and I licked each other and he licked out Cheerilee.” She sharply inhaled through her nose, taking in as much of the scent to relive that night. “Oooooh, Celestia’s sweet sunshine. They tasted so good together, and then trading places with Cheerilee, Chris is still the best at the oral stuff, but when he finally came while rutting Starlight, Cheerilee and I were licking them together and, mmm~ I’m so horny right now.”

Just as deeply in the mood, Derpy rolled to her side and started nuzzling into her sexy nurse, ready to initiate the first move.

“That sounds amazing. I wish I could have been there, but now that I’m here and I’m ahead of schedule back at the post office, I can have a longer lunch with you. Can you tell me more about what else I missed last night?”

The thrill of being physically intimate with one of her mares made Redheart’s hormones run wild at the thought of how long they could enjoy each other. Something she discovered was rather rewarding, given her experiences she was about to divulge to her visiting mail mare.

“We were all so tired after Chris and Starlight left that I had Cheerilee stay with me for the night. I wanted a little more practice for our date today, and she wanted to be ready for hers with Cream Heart. We kept each other cumming all night until we fell asleep still licking each other out. Then we went again while taking a bath and she was almost late for her class. Now I want to show you what I’ve learned.”

Nearly tempted to go all-in right off the bat, she paced herself by moving in and started things off with a kiss. Derpy drew closer, mashing her lips against Redheart’s, and gave herself wholeheartedly, lusting for Redheart no differently than she would for their human lover.

Their affection quickly escalated to Derpy rising up to lay atop Redheart, pressing their bodies together. In their heated passion, lovely melodies of what they felt filled the room along with each other’s arousal. Each motion of their tongues working against each other drove them deeper into their embrace, finding new pleasures as their breasts grated against each other.

Nearing the point of losing control, Redheart pulled her lips free and pulled Derpy tighter against to whisper a desperate request.

“Lay on your back for me. I want to help you get ready for Chris to rut you. I’m next in line, but I’d like you to not be too far behind me so you can share him with me like I did with Starlight last night.”

Wasting no time, Derpy took her new position on the bed with her legs splayed open wide, ready for this new method Redheart was so adamant to implement. As she lay there, looking up enough to see Redheart opening a small drawer in her nightstand, she returned with a small wooden box she carried by a thin handle.

The box was laid out and opened, Redheart carefully picking up a clear glass test tube taken from a medical stockroom.

“I was getting some supplies at work and noticed these hadn’t been used yet. Any other day I would have thought of them as just another tool for testing. But after researching human reproduction, it was the closest thing I could find to recreate the physical experience of having a human rut me.”

She examined the glass, still just as smooth and clean as she left it after the last night she spent with it. The thought immediately brought red to her face matched with a lustful smile.

“It won’t feel as good as Chris, and this one is barely bigger than his fingers, but you took that well enough, so this shouldn’t be a problem.”

With her training device at the ready, she looked down at the mare in waiting. For a moment, it was strange to her. This all really started over Cerb, but her ambitions had changed to Chris. She had thought she could convince him to help her understand and fulfill her sexual desires. She had gotten close and nearly had him until she discovered he had been claimed by five others.

To have him meant sharing him. Sharing him meant sharing each other, and despite him being the sole subject of her desire, she had found herself longing just as strongly for those she had hastily taken on as friends. Only now, they were just as much lovers to her as she was to Chris.

“I’m going to start slow for you,” she lovingly uttered under a hushed breath. “Then when you’re comfortable, I’m going to show you what I would like you to do to me in return.”

There was no mistaking what was about to happen, and Derpy welcomed her mare's assistance. With avid anticipation, she watched the glass tool vanish out of view, quickly replaced with the cool, smooth surface leisurely tease its way into her slick opening.

“That feels… so weird… but nice,” she happily endorsed her mare’s help, pressing her back lightly against the bed.

Finally lathered up enough, Redheart eased in further, meeting only soft resistance and her receiver’s first sign of discomfort.

“Emph,” Derpy quietly grunted. “That’s definitely bigger than a finger, but… emph.”

She clenched her eyes and squirmed slightly. The mild discomfort blurring in with the rising pleasures leaving her body feeling fuzzy.

“Keep going, Red,” Derpy calmly requested. “It was like this with Chris yesterday, and that felt good. Plus I reeeeealy want Chris to rut me like he does Starlight.”

Sharing the same desires, Redheart giggled and continued to ease in further.

“This should help get you there a little faster."

With little effort, and thankfully nearly only just as much discomfort, Derpy found herself reasonably adjusted. At this point, though, Redheart had seen enough to push her to do more.

"Now try not to move too much. What I'm about to do is essentially what Starlight had last night, and what I would like you to try on me."

Carefully descending so as not to put any pressure on her hoof, Redheart returned to doing what she knew best.

Onyx was slowly making his way out the front door, utterly shaken by how bad his performance was presented and how their training session went. Several noticeable bruises visible on various parts of his body, especially his arms and face.

"I… wasn't ready. Nopony could be ready."

Standing next to Chris, Starlight felt the same, completely floored with eyes left stunned at what she’d just seen.

"Chris… where did you learn to fight like that?"

Standing a little taller, though only figuratively, Chris tried not to sound too boastful.

"When I took up boxing, my coach taught me proper techniques during classes, and how to stop from getting my ass kicked after his classes were over. Really it’s just that I have more training in different styles than you that decided everything. "

Still feeling the impacts from Chris and the floor, Onyx could see how effective the training was.

"I certainly feel like I got my ass kicked."

With friendship lessons running through her mind, given her slip up earlier, Starlight tried to give what support she could.

"You did good in there, even got some good jabs in on Chris. And it didn't take one punch to knock you down every time. When you think about it, you actually made lots of improvements."

Sadly, while It was a good effort at a pep talk, it wasn’t good enough to convince this particular Earth pony.

"I was struggling to stay on my hooves, and Chris wasn't even mad like Cerb was. And my one good hit didn't even make Chris stumble. I'm just not stacking up to the new competition."

While that was true, Chris had some wiser words of encouragement.

"We're different, and as far as opponents go, we're a bit much overpowered by default. Even still, you finally kept your guard near the end and finally stopped making every swing a power punch. And if we can get your speed up, even those jabs will do a lot more for ya. Oh! And what we did in there, that's for winning fights… not boxing matches."

After not much of any small talk, the three returned to the castle to shower and prepare for the rest of the day.

Starlight laid on Chris’s bed, watching his every move as he prepared for the rest of his day. Not expecting his next line of conversation.

"Do you think any of the foals, other than Dinky, knows that I'm dating their mothers? Like, legit dating, and not just taking them out on a date. I'm really worried about Prim's daughter since I don't remember if I even saw her at the welcome party."

Thinking about it now herself, Starlight only remembered Dinky.

"Oh… shit… I really don't know. Do you think I should talk to the other girls so the foals don't find out after they get dropped off with you?"

Reluctantly, Chris slowly nodded, one hand clutching his head, anxious as his mind poured over this issue.

"Yeah… the kids should hear it from their parents, not each other or me. And while you do that, I'm going to hop in the shower."

Suddenly, Starlight posted up on alert, looking shocked, if not insulted.

"You're going to send me off and then shower without me?"

Chris gave her a not so sympathetic look, fully aware she should know better.

"I still have to walk over to Benny’s place and you still have your date tonight. You know full damn well what's going to happen if you're in there with me."

After their morning playtime, Starlight had figured that there wouldn't be an issue with her own needs. However, watching Chris spar with Onyx had left her fighting off a lot of wants she was hoping to save for Prim.

"Yeah… I would totally take advantage of having you trapped in the shower with me."

The sad realization sunk in that these new urges she was having were going to be a problem.

"Awe, fuck," Starlight angrily groaned, banging her head repeatedly against the nearby pillow. "This is like wanting dessert right before dinner. I know that you're supposed to be my dessert after my dinner date with Prim, but I want you so bad right now… Could I have just a little oral to hold me over?"

So much temptation was building up, yet Chris had to remain strong, choosing to look away from the anxious and horny mare, refusing to let himself be tempted. He needed to get her out of his room and away from his dick. What he needed, was help from somepony else to take care of her for him.

"You know… all the foals are in school for a few more hours and I think only Derpy is working. If Prim is still free, maybe you could start your night with her early and-"

Poof!

… Starlight was gone, and Chris was left thinking about if he might have sent Starlight out on a mission that could spoil the night for any of the mares.

"I can't believe this is my life… Turning down pussy because I have a surplus that needs to fuck each other before they fuck me."

Twilight was proudly showing off her newest book stand to Ember, much to the dragon lord’s chagrin.

"I was so moved by how much thought and trouble he went through to get this for me. That's when I knew that he really felt something for me and that I had been denying that I felt the same."

Despite Ember's rather grouch demeanor, and complete lack of interest in literature, even she was impressed with what she saw.

"That is beautiful, but what does the inscription mean outside of him having faith in you?"

Still riding her mental high, Twilight was practically floating as she trotted around her desk.

"Well, after studying under Princess Celestia for so long, I started to base my self worth on how she viewed me. Peter was wise enough to point out to me that I don't need validation from somepony else to have faith in myself. Ever since then, I've been doing everything I thought was best without worrying about how either Celestia or Luna would personally think about me. I'm kind of my own princess now, much like you were once you didn't have to worry about your father's negativity about you being the new Dragon Lord."

Ember nodded but noted one difference between the two of them.

"I know what you mean, but my story is a little different. I never really doubted myself or let my father hold me back. That's the whole reason I still went for the scepter to become the Dragon Lord."

With only a mild disagreement, Twilight sighed and took the critique for what it was.

"You're lucky to have figured that out as early as you did. Then again, I think your self-confidence is what helped you become such a good leader to begin with. Not to mention having enough faith in yourself to be willing to accept the friendship Spike, Rarity, and I offered."

Seeing how Twilight had Ember alone for the moment, something of a curiosity started to grow on her. After some quick thinking, she thought she had a good way of asking in a way to not be obvious about it.

"So, this might come off as an odd question, but since I have Spike with me, and he's growing up so fast, could you tell me at what age he might reach the point of starting his own family? Sadly, I don't have any books that cover that subject of his maturity…or any books on dragons that aren’t outdated or based on theory, honestly."

Surprisingly, Ember looked to be completely unphased by the question, looking at it as if it were a simple a question as any.

"I dunno. We dragons just kinda live more like a community family. Even if the parents carry most of the responsibility for their young, even the dragon elders can step in and make decisions if the parents don't enforce the dragon code or the decrees of the Dragon Lord. But as far as starting a family… I guess that's on him once he's old enough to be on his own."

Giving it a second thought, Ember remembered that Spike did fall under some special circumstances.

"Although, since Spike lives with you and you're his adoptive family, he's your responsibility until he becomes independent and starts living on his own."

Well, while that was an interesting bit of info, it didn't get at the core issue of what Twilight was looking for.

"I see... Well, thankfully that won't be for a while, but I think what I'm really asking is how I should explain how he would… physically go about… getting his dragoness pregnant."

The sight of Ember nearly jumping out of her scales was priceless, though this was no time for Twilight to make light of the subject.

"I’m sorry if this topic makes you uncomfortable. I just thought that since we're friends and I really only know pony biology-"

"It's fine," Ember quickly answered, trying to minimize the awkwardness of the situation and regain her aloof demeanor. "I just wasn't expecting… you know. But I understand. Ponies and dragons haven't been very close or all that friendly until recently, and are about as different physically as you can get. Since you asked though, I'm sure you can tell that… uh…"

The sudden change in Ember's voice started to sound a lot like Twilight's when she was first asked this question, prompting the pony princess to observe the confused dragon closely.

"Well, dragons have this tradition of first getting to know who they want to make an egg with. Then they…”

There was a thought that Ember was about to expand upon, but suddenly it was gone. If explaining this was one of those friendship things Twilight had told her about, she wasn’t going to be very good at it.

“I'm sorry. I don't think I was ready to have this conversation."

Quickly processing this new development, Twilight started to speculate that maybe this wasn't a problem limited to ponies. However, she needed a bit more information to test this theory.

"Ember, I'm going to be very honest with you. I didn't even know how sex between two ponies was performed until yesterday. And it wasn't just me. I’m starting to think that nopony knows or can remember until they're… goddamnit. I was going to say start a family, but in some of our cases that isn't an option for who we're with."

While Twilight did help lower the awkwardness, Ember still felt rather embarrassed by it all. Though she still did her best to hide it, crossing her arms and leaning back, though with pink still present on her scales.

"Sorry, when you first asked me, I thought I knew. But as soon as I started to think about it-"

"You couldn't remember?" Twilight answered for the Dragon Lord. "Like you only thought that you remembered but couldn't recall ever talking about it, seeing it, being told about it? Like it was a memory of having a memory?"

Ember stood uneasy at the question, her previous embarrassment gone. Now she found herself questioning a lot of things about her new pony friends.

"How did you know that I didn't know? Did you do that? … Is this some kind of spell? Are one of you ponies playing mind games with me?"

Twilight shook her head, quickly defusing a potentially hostile situation, but now feeling regret for discovering the truth.

"No, or at least I hope not. It's like I said, I didn’t know what sex was until yesterday. Even after having it all explained to me, I still can't remember where I might have once learned about it or what all it was that I forgot. The same with all my friends."

She looked back at her beautiful bookstand, remembering how much she had learned with Sniff.

"It wasn’t until we started getting closer to our humans that any of us started to either remember or develop those feelings of wanting to start a family with them, even though none of us can."

Ember blinked a few times, trying to piece together this puzzling situation she now found herself in.

"Wait a minute. Are you ponies… arg! I… don't understand what you're telling me. You all want to start families with your humans, but can't, and only know what sex is when you want to start a family, but if you can't… and… No?”

The frustrated dragon finally threw up her hands in defeat. “You know what? I don't even wanna know."

If anything, Twilight could see why Sniff never pushed the subject. Not knowing something you thought you knew, but couldn't remember was very frustrating.

"Again, I'm sorry. This is just so new, and… so confusing. But I'm starting to wonder if there is somepony, or someone else doing this to us… But why would they? And what else might they be making us forget?"

That line of reasoning started to bring Ember's interest back and bring her anger down.

"What do you mean? What else do you think I can't remember?"

Off the top of her head, there was little to go off of… Or was there?

"Dragons are pretty tough, you ever heard of one bleeding?"

That was an odd question, but she quickly realized she hadn't.

"No, and dragons fight a lot. Is… wait. Why have I never heard of a dragon bleeding? We can’t be that tough."

This was sounding too familiar and Twilight started to think these kingdoms coming together for their summit was the perfect time to unify them.

"I'm not the best at this part of explaining things. I'll try to gather Sniff and as many of our new human friends as we can to help explain things."

Seeing how serious this was becoming, Ember wanted to get a head start.

"Okay, putting all my creeped out feelings aside. What's up with this talk about trying to start a family with a human and asking me how dragons make an egg together? I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

With the prospect of nerding out while boasting of how amazing her human is, Twilight was more than happy to explain.

"This would be so much easier with the movie to show you, but let me start by telling you why humans wear clothes all the time."

Swifty was still accompanying Sniff as Trixie lagged behind, looking visibly annoyed at the energetic discussion between the two.

"You looked really good in that suit, by the way."

Eager for any compliment, Sniff agreed, looking ever so smug at the ego boost.

"I think I did a rather fine job filling out what Rarity made for me. But when do I get to see you all dressed up and fancy?"

Adorably, Swifty laughed off the question, prompting a light groan from their last member.

"You won't be catching me in anything but a suit of armor. Never been much of the dressing up type."

As if on cue, Sniff was quick with a compliment and a smile.

"That's a shame. A cute girl like you wouldn’t need much dressing up to be a real knockout."

Was that a flirt? Was he hitting on his bodyguard? That's the last thing he needed Twilight to hear about. Why was it so hard to stop himself?

"Fine," Swifty answered back through her big smile. "If it pleases you to see me decked out, I'll put a bow in my hair or something tomorrow."

From not too far behind, Trixie groaned in discomfort from the growing display between the two. Not helped by the fact they’d been at this little affair since they left.

"Could you two slow down and stop all the flirting? A sick mare can only handle so much."

Not much farther ahead of her, Sniff silently agreed that the flirting was going on a little too much, but didn't appreciate the attitude. Not that he couldn’t show some snark as well.

"Sorry, Swifty, but we need to slow down for The Great and Sobering Trixie."

Coming to a full stop, he struck a dramatic pose as if giving a dramatic performance on stage.

"Everypony! Stop and watch in amazement as Trixie makes the entire contents of this bottle of Vodka… disappear."

Swifty snorted and did nothing to hold her composure as she laughed at the grand spectacle.

Not done, Sniff turned his attention to Trixie, not pleased with the mockery he gave, still in character.

"For her final act, be amazed at how she does the impossible and turns a pleasant conversation not about her into her own personal problem."

This level of insult was a first for Trixie. Justified to some degree, she knew she was being moody, but his jab came with a delivery even she could appreciate.

At least that seemed to somehow lighten the mood for the rest of the trip. Once they returned, Swift had to check-in, leaving Trixie alone with Sniff.

Leading the way up the first flight of stairs up to Twilight’s study, Trixie curiously asked, "So, ponies and humans is widely accepted thing?"

A little surprised Trixie was asking this, Sniff avoided any flirting and gave a rather straightforward answer.

"Yes, but there's not enough of us to go round. Everyone is already taken."

Not oblivious to what was being implied, Trixie made her position clear.

"Look, Peter. I'm not interested in you or any of your friends. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to cause any problems with ponies having secret affairs and causing division between who was for what you’re doing and who was against it."

Again, Sniff was still surprised by Trixie's point of view on the matter.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that's what you were going for. I've just been dealing with more than I can handle of ponies trying to get with me. So if any problems do occur, it would be from our new girlfriends not sharing enough. And I know this is new to you since you left, but what you’re worried about, the complete opposite has been the case."

If everything she had seen so far was as it seemed, it truly was exactly as Sniff claimed to be. Even other non-ponies were accepting of these relationships.

"I guess so. I just hate for your time here to be… you know."

To be fair, the view of exactly what Trixie was originally concerned about was something even he had shared. Regardless, best not to dwell on what never happened.

"I hear you're doing a show for the kids Chris is watching tonight. That sounds like fun. And speak of the devil."

Fresh from the shower, Chris was making his way downstairs.

"Hey, guys… Where's everyone else?"

Grabbing Chris by the shoulder and turning him around to tag along to the study, Sniff was about to explain.

"Well, buddy. Not everyone was clued in because there was so much going on and we had a shit load of moving parts. Anyways… Becky is off doing her medical stuff like normal, Cerb is chilling with Butter Thighs, pretty sure Lumberman is with is now bedridden waifu-"

"Awe, dude," Chris recoiled at the poor tastes in jokes.

Sniff took a moment to laugh it up over the joke but was quick to get back on his update.

"I guess Kelly is doing her own thing since Big Mac went to check up on Granny, Benny was with me for a while at Rarity’s. That Octavia is hella cute with that accent by the way. But he skipped off with his girls while Pinkie took Prince Rutherford, Gilda, and their plus-ones, except for one royal I'd like you to meet."

Hearing two names Chris hadn't been expecting to come around, he couldn’t hide his brony fueled nerd-gasm.

"What?! The other kingdoms are here? Dude! What's Gilda like?"

Without answering, Sniff just grinned as he opened the door to the study.

"Gilda’s chill, but I figured you like to meet someone else, first."

Inside the study, Twilight was still gushing over her findings.

"-that's because those same nerves actually run all the way along-" She noticed she had a new audience to her explanation of her erotic studies. "Oh, uh… we can pick up on this later."

In more than a hurry, Twilight rushed over to re-acquire some time with her man, leaving the other party in the room alone.

“Peter, thank you again for letting me catch up with Ember. Oh, my gosh. Chris, I know you’re going to love meeting… What happened to your face?”

She gasped, remembering what his plans for the morning were. If things had gotten out of control, she was going to lay down the law something-fierce on the guard she left in charge of him that morning.

“Did Onyx do that to you? Son of a bitch. If word gets out about another Solar Guard assaulting one of you, this is going to look really bad for us.”

Sniff took another look at his friend, and sure enough, he had a shinner starting to darken under his left eye.

“Holy shit, dude. What ha-”

“It’s fine,” Chris calmly answered. “Yes, Onyx did this, but only because we were sparring. He actually did a lot better against my dirty boxing than Cerb.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side, never hearing of such a term.

“What’s dirty boxing? And that doesn’t excuse him from bruising you. If Starlight finds out-”

“Starlight was there,” Chris interjected, a little annoyed at the excess of concern everyone was showing. “I was asked to train Onyx and show him what I know. Putting on our gloves and trading blows-shut up Sniff-is how we train. If he wasn’t punching back, he wouldn’t be able to learn anything other than how to take a beating.”

“Yesh,” Sniff responded through gritted teeth. “How’d that go? Besides the shinner he gave ya?”

Chris grinned and shrugged, inappropriately pleased with how much he still retained over the years… slightly uncomfortable black eye notwithstanding.

“My cardio still sucks, but Onyx wasn’t ready. I think I might have scared Starlight a little on accident, too.”

Taking another look at this shorter, softer looking human, Ember was wondering if he was another warrior like Cerb or Benny had been propped up to be. Then there was the sparring he had done against one of Celestia’s guards, with a style of fighting she’d never heard of. It wasn’t often she met other races that had a culture of aggression like hers. So, naturally, she had to ask.

“What’s dirty boxing? And I’m Princess Em… Oh, Chris. You’re the human that already knows all of us. It’s nice to meet you. Twilight told me about you, but she never mentioned you were a fighter as well.”

Chris excitedly reached out and shook her talon clad hands, realizing too late that any contact with her was no different than with a pony.

Now, as exciting of an idea as it was wooing a princess of his own, let alone a dragon, this was completely uncharted territory that he wasn’t going to risk humoring. Hastily, he pulled his hand back. Already having six mares, and one that was more than willing to fight on his behalf, he wasn’t about to risk an international conflict.

“It’s amazing to meet you. And… uh… yeah. Dirty boxing is really just normal boxing, but exploiting the vulnerabilities another boxer is left open to for things other than punches… essentially fighting dirty and taking cheap shots. It’s nothing impressive, really it’d be more accurate to call it fighting dirty.”

Quick to dispel such a notion, Onyx was standing at the doorway, armored up and still shaken from his session with Chris.

“Cerb toyed with me by letting me think I stood a chance. Chris’s… dirty boxing... It was like one long drawn out game of stand up and sit the fuck down.”

He walked in to join the rest, bowing to both royals in the room.

“Princess Ember, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and Princess Twilight, don’t let this guy fool you. His style of… It’s not even boxing. It’s more like a martial art the way he controls the fight.”

Twilight turned her eyes to Chris, looking him up and down again. She’d heard it mentioned before about how Chris could hold his own, but nowhere on his five-foot four-inch figure did she see a human that could dominate Onyx as Cerb did.

Still not seeing it, Twilight turned to size up Onyx, only to see the puffiness of both his eyes and a swollen lip.

“Holy shit, Onyx! Are you alright?”

Amazingly, Onyx didn’t seem to look like he was in a lot of pain as he nodded.

“Yes, Princess. It was just a training session, so Chris wasn’t angry like Cerb was when I fought him. He just… pointed out a lot of gaps in my defenses.”

Twilight wasn’t putting together how that resulted in his current condition and asked, “By…”

With a defeated sigh and a flinch of his sore muscles, Onyx answered.

“By punching me through them.”

“Not hard!” Chris clarified in a panic, hands raised in defense.

Onyx continued, supporting Chris’s claim.

“Thankfully, Chris is telling the truth. I’ve been hit much harder defending my belt, but never been struck so many times so close together… or been thrown to the floor… or knocked off my hooves... or-”

Needing to stop this incident of what was sounding an awful lot like abuse, Chris stepped over and hugged an arm around his still very sore apprentice.

“Okay, buddy. They get the idea. Let’s not make it sound so one-sided. You learned a lot today and got some pretty good jabs in yourself.”

With a little less pathetic sounding voice, Onyx stood a little taller, recalling the end of their training session.

“Yes, of course. I’ve discovered a good tactic is to wait for an overpowering opponent to tire themselves out to the point they can no longer hold up their arms. After Chris grew too tired to continue holding up his gloves, I was-”

“Goddamnit,” Chris groaned as he stood up and accepted whatever fate awaited him.

After Chris pulled away, Onyx was looking about the many concerned faces, wondering why they looked worried.

“Princess, you must understand, with this style of fighting, the efficiency of the guard would increase immensely. As frightening as it was to see how unprepared I was, I’m looking forward to training again.”

The whole time this odd display was happening, Trixie had also been taking in the fact that Chris had overpowered this large Earth pony guard. Her recollection from her dreams of his other version had dropped Starlight with a single punch. Was this version of Chris just as capable?

There would be time to think about that later, being how Twilight was now ready to speak on the matter.

“I guess so long as Chris is taking it easy on you, and you’re actually going to learn from it, I’ll allow you two to continue training.”

With that settled, she had other matters she needed to address, namely a certain twitch that had been nagging at her for at least the last hour.

“Trixie, I’m glad you came over, and you must still be recovering from last night. We went through this with Starlight once already. You go lay down for a while and we’ll talk in about, say… an hour?”

With a steadily growing scent of sweet perfume becoming more apparent, Chris realized it was time for him to go.

“Hey, Trixie, you go ahead and rest up. I’ll be meeting with Berry Punch to head out to the house with the kids for the show tonight in about three hours or so. So, any time after that, just drop by. After the show we’ll probably just spend the rest of the night watching movies. Onyx, you can come too if you like.”

Tired, but not sleepy, though still working through her hangover, Trixie groaned and turned to leave.

“Very well, Trixie’s stomach has not yet returned to desirable condition. An hour shall be plenty of time to recover. And Chris, be sure my audience is ready for when I arrive.”

Not paying any attention to Trixie going back to her old cocky self, Twilight kept her eyes locked on Sniff.

“Onyx, you should go with Chris. Actually, take at least one of the other Solar Guards with you just in case Chris knocked you around a little too hard.”

As the two departed, Ember, seemingly forgotten about by her host, could see just how serious Twilight was about the nearly impossible feats she had described.

“Uhh… I’ll just see myself out.”

“Hey, Twigs?” Sniff, taking the initiative to help turn Twilight’s head to see the Dragon Lord still standing behind her. “You’re being very rude to your guest.”

Regaining her spatial awareness, Twilight turned around, grossly embarrassed by her loss of focus.

“Ember, I’m sorry, I just-”

With a quick wave of her claws, Ember softly laughed and started towards the door.

“No-no, Twilight. You’re totally fine, and I think I believe what you were telling me about earlier. So, you enjoy yourself for the next… An hour? Really?”

Not so happy with what he was hearing, Sniff spoke up with some aggravated concern.

“Twi?”

Realizing she forgot to tell Ember not to mention any of what she told her, Twilight shrunk beneath him, dropping immediately to her cutest looks she could manage out of reflex.

“I’m sorry, Peter. You showed me so much last night, then everything this morning…”

Not seeing a verbal apology getting her out of this, she switched from cute to sultry, stepping along his side and coarsely dragging her wingtips up his inner leg.

“Then I couldn’t stop thinking about what I must have missed and everything you must have enjoyed with our silver-haired mare... Wondering what it was you did. Wondering what it would have been like if it were me… if I were wearing my cute little skirt again.”

God damn these ponies and what they could do to a man and for what Twilight was about to say.

“Could you give me a hand taking it off if I try it on again for you before I step in the shower?"

Sniff crumbled. Two times in a row of not getting anything in return for these mares was too much to deal with alone."

"You're lucky you look so good in that thing."

Without another word, Twilight winked and vanished in a flash of violet light. Again, kind of rude to ignore not just a guest, but a fellow princess as well. The least Sniff could do would be to apologize and work his charm to smooth things over.

"Princess Ember, you'll have to excuse Twilight. She's been dealing… with…"

Had Ember been there, it likely would have been very effective.

"Egh… she seems chill enough… God damn those fuckings skirts though… Fuck am I hard right now."

He took a moment to steady himself, reassessing where he was with everything and everyone in his social sphere.

Twilight upstairs, the mayor in her office, Oven Fresh at her bakery, Top Shelf was likely due for some more attention, Amethyst wasn’t too far off most likely as well. There was also the trio of florists, but he didn't know if he should approach them individually or if they were already a thing like Fluttershy and Rarity were with Cerb.

And where was Spring Forward in all this? Did she bail or suddenly become too nervous?

There were so many to attend to, and nearly all of them seemed to need his company while begging for his physical attention… yet he was still unsure of himself.

"Twilight," he quietly spoke her name, a private plea for help. "I'm not a monster. I can care… I just need this for a little longer."

Finally reassured he was still in control, he made his exit for Twilight's private chambers.

After very little wait, Lyra was allowed in with no guards to accompany her.

"Good afternoon. I hope this is something important you're bringing me."

Unusually more nervous around the princess than was typical of her, Lyra produced her documents and began her debrief as they levitated up to the throne.

"I do apologize for any inconvenience this may bring, but while observing the human targets, I overheard conversations with Princess Luna-"

"Oh, dear," Celestia interrupted her newest spy. "That rule has always caused so much trouble, I'm terribly sorry. I knew this would become an issue if she stayed there. But yes, you have been doing well and this was the proper thing to do. You really are a standout agent, Golden Mentha."

Lyra bowed again, a proud smile on display over the compliment.

"Thank you, Princess."

Behind the smile, she felt disgusted with herself for what felt like a betrayal to the humans she was trying to protect. Though, perhaps her best efforts to keep them safe could be done in this position.

"I wasn’t aware of the blood-related injuries, or that it was becoming more common, but there are other items I would like to request to keep them within my good graces, as well keeping the best observations of their behaviors."

Celestia sat, calmly looking over the report, suddenly drawing the setup into question.

"Agent Mentha, I’m growing more concerned about these blood-related injuries, and losing Sergeant Major Cutter is going to be a serious loss to our forces… and I can’t even be upset about how Ambassador Sniff helped reunite Cutter with her daughter. I had no idea that there was so much behind their family feud. However, how exactly were you able to listen in on their conversation during a party with loud music and sitting at what must have been at least forty meters away, if I remember the layout as it was of their embassy?"

That question, despite how undermining it was to the trust she had earned, it was still an accomplishment Lyra was proud of.

"Oh, that wasn't easy actually. I used to have a hard time tuning my harp to get the perfect pitch. Then after working with Octavia, she pointed me towards another musical unicorn that had a spell to help her hear a range of tones she wanted to. That spell was taught to me, along with another that blocked out what I didn't want to hear."

Celestia was listening to the back story, becoming rather impressed by the new agent's resourcefulness.

"I focused the spell on the interior of the tent the same way I would to my harp. I’m surprised it worked as well as it did, but I wasn’t able to continue listening after Princess Luna left the tent. There was too much movement going around and I was almost certain any of them would have been able to tell I was listening if they had approached me. That’s why the report stops at the others leaving for Oven Fresh discussing her relationship to Peter with Cutter. I’m assuming that Twilight stayed behind to mediate the discussion, given Cutter’s hostilities towards the arrangement.”

Things were growing more complicated, and potentially harder to control if the humans were winning over so many ponies, and now dating them, according to this report. Celestia was slowly painting herself into a corner with her harsh positions.

“Your concerns have their merit. One of your targets, Benny, was confronted by The Pony of Shadows while assisting Twilight in The Castle of the Two Sisters. The foe admitted to bringing the humans to our world. His plan was to draw power from their misery, much like King Sombra could overpower those he could draw fear from. Fearing for his safety, Benny was forced to fight for his life, and in doing so, completely annihilated his captor. While he was left with no option, and likely unaware of the degree of power he was wielding at the time, Benny has removed our ability to discover what else The Pony of Shadows had set in motion to weaken our defenses. More and more ponies are becoming vulnerable to more serious injuries than we have suffered before.”

She closed the report and reflected grimly over the outlook of future events.

“The safety of Equestria has never hung so delicately on the tipping scales as they do now with the arrival of humans. We will need to continue to monitor them as closely as we can to determine how much of our plans will be altered by their inclusion."

This admission proved another claim of Bon Bon's. There was indeed a plan. There was always a plan, and Lyra was starting to build one of her own now.

"Princess, the humans should be invited to the summit. As their current representative, I can more closely monitor their interactions. I also came here with the intention of auditioning to perform for the event. Even more reason for me to be here and maintain a presence."

Celestia nodded, much of the recent events still weighing on her mind. Not only losing her Good King Sombra but also dwelling on how close her ponies were becoming to the humans, it was all so unfair.

"Very well, Agent Mentha. I will see to it that they are formally invited. Even in spite of my concerns, that was a gross oversight on my part. As for your performance, I'd rather not have you bound to performing. Try to keep it to only one or two songs. I still want you to keep tags on your targets."

Relieved to stay in such close contact with her targets, Lyra bowed in thanks.

"Of course. I'll let them know when I return."

A curious thought began to build in Celestia's mind. Something about the report was pulling at her attention.

"Agent Mentha, before you go, I have both a professional, as well as a personal question for you."

Unsure of what would be asked, but confident in her capabilities to keep her cool, Lyra stood ready.

"Yes?"

Celestia opened the report again, looking over the details and precise language the humans had used. Namely one in particular.

"Professionally, your target, Sniff, or Peter… By reading this report, he sounds as if he genuinely cares about Oven Fresh and even Cutter, yet still encouraged them to fight one another. What is your take on this behavior?"

"My professional opinion, Princess?" Lyra asked, quickly trying to think of anything should be phrased. "I think he saw a problem that couldn't be fixed without allowing the conflict to be addressed for everything it was. And I've met Cutter before, if even only briefly. She was cold and bitter when addressing anypony in public, but I've also seen the inside of her office while addressing special security concerns for some of the delegates coming in from Saddle Arabia. Peter saw something in Cutter I don't think any pony that didn't already know that side of her could have guessed."

Maybe that wasn’t what Celestia wanted to hear, but that was her best take on it, given the lack of preparation.

"So, professionally I'd say Peter understands ponies better than most ponies and can do a lot to help them."

With no change to her expression, Celestia gave another look at the report, then closed it.

"I can see why you would say that. But for you, personally... the same question."

That seemed to throw Lyra for a loop momentarily, but her gut feeling was to be honest.

"Personally, I think Peter is drawn to ponies that need help and are lonely. He could charm the jewels out of your crown with his words alone, or rob you blind with only a soft touch of his hand. Ponies want to be with him… the spa ponies literally tried to buy his time and bribe him by overpaying for him to work there, but he wouldn't let them."

She thought again about the puzzling behaviors from others she'd observed with him. Still trying to figure him out.

"He's incredibly kind and generous and seems to love the reactions he gets from cheering up everypony around him. And yet, Oven Fresh makes it sound like… For some reason, Peter can't have children of his own and will only be here for as long as it takes Twilight to find them a way home…"

She shook her head, not being able to put any of it together, other than her wanting his company.

"I apologize, Princess. I was invited out with Oven Fresh and Peter when I get back. I can't really put to words all that goes along with him when I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Oh, also a slight correction that will come with my next report, Peter and Oven Fresh aren’t exactly dating. For as much as he obviously cares about her, and she does for him, they’re not really committed to each other… I think I’m going on a date with Peter tonight and Oven Fresh is joining us, but Oven Fresh asked me out on his behalf… as a practice date?”

For a moment, Celestia deadpanned at that last update. This was already messed up enough as it was and she needed to focus on more immediate concerns if her agent with the most intel couldn’t even explain what was happening.

“I’m just going to pretend like you misspoke and imagine something that makes sense was said until your next report can properly explain things."

With as crazy as things were going, even Celestia needed a mental break from this and set the folder down. As she set it down, she noticed something scribed on the back.

While impressive, it was still very unbecoming of an agent.

"Agent Mentha, I do appreciate the depth of detail to all the work you do, but I would prefer you not to submit any of your reports in folders with doodles of… I'm assuming Peter’s hands."

Lyra blushed deeply and recoiled a bit at her slight blunder.

"Sorry, Princess. It was a long train ride over and I got bored."

"Welcome to our humble little home," Octavia welcomed Benny as she opened the door. "It may not be as spacious or as well furnished as yours, but it's still perfectly liveable."

Without a care in the world, Vinyl strutted in like she owned the place… and she did.

"Yeah, it's big enough to hold all our stuff. I could always get a bigger place if you moved in."

While Octavia froze in place at the suggestion, Benny just laughed.

"Well, since I have a home that's probably bigger than any of the others in town, that would seem a little counter-productive to have me downsizing to a house outside of my own country."

Still in the middle of setting up her equipment, Vinyl stopped and remembered just how big Benny’s place was.

"Oh, yeah. Well, maybe one day we could move in with you. Make everything official. Know what I'm saying?"

Benny couldn't tell if this verbal filter-free DJ was just goofing around or just overly confident. Either way, Octavia was interested in jumping to such conclusions.

"Vinyl, my goodness. Couldn't you wait till at least… I don't know. Anything past the second day of dating to consider moving in together?"

Nearly done, Vinyl stopped short of pressing the on button. Even with her heavy shades, both could tell just how blank of an expression she stood with. Then, after five seconds of thought, Vinyl shrugged and powered up her mix table.

"I dunno. I had you move in with me and we didn't date."

She cracked a smile like she just won outright with logic. It would have been a sweet victory in her own mind but she snapped out of it and raised her shades before she was able to demonstrate her new tunes.

In fact, she looked completely shocked by something.

"Holy flutes, Tavi! Last night! That was our first date!"

Octavia’s ears shot up on alert and her coat nearly stood on end. All along with some rather rosy cheeks.

"Vinyl! That wasn't our date! We were both with Benny."

Likely realizing she hadn’t been clear, Vinyl lowered her shades and cracked a smile.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. Last night we both had our first date. I mean… Wow, ya know? What are the odds our first date would be with the same stallion who ended up being our first coltfriend at the same time?"

While it appeared that Vinyl was wholesale-sold on the coincidences piling up, she lowered one headphone down and loaded up the last track she was working on. Whatever she thought about what was happening, she sounded happy about it.

"I tell ya, Tavi. It's like the fates just want to keep us together or something."

With her machine's setup, she adjusted the volume and cocked a grin at her roommate.

"But don't worry about it, babe. The world just knows better than to try and keep us apart."

Remembering the private conversation Benny had with Octavia that morning, he looked down at her, a small grin curling up.

Octavia smiled back, still amazed he was so accepting of her own unclear mindset.

Otherwise, the other mare not in the know was trying to remember where she left off with her latest mix.

“Hey, Benny Boy. You mind giving a listen to what I’ve been working on? It’s supposed to be like the music we all danced to at your welcome party. It’s a lot harder to remake with so many different sounds. I bet Tavi would have an easier time with the music yer buddy Sniff danced to the mayor with.”

If that was their plan for the rest of the day, Benny would be more than happy to assist them. It couldn’t be that hard since he still had his phone on him.

“Well, while ya both have me here, I got plenty of tunes. Let’s hear what ya got.”

Welp, Sniff sure was right about him showing up was going to be distracting. Certainly seemed to be a distraction for Ember by the poacher. The yaks and griffons seem to be getting along pretty well, too, with Guilda providing some comic relief. Of course, some complications might be popping up with Twilight and Rarity just thinking about... things.

Down at the hardware store, things ended up better than Lumberman, Applejack, and Hard Hat would have thought... Not much else to say there.

Over at the hospital, however. Oh, Becky... She probably could have gone without having to deal with Doctor Horse. Priapism is no joke, but it was kind of funny that's what he thought he was dealing with.

Also, props for Rainbow turning that setup back onto Becky. Skipping down a little farther, here's hoping that things will be better in the Chrystal empire.

Back with Fluttershy 'ole girl got her chance to have Cerb wear her out and attempt to breed her. However, she wasn't enough to wear him out while doing most of the work.

Then again, that's where Rarity would likely step in to take over. At least that gave Cerb a chance to ask one question that Fluttershy felt confident about, and another she probably would have loved to hear.

Taking a trip over to Chris, had to reign in Starlight before she created some unneeded drama (if she hasn't already). That, and dude has got some moves Onyx wasn't ready for. And if you're familiar with any of the dirty boxing moves you're not allowed to do in the ring... that shit's called dirty for a reason.

Oh... that's right. It was Derpy and Redheart that had a lunch date. Of course, eating in quickly turned to eating out. At least after Derpy got stuffed in hopes of getting ready for Chris.

Oops. We weren't done with Chris. Seems to look like he can more than hold his own, just not for long.

A little later on, Chris managed to hold off Starlight long enough to avoid spoiling her date. That girl has a thirst, I tell ya. Thankfully, though. Poof! She had an out.

Elsewhere in the castle, Twilight was still bragging about her new boy-toy. That also led to her finding out it's not just ponies that don't seem to have a grasp on their sexuality. They're not even the only ones unfamiliar with blood-related injuries... Strange.

But who has time for that curiosity of life and death when Twilight can talk about Sniff's dick and wonders of sex.

Speaking of Sniff, after his fitting, he's still having a good 'ole time with Swifty. Good enough to turn Trixie's stomach, which might have been a good thing if he's trying to restrain himself.

Also adding to his efforts to restrain himself, Chris was a good distraction... as was the bruise Onyx left behind. In fact, so was the back and forth Chris had to deal with between him and Ember and him and Onyx being a little over honest with how their training session went.

Of course, Trixie being there should have changed Twilight's priorities, but how could that happen with Sniff there after telling Ember God only knows what.

She left so quickly, she let Ember wander off on her own... and that can't be good.

Finally, another update from Canterlot, Celestia had a little chit-chat with Lyra, AKA, Agent Golden Mentha. Of which, Lyra seems to be doing a good job covering for her targets. Even Celestia is surprised by what she's read in the report. Also, very confused by this new dating practice.

Lastly, we were able to finish off with Benny spending more time with Octavia and Vinyl. I tried to make it cute and light-hearted. Hopefully, they can enjoy their time together before the other plans they have for the night.

What kind of plans? What's going to obviously interrupt them? Find out next week in: