His face turns bright red, sputtering from the sudden question. “R-Rainbow!”
“Me?” She grins cheekily, tapping his beak, now. “Awesome! I get to be first!”
"He didn't say that!" Twilight objects, blushing as the others turn to her.
Rainbow snickers, playfully winking at her friend. “Gotcha.”
Flick is now slightly confused, and the blue pony picks up on this. She smirks and points to her unicorn friend, seeing another opportunity to prank someone. “She wants first, too.”
"I... I... what!" Twilight feels her whole face warm as she tries to salvage control of the conversation back.
Flick gently touches a talon to her lips, flashing her a warm smile before he turns back to Rainbow. “No one is calling first anything. I’m going to spend time with you girls, and whatever happens, happens. If it means I’m teasing Silky behind her counter while she works, or giving Twilight a massage, I’ll be up for it.” He taps the weathermare’s nose. “You still need to ask Jackie if you can be included, anyways.”
Rainbow flies out of the barn before the last word is finished, and with a wave of his talon the door closes once more.
There's a quiet husky whisper from his side opposite the unicorn, right in his ear. "Promise?"
He looks to Silk and nods, smiling. “Absolutely... of course, I’ve already given Jackie a few massages, but that’s because she was tense from farm work...” He reaches over and rubs Twilight’s neck as an example.
Her tail flicks as she starts before relaxing.
The griffon considers her for a moment before looking to Silk. “You wouldn’t mind if I massaged her here, would you? She seems a little tense.”
"Hmm... I don't have any objections." She waves a wing.
He nods and stands up, placing a gentle claw on Twilight’s back, silently asking her to stay laying down. “So I’ve been told to avoid the dock, and Silk’s wings are sensitive... anything I should know before I start, Twily?”
She gulps. "No horn, please."
He nods and moves over her, standing above her back as his blunt talons begin kneading into her shoulders.
She shivers. "Never had one of these before..."
"You'll like it." Silk says simply.
He nuzzles her cheek, pausing to whisper in her ear. “If I’m ever too forceful, let me know and I’ll ease up.” He slowly works down her forelegs as he awaits a response.
"Isn't it supposed to be?" She asks.
He chuckles quietly. “I meant in all things, Twily.” He pauses to work a knot out of her foreleg. “Do you use this hoof for anything in particular?”
"... running into the coffee table." She admits.
He stares blankly for a second. “...I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting that.” He shrugs and grips it with his claw, rubbing up and down along it. His chest presses into her back, unable to completely keep balance with three points of contact with the floor.
As she sees the unicorn's face go even redder, Silk smirks. "You're likely to make her pass out at this rate, hun."
“Huh?” Flick looks to her, switching claws so he can get the other foreleg. “Was it a sensitive spot?”
"I think it's more positioning." She lays one of her forehooves on top of the other, going the same direction, to demonstrate.
He pulls away from Twilight, looking at said hooves for a half-second. “...wait, how was I dry-humping her? My back half never came close to making contact. I made sure of that.”
Twilight is actually the one who answers. "Ponies have an instinctual reaction to pressure of a male chest on their back. You weren't doing anything more, but it still felt... embarrassing."
He looks to her once more, leaning into her shoulders now with his claws to work out the kinks. “Instinctual reaction? What do you mean by that?”
She blushes more, burying her face in the ground.
"Hun, it’s halfway to being mounted."
“...see, I didn’t know that.” He quickly moves to her side and kneads her back muscles, blushing brightly.
Twilight lets out a slow breath as color comes back to her face. "That raises an obvious question, but I'll just say 'social differences'..."
“...I’ll be honest, I mostly kept to myself.” He traces her spine idly, stopping to work on a couple spots on each side. “Do you lean over a lot while sitting?”
"...yes..." She admits. "I don't have good reading posture."
“We should work on that after this.” He nods and works lower, nearing her hips as he gets more and more knots out of her muscles. “...you’re really soft, by the way. I like it, it makes you unique, like Applejack and Silk.” His tail tickles the thestral’s nose as he thinks about her.
She grins before gently reaching out and gripping his tail in her teeth.
His claws grip those stars, digging a bit into her rump from the shiver that goes up his spine.
"Yeep!" Twilight squeaks, trying to back away while Silk quickly lets go with a giggle.
Flick lets go as well, his whole face red. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
She stands up... and promptly falls over. "Ah! You made my legs too shaky!"
He grimaces, carefully picking her up. “Here, let me...” He places her on his back, nodding to himself. “There... you can stay up there until you can walk properly again.”
"I'm feeling so many different things right now." She says quietly.
“Are they good or bad?” He looks to Silk. “You want to join us for lunch? Twily’s picking the place and I’m paying.”
"Sounds fun." She comes over, nuzzling his beak.
He chuckles and pats her head. “Alright. Where are we heading?” He looks to the unicorn, touching her nose to his beak.
"Maybe I can walk now..." She weakly says.
“Nonsense, your legs are still trembling. I can feel them against my own.”
"They don't feel bad... just not stable."
“Then I’ll carry you.” He nods, as though that was enough to give a decisive answer.
"But I'm a grown mare..." She whines.
“I’d carry Celestia if she couldn’t walk and I was the only one around.” He looks to the ceiling. “I’d prefer to carry one of you girls, though. I like being helpful.”
She doesn't say anything more, but wrap her forelegs around his neck in a hug.
He smiles and nuzzles her cheek. “So where are we headed, Twily?”
"Umm... I heard about this little diner in town." She motions ahead.
“Sounds delightful.” He smiles and heads out of the barn, nearly bumping into it when it doesn’t open at first. “...right, this one is stuck...” He moves a bit to the side and opens the door beside it.
"Should we let your boss know?" Silk muses as she trots beside him.
“I’ll fix it later so she won’t have to know about it,” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t want to cause her more stress.”
"Not what I meant, but alright."
"Can I try walking again when we get to town?" Twilight asks.
“If you feel confident enough by then.” He glances up to see Rainbow heading his way. “Oh hey, she’s back.”
The mare lands and points at his face. “She said I have to beat her in a competition. Shouldn’t be hard, but she said she wasn’t going to interrupt her harvest for it. Might end up being in the fall.”
“...I’m gonna pretend you said she had to plan it out,” Flick mutters, shaking his head.
"Why? It sounds reasonable." Twilight says.
“I don’t like the idea of Jackie being unable to do anything but harvest,” Flick responds, the four of them continuing down the dirt path.
"But it's her job." Silk says. "It's not like it's every day, just a certain time of year."
“...I guess I’m just being selfish, then,” he says, looking down at the ground.
“You know I’m always available for fun stuff,” Rainbow says, leaning up against his side.
"True... maybe you can do some of that with Applejack so she doesn't overwork herself." Twilight replies, slightly oblivious.
“...I’ll see about doing it tomorrow.” He reaches back to pat her side as they enter town. “I have reading to do with you, today.”
"Right, yes! And... maybe more questions?" She asks pleadingly.
He laughs brightly, ruffling her mane. “Yes, of course. Maybe I can get more personal if only one pony is listening...” He trails off meaningfully.
Silk pouts. "I don't think I've been particularly probing."
He looks to the thestral, kisses her cheek, and continues the walk, garnering looks from the townsfolk. “You can ask one question while we eat. With your hearing, I can make sure only you know the answer.”
"Hmm... I'll make sure to make it count."
“Alrighty.” He waves to Rarity as they pass her boutique, and she slowly waves back, curious about him carrying Twilight.
The lavender unicorn blushes, hiding her face. "Can I get down?"
He stops, lowering himself to lay on his belly and nuzzle under her chin. “Of course, Twily.”
"Thank you." She says quietly, stepping off him.
Rainbow watches her friend for a moment, poking her shoulder when she gets close enough. “Something up?”
They hear a squawk, and see Flick covering his eyes. “Silky, please control your tail!”
"Sorry hun, was meant to be just a tickle!" She says, turning and helping him up.
He pulls his claw away to reveal a light red mark over one eye. “...maybe I should’ve stood up sooner to avoid this...”
Rainbow gives Silk a pointed stare.
She actually folds her ears back, leaning up and kissing the mark.
For a moment, he just stands there in stunned silence. A swath of pink slowly forms across his face as what she just did dawns on him, a talon tracing where her lips touched.
She giggles. "Better?"
“I think so... how about another, to make sure?” He gives her a playful smile, but the teasing is interrupted when Twilight suddenly stumbles forward and lands lips-to-beak against him.
“Whoops,” Rainbow drones, setting her wing back against her side, “I tripped.”
Silk snorts, glaring at the pegasus while the unicorn squeaks and stands up, apologizing.
He gently takes her cheeks, looking into her eyes. “Twily, you don’t need to apologize. That was entirely Rainbow’s doing... and I’m not gonna lie, I kinda enjoyed it. Plus, it helped, just like Silk’s did.” He closes his eye, gesturing to the lack of a mark he now has. “See? It’s... it’s gone.”
Rainbow shrugs. “As long as she helped, right?”
"But... wait... how did it?" She looks closer. "Was it just discoloration?"
“No, she got me good.” He smirks as he idly brushes her mane back into place. “Signs of affection make me better.”
"... that sounds like a pickup line." She says quietly.
His brow furrows. “It does? How? It’s the truth.”
"I wonder if that's part of your magic..." She looks down, thoughtful.
“We could always try to find out later.” Rainbow points at his still-injured wing. “See how much it takes to heal that.”
"True.. it would make for a good experiment." Twilight nods.
Flick raises an eyebrow at her. “You do realize what that will entail, right?”
"Huh?" She looks at him innocently. "Control, theory, and testing?"
He stares at her face for a bit, then sighs and gently pats her head. “...you know what, let’s leave the details for after our reading time.”
Rainbow’s muzzle scrunches up at this, and she tries to get them going again. “So, where are we going, Twi?”
"It's right over there..." She points to a small diner with a couple tables outside.
“Right, let’s go.” She hurries behind Silk and starts pushing her that direction.
"Alright alright, I'm going!"
Flick watches them leave for a second, then gently drapes his wing over Twilight’s back as they follow.
She smiles, but does not remove it as they go.