Chapter 1: Proposition

The First Gentleman

Chapter 1: Proposition

It really was a beautiful day, far too nice to be indoors, but tell that to the rest of the world...

I don’t think I’d ever been as content as I was just sitting there in that one spot, in that one oddly tranquil moment. Only in retrospect do I realise how apt it was that the last moments in my life before it got hurled into upheaval were peaceful:

I was sitting in the calm before the perfect storm.

I looked up from idly plucking at the strings of my guitar to survey Central Park around me.

I was sat atop one of the rock formations, strumming away as I did on most summer weekdays during lunch.

Only, today was different...

There was nobody else around.

I’d like you to think about that for a moment: I was sat in the middle of Central Park West Historic District, right in the heart of New York City at lunch time, and there was not a single soul in sight. The only sound of life was the distant occasional honking of horns in the almost equally empty streets.

Everyone was at home of course. Everybody was watching the broadcast: the first official public appearance made by the leaders of the new civilization that had appeared quite literally by magic on our doorstep.

I’d heard rumours that several scientists had driven themselves mad trying to work out why the sudden mass displacement caused by the appearance of the new island and the continent that lay beyond it hadn't caused worldwide floods killing millions.

Apparently, a wizard did it…

No, seriously…

Zap. New world. Just like that.

Okay, I’ll admit it: a wizard didn’t do it. That would be ridiculous.

No, it was actually a talking purple unicorn pony…with magic powers.

Yeah.

But yes, ponies. Did I mention the ponies? Yeah, apparently there are pegasi now too. Go figure.

Needless to say, when I’d awoken one day to over two hundred Twitter messages on my phone, all basically saying something along the lines of ‘OMFG F*@CKING PONIES!!’, turning on the news had been a somewhat surreal experience.

And, after confirming that somebody hadn’t tampered with my TiVo, and that I wasn’t simply tripping my gentlemanly parts off, I promptly moved on to the next most rational course of action:

I proceeded to point at my TV screen and laugh hysterically for nearly half an hour straight.

The two Pegasus ponies had appeared first. And naturally, the religious nuts who had already started pelting out their warnings about the apocalypse being nigh nearly went berserk when actual horses appeared.

Get it? Horses…apocalypse?

Neither did I.

This was somewhat blown out of the water though when four others had shown up, making six.

One of them, a bright pink one, somehow knew of the Four Horsemen allusion (without actually being told about it in advance) and declared herself to be ‘Brother Fun,’ and then carried on to say, ‘and this is my friend: Brother Bookworm,’ she’d then indicated a purple unicorn by her side, who then proceeded to glare at her in response.

The elderly admiral in charge of the fleet assigned to investigate the new landmass had fearfully, and somewhat embarrassingly, given into his own superstitions and asked the blue pegasus if she was ‘Brother War’. The Pegasus had then informed the old man, in a somewhat indignant fashion, that she was in fact a girl, and not to call her ‘brother’.

The admiral’s response was, ‘You’re a girl?’

The Pegasus had then promptly proceeded to smack the old man upside the head in retaliation, leading to a Twitter storm of people declaring that they ’liked the cut of rainbow pony’s jib’.

I gave that one a retweet.

But I digress…

I glanced down at the smartphone resting on the rock between my thighs.

I stopped my plucking briefly to chuckle at a particularly hilarious quip by the pony leader, Princess Celestia, about turning everyone into ponies. Strangely enough, nobody else seemed to get it.

I watched the feed on the small screen for a while until the ceremony was over and Celesta had departed, leaving her sister, Princess Luna, to handle the general briefing and Q&A sessions that followed.

“I thought I might find you here...” I looked up at the sound of the voice.

Standing on the footpath below was James Carrell: Childhood friend and U.N. liaison, “Shouldn’t you be huddled round a TV set like everyone else?” he asked.

Jim was dressed formally as usual in one of his traditional black suits. I wondered briefly how he wasn’t sweating like a pig in it under the baking summer sun. His cropped black hair was as tidily combed as always.

Needless to say, his neatness was a far cry from my ripped jeans and rough cut auburn bangs.

I set my guitar down sideways in my lap and leaned back, resting my hands behind my head to look down at Jim, “On a day as nice as this? You must be mad. Besides, being huddled around a TV with your family in awe like it’s the moon landing or something, now that’s just far too clichéd. The only worse crime would be for me to be in Times Square, watching it up on the big screen with the rest of the crowd.”

He smiled, “I suppose you have a point.”

I cocked my head, “I usually do…”

I found myself frowning in slight confusion, “What about you, Jim? What in the heck is our government’s main US-Equestria liaison doing out here talking to an unemployed bum like me while all this is going on?” I asked, pointing down at the live stream on my phone.

“Unemployed?” he echoed, “Thought you had gigs lined up…”

I leaned back to observe the skies and breathed out a weary sigh, “Note the past tense, Jimmy: thought. Such is the life of a struggling musician. But don’t worry about me, I’ll get by.”

“I always worry about you. Someone has to, especially since you continually lie to your mother about your employment status.”

I groaned, “I know... I keep telling her things are progressing each time we talk. It’s getting a bit embarrassing really. By all rights I should be some kind of fusion of Bon Jovi and friggin’ Mozart by this point…”

My brow furrowed and I sat back up into a cross legged position, “I’m sensing you’re dodging the question, Jim. What are you doing here? Sure, I could be doing better things with my time, but you on the other hand really should.”

He waved it off and began slowly pacing. My suspicions rose, “Celestia’s done with her speech and I’ve got an hours’ time out. Her own attendants can take care of her needs for a while.”

I hummed, “Hmm, hanging with the Princesses? I’m almost envious. Celestia seems nice. I like her sense of humour."

”You would…” he grumbled, hands clasped behind his back, still pacing.

He then stopped, turned on his heels to face me and raised an index finger as if to make a point.

He opened his mouth to speak.

“No.” I cut in before he could get a word out.

Jim scowled, “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“You didn’t have to. You had your ‘I have a proposition for you, Sam’ face on. And not the good ‘I have a proposition for you, Sam: it’ll end up getting you a gig or a cushy part time job.’ face. No, you’ve got your ‘I have a proposition for you, Sam: Join me on my business trip to Taiwan, where we won’t get hammered out of our skulls and you won’t, under any circumstances, wake up with a tattoo that you’ll have to hide from your mother up to this day, and you most certainly won’t end up having an erotic encounter with a woman who will turn out not to be entirely female’…face on.”

Jim hummed and rocked on the balls of his heels, “And yet you always refer to her as ‘she’ in conversation…”

I looked away, “I refer to people by whatever their gender identity may be. It’s only proper.”

“Of course…” he said, “but seriously-“

“-No…” I cut in

“At least hear me-“ he tried to say.

“-Don’t care…”

“Well you could at least-“

“-Not listening, tra la la la…”

He was quiet for a moment, “Don’t be a dick, Sam.”

I clammed up on reflex. Jim has the ability to make people do that; must be a diplomat thing. Rumour has it that he said the same thing to the North Korean delegate once. Didn’t help much, but it did at least manage to shut him up. Being able to stun a man ranting about drowning you in nuclear fire into dead silence is probably what landed him his current surreal assignment.

Being only twenty-two and a year my senior, Jim was one of the most junior members in the diplomatic core and what you might call a prodigy. I suppose they also thought that the imagination and open mindedness that came with youth might help when dealing with magical talking ponies.

I heaved a defeated sigh, and beckoned a weary hand, “Speak…”

“How kind,” he intoned, “You’re right, Samuel-“

“-Dude…” I cut in, loathing it when he called me by the name only my mother did or was allowed to.

“That’s what you get for being such a douche.”

“Being called a douche by a politician? I really have sunk low. Carry on.”

Jim smiled reluctantly. All this was no worse than any of our usual banter, and so he inclined his head and carried on as requested, “As I was saying: You’re right, or at the very least…half right.”

I cocked an eyebrow, idly playing with a tuning key, “Half right?”

He inclined his head, “This…will seem crazy, Sam. You might say its half-way between both those kinds of propositions you mentioned.”

“I’m not clear on crazy. Put a figure to it for me on a scale of one to ten: One being Friday at my place watching cartoons while drunk as skunks; ten being that weekend we spent in Amsterdam when we ended up getting married just to get the newlywed special at that muffin joint next to the chapel.”

“Firstly, never, ever mention that again, and in answer to your query…hmm…about a seven, at worst seven and a half…”

I nodded ponderingly, “So, merely on the precipice of being batcrap crazy then. Very well, regale me with your insanity.”

“Okay,” he said, turning to climb onto my rock and sit down by me. He extended a hand off into the distance, “Sam Sebastian McNamara, imagine for a moment, if you will: a brave new world; a world of wonder, a world of-“

“-You’re sending me to ponyland, aren’t you?”

Jim froze, mouth still open, hand still extended, “…Maybe,” still holding that posture, his eyes flicked to me, “You game?”

My shoulders sank. It wasn’t the maddest thing he’d tried to rope me up in (Seriously, he is considered the mature one out of us), “Continue…”

He dropped his hand to his side and shuffled closer, pretence dropped, “Right. Here’s the thing: Celestia, you know her, right?”

I nodded and rolled my eyes, “The big horny pony? Yeah, who doesn’t?”

“Y-yeah, she doesn’t like that name so much, especially after I explained the innuendo.” He cocked his head, “Luna found it hilarious though...”

“Huh, okay. Carry on.”

“Right, the thing is, Celestia is looking to better relations between our two societies, as you do, and she came up with an idea: an exchange program.”

“I don’t like where this is going…”

“Hear me out, Sam. The deal is: We take a select group from all walks of life, professions, social classes, et cetera. You know: people who can spread the good word about the alien culture among their people, and we swap them over: immerse them in the other society so they can later return and instill all they've learned into every level and demographic.”

“And what demographic am I supposed to represent; the unemployed musicians of America?”

“You’re on Twitter; you have a good few thousand followers thanks to your music, god knows how…“

“-Dick-”

“-Pot, kettle, black, moving on. And there are a lot of unemployed young people out there with their finger on the electronic pulse, Sam. That’s a lot of ears and a lot of voices. There are few more vocal than those who would put on their census form ‘from the Internet’.”

“So you want me to go there and tweet about my experiences in the hope that, what? It’ll go viral?”

Jim cocked his head, “Officially, it’s just a gesture of goodwill between us. We’ll be getting some of their ponies coming here in return, of course.”

“But off the record…?” I asked, “Propaganda?”

“No, Sam. This is merely education; spreading the good word, like I said. That is all Celestia intends, and we agree with her.”

Jim sighed and deflated somewhat, “Come on, Sam. It’s nothing nefarious. Just go, have fun and let some people know about it. You’ll be helping to alleviate a lot of the fear that’s still simmering among the people.”

I had to admit: like me, James did know how to make a good point. The last thing any of us wanted to see was a war being started out of fear and ignorance…

I nodded, “I suppose I could use a vacation, but what about expenses?”

“All paid, as well as five hundred bits a day spending money. And if you need more, all you need do is ask.”

“Bits?”

“Local currency.”

I groaned, “Horses…I get it.”

Jim frowned, “You’re not an internet reviewer, Sam, so please don’t…“he suddenly cut himself off, “On second thoughts, yes: Do just that. You go review the hell out of that place, anally retentive sarcasm and all. It’ll make it seem all the more genuine.”

“The first human in Equestria…” I mused, “Hmm…”

“You won’t be the first human there, Sam. We’ve got boots on the ground already.”

“Oh…”

“We’re being diplomatic, Sam, not mad. You really think we’d want our Equestrian Neil Armstrong to be an out of work, tone-deaf musician?”

“Ouch, right in the soul.”

Jim looked at his watch and sighed, “I’ve gotta get back. Look, Sam, do you want to go on the stupid magical adventure to the land of unicorns and ponies or don’t you?”

“The last time you asked me that I woke up two days later in A&E with my hair dyed six different colours…how in the hell are you a diplomat again?”

“Through no small amount of cunning and very wise manipulations of the departmental sick leave policy. What’ll it be?”

“Are you using that cunning now? Are you manipulating me in some way to further your own goals and career?”

“Blatantly and unashamedly,” he replied with an emphatic nod.

“At least you’re honest about it…”

“When aren’t I?” he asked, withdrawing a business card and jotting down what appeared to be a date and address on it. He glanced over his shoulder as the sound of a horn honking not far off echoed.

He held the card out between us, “What’s your choice, Sam?”

I zipped my guitar up in its bag and slung it over my shoulder. My eyes flicked down to the card as Jim waved it between his fingers.

I swiped the card up.

Jim smirked, “You won’t regret this, Sam.”

“I already am…” I deadpanned, turning to walk off as Jim headed for the waiting car.

Jim’s voice followed me a second later, “Oh, and Sam?”

I stopped and glanced back, “What is it?”

Jim had stopped and was looking right at me, “I'll be seeing you before you depart, but let me take this opportunity to plead: When you do get there, please try and stay out of trouble…”

It was my turn to smirk, and I relished the quick flash of worry that briefly crossed Jim’s face, “Oh, don’t worry, James.” I said, my tone bordering on sly, “I assure you: I’ll be the perfect gentleman…”

To be continued…

Chapter 2: The Observer

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Chapter 2: The Observer

I regarded my holdall with a frown as it lay open on my bed.

During the last few briefing sessions, Jim had said that I could be gone for as long as six months depending on circumstance, with options for extension on top of that to boot.

I should have been packing every last thing I owned. I might as well have considering how long I was going to be away. Jim said my furniture would all be put in storage and my apartment lease taken care of by the government.

He’d actually taken care of all the red tape with quite disturbing ease. It reeked of the sort of simplicity that came with doing nothing more than hurling bucket loads of money at a problem until it solved itself.

I spared a glance about.

I wasn’t sure why I’d gone through the trouble of cleaning up the mountains of clutter that had been my life prior to departure, especially since I wouldn’t even be living in the same apartment once I got back, but there had just been something unsettling about the prospect of leaving all that mess behind, as if it might somehow be waiting for me upon my return. Now there wasn’t so much as a single pile of empty pizza boxes or beer bottle turned candle holder in sight.

I surveyed the contents of my bag: Clothes; shoes; brushes; toiletries; more toiletries (you can never be too careful); throwing knives (more a party piece than actual defensive weaponry, I assure you); guitar maintenance kit; laptop; chargers…

I’d been informed that I’d be living out of a hotel for the first little while, at least until temporary residence could be set up for the duration of my stay.

Apparently they didn’t have electricity out there either, so the solar chargers provided by Jim would mostly go towards keeping my phone charged.

I’d been assured that satellite coverage had been angled down and bounced through several sea platforms set up near the portal, that way visitors to Equestria wouldn’t be stranded without communications. This had apparently been very expensive to organise. Not only were the platforms extremely costly, but there were apparently other mechanics not known to the general public that also cost a bomb.

With little else for it, I changed into a simple travelling ensemble of new, non-worn jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt. I then moved to zip up my bag, but not before stashing inside that one bottle of illegal strength tequila Jim and I smuggled back from Mexico six months prior.

I picked up the TV remote and was about to turn it off, but I found myself hesitating, “No TV for six months…?”

“Coming up next!” chirped an announcer suddenly, “A full day of your favourite reality TV shows! Starting with ‘I Used to be a Celebrity, Get me-“ I cut her off with a disgusted stab of the power button.

I smiled, shouldering my guitar and dragging up my holdall from the futon. “No TV for six months…”

I was forced to set the bag down however when my phone started buzzing.

I pulled the handset free and glanced briefly at the screen before accepting the call, “Jimmy boy…” I answered, picking my bag back up with my free hand, “You just caught me on my way out.”

“Glad to hear it, but don’t worry about getting a cab over. Just lock your front door from the inside and leave the key in the bowl. The removal and storage firm already has your mother’s spare key. They’ll let themselves in and lock up when they’re done.”

I frowned in confusion, pulling my keys from the lock and tossing them into the fruit bowl on the coffee table, “Okay…but how am I supposed to get to the rendezvous point if I’m locked in my apartment?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” he asked, and I really didn’t like the amused inflection in his voice.

“Didn’t tell me what?”

“You’re technically along as my special guest. That means, Sammy, you get special treatment.”

“I don’t like it when you say ‘special treatment’ in the context of us travelling. It usually ends up bad for me.”

“Come on, Sam. If you can’t trust good ol’ Jim ‘Honest’ Carrell, who can you trust?”

I was about to remind Jim that his middle name was actually ‘Moriarty’ (seriously), but he’d already terminated the call.

I looked warily at the LCD display. It was never a good omen when Jim got the last word in.

That was when I noticed the chill in the room. It quickly progressed to the point where I could actually feel the temperature plummet as an icy wind seemed to swirl into existence all around me.

“I’m going to kill him…” was all I could say as swirls of midnight blue smoke began gathering out of nowhere.

The aura accumulated rapidly above my futon and expanded, materialising with a crash of deafening thunder into the unmistakable form of Princess Luna who, oddly enough, was donned in what appeared to be a tailor made ‘I heart NY’ t-shirt.

“Oh, sweet Jesus…”

“Nay!” she bellowed, rearing back on her hind legs and messing up the sheets I had just smoothed out, “It is I: Princess-” she was cut off however as a piercing noise filled the apartment, “What in Equestria is that?”

I looked at her blankly, “You just set off my smoke alarm…” and I felt painfully silly jumping up and waving a dishcloth at the annoying device on the ceiling until it stopped its incessant wailing while Luna watched.

I tossed the cloth into the sink and turned back to the Princess, who now had one of her forelegs raised slightly in a posture of uncertainty. I also noted that she seemed to be sweating, as if the mere act of teleporting from her quarters in the U.N. building across town had drained her.

I sighed and took hold of her raised limb to politely assist her down.

“Thank you, kind sir,” she said, and I watched as her aura quickly shrank down into her flowing mane.

“Y-yeah…” I responded, shifting nervously. Luna then did the same.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“So…” I said, twiddling my thumbs in front of me, “umm…Hi?”

“Greetings.”

It really was a bit difficult to know what to say, “So…you’re Princess Luna then, are you?”

And yes, it was a stupid question since everyone and their aunt knew who Luna and Celestia were, but my brain really wasn’t working correctly at that precise moment.

“Indeed,” replied Luna, “And you are Sam. Jim has requested we call you Samuel, as is apparently your preference.”

I gritted my teeth and did my best to smile, “It is indeed, your majesty.”

“Ah, we are glad. We are fond of Jim; he amuses us with his anecdotes. We would have been most upset if we let him down by putting our hoof in our mouth.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him that…” I muttered, “At the risk of sounding insolent: is there something I can actually do for you, your highness?”

“Nay, ‘tis we who are here to render the assistance!” she said, her voice briefly losing its indoor volume.

“What do you mean?”

“Art thou ready to depart?” she asked, seemingly preferring not to answer my question.

“I suppose…” I sighed, “but there’s just one last thing I need to do before we go…”

I quickly pulled my phone out and set the camera to reverse. I then shuffled closer to Luna, “Best start now. If you’d be so kind as to smile, your highness…”

“Ah, of course…” said Luna, who seemed more than happy to smile for the selfie.

And as it was sort of my duty to report it, I went on to attach the photo to a message for all to see.

@MusicMan3142 About to leave with @MoonPrismPrincess for #Equestria. Wish me luck!

I heard a quiet buzz from somewhere close by and I watched as Luna blinked. To my surprise, she then proceeded to reach down the front of her t-shirt and pulled free what was unmistakably a smartphone attached to a chord round her neck. Her face lit up, “Huzzahs! We have been mentioned on the Twitter!”

“Y-yes, that would’ve been me…right now.”

“Indeed.” She chimed. And I noticed that she seemed oddly gleeful over such a simple thing, “Then observe as we invoke the star glyph.” She leaned forward and tapped part of the screen with her horn, “This shall let others know we approve of thy message. We shall also start pursuing you, that way we shall be informed of-”

“-I…I know it works, Princess,” I cut in as gently as possible, doing my best not to hurt her feelings, especially since she seemed so bizarrely proud of knowing how it functioned.

She smiled and dropped her phone back down the front of her shirt, “Indeed. Then we shall depart immediately.”

I picked my bag back up, “Good. So how are we actually getting to the rendezvous point?” I inquired. I was briefly worried that she might be intending to actually fly us there. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not implying that soaring on the back of a winged unicorn over New York wouldn’t be anything short of immense fun, just that it might be impractical considering my luggage.

“Like this…” replied Luna, and I suddenly noticed the magical aura that was gathering all about us.

“Oh y-you can not be seriously intending to…” I stammered as I suddenly found myself being hoisted off the ground along with Luna, “You’re not scrambling my molecules, Princess!”

“Do not worry, Samuel. We have done this spell many times before with humans accompanying us.”

“Really? And how many is many?”

“Five. And it worked perfectly well on all four occasions.”

“W-well that’s…wait…what?!”

Luna didn’t respond.

I opened my mouth to scream a series of choice four letter expletives at her, but was cut off by a bright flash of silver light that seemed to engulf everything...

---

I landed flat on my backside on a cold paved surface. My holdall was beside me, my guitar bag hugged in my arms. There was also a very annoying noise coming from somewhere close by.

It took me a moment to realise that the noise was me screaming like a little girl.

I heaved a breath to shut myself up and wiped the cold sweat from my brow.

“We have arrived,” announced Luna from my side, seeming totally composed as ever. I did however notice that she seemed somewhat weak at the knees.

I recalled what had been said about magic not functioning well in our world. I’m guessing therefore it probably took a princess to perform even the slightest teleportation spells unaided while outside of Equestria. Regardless of her discomfort however, the point still stands:

“Never…ever do that again,” I gasped.

Instead of Luna however, it was a different voice that responded, “Oh come now, Sam. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

I looked up to see Jim. He was in the process of standing up from his seat at a table out front of an almost Parisian style café that we had landed in front of.

I watched as he approached Luna’s side and rested a hand on her neck. He leaned in and I was shocked to see him pass her a brief, yet still genuinely concerned look.

Luna just smiled tiredly and nodded her head. Jim returned the smile and stood up again, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing at her neck. Interestingly, he seemed to miss the sudden intake of breath the princess took at the touch.

All was silent and I realised we’d attracted more than a little attention from passers-by, but then I suppose teleporting princesses and screaming musicians just tended to do that.

It was only then however that I took in my surroundings: This wasn’t New York, the air was far too clean, and everything else in general just seemed to be more peaceful.

I looked up.

A huge castle that seemed to be built into a mountainside dominated my view. All around me, buildings whose architecture was clearly not of twenty-first century design lined the cobblestone streets.

Then there were the people, who weren’t people at all.

They were ponies.

I felt my gaze pull back to Jim, the only other biped in sight. His eyes narrowed, “Welcome to Canterlot, Sam.”

I drew myself up as if in a trance, “Canterlot?” I breathed, “This…is Equestria?”

He inclined his head, “I thought it best we get you here via the express route. The other humans have already been shipped off to their designated areas.”

“But that’s…impossible,” I said, “I mean it’s one thing to teleport across a town, but how on Earth did Luna manage to teleport from the East Coast of the U.S., all the way to the portal, and then all the way to Canterlot in one go?”

Jim inclined his head acceptingly, “With great difficulty, and it only works at certain times, like when the sun is at a particularly high point on either side, or when both moons are aligned at certain points in their cycles.

“We also set up spell enhancement gems. There’s one in New York; one near the portal; and one between there and here. The teleportation spell is essentially bounced from one to the other like lightning being passed between rods. You were attracted here because I’d been carrying one in expectation of your arrival. The other program members that arrived earlier would’ve ended up at the palace with Princess Celestia as per normal procedure.”

I nodded slowly, “I guess that’s clever: If there’s barely any magic on Earth, import some to make up for it.”

Jim shook his head, “Clever, perhaps, but regretfully still very inefficient…”

As if to make his point, he opened his hand to reveal a pile of sparkling black dust, “They burn themselves out after one use, and that’s all the way down the line. But short of transporting everyone by ship back and forth, or until we have something better set up on a permanent basis, this is the best we have. But as we say: it’s early days yet.

“The main actual problem is the extreme fatigue and strain the trip causes in the one casting the spell,” his eyes turned to Luna again.

“And we have told you, James: thy concern is very touching, but unwarranted.”

“If you say so…” he muttered, “That reminds me,” he said, “Phone please.”

I blinked, “Excuse me?”

He extended his hand, “Give me your phone.”

I frowned and warily turned it over to him.

Jim opened the SIM tray and swapped the chip out for another which seemed to be webbed with shimmering blue circuits, “The transmitters at the portal unfortunately don’t have much range, but thankfully we’ve managed to set up another kind of mystical enhancement system that gives us reasonable coverage, albeit at limited data speeds. Here…” he said, tossing it back, “that card’s tagged to your number so you can keep using it as normal.”

I looked carefully at the gadget and back to Jim, “Are you saying I now have a magical cell phone?”

“If it makes you feel any better, technically yes.”

I cocked my head, “Cool. Just so long as using it won’t cause magical cancer or anything like that.”

“It won’t...” he then paused to massage the bridge of his nose, “And for god’s sake: please go easy on the bandwidth. The need for constant maintenance and upkeep of the system equates to costs of well over two hundred dollars a megabyte. And I really, really do not want to have to get up one morning and discover that I need to explain to a senator why you bankrupted my entire department with a weekend in watching Netflix.”

“I promise to be good,” I said, saluting with the handset.

I looked around again and watched as the staring ponies slowly went back about their business. Most still kept their eyes on us though, not that Jim seemed at all perturbed by it. He merely nodded curtly as some passed and then took another calm sip from the teacup on his table.

He then bowed one final time toward the Princess, “Princess Luna, thank you again for escorting my friend.”

She bowed her head in curt response, “It was our pleasure.” She turned her attention briefly to me, “We apologise if you were startled. We assumed James would have informed you in advance of our plans to bring you directly here.”

“I suppose it just plain slipped his mind…” I said, glaring daggers at him. He responded by merely smiling in that very unapologetic way of his.

“If you will excuse us, we must return to our duties,” said Luna, nodding to each of us in kind.

Jim stepped forward and, without pause or hesitation, took up the princess’ hoof, kissing it with brief reverence, “Of course, your majesty. And thank you for all your time.”

Luna took a flustered step back, looking quickly about and smiling sheepishly, “I…ah…t-that is quite alright.”

I watched as Luna turned and, with a few quick downbeats of her wings, hastily took to the skies, “Well…” I said, watching as the alicorn soared up towards the castle, “I’m starting to see Luna wasn’t kidding when she said she was fond of you. I didn’t realise how much…”

Jim just scoffed, settling back into his seat and opening his laptop, “Don’t be preposterous. Now sit down, you’re drawing too much attention.”

“In a moment…” I said, tugging my phone quickly back out.

“What are you doing?”

“Hmmm, nothing…” I said wistfully, glancing at Jim and back as I typed.

@MusicMan3142 My pal, @JamesMoriarty123 couldn’t help but notice what a fine flank that @MoonPrismPrincess has. I suppose he has a point…

I sat down at the table as Jim pulled his Blackberry free with a frown. His eyes snapped to me, “Sam!”

“You had it coming,” I said, sipping from the cup he’d already prepared for me, “Ah, chamomile... Thank you, James.”

Jim looked hastily about and leaned closer, lowering his voice to a whisper, “Sam, you cannot make such offhand remarks when we’re dealing on this kind of political scale. I need you to think before you act.”

I pulled my phone free as it buzzed again. As I regarded the screen, my left eyebrow seemed to rise of its own accord.

@MoonPrismPrincess favorited one of your Tweets

I felt a smirk tug at the edge of my mouth, “Who says I don’t?”

Jim shook his head and pocketed his Blackberry, settling back into his chair once more and going back to his typing, “I take it you’ve read through everything I gave you?” he murmured.

I nodded, “I did. I got all the vaccines and other boosters too. My arm looked like it’d been worked on by a drunken acupuncturist by the time it was over.”

He cocked his head, “The things we do, Sam…”

“So where are my digs?” I asked, sipping the tea which, I had to admit, was very good, “Somewhere local?”

Jim steepled his fingers, twiddling his thumbs, “Not exactly…”

“Oh, joy…” I groaned, instantly sensing something horrible coming.

He scowled, “And you automatically assume I’ve dropped you in it.”

“Sue me. It’s a reflex.”

“I’m not setting you up in Canterlot because we’ve already got enough people here. Besides, it’s all high society sorts and balls here.”

“Do you mean the party kind of balls, or do you mean its balls as in crap?”

“To be bluntly honest: A little of column A and more than a little of column B.” He leaned a little closer again, “Seriously, Sam, some of these ponies have their heads so far up their own backsides that I’m shocked they aren’t wearing themselves as hats.”

“In that case…my objection is rescinded.”

Jim’s posture relaxed and he breathed a tired sigh, “Sam, it’s going to be six months. I know we might occasionally screw each other over for shits and giggles, but you know I’ve got your back when it counts.”

I smiled reluctantly, “Come on, Jim, don’t start talking like that. It’s only in Holland that we’re legally allowed to act like a couple of newlyweds. We should…probably sort that out at some point, come to think about it.”

Jim closed his eyes and took a calming breath, “Back to the point. The thing is: you’re an average, everyday young guy-”

“-Thank you.”

“That wasn’t meant as a compliment.”

“You married me…”

“Sam!”

“Kidding. Carry on.”

He breathed another sigh, “Right. So what we want to do is put you somewhere average; somewhere close enough to Canterlot as not to be out of reach, but still far enough away as to be in a completely rural environment.”

“The real Equestria, you mean…”

Jim snapped his fingers, “Precisely. People don’t want to hear about the polished lives of the one percent here anymore than they do back at home. People want to see how the ponies really live. And as you know, that’s where you come in.”

“So do I get a guide?”

Jim looked at me blankly, “Really?”

“What?”

“Sam, when have we ever used a guide? Heck, we barely even used maps when went travelling. It’s like you once said: maps are like instruction manuals, and instruction manuals-“

“-are for wimps, yeah…” I finished, sighing drearily. I cocked my head in reflection, “Shame about that bookcase we tried putting together though…”

“The important thing was that we stuck to our principles.”

“Agreed. So do I at least get a hint about where I’m supposed to go? Or do you intend to just point me in a random direction and send me on my way?”

“I’ll take you as far as the station. The train to Ponyville isn’t for another hour so you’ve got plenty of time. From there on just hunt down a hotel and set yourself up. We’ll get in touch with details of something more permanent in a few days time. Until then just use your better judgement…for what little of it you have.”

I sighed, “I suppose I can do that. Wait…Ponyville?”

Jim groaned and wiped a hand down his face, “Please don’t start on about the names again…”

I shook my head, “I don’t know: the first intelligent life mankind encounters and it’s a world of talking ponies obsessed with puns. I’m starting to suspect that God may be a troll. I’m shocked you were even able to stand it.”

Jim just smiled, “You want me to be honest with you about something, Sam?”

“What?”

“I couldn’t. Hell, I spent the first two weeks claiming to any random pony that annoyed me that I was from a town called Thumbchester, which was apparently in a country called Humania. Our town was right next to a city called Fingerton. We hated those bastards, always in opposition to everything we did, so perpendicular to our way of thinking. I’m telling you though: they may have had four times the population we did, but they couldn’t get a grip on anything without our help…”

I shook my head, “You know what, James, there are times when I think you might be losing my faith, but then you just go and earn it right back again…”

Jim smiled and pushed himself up, “Come on, nut job. Let’s get you moving…”

---

Jim bid me a far too cheery farewell as he deposited me on the express train, which turned out to be a very brightly coloured steam locomotive. Unsurprisingly, I was stared at all the way by the other occupants.

Ignoring them, I took a moment to realise that the prospect of being the only member of my species in town might just seem a tad less daunting if I actually got some intel on the place where I’d be staying.

Human scientists had begun the process of rapidly compiling Equestrian newspaper records into digital format for ease of reference, and since access to that database had been granted to all visitors, I pulled up a basic search to see if I could get any light shed on where I was heading.

“Ponyville…” I murmured as the search results were returned. I then did a skim of recent articles that held that town as a keyword.

I prepared myself to be assaulted by wave after wave of token articles about local fares and crop shortages…

A few moments later, my jaw was nearly touching the floor.

I sat gaping at my screen as newspaper clippings listed catastrophe after catastrophe, all of them focused around that one small town.

The town had a populous of less than a thousand, yet somehow in the past few years alone it had managed to go through events ranging from swarms of omnivorous bugs eating the damn place to actual, honest-to-god eldritch abominations freezing lakes and mutating wildlife.

“I am actually going to kill him…” was all I could say, my hand dropping limply to my side, “I am going to go back to that Cantertown place, wrap my hands around my best friend’s throat, and then squeeze until my suffering goes away…”

I let out a defeated breath however when I realised it was too late to actually do anything about it now.
I therefore just sat glumly in my seat, strumming depressing music on my guitar like I was fourteen again, and let the hours drift away as I was ferried toward possible doom.

---

“End of the line!” shouted the conductor, startling me out of my reverie. And I jumped to my feet so quickly in surprise that I inadvertently bashed my head off the luggage compartment above. I winced and shot a withering glare at the conductor as I passed.

“Must you phrase it like that?” I asked, and he shrank back from me when I flashed him a terse smile.

I realised then that Jim hadn’t been lying when he’d said the teeth scared them. I noted that for future reference.

---

I was still massaging my head when I turned the corner and onto the ramp leading down from the platform.

I stepped off the ramp and then dropped my holdall down by my side to survey my surroundings. And instantly I found myself staggering back against the station wall in abject fright.

Heavens help me; they’d actually been waiting for me…

All of them.

“WELCOME!!” the cheery shriek was so high-pitched and deafening that it drove a lance of agony clean into my still pounding head.

I blinked my eyes, only for my vision to be assaulted by a massive field of every colour imaginable.

I thought there was something wrong with me at first, and It would’ve helped if they’d stop cheering so I could at least clear my head.

It took a second, but I quickly realised that the colours were in fact the ponies. They were literally every pastel shade you could think of.

And banners. Yes, they had actually made banners.

I had been expecting it to be like that scene in Blazing Saddles, where everyone went quiet when the newcomer came. But no, apparently here, the stranger that was as different and alien as any of them could possibly imagine was a thing to be welcomed with open arms, love and cherishment.

Annoying and cheesy, maybe…but to my surprise, I found that somewhere, briefly, deep within, for just that one shining instant, my faith in the goodness of the world was restored in some bizarre, tiny way.

It was a good feeling.

‘Welcome Hugh Man!’ said the banner with the very clumsy lettering that was being held up by a trio of tiny fillies: an orange Pegasus; a yellow earth pony and a grey unicorn. I’m not sure if they’d made a spelling error there or they thought that was my actual name. I didn’t have the heart to correct them.

‘Welcome to Ponyville!’ said the main one in perfectly crafted letters; letters that appeared to be composed entirely out of tiny gemstones. The banner also seemed to be supported by a magical field which was in turn emitted by a gleaming white unicorn near the front.

Then there was the one being held up by the pink Earth Pony that appeared to be heading up the group and was currently hopping up and down like mad:

’Four legs good! Two legs also good!’

Alright, I’ll admit that one made me chuckle.

I was shocked to realise that I recognised that pink mare: she was one of the first arrivals, Pinkie-something I think it was. To my mounting shock, I also couldn’t help but then notice that the others from the first encounter were there too, all of them.

Just where had Jim sent me?

“Oh, I am so gonna tweet the hell out of this…” was all I could mutter to myself under my breath. I realised however that there probably wasn’t a hashtag invented to describe this situation (Though I would later be advised by one of the locals that #ohmigodohmigodohmigod would have been perfectly sufficient).

“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!” chanted the pink pony as she bounced gleefully about me in a wide semi-circle, “Were you surprised? Were you, were you, huh, huh, huh?”

“I will admit to being surprised…” I said as I pinned myself back against the wall.

“Pinkie, please…” came a weary voice, “I think you’re starting to scare him.”

The purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle (even I knew that name) let out a sigh and stepped forward, “Yes, well. As my friends here have already said: Welcome to Ponyville.

“I hope you weren’t too startled by our welcome. It seems some of the townsfolk got a little too excited when they heard we’d be hosting our first human. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She extended a hoof up.

I brought my own hand up and, after a second of confusion as to what to do, politely shook the offered limb.

I was momentarily startled by the softness of it. I was expecting it to be completely hard, like the hoof of a horse back home,.But instead the bottom surface was soft and spongy, and felt far more like the pad of an animal paw.

I gently coiled my fingers about the limb, applying curious pressure and running an experimental thumb over the soft surface as I inclined my head curtly, “Yes, I know. You’re the mare that was primarily responsible for ripping a hole in the fabric of the universe, correct?”

She withdrew her hoof, and she seemed to be blushing slightly, as if she were flustered by the simple contact for some reason, “Y-yeah, I guess I’m never living that one down, huh?”

I shrugged, “Who’d want to?” I asked, “Though I suspect you’ve been told why I’m here…”

“The exchange program, right?” asked Twilight, “Princess Celestia sent me a message ahead to let us know. She said it was to make sure it was safe for humans to stay in Equestria for prolonged periods of time.”

I nodded in agreement with her words.

So, they hadn’t been informed about the main reason for me being there? I had to assume that was simply because the princess didn’t want the residents to try and curry favour with me. I found that to be bizarrely honest of her.

“Well, Pinkie’s organised a welcoming party for you later on this evening, if you’re not too tired from your journey that is.”

Despite the fact I was used to playing for intimate crowds of this size, I was starting to feel immensely uncomfortable, “N-not tired. But you really don’t have to go through the trouble-“

“-It’s no trouble!” cut in Pinkie loudly, “Town hall, eight sharp!”

“Sure…” I sighed, “You bring the snacks, and I’ll bring the tequila.”

Pinkie blinked, “Tequila?”

Thinking on it for just a brief second, I realised that the concept of introducing hard alcohol into this already hyperactive Pony was an absolutely terrifying concept, “Never mind…” I said, and slid sideways around the two ponies. I raised a hand to the amassed group, “Well, it was wonderful meeting you all.” I called, “I’d love to stay around and talk, but I’ve got to go and get checked in. I’ll see you all at the party later…I suppose.”

This was met with a mix of both cheers and disappointment. Obviously they’d been hoping to get some face-time with what had, at least up until recently, been classed as a mythical being from their perspective.

I let out a relieved breath as I broke free of the group, all too aware of their eyes following me as I walked away.

I tried to neither flinch nor roll my eyes as one of them pulled away from the crowd and fell into step with me, “I’m so sorry I didn’t get to introduce myself just there…”

I slowed and looked to my side. A mare with a tan hide and silvery mane was trotting alongside me. She had a polite smile on her face as she peered out at me over the rim of her spectacles.

Once we’d turned a corner and were a safe distance from the welcoming party, I stopped to see what it was she wanted, “Sam McNamara, is it not?” she asked.

I inclined my head, “You appear to have me at a disadvantage, ma’am.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Mare, Mayor Mare at your service. It was supposed to be my job to officially welcome our first human guest, but it would appear that I was beaten to the buck by my overly energetic townsponies. Belated as it may be…welcome to Ponyville.”

I shook the offered hoof politely, “And you…are the mayor, yes?” I asked, quite unsure if that was her name or title.

She nodded, ”And proud of it. I do hope you come to enjoy what our little town has to offer during your stay. And if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“That’s very kind of you, ma’am.” I paused to look quickly about, “Listen, Mayor…umm…Mare.”

“That’s my name,” she chimed.

“Look, I don’t suppose there’s any…trouble…going on that I should probably either know about or…umm…be running in abject terror from?”

She chuckled, “Oh by Celestia, no. We may have had a few hiccups over the years, but I think you’ll find Ponyville to be a calm and quiet place to live.”

She did however then shift uneasily on her hooves and avert her gaze, “I…will admit that we have suffered more than our fair share of incidents in the past which, by your question, I guess you’ve already learned about, but I assure you, with Celestia as my witness: even if you should encounter a problem, you won’t find a finer group of ponies in all of Equestria to help you through it."

She paused to raise her head up high, “If there’s one thing Ponyville and her townsfolk stand for, its friendship, unity and helping those in need.”

I smiled, “Then I suppose our world could learn a thing or two from you, which I suppose is why I’m here.”

The mayor grinned, “Indeed.” Her smile then slackened slightly, “We…had prepared a guide for you to show you to your hotel, escort you around town and also to advise you during your stay, but we had been informed directly that was no longer necessary.”

“Jim…” I muttered, “So there was a guide then.”

“Yes, a shame really... She was so excited about the whole thing; hadn’t stopped talking about it ever since she'd been told about the job. She was so disappointed to hear you wouldn’t need her around.”

I narrowed my eyes in thought, “This guide…” I said, “Is she still available?”

“W-why yes, but why do you ask?”

Jim wanted me to face Equestria blind with no help in order for me to get a good feel for the place. That much was fine. However, dropping me at ground zero for multiple near misses of literal Armageddon was not part of the deal.

I plastered a pleasant smile on my face, “Because there seems to have been a misunderstanding, Madam Mayor.”

She blinked, “A misunderstanding?”

“Yes, ma’am, you see: the instruction sent out a few days ago wasn’t to cancel the guide, it was to ensure it was ready. It would appear that a miscommunication has been made at some point down the line however and the wrong message received.”

The mayor’s ears immediately perked up, “Really?”

I nodded, “Most definitely.”

“You mean…you really do need our town rep’s services?”

I inclined my head, “Front and centre, ma’am, if it’s not too much trouble?”

The mayor seemed positively gleeful at this, “Oh, not at all, it’s simply fantastic! She’ll be overjoyed. Well you just wait right here and I’ll go fetch her immediately.”

I indicated a nearby bench to the mayor who nodded before dashing off.

As I sat down at the bench, I realised that I’d walked into what seemed to be the town square.

I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Ponyville was quaint but quite picturesque. To say it held a slight small-town charm would be a massive understatement.

I took a breath of the clean country air and pulled my phone free.

@MusicMan3142 Just arrived in #Ponyville, #Equestria. Nice place. Mayor was kind enough to assign a guide (which I happily accepted). Got to thank @JamesMoriarty123 for sending me to such a quiet, uneventful place where nothing bad ever happens and setting all this up for me #BFFs #blatantsarcasm

A few moments later, I looked up at the sound of someone skidding to a halt behind me. I got back to my feet and turned about.

And that was when I first saw her.

A unicorn mare with a bright, mint green coat and cyan mane, she was. She stood at the entrance to the square and was hunched over slightly. It was clear she’d obviously just sprinted the entire way here.

It was possibly one of the most beautifully undignified entrances I’d ever seen.

“Umm, hello?” I asked, tilting my head to the side slightly.

She opened her mouth to speak, “I…ah…” she gasped, holding up a hoof to request I wait a sec, “I..ra…” she said, or at the very least made a valiant effort to try to.

“Ayra?” I asked, frowning slightly.

She shook her head, the fringe of her mane ruffling, “No, Ly…” she cut herself off however to take another heaving breath.

That was when the mayor reappeared, seemingly having cantered after the unicorn. She let out a long sigh and extended a hoof to the side to indicate the younger mare, “Sam, this is Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings. She will be your guide for the duration of your stay.”

Lyra heaved one final, steadying breath and then smiled weakly, “Hi it’s…nice to meet you.”

I couldn’t hold in the smile. I did however do my best not to show teeth, “Hello, Lyra…” I said, approaching her carefully.

I decided then to try and take a page out of Jim’s book for once. I gently took up Lyra’s hoof and planted a cordial kiss atop its surface, “I will be putting myself in your very capable hooves for the foreseeable future. I do hope that’s not too much trouble?” I asked, holding her sunglow eyes with my own blue ones as I ran the pad of my thumb in slow circles over the base of her hoof before releasing it.

Lyra’s response was little more than throaty squeak.

The mayor just smiled weakly, “Lyra says that’s fine. And she’s very happy to meet you.”

“Yuh-huh,” agreed the unicorn, nodding her head.

Lyra raised one of her forelegs slightly as I stood back up to full height. I got the feeling I was a little taller than she’d been expecting. I also couldn’t help but detect a slightly perfumed if musky scent in the air about her. For some reason I found it to be bizarrely pleasant in a way I couldn’t quite describe at the time.

“Well…” said the mayor, “I suppose I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. Will I be seeing you at the celebration later, Mr McNamara?”

I inclined my head, “I will certainly do my best.”

The mayor nodded to each of us in turn, “Sam. Lyra…” and then trotted off back towards what I assumed was the town hall building.

I watched the mayor until she was gone and turned back to Lyra, who was sweeping her foreleg idly back and forth by this point. I also couldn’t help but notice she still seemed flushed, and had been ever since her arrival “Is something the matter, Ms Heartsrtings?”

She flinched visibly and almost yelped, “N-no! I’m fine.”

I picked up my holdall and began walking alongside Lyra, “Listen, I’m really sorry about the sudden change in plans. I hope it hasn’t been too much of an inconvenience for you.”

“N-none at all. I wasn’t doing anything else. I was just in the middle of hmn-” she seemed to bite off the end of her own sentence however and her cheeks flushed a little brighter. That made me wonder just what it was the mayor had interrupted when she’d dashed over to fetch her.

Regardless, I flipped my phone around and Lyra gasped as I rested a palm about her shoulder and crouched down at her side, “Smile for the humanity, Ms Heartstrings…”

“J-just Lyra is fine…” she muttered, but still managed a bright, almost dazzling smile regardless.

@MusicMan3142 and his guide. Peoples of the Earth, allow me to introduce you to Ms Lyra Heartstrings of #Ponyville.

-?-

Meanwhile…

The Blackberry made a loud rattling noise as it buzzed against the hardened mahogany of the desk.

The laptop, high backed chair and said desk were all stark contrasts to the rest of the Equestrian decorum in the darkened room that was James Carrell’s office in Canterlot Castle. The only other out of place item was a filing cabinet with a globe resting atop its surface.

Jim leaned forward in his chair and flipped the handset up to answer the alert.

A small smile graced his pale features a moment later as he regarded the image, “Contact has been made.”

“Then you were right,” replied the mare lounging on the corner sofa, concealed in perfect shadow as always, “he did go for it...”

Jim’s smile widened slightly, “Of course, but what about this mare? Are you sure about her?”

“The unicorn with a renowned obsession for all things human, whose been hopping and buzzing with excitement ever since the portal first opened? Yes, James, I am quite sure…”

Jim sat back in his chair, idly twirling the phone about in his hands, “I suppose I’ll take your word for it. This entire endeavour rests on it.”

The pony just chuckled dismissively, “Oh and you’ll never guess what else I’ve found out…”

“What?”

The mare leaned out of the shadow just enough to whisper into Jim’s ear, “She’s a Skipper.”

Jim’s eyebrows rose, “You’re sure?”

“Of course: Apparently, ever since she found out about the guide job we selected for her, she’s been far too excited to even care about her own needs.”

“I take it your source on this is reliable.”

“Bon Bon is as reliable a source as it comes when Lyra Heartstrings is involved.”

“Bon Bon?” echoed Jim, “Now there’s an interesting codename...”

The mare was quiet for an instant, “Yes…codename.” She said, not really wanting to admit that ‘codename’ was the mare’s actual name and that ‘source’ equated to ‘listen to her yap on non-stop at the salon’.

Jim nodded ponderingly, eyes tracing the image, noting the flushed expression on the unicorn’s face, “And taking that chance away and then giving it back to her at the last second? Ooh, what an effect that must’ve had...”

“What about your friend?” asked the mare, “He’s the wildcard here.”

Jim nodded, “Yes, I will admit that’s Sam to a T. He does things on principle, not out of common sense. That’s how I knew he’d take up the option for the guide if it was to avoid disappointing her, and also in no small way of sticking it to me in retaliation for sending him to Ponyville of all places.”

“Do you think he’ll go for it though?”

Jim’s eyes narrowed, “Sam’s always been extremely open-minded. He’s probably the least bigoted and discriminatory person you’ll ever meet. However, the people he’s been in relationships with so far haven’t exactly been…good for him. You might just say he’s a little too open-minded at times, especially when it comes to giving people a chance.

“No, I think he needs this. And while we may be set to benefit immensely, I wouldn’t have used Sam if I didn’t think he’d be getting something out of it too.

“But what about the legal aspect?” Jim asked, arching his head round to look at her.

The mare paced in her darkness, “Let’s just say I think you’ve already succeeded, albeit accidentally, in planting the notion of such relationships in Luna’s head. And don’t think I haven’t seen you turn that head occasionally, Moriarty.”

“Silver…” intoned the human warningly, utilising the temporary codename she’d chosen for herself.

Silver chuckled, “Come now, James. It’s not like I’d care if you ended up Luna’s bedchamber before all this is through, just so long as nopony else finds out about it.”

She circled about to look down at the image on the phone screen, “I can’t have it starting out as a royal scandal. No, it has to be those two first…my entire business model depends on it.”

“You worry too much, Silver.” said Jim, standing up and slowly circling about to the mare’s side and joining her in the dark, “The entire exchange program I suggested to Celestia was a cover for this. If what we hope to occur happens, then out of the entire exchange group, it’ll just be seen as a perfectly natural and, with no small amount of luck and PR spin, happy occurrence. And legally speaking, with Luna giving us her voice, Celestia won’t be far behind…“

“I suppose I’ll just have to trust you in that regard, and also that you are going to remain completely honest with me...”

“Come now…” whispered Jim with a smile as he reached back and idly rubbed deep circles with his fingertips at the spot between Silver’s shoulder blades, “I am merely here to serve…”

The mare shuddered, “Yes,” she gasped, “Yes, you are…” and she hummed happily after Jim stopped a moment later, “And I needed that…”

The mare then turned and slinked back down in her seat. She idly picked up one of the prototype vials of golden fluid and rolled it between her hooves. Experimental they might have been, but the tests so far had been immensely promising, “And it’s my job to convince the rest of Equestria just how much they need it too…”

To be continued…

Chapter 3: Dousing the Flame

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Chapter 3: Dousing the Flame

First mornings…

It always throws me a little when I wake up for the first time in a new place. Be it college, my old apartment or even Ponyville, the feeling is always the same: the first night has been survived, and now the real challenge begins.

Even after breakfast and a shower my body still ached from the previous night’s exertion. It turned out that if there was one thing these ponies had in spades, it was energy.

While the impromptu square dance had taken up the latter hours of the celebration—it turns out ponies can dance quite well on their hind legs, much to my surprise—most of the evening had consisted of me being bombarded by questions and dismissing rumours. Unsurprisingly, one of the first queries had been the much expected ‘do you eat ponies?’ to which I could confidently advise them that I did not, much to the relief of a surprising number.

Lucky for them I wasn’t French.

I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand.

@MusicMan3142 @JamesMoriarty123 Did u make sure French visitors know not to eat natives? #WWIII

The reply came quite quickly.

@JamesMoriarty123 @MusicMan3142 #NotFunny

I cocked my head, “Was only trying to help…”

I’d also been asked by one of the ponies—a yellow Pegasus in this case—that if it wasn’t too much trouble, if I didn’t mind terribly much, might I refrain from ‘eating any of the other four legged critters I may see about’. I’d said this was perfectly fine, and then jokingly asked if there were any rabbits around that I might nibble on instead. The Pegasus obviously didn’t get my sense of humour though, as she responded by flying off screaming about protecting angels…or something.

…I’m sure it would’ve made sense had I understood the context.

I tossed the covers down and dragged myself out of bed. It had been a comfortable—if slightly annoying—night’s sleep. This was mainly due to my feet constantly poking out from under the sheets at the bottom end of the bed. Although it wasn’t as if I could really blame the management of the Prancing Pony for not investing in beds designed for creatures that they had only recently learned were non-fictional.

As I stretched, my thoughts were briefly drawn back to the events of the night before. Lyra had stayed close to me the entire time, for which I was immensely grateful. She gave me the occasional pointer on what and what not to say and even shared the occasional musical quip.

Yes, as it turned out my guide was a naturally talented musician, which went in no small way towards breaking the ice between us. She also turned out to be quite bizarrely popular with the stallions. I had attempted to make a compliment out of that fact, but she proceeded to get even more flustered than she already had been, as if the interest were something to be embarrassed about. I wasn’t sure why though, as she seemed to me quite pleasant company. In fact, there just seemed to be something in the air about her that held your attention a little more than others of her kind.

There came a gentle rapping at my door and I quickly threw on a dressing gown to make myself slightly more presentable. I then hastily brushed my bangs down to an acceptable level of untidiness and turned to face the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened slowly and a mop of white and cyan stripes poked itself inside, “D-did I wake you?”

Speak of the devil, “No, I’ve been up for a while.”

Lyra’s eyes did a quick sweep about before finally settling on me, “I…I thought we could talk about what you want to do today, o-or would you prefer to wait until after breakfast?”

“Thanks, but I’ve already eaten.” I smiled, “Come in, let’s talk...”

She looked almost fearful for a second and shied back, “Are you sure?”

I chuckled, “Of course. As I already reassured everybody last night: I don’t bite…well, not unless you ask me to…”

Lyra seemed to try and conceal a sudden intake of breath at the comment before edging slowly into my room.

I watched as she looked about, surveying the various otherworldly goods that I had unpacked since the previous night.

I observed her as she went, her tail swishing in an almost rhythmically-cute way in time with her hips as she began speaking, “I…I was thinking we could start with a tour. I could show you the sights; go for a walk up to the orchards afterwards maybe?”

I smiled, “Sounds like a plan…”

Lyra beamed in response, “Great! I’ll see you down by the square in say…an hour maybe?”

I nodded, “It’s a date.”

Lyra made that weird squeaking noise in her throat again. Her bottom lip wobbled as if she were trying to say something. Instead, she just nodded and effectively bolted from the room.

“Strange girl…” I said, cocking my head as I moved to sink down onto my bed.

I stopped mid-crouch, “Wait…did I just ask a unicorn out on a date?”

I shrugged, “Not the weirdest thing I’ve ever done…” an amusing idea then occurred to me however.

@MusicMan3142 going out for a liaison with my guide Ms Heartstrings. Hope I don’t put my foot in my mouth. #starcrossedlovers

I idly twirled the phone about between my fingers, “Wait for it…wait for it…” And then came the inevitable alert a second later. I flipped it about, “Ahh, Jimmy, let’s see what—“

@JamesMoriarty123 favorited one of your tweets.

My brow creased into a frown, “Oh, well now he’s just messing with me…”

---

Despite my earlier ridicule over the concept, I chose to at least dress myself in something more appropriate for a day out with a member of the opposite sex, regardless of what species they might be.

At the very least I thought it might prove to be some fun.

In this case I went with a pressed cotton shirt with cardigan, trousers and brown loafers. Hair was combed and gelled. That and a light application of aftershave and I was ready to go.

“Well I said I’d be a gentleman while I’m here,” I murmured as I dusted a bit of lint from my top, “so that’s precisely what I’m going to be. Besides, Jim obviously has no objections…”

I briefly examined myself one last time in the mirror, carefully adjusting one stray part of my fringe off to one side as I reached down to shoulder my guitar, “Okay Samuel, time to make humanity look good…”

I would later reflect back and consider that I probably should’ve dialed it back just a little…

Or not, depending on how you look at it…

---

I found Lyra exactly where I expected her to be in front of the town hall. She hadn’t seen me approach and I watched as she paced slowly. She seemed to be muttering to herself, occasionally stopping to close her eyes and take deep breaths on top of that.

I slinked closer and dropped my hands onto her sides, squeezing, “Sorry I’m late.”

She let out a yelp of fright and I can only say that it’s lucky I wasn’t standing directly behind her, as her rear right leg flicked reflexively out and punched clean through a signpost.

“Uh…umm…” she stammered, glancing left and right.

I blinked, “Wow, that’s…quite a kick you’ve got there.”

She let out a very nervous chuckle, “Yeah…I…sorry. I’m usually a lot more composed than this. It’s just…” she trailed off. She then shook her head an instant later as if trying to clear it, “So,” she suddenly said, seemingly trying to make her smile seem calm, “You’ve…” she then paused again and gulped, “…changed your mane…”

My brow furrowed and I pinched a stray bang to examine it, “You mean my hair? Yeah, I thought I’d best try and get this lot under control for a little while.” I narrowed my eyes, “Yours looks a little different too,” I said, noting her mane and tail appeared to have been brushed. I smiled, “you look good.”

“Mhmm…” she mumbled, her foreleg drifting back and forth. Again she seemed to have trouble looking at me, “You…I…like what you’re wearing.”

I looked down and tugged at my cardigan, “Well I thought I may as well make the attempt. Where I’m from, a gentleman should always do his best to present himself well before a pretty lady such as your fine self.”

“P-present yourself?” she squeaked, her eyes oddly enough going even wider for an instant, “N-no…th-that is…I’m the one who should…oh no, I didn’t mean…can we just start again?”

I looked blankly at her, “…okay.” I said, and then nodded once, “Lyra, would you please do me the honour of showing me about your town?”

Lyra closed her eyes and an aura of calm seemed to wash over her, “Yes…” she breathed, “I would be most happy to.”

Right about here is where I’d normally make some washy gesture like taking her arm about mine, but due to the height difference and Lyra’s normally four-legged stance, I felt this would be somewhat impractical. I therefore settled on simply walking calmly by her side with my left hand resting in my cardigan pocket, the other I found myself idly resting atop the back of her neck in the same way I’d merely have a hand about a companion’s shoulder.
Lyra had flinched at the initial contact, but had objected when I attempted to remove the hand. She’d said it made her feel ‘calm’.

Upon touching it, I realised Lyra’s mane had a texture far silkier than any human or animal hair I’d ever felt before, and I enjoyed the sensation of idly trailing my fingers through it. I also noted how she would sway her hips and hum almost dreamily whenever my fingers brushed her coat directly, as if it were some kind of nervous twitch.

I’m not sure why, but her reactions while she tried to keep focus on explaining the landmarks continued to amuse me as we strolled about Ponyville under the cool morning sun. I liked the idea that I was somehow calming Lyra, especially since she’d been quite jittery since we’d met on the previous day.

A little while later, I made the critical mistake of letting my index finger extend across the unicorn’s scalp and brushing a ghostlike touch over the surface of her horn, experimentally circling the tip.

Lyra’s reaction had been to come within millimetres of bucking me full-on in the chest had I not staggered back out of the way. After a pause, she swung her head back around to look at me. She appeared badly flushed. It was as if all the calm I’d been building up in her had suddenly ignited into something else.

Lyra’s entire body seemed to be heaving, “Lyra, I’m sorry, I…I didn’t know…” I stammered, walking backwards with my hands raised as she slowly rounded on me.

My slow retreat was halted by a well behind me as Lyra advanced step by slow step, her breathing coming even more heavily. I tried shying away as she stopped in front of me and leaned slowly in.

Much to my surprise, she then began nuzzling my lower chest, mewling to herself, “Hmmnoo…” she moaned, “too much…it’s too much…” she whimpered.

I watched her inhale deeply and then take a shuddering breath afterward, “I need…need…” she moaned. Without another word she proceeded to wrap her forelegs tightly about my waist.

I quickly realised that she was delirious and I looked desperately about for help, but with none of the townsfolk in sight I really wasn’t sure what to do, “Lyra…” I began, slipping free of her embrace. This drew out a despairing whine from her as I scrambled back over the well so there would at least be some kind of physical barrier between us, “I think I need to call you some help.”

There was a sudden flash of fear in Lyra’s eyes and her expression briefly cleared, “You can’t!”

I did a slight double-take at how quickly her attention managed to focus, “B-but you clearly need help! You haven’t seemed right since we met yesterday.”

She shifted, “I don’t need help. W-well I do but it’s really not the sort of thing…” she trailed off and shook her head, her cheeks flushing brighter, this time seemingly with embarrassment.

Lyra looked quickly about as if searching for something. Her attention was then drawn to the well in front of her. I watched her reach in, draw the bucket out, and promptly dump a good half-gallon of what had to be ice-cold water over her own head.

I was, to say the least, bemused…

And that feeling lasted right up until I heard the first sob.

I circled back around the well to reveal Lyra sat down on her hindquarters. She was dripping wet and had her forelegs hugged around herself as she cried, “I’m sorry…” she choked, her next sob interrupted by a hiccup, “I’m so sorry…”

I dropped down by her side and did the natural thing: I put an arm about her shoulder, “Hey there now…” I hushed gently, “Just what do you have to be sorry for?”

She sniffed loudly and wiped her eye with one hoof, “You don’t understand,” she said, peering out at me from under her dripping fringe with teary eyes, “I’ve ruined everything. If only I’d…” she then broke off and started sobbing uncontrollably into her hooves again.

There was only one thing for it. I leaned forwards and wrapped both my arms about Lyra’s smaller form and drew her up against me. She let out a squeak of shock into my chest and then quickly started crying again.

It was lucky for me I was an expert at this situation. Yes, the ‘lending a girl a shoulder to cry on’ skill was something I was very well versed in. I had to adjust my technique for Lyra somewhat of course so her trembling didn’t result in me losing an eye to her horn.

“Shhh, you don’t need to cry, Lyra…”

“Yes I do…”she whimpered, “I’m a freak.”

“W-what?” I asked, pushing back to look at her, “Lyra, why would you even say something like that?”

“There’s a reason I’m not even part of a herd, Sam.”

I wasn’t sure what that term meant in the context of Equestrian ponies, so I settled on just rubbing her back gently, “Come now…you’re not a freak, Lyra. I’m a freak. Seriously, if I write an autobiography it’ll probably read like somebody just plagiarized Alice in Wonderland and threw in a bunch of off-color sex jokes.”

Lyra choked out a laugh despite probably not understanding the gag.

I smiled, “Look, you don’t have to push yourself to do this tour thing if you don’t want to.”

She shook her head and managed to smile weakly, “No…” she said, “I’m alright now. It’s just mood swings. It…happens when we get like this, and I tend to crash pretty hard.”

“If you’re sure…”

She nodded, “Yes. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

“Do you at least want me to go and fetch you a towel?”

Lyra shook her head, “No, it’s alright. I’ll dry off quite quickly,” she said, then adding in a murmur, “at least most of me will...”

To avoid any further incidents, I stayed at arms distance from there on out as Lyra showed me round town.

I would stop occasionally to share the photos of the various townspeople/ponies going about their business. These images ranged right from the garishly designed confectioner’s shop to the mail pegasi fluttering about doing their job. To be honest I found pretty much everything that ponies would normally consider mundane and everyday to be utterly fascinating.

Lyra was true to her word in that she dried off with quite shocking speed. I’d noticed she did have a quite bizarrely high body temperature, which she had assured me that, while not exactly normal, it wasn’t due to her being unwell in any way.

It was a fun day, I had to admit. By the time the sun was getting low in the sky we found ourselves strolling through the orchards owned by the quite aptly named—though it seemed there wasn’t a single thing in this world that wasn’t aptly named—Apple family.

I spent most of the time exchanging facts with Lyra of how things worked and differed in our two worlds. I noted she would pay rapt attention to every word I had to say about Earth, of humanity in particular. I in turn was fascinated by her commentary on Equestrian music.

I did notice however that Lyra had become quieter as the day went on, and by the time we reached the canopy of apple trees she was back to being flushed and evasive once more. I felt this was a shame as she seemed to be genuinely pleasant company when not so distracted or…grabby.

I had honestly expected having a guide to be a chore; something to tolerate out of politeness’ sake rather than actually being useful. Imagine my surprise then when I realised I actually found said guide to be fun to be with.

---

We reached a secluded grove amongst the trees and I sat myself down on a tree stump to take a breather.

Judging by the setting sun, I realised we’d probably have to be getting back soon, “You know, Lyra,” I said, unzipping my guitar bag as Lyra paced for a moment before settling on sitting down in front of me with her back against the stump, “I’ve normally never been fond of tours when I go on vacation. Jim and I have always been more into exploring and discovering rather than being shown everything on a platter, but I can honestly say I’ve genuinely enjoyed being out with you today.”

“Th-thank you…” she said, smiling sheepishly and drawing circles in the grass with her hoof, “I’ve had a lot of fun today too.”

I drew a pick out, twirling it between my fingers before idly starting to play a random bit of slow jazz.

I noticed after a moment that Lyra was looking up at me with wide eyes. I realised after a moment though that it was actually my finger work she was paying close attention to, as if the mere concept of the way my hands drew forth the song from the instrument was captivating to her.

I smiled, “it’s a shame you didn’t bring your own instrument. I’d loved to have jammed with you for a little bit.”

She hugged her forelegs about herself and shook her head, “O-oh, I couldn’t…I’ve never even played that kind of music before.”

I shrugged, “I play all sorts of things. If you’d like, we could play something you know some time and I’ll see if I can pick it up.”

Lyra cocked her head, “We could try right now if you’d like, Sam.”

My brow furrowed, “How?”

“Like this…” and I watched her scrunch her eyes slightly as if focusing. The dimming golden light of the grove was illuminated briefly as her horn glowed. There was a white flash and, much to my surprise, a golden lyre materialised itself atop her forelegs.

“Teleporting instruments?” I asked, “Now there’s a skill I wish I had.”

She smiled slightly and then sat up into what looked to be a quite human posture with her back against my legs, lyre in hand, “That’s one of the few spells I can actually do well. I’m not very talented in magic unfortunately. I’m just good with music, not much else...”

“There’s nothing ‘just’ about music, Lyra,” I said, nudging her with my knee “Now why don’t you show me what you can do.”

“A-alright…but promise you won’t laugh, okay?”

“I would never do something so cruel. Please, go ahead.”

I watched her nod and draw the instrument up against her chest, bracing it between her knees as to keep her forward hoofs free, she then placed the pad of her hoof over one string in preparation, “Th-this is a basic slow dance ballad my mother taught me. It’s the first piece I ever learned how to play. It’s actually the one that got me my cutie mark…”

I nodded, waiting for her to begin.

I watched the way the bottom of her hoof seemed to pinch together around the string as she plucked it. The note resonated around the grove before the next was strummed. The piece began slowly, building up just the slightest bit of tempo until the clearing was filled with a slow, warming melody.

Lyra had her eyes closed and she appeared truly calm for the first time since we’d met.

I sat listening for a while, tracking the song in my head. It had a complex pattern but it was repeating, and after a few false starts and experimental plucks to match the tone, I slowly fell into step with her playing. The lyre and guitar had quite distinct and differing sounds, and were indeed instruments that were vastly different in terms of the style of music they’re normally used for, but despite those differences, they sang together beautifully.

I frowned when I notice Lyra had stopped her playing and had turned about so she was sitting on her hindquarters, looking up at me with those large eyes. I was about to stop also, but she just said, “Keep playing…please.”

And so I complied. I played her song for a while as she just sat and listened, my fingers dancing as they added in the occasional extra note or variation of the melody until I’d adapted it into a solo guitar piece. Lyra seemed to become short of breath as she watched. Again she just asked me to keep going. This went on until I felt I had nothing more to add and had played myself out.

As the last echo of the last note dissipated into the evening air, I set my guitar aside and sighed, stretching my arms up afterward and eliciting a satisfying crack from my knuckles.

I looked down to Lyra, who was still heavily flushed and looking up at me with a quite dewy stare.

“Are you okay?” I asked after a moment.

“That was beautiful…” was all she said, her voice small.

I smiled, “That was just a reinterpretation, nothing more. I just followed your lead and added my own little flavour.”

She seemed to bite her lip, “Well I like the way you taste…”

I chuckled, “Well thank you. That is a new one…” my expression then turned serious for a second, “Listen, Lyra, it’s obvious there’s something the matter. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”

After a moment she nodded. She then said in an even smaller voice, barely above a whisper, “Yes, I need…I just need you…to close your eyes.”

I cocked an eyebrow up, “My eyes?”

She nodded.

“Close them?” I repeated.

“Quickly…” she half-moaned, shifting slightly where she sat.

I shrugged, “As you wish,” and so did as requested: I closed my eyes.

“Don’t…open them,” I heard her whisper as the grass in front of me rustled.

“I promise not to peek,” I said. And I managed to keep this promise for quite a while, considering.

I kept it when I felt the heat of her body in the instant before I felt the brush of her coat against my arms and chest.

I kept it even as I felt her forelegs circle my upper torso.

Heck, I even kept it when I felt the heat of her breath over my face.

When did I break it?

That would’ve been the instant Lyra’s lips made contact with mine. Yup, then it was officially saucer-eyes time.

Now, since time in that instant seemed to grind to an absolute halt, I suppose I’ll take a second to describe what went through my head during that moment. I won’t bore you with the obvious ‘is this a sick, disgusting thing: kissing a pony?’ dilemma, as my brain quickly rationalised this as not kissing an animal but rather a sapient, extraterrestrial life-form that happened to be quadrupedal…with magic powers—yes, I still have trouble getting past that because…well…magic powers. Ergo, the question my brain asked itself was: how do you feel about kissing an alien?

Lyra already had her eyes closed. Her hoof was cupping my jaw, applying slight pressure, coaxing and ushering it with gentle urgency to relent as her tongue played at my lips.

How did I feel about this?

Well, it was scary of course; it was uncharted territory; it was…forbidden.

Ergo…it was awesome.

And so, my brain eventually went through all the ifs and buts. It worked through all the moral quadratic equations. Finally, it came back with that one majestic response that’s gotten me into so much trouble in the past:

…What the hell. You only live once, right?

I wouldn’t say my resistance to the whole situation simply vanished from there as much as it slowly…evaporated. My eyes hazed over as my mouth drifted open, yielding to Lyra’s ministrations.

With a hot, lustful exhalation of air, Lyra’s kiss abruptly deepened to a level I had never experience before with another, her muzzle seemingly moulding itself to my mouth entirely. Her tongue entwined down the entire length of mine as she began enthusiastically caressing it with a low, lustful moan that seemed to reverberate from the depths of her throat and all the way down mine. The sensation sent a tremor of unexpected heat through my core.

I found myself returning the act of osculation on instinct, duelling with her tongue as her hoofs explored my chest. One slipped up the front of my shirt and I shuddered as the paw-like suction tugged one nipple, brushing it in rhythmic, teasing circles as the other stroked up and down my neckline. I realised my own hands were roaming her back in kind, gently massaging her firm muscles and pressure points with deep, digging caresses of my fingers. This drew out numerous surprised but undeniably pleasured squeaks from her. Obviously she liked the idea of a partner who could touch her in ten different spots at once.

Then there was her smell; that sweet, musky perfume that radiated all around her. Only then did I realize that it was actually the palpable scent of her arousal, now that it was everywhere, surrounding me. The hot scent filled my sinuses and seemed to make my head swim. I’m not sure what effect it had on stallions, but there was only one word I could use to accurately describe it when it reached this sheer level of saturation: intoxicating.

I felt my body temperature rise along with the unmistakable feeling of the front of my trousers tightening. I suddenly realised that, as playful as I had intended this to be, I was actually getting aroused by it.

Lyra seemed to sense this, as I felt the hoof on my chest circle downwards.

I let out a startled yelp (muffled, as she kept her mouth firmly pressed to mine) as the pad of her hoof encapsulated the growing bulge in my trousers. I whimpered as she began humming, the softness of her hoof moulding itself over the thickening shape as she caressed it up and down in short, urgent strokes.

Lyra pulled her maw away and I opened my mouth to object, fearful as to how far this was rapidly progressing, but she pressed a hoof to my mouth to hush me. She then looked at me through hazed, desperate eyes that had me frozen as her hoof tugged at the button on the band of my trousers, pulling it loose.

I gulped as she tugged my trousers and pants down around my ankles and kicked them away. I leaned forward to halt her, but her hooves were already on my knees, spreading them apart so she could lean in and examine closer. She let out pleasured moan as she nuzzled up against my thigh.

I froze as she sat, crouched before my traitorously semi-engorged member, “Lyra, I–“ I tried to begin, but was choked off as she flicked her tongue out to run it along the underside of the shaft before engulfing my manhood entirely with deep, throaty growl.

My moan was unbidden as her warm mouth surrounded me entirely. Her tongue worked all along the underside, massaging and suckling as I swelled harder. She groaned again as her tongue coiled around the head and began flicking back and forth, sending shudders of pleasure up my body.

Another whimper escaped me as her tongue played at the urethra, savouring the taste of the fluid she was causing to ooze freely as her hooves moved up and down my thighs, stroking gently back and forth over the tender skin.

She’d wrapped her mouth around me to create perfect suction and began bobbing back and forth. And I’m not sure how long she did this for, but I eventually felt myself swell thicker, realising I was actually about to lose it to her. My fingers clenched her mane and I gritted my teeth.

Suddenly, there was cold air as Lyra leaned back, sliding me from her mouth before I peaked, “No…” she growled throatily, and by now her eyes were completely glazed over. I wondered if I had the resistance left to take this opportunity to assume control of the situation and stop this before it went even further.

“Lyra…” I gasped.

“Inside…” she growled as she staggered up and around, her hooves gripping my shoulders behind her as she sank backwards, “Need it inside me…now.”

I gripped hold of her shoulders and moved to stand up just as her tail brushed my thigh. And I felt the swollen tip of my member come inadvertently into sudden contact with the searing, moist entrance to her marehood. I gasped in shock, frozen, just as she was too upon feeling the touch.

She looked back, and she held my eyes with hers as she pressed herself down, building the pressure ever-so slowly. This elicited a mutual, rising groan as the outer lips of her entrance stretched open around the head of my member as it slipped inside, her inner lips snapping shut around the tip once it was snugly within. From there, Lyra simply sank herself slowly backward. Her inner muscles ensured the foreskin around my member was drawn taut, keeping the head exposed to her tight, clasping inner walls. She didn’t stop until her rear was pressed into my crotch, her toned, firm rump fitting almost perfectly between my spread thighs.

Lyra arched her back as she rotated her hips, and I moaned as her clasping insides seemed to coil and milk me at the same time. Her mouth was open, eyes filled with lustful relief.

She steadied herself by grabbing hold of my knees with her forehooves and slowly pulled forward, drawing me out until the tip was trapped just within her. She then slid all the way back, impaling herself completely with a loud gasp of pleasure, all the while her inner walls grasped and massaged, drawing me higher. Lyra soon fell into her rhythm, bucking herself gently against me, sliding me in and out of her unbelievably tight marehood. Her breathing was coming in short gasps now as pleasure overtook her.

My mind was clouded by a haze of shock and sexual pleasure. The whole situation was so surreal that I could hardly believe it was happening. I almost convinced myself it was a dream until the feeling of the mare’s inner walls once more drawing along the length of my manhood reminded me how stark a reality it actually was.

Lyra’s speed was increasing, her movements becoming urgent and her inner muscles were tightening even more around my member. I felt myself starting to swell up inside of her and I realised I was actually about to orgasm; the final admission of how much I was enjoying the act of copulation with her. I desperately tried to hold out, not to yield to that utter, final extent. My face was contorted with strain and ecstasy.

“It’s okay. Don’t fight it, you’re almost there…” I heard Lyra whisper out as she turned her head to around to look at me. There was almost a sort of compassion behind her lust-filled gaze, as if she sensed my holding back and the last thread of my conflict.

She coiled herself about to slowly run her tongue up the line of my neck, flicking the tip over the nape as she reached a forehoof between our legs to cup my sac, squeezing gently, coaxing it into tightening under the subtle touches, “That’s it…” she breathed hotly against my earlobe, “Just let it happen…” And as my mouth opened in a silent scream, Lyra pressed her rear right against me, burying me deep as her inner muscles began twitching rapidly around my manhood as it swelled up with its first emission.

Lyra’s walls gave one final, massive squeeze, forcing out the first blast of fluid from my manhood, which then quickly swelled up again. Her insides then relaxed, leaving me to ride out my orgasm.

My hips were bucking against her as I coated her insides with another blast of seed, unaided this time as I lost myself to what had had to be the biggest climax of my life.

Lyra cried out in orgasm as I ejaculated uncontrollably into her core, pumping out wave after wave of copious emission for what seemed like forever. Lyra’s hips twitched back, rotating against me as she milked me rhythmically for every last drop I had on offer once I had stopped under my own power.

After a few moments pressed tightly against each other, twitching in the throes of ecstasy, we crashed down from on high and we tumbled to the earth. My arms reflexively spooned myself up against Lyra as she heaved for breath.

My face was buried in her mane as I suddenly found myself questioning if that actually just happened. My eyes were then drawn down to where my member remained joined to Lyra, still embedded deeply in her marehood.

The connection was broken when I slipped free a moment later. Copious amounts of my own seed oozed from her still twitching entrance, presenting the final visual proof of how not only had that actually just happened, but also of how much she’d gotten me to enjoy it.

“Thank you…” I was brought back to reality by Lyra’s sigh as she huddled up in my arms, “Thank you…” she repeated again, and then again. The relief in her voice was unmistakable, and there seemed to be tears in her eyes because of that, “Thank you…” she whispered one last time before drifting off right there in a haze of shared sexual afterglow.

Based on the fact that I had just went through one of, if not the, most intense sexual experiences of my life, I felt there really was only one response to give.

“…You’re welcome.”

My worries about what people might think if they learned what happened lasted precisely as long as it took to remember that I don’t care what other people think about me.

—But then what about Lyra?

I looked down at the mare and wondered if I’d done her wrong by letting her overcome me like that. I know humans nowadays can be open-minded once educated and given perspective, but what about her society?

These thoughts were cut into by a startled yelp of, “Whoa…nelly!”

I looked up just as the earth mare who’d found us dropped the basket she’d been positioning by a tree in shock.

It was the Apple pony, the one from the first encounter. She was looking at me with wide eyes, and there was already a blush on her cheeks.

“Th-this is…” I stammered, Lyra not rousing herself from her sleep as I looked fearfully between her, the earth pony, and my still naked lower half.

To my surprise, the pony just sighed, “Ah see how it is…so Lyra finally got that itch scratched, huh? Well good for her.” She cocked her head and crouched down to pick up her basket again, “Ah’ll just, uh, give you two lovebirds some privacy ta make yerselves presentable. Though, ruttin’ like a couple a’ newlyweds in another mare’s apple orchard? That ain’t too polite, now is it?”

“Uh no, ma’am. S-sorry, ma’am. I…umm…promise your orchard shall remain un-rutted for the foreseeable future.”

She squinted an eye at me suspiciously, “Now just so we’re clear: that ain’t one of them you-feh-whatchamacallems now, was it?”

“…A euphemism?”

“Doncha be gettin’ fancy on me…but yeah, I dun reckon so.”

“No, ma’am…”

“Well good. Now you take miss Heartstrings and make yerselves scarce. And...try ta get a room next time, ya hear?”

I flushed, “It was sort of spontaneous, but I hear. But…do you mind if I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“I’m a human…and she’s…not. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

“…Why? Did ya force yerself on her or somethin’?”

“No!” I objected harshly.

“Then why should ah be upset? Just make sure ya ain’t doin’ it round here no more.”

Apple looked like she was going to add something cheeky on the end there, but instead she merely tilted her hat curtly and then turned about to leave. Although if I didn’t know any better, I could’ve sworn there seemed to be a slight exaggeration in the sway of her hips as she walked off, but that could’ve just been me looking at her in a new light.

So, I realised, the ponies didn’t care. If Apple’s response was going to be even close to the average pony’s reaction, then I suppose Lyra didn’t have anything to worry about after all…

---

I managed to rouse Lyra and we walked back. She explained to me about her heat situation as she went, and how mares can get driven to an instinctive sexual frenzy by ‘skipping’ out on satisfying the urge during the week when they are driven to mate. Apparently, Lyra had always been particularly susceptible to the effects of ‘skipping’ in comparison to most mares, who were able to skip for somewhat longer without building themselves up too much.

She also let me know that she was only part-way through her current period, and while I may have taken most of the weight off for now, the urges could soon resurface.

What I didn’t realise was that ‘soon’ equated to ‘by the time we get back into town’.

Lyra was already a fluster by the time we reached her doorstep and the sun had fully set. She kept her eyes averted as she unlocked her door.

“It’s okay,” she said, turning to look at me with what I could only describe as fearful hope, smiling weakly, “if…if you don’t want to…be with me, I can try to take care of myself. Wouldn’t be the first time…”

I looked into her sunglow eyes for a long, silent moment before smiling in utter defeat.

She had me.

I reached past Lyra and opened the door for her. I then walked right past her and into the house, “I sense that it’s going to be a long night...”

---

To be concluded…

Chapter 4: Moriarty

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Chapter 4: Moriarty

First human to engage in and then consummate an interspecies relationship, eh?

Mom must be so proud...

Did you know that ponies are even more prone to gossiping than humans? Well I learned that little factoid the hard way...

I believe the path of the story led from patient zero (My erstwhile companion and now partner, Ms Heartstrings), to her best friend Bon Bon, and then I believe a whisper was caught by Ponyville’s most famous fashionista Rarity…

From there on the spread became nigh unstoppable.

I had initially expected the response from the locals to be nothing short of utter outrage and disgust, followed quickly by an old-timey lynching in the town square.
Mild intrigue and curiosity was not the response I had been expecting. No, It turns out that interspecies mingling (for lack of a more polite term) isn't that big of a deal round these parts. And while the concept of one between a human and pony was obviously new, and may indeed have been startling briefly to some ponies, after the initial shock it appeared there was little other direction for them to go to than outright curiosity.

When it comes to things like this, Humans normally start at the 'Really?' stage, then go through their various stages of disgust and intolerance, before finally realizing they were actually being pretty douchey about the whole thing and settling on the acceptance stage. With ponies though it seems to start out with that same 'Really?' stage and then catapults right past acceptance before crashing headlong into the whispered 'So what was it like?' stage.

Did I mention how I was really starting to like this place?

The Twitter response had been interesting. Ironically, the first response to my initial selfie with Lyra had been the predictable:

@JazzyOne639 @MusicMan3142 I’d hit it…

It shocks me how that reply got almost as many favorites as the initial image.

Bluntness was often a good friend of mine, so I felt that the revelation should come like pulling off a band-aid.

@MusicMan3142 @Jazzyone639 Too late. #wherenomanhasgonebefore

Just like that.

@MoonPrismPrincess favorited one of your tweets.

Oh, and it turned out Princess Luna was indeed following me.

Flattering, when one takes into account that she currently holds the world record for most Twitter followers. That’s ahead of, I believe, Katy Perry, Barack Obama and her sister Celestia, who was known by her handle-

@GoodMorningStarshine favorited one of your tweets.

-Yeah, that…

But that was a while ago. Things had since settled down to a simmer. There had however been some…minor changes in my living arrangements. Needless to say, there was no further need for me to stay at the local inn.

I was sat up in bed that particular morning, phone propped up in my hands to answer an SMS alert.

Jim: So how’s the accommodation?

I cocked my head and glanced about the cottage. Lyra had a very cosy sense of decoration that fit in well with the town’s overall atmosphere.

Me: Not bad @ all. Vry rustic.

I felt my brow clench into a frown at that point.

Me: U don’t do social texting. Skip 2 it.

Jim: Charmer. I just wished to know what your plans were for further down the line.

I leaned back slightly to regard the screen with suspicion.

Me: Bit early 4 that. Not been here long. Why r u asking?

Jim: You're dodging the question.

Me: Ur dodging my question ABUOT ur question.

Jim: About* And I asked first.

Damn.

Me: Assume I just sighed concedingly and that u won that 1. What do u mean by ‘plans?’

Jim: Based on impressions thus far, do you want to go back?

I rolled my eyes and pressed a few buttons and brought the phone up to my ear. We’d reached what we like to call the ’ten text rule’.

It was now a conversation.

“Well?” came Jim’s voice.

I was conscious of a weight across my chest. I glanced down and then up towards the opposite wall, studying a non-descript painting of a park scene as I spoke, “It’s been such a whirlwind since I arrived that I’ve never even given it a second’s thought.”

“I see. And how is…Ms Heartstrings, wasn’t it?”

“You know fine well.” The weight shifted slightly, “And she’s fine.”

“That's good to hear. At least she'll be well out of heat by now.”

I almost flinched at that, and he made me pause for a moment longer than I’d have liked, mainly because it took a second for me to stop myself from uttering the words 'How did you know about that?' on reflex.

A picture began forming in my head, and a lot of pieces were suddenly falling into place. He didn’t prompt for a response. Bastard was actually waiting for me to work it out. I finally responded, “This was you, wasn’t it?”

“Me?” he queried mildly, “Why, whatever could you be implying?”

“That I’ve been stalked for years by a creepy thin man in a business suit who eventually drove me insane enough to let him lure me into another world, wrapped in his invisible tentacles…”

“Ah…” came the response, “I’m Slender Man now. I like it.”

“You’re just going to keep playing innocent, aren’t you?”

“Oh, Sam. I’m never anything but.”

He could probably hear my teeth grinding down the line.

He let out a weary sigh and I heard the tell-tale squeak of him idly twirling in his chair, “But then what a monster I must be: luring my best friend, a young, lonely man, into a world free from war and famine, giving him a six month free vacation with all expenses paid and, supposedly, luring him into getting laid…repeatedly. And even getting him an actual job.”

He stalled me there, “Umm…”

“What a bastard I am.”

“You are a bastard,” I grumbled, “I’m just not sure what kind yet.”

“Magnificent?” he offered.

“Or insidious. Either way you deserve a slap.”

“What for?” he asked with mock surprise.

“I don’t know.” I groaned, pausing to massage the bridge of my nose, “Hell, I’ve forgotten why I was even mad at you to begin with. How do you do that to people?”

“All part of the job, my friend…”

“And what’s that you said about an actual job? At the moment I’m pretty much just mooching off the system.”

“Just a little something I’ve got on the backburner. I may have a supervisor position for you lined up in the new Ponyville branch of Human Immigration Affairs.”

“Never heard of it.”

“That’s because it doesn’t exist yet. Groundwork’s still being laid but it should all be ready by the time your six months are up. Let me know your decision. It won’t be music, but it’ll still pay very handsomely. Plus, you can of course still…exercise your art outside of work.”

I was silent for another long moment, and my tone was extremely wary when I spoke again, “What are you planning, James?”

That got a pause out of him this time, and I realized quickly that I’d accidentally used his full first name, an inadvertent show of genuine caution on my part. His tone was far more open when he spoke again, “Nothing, as you say, ‘insidious’. I’m just trying to do my bit to make the world a happier place. And yes, I know how supervillainish that sounds, but I am actually trying to do something good here.”

“If you say so…” I murmured, choosing to let it drop for now.

“Have fun with your marefriend.”

I scowled, but then smiled, “Give Luna my regards.”

“Meaning what?”

“Nothing, nothing…” I replied, and promptly terminated the call. Proud that I’d swiped the last word. It always irritated him when I did that.

@Musicman3142 I sometimes wond-

A rustle of the covers interrupted my musings and drew my attention downwards. I felt a soft furry shape brush up the length of my form.

Lyra poked her head out from under the sheets, her chin resting on my torso. She smiled up at me, her honey coloured eyes gleaming, “Whatcha doing?” she asked, shifting cheekily against me, obviously with the intent of teasing a certain sensitive part of my anatomy with the gentle back and forth shifting of the fur on her chest.

It was annoyingly effective...

Plus, it was morning after all. I suspect Lyra had taken notice of that certain male tendency of mine too, and she wasn’t even close to being above taking advantage of it.

I rolled my eyes and reached down to gently rub the top of her head around the base of her horn, “Just talking at the world.”

She wriggled her way quickly up until she was propped in my lap and looking down at my smartphone display, “Is it about me? Is it, is it?” she asked, her usual rapt enthusiasm for all things otherworldly in full swing.

I dropped the handset on the nightstand as Lyra settled herself down again to rest her chin on my bare chest, “Nah, just rambling…” I said, and I felt a low, pleasured hum vibrate up my body from Lyra’s chest as I idly trailed my fingertips up and down the length of her horn.

She grinned and then leaned quickly up to peck me on the lips, “Hmm, think I’m feeling a bit tense this morning. Think maybe I might be starting to-“

“-You’re not in heat, Lyra.” I cut in with a weary smirk, “And Bon Bon told me that you were faking it for three full days after the fact. I know how to tell now. Not in the least because she helped me plot out your estrous cycle on my calendar app.”

She bopped me on the nose with the pad of her hoof, “You’re no fun.”

I narrowed my gaze at her and then snapped my teeth playfully in her face. She flinched back, her ears flattening on reflex against her head. Her face had screwed up into a rather adorable pout.

Being accused of being a tease I could deal with, but for some reason I could never allow myself to get accused of being dull and then just let it stand.

There was only one thing for it...

“Someone’s been a naughty mare though…" I said, "Getting this rowdy in the morning.”

She responded by rubbing herself once more up against my still annoyingly clear arousal, “Says the one who seems to get into a bit of heat himself every single time he wakes up.“

I narrowed my gaze down upon her, fixing her with my best fake-evil stare , “I see you have discovered my secret, young mare. Clearly you have seen too much...”

Lyra gave out a loud squeak as I pounced on her, which turned into a shrill giggle as she did her best to wrestle with me while I tickled her sides, “Help!” she called between giggles, wriggling in my arms, “I’m under attack!” she let out another squeak as I nibbled down on the base of her horn.

I gave her my best evil laugh as I shifted, taking her squirming form in my arms. I then nibbled gently on her ear, “I have you now…” I whispered.

“D-don’t! N-ngh!” Her cry escalated into a shocked gasp of pleasure at that point. Her entire frame then tensed, her back arching. I felt her rear press up against my groin, her tail dancing rapidly over my thighs.

Her mouth was hanging open now in soundless gasps as I gently nibbled lighter and harder on her ear, my thumb circling on that perfect sweet spot near the base of her tail. Her chest was heaving in the small of my arm as her rate of breathing increased. I then opted to switch to gently running my tongue up and down her horn while my hand slipped under to gently tease her engorged nipples.

I knew she was held firm more by her instinctive and quivering desire to present herself to the lover mounted over her rather than any physical grip I happened to have on her. I could see her eyes were moist as she glanced pleadingly back at me. I never quite held back until she actually cried though, but I’ll admit I have come close to letting her.

“P-please…” she whimpered, her rear twitching back reflexively against me. I felt the searing heat of her marehood as she left a trail of moisture up and down the length of my manhood. She was moaning openly and despairingly at the teasing contact against her vulva.

“Well now…” came a weary sigh. I felt Lyra flinch under me and her body temperature shot up even further, if such a thing were possible, “Somepony seems to be in a bit of a state…”

Yes, the one other alteration in my living arrangements: the fact that Lyra did not in fact live alone. It turned out that she had a housemate, and while she and Lyra were never 'that way' inclined towards each other as a rule, there had been more than a few instances apparently where they’d been forced to ‘help each other out’, for lack of a better term.

I would almost go so far as to say that she came as a package deal with the unicorn. Although she did, I came to quickly realize, have a much firmer grasp of her self-control than Lyra. Despite that, I suspect her devious streak may have been more than a little longer than her housemate’s.

Bon Bon, of course, was the earth mare’s name.

It had all started with her asking Lyra if it would be okay for her to find out what my ‘finger things’ that she kept bragging on about were like. Lyra had been more than happy to the point of beaming when she’d asked me to help her friend (and my new housemate) to relieve some stress using what I would class as a pretty basic massage.

It turned out Bon Bon didn't class it as such. And things had…escalated from there.

I’m still not sure if just three can be classed as a ‘herd’ though, which was apparently what we were now, the pair had informed me.

Life is strange...

But I digress. Something that always amuses me is how embarrassed Lyra seems to get whilst being ’watched’. Conversely, Bon Bon seemed to get a naughty thrill out of watching, if only because she seemed to enjoy watching Lyra get flustered almost as much as I did.

“Nuh...Nooo….” moaned Lyra, biting her lower lip, her eyes clenching closed. She knew the teasing would reach excruciating levels now that there were the two of us with her.

Despite her embarrassment, Lyra still couldn’t stop herself from continuing to rub herself off against my member right there in front of her house slash herdmate. I guess Lyra had just plain forgotten that Bon Bon was only working a sunrise to mid-morning shift that day.

Bon Bon nuzzled Lyra in passing as she hopped up onto the bed, and I tensed a little too as she ran the pad of her hoof up the bare side of my torso as she looked down on Lyra by my side.

The earth mare did however pause to ‘break character’ just long enough to briefly nuzzle me in greeting with a quick hug, just like she did every time she came home with both of us, although she did go a bit further and opt to steal a kiss in the process before going right back to business. For ponies I’d known for so short a time, it shocked me how much love they had to offer someone so new in their lives.

Humanity could learn a thing or two…though I suppose that was the general idea.

Bon Bon was grinning down on Lyra as she hooked her forehooves about my midsection, “Hmm, looks like somepony else has gotten all hot and bothered too…” she cooed, and I stifled a gasp as she ran the soft part of one hoof up the underside of my member and gently encircled and began massaging the tip with the other.

She arched up on her rear legs to whisper softly, her hoofs moving in a firm, yet still gentle caress, “Perhaps I should just get you off right here…”

I heard Lyra whimper slightly. She could probably never tell when Bon Bon was just teasing, and as her pace picked up and she slowly began to grind against me, I was starting to empathize.

Bon Bon stopped suddenly though and I felt her lean harder over me, her chin resting on my shoulder, forcing me down and up against the unicorn once more “Did you say something, Lyra?” she whispered. I didn’t move as I felt her adjust herself, pressing me down until she’d nestled the engorged tip of my manhood between Lyra’s searing hot outer lips. The earth mare was moving me now, circling the taut velvety opening of Lyra's marehood and using her bodyweight to apply threatening pressure, but never quite enough to make her actually yield to me.

Lyra for her part was a visibly quivering mess by this point. Stallions often didn’t make a habit of teasing during copulation. It was often a very swift affair, and never did they hold their mare in wait, since that obviously meant keeping their own pleasure at bay too.

The concept had apparently been alien to Bon Bon too, but she had obviously come to embrace it with gleeful abandon, and I had to admit:
the earth mare’s games did add an even greater spice to the proceedings.

I knew that Bon Bon couldn’t have been too comfortable in her current position, so I hooked an arm under her flank, supporting her rear with the palm of one hand. I noticed a bit of the strain on her face vanish, and her devilish grin gave way to a relieved smile for just the briefest of instances before going right back to business. I also wasn’t shocked to find out that, despite her calm demeanour, Bon Bon was obviously a lot more excited than she was letting on.

I gently caressed the moistness of Bon Bon's marehood with just the tips of two fingers for now to test her waters. She rewarded me with an eager wriggle of her hips, going so far as to inadvertently impale herself completely on my exploring digits, sinking both deep within her hot core.

I decided to show a bit of enthusiasm with our third since she was, after all, stuck at the back orchestrating. And so I buried my two fingers in her up to the second knuckle and applied vigorous pressure against the roof of her sex, thumbing the nicely exposed nub of her clit in the process. It didn't take me long to find the perfect rhythm either.

Bon Bon’s entire body jerked and she bit almost painfully down into my shoulder as I relentlessly massaged her internals. She gave an ecstatic thrust of her hips against me, forcing the tip of my member past Lyra’s tight opening and several inches inside of her.

Lyra let out a sobbing groan of relief and pleasure as she reflexively thrust back until her rear was meshed perfectly up against my groin, burying me completely within her searingly hot and undulating marehood.

Even as I started slowly working myself back and forth inside of the mare’s tight canal, Bon Bon had seized my wrist in a virtual death grip with her rear legs and was desperately working herself off against the fingers inside her. I suddenly realized then that I’d gone from two on one to one on two.

But then any good musician should always be well versed in the art of multitasking during a live performance.

Bon Bon collapsed against me in full when a third finger went into the mix. This had the effect of forcing Lyra face-down into the bed sheets and the earth mare ended up crouched up against me once more from behind. That at least gave me slightly better access to work at her and eventually I fell back into a gentle rhythm to slowly build her up to her peak.

Lyra was getting progressively tighter around me too. Her walls were now spasming almost nonstop, as if she were trying to milk me dry at the end of each repeated thrust into her. The sharper angle we were at now gave me the added benifit of permitting me reach even deeper into her than before.

Lyra was panting with each successive stroke and her teeth were gritted together. She forced herself up slightly as her back began to arch, “Close…” she squealed out, “So close…!”

I knew the feeling. I could feel the oncoming rush as I swelled harder within Lyra. I pushed down harder, stroking down as firmly and rapidly as I could on the same spot that I was working away at in Bon Bon. The unicorn’s next groan caught in her throat as she teetered on the edge and her eyes flicked open in surprise. I braced my knees to free my left hand and brought it up. I then reached over and gently coiled my fingers about her horn, circling the tip with my thumb.

That did the trick...

The sheets already stretched taut under Lyra’s front hooves seemed to tear as she let out a long sobbing cry of pleasure as her climax rocked her frame, the walls of her marehood going into overdrive as I worked her even through that.

To my surprise, just before I hit my peak too, Bon Bon tugged me back and I collapsed onto my backside. Lyra glanced back with a shocked, “huh?” still mid-climax, her eyes glazed over.

“Change of plans…” whispered Bon Bon, moving swiftly between us, and Lyra could do nothing to stop her from wrapping her forleges about her flank and burying her face in her marehood.

Lyra’s eyes flew wide as the mare’s tongue flicked over her clit before burying itself deep inside her. She would then dip out, tease that nub again and sink back in, her muzzle all but molding itself to the unicorn’s twitching sex.

Lyra thrashed about, shaking her head as she was forced to stay at her orgasmic peak while Bon Bon held her there in perfect restraint. As spasms wracked the unicorn's form, the earth mare settled herself back into my lap, gyrating slightly as she worked her friend over. I took her cue and I leaned upwards. There was little to no resistance as her outer lips yielded and I sank deep within her. The vibration of her sudden groan of satisfaction triggered another yelp of shock from Lyra.

I gripped Bon Bon’s flanks. I could feel she was close as it was, and so I began thrusting deeply and without abandon, matching the lust with which she went about keeping Lyra at her peak.

Bon Bon’s muffled grunts matched mine as I brought her up to the peak again, all the while she stabbed her hips back against me, seeking her finish too and not wanting to risk me escaping the depths of her marehood until I was good and done also.

A few hard stokes more pushed her over the edge and I thrust myself as deep as I could in and let the damn finally break for both of us. My groans matched Bon Bon’s muffled ones in time as I release jet after thick jet of seed deep into her marehood while she hungrily sapped away at the now shaking and sobbing Lyra in the midst of her lustful haze. Bon Bon held me firm and tightly within, her walls relentlessly clenching and releasing me as she climaxed, forcing me to yield all I had to her.

I crashed forwards onto the bed a moment later, gasping for air. Bon Bon came away too at that point, collapsing onto her side against me. Her muzzle was liberally coated with her friend’s juices as she instinctively nestled back up against me.

Lyra had been reduced to little more than a twitching mess, collapsed flat on her chest with her legs sprawled out around her. Her eyes were vacant and her breaths came as little more than quiet, whimpering squeaks.

I heaved out another gasp and reached tentatively over to stroke the unicorn’s side. Her fur was matted with sweat and I felt her entire frame shiver at the subtle contact under my fingertips.

I couldn’t help but smile, “Think we went a little hard on her?” I asked, basking in the deepest part of my afterglow.

Bon Bon’s hoof came up and gently rubbed the Unicorn's side alongside my own hand, “She’ll be fine…” she whispered fondly. She then arched her head back to look up at me, “And what was that thing you did with your fingers back there?”

“What, that?” I asked, shuffling about to sit up cross-legged, “Canon in D major. Sounds much better on the guitar, I assure you.”

“Huh?”

I couldn’t help but smile tiredly and then gently rustle her matted blue and pink mane, “Nothing.”

I shuffled about to Lyra’s side as Bon Bon pushed herself up, “You sure you’re okay?” I whispered down tenderly upon the prone unicorn.

Lyra's eyes were glazed and she was staring ahead with a dreamy expression on her face. Her ears gave a brief flick though, “I’m…happy.”

I blinked, “Lyra?”

Her eyes seemed to moisten slightly and her bottom lip began to tremble a little, “I’m…so...very happy.”

My own eyes widened a fraction and I turned to glance at Bon Bon. Her expression seemed to soften as she sank down alongside me.

I smiled gently and ran my fingertips through Lyra’s tousled mane, whispering “You silly mare you…”

I felt my mind drifting as I looked down upon the unicorn whilst Bon Bon made herself comfortable up against my side. I let my other hand come to rest on the earth mare’s head as she closed her eyes to doze off.

I wasn’t sure how deep my feelings for Lyra and Bon Bon ran, love for both equally certainly was the minimum, but I knew I was just scratching the surface at the moment. The rest could take time. How much time I'm not sure. Heck, I was unsure right then if all the time in the world would be enough.

There was only one thing that was certain: what was left of those six months most certainly wouldn’t be enough…

And so, as the weight of defeat began settling gently within me, I found my eyes being drawn to the phone on the nightstand.

‘I Suppose I can let Jim be right about just this one thing…’

---

Jim’s eyes seemed to gleam as he read the message that blinked to life on his blackberry.

Sammy: I’ll take the job.

"Atta boy, Sam…” he murmured under his breath with a smirk, and it buzzed again before he could even turn it partially away.

Sammy: Stop gloating.

Jim couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as he pocketed the device once more and then turned to look out upon the distant sunset. He glanced downwards also to take in Canterlot as it too prepared to turn in for the night.

A serene, satisfied smile graced Jim’s pale features, “Celestia’s in her castle. All’s right with the world…”

“Excuse me?” came the polite query from the other side of the office. The mare lounging on the couch was no longer draped in shadow and was instead now letting the sunset she basked in cast her into a soft golden hue.

Jim smiled dismissively, “Nothing. Just…lamenting on a job well done.”

“How is your friend?”

James glanced back at her over one shoulder, “Curious?”

She cocked her head, the ghost of a smile gracing her elegant features, “If you like.”

Jim crossed over and dropped onto the couch by her side, smiling, “I think Sam’s going to be just fine. He played his part better than I could’ve hoped, and he got his reward on top of that.”

“Good for him…”

Jim arched his head about and nodded towards the window, “And what’s the word out there on the street? How are we doing?”

The unicorn mare looked off at the landscape outside, “Couldn’t be better. Ms Heartstrings really knows how to embellish your friend’s…articulations. Bon Bon appears to have been inadvertently spreading the good word also. I tell you, some of the rumors the mares at the salon are spreading about humans and their…abilities..." she paused to shake her head with a smile, "the amusing thing is: quite a lot of them are actually true, so at least there won’t be any disappointed customers in that regard.”

Jim nodded slowly, “And so the consumer demand should be at the perfect level by the time you’re ready to...open shop, so to speak.”

“Precisely. How did the meeting with Celestia go?”

Jim drummed his fingers idly off his lap, his left hand moving to idly massage the tension from the mare’s side, causing her to let out a pleasured sigh and settle down against him, “As we thought: there was no legal issue with their relationship, and I’ve presented the idea as planned.”

Though she didn’t shift, Jim felt the muscles in her neck tighten slightly. That was one of the reasons he liked to get so tactile with her; she could be difficult to read from expression alone, “And?” she finally asked.

“The prospect…intrigued her. The idea of mares being able to find companionship and satisfaction when there are no stallions around, and without risking a rise in the population to boot? The concept of such a service had clearly never even occurred to her before.”

The mare shifted and stood up now. Jim made no move to follow as she began idly pacing before the window, “Human females don’t know the luck they have, James: a virtual fifty-fifty gender distribution; never feeling that searing, inescapable burning in your core on a regular basis…nor the crushing loneliness and despair of there just being nopony there in the dark moments, when just one night of having somepony in your hooves might make all the difference. And then there are all the foals born of that desperation.”

“I’m sure we have that issue too…” commented Jim.

“And how often do you think human females have that problem simply because there are literally no available partners around in a geographical sense?” Her eyes turned intense at that point, and Jim wondered if she was speaking from experience, “There are few pains more terrible than to know that you need someone, anyone, and that there is simply nothing you can do about it.”

James inclined his head, “Valid point…”

She rounded about at that, her hoof raised in a sweeping motion. “I will take that pain away, James! I will change Equestria and bring about a new, brighter age for mares everywhere!”

“As well as make a mountain of bits on the side…” observed James dryly.

Her hoof froze mid-swing. She cocked her head acceptingly, “That too…” she said, “But the point still stands: Mares will be happier; Stallions will not be as pressured, nor will they need to feel as obligated as before to let a lonely mare that they have no genuine interest in into their herd just out of pity, nor the guilt when that arrangement comes crashing inevitably down.”

“I wonder if Celestia knew that too…” mused Jim, stroking his chin idly in thought.

That caught her attention once more and she sauntered slowly back over to settle into the chair once more, “What did she say exactly?”

Jim shrugged, “That if such a business did indeed request approval to begin operation that she would indeed consider allowing its formation, at the very least on a trial basis. That is, if somepony were to ask such a thing.” He glanced at her then with a small smile, “She knew.”

The unicorn’s brow furrowed, “Knew?”

“She knew I was fronting for someone. I could see it in her eyes and hear it in the way she spoke; addressing me as if I were merely a messenger and not someone presenting a hypothetical scenario. I was also quoting her directly when I said ‘if somepony were to ask’, she didn’t say somebody.”

“You think she’s aware of my intentions already?”

Jim laced his fingers together and frowned in thought, dwelling on how best to phrase his reply, “I think she knows you’re far more than just a ‘market liaison’ here to represent Equestrian financial interests during the negotiation period.”

“And yet she said nothing…” observed Silver with a frown.

Jim’s smile turned wry, “That alone should tell you all you need to hear,” he said, “You have your green light, Silver."

Her chin rose up at that, as if some new energy was starting to swell from within, “Then it’s time…”

Then, to Jim’s slight surprise, she turned her attention fully towards him. She regarded him in quiet for a moment, as if reluctant to speak, “What will you do now?” she finally asked.

Jim blinked. He didn’t catch that it had actually been a personal question. After all, Silver never got sentimental… “I’ll move onto the next phase, just as planned. I’ve got the proposal for the immigration department all laid out, its approval is now an inevitability. From there it’s a simple matter of getting myself transferred and set up as departmental head.”

Silver averted her eyes slightly, nodding slowly. Back to business it was, but then that’s what she’d wanted him for in the first place after all, “You need to oversee this yourself?” she asked.

He inclined his head, “The system will of course work by the old ‘points’ method on paper. That means that those with valued skills and trades get priority. However, there will need to be people in that system ready to spot, -even in the most innocuous desk jockey or delivery man- that certain…something. Finding people who can spot that will of course be where I come in…”

“So that’s what you were talking to your friend about.”

“But of course. Knowing Sam, he’ll empathize with just the kind of people we need. He doesn’t have to know that every time he overrides the system that it all gets passed back to me so a…referral can be done for prospective employment in an attempt to help the newcomer ‘earn their citizenship’, but I’m sure I’ll end up breaking it to him at some further point down the line.

“From there, once everything is all moving and running on its own steam, I’ll just release control to an appropriate successor and move on.”

“But will they let you just take this new position as department head?”

Jim cocked his head, acknowledging the point, “They’ll wonder why I’m effectively demoting myself, surely, but they won’t fight it. But then only my role is changing; my goal remains the same.”

The unicorn was quiet for a moment before speaking again, her tone this time was one of almost reluctant, yet still genuine curiosity, “May I ask you a question?”

Jim almost appeared curious too. He nodded.

“Why did you agree to help me?”

“Silver?”

“I offered you no reimbursement for your trouble; no financial benefit or political power; you even rejected my…advances in lieu of payment.” She said, adding the last part with an uncomfortable shift of her hooves.

His smile seemed to soften then, “Because I was just doing my job.”

She blinked, “Your job?”

“I’m not a businessman, Silver, I’m a diplomat. My methods are rarely conventional, but my goal is always the same.”

“And what might that be?”

His smile tugged a bit, “Why, to bring people together, of course. That is the reason for everything I do.

"You wanted to change Equestria for the better, albeit with the additional goal of financial gain in mind, and so did I. Our goals were compatible. I've learned there are far more effective ways of uniting people than making them sit opposite one another at a table. Sometimes you’ve just got to get behind the lines to do it though.”

“And you thought uniting people and pony together in a…literal sense was a way of doing that?”

He chuckled, “Crude, perhaps, but as I said: very effective. Once those kinds of barriers are out of the way, you’d be shocked by how easily things can move on from there. Sam was just the first. From here, we upscale. When that’s finished, only then will my job be done. Then I’ll be free to move onto fighting my next battle.”

“Funny, I thought stopping them was your forte.”

“Oh how very droll,” he said, though he couldn’t help but smile as he said it, “But I suppose I’ll only be involved with your little operation in the most indirect of senses now, but then I always did prefer the subtle touch.”

“I know you do…” she whispered.

“Silver…” he intoned tiredly.

“I...suppose, since this is the end of our direct partnership, I would not mind if you referred to me by name.”

“Are you sure? You were the one with the fondness for this cloak and dagger melodrama. You do realize though that all those Earth spy movies you watched aren’t really how these back room things normally work?”

She gave a slight 'hmph' and looked away, “You were the one who agreed to play along.”

“What can I say?” he asked with a slight shrug, “I do like my games.”

She sighed at that point, “I really should’ve given you an alias too, I suppose…”

“The idea of smartly dressed men with call signs appeals to you, does it?”

She glanced off to one side, as if considering something, “It does now…”

Jim stood up and extended a hand at that point, “It was a pleasure working with you, Silver,” he said, using her alias just one last time.

Platinum raised her hoof up and allowed him to shake it, “The pleasure was mine…Slender Man.”

Jim flushed slightly and shook his head even as he turned to walk away, “Please don’t ever let Sam know I let you call me that.

"I’d best be off. At this rate I’ll be late for my evening tea with Luna.”

“I’ll most likely be gone by the time you return.”

Jim paused and turned back to her, “I suppose that’s for the best.”

She narrowed her gaze at him and sauntered forward a few steps, her hips swaying slightly with each step, “One…final question.”

“Ask away.”

She looked up at him with slightly lidded eyes, “Did I never once…tempt you?”

His expression softened slightly, “More than I’d have liked…”

Platinum smiled, “Good answer. You always were the perfect Gentleman…”

He flourished a quick bow, “I aim to please. Still…if you ever have need of my services again…” he said, opening the door, “You have my card.”

And then he was gone.

Platinum stood in silence for a moment, realizing that she actually felt rather…irked. Not because Jim had resisted her charms so thoroughly, (although that may have been a slight contributing factor), but because she never quite got to reward him properly. And if there was one thing Platinum Corona hated, it was having unpaid debts hanging over her.

A quick rap on the door sounded and Platinum looked up just as a certain mare poked her head inside.

And just like that, Platinum knew precisely what she could do to repay the favor...

---

The guards shifted out the way of Luna’s chamber door in preparation, nodding politely as James approached.

Jim inclined his head curtly back in response, “Is Her Majesty present?”

The guard nodded his head down the corridor, “Her Highness went out to meet you a little while ago, sir. Think she wanted to meet you en route. You must have missed her.”

Jim blinked and looked back the way he came, “Oh? Well I’d…best go hunt her down then.”

“No need,” came the unmistakable voice from within the room behind them. The guards snapped to attention.

The large wooden doors opened with the magical shimmer of Luna’s aura.

The Princess was waiting within. Jim waited on the threshold for her nod of permission before entering.

As often was the case during Jim’s visits, Luna was curled up on her large, star-flecked midnight blue cushion. Its position by the open balcony gave her a magnificent view of the mountain range and countryside outside.

Always with a smile she would be waiting. It was on his first visit that Jim had seen what she normally did during the night hours, curled up there: Her eyes had been pools of pure moonlight as she stared vacantly out into the night, her consciousness drifting between the dreams of ponies everywhere as she watched over and guarded their minds while they slept.

It was strange, Jim had noted at the time, that while she may have been at one with the sleeping minds of so many in her court of dreams, Luna still appeared so very lonely at times.

He had proposed the idea of their evening tea sessions the very next day, and as such she had swiftly become the closest thing Jim had to a real friend in all of Canterlot.

The second the doors slammed shut behind him, Luna’s smile flicked instantly from its calm regality to an unrestrained, toothy grin. Jim noted that the people really didn’t seem to grasp just how bubbly she could be when not performing her royal duties, even if she did occasionally slip back into her royal old-timey speech patterns whenever she got particularly excitable.

“Sorry, Luna.” Said Jim as he peeled off his jacket and tossed it casually over the back of a nearby chest, “I had to take a shortcut to get here on time. I really didn't think I'd end up forcing you to teleport back just to meet me.”

Luna slid up to sit on her hindquarters as Jim dropped down onto the smaller cushion opposite her, “It’s no problem, Jim.” She said, bowing her head down between them. She peered up at him, smiling still and nudging him with her horn twice.

Jim smiled tiredly and then reached over to gently rub her neck with one hand, teasing the muscles into relaxation with his fingertips until Luna’s eyes fluttered briefly closed and she let out a contented hum of pleasure. Her smile never shifted even as Jim pulled back again and she quickly nuzzled him in greeting.

“How are you this evening, Luna?” he asked as the princess levitated over the prepared tea set and put it down on the low table between them.

“I am fine. Thank you, Jim,” she said, and her ears immediately perked up “What would you like to do tonight?”

“After tea? I’ve not really thought of anything. Why don’t you pick this time.”

Luna leaned closer, visibly excited, “We shall play a coop game!”

“That’s...‘co-op’, Luna,” said Jim as he poured them a cup each, setting Luna’s carefully down in front of her. He took a calm sip of his own, “Which one did you have in mind?”

“The one with the magic puzzles and the machine that speaks cunning deception but still amuses me!”

Jim ran that through his internal Luna-English translator, “Okay, but please remember this time: GLaDOS can’t actually hear you, no matter how loud you scream at the laptop.”

Luna looked off to one side, murmuring under her breath, “She spoke falsehood about there being confection. One should not lie about such things…”

“Of course, Luna, of course…”

Silence fell for a moment and Luna looked off into the distance, shifting slightly as a blush began to form on her features, “Have you…given any thought to my proposal?”

Jim looked up from his cup, “Pardon?”

Luna rolled her mostly-empty cup between her hooves, “About accompanying me to the Gala this week. I…was wondering if you had thought about it.”

It was James’ turn to blush slightly and avert his gaze. He was genuinely fond of Luna, more so than was probably appropriate considering his position, but there were limits he had to place on himself. He had to remain detached…no matter how much it sometimes hurt.

“I…ah…”

Luna shook her head quickly, plastering her smile back into place, “N-never mind, y-you do not need to respond. T’was a silly thing to ask.”

“N-no, it’s fine…I just-“

“-So how was your day?” interjected Luna, obviously eager to change the subject and prevent an outright rejection coming out right there and then.

Jim’s frame seemed to visibly relax, “Not bad. Bit tiring. Not been getting enough sleep lately is my problem…”

“You should not push yourself too hard, Jim. Without proper rest none of us can do our duties to the best of our ability.”

“I suppose you’re right. I think things are going to get a lot easier soon though. I shouldn’t be suffering from a lack of energy for much longer.”

Again Luna’s ears flicked up, “Of course!” she said, pushing herself up before rushing off into the adjoining bedchamber with an excited flutter of her wings.

Jim’s brow furrowed, “Of course, what?” he called, leaning about to peer after her.

Luna bounded back into the room a moment later, “We have a present for you.” She said, setting down what looked like a crystal sherry glass before him.

“A present?” asked Jim, frowning at the glass, which seemed to contain a small amount of swirling gold liquid, “What is it?”

“A health tonic!” said Luna proudly, “Guaranteed to restore strength and stamina in humans. I have been informed it is very exclusive and extremely difficult to obtain.”

Jim cocked his head and picked up the glass, “Oh, well…I guess in that case…” he said, raising it up in salute before necking it in one.

The liquid had an oddly warming texture and pleasant taste that Jim could't quite put into words. It also seemed to radiate strength as it vanished hotly down his throat. He felt the sensation then begin to swiftly flood out into the rest of his body.

Luna was looking expectantly over at him, “Well?” she asked, “Is it good?”

Jim shook his head, coughing once, “Yeah. That is…very good stuff. I’m feeling more and more energetic with every second.”

Luna clapped her hooves together gleefully, “Huzzahs! We are so glad. I had of course used my magic to make sure it was not harmful beforehoof.”

Jim picked up his teacup to finish his serving and also to wash the residual buzz from his mouth. For some reason he was starting to feel…odd stirrings, “Where did you get that stuff anyways?” he asked, trying to take his mind off of it for now, “Never seen anything like it in the potion shops in town.” He drank the last mouthful of tea.

Luna was still smiling happily, “The mare in your office gave it to me.”

Jim swallowed his tea and frowned, “The mare in my office? But there shouldn’t have been anypony…” Jim’s words died in his mouth at that point, and he was sure his cheeks would’ve gone white were they not getting more and more flushed with every passing second.

His eyes were drawn down to the glass, then off to Luna’s room, then to the glass again, then finally up to Luna, who was still smiling as innocently as ever.

She tilted her head curiously.

“A mare…?” repeated Jim.

“Indeed.”

“A…unicorn mare?” he offered.

“Correct,” said Luna brightly, “She was most helpful.”

“And th-this…'tonic', it didn’t happen to come in a vial by any chance, did it?”

Luna nodded, “Indeed, but I felt that lacked the appropriate presentation.”

“And she told you specifically to give this to me, did she?”

“Yes. She said it would 'help you with your problem'.”

Jim tried to draw up a well of irritation towards Platinum Corona, but the only emotion he ended up in calling was an ocean of lust that was quickly filling him up to the brim.

Jim coughed, and then pushed himself up, staggering slightly, “I…I need to…”

Luna blinked and then pushed herself up, “James?” she asked, reaching over to him, concern clear on her face “What’s wrong?”

To Jim, Luna’s brief touch felt like an electrical surge adding further charge to his already aroused system. He had to get out of there before something bad happened.

“Go…best…go.” He stammered.

Luna gasped, “The potion! T'was poison!” she shouted, “Worry not, I shall summon the physician and guards immediately to thy aid!”

“No!” barked Jim, losing control for a brief instant and baring his teeth at her.

Luna recoiled back in shock, her ears flat against her head, “J-Jim?”

James clenched his eyes closed and leaned into Luna’s side to reclaim his balance. He could feel the heat from her body seeping into him like he were freezing to death and she were his only source of warmth. Her subtle lavender and nightshade perfume made his head swim on top of that. He bent closer still and murmured into Luna’s ear exactly what it was he just drank.

Luna nodded slowly as he mumbled. She then blinked, “Oh…”

He then confirmed to her exactly what it was doing to him.

Luna flinched in surprise, “Ah!” she said as James leaned back from her, “Y-you mean you are…” she nodded downwards.

James inclined his head,

Luna’s already present flush deepened, “So, I assume you will need to…relieve thyself.”

“For lack of a better term." grumbled Jim, "Now…if you would please teleport me elsewhere, I would be…eternally grateful.” He said, each word appearing to take a world of strain. And James’ mind was starting to become so clouded by lust and his battle against it that he wasn’t aware he was leaning up against Luna again until her hoof came about him and her face was inches from his.

He noticed then that a change come over her. Something in her eyes was different now, “We have done this to you…” she said in a low, imperious voice that bordered on a purr.

“Umm, Luna…”

“Worry not!” declared the princess, “We shall take responsibility for our action!” and in a quite staggering display of strength, Jim could only gasp as Luna literally scooped him up under one foreleg and stabbed the other triumphantly off into the distance, “TO THE BED CHAMBER!” she bellowed, her voice so loud that it was probably heard all over Canterlot.

Luna blinked and then smiled down at her captive human, “But first, a detour!”

Jim reared back, too stunned to object, “A detour?”

“Tradition!” was her only reply, and with a flash, the pair vanished, reappearing an instant later atop a soft and padded surface.

It was a bedroom, only Jim noted that it didn't appear to be Luna's. No, the decorum was too off for that...

Jim looked about himself and then up. His shock and lustful haze then briefly transformed into abject terror as he realized he was dangling upside down in Luna’s grip inches from Princess Celestia’s face.

She was awake, and regarding blankly the sister now standing triumphantly over her while she lay in bed, “Good news, Sister!”

“Well this takes me back…” muttered Celestia dryly before shifting her head sideways slightly. "Good evening, James."

"Your Majesty..."

“We are about to engage in coitus!" Declared Luna, "Be jealous and then notify the townsponies so that they may celebrate!” and just like that, Luna vanished again, leaving Celestia to stare up at her ceiling in quiet exasperation.

After a moment, the sun princess just smiled tiredly and then closed her eyes once more, “Took her long enough…”

---

Jim landed with a cough on what he was sure was Luna’s bed. The cheap tourist souvenirs she’d picked up while travelling the Earth that littered her shelves and anime wall scroll of a cat with a gold crescent moon on it's forehead kind of gave that away.

Luna was staring down at him from the end of the bed, her eyes lidded slightly. He was transfixed momentarily by those deep, blue/green pools along with the hypnotic swaying of her ethereal starlight mane.

He shook his head to try and hold off his arousal once more, “Luna…we really, really shouldn’t-“ he was cut off though as Luna’s horn glowed and his shirt vanished with a flash. It reappeared in a heap in the opposite corner of the room.

“Luna!” he gasped.

His shirt was followed in rapid succession by his shoes, then socks, and finally trousers, which he noted had vanished entirely.

The princess then prowled closer, slinking down onto the bed and up against Jim's side, “I am not stopping you from fleeing,” she whispered, her hoof trailing idly over his chest, her eyes drinking his prone form in. It was the first time she had seen it without all those layers. She found the sight...most pleasing.

“Luna,” Jim gulped as Luna leaned in closer, flicking her rear legs over him to straddle his hips. Her waving mane danced over his chest and he could feel the heat of her breath over his lips, “Where did my pants go?” he asked.

Needless to say, the booster had somewhat messed with his sense of priorities.

She nuzzled his neck, eliciting a pleasing shiver , “I banished them to the moon. You shan’t be needing them...”

Jim blinked, “You...sent my pants to the moon?”

Luna took the opportunity give the nape of his neck the ghost of a kiss, “If you want them back; if you want to...leave…” she whispered, her mouth hovering over his now, “Just…ask.”

Jim swallowed again, “Princess Luna, you’re trying to seduce me…”

And by God how Jim prayed Sam didn't ever find out he'd said that...

“This is not trying…” she breathed, and with that, she brought a hoof up to cup his chin and covered his lips with hers.

Jim’s hesitation evaporated in a lustful blaze as Luna’s tongue came into contact with his and he let out a long, relenting groan of pleasure as he felt his leg come up to hook about Luna’s form.

Even as his boxers went and he found himself swiftly buried deep inside the mare while their lips remained locked in their dance, Jim couldn’t help but admire the utter irony of the situation.

And so, not much later, as Luna let out a long, ecstatic scream of orgasm above him, James Moriarty Carrell felt a smirk pull at the side of his mouth.

He always did love karma…

fin…

Chapter 5: [Bonus Chapter 1] Bon Bon

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Bonus Chapter: Bon Bon

Bon Bon did her best to tighten her pillow over the top of her head and mash her ears even tighter against her skull. It didn’t help.

They were obviously trying to be quiet, and compared to some of the times the earth mare had heard them at it recently, Lyra in particular was clearly keeping herself in check as much as possible.

But even that didn’t help things very much. Lyra’s repeated yelps of ecstasy, muffled as they were by the pillow Bon Bon imagined her having her own face buried in, repeatdely stirred up memories of their own times together.

They had been ‘heat buddies’ for almost as long as Bon Bon could remember, after all; two mares who were good enough friends to be more than comfortable with pleasuring each other during the most intense peaks of their cycles, or even when they were just plain desperate not to be alone at night and needed to feel the desire of another pony.

Because of that, Bon Bon was finding it difficult not to flash back to those moments; the unicorn pinned down under her, her back arched, rump presented and legs locked as she was driven into by the fake phallus, the lips of her sex spread taut around the invading length. Bon Bon knew the long, drawn out scream Lyra made when she was flooded with her lover’s essence all too well, and hearing it now, barely muffled, sent a shudder down through her frame, a shudder that seemed to home in and gather quickly and hotly about her nethers.

Yes, Bon Bon knew it all. It was therefore very difficult for her not to paint a shockingly vivid mental image of what was going on in the next room. It had gotten to the point that it was as though she were actually in there with them, watching from right alongside. It also didn’t help that she had actually peeked at one point in the past too.

No, that was a lie, Bon Bon admitted to herself, ‘peeked’ was the wrong term. ‘Accidentally walked in on them, fell onto her hindquarters in shock and then never bothered to leave from the partially open doorway until she felt the pool of moisture growing under her’, would be a more accurate description.

Needless to say, it had been more than a little humiliating for her to sneak back later just to clean up her own mess whilst they lay together just a few feet away, blind to her presence. Still, it was better than the tall human slipping on those two long legs of his and then breaking something.

That would’ve been an unfortunate conversation: “So, Lyra… what’s the best gift to get someone in hospital that just screams ’Sorry I got horny spying on you in bed and accidentally broke your leg’?”

Bon Bon suppressed a whimper. Her head may have been buried away, but the way she couldn’t stop her rump from alternating between sticking up into the air and grinding down against the sheets was making her feel utterly pathetic.

She’d thought the spectacle would have been more…disturbing. Oh, how she wished it was at least disturbing. But no, unfortunately for her, the human, Sam, was not exactly unattractive in his own peculiar way. Though nowhere near as rugged or muscular as a stallion, there was however a slender, almost flexible elegance and grace to the way his body was constructed that she couldn't quite deny. The lack of hair covering his subtly toned form had briefly fascinated her too, in a strictly clinical sense, of course (or so she repeatedly told herself). No, the only hair he had was of course that messed up auburn mane of his, which she could imagine right now was matted with sweat just like Lyra’s would be, those two all-encompassing hands gripping onto her flanks as he leaned over her while-

She clenched her eyes closed, shaking her head into the pillow to try and dismiss the image.

She gritted her teeth in frustration.

She couldn’t stop it. Her mind wanted the images gone, but her loins were urging her to delve deeper into fantasy with coaxing pulses of lurid heat that matched her rapidly increasing heart rate.

Another flash, this time an actual memory of the human arching his own back at the peak of their mutual pleasure and jamming his groin up against her best friend’s trembling rump, and she could only imagine the feeling of warmth that had been pulsing within Lyra at the time as he unloaded uncontrollably within her quivering sex, flooding her relentlessly with his thick seed.

Bon Bon shuddered. By Celestia, these feelings were depraved even for her; being so horribly turned on from just listening in on her friend getting her brains rutted out by her human partner...

Bon Bon let out a moan so restrained through her clenched teeth that it was barely more than a squeak.

Another image: She remembered the sight of the human’s still-aroused sex, still glistening in the candlelight from their copulation after pulling back and free of his mare, connected still by a thick, shining strand of their mingled juices.
Bon Bon had expected there to be more of a difference in terms of shape from that of a stallion, but the only real difference was the tip, that and the length being a little bit shorter, although that was clearly made up for -based purely on Lyra’s occasional strained grunts and screams- by the visibly increased thickness. And that rounded, almost spear-like tip, she noted again with a quiver, seemed almost perfectly designed to allow it to force it’s girthier mass into even the tightest mare.

She remembered Lyra too at that point, sprawled out almost senseless with her human gently and lovingly caressing her matted mane with ghostly brushes of those fingers of his, whispering gentle hushes down to her as she basked in her haze. Her marehood was still spread wide from the human’s notably thick member, leaking out their combined juices for all to see as it clenched and twitched repeatedly about the memory of the invader. The human’s rich, almost tantalisingly thick silver/grey essence was quite different from the slightly less viscous counterpart emitted by a regular stallion. It was not, Bon Bon had found herself realising with a start, a difference she found...unappealing.

Most would certainly not think the earth mare capable of such thoughts. And indeed, while Lyra’s ‘interest’ in humans may by far outstretch that of nearly any other pony in the land, it wasn’t as though Bon Bon had no interest in bizarre, formerly mythical creatures herself.

It was, after all, part of Special Agent Sweetie Drops’ old job description…

A muffled squeak of surprise and delight elicited a despairing groan from Bon Bon’s throat. She shifted her rear legs briefly, only to find as she rubbed them together that the insides of her thighs were liberally coated with her own clear sign of arousal.

‘Again?’ she thought through a haze of lustful exasperation. Things wouldn’t be so bad if it was just now and then: the occasional brief grunts and gasps coming through the walls; a couple minutes of copulation at most and then bam: done for the day.

Nope. It turned out that one of the other rumours about humans was true too: their ‘recharge speed’, for lack of a better term, made even the most horny of stallions seem almost like a geldling in comparison.
And not only were they not limted to the once-a-day rule that was nearly universal among stallions, but on top of that they seemed to take some strange joy in simply taking their time with things. And this wasn’t like a stallion taking a bit longer than the thirty seconds to a minute to finish, or even when two mares might draw things out for a couple of extra moments when ‘cooling’, no: Bon Bon once clocked them in at an utterly insane forty-five minutes.

Apparently, from what she’d been able to tell, the human had managed this simply by pacing himself; slowing and stopping when necessary, before finally giving his partner what she wanted once she had screamed and begged enough. Such bizarre concepts for a stallion to have…

She could only imagine the state Lyra’s head was in by the end of it.

She was actually shocked the poor unicorn hadn’t dropped dead from heart failure yet.

It had been the day after that particular event that, for the sake of her own sanity, Bon Bon had put her hoof down and outright forbidden discussion on the whole topic of what the pair did in the privacy of their own room. This had later included any human bragging whatsoever while she and Lyra were alone, much to the unicorn’s disappointment, since she knew Sam would object to the unicorn doing as much whilst he was actually around.

At the time, Bon Bon had felt like that was the end of it; she’d even went so far as to brag down at the flower shop to Rose and the others about how she’d reined in some control over the problem.

She felt like such a hypocrite.

She wasn’t even in heat and yet here she was: dry humping her own bed over the sound of her own best friend getting rutted. Her eyes flicked out from under her pillow to her closet. Would she cool off now? she wondered. And she didn’t realise that her forehoof had actually drifted down between her hind legs until the pad stroked the ghost of a caress over her engorged clit.

Bon Bon felt the already taut pillow in her mouth tear at the sudden lightning bolt of pleasure that spasmed up her body. And before she knew it, her hips were working against the extremity, her subconscious timing the backward thrusts of her hips to the noises next door despite her numerous attempts to stop herself.

By Celestia, even that fake phallus would do now, she thought despairingly. She wanted so much to get up and move to grab it, but the burning was increased ten-fold and her legs locked again as a thought occurred, unbidden from the naughtiest part of her mind: perhaps she’d accidentally use less water in the mixture this time, just less enough to make the substitute seed just as thick as…

‘Stop!’ she objected mentally as her hips gave an involuntary quiver against her hoof.

...and to end up pumping her nethers absolutely full to the brim of something just like-

‘No...’ her mind squeaked at her, trying to resist the runaway train of thought. Her hips bucked as her marehood convulsed, gushing out another wave of viscous fluid over her now freely-moving hoof.

Her mind was rebelling despite her best efforts though. If the pair of them were just quicker about what they did then it wouldn’t be so bad, but no, here she was: saturated in the sounds of their passion until it filled her to bursting point. Forget the cooler, that dark part of her whispered once more, what would happen if she just walked in there and-

‘N-no...’ Bon Bon ignored the mouthful of feathers she now had gritted between her teeth, clamping down on them as her circling hoof shifted ever faster...

-Would they stop? her mind asked. Would they look up in shock and demand she get out? Or…

She was close, and she could hear Lyra was too, being pushed quickly higher; obviously just a quick round it was this time.

-Or maybe not… -her brain continued, forcing her mental image right back on track- maybe that big, predatory creature would sense how aroused she was and just pounce on her, incensed, mounting her while Lyra watched, while he forced that big thick thing of his deep inside of-

The floodgates opened as surges of ecstasy rocked up from Bon Bon’s loins, her marehood clenching and unclenching about the ghostly intruder that it screamed to her it wished was buried within at that moment.

Her hoof slipped completely away under the sudden gush of lubricant and she collapsed face down into a heaving, gasping pile.

‘That was so...wrong,’ her mind tried to feed back as pleasure buzzed up from her hindquarters and filled her form with warm contentment. Silence had finally descended over their household.

Bon Bon knew she had to do something. At this rate she’d go mad. But she couldn’t just leave, this was her home. The problem was that, even if she did, she knew Sam well enough by now to know that if he even suspected he was the cause of her being driven out that he’d buck himself to the curb in a flash first. It had taken both of their convincing just to get him to stay with them in the first place, and it had taken even longer to make him stop feeling that he was in some way imposing.

Bon Bon had to wonder if all humans were so...irritatingly considerate, or were there some out there who were jerkish and horrible enough so that she wouldn’t feel bad about kicking them out?

If so, she wished they’d just gotten one of those instead. It would’ve made things so much more simple.

Bon Bon’s eyes became lidded as she began drifting off in her haze, uncaring about the pool of her own juices she was laying in. She then got another flash of memory, not one as...explicit as before though. No, this time it was just Lyra...Lyra with that stupid, impossibly wide grin on her face, the same one it had been equally impossible to wipe away ever since Sam had come along.

Lyra was happy, truly happy, and for probably the first time since they’d met...

Another memory came then, and darkness began closing further in. It was the pair of them this time, a typical daily scene of Lyra literally bouncing about with radiant, foalish glee as the human played something on that musical instrument of his, a look of serene bemusement on his features.

No...thought the earth mare with a tiny, defeated sigh as sleep engulfed her, she supposed she didn’t really wish they’d ended up with anypony different in their life.

That didn’t mean however that she didn’t still have to do something about their current situation. But that worry could wait until tomorrow…

---

The next day, Bon Bon was doing her very best to take her mind off the previous evenings events. Her training in the past had taught her that, often, the best way to clear one’s head of weighing thoughts was through a simple, repetitive task that you found relaxing. And so here she was: mixing up a bowl of fondant in the kitchen of their cottage, the wooden spoon gripped between her teeth as she methodically twirled the mixing bowl between her forehooves.

“Morning, Bon Bon…” came Sam’s voice as he drifted into the kitchen behind her. She watched his reflection in the window as he headed for the icebox with a towel draped loosely over his bare shoulders. She noted that he seemed primarily focused on that strange rectangle with the glowing glass front that he always seemed to have glued to his limb.

It actually took her an instant to remember that it was called a phone, which was surprising considering the numerous rumours she’d been hearing lately about the new ‘phone system’ they were apparently planning on laying out.

Bon Bon did her best to focus on her task and not let either her mind or eyes wander. She eventually decided to at least let out a muffled greeting around her spoon along with a quick, cordial swish of her tail.

“Want anything?” he asked, leaning in to grab the milk, “Tea, coffee?”

“Nmph mph” she muffled in declination along with a tiny shake of her head, observing out the corner of her eye as he set the bottle down while his thumb continually worked over the display. He flicked his fingernail off the nearby kettle to test the water temperature before proceeding to make himself a beverage.

After picking up his mug and taking a sip, Sam proceeded to lean sideways on the balls of his heels to get a better look at what the earth mare was doing. Bon Bon was shocked briefly at how he could possibly maintain such a posture without keeling over completely. Just those two slender legs couldn’t be efficient for balance, “So whatcha making this morning? I see brown. I’m thinking chocolate. If so, be forewarned, it will be in imminent danger of being nommed on while your back is turned. And I will regret nothing.”

“Hrm hmm,” she said, or at the very least tried to, lifting her head up and twisting the spoon about in her mouth until it was gripped sideways in her muzzle. She peered up at him in waiting.

Sam blinked, “Oh,” he said, switching his cup to his right hand, which Bon Bon noted he seemed to prefer utilising for less dextrous tasks, “thanks...” he then proceeded to swipe up a trail of the thick mixture in his index finger before bringing it up to his mouth.

Bon Bon’s eyes flicked to the spoon and the mixture still on there. Lyra would have just scooped entire the lot off with her hoof and then plonked herself down on her hindquarters before spending the next several minutes gleefully licking it clean. The way Sam did it was almost charmingly conservative.

She looked up to gage his reactions, something that wasn’t very easy to do with humans; the ears didn’t move and they had no tail to speak of either. It was a wonder how any of them could work out what the others were feeling. It was just lucky that the facial expressions they used were virtually identical to those of ponies, else Bon Bon would’ve had nothing to go on.

Sam closed his eyes and let out a long, happy hum, seemingly grinning from behind his lips. Bon Bon’s tail gave a happy swish at the response, “Hmmm,” he finished, withdrawing his now clean finger, “Chocolate orange...haven’t had that in years.”

“Good?” she managed to iterate from behind her spoon.

“Very good,” he said, idly reaching down and scratching behind the base of her ear with his middle finger. Bon Bon’s teeth clenched with surprise around her spoon as the unfamiliar sensation sent brief bolts of...oddly calming pleasure down her spine.

It was no wonder Lyra liked it so much when he did that...

“You seen Lyra this morning?” he asked then, startling Bon Bon out of her revere, and she only noticed right then that her tail was swaying back and forth a lot more than she’d have liked.

Bon Bon slipped the spoon from her mouth and took it into her forehoof. She then hopped up onto her hind legs and then took the bowl in the crook of her other foreleg so she could continue working as she spoke. The change in posture also helped obscure her tail from view.

“She offered to help out Roseluck this morning over at the greenhouse. I think she just wanted to get out and gossip.”

What Bon Bon didn’t say however was how she knew Lyra just liked to talk all things human whenever possible and with whoever possible, particularly after a night where she’d gotten to...embrace the positive aspects of those things so to speak.

She watched his brow furrow as he sipped slowly on his coffee, “Roseluck…” he murmured, “cream mare, pink and red mane?”

“That’s the one. Works in the flower shop with Daisy and Lilly.”

His brow tightened in thought, “Daisy I know, doesn’t speak much though when I go in. Not sure I even knew there was a third.”

“Y-yeah,” said Bon Bon, “Lilly tends to be a little...shy, and that’s with other ponies. I guess she wouldn’t be especially plussed with...urm...”

“Omnivorous extradimensional bipeds?” he offered with a smile.

Bon Bon smiled sheepishly back in response, “Pretty much...” And if there was one thing Bon Bon found she could easily like about Sam, it was his way of not letting things like that get to him. He at least seemed to grasp that it often takes some ponies a little while to adjust, and he really didn’t seem to take it personally.

“Even one as dashingly handsome and talented as I?”

She nodded, smiling , “Even one as reasonably handsome and talented as you…”

“Reasonably?”

Bon Bon chuckled, but otherwise chose not to comment further.

Sam cocked his head at that point in reflection, “Rose seemed nice enough though,” he mused, “Didn’t realise she was a friend of Lyra’s.”

Bon Bon went back to her mixing, “Yeah. They’ve been friends for years. She often goes round just to chat.”

Sam nodded slowly, “She did seem oddly interested in talking when I was over there last. Liked asking me questions.”

‘That’ll be all we need,’ thought Bon Bon to herself with a smirk, ‘another mare obsessed with humans.’ she immediately dismissed the thought however. The odds of Lyra’s bragging being enough to tempt Rose of all ponies into such thoughts were so slim that the idea was clearly not worth contemplating.

Still... Bon Bon thought, her eyes drifting back to Sam once more, who was again busy multitasking between his coffee and phone, she’d be more than a bit of a hypocrite if she were to claim that such thoughts hadn’t at least peeped over the edge of her own mind as of late.

Sam polished off his coffee quickly and then crossed back over to the pot for a refill, yawning as he went.

“Tired?” Bon Bon queried mildly.

He nodded, one palm going to cover his mouth as he yawned once again, “yuh-huh...had a bit of a late night.”

Bon Bon couldn’t entirely mask her scoff, “So I heard...” she muttered under her breath a split-second later, mouth bypassing brain entirely.

Sam paused briefly, halting mid-step before carrying on again as if nothing had happened. Bon Bon winced and watched him warily as he silently made himself another cup before crossing back to the other side of the kitchen again.

Rather than say anything immediately, Sam just set his mug down and slid up to sit on the worktop, one leg crossing over the other before bringing his coffee up to drink again, “So…” he said carefully.

“Y-yeah…?” asked Bon Bon, the discomfort clear in her tone. She was now doing her best not to make eye contact without actually looking away.

Sam sipped his coffee, the mug obscuring whatever expression he might have been making, “You heard?”

Bon Bon opened her mouth to speak, and then seemed to think better of it and just nodded, a noticeable blush forming on her cheeks as she did so.

To her surprise, Sam didn’t seem to echo her embarrassment in the least, and instead just held up his free hand in disbelief, “But how? I mean Lyra was as quiet as a mouse, and I assure you: that was not due to any lack of trying on my part. I swear, she chewed on so much goosefeather last night I’m frankly shocked she didn’t cough up a furball afterwards.”

Bon Bon was about to remind Sam with a frown that Lyra was a pony, not a cat. However, the brief mental image of the unicorn actually doing such a thing like a big green kitten drew an involuntary snicker from the earth mare’s muzzle.

“I just got the weirdest mental image of Lyra playing with a ball of string...no idea why,” mused Sam.

Bon Bon chuckled, “Stop it. I’m trying to be mad at you.”

“What did I do?”

“Lyra.” she responded, “Over and over.”

“Oh yeah…” he muttered, and she watched as he brought a nonchalant hand up to cover his lips.

“Stop smirking…”

“I am honestly, physically trying…” he then dropped his hand back to his side again, “But still, are you really trying to tell me that you heard all of it?”

Bon Bon didn’t respond, but she felt her cheeks start to burn again and so she quickly looked away.

“Jeez…” breathed Sam, “you must hear like a bat....or...bat pony.”

Bon Bon watched as he picked up his phone again and quickly began tapping away, “What are you doing?” she queried.

“Just had the best idea for a new DC comic. Gotta tell somebody...slash somepony.”

Bon Bon shook her head, smiling weakly. She was in fact just glad for the change of topic, “You really are strange…”

“Of course I am…” he intoned with a cock of his head, “Normal is dull. Who ever cared about normal?” The device buzzed however before he could even set it down again in full. He flipped it up to glance at the screen once more. “Damn…”

“What is it?”

“Jim says it’s already been done…” the handset buzzed again, “...and also to stop texting him random comic book ideas while he’s in the middle of high-level trade meetings.” The human then sighed as silence fell again, dropping the device back to the worktop once more with a clatter.

Sam was quiet for a few seconds and then began swinging his legs back and forth in the same manner as Lyra when she adopted one of her bizarre sitting positions, “Well I guess it’s only appropriate for me to apologise…” he said, his tone slowly losing it’s normal humour.

Bon Bon paused in her mixing once more, “What do you mean?”

“Well I’m guessing I...we… kept you up pretty late, and if what you say is true, for probably not the first time either.”

She blinked, “It’s...it’s really nothing!” she stammered quickly, waving her spoon and inadvertently splattering them both with tiny chocolate flecks. The earth mare knew how easily concerned he got about causing offence and so she often thought it best to nip it swiftly in the bud before the worry could sprout.

Sam wiped a few stray dots away and transferred them to his lips, nodding slowly, “If you say so…” he murmured, “Even so-”

“It’s not a problem,” cut in Bon Bon gently but firmly, settling down onto her hindquarters to continue talking and mixing in a more comfortable position.

“Well I guess I at least owe you one for it.” he said, “And from now on, Lyra and I...I’ll...see what we can do about...alternative arrangements if we’re planning on-”

“-And I just said,” she repeated, pausing in her mixing to look up at him again with a frown, “it’s not a problem,” she then went back to her task.

“Besides…” she added a few seconds later in a murmur with a slight cock of her head, “There are worse things to fall asleep to...”

Bon Bon froze, and she didn’t need to look up to know Sam was peering down at her in surprise.

‘Brain to Bon Bon’ came the mental alert, ‘you just said that part out loud!’

She glanced slowly, sheepishly up, and indeed; Sam was looking down upon her in silence, both eyebrows raised and looking almost at a loss for words.

There was a moment of uncomfortable quiet, broken by Bon Bon coughing pointedly into her hoof before shuffling about so she had her back to the human, and then just carried right on mixing in silence. That gobsmacked look on his face though, thought Bon Bon. She felt the makings of a smirk start to tug at the edges of her muzzle. It had almost been worth it.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening under the hum of a magical aura before slamming closed again. Lyra trotted into the kitchen a second later, almost bouncing with energy.

Sam slid down off the counter just as Lyra jumped up to wrap her forelegs about his neck and steal a quick, but still somehow lingering kiss while Bon Bon observed out the edge of her peripheral vision. The unicorn’s tail was flicking happily back and forth behind her.

“Someone’s happy,” noted Sam before leaning quickly in again to peck Lyra on the tip of her nose.

Lyra just giggled and dropped back onto all fours, “Hmmm, just had a very long, very in-depth chat with Rose...I feel all tingly.”

“Define 'in depth',” queried Sam with one quirked up eyebrow.

Lyra looked back up at him with a smirk, “Tell ya later.” she then glanced between them,”So what have you two been up to then?”

“N-nothing,” stammered Bon Bon, looking quickly away again, “Just talking.”

“Oh?” asked Lyra, glancing suspiciously at the pair once more, “About what?”

“Nothing much,” said Sam with a shrug as he moved over to the sink and began rinsing out his mug, “Just turns out Bon Bon’s a bit of a voyeur. Likes to watch it seems.”

Lyra gave out a shocked squeak, her mellow mood evaporating as she clasped her hooves over her mouth, “Y-you were...watching?” she stammered, a visible blush starting to spread rapidly over her face.

Bon Bon blanched, glancing between the pair of them with a scowl, “I was not!” she snapped, “I was only listening this time, and it wasn’t out of choice either!”

Lyra lowered her hooves back to the floor, sighing with relief, though her blush didn’t fully abate, “Oh, w-well I guess that’s-”

“‘-This...time?’” interjected Sam, one eyebrow now fully locked in its upright position. His eyes had a noticeable, mischievous glint to them.

He was enjoying this.

Lyra’s eyes went saucer-wide, her jaw dropping, “Bonnie…!” she gasped.

Bon Bon now found herself in the rare position of being utterly embarrassed, when it was normally Lyra who got that particular honor. Obviously the human was an equal opportunities sort of housemate. She spared him an irritated glance, “You’ll pay for this…” she murmured.

Sam grinned, “Totally worth it. But then I guess I’ll just have to owe you two now. Although…”

Her brow furrowed, “Although, what?”

“Did you enjoy the show?” he queried calmly.

Bon Bon gritted her teeth together. She knew Sam was baiting her, and Lyra was obviously still too caught up in the shock of the fact that the earth mare had been watching her to even speak. Bon Bon therefore just took a long, deep breath, and smiled, “It was very...educational.”

Sam smirked, “So you did enjoy it then…”

They locked eyes, neither saying anything for a moment until finally, Bon Bon couldn’t help her cordial smile from tightening on just one side right back at him. He got the message. “Guess that’s just one I owe you then.”

Bon Bon couldn’t stop herself from laughing out loud at the sheer incredulity of the situation, “Guess so…” she added with a sigh.

Sam narrowed his eyes at that point, “Just out of sheer curiosity, which time was it when you...”

“Forty-five minutes…” she deadpanned.

Sam blinked. He then glanced off to one side, as if checking something in his head, “Ah yes; two weeks last Thursday. And it was forty-seven and a half, thank you very much.”

Bon Bon frowned, “You sure? I was watching the clock on the wall.”

“I have an app.”

Bon Bon wasn’t sure what that meant, but she assumed it meant she just lost.

Sam traced his jaw with one fingertip in thought, “Yeah, was going for a new record but I think I reached poor Lyra’s limit.”

Lyra let out a long, humming pout and glowered up at Sam. Her face was now badly flushed.

Sam just chuckled and crouched down to peck her quickly on her pouting lips, tracing her horn briefly with the pad of his thumb, “Just kidding…and you’re so cute when you’re mad.”

“I know…” she murmured sheepishly, and Bon Bon watched her tail twitch back and forth as Sam idly ran a finger up and down the unicorn’s horn like it was nothing. She sometimes found it shocking how little he thought of such a clearly intimate gesture.

Lyra nuzzled his leg as that finger went to idly trace and knead the top of her spine, “Hmmm, still mad at you…”

“Of course you are…” he murmured softly, this time just stroking his thumb lovingly over the top of her head. Bon Bon chuckled as she watched Lyra give out an irritated grumble and then swung about to swagger off, her hips and tail swaying visibly with each step.

The earth pony went immediately back to her mixing as soon as she noticed it starting to set, “Has she always been so...bashful about that sort of thing?” queried Sam.

Bon Bon smiled, inclining her head, “For as long as I’ve known her…” her eyes then flicked up to him briefly, “How are you holding up, Sam?”

Sam blinked, “Me?”

Bon Bon said nothing, but the human could see there was now a gentle concern in her expression. He knew then what she was talking about. Needless to say, not everybody back home had been so thrilled about him...going native, so to speak.

She waited patiently. For she had caught him occasionally; looking at that device of his, and had stolen a glance at some of the messages he’d end up fighting not to look long and hard at. There were creatures known as trolls in Equestria, she’d dealt with a few in her time after all, but the Earth equivalent; the...people who had sent those words…

Did some humans really speak to other humans in such a way?

And yet, Sam didn’t stop smiling. He never let it bother him; never troubled Lyra with the dark side of things, for he’d known that the sheer vileness of what he just shrugged off would break her heart out of sympathy for him alone, and Bon Bon had come to know the human well enough to know he’d never do that.

Even if he claimed it didn’t affect him, that didn’t mean the earth mare wouldn’t still give him a hug every now and then regardless. He had never complained when she did, nor had he ever not returned a single one of her embraces with a grateful tenderness.

Sam’s smile softened slightly, “I’m doing good. Things have gotten...good lately.”

Bon Bon’s smile widened, “Well that’s good to hear,” she cocked her head then off towards the door to the living room as the unmistakable sound of lyre strings being plucked became audible, “Go on then. You know how she gets without an audience…”

Sam smiled and then briefly crouched down to hug her. Bon Bon leaned back into him with a happy hum, “I’d make a joke about her not enjoying being watched, but I’m above that.”

She nuzzled the side of his face, “No you’re not.”

“Nah,” he said, standing back up to full height and turning to leave, “I’m probably not.”

Bon Bon just shook her head and then went right back to work, but not before stealing just one last glance at the retreating form from behind.

She clenched her eyes shut reprimandingly, ‘Focus...’

---

Bon Bon had just finished putting the finishing touches on her newest creation and was bringing a tray of samples to test out on her little control group in the living room. That was when Lyra’s voice brought her to a halt just outside the open doorway.

“Sam…?” came the unicorn’s uncertain voice, the pair having concluded their latest little musical duet several moments prior. It was that strange hesitation in her tone that had made Bon Bon pause.

“Yuh-huh?”

“What...do you think about Bonnie?”

Bon Bon blinked, stifling an intake of breath as not to disturb the tray she had balancing on her back. She really should’ve just walked in at that point, but instead, she found herself edging just slightly closer.

“Lyra?” he asked, and Bon Bon peeked around the door just enough to see him looking up from his guitar at the unicorn. There was a yellow cloth in one of his hands as he polished the instrument’s wooden panelling.

“Do you...like her?” she asked carefully.

Bon Bon’s eyes widened, ‘No...’ she thought to herself, ‘She wouldn’t...’

Bon Bon could tell that Lyra had been coming close to broaching the herd subject with her in recent weeks. It was one of the things that had made her put her hoof down on the whole ‘no human bragging’ thing, if only to make sure things never went in that direction again. But after the conversation in the kitchen Lyra had obviously taken it as a sign that her hopes hadn’t been totally quashed after all.

Only this time she was going at it from another direction; she was asking him about it instead.

Bon Bon frowned. This wasn’t the way it worked! If a mare was interested in a stallion who was taken then she asks the herd’s lead mare if it’s okay to court said stallion first. This was completely topsyturvy! You don’t ask the stallion first about bringing in a mare who may be interested. That completely takes her chance at showing any initiative to the stallion away from her! And what would he think about her then?!

Bon Bon gave a start at her own train of thought.

Why did she even care?

Did she consider Sam...approachable? She had never given it any real thought beyond dismissing it on reflex. Sure, there was curiosity there, and sure: he was attractive in a bizarre, exotic kind of way, but was that enough for her to-

“Bon Bon?” he echoed, cutting into the earth mare’s thoughts, “Of course I like her.”

Bon Bon’s heart skipped a dangerous number of beats at that.

“She’s been nothing but warm and kind to me ever since I got here, despite my...ahem...impositions.”

“Y-you mean,” stammered Lyra with a rising note of excitement, “You think she’s-”

“One of the best friends I’ve ever had,” he finished with that goofy smile of his.

Lyra clenched her eyes closed and Bon Bon felt her heart descend from her throat, ‘Thank Celestia he’s just the right amount of dim!’ she thought with a long exhalation of breath.

Bon Bon knew Sam had bought her a reprieve of about three seconds. That’s about how long she had before Lyra corrected him and took the choice out of her hooves forever. True, she knew the concept was ridiculous. Why, the very idea of a romance with the human was...insanity on a level only Lyra could operate on...

Images flashed before her eyes at that point, and Bon Bon had to physically shake her head to dispel them.

...but that still didn’t mean she didn’t like the very option being swiped from her. It was the principal of the thing: She wasn’t some mare so hopeless at love that she needed to have her forelegs figuratively knocked out from under her by another mare and be presented before a stallion just to get laid.

Bon Bon steeled her resolve. If this was going to happen, then she was going to do it her way: the right, proper way. That way, when things inevitably didn’t work out, as she...knew they surely wouldn't, then they could all just go right back to being friends again.

Still, she thought as her legs began moving again, it would be nice to have that particular barrier down again between her and Lyra once more. Plus, she thought as Sam caught sight of her, it had been a while since she’d last been with a-

“-Alright,” said Bon Bon, cutting off her own thoughts. She saw Lyra flinch out the corner of one eye, “Brought something new for you both to try out.”

Sam reached over with a smile and lifted the tray of brightly bundled snacks from her back, relocating it to the little wooden coffee table in the middle of the room, “This what I got a sneak preview of earlier?”

“Is indeed,” said Bon Bon, hopping up onto the sofa by his side. She watched as Lyra blushed and hugged her hind legs up to her chest in the chair across from them. There was a guilty, almost crestfallen look on her face.

Sam reached a hand for the tray.

“Stop.” said Bon Bon.

Sam’s hand froze mid-reach and Lyra looked up.

“Wh-what is it?” asked the human.

Bon Bon regarded him carefully, “You owe me one, remember…”

“You mean I don’t get snacks?” he asked, abashed.

“I dunno,” she replied, “Depends... I worked up some real tension slaving away in there. Help me out and we’ll call it quits.”

Sam’s brow furrowed, “Help you out...how?”

“Don’t get coy, I know you massage Lyra all the time to work out her stress before performing in public.”

He blinked and then glanced down at his hands, “Y-you mean you want me to give you a-”

“That’s right,” cut in Bon Bon, with a tilt of her head, “Lyra’s been bragging on so much about what your finger things can do non-stop, that I want to see if any of it’s actually true. That is...” she trailed off, glancing over at Lyra, who was observing her in wide-eyed silence, “...if you don’t mind loaning me Sammy’s so-called ‘magic hands’ for a few moments.”

Lyra looked back at her in silence before the inevitable, wide grin began spreading across her face. She then clapped her hooves gleefully together, “Nope, not at all! Oh, Bonnie, you’re going to love it, I just know it! Just wait until you feel how he-”

“-Now, now…” cut in Sam warily, “I’m really not so sure about this…”

“Why?” asked Bon Bon, looking up at him with wide, puppydog eyes, “I thought I heard walking in that you said that I was one of your best friends…”

Sam blinked before chuckling incredulously, “Now that’s a completely different thing alto-”

“Unless…” cut in Bon Bon with a smirk, nudging him with her hoof, “You’re just not quite as good with those hands as you like people to think, mister music man...”

Sam narrowed his gaze back at her once more as the verbal gauntlet was tossed. And after a brief, almost imperceptible pause, the corners of his lips stretched until the canines became visible. The sight sent a reflexive shudder of something akin to instinctive fear spliced with tingling anticipation through Bon Bon’s frame. Her tail swished just once. And only then did the memory of that brief scratch behind her ear from earlier come back to mind.

She’d forgotten about that...

She fought the urge to gulp...and lost, 'Perhaps I should've thought this through just a...tad more.'

“Oh, Bon Bon…” intoned Sam, shrugging off the checkered shirt he was wearing loosely over his t shirt and settling his guitar on the floor. He then reached both arms up into a stretch, cracking his knuckles audibly above his head before flopping forwards again, right into Bon Bon’s face. She leaned back away in kind, her ears flattening slightly, “I swear: you are going to be jello by the time I am done with you.”

---

To quite possibly be continued...

Chapter 6: [Bonus Chapter 2] Lyra

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Bonus Chapter 2: Lyra

It was lucky for Sam that pony body language really wasn’t that hard to work out. Bon Bon had shuffled down onto her belly atop the towel Lyra had fetched, her forehooves folded under her. Her tail was twitching and her ears were flat out sideways. She had her eyes affixed on the wall opposite too, and would occasionally steal a timid glance at the one crouched behind her.

'Nervous' would be a rather large understatement, thought the human as he looked down upon her. And while Sam could see her trepidation, Lyra seemed not to, and was instead just sat down on her hindquarters by the sofa, her tail swishing happily back and forth in repeated semi-circles.

Sam glanced down at the unicorn as she beamed a wide smile back up at both of them. Her hopelessly innocent eyes were gleaming with both excitement and anticipation.

Sam smiled wearily back down at the unicorn before quickly returning his attention to the prone earth mare. She was staring back up at him again, her arctic green eyes wide with uncertainty.

Bon Bon averted her eyes quickly away from his gaze and rested her chin sheepishly down atop her forehooves. While she might have been trying not to appear nervous, Sam could feel her flinch when he brought a hand to rest gently atop one of her flanks. The muscles underneath were taut and rock solid with tension.

“If you’re uncomfortable; if you want me to stop..." said Sam quietly, lifting his hand before bringing it to rest softly on the back of her neck, rubbing slowly up and down without applying any actual pressure from his fingertips. Rather than do anything seriously tactile yet, Sam was instead just letting Bon Bon know he was there, getting her accustomed to his presence within her personal space, “...just let me know. I'll end it right away...okay?”

His palm then opened flat, the fingertips resting atop her head. He then pulled slowly back in measured, repeated movements, caressing her mane between his fingers in the same way he often did when lulling Lyra off to sleep.

The subtle, ghostly touches that he went on with for the next couple of moments seemed to have a similar effect on Bon Bon, as Sam could see her ears relax and her eyes became slowly lidded. Even her tail, which had been tensed rigidly up until now, slowly came to rest back down again between her creamy flanks.

“You okay now, Bon Bon?” he murmured.

Bon Bon shuffled her muzzle down and then up just enough to indicate a positive response, and her voluminous tail gave a brief flick of appreciation just to confirm, inadvertently batting Sam playfully across the face in the process. He didn't complain. Bon Bon's brow twitched however, and her eyes opened a fraction more when she felt a shuffle on the sofa and something brushed up against the size of her face.

It turned out that Lyra had shuffled forwards and leaned down to rest her head alongside Bon Bon’s, nuzzling her gently with her eyes closed.

Fine with the presences around her now, a content smile spread over Bon Bon’s face. She then allowed her eyes drift closed once more.

'This is actually...quite nice,' thought the earth mare almost dreamily.

“Now, let’s see…” murmured Sam from up behind her, and Bon Bon hummed as she felt his hands trail experimentally down her neck and then finally separate down towards her shoulders. The encompassing space of his palms seemed to leave a trail of warmth down her coat.

Bon Bon let out a slight yelp however when Sam finally dug his fingertips down into the muscles of her forelegs. There wasn’t any pain, more plain surprise; the sensation was utterly alien. Her mouth remained hanging open as long, repeated exhalations of breath were drawn when she felt him start to gently prod and roll the muscles.

"There..." whispered Lyra into her ear, “Not so bad, is it?” Sam had fallen into a rhythm by then, and was matching his ministrations to the earth pony's breathing. The pressure would increase, drawing out stronger gasps, and then drop into subtler presses as she took short inhalations to catch her breath.

"Where did you say you learned all this again, Sam?" asked Lyra, leaning up to glance at him.

Sam hummed briefly as he continued working, "Taiwan, at least mostly. Spent a month there with Jim a year or so back. Picked up a few tricks from a masseuse I...ahem...met."

Sam for his part was actually just fascinated by the differences between the two mares that he'd tracked thus far. Lyra’s frame was trim and slender, and all her sensitive spots were so easy to reach that he often had to be careful as not to overstimulate certain pressure points and cause pain. Bon Bon, being an earth pony, naturally had slightly thicker and firmer layers of muscle, which he found himself having to knead with a lot more pressure before their tension would finally yield.

Sam got the cue that his work on the earth pony's forelegs was done when they slowly began sprawling out to her sides, the muscles having relaxed to the point that they couldn't even maintain her posture correctly without any additional effort being put in. He gave the pads of her hooves a reassuring squeeze as she quickly shuffled to regain her previous position before he finally moved on.

Her neck was next. And again Sam noted that it had a larger amount of mass compared to Lyra, but it was still easy enough for him to work through. The earth pony gave out as series of squeaky ‘hngh's with each roll of his thumbs against the thin tendons and layers of flesh there. This would escalate into sharp gasps when he'd intentionally tease certain nerve clusters which he knew caused Lyra a...certain degree of enjoyment.

At that point, Sam went on to do what he always did with Lyra when they'd reach that stage in the proceedings: he slowly began scratching down at the base of her now upturned ears.

Lyra grinned alongside Bon Bon as she let out a series of silent gasps. The earth mare's teeth clattered as she resisted the urge to actually nicker. Her tail then gave a series of rapid, uncontrollable upward twitches along with the entirety of her rump on top of it, “I always love that part…” whispered the unicorn thickly as she ran a hoof slowly up and down the side of the earth mare's foreleg.

Bon Bon was sure that her tongue was lolling slightly, but she couldn’t help it; each subtle ministration was sending constant sparks of unexpected pleasure through her frame. She’d had many a massage in her time down at the local spa, but this was more than just a little different: those fingers of Sam's would hit a spot just like any hoof would, with it's familiar soft and spongy texture, but then they would suddenly manipulate that spot from five different directions, and the depth they could reach into too...

Bon Bon realized then that she was being worked at by something that had the dexterity only a dragon claw or griffon talon could match, and yet still it held that same, comforting softness that she was used to. Because of that, it could work with a much higher pressure than those sharper appendages wouldn’t dare to lest they cause serious injury.

It wasn’t like the human didn’t have claws too. However, his were so short and neatly trimmed that they looked as though they were actually sculpted and designed for little more than adding extra stimulation, similar to the hard edge of a hoof. Bon Bon had that view cemented in her mind when Sam suddenly began scratching lightly into the groove near the base of her tail while his left hand took a firm grip on one of her flanks to steady her against the reaction he knew would come.

“Yes…” breathed Lyra as Bon Bon let out a shocked squeak at yet another new sensation. This time she couldn't stop her hindquarters from flicking up, nor her legs from briefly locking, “That’s the spot...”

The earth mare was biting her bottom lip, and was barely holding in the outright lurid moans she was desperate to make.

Surely he realized now what he was doing to her?

But still Sam didn’t relent, even as Bon Bon felt the telltale tingles and rising heat from her loins. And from the flush on Lyra’s face, it was clear that the unicorn could see her rising excitement.

Or at the very least she could smell it...

“Doesn’t she have such nice flanks, Sam?” Lyra suddenly whispered, glancing up and beyond her at the human. Bon Bon’s brow did it’s best to form a scowl at her, but unfortunately not all her muscles were currently responding as they should, “Bonnie always feels so self-conscious about them. But aren’t they one of her best features? I mean just look at how thick and full they are...”

That was all she needed, thought Bon Bon with a whimper; the human ogling her rump as her subconscious quivered it up invitingly before him, as though it were being egged on by the unicorn's words. She let out a startled ‘heek!’ too when both of Sam's hands finally came to clasp her haunches.

“I’m sure all the stallions can’t help but look,” said Sam with a low chuckle as he began kneading her there, rolling her flanks in deep, slow circles. She could feel it; the way his fingertips danced and battled with the firmest, strongest muscles in her body. She would try and clench against the invaders, only for those probing tips to strike her nerves and utterly override her control. She could feel the moisture starting to ooze out and drip down the back of her thighs by that point. Why in Celestia's name couldn’t he smell her by now? Did humans just lack that sense entirely?

She wondered about his sense of hearing then too, as each motion of her haunches forced an audibly slick wink out of her quivering marehood, open and closed, open and closed it would go. The circling of flesh was also adding repeated, stroking pleasure to the nub of her pleasure as the hood was drawn repeatedly back and forth over it's surface.

“You’re giving him quite a handful…” whispered Lyra conspiratorially into her ear, and Bon Bon could feel the almost searing heat coming off the unicorn's flushed features.

The prone mare whimpered. As an earth pony, she did indeed have naturally fuller flanks than either unicorns or pegasi, who were more slender and toned respectively in that area. And needless to say, Lyra hadn’t been the first pony (mare or stallion) to compliment her on her...proportions.

“Almost there, Sam…” whispered Lyra after a few more excruciating moments of stimulation, nuzzling the earth mare lovingly and eliciting a further shudder from her, “I think you’ve almost got Bonnie totally...relaxed.”

Bon Bon managed to shoot her a full-on glare at that point. Unfortunately however, her ability to actually vocalize her objection was somewhat limited by her need to try and hold in her rising arousal. She was already almost fully presenting herself as it was, and if it weren’t for the voluminous weight of her tail then she was sure she’d already have it fully raised by now, exposing the full degree of her arousal to him.

Lyra ignored her irritation, and instead just smirked past the earth mare and looked full on again up towards Sam, “Tell you what, Sam, why don’t you do that...thing you always do for me at the end? You know, the one that makes me really...gasp.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened in fear even as Sam cocked his head, “Oh...uhm...okay then,” he said, and despite the earth mare’s thoughts to the contrary, Sam was not at all oblivious to what was going on right underneath him. He knew the signs, but what he couldn’t understand was why Lyra was clearly egging him on to go that far, and why Bon Bon wasn’t kicking out to stop things yet either.

Only then did the human see the way Lyra’s own tail was flicking about too, and how a dual scent of arousal now hung palpably in the air around him.

They were...both enjoying it? Not that his own jeans weren't starting to feel just a tad constraining too, mind you...

Lyra was biting her lip expectantly, watching the way his hands moved. Her eyes then drifted lower to catch momentary sight of Sam's own arousal before looking back up at him with slightly lidded eyes, pleading silently with her expression alone for him to keep going.

Bon Bon was rigid under Sam, and things seemed to slow from Lyra’s perspective as he gripped her flanks tightly again, digging his fingers in for leverage, before finally moving both thumbs inwards and onto that one sweet spot above her tail. This time however, he had no intention of lightly teasing it with a mere scratch.

Bon Bon’s eyes went saucer wide as she realized what was about to happen, just an instant before the sides Sam’s thumbs actually made contact with that one spot, wedging it firmly between them. He then began applying deep and rigorous, rolling pressure, up and down...

“Here it comes, Bonnie,” whispered Lyra huskily as Sam tapped that perfect sweet spot where tail met spine, “Just let it happen…”

Bon Bon arched her back as a scream of uncontrollable ecstasy was torn from her throat, this newest sensation finally forcing her over the edge and into full-blown climax. Her hips bucked up desperately, but still the cascade of feeling didn’t abate. He was still going at it, even as her marehood convulsed repeatedly, gushing out a wave after wave of lubricant all over his hands and lap. On and on it went, plunging her headlong into a stupefying void of pleasure.

Lyra looked lustfully into Bon Bon's face and caught her friend's outstretched tongue in her muzzle. The earth mare flung her forehooves around her best friends neck for stability and began suckling hungrily on her tongue with desperate abandon.

How Bon Bon loved this feeling, and how she'd missed that taste...

Sam’s eyes went wide at the sight, watching as Lyra lovingly cradled the earth mare through her shuddering climax whilst their tongues worked off of each other.

It was not, to say the least, an unpleasant sight for him to behold.

Sam honestly hadn’t expected her reaction to be that intense. He then looked down briefly at Bon Bon's wantonly exposed sex as it winked repeatedly. All the while the earth mare instinctively rubbed her gleaming rump off against the fabric of his own crotch with slow, humping motions. A noticeable wet spot was quickly left over his now clear bulge, and Sam suddenly realized that his own arousal was such that, if the slightest offer was made to continue proceedings, he most likely would not have been able to stop himself from yielding.

He always was one to try anything at least once, but he knew that the brakes had to be put on, at least for a moment.

Bon Bon eventually released herself from Lyra’s kiss. A thick strand of saliva still connected their two muzzles and Bon Bon’s breath was coming in short, measured gasps whilst Lyra gently cupped the side of her face with one hoof, drinking in the sight of her beloved friend’s afterglow.

Her energy spent, the earth mare finally collapsed onto her side as Sam absently and instinctively ran a hand gently up and down the length of her trunk.

Bon Bon’s glazed eyes flicked up at that point to drink in the human tenderly caressing her form. His touch was so subtle and gentle that each shudder created by it quickly transformed into a gentle warmth within her core. His blue eyes looked startled, yet not afraid. They held far too much compassion and warmth for that. She could also see the stretched area of his pants, and knew from that alone just how aroused it meant he was at that point.

He was aroused by her...

That thought alone sent a surprising tremor of excitement through her still shaking form.

It was suddenly taking all Bon Bon’s willpower to prevent herself from bracing herself back up on her hind legs and beg the human wordlessly to take things further; to take...her.

Lyra was watching between them expectantly. As aroused as she was too, she was desperate to see how they’d go from there. She wanted things to go naturally without her forcing things further; she wanted them to see by themselves how right they could all be for each other.

To her surprise, Sam then let out a pointed cough into one hand, “Well…” he said with a nervous chuckle, “that just happened.” His eyes then flicked between them and then down at himself, “I’ll just...ahem...I think I’ll just go...get cleaned up.”

Both mares blinked, and Lyra looked quickly up as Sam extracted himself from behind Bon Bon, “S-Sam, wait,” began the unicorn, “It’s really-” but to her surprise, she suddenly felt Bon Bon’s hoof come to rest on her own.

“Lyra…” the earth pony interjected quietly once Sam had made his swift, borderline desperate retreat. It looked to her as though he was in serious need of gathering his own thoughts about what had just happened too, “I...I need to talk to you…”

Lyra’s ears twitched, and she reluctantly turned from the direction Sam had vanished in to look back at the earth pony once more, “Bon Bon?” she asked. This really wasn’t going at all in the direction she’d been hoping for. Lyra had been expecting things to just escalate naturally from where they'd stopped. Instead, she felt a sudden well of panic start to swell up within her, “I-if you didn’t like what happened, p-please...don’t blame Sam. You know it was all my-”

“-I want your permission to court him,” Bon Bon cut in flatly. Truth be told, this wasn’t how the earth pony had expected things to go either. Not an hour prior this had all been a plan by her to get things back to normal between them; to prove to Lyra that the very idea of a herd consisting of the three of them was a ridiculous thing...but then there had been that moment, not before or during, but after...when she was lying in Lyra’s embrace with Sam just gently watching over her, both tenderly looking at her with compassion and love in their eyes. For just an instant, for one shining moment, she'd felt something she'd never experienced before. Sure, Bon Bon had been in a herd in her past, but never had if felt like...that. Never before had her mind simply drifted away from her and then whispered back, ‘I could live like this...I wish I could just be with them like this...forever.’

She supposed that never in the past had she just...clicked with a full herd before. But was that indeed the case now?

One of them was an alien!

'No...' her still somewhat clouded mind fed back.

One of them was her friend...

Both of them were...

Sure, it could still all be nonsense, and it could just as easily be something thought of in the heat of the moment, but the earth mare’s doubts had nonetheless taken a large, and rather sudden dent. Bon Bon remembered the look in Sam’s eyes too; and she wondered if it was because he was startled less by her outburst and, based on his clear arousal, more that he had suddenly realized he could see her in that light too?

Bon Bon shook herself out of her thoughts when she realized Lyra was now staring at her utterly agape, “You...you mean it?” she whispered after a moment, “W-would you really...really...be okay with-”

“I want…” cut in Bon Bon, staring deep into her friends honey-colored eyes, “I want...to try and be...with both of you.”

Lyra’s bottom lip began quivering, and Bon Bon knew what was coming even before the tears started to well up, “Oh, Bonnie…” she squeaked.

Deciding to push things forward before the waterworks began, particularly since she knew what Lyra's answer would be without even hearing it, Bon Bon chose to then ask, “But...have you even asked Sam about this sort of thing before?”

Lyra blinked, sniffling slightly, “What do you mean?”

Bon Bon shuffled slightly where she sat, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, “I mean...do you even think he’d be...okay with us, with...me?”

“Oh, Bon Bon, I know he will!” she said, her tone nothing short of emphatic, “You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and I love you so very much. I know we can be so much more together...”

Bon Bon, despite herself, felt a lump quickly rising in her throat, “Lyra...oh, Celestia, now you’re getting me choked up.”

Lyra cupped her friend’s muzzle between her hooves, “And I know Sam likes you just as much as I do, and I know better than anyone how happy you could make each other. He already trusts you like family.”

Bon Bon flushed a little redder, “Does he...does he ever say those sort of things about me?”

“Only nice things when he does. And he barely even batted an eyebrow when he learned about your secret identity.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened in shock, “Come again now?”

“Oh yeah, he learned about it weeks ago. Don’t worry, I made him promise not to tell.”

Bon Bon looked quickly about before leaning quickly in to hiss, “How in the hay did he even find out about that? Did you tell him?”

“Nah,” she said with a wave of one hoof “he figured it out for himself.”

“How?”

Lyra frowned, “You left that big trunk of your secret agent stuff in your bedroom. You know, the one with ‘property of Special Agent Sweetie Drops’ written on it? He found it when it was his turn to change all the bedding.”

“But it was hidden away though!”

“You left it under your bed, next to the clean sheets.”

“It was locked!”

“It has a big hoof-shaped button on it that pops open when you press it, Bonnie.”

“Th-then how did he even know it was mine? That could’ve been anypony’s.”

Lyra looked dryly at her, “You left your old ID card stuck to the roof of the box, remember? The one with your picture on it?”

“And you just told him when he asked?”

Lyra shrugged, “I love him. I didn’t see a problem with telling him. Like I said: he didn’t really care.”

“What do you mean? Tell me what he said.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was silence for a moment between them.

“Well?” Bon Bon prompted.

“No, he literally just said...’oh, okay’, and then he went right back to what he was doing. Never said anything else about it since. Well...except…”

“Except, what?”

Lyra blushed and leaned in slightly, “Just that he said offhand once that he thought it was kind of...ssssexy.” she said, whispering the last part right into her ear.

“R-really?”

“Yuh-huh. It’s okay, Bonnie: if you can trust these things with me, then you know you can trust Sam with them too, especially if we’re going to be family.”

Bon Bon nodded slowly, “And he was really okay with me...not always being me?”

“You’ve always been you, Bonnie,” said Lyra gently, resting her hoof atop Bon Bon’s own briefly, “And Sam knows that too. He knows that, even if you were different in the past, it’s who you are now that he cares about.”

And just like that, she was starting to get a little choked up again, “Thanks, Lyra…”

She grinned, “No problem, Bonnie. So how do you want to do this? I’m sure if we go up together now-”

“-No,” interjected Bon Bon, her blush rising briefly at the thought. It wasn’t that the idea wasn’t tempting, and indeed, remembering back to Sam just earlier, she had no doubt he’d be...ready should the urge take him, but first thing was first, “You know what you have to do, Lyra; you know how these things work. First you need to go and talk to him, make sure he’s okay with this, okay with...me. What you two have at the moment is what’s important, you need to protect that first and foremost. You’re his mare, and that’s your duty.”

Lyra nodded solemnly. This wasn’t like it was when it was just her and Sam, where she had just courted him for the day and just went for it; she knew she had to safeguard the foundations of their current relationship before adding anything to it, not only for their sake, but for Bon Bon’s too in case it didn’t work out, “A-and then?”

“And then you can...let me know if he considers me...acceptable.”

“I know he will…” she whispered, cupping her cheek again briefly.

Bon Bon nodded sheepishly and then cocked her head off towards the stairwell outside, “Go on, off with you. I saw how worked up he’d gotten, and you know how stallions get when they’re left by themselves that way,” she nudged her at that point, smirking slightly, “You don’t want him to waste anything that could be...put to better use now, do you?”

Despite her embarrassment at the thought, Lyra couldn’t help but giggle before briefly leaning in to hug her friend just once more, “I love you, Bonnie.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too. Now go.”

“R-right,” said the unicorn, nodding firmly before bounding off with a noticeable spring in her step. That left Bon Bon alone to think on just how far she’d gone and plunged things, and if she really was ready herself. That was until that image from earlier once more sent a brief flutter through her heart.

Yes, she assured herself, steeling her resolve once more, she was ready, Her eyes then drifted towards the open doorway, but was he?

Could he really see her as being enough of a mare for him? After all, she’d been so weak that she’d gotten off from his touch alone; it had all been about her pleasure and not his, which she knew was the first and biggest no-no when it came to starting any courtship. She also hadn’t tried to prevent him from leaving either. If she had, she’d no doubt he’d still be over her, and maybe even in her, at that very moment.

Bon Bon felt her nethers quiver rebelliously at that possible alternative. Maybe she was just overcomplicating things.

She would just have to wait and see...

---

To be continued…

Chapter 7: [Bonus Chapter 3] Sam

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Bonus Chapter 3: Sam

Sam flicked on the shower faucet and shrugged free his jeans and t-shirt. His boxers took a tad more maneuvering however, both due to how soaked through and clingy they still were thanks to Bon Bon, and also due to his own significant arousal, which had opted to linger to the point of irritation.

Sam was actually about to verbally admonish his treacherous manhood for its unneeded tenacity, when someone outside gently rapped on the bathroom door. He arched himself half-about when Lyra’s muffled voice sounded out from the other side, “Sammy…” she said, “I’m coming in now, okay.”

What briefly confused Sam was the fact that she hadn’t phrased it at all as a question, and she was halfway through the door before he could even begin to conceal himself. Except when she’d been in heat, Sam noted that it really wasn’t like Lyra to be so...forward. Sure, she could be provocative and playful when they were alone in the bedroom together, but the way she’d been acting today had been...different.

Sam suppressed a nervous chuckle as Lyra slipped inside and and idly cast aside the towel she’d brought back up with her. The unicorn gave a brief, silent pause then to take in her human’s state of undress, and she didn’t make any effort to hide the fact that she was taking her merry sweet time drinking him in either, especially when her eyes came to rest of his barely concealed arousal.

“L-Lyra…I…” Sam’s stammering was cut off however as Lyra drifted suddenly forwards as if in a daze, her eyes trained still on one thing. She brought her hoof up then to nudge his hands gently, wordlessly aside.

Sam’s hands yielded to her direction without any resistance, leaving him staring back down at her in silence. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but the fact that it hadn’t gone bad yet after what had occurred downstairs was certainly a good sign.

Lyra‘s eyes were simply locked on his throbbing manhood however. The skin at the tip was drawn taut to show just how turned on her beloved human had become. It glistened fiercely too from the liberal coating of lubricant it had received. She was unable to hold in a hot exhalation of breath that danced up the sensitive underside, causing her lover to shudder visibly.

Lyra still had one of Sam’s hands held in her hoof, and was idly rubbing the palm up and down his likewise coated thighs. She turned the hand over to briefly admire the now gleaming underside before returning her attention to his prominent arousal, “You’ve gotten so big…” she breathed, and Sam couldn’t help but gulp as she drew his limp hand up and began stroking the palm over the underside of his member, “And she’s gotten you so wet…” came the next husky whisper.

Sam could find no words as the unicorn then used her horn to encompass his gleaming hand in her magic field and then gently but tightly closed it around his slick member. She then held his eyes to hers as she began stroking him off, slowly back and forth. The lubricant made the act lewdly audible, “Is Bonnie making you feel good now?” she gasped, going faster, “Is what she gave you making you feel...good...?”

“Lyra...!” gasped Sam, who suddenly had little recourse but to grip her shoulder in his free hand to steady himself when her hoof came up to cup his tightening sac, the padded surface squeezing gently at the precious contents as she kept her motion going.

“Can you take me now, Sam?” she whimpered, pumping faster, still looking into his eyes, feeling him swell even harder, “Will you rut me right here?”

With no other response coming to his increasingly lust-clouded mind, Sam just nodded as Lyra squeezed harder, working his magically encapsulated hand against him faster.

“Will you do something for me though?” she breathed, still holding his eyes with her own glazed over orbs.

“What is it?” he whispered back.

She used her magic to flick his thumb up then to circle the head, coating it with the additional liquid oozing free, “Will you close your eyes…”she whispered”...when you take me...and can you pretend...that I’m her?”

Sam’s eyes widened, but his member gave an involuntary throb at the thought, one which Lyra did not miss, “I know you’d like that, and so would I…” she said, “...I want you to pretend you’re still down there...and that you couldn’t hold back...I want you to pretend, when you’re taking me...that it’s Bonnie...and that I’m right there watching with you…” she gulped, swallowing briefly against her own lust, “Can you do that for me...my Sam?”

Sam took a long breath to steady himself and gather enough willpower (he really didn’t have much left) to ask quickly, “Is this a trick question, fantasy, or other?”

“Desire…” breathed Lyra in response, even more huskily than before. She then wordlessly released him and flicked her forehooves over the edge of the tub, wiggling her rump back at him invitingly. Her tail was raised, exposing the sheer degree of her own arousal.

Sam found himself over her seconds later, and Lyra’s hoof reached down to the floor at her side as she whispered, “Eyes closed,” Sam complied and, unbeknownst to him, Lyra brought up the towel she’d retrieved from downstairs, still soaked in Bon Bon’s juices, and held it up before him, “Breathe deep…” she whispered huskily, wriggling her hindquarters back until her marehood met the throbbing, still-gleaming tip of his member.

Sam’s hips gave an instinctive forward push until the head of his manhood was nestled just within her entrance, and Lyra wasn’t sure if it was the sweet, rich scent of the earth mare alone that enticed him or if it was her little game, but she felt him swell even more in that instant, stretching her outer lips open about his tip and sucking it in until they snapped tightly secure around it.

“Y-yes!” Lyra yelped with a strained grunt as she felt her inner lips part around him and he began sinking deep into her. Her voice dropped to a whimpering moan, “Watching you now…I’m watch-...oh...g-goddess, I never knew Bonnie could make you so big.”

Sam wasn’t sure how, but Lyra’s lurid commentary was painting a shockingly vivid image in his mind’s eye as she talked him through her fantasy. He could almost see the earth mare under him, her back arching and mouth open wide as he slowly forced his way inside her.

Lyra gave a loud, moaning grunt as he pushed deeper, “Th-that’s it, right there...take her nice and hard now. Make her feel how much you...ngh...want her!”

Sam gripped the flanks under his palms harder and began rutting the tight marehood quivering about him. He bent forwards, imagining the vision leaning her head back to meet his mouth in kind. He felt a muzzle suck hungrily against his lips an instant later, a tongue forcing inside lustfully as he worked himself harder and harder into the mare under him.

“All those days,” Lyra grunted, her breath dancing into his open mouth, “With those gorgeous flanks wiggling about in front of you...how many times...ngh!...you wish you could’ve just...oh...mounted her right then and there; and made her your mare...like you’re doing now!”

The marehood about him was tightening almost excruciatingly and Sam worked with the fantasy provided, falling into the image of himself from Lyra’s erotic scenario, “Oh...g-god!” he found himself grunting a few moments later, swelling up to full within her.

“Y-yes!” she gasped, “Th-that’s it! Don’t hold it in for her! She’s wanted it for so long too...!” Sam’s hips began jerking and each thrust was met by a sharp, spasming contraction from the mare’s clenching walls, desperate to draw out his seed, “Give it to her, Sammy!” she cried, “Now...give it nowww!!”

Unable to hold himself back any further, Sam’s fingers dug deeply into the flanks in his grip as a magic field clenched behind him, holding him deep inside as the first blast of his seed sprayed out against the suckling cervix of the mare under him as she thrashed back into orgasm. Her flanks clenched against his pelvis as she milked each subsequent wave of his toe-curling climax from him, each one deceptively making him think it was the last, only for another thick pulse to be suckled out to coat the mare’s womb.

“Yes…” sighed Lyra from alongside Sam’s face as he slumped forwards over her, the pulsing within her marehood finally subsiding a moment later. She whined happily as the pleasing weight of his seed settled within her. The weight lessened a moment later however as his softening manhood was released finally from her tight grasp and she felt a gush of their combined fluids coat her thighs and splatter audibly onto the floor.

The unicorn’s eyes then opened a crack. And she was far, far too buzzed from her afterglow to be either shocked or embarrassed upon catching sight of Bon Bon’s reflection in the mirror just out the corner of her eye.

The earth mare was crouched on the very edge of the doorway, both forehooves buried between her hind legs. A towel was grasped between her teeth, obviously to muffle any moans as she heaved quietly for breath. Her face was heavily flushed.

Lyra’s eye drifted down then to see that the bottom of said towel was liberally soaked in the clear evidence of the earth mare’s own voyeuristic climax, which was also still in the process of running visibly down over her trembling forehooves as residual spasms racked her frame. Lyra realized then that, from her line of sight, the earth mare’s eyes must have been locked on their still gleaming sexes, as well as the trail of silvery fluid that she could still feel oozing free from her own marehood.

They caught each other’s eyes.

Neither unicorn nor earth mare reacted however. Instead, they just heaved and panted, enjoying the buzz of the moment as they stared deep into each other’s eyes. Lyra closed her’s slowly then to bask for just a few more seconds, and when she opened them, Bon Bon was gone.

---

Lyra found herself curled up on the bathroom floor not much later, nestled snugly in Sam’s arms. That was always one of her favorite parts: the quiet time of just being together afterwards, when no words are needed; as if the rest of the world didn’t exist beyond just the two of them. She only wished Bon Bon could have been there too, so she could share the warmth nestled firmly in her heart right then also.

“I’m sorry if you thought that was…” she whispered after an indeterminate time, only to trail off with discomfort.

To her surprise, she felt the familiar rumble of Sam’s chest against her ear as he chuckled boisterously, one hand moving to gently comb her matted, but still silky soft mane between his fingers as he did so, “Sorry?” he echoed, “What for? That was the most fun I’ve had in ages. Nothing wrong with a little role play to spice things up, Lyra.”

Her eyes brightened and her ears perked up as she glanced back up at him, “Y-you mean it?”

He responded simply by leaning down and pecking her quickly on the tip of the nose, eliciting a quick giggle.

Lyra sighed as silence fell for a long moment. Sam sensed she was gathering her nerve to talk about something, and so he waited, stroking her mane and coat slowly with his hand until she finally spoke again, “Th-there was a reason for it though…” she said, a timid uncertainty starting to creep into her voice, “I...I just wanted to see...if you could really look at Bonnie like that.”

“And are you upset because it turned out I was...capable?”

Lyra giggled, “Oh I felt how capable you were, and I’m happy, so very happy. You see...me and Bon Bon, we’ve been best friends for years, and I love her a lot.”

“Love her?” he echoed, “As in…?”

Lyra twiddled her front hooves together slightly, “That’s just it. I know you have all those different ‘kinds’ of love back where you come from, but here, especially between mares, when you get to be such good friends, the line tends to...blur. Bonnie and I are so close that it almost feels like we’re two sides of the same coin, so you see-"

“-This is why you were asking me if I liked her earlier, isn’t it?”

Lyra whimpered slightly, but then nodded.

Sam went on, “And because ponies tend to have polygamous relationships as a norm due to the gender imbalance, you wanted to test and see if I’d be...open to the idea of bringing Bon Bon in so she wouldn’t feel left-”

“-It’s not about being left out,” cut in Lyra quickly, “Bonnie and me; we’re so different and yet so alike too that I just know you could love her too. And she could love you too, and in so many new ways that I don’t know how to. It would be like we were all finally...completing ourselves.

“Then that line would be gone between us all and we could all be so happy together. I just…” she choked herself off, sniffling slightly as her emotions finally began to overwhelm her, “I just…know she likes you too, if you’d only just give...give her a chance to show you what it’d be like with that line gone between you two too...if only just once.”

Sam regarded her carefully. Despite her worries, the idea of such relationships didn’t really repel him at all. If anything it was quite to the contrary. Pony society had existed uninterruptedly for thousands of years before humans showed up, whereas cultures in his own world rose and fell all the time. Sam had considered therefore that they must’ve been doing something right that was fundamentally different to how humans operate.

Perhaps it was just something as innocent as how they formed friendships and fell in love...

Could pony personalities be so sharply defined that they fit together as easily as pieces in a puzzle, only so more can possibly be added later in order to successfully build something even greater?

Was that the basic idea behind how they built their relationships?

Lyra was the playful bouncy one; a light and energy that was a delight for anyone willing to just give it a chance to warm their hearts, contrasted to Bon Bon; the serious and watchful one; the one who had been watching over Lyra for years when she had nopony else...and him too, without pause or hesitation ever since his arrival.

It only struck Sam now how often she was always there; always at the right time, when darker thoughts and depression had just started to creep up to the point that he couldn’t quite manage them with a smile any more. Whenever that happened, there was always a cream colored mare ready with a hug to help him shoulder that burden.

So what did that make him? He asked himself. The happy middle? The unifying factor?

He shook his head. This was one of those things that he knew he couldn’t work out with mere thought and introspection. He’d just end up going round and round in his own head forever if he tried that.

There was only one thing for it...

“Only live once…” he found himself murmuring inaudibly to himself, while just the barest of smiles began tugging at one side of his face.

Lyra didn’t hear him, her face was downcast by that point. He’d been silent far too long for her liking, and she felt that could mean only one thing: the idea didn’t appeal, and Sam was most likely now just thinking of a way to worm his way out of a conversation that he really didn’t want to be having.

She’d messed it up…

Bon Bon’s words flashed back from earlier: she had to protect what she had already.

Lyra shook her head as dismissively as possible and then looked up to Sam with wide smile, “D-don’t worry about it. I-if it’s not something you-”

“-Okay,” Sam tried to interject.

However, Lyra was still talking, “-want to think about, then don’t worry. What you and I have now is…” she went silent for a moment, “...come again?”

“Later perhaps, but I said ‘okay’. Let’s give this thing a go…”

Lyra’s ears began to perk as she slid up onto her hindquarters, her golden eyes widening slowly, “D-do...do you mean you…”

“Let’s give it a shot.” he said, before clapping his hands together, “Right, so how do we do this?”

Lyra’s bottom lip began to quiver, her eyes glistening, “You would really do this for me?” she squeaked, one hoof reaching slowly out for him.

“No…” he responded flatly.

Lyra’s ears sank back again, “N-no…?”

His hand came up and briefly teased one of her flattened ears until it twitched back up of it’s own accord, “I will however do it for us...and maybe…” he said, his eyes narrowing off towards the doorway, “...For Bon Bon too, but that’ll be up to her.” He then flashed a smile back down at the unicorn peering up at him, “Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Lyra let out a sobbing squeal of joy and threw her forelegs about the sitting human, all but slamming him back against the cabinet, “Oh, Sam!” she cried, sobbing openly in to his chest and accidentally smacking him back again, “I love you so much!”

“Ouch…” groaned the human, both shoulder and head now officially sore, “Sex then tears? It’s art school all over again.” He cocked an eyebrow up, “Happy tears though, right?”

Lyra just shuffled her head up and down into his chest, her tail swishing rapidly about on the floor behind her.

“Here…” said Sam, handing her a towel, “wipe your nose…”

Lyra nodded and loudly blew her nose clear as she sat back down again. She opened her eyes then to regard the towel, “Smells like Bonnie…”

“Sorry...had nothing else to hand...” he said, tossing the now thoroughly soiled article into a nearby basket, “So what happens now? Should I just go and, y’know, charm her?”

Lyra sniffled quickly, waving her hooves, “No, no, no. It doesn’t work like that.”

Sam’s brow furrowed, “Doesn’t work like that? What, are you saying there’s an actual procedure?”

Lyra grinned, her smile suddenly seeming brighter than Sam had seen in quite some time, “Of course,” she said, gesturing with her hoof as she explained, “What I do now is go off and talk to Bonnie, that’s because I’m the mare you started with, plus she’s already asked my permission to court you-”

“-She has?” cut in Sam, eyebrows rising in mild surprise.

“Yuh huh. Guess you made quite the impression.”

He cocked his head, “Well...guess so.”

Lyra smirked and nudged him with one hoof, “Don’t get all smug on me now, mister ladykiller.”

“I’ll try. No promises though. Carry on.”

Lyra nodded, “Okay, so what I need to do is let her know that you think she’s somepony you’d be okay with spending time with and think is acceptable...th-that is...you do think she’s…”

Sam stroked a hand slowly through Lyra’s mane, smiling, “I think she is. Very much so. You managed to ram that point home quite well.”

“You did the ramming...but anyway, once she knows that, she’ll have the green light.”

“The green light to...what?”

“To woo you, of course!” she chimed, clasping her hooves together.

Sam regarded her warily, “To...woo me…?”

“Well, woo both of us, strictly speaking, but since she and I are already so close, most...probably all...of her focus will be on you. That’s normally how it goes.”

“Focusing on me in order to…?”

“To seduce you, of course!”

“Of course…stupid question really.” he sighed. “So what can I expect?”

Lyra nodded, “Well, the first thing she’ll do is approach you and then formally ask to take you out on a date. It’ll be in my company of course.”

“Of course,” he echoed, by now having caught onto the pseudo-reversed gender roles, “And then?”

“And then she gets to spend some time with you to see if we’re all compatible together.”

“And if we are?” he asked, “If we do all...work. What, do we have a party...maybe bake a cake?”

“We could do that, I guess…” said Lyra slowly, before looking right back up with a grin, “Or we could just have sex.”

“Of course...” he sighed, smiling tiredly.

“All of us!” she chimed.

“Right.”

“Over and over!”

“So...win-win either way,” responded Sam with a bemused smile. It was difficult for him not to get caught up in Lyra’s almost boundless enthusiasm sometimes.

“Right!”

“And I am really starting to love this place.” Sam then coughed and brought things back to the matter at hand, “Right, you go off and have your...girl-talk. While you’re doing that, I think I’d best get round to finally cleaning myself up. I’m starting to feel a bit sticky.”

Lyra nodded and then scrambled up to her hooves to dash off. Sam only got halfway to his feet before she dashed back in and stole one last, drawn out kiss, “I love you, Sam…”

“Love you too,” he said, giving her just the briefest of nuzzles before disentangling himself, “Now on you go while I..freshen up.”

“R-right…” she said. And Sam waited for a few seconds to make sure Lyra had actually departed before finally going back to his belated shower.

The day really had taken a turn for the interesting.

He paused with his hand on the faucet again as he disrobed once more and a small smile began to grace his lips. He realised then, in that instant, just how much he found that interesting turn to his liking…

---

Sam realized as he slipped into a fresh t-shirt and pair of jeans that he should probably talk or tell someone about what was happening. Telling everyone didn’t feel right, that meant Twitter was out. His emotions didn’t tell him Jim was the best person either right now. His father would be working. And his big sister wouldn’t let him hear the end of her teasing if she caught wind of it.

Sam pulled out his phone.

There was only one choice really: When your bro’s and siblings were ruled out; when your dad wasn’t around; when blogging or tweeting didn’t feel right, then there was really only one person left; the highest echelon of command that a man secretly knows he’ll always default to when push comes to shove, not that he’d ever actually admit it of course…

A warm voice with a subtle Irish undercurrent sounded out the speaker, “Hello, Samuel.”

“Hi, Mom…” he sighed.

“What’s the matter, angel? You don’t normally call out of the blue like this. Oh...did something happen between you and Lyra?”

“No, Mom, me and Lyra are fine. Although, that’s...sort of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh? What’s up, isn't everything still zen between you two? All not groovy on the Equestrian front?”

Sam clenched his eyes closed. The downside of having parents who never quite shook off their flowerchild heritage was that they had a nasty habit of falling into embarrassing speech patterns. The upside being of course that they were perfectly fine with the idea of their son dating a mint green alien unicorn.

And so, Sam went briefly over the recent revelation, as well as outlying what would likely come next.

Sam’s mom, or Doctor Lynne Artemis McNamara as she was known in full, was silent for a moment, humming in thought as she soaked in her son’s words, “Bon Bon...oh, you mean that sweet little secret agent pony.”

Sam blinked, “Who told you about that?”

“Your dad. He thought it was rad, had to tell me, you know him. Don’t worry, mums the word to anyone else."

"If you say so..." her murmured, “But yes, her…”

“Oh...oh, just a sec, your dad just walked in…” her voice became a bit distant as she held the phone away from herself to shout, “Blane, Samuel’s on the line!”

Sam rolled his eyes as he heard a muffled, “Oh, how’s the lad doing?” in the background.

“Hi, dad…” Sam grumbled.

“Sammy says hi. And he’s about to enter a three way relationship with another pony. So pretty good.”

Sam winced at his mother’s bluntness, and there was a brief, contemplative silence in the background, “Boy pony or girl pony?”

“Girl pony,” Lynne responded for him.

Another silence.

“Good work, son.”

“In other news, your father’s a simple man.”

“Yup…” sighed Sam.

“Look, angel. If you’re worried about our support with your life choices, you know you don’t need to.”

“I know that too…”

“Are you worried there isn’t enough room in your heart for two? Because I don’t think that’s the case, dearest…”

Sam frowned, “And why’s that?”

“Because I’m your mother, angel, and I know how big your heart is. If you want my advice, just follow that heart and see where it takes you. You can’t go wrong if you do.”

Sam smiled, “Thanks mom…”

“Anytime dear. So...how’s your sex life?”

“Mom!”

There came a loud giggle from down the other end of the line, “Just messing with you, Sammy.”

“I gotta go, Mom…”

“I know. But you make sure to call and let me know how it goes.”

“Will do,” he breathed, “Love you, mom.”

“Love you too, dear. Laters.”

Sam rolled the phone between his palms, dwelling on what his mother had said, which had basically just amounted to ‘go with the flow’. That was pretty much how he’d gotten into his current situation in the first place.

‘Guess I still have a lot more of this road to walk down before I can see where it’s heading…’ he mused. The sound of measured hoofsteps coming up the stairs drew his attention to the bedroom door.

Sam smiled at that point, ‘Still...’ he thought to himself, ‘It’s all about the journey...not the destination. And sometimes you just gotta strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.’

Sam slipped out the bedroom and closed the door. Bon Bon was waiting for him when he turned about. The earth mare was sat on her hindquarters, looking both nervously and expectantly up at him. Lyra was there too, however she clearly wasn’t sharing any of the other mare’s nerves, and instead looked perfectly chirpy about what was going on.

“Sam…” said Bon Bon.

He nodded, “Bon Bon…”

Her tail swished left and right just once, “I...I was wondering…”

Lyra gave her a gentle nudge with her hoof, “It’s okay, Bonnie…”

She looked to her and then nodded before returning her full focus to the human, “W-would you both give me the honor of allowing me...to...to take you out tomorrow night…?”

Lyra’s answer was nothing more than a tiny squee, which was perfectly fine since she’d effectively agreed in advance. In this situation it was just the stallion’s response that was in question.

Sam smiled and Bon Bon raised a forehoof uncertainly when he crouched suddenly down onto his haunches. And just like he’d done with Lyra, quite some time ago, he gingerly took that raised hoof in his hands and planted a simple kiss atop it, his fingers gently stroking the padded surface underneath for reassurance, “I would be delighted to accompany you, Bon Bon…” his eyes then flicked to Lyra, who was practically bouncing with glee by that point, “...we both would.”

Bon Bon’s face quickly became flushed and she swiftly withdrew her hoof somewhat, smiling sheepishly between them, “Thank you…” was all she managed to whisper after that brief pause.

Sam moved to stand, but halted when he realised Bon Bon had moved her hoof to his left shoulder now. He glanced briefly at it and then back to the earth mare, whose eyes were now downcast, although she did seem to be peering out at him from her peripheral vision.

Sam didn’t fight at all when Bon Bon drew him closer, her head drifting slowly about to look at him in full as she lessened the distance between them. Then she was moving closer, closing in on his left cheek to give him just a quick, timid expression of her affection and appreciation. Sam’s expression was soft, relenting, just letting the mare do what she felt comfortable with.

To Sam’s surprise, Bon Bon’s hoof then drifted, seemingly of it’s own accord, along the nape of his neck and up to the side of his face, and before Sam knew what was happening, she had tilted his head just enough into her path so she could press her lips softly to his.

The human’s eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter before relaxing again. Bon Bon’s own eyes were heavily lidded too as she held the connection there, their lips pressed motionlessly together before she softly drew them closed just once over the surface of the human’s before releasing them. It might have looked almost chaste from a distant perspective, but due to the slow tenderness with which the act was performed, it somehow also came across as being quite heavily intimate.

Sam made no comment as Bon Bon pulled quickly away, hoof once more drawn to her chest, eyes again averted. She looked up then to realise that Lyra was now staring at her with wide, dewy eyes, her bottom lip trembling almost adorably, “That was so sweet…” she whimpered, only for her brow to clench slightly, “And how come I didn’t get one?”

Bon Bon chuckled, secretly grateful for the change in mood. With a smile, she leaned quickly in and pecked the unicorn quickly on the lips too, “There you go…”

Lyra just grinned happily, rocking back and forth on her hindquarters.

Bon Bon coughed pointedly, “Now, if you’ll...both excuse me, I have preparations to make.”

Sam smiled and slipped back up to full height, “So shall we...pick you up at eight? Your place?”

“N-no,” said Bon Bon, looking back up at him, “I’ll pick you up, Also...I live here with you.”

“I was just kidding.”

“Don’t worry, Bonnie,” said Lyra, briefly nuzzling Sam’s leg, “I’ll have him fully briefed for you by tomorrow.”

Bon Bon then nodded, sparing the pair one final, long look before turning about and heading downstairs before her blush could become any more pronounced.

“So what happens next?” asked Sam, hearing the front door open and close a moment later.

Lyra nodded, “Now Bonnie will go out and pick up the things that she needs, get ready, make reservations if she wants to... We’ll have to avoid her until then, and she’ll avoid too us until she’s ready to...pick us both up.”

“And what do we do?” he queried, still not entirely sure how the whole process worked.

“Well we know we’re being courted now, so we just need to get ready like we would any other date. I’d best head to the salon and get my mane done…”

Sam nodded, “I think I’ll pop by the boutique and see if I can get some new threads. If this is an official, official date, then I suppose I’d best get dolled up a bit too. Think I should get a haircut or something?”

Lyra shook her head, “Nah, Bonnie likes your mane as it is. B-but if you could style it how you had it when we spent our first day together I...I guess that would be nice too.”

Sam nodded, “Fashionably messy it is then. I’m right in thinking I don’t go buying her flowers or anything though, yes?”

“That’s right. It’s up to Bon Bon to be doing the charming tomorrow.”

“But I can’t not be charming. That’s like...seventy-five percent of all I do.”

Lyra laughed sweetly, “Don’t worry, I’m sure Bonnie will be charmed regardless...and I know you will be too.” her smile pulled into a smirk slightly then, her voice lowering, “You’d be surprised just how...alluring she can be when she tries.”

Sam gulped slightly as the day’s earlier events suddenly flashed back to him with rather stark vividity. He shook his head to clear it though when he felt the telltale signs of his blood flow being diverted down south, “I guess I’ll just have to look forward to it then. And I take it tonight we should avoid...”

Lyra nodded, “That’s right. Now that she’s asked, it would be very disrespectful to...y’know...before our date. Best to have you all pent up for her anyways, just in case…”

Sam just laughed and briefly ruffled her mane, “If you say so. I’ll go head out now.”

“Right. I’ll go book an appointment at the salon for tomorrow morning, and I’ll probably spend a good bit of today at the spa. Need to make myself extra cute.”

“Even more than you already are? Is that scientifically possible?”

Lyra smiled wryly, “Working out all the charm in time for tomorrow, are you?”

“Is it working?"

“You’ll know, especially if something disrespectful happens.”

Sam smiled and opted to curb his enthusiasm. The act of abstaining in the runup to their date would be far easier without him tempting fate.

---

Bon Bon had quickly booked herself in for a spa and salon appointment the next day. She had also instructed the staff to space Lyra’s visit apart from hers should the unicorn opt to get herself spruced up too.

She intended to drop in to see Rarity too, but first she had a matter of higher importance to take care of, especially if they really were going to do this traditionally.

Bon Bon realized her heart was beating far quicker than it should have been from simply trotting over to the flower shop. Things were moving so fast. She hadn’t felt a thrill like this since...since her old days.

She took a calming breath, suppressed the quiver of anticipation that had briefly swelled within her, and then pushed open the door, smiling pleasantly as the bell above announced her presence.

Bon Bon ignored the shape moving out the corner of her eye as it did it’s best to go unnoticed before vanishing quickly into the backroom.

Bon Bon always did think Lily to be almost adorably shy.

The earth mare walked calmly up to the counter where Roseluck waited with her usual welcoming smile, “Good afternoon, Bon Bon. What can I do you for?”

Bon Bon swung a forehoof almost nervously back and forth, not quite sure how to tactfully begin, especially after remembering what Lyra had said about her and the flower pony ‘talking’ earlier in the day, “I just have a little request, is all.”

“Well I’m here for all your floral needs, so ask away.”

Bon Bon nodded, “Well it’s rather technical since the flowers I need, that is the colors I need, are a little bit contrasting.”

Rose laughed quietly, “Come on, Bon Bon, look around: we’ve got all the colors of the rainbow in here.”

“I-I know...wh-what I mean is, I need the colors to be on the same flower. I heard you had some of those northern crystal roses; the ones that adapt to any pattern you expose them to?”

Rose nodded, “Yeah, we got a half dozen in from the Empire a few days back. But, Bon Bon...those are very expensive. They only grow in the caverns underneath the Yak mountains and they have to be kept-”

“-In very special conditions since they adapt to the first flash of color they’re exposed to,” cut in Bon Bon, “I know. And I assure you, Rose, money isn’t an issue this time round.”

The shopkeeper nodded slowly, “Alright…if you’re sure that’s what you want.”

“I also need...two.”

Rose’s eyes widened understandably at that, “Two? Bon Bon...that’s quite a hefty price tag you’re looking at there.”

Bon Bon exhaled a long sigh, “I know, but please, trust me: this is very important, and I have to do it right.”

Rose regarded her carefully for a moment before nodding again, “Of course, Bon Bon. The customer is always right, after all. So what colors will you be needing them in?”

This time Bon Bon could feel her face heat up slightly, and with an almost inaudible murmur, she simply lifted her hindquarters a little and gave a slight wave of her tail.

Rose’s brow furrowed for an instant before understanding came, “Oh, you mean you want them in the same colors as your mane?”

Bon Bon’s tail dropped and she just nodded, her eyes suddenly finding the floor immensely interesting.

“Oh, well that shouldn’t be...too…” and Rose trailed off with a gasp as it only then struck her.

Bon Bon looked up, and indeed: Rose had her hooves clasped over her mouth in surprise, “You mean…”

Bon Bon nodded.

“B-but two? Who would you-” and realization hit the flower pony again with an even louder gasp, enough to almost raise Rose onto her hind legs. She looked quickly about before shuffling quickly forwards and dropping her voice to a whisper, “D-do you mean you’re going to…”

Again, a nod was all Bon Bon gave, but it was far more level this time.

Rose glanced warily up once more to confirm they were still alone before lowering her voice even more, “S-so what made you change your mind? Last we talked you were telling us about how-”

“-I know…” cut in Bon Bon with a sigh, “I guess I’ve just had a...change of perspective lately.”

“Y-you do know...umm…” said Rose carefully, “that doing...it won’t be exactly like with a regular stallion, right?”

A weak smile pulled at Bon Bon’s lip, “Actually not so different…” she murmured, “Just more... drawn out.”

A blush to match her mane quickly spread across the shopkeeper’s face. She had her hooves up to cover her mouth again, “Y-you mean, you’ve seen?”

Bon Bon just nodded, ‘twice’, she added to herself mentally.

Rose seemed to shift on her hooves, as if the idea were making her a lot more flustered than she wanted to let on, “W-well I wish you best of luck either way,” she said quickly, “And I promise to have your order done by noon tomorrow.”

Bon Bon nodded, smiling gratefully, “Thanks, Rose. I knew I could count on you.”

“Any time, Bon Bon,” and Rose spoke up again as Bon Bon turned to leave, “L-let me know how it goes, will you?”

Bon Bon paused, and she felt herself smirk slightly, “It?”

Rose blanched, “Y-your date!” she responded quickly, her blush spreading even further, “L-let me know how it turns out.”

Bon Bon chuckled, “You’ll be the first to hear. Promise.”

---

“So word on the grapevine is that somepony has a romantic interlude on the cards…” chimed Rarity as she quickly and methodically measured Bon Bon up for the adjustments to the dress she’d picked out.

“H-how could you possibly-”

“-Dear Sammy was in here not too long ago. Poor thing practically begged me to take an entire sack of bits for just a single set of clothes. Can you imagine? I all but had to cram the coins back into his pockets. I simply can’t bear people in such a desperate state overpaying. He let slip that he and Lyra had a date with somepony new. And now here you are. It didn’t really take much to put two and two together, darling.”

“Sam was in earlier?” she asked, raising a forehoof as Rarity slipped the tape about her shoulder.

“Yuh huh. Picked out a piece from one of my new human lines. I swear to you, all those layers they insist on wearing, all of the time, they’re like a fashionista’s dream.”

“I see…” said Bon Bon, “And do you have any...issues?”

Rarity blinked, “With what, dear?”

“You know, th-that he’s a...and I’m-”

“Oh, heavens no,” cut in Rarity with a wave of one hoof, “If anything, I think it’s so romantic; star-crossed lovers coming together like this, daring to take the plunge before anypony else. And now you all get the chance to be one big happy home. It’s wonderful, dear!”

Bon Bon blushed, “If it works out, you mean…”

“Oh, pish posh; a mare like you, how could he possibly resist?”

Bon Bon kicked her hoof timidly at the floor, “Thanks, Rarity...you always do say the nicest things.”

“Well one can but try, darling.” she said, rolling her tape quickly up, “Yes, I should be able to adjust the one you went for by tomorrow. No problem whatsoever.”

She breathed a sigh, “That’s a relief. It’s been so long since I’ve done anything like this, I’d plain forgotten I didn’t even have anything to wear.”

“A fashion emergency is when I work best, darling” said Rarity, “Now then, will there be anything else?”

“No, I think that’ll be everything.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice lowering, “If you’re going out for a night of romance, are you sure you don’t want something...extra? Something to give you that little bit more...je ne se quoi? Perhaps something from my more...risque selection?”

Bon Bon blinked, and she felt herself start to heat up slightly, “You have things like that?” she whispered.

Rarity smiled, “Follow me, darling…”

Moments later, Bon Bon’s flush had spread even further as she found herself examining the various pieces of silky lingerie the unicorn had in stock, “Yes…” whispered Rarity, looking between the slinky black piece she held in her magic as she ran a hoof a over Bon Bon’s flank, “this will do nicely, I think…”

“Y-you do?” she asked, having really not worn anything even remotely like it in the past.

“Oh, yes. Now, let’s just see...” And Bon Bon tried to look all the way around without actually turning as Rarity crouched down behind her, and she felt the unicorn lift first her rear left hoof, then the right, and slipped them through the gaps in the piece of clothing, “Now…” she whispered again. And before Bon Bon could react, Rarity drew the thong up in one smooth motion, securing the silky material over the earth mare’s rump.

Bon Bon let out a shocked, “Uhh!” of pleasure as the silk slid over her sensitive nethers and encompassed them snugly. Another was drawn as Rarity then quickly fed her tail through the hole below the elastic and released the band with a snap, securing it firm about her flanks. The earth mare found herself fighting the urge to wriggle about and stimulate herself further.

Bon Bon could feel the material gripped around the base of her tail. The elastic was clearly designed to force it into a constantly raised position. Meanwhile, the stretch of the silky material clinging to her was so tight that it was forcing the lips of her nethers to be constantly, if ever-so slightly pursed. She realized then that if it weren’t for that thin layer of fabric hugging at her, she’d be completely presenting herself to anypony who looked.

To her rising embarrassment, Rarity then cupped her flanks and turned her about, but not before snugly encapsulating all four of the Earth mare’s legs in a set of matching silky black stockings. Bon Bon suddenly found herself looking at her own scantily clad rear in the three full length dress mirrors, “I...I can’t go out wearing this!” she gasped.

“Whyever not?” asked Rarity, “You’ll be wearing a dress over it, after all. Besides, human mares wear things like it all the time. Sure, you might be naked all the time back there normally when you’re around him, but it’s the temptation, dear, the hidden promise of what lays beneath. I mean just look at yourself; don’t you look inviting, don’t you look sexy? How can any stallion resist you? Why I’m a mare and I’m tempted to just pounce on you!”

Bon Bon didn’t realize she was even wiggling her rear suggestively, or how much her breathing had picked up along with Rarity’s rising tirade. Instead, she found herself asking, with a slight cock of her her head and a swish of her tail, “So...got any more like this?”

Rarity’s fierce expression flicked instantly to a professional smile, “But of course!”

Bon Bon tore her eyes away from her own reflection long enough to grin at the unicorn, “Wow you are good at what you do.”

Rarity just chuckled, her sudden demureness a stark contrast to her husky performance just a moment earlier, “What can I say, darling? It’s a gift…”

---

Bon Bon departed the boutique a little later, her savings having taken far more of a dent than she’d have like even at Rarity’s prices. She now just had a few more things to arrange, and all would be prepared.

Bon Bon just prayed to Celestia that, when the time finally came, she would be prepared too…

---

To be concluded...

Author's Notes:

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I know I had 'to be concluded' at the end of the last chapter (since edited). This was going to be the last one but it was getting way too long so I've decided to split it up into 2 parts. So it looks like there's still one more little installment left in this one yet. Slight nod to the Xenophilia 'verse with the flower thing, which I always thought was sweet. The scenes with Rose in this story are also sort of linked in with AJ Aficianado's A Gentleman's Price and it's prequel, A Scent of Prey which I also highly recommend you read. Still, was fun to have Lyra working with her lead mare instincts and asserting herself this time round, and I look forward to getting the concluding part to you. Either way, loved it, hated it? let me know regardless and I promise to get the final bit up just as soon as it's done.

Chapter 8: [Bonus Chapter 4] Herd

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Bonus Chapter 4: Herd

Bon Bon almost found it humorous that she was standing outside her own house, nervous about knocking on her own door.

She also wasn’t one to dress up normally either. The open at one flank black cocktail number she’d opted for was certainly beyond what she’d normally go for. Thankfully, the way it covered her rear made it difficult to tell that her tail -which was poking out through a fold at the back- was at a subtly higher angle than normal.

The earth mare's mane had been straightened with the exception of the ends, which had in turn been given an extra bit of curl than normal to accentuate the subtly altered look. Her coat too was almost gleaming from the beauty treatments she’d indulged in.

Dismissing what she felt were puerile butterflies in her stomach, Bon Bon reached up with one hoof and rapped gently on the wooden surface before stepping back once more.

A weak, amused smile pulled briefly at her lips, “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever had to knock on this door…”

Bon Bon took a second to shift slightly and straighten up her dress before looking quickly up once more when the sound of approaching steps became audible just inside the house.

Lyra was revealed as the front door was yanked open under the aura of her magic. Her mouth had been opening in greeting, only for her jaw to drop as she took in her friend, “Bonnie…” she breathed, one hoof rising up to cover her mouth, “You look...amazing.”

She shifted even more at that, “Th-thanks…” and she nodded at the unicorn, who was draped in a satin white number threaded with golden highlights, her mane too had clearly been styled and carefully brushed, “You look beautiful too, Lyra.”

The unicorn just chuckled and averted her gaze, kicking sheepishly at the ground.

“You both look stunning,” came Sam’s voice as he emerged behind Lyra. He was garbed in as close to formal attire as he would ever dare; black trousers with a loose white shirt and unbuttoned navy sports jacket. His hair too had been gelled slightly. And the subtle, spicy aroma of whatever scent he’d adorned himself with sent a brief tingle through the earth mare's frame.

Bon Bon blushed slightly, “You both didn’t need to go to so much trouble.”

Sam grinned, “It’s no trouble at all. If anything, it’s a pleasure to get just a little dolled up every once in a while.”

Bon Bon nodded in agreement and then let out a tiny cough, “Right, s-so...I was wondering,” she said, turning to pick up the tiny cloth-wrapped package by her side, “If you would be so kind as to accept these symbols of my intent…?”

Lyra’s blush easily outmatched Bon Bon's at that point. She’d never had a mare be so...adorably formal with her before. Sam too found the way she was sticking so closely to tradition to be quite charming.

Sam’s amusement turned to awe however as Bon Bon gingerly revealed the two crystalline roses comprised of her mane's twin colors. Lyra too stifled a gasp. The two flowers weren’t identical though. While both had blue stems, the petals of one were a vibrant pink on the inside with deep blue surrounding them on the outside. The other was more of a blend; with deep blue petals all over, each one webbed with pink like veins of light amethyst.

“Bonnie, they’re so beautiful…” whispered Lyra, her eyes suddenly looking a little dewy.

“Bon Bon…” said Sam, leaning a little closer, “How did you get these? I mean they must’ve cost you a fortune…”

The earth pony just smiled, “I have my ways…”

The earth mare’s nervousness began to creep up at that point however. The pair were so taken in with looking that she was starting to take their moment of pause as hesitation. She was suddenly starting to worry if she’d gone too far. The flowers were, after all, a very soppy gesture. On top of that, willingly wearing them was an open advertisement to all who saw about precisely what was going on. She wondered if they really were serious enough about the whole endeavour to go to that length.

She supposed this would just be another test, to see if they really were genuine about this.

Bon Bon suddenly found her heart going cold however as the chance of rejection presented itself to her. She supposed that she was really just looking for confirmation: for the two people before her to really say yes...it’s okay for you to feel this way.

She hummed with discomfort and Lyra blinked herself out of her daze at the sound. Still looking flustered, the unicorn wordlessly stepped forwards and put the earth mare’s worries half to rest by bowing her head forwards. A serene little smile marked her flushed mint features.

Bon Bon’s frame relaxed and she smiled back as Lyra’s tail gave a happy twitch in kind. The earth pony then stepped forwards to carefully part Lyra's mane and affix the rose into place using it's clip.

Lyra’s eyes focused to her left, staring lovingly at the adornment while Bon Bon stepped back to look up at the human. Her eyes held a vulnerability that Sam had never seen in them before. He'd heard of this particular tradition, Lyra had after all briefed him in full, but only now, as they looked into each other’s eyes, did he appreciate just how fragile and bare she was allowing herself to be laid before him.

Sam tried his best to smile reassuringly as he slowly crouched down onto one knee before her. Their gazes never broke until be too bowed his head before her.

“Thank you both…” came the thick whisper from just in front and Sam heard the earth mare approach. There followed a moment of hesitation as Bon Bon held the other flower out, only to pause. She let out a worried ‘hmmm...’ as she realised his tousled hair didn't have close to enough mass to affix the rose into place.

Sam kept his eyes lowered and a small smile tugged at one side of his mouth. He didn’t need to look up to know what the problem was. Instead, he startled Bon Bon by reaching gingerly up and cupping her outstretched forehooves gently in both hands before guiding them slowly down to his left shirt breast pocket, “Next to my heart will do, I think…”

Bon Bon couldn’t stop herself from giggling quietly, “That was so cheesy…” she said, whilst carefully affixing her gift into place.

Sam grinned, “Glad you liked it. I'm sorry to say there’s hundreds more where that one came from.”

Sam then stood back up as Bon Bon quickly took the pair in, both now adorned with her color. Lyra had been given the one with the colours set in contrast, and Sam the one that was more like a blending; the one half way between.

She’d found it apt in a way.

Bon Bon looked up to Sam. Her tone briefly became slightly formal once more, “As Lyra has given me permission. would you permit me to escort you tonight in her company?”

Sam nodded, “I would be delighted.”

With that done, the trio finally set off together. Bon Bon stayed to Sam’s right, gently pressed up just against him as they walked whilst Lyra stood to his left, just a half step further away than Bon Bon. Though she wasn’t the one making contact, neither Sam nor Bon Bon could think of a time when they’d seen Lyra look quite so chirpy. It almost seemed to be taking conscious effort on the unicorn’s part not to literally bounce along as they walked.

Bon Bon returned her attention ahead once more. She took the opportunity to nuzzle up against their human partner’s hand, loving the way his thumb would unconsciously trail back and forth over the top of her head.

“So…” said Sam, “Where are we going tonight?”

“Just follow me…” replied Bon Bon, leaning just a bit closer to get a quick nuzzle of his thigh before pulling away again. The sudden wave of body heat and scent left her feeling distinctly warmer as a result, “You’ll see…”

---

The two mares and human passed the occasional pony en route to their destination. The first looks they got seemed always to be those of confusion at the sight of Bon Bon and Lyra dressed up, and the earth mare being the one clearly in the process of escorting the stallion.

The looks would then be quickly replaced with surprise and realization when they sighted the colored roses that the human and unicorn were wearing, before settling finally on genuine intrigue, whilst also by that point trying not to stare too much out of sheer politeness’ sake.

Sam noted a little while later that if Lyra had begun to guess where they were heading, she wasn't saying anything. Wherever they were going though, it involved circling almost fully about the town in order to reach a trail leading to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Eventually, Bon Bon led them to a small hillock nestled among the threshold of the trees.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out there was a structure actually embedded in the hill itself. Sam guessed that it was mostly hollowed out and the only visible entryway he could see led underground. Two brightly lit torches flanked the entrance, illuminating the small hollow.

The only indication that it wasn’t somepony's bizarre choice of residence was the traditional chalk-drawn menu standing outside the door, as well as a dangling sign above emblazoned with the words, ‘The Night Mare’s Den’ and an image of what appeared to be a pony’s silhouette etched into the moon's surface.

Sam frowned, “I never even knew this place was here…”

Bon Bon smiled, “One of Ponyville’s best and worst kept secrets.”

He shrugged, “The best joints usually are…”

“How did you get a reservation at such short notice?” whispered Lyra.

Again Bon Bon just smiled, “I called in a favour or two. Come on.” and with that she edged just a little closer to Sam once more with Lyra closing the distance a little too, and she led them into the doorway and up to a podium with what looked to be a reservation book atop it and menus slid into it’s side.

A blonde earth mare with a gleaming white coat, donned in what appeared to be some kind of a cross between a traditional waitress’ outfit crossed and a french maid’s dress stood waiting patiently for Bon Bon to approach. Sam couldn’t see the mare’s cutie mark due to her frilled skirt obscuring her flanks, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with catering. Her vibrant red eyes flicked between them, doubling back to the human more than once. Sam watched her eyes lock briefly in on his breast pocket.

To his surprise, her face seemed to light up, “Let me guess: table for three?”

Bon Bon smiled, “Reservation in the name of Bon Bon.”

The blonde mare smiled as she nodded and glanced down at her book, “Yes, I see. Oh...one of the private booths, is it?” she mused, smirking slightly, “Out for a romantic evening, are we?”

Bon Bon smiled sheepishly, “That’s the aim, I guess…”

The mare tilted her head as she regarded the human, “Sam, isn’t it?”

He blinked, “You know my name?”

She chuckled, “Kind of hard not to, considering.” she then dropped her voice to a whisper, leaning slightly closer, “Personally, I think it’s amazing…”

His brow furrowed, “What is?”

She waved a hoof between them, “The three of you, of course. Just going for it.”

Sam chuckled, “And it’s amazing, is it?”

She laughed softly again, “Of course. It’s so...new. I think that’s wonderful.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” said Bon Bon cordially.

The mare smiled back, “My name’s Summer Wine, and I'll be your server for tonight,” she then picked up a trio of menus before turning about to lead them down a small corridor deeper into the ground until they reached the main dining area.

Sam spared a glance about. The atmosphere was both very intimate and very cosy, which he supposed was natural considering the location. Numerous couples, trios and more were huddled about the various candlelit tables enjoying quiet meals. And all seemed far too engrossed in each other’s presence to even notice the human being accompanied by two mares.

Summer Wine then led them off from the main area and up to a corner booth isolated by a thick velvet red curtain. There were three padded benches encircling a mahogany table within, “If you’d care to take your seats,” she said, “I’ll bring the wine list along in just a moment.”

Sam nodded and paused as Bon Bon stepped ahead and held out his seat for him. Lyra chuckled and quickly hopped past them into the seat that would ensure Bon Bon and Sam ended up sitting directly opposite one another.

“Thank you, Bon Bon,” said Sam as the earth mare replaced the seat under him.

Bon Bon grinned happily, quickly nuzzling the human before walking around the table to settle into her own chair. Though she didn't let it show, Bon Bon had actually felt a great weight lift when both of her companions accepted her tokens without a single moment of hesitation. Now that her worry over failure was gone, she felt confident again, strong; back to normal.

That actually made her pause.

This felt normal to her now...

She felt a tired smile pull at her lips as she settled more snugly into her seat, ‘guess I’ve gone mad too. Still...’’ her eyes strayed briefly up to Sam and then across to Lyra, ‘could be worse...’

Bon Bon's gaze settled once more on the human. He seemed to not notice her stare and was instead carefully scrutinising the menu before him. She noted how his right eye was obscured just a little by those few stray bangs he never seemed to be able to successfully comb back.

The earth pony felt a warm surge run through her as she surveyed that elegant, upright form she’d come to strangely admire. Bon Bon knew what she had to do next, and that was simply to solidify her position in the relationship, just as she knew Lyra was egging her on to do. Bon Bon was confident she could do that, because that’s precisely what she was: She would prove to them both that the timid, shy mare they’d seen when Sam had first touched her was not the real her. She was a strong and confident pony, even when consumed by the heat of romance, and she would prove that to them both tonight.

Once Summer Wine had taken their orders and parted with the sultry reminder that all booths were of course enchanted for...privacy, and that no staff would intrude without announcing their presence first, things settled into comfortable quiet.

Starters came and went as the trio made idle conversation over their glasses of rather shockingly expensive vintage red wine that Bon Bon had opted for. And Sam’s knee had smacked up in shock off the table when Bon Bon’s hoof had come to rest idly atop his thigh not long after sitting. Whilst Lyra had told him in advance that Bon Bon would likely want to retain a constant physical connection throughout the evening, he still hadn’t been entirely prepared for it.

The soft curve of her hoof seemed to mould itself to his leg as she spent time idly stroking and caressing it up and down, enjoying the feel of the taut muscles underneath as she simply explored his form freely, her eyes never leaving his for quite some time after starting. She maintained a limit though, straying only teasingly high yet not quite crossing the boundary, but also letting the threat of it happening at any time remain. Bon Bon swore that she could feel the material of his trousers becoming more and more stretched as time went on.

Thankfully, the teasing was put on hold when their main courses finally came. Sam had opted for the tofu bolognese. Having been an off and on vegetarian for a good portion of his life thanks to his parents’ influence, it hadn’t taken him long to acclimatise to the standard meat-free equestrian diet. He’d been informed that it wasn’t mandatory, and that allowances could be made if he felt he needed it, but he really just wanted to do his best to make the others feel more comfortable. He’d decided early on that not showing actual carnivorous cravings around what were technically herbivore prey creatures was a good way of doing that.

Conversations had then turned towards the future, with Lyra speculating on alterations in their living arrangements if things did ‘work out’. Her ideas however rarely went further than them simply not having separate rooms any more.

Bon Bon hadn’t said anything, but she couldn’t deny that the thought of having two nice warm bodies nestled up against her every single night as she drifted off and never waking up alone again was a very wonderful prospect. And though Sam hadn’t responded either, she could tell by their brief exchange of glances and his subtle blushes that his sentiments were likely very similar. Lyra hadn’t appeared put off by the lack of verbal response, nor the lack of things ‘heating up’ either. If anything, she seemed pleased by the way things were progressing, and was happily remaining as observer, watching the gap between the two most important beings in her life grow inexorably smaller.

Then came the period between courses again, and Lyra quickly extricated herself from behind the table with a claim about needing to use the facilities. As she approached the curtain behind Sam’s back, she glanced at Bon Bon and then cocked her head twice at the human, waving a hoof in her best ‘well, go for it then’ motion.

Bon Bon’s eyes flicked immediately back to Sam once Lyra had gone. She laughed quietly.

Sam smiled back, “she just gestured to you behind my back, didn’t she?”

“She totally did,” replied Bon Bon with a grin.

“Guess she thinks leaving us alone for a moment might inspire us to do something horrendously romantic and soppy.”

She lowered her gaze slightly at him, “Will it?”

Sam smirked, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”

“I do like your spirit.”

He cocked his head, “Well that’s one thing I’ve learned.”

Bon Bon blinked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, this is a date. We’re supposed to get to know each other more, aren’t we?”

“But we already know each other. We live together.”

“Yeah and we do chat, but we’ve never really talked about ourselves with each other before.”

Bon Bon chuckled, “Of course not. We don’t need to.”

“W-we don’t?”

She shook her head, “Friends just know; they watch, they listen, and they learn. When you have what we have, you don’t need to spoon feed things to each other. They just happen. Come on, try it: try telling me everything you know about me. You’d be surpsised.”

Sam frowned in thought, “Okay...You’re a sweet shop owner slash manager. You specialize, obviously, in cooking things of the sugary variety. You used to go by the name Sweetie Drops, You have special ops training. You enjoy listening to classical music, especially when Lyra and I play for you. You’re often quiet but always observant. Like Lyra, your partents aren’t around, which is another reason you’ve stuck together so long. You like thunderstorms and watching the rain from indoors. You’re a good listener, very compassionate. It takes a lot to get you flustered…” Sam blinked, ”Huh…”

Bon Bon smiled, “You see…” she said, “not a single pony or person besides you and Lyra could've said all that,” She then shifted her free hoof up to gently rest it atop Sam’s hand. Her expression softened, “Can I go now?” she whispered.

Sam blushed slightly, then nodded.

“You’re a musician. You like playing loud, fast songs but you secretly prefer slow, passionate ballads. Your mother’s a doctor in flowers...how do you have flower doctors again?”

Sam chuckled, “Mom has a doctorate in botanical science. So I suppose ‘flower doctor’ is right. We have doctors for a lot of things where I come from.”

Bon Bon giggled, “I see,” her tone then softened as she went on, “and because of that you’re also an avid gardener, which is why you go round to the flower shop so often to talk to Roseluck about her stock...and also why you keep staring at the flower I gave you whenever your eyes wander.”

“It’s...organic crystal!” he cut in helplessly, finally letting out his bemusement, “It’s a literal, scientific impossibility. I swear, mom would probably go insane if she ever set foot in Equestria...I’ll send her a photo of it later. Her reaction at least should be worth a laugh.”

“She sounds lovely.”

“She is...as mad as a hatter, but I love her...” Sam then went quiet then for a moment, only to chuckle briefly into his hand.

Bon Bon couldn’t help but smile too, “What is it?”

“It’s nothing...just liking the situation,” he said, not admitting that he’d just realised he was stuck in another of those reverse-gender role situations again. Normally when out on a date it’s traditional to ask the girl a lot of questions and talk a lot about her, Bon Bon was doing the complete opposite. And he did actually find himself liking it.

Bon Bon’s smile became gentle again and her hoof shifted to stroke his hand briefly, “I also know you’re very kind and compassionate. You’re confident, and you like making people laugh. I know you can’t bear making anypony sad…” her look changed then and her hoof squeezed his hand gently. Her voice had a sad tenderness to it when she spoke again, “I also know your biggest failing is that because you’re so kind, you can’t stand the idea of sharing your own pain with anypony else, because you don’t want them to have to feel it too.”

Sam's eyes widened a fraction, and it took him a moment to find his voice again, “Bon Bon...”

She shook her head, “But that’s okay, Sam…” she whispered, “I won’t compromise you by asking you to change that, because I know you can’t...and I know that even if you could, you wouldn't. But that’s what I can do for you: Whenever you need somepony there, by your side, just being there; whenever the world gets to be too much, that’s when I’ll be there for you.” She leaned in closer, looking deep into his eyes, “You just keep on being stupid and kind for us...and I will always be there for you...”

Sam could only stare at her in awed silence. He opened his mouth, only to realise he had to swallow a lump in his throat. He knew then that anything else that may come was just a formality; he knew from that instant that this was it: She, Lyra, and himself were now bonded.

Bon Bon smiled sweetly and brought her hoof up to cradle his face, the other still gently caressing his thigh, “So tell me: where you come from...what normally happens right here?”

Sam swallowed again, held by her eyes now, “I...ah...I think this is the part where I lose myself to a flash of passion and am overwhelmed by the urge to kiss you.”

Bon Bon stood up onto her hind legs to lean closer across the table, her hoof slipping round to the back of his neck, “Not if I get there first…”

Sam allowed himself to lean closer, their eyes fluttering closed in the instant the mare’s lips touched his. Both felt a surge go through them in that second, like a bolt of lightning comprised of pure lust and love.

They both exhaled hotly against each other as Sam’s arms drew the mare closer, up onto the table. Sam gave a subtle moan of delight as Bon Bon’s tongue took the opportunity at the next parting of lips to probe into his mouth and entwine with his own.

A long, throaty growl of lust reverberated down Sam’s throat as Bon Bon let her well of reserved sexual tension release itself at last. She pulled Sam closer until their chests met, her aggressive kissing not letting up as her tongue mercilessly stroked, suckled and massaged the human’s.

Sam let out a shocked ‘hmm!’ as Bon Bon’s right hoof, which had snaked down under them, suddenly came back to rest on his thigh, only this time the massaging moved quickly upwards until he felt the pad of her hoof cupping at the crotch of his trousers, exploring the shape of the quickly swelling bulge within.

Bon Bon gave out several hot breaths through her nose as she expertly coaxed the thickening member into readying itself under her ministrations, adjusting it against Sam’s leg so it had room to reach it's full length. She wanted him aroused; wanted him to lust uncontrollably for her.

Bon Bon pulled her muzzle away slightly. Thick strands of saliva connected their tongues as they looked at each other through lust-filled eyes.

Sam swallowed audibly, “We...probably should’ve waited for Lyra.”

Bon Bon’s smile widened a fraction, “No need…”

Sam’s brow furrowed, “Meaning whaeep!” and he gasped as he felt something new nuzzle up against his crotch. Lyra poked her head out from under the tablecloth a second later. Her golden eyes gleamed mischievously.

Bon Bon cocked her head, “She was watching the whole time. Little cutie didn’t think I noticed.”

“Hey, I was being stealthy.”

“I could see you peeking through the gap in the curtains,” she replied before returning her attention to Sam and hooking her forehooves once more around his neck, holding him firm, “Now then…” she whispered, holding his gaze once more, “Let’s pick up where we left off, okay?”

And Sam didn’t have time to respond before the earth mare was once more passionately kissing him. He let out a startled yelp as he felt the tip of Lyra’s muzzle brush up and down against the noticeable bulge in his crotch. He flinched when he felt a chill about his thighs, only for Bon Bon to hold him firmer and aggressively suckle his tongue with hers again until he relaxed once more.

His trousers, though appearing to be of the regular formal variety, actually had a band of elastic about the waist as opposed to an actual button and fly. Rarity had commented to Sam that she could perfectly emulate the style, but she insisted on doing away with the fiddly catches and buttons. She'd described them as ‘cruel’ to mares desperate to show their affections.

Sam would’ve glanced nervously over one shoulder to ensure their privacy had Bon Bon not been holding him so firmly. He suddenly felt himself exposed fully to the cold air, and he was painfully conscious of his throbbing arousal now clear and on display.

The chill on his loins didn’t last long as Sam suddenly felt the unmistakable warmth of Lyra’s tongue flick over his taut sac before beginning the almost agonisingly slow journey up the pulsing underside, before finally pausing to swirl about underneath the tip.

Bon Bon let out an appreciative hum as Sam exhaled sharply in pleasure, the earth mare’s eyes were lidded as she observed the proceedings whilst her hoof gently traced up and down the nape of her human’s neck, sending further shivers through his form.

It was taking all of Bon Bon’s restraint not to move her forehooves down to attend to her own searing hot sex as she watched Lyra purse her lips and apply strong pressure to the crown of his member, forcing it to slip between them and vanish into the heat of her muzzle. The earth mare could only imagine the wonderful feeling of that mass filling her mouth, sliding back and forth across her tongue.

Sam’s hips tried to buck forwards despite the grip Lyra had around his waist, and it didn’t help much when Bon Bon suddenly broke the kiss long enough to lean forwards and lick a long trail up the length of his neck, pausing to suck and nibble on his earlobe before fusing her lips to his once more.

Their kissing increased in passion to reflect the increase in mutual pleasure as Sam’s fingertips snaked their way down under Bon Bon’s hind legs and, after a hum of intrigued surprise, began caressing the folds of her sex through the silky film of her lingerie.

With a downward glance, Sam could see that Lyra now had only one foreleg about his waist to balance herself. The other was now buried firmly between her hind legs as she openly pleasured herself. Her ivory and gold dress was bunched up over her flanks for easy access.

Bon Bon’s hips bucked back against Sam’s hand as he finally ceased teasing and allowed his fingertips to snake around the hem of her thong and dip into the twitching lips of her marehood. She whimpered as the sudden separation allowed the juices she’d been fighting to contain to escape freely about the human’s exploring digits and out over the backs of her thighs.

Lyra fought back the urge to gag as her lover’s member swelled suddenly in the depths of her throat several moments later. She held firm however and allowed the muscles of her throat to milk and cox the tip before slipping it back over her tongue, tasting the building juices now leaking freely from it. She flicked her tongue back and forth over the urethra until she felt her human shudder and got rewarded with a fresh flow of pre to coat her tastebuds with. He was getting close, she realized. She had been teasing him all day after all, provoking him with extra sways of her hips and several heated dialogues about her past times with Bon Bon when they’d ‘kept each other company’.

Bon Bon’s breathing was becoming more and more ragged as the digits inside her stroked back and forth. She squeaked out in surprise when his exploring fingertips pressed firmly down onto her g-spot; a place nopony, stallion or otherwise, had ever touched her before. She saw a glint appear in his lidded eyes, and she knew right then that he’d clocked her reaction. He pumped his fingers back and forth a few more times before pausing to press in again, and again. She almost lost it right there.

Bon Bon fought to hold on. She wanted to see his first, to be looking deep into his eyes as he climaxed, before her own caused her to lose focus and miss the look of desperate bliss she loved seeing in the expressions of her lovers.

It was lucky for Bon Bon therefore that there was only so much a man could take of a lover fellating him with senseless abandon before he started getting pushed towards the edge. Lyra had fallen into a pattern to build him up towards his peak by that point: she’d suckle the tip, swirling her tongue about the underside, before drawing the length down her maw and into the depths of her throat to expose it to the clenching and spasming muscles within. On and on this went until he felt himself start to swell up, his sac tightening in preparation to yield to the ministrations of his mare. Lyra felt it too, and she let out a long, low hum of satisfaction, the vibrations sending a current of pleasure up the length of the human’s manhood. Lyra was close too though, increasing the speed of her hoof against her clit, readying to push herself over the edge in time with the human.

Unfortunately for Bon Bon, Sam’s thoughts had been moving on the same tracks hers were. She still wasn’t used to the concept of a male partner who actually took pleasure and satisfaction in getting their mare off at the same time. The fact that her sex had tightened to the point that it was now difficult for Sam to continue caressing her internals showed him just how close the mare was too. He saw Lyra’s hips squirming desperately and he knew she was at the edge also; his fellow musician readying to join the crescendo.

He couldn’t hold out any longer. He had seconds left and he could feel his own hips twitching as his member swelled up with it’s emission. Fighting to keep focus for just a few seconds more, Sam traced his thumb slowly down against the gleaming lips of Bon Bon’s marehood, closing in on the hood at the top. It circled there, just above, not yet making contact.

Bon Bon’s eyes flicked open in shock and fear as she realised just an instant too late what was about to happen, when suddenly his glistening thumb circled over the surface of her engorged clit in time with his fingers starting a firm, back and forth massage over her g-spot.

They locked eyes as the floodgates opened for both of them. A look of desperation was etched into their features as they hugged one another tightly. Bon Bon broke their kiss to scream out in climax, her marehood clamping down on the relentlessly massaging fingers within her as they forced her to release more and more of her fluid whilst Lyra gagged as the first jet of seed was released into the depths of her throat. Her muscles worked in time with the pulsling shaft to ensure it was unable to stop until it was done. She pulled back to allow the next few jets to spray out into her mouth, saturating her senses with the thick, wonderful taste. The sound of the unicorn gulping hungrily was almost audible as her own climax rocked through her small frame.

Bon Bon and Sam slumped forwards a moment later, brow to brow, arms and forelegs wrapped around the other for support as they gasped for air.

“That was…” said Bon Bon a moment later, pausing to gulp for air, “...an experience.”

Sam let out a weak, incredulous chuckle, “That’s one adjective I might use.”

Lyra dragged herself up a moment later too, clambering up onto the seat behind Sam in the process. Bon Bon smiled tiredly as the unicorn climbed up towards her, waving a shaky hoof in beckoning.

Bon Bon chuckled and leaned over Sam’s arm to hook a foreleg about Lyra’s neck, brushing down her slightly matted mane in the process. She certainly didn’t resist and indeed leaned in further to meet the unicorn's searching lips.

Bon Bon let out a shocked yelp that dissolved into a low hum as she found her tongue coated suddenly with the large mouthful of still thick and warm seed that the unicorn had saved for her.

Bon Bon took a deep, lustful breath as she suckled hungrily on the unicorn’s tongue, savouring the mixed taste and swallowing hungrily before reluctantly pulling away a moment later.

Sam was regarding the earth mare when she looked back up at him, “D-did Lyra just…?”

“You taste even better than I thought,” whispered Bon Bon.

“Told ya,” commented Lyra.

Sam blinked, “W-well, I’m glad I’m so...appetising.”

Lyra giggled, “In more ways than one,” she said, and then leaned quickly over to light one of the incense sticks that lay on a tray by the candles.

Sam inhaled a waft of the smoke, only to realise that it had no discernible scent whatsoever, “What’s that for?”

Bon Bon was shuffling back into her seat and adjusting the rear of her dress as she responded, “They’re enchanted to drain away any...scent that might be left behind by the patrons. The floors and furniture too have special coatings to absorb fluid and prevent...ahem...staining.”

Sam cocked an eyebrow up, “They...expect this sort of thing to happen?”

Lyra giggled, “Why do you think Summer Wine looked at us like that when she found out we had a booth booked? This establishment is very well known as a place where new herds like to go to really...get to know each other.”

Sam coughed, trying his best not to think about just what might be going on right at that moment in many of the other isolated tables that he’d noted ringed the outside of the main floor, “Hence the sound blocking spell on the curtains,” he observed.

“Yup,” replied Lyra, looking briefly to Bon Bon “Can you imagine, Bonnie what the noise would be like down here if you could hear everything?”

Bon Bon chuckled, a content look on her face as she curled up on her chair, “I bet I could imagine. I’ve lived with you two long enough, after all.”

Lyra’s already flushed features brightened a little, and she squirmed a bit after settling back into her seat.

There came a light ding from the announcement bell outside the curtain, “Yes?” queried Bon Bon.

Summer Wine entered a second later, and Sam watched carefully as her eyes drifted for an instant to the still lit incense stick. It had barely burned down at all, which meant their mutual scents must still be hanging quite heavily in the air.

The only sign that the serving mare had noticed anything amiss however was in the way she smiled just slightly wryly as she queried, “Have you been enjoying your meal so far?”

Sam was about to respond, but bit back his words just long enough for Bon Bon to respond for him. She was the one escorting him, after all, “The meal was gorgeous. Thank you, Summer Wine.”

“Our compliments to the chef, “ chimed Lyra, her tail swishing happily back and forth behind her.

Summer smiled, “I’ll certainly pass them along. Now then, can I interest you in the desert menu?”

“No thanks,” replied Lyra, “I just had mine.”

“Me too,” said Bon Bon with a smirk, “besides. Got to watch my flanks.”

Only now did Summer Wine smirk openly, “I see,” she said, her eyes flicking between them before settling briefly on Sam for a few seconds. He said nothing, only for the very edge of his mouth to stretch up slightly in response, “You must all be eager to get home then, I suppose.”

Bon Bon’s smile stayed where it was, “Yes...I suppose we are,” she then blinked and looked to Sam, a brief flash of uncertainty crossing her expression, “Aren’t we?”

Sam matched her smirk, already feeling the subtle stirrings once more, “You know, I think an early night may be just what we need.”

Bon Bon broke her stare to look to Summer Wine, “Check please.”

---

The walk back through the humid Ponyville night was blanketed with comfortable silence. No words were needed. The thick aura of anticipation that hung in the air around the three seemed to negate the need for any conversation. Bon Bon was sticking even closer to Sam whilst Lyra walked happily along close to Bon Bon's other side.

A thin veil of restraint allowed them to keep hands and hooves off each other long enough to get home again.

Bon Bon paused in front of them when they finally reached the darkened landing. She glanced back at the pair before wordlessly turning to lead them back to her room, as was traditional considering she was the one intending to bed them and not the other way around.

Sam and Lyra hung back at the threshold as Bon Bon entered and strode up to her bed. She then slipped up and onto it before laying slowly down on her side, letting her dress ride up to expose her flank in the process. The only illumination was from the shaft of moonlight pouring in through the window, which had the effect of casting the cream colored mare into an almost ethereal white glow.

“I’m here for you…” she finally said, her features flushed once more, “...If you’ll have me.”

The next few moments went by in a haze of disrobing and mashed lips as Bon Bon found herself desperately kissing her lovers. She rhythmically switched between Lyra and Sam, giving each time to pause and cast free their clothes whilst the one whose tongue she had in her mouth kept their hands or hooves roaming her form, slipping her own dress off in the process. She became painfully aware of the way her tail was raised behind her, unable to lower thanks to the confines of the lingerie she was wearing.

At some point, Lyra had used her mouth to slip Bon Bon free of her stockings. The unicorn made no move however to unclad her rear, and instead started mewling happily as she nuzzled her covered marehood. The pressure and silky caresses sent bolts of pleasure up her form. The next thing Sam knew, Bon Bon had wrapped her forelegs around his legs and then proceeded to flip him onto his backside, exposing his arousal to her lustful gaze.

Bon Bon leaned in, staring with her mouth slightly ajar. She then glanced up to stare into the blue pools of Sam’s eyes before leaning in and engulfing the tip in her mouth. She found the way his eyes widened in sudden pleasure and he bit his lip to be extremely satisfying.

Bon Bon held him firm and still as she began sucking wantonly on his erect sex, revelling in the feeling of control she had in that instant. She was tempted to keep going; to fellate him until he had no other choice but to fill her maw directly with his rich seed. She reigned in that temptation however, pulling back a moment later to stare up at him with a silent, almost nervous request in her eyes.

“Now?” He asked quietly.

Bon Bon nodded and then shuffled back to turn about. Lyra took the hint and moved to one side. The earth mare paused alongside the unicorn and cradled her face in one forehoof. The mares leaned into one another, tongues meeting as their lips became sealed together once more.

Bon Bon braced her hind legs in the meanwhile, wiggling her rump back invitingly until she felt the pressure from the underside of Sam’s arousal press into her through the silk of her thong. She let their mutual arousal build as she rubbed herself slowly up and down against him, shivering as the swollen tip nudged her engorged clit through the silk, all the while she kissed Lyra with more and more heated passion, roaming her form with her hooves, teasing at her engorged nipples and the base of her horn.

Bon Bon wanted Sam to finish disrobing her, and the earth pony let out a hum of satisfaction when she felt him grip her thong in his hands. To her surprise though, all she felt him do instead was tug the material and pull it aside slightly, just enough to expose her whilst still technically leaving her partly clothed. The added strain on the fabric tugged her tail higher and squeezed even firmer about the base.

“I didn’t know you wore things like this…” said Sam quietly.

Bon Bon whimpered as she felt him tease the bulbous head of his member up and down her glistening outer lips, which she could feel were winking repeatedly by that point, “I...I’ve never worn anything like this before. A-are you sure you wouldn’t like to take- eek!” Bon Bon squeaked in surprise as she suddenly felt him apply pressure to her taut marehood, the thick head pressing inwards. She wanted to look nervously back, only for Lyra to hug her arms about her and hush her gently.

Bon Bon bit her bottom lip as she felt her nether lips get forced apart by the intruder, aided in it’s penetration by her own saliva. She whimpered still as her marehood inevitably yielded in full and she felt the head slip through her slick inner lips, which then quickly sealed themselves about the head of her lover’s member, securing him within her and leaving her with no other resistance now to stop the thickness of his sex as it began sliding into her depths.

The earth mare gritted her teeth slightly as her inner walls expanded and spasmed about the head of the manhood within her. She found herself being stretched to the brim, the sensation stopping just perfectly short of it actually being uncomfortable.

“Are you okay, Bon Bon?” Came Sam’s voice from up behind her. His palm was gently stroking her rump, the other caressing her back for reassurance.

Bon Bon nodded sharply, finding it hard to formulate a thought with the sensation of being so filled occupying every corner of her mind, “Ngh, th-that’s...it’s...fine...g-goddess I didn’t know it could feel so big.” she panted, looking up to Lyra with lidded eyes, “How did you take it so easily the first time?”

Lyra chuckled, blushing at the memory, “I was in heat at the time, remember? You know how it is when you’re like that.”

Sam found himself agreeing with Bon Bon. To say she was a snug fit would have been an understatement. The earth mare’s naturally muscular thighs and fuller rump left her feeling that much tighter about him, and Bon Bon let out a shocked gasp of pleasure when he finally yielded to the urge to start slowly thrusting in and out of her.

Bon Bon trembled and grunted as her rapidly lubricating sex quivered about the intruder when it began relentlessly slipping in and out of her. Her powerful inner muscles vainly tried to force out the girth within her, only for it to slide free of it’s own accord before spreading her open again once more. It didn’t help that the angle and size of the member within her was relentlessly stroking off against her g-spot also with every stroke.

Bon Bon, through her lust, finally turned her attention back to Lyra several moments later, rolling the unprepared unicorn quickly over onto her back against the pillows.

Lyra gave out a questioning, “Huh?” as she found herself sprawled out in surprise, but further words were stolen from her as Bon Bon swiftly dipped her head down between her upturned hind legs and wasted no time in sealing her lips about the unicorn’s visibly aroused sex. Lyra would have bucked her hips had Bon Bon’s grip not been so firm when she suddenly felt her long time friend’s tongue part her nether lips and force its way inside.

Lyra squirmed and gasped as Bon Bon's tongue snaked about her insides, scooping up and tasting her copious amounts of fluids while the earth mare’s nose repeatedly rubbed her engorged clit, “Oh, Bonnie...oh sweet Celestia I’ve missed being with you like this!”

Bon Bon would've vocalised her agreement had her voice not been reduced to little more than moans and gasps by that point. The member within her had already forced her to two relentless orgasms and a third much bigger one was on the horizon and closing fast. This time she wanted Lyra there right along with her. And as lubricated as she was, she couldn’t help but groan loudly into Lyra’s sex as she felt Sam swell up within her, stretching her to the limit.

“You almost there, Sammy?” gasped Lyra from above Bon Bon, her chest heaving as the earth mare’s tongue relentlessly worked her higher, “You going to cum for Bonnie now?”

Sam’s only response was a strained hum of agreement, too focused he was now on his task. He was holding out as it was, and he didn’t want this to end without Lyra getting off once and Bon Bon getting what he would class as a ‘big finish’.

Lyra’s moaning grew louder, as did her vocal tirade, “Give it to her, Sam…! Make her your mare now!” she whimpered then, her forehooves gripping her chest, “Oh, right there...So...uh...close!”

Bon Bon let out a muffled squeal of agreement. She was seconds away and she could feel Sam starting to twitch within her. Her marehood was milking him for all it was worth, desperately trying to trigger an orgasm and so get flooded with the essence it craved. The earth mare slipped her tongue free of Lyra’s quivering sex and then switched to coiling it around her teased, and now visibly swollen clit, suckling the hood back and forth rapidly over it in the process.

Lyra let out a shriek of surprise as she was forced over the edge, and Bon Bon closed her mouth over her mound again just in time to get a mouthful of the unicorn’s sweet ejaculate as she climaxed against her. Bon Bon then forced her tongue back in, allowing the gushes of lubricant to coat her tastebuds as she swallowed hungrily while also forcing the unicorn to ride out her orgasm for as long as possible under the extra stimulation.

Sam gripped hold of Bon Bon’s shoulders for leverage and buried himself in as deeply as possible with his next thrust. The sight of Lyra losing herself so completely was far more than he could take as his member twitched once as it swelled up with his essence. The next pulse ejaculated a thick jet of his seed deep into the earth mare’s suckling depths.

Bon Bon arched her back and let out a shuddering cry as she felt the first blast of hot semen coat her insides, and even through his orgasm Sam didn’t stop moving within her. She felt his thrusts become more and more slick with each pulse of semen as it shot out to coat her womb. Meanwhile, her marehood was doing it’s very best to milk him dry and coax him for every last drop he had. Time seemed to stand still, and their mutual climax felt drawn out for a sweet, blissful eternity. Bon Bon wasn’t sure at what point Lyra had leaned down to thrust her tongue back into her mouth, but she wasn’t about to object.

---

A little while later, Bon Bon was kissing her human lover in a daze, propped up in his lap with her forehooves draped around his neck, savouring the feel of his semi-hard member still snug within her.

“Was that okay?” whispered Sam after an indeterminate amount of time, his fingers idly drifting through her mane.

Bon Bon just stared back into his eyes and smiled. Nodding once. She actually felt 'okay' to be an insult to how she felt right then, but she was far too content to speak. Her eyes then drifted down to Lyra, who was curled up happily around them and already snoozing off into dreamland.

“Thank you…” she finally opted to whisper, humming happily as she felt him swell briefly under her occasional shifting and gentle massages.

Sam smiled, “What for?”

“For letting me in.”

Sam cocked his head, “Into what?”

“Into your herd, silly.”

Sam blinked, “Is that what we are now?”

“Yup.” came Lyra’s voice, not opting to open her eyes, though her tail did swish back and forth briefly at the thought, and she gave a dreamy sigh of, “herd now..." before drifting off again.

“Yes,” sighed Bon Bon, briefly glancing at the unicorn and back, “That’s what we are.”

Sam shook his head and nuzzled her briefly, “If that’s the case...it’s not like you need to thank me for ‘letting you in’.”

Bon Bon titled her head curiously, “What do you mean?”

Sam responded by gently stroking her mane again and adjusting his hips to softly thrust back up into her, eliciting a silent gasp from the mare, “Because you were already in...I guess it just took you to show it to us.” He leaned in then to join his lips again to hers briefly before pulling back, “Thank you, Bon Bon…”

Bon Bon felt her eyes moisten up slightly and she leaned in to kiss him back, “Then I guess you’re welcome…”

“May I be permitted to show you my gratitude?” he murmured.

Bon Bon’s deepening breaths tuned to light gasps as they to slowly and quietly began to make love once more, “I sense that it’s going to be a long night…”

The end…for real this time...

---

The First Gentleman (A Gentlemen for Mares Tale)

by BetaShade

Chapter 1: Proposition

Chapter 2: The Observer

Chapter 3: Dousing the Flame

Chapter 4: Moriarty

Chapter 5: [Bonus Chapter 1] Bon Bon

Chapter 6: [Bonus Chapter 2] Lyra

Chapter 7: [Bonus Chapter 3] Sam

Chapter 8: [Bonus Chapter 4] Herd