Threnody prodded at the rather sad-looking carrot on her plate of steamed vegetables. The carrot had so much in common with her, beside the depressive and lumpy root vegetable appearance, of course. Both were small, deficient in vitamin C, and Blackjack creepily wanted them to interact with her genitals.

There was one key difference between the two, however. Something that left Threnody in her current funk. Yet, how could she even explain something like that?

She sighed loudly and bit into the carrot, grinding it between her teeth with great effort. It tasted like dirt.

“Something’s the matter?” her companion asked.

Threnody looked across the fire at Blackjack, and slowly shook her head. “It’s… it’s nothing.”

“Oh no, something’s up, I know that look.” Blackjack snorted and rolled her eyes. “What did I do this time?”

“For once…” Threnody scrunched her muzzle and finished off the rest of her carrot in one bite, “absolutely nothing at all.”

“That’s… surprising.”

“Blackjack, can I ask you a question?” Threnody said, pursing her lips.

“Sure? What’s on your mind?”

Threnody paused for a second, running the question through her brain.

Was Blackjack honestly the best pony to talk about this with?

However, she knew that there really wasn’t anypony else.

So… fuck it?

“Do you ever get… urges?” she asked.

Blackjack snorted. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific there. Are we talking about murder urges, horny urges, or the like the urge to cook up a nice meal?”

“Like…” Threnody tapped her hooves together, “urges that kind of make you feel funny?”

“Wait, how old are you?”

“Uh… fourteen?”

Blackjack shook her head. “And neither Sandalwood or Slate had the talk with you.”

Threnody’s cheeks warmed. “Wait, what? No, they totally…”

“Well, you see…” Blackjack sighed, as she vaguely gestured with her hoof. “How did my mom put this? So, there’s like… this gryphon and there are some… bees? And what happens is that the bees are forced to put the gryphon into captivity and extract honey from his, uhm, dong because, well…” More vague gestures, “reasons.”

“I think we had drastically different sex eds,” Threnody muttered.

“That…” Blackjack snorted, “is incredibly likely. I don’t know if you knew this but my Stable was kind of a little fucked up.”

“Yes, a little.” Threnody sighed and placed her half-finished plate off to the side. “But no, I meant more like… do you get weird urges related to certain… like… ideas.”

Blackjack looked puzzled for a moment before clarity crossed her face in a perverse smirk. “Oh, so you mean, do I have any kinks?”

“Is that what they’re called?”

“Yep.” Blackjack chuckled. “It sounds like you might’ve got yourself a kink. It’s okay, tons of ponies have them. I, for one…” She placed a hoof proudly to her chest, “have many.”

“That… isn’t remotely surprising.”

“Hey, what can I say, when you’ve been through hell, you’re bound to get off from being burned. I think that’s how the saying goes.”

“That’s honestly a little concerning,” Threnody murmured.

“So anyways…” Blackjack leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear, “spill the beans, what is your special little kink?”

Threnody’s face warmed. “It’s… embarrassing.”

“All the best ones are.” Blackjack grinned even wider. “Come on, you have to tell me, you’ve got me interested.”

“I…” Threnody sighed. “Promise not to judge?”

Blackjack held a hoof to her heart. “Scout’s honour.”

“Alright, so…” Threnody inhaled, “I kind of want to maybe… be like…” She tapped her hooves together, her voice dropping to a whisper, “get eaten.”

Blackjack blinked; her expression impossible to read.

“Blackjack?” Threnody asked, concern dripping from her voice.

“I’m judging.”

Threnody’s face lit up. “You promised you wouldn’t!”

“That’s because I had no idea how fucking weird it was going to be!”

“It’s… it’s not weird,” Threnody stammered.

“It’s pretty fucking weird, dude.”

Threnody looked away and sighed. “Okay, fine, it’s… a little out there, I’ll admit.”

“Why are all you Heartmenders like this,” Blackjack grumbled, running an exasperated hoof down her face.

“Wait?” Threnody swallowed a lump in her throat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Literally all of you mind-reading weirdos have strange kinks?”

“We… don’t read minds.”

“Regardless, clearly Heartshine is doing something to you lot, because every single one of you has a weird kink.”

“I don’t think that I want to…” Threnody began.

However, Blackjack cut her off. “Like gods, I thought it was a one-off that Slate wanted me to call him big brother.”

Threnody pursed her lips, her expression rapidly evolving to one which begged for a quick and merciful death.

Sadly, Blackjack was not in one of her killing moods.

Instead, Blackjack waved her hoof, gesturing towards nothing. “And yeah, I’ll admit that I was kind of getting into it when Sandalwood asked me to pee on her, but still! Does your power just have this unintentional side effect of making you all deviants, or do you just pick up on enough pervy vibes that these things just manifest within you.”

Threnody opened her mouth. “I…” And promptly closed it.

“Sorry, sorry.” Blackjack shook her head. “Just got off on a bit of a tangent there. Maybe it’s best that we change the subject.”

Threnody nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea.”

The two of them looked across the fire at one another, neither seeming to know what to really follow this revelation with.

Finally, Blackjack worked her jaw. “So…”

“So?” Threnody offered back.

“Do you like… want me to eat you… because I mean I’m totally willing to give it a try.”

This is also the chapter where i confirm that I apparently only have material pertaining to Speak.

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