The couch was surprisingly comfortable all things considered. Bucky awoke, his mind full of the hazy recollections of the night before. The bean curd and spout dinner had been spicy, but he had enjoyed himself, social consequences and all. The wine had been fantastic, even though he had always been a beer drinker, more or less.
He had stayed late, having a wonderful time, and Derpy and Berry had invited him to stay. Derpy had reasoned that they could all sleep in the same bed without any funny business, but Bucky had balked at the idea. Berry had been drinking, and was full of funny business.
The simple truth was, Bucky had never been with a mare. Or a filly when he had been a colt. Or anypony for that matter. There had been a few awkward kisses at various social mixers and dances and that was it. Derpy was a mother, which means she had been with at least one pony. Bucky had no doubts about Berry’s status. He lived with a real fear of disappointing both of them. This was troubling, as he didn’t really have anypony he could talk to, and he certainly wasn’t about to go to Celestia about this.
Not unless he absolutely had to.
The very thought of him doing so caused Bucky to cringe, feeling horrible pangs of embarrassment, playing the scenario out in his brain. Celestia and that knowing smile of hers, looking at him, patiently explaining the birds and bees. Nope. He knew about birds, he knew about bees, he had an understanding about how it worked, he just didn’t have it in him to face up to the painful shame and humiliation of that bound to be awkward first time.
The dawn brought a distinct feeling of calm, the birdsong happy and soothing.
There was a rapping at the door and female voice shouting “hello” could be heard as the knocking continued. Bucky heard thumps upstairs. Ponies were waking.
Bucky rolled from the couch, landed on his hooves, and moved to answer the door. Somepony was certainly knocking at an early hour. Bucky crossed the immaculately clean living room, stood at the door, and opened it slowly, ready for anything.
Cheerilee stood at the door, peering at Bucky with a faint smile, her eyes wide and bright. “Hi there,” she greeted. “I wanted to come by before school starts. I needed to speak to you and Miss Hooves. I know she heads off to work early.”
“Me?” asked Bucky, blinking a few times, still trying to clear the sleepy from his head. Cheerilee was a morning pony. Bucky didn’t much care for morning ponies.
“Yes, you,” answered Cheerilee, “I wanted to thank you for the other day. Keeping Dinky safe.”
“I destroyed the slide,” Bucky said sheepishly.
“I know, that’s alright, we’ll be getting a new one,” Cheerilee said cheerfully. “And Celestia plans to deduct the cost of the slide from your salary.”
“Wait, how do you know about that?” Bucky demanded, concern creeping into his voice. Derpy had come down the stairs, and now stood beside him, he felt her snoot pressing into his side briefly.
“I’ve had some messages delivered explaining the situation and I’ve been in contact with Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight Sparkle. We’ve discussed the situation, we all want Dinky back in school as soon as you both feel comfortable with allowing her return, on the condition that Bucky attends the school as well, to both monitor Dinky and to possibly assist with a little magical instruction for the other little unicorn foals in class,” Cheerilee said, still smiling, still impossibly cheerful for this hour of the morning. “Princess Celestia agrees with my assertions that you deserve a higher pay grade, being an educator of any stripe is tough, but she wants greater returns for her financial investment. Also, Mister Rich is matching her bit for bit. He also expresses an interest in magical education.”
“Dinky can go back to school?” Derpy said, blinking her eyes slowly, still only half awake. She smacked her lips a few times, obviously a bit hung over.
“As long as the conditions are met, yes,” Cheerilee replied.
“I want Dinky to have a normal foalhood… Bucky, I really, really want this, but I don’t want you to feel obligated. You can continue to tutor Dinky at home,” Derpy said.
Bucky felt Derpy pressing up against him, leaning on him, her wing now resting on his withers. She was warm and soft, her pelt and mane still messed up from being in bed. She still had lingering traces of the perfume from the night before. It fogged his mind, leaving him feeling a bit confused and light headed, making it a little hard to think.
“I suppose we can try it and see how it goes,” Bucky said. “However, a one room schoolhouse is not the place for real magical instruction. There can be accidents. Problems. The other students might be at risk.”
“Oh, I know, trust me,” Cheerilee said exuberantly. “We’re working on a solution,” she added.
“Oh?” questioned Bucky, raising an eyebrow.
“Nothing confirmed yet, but great minds are meeting together and one investor is willing to throw money at the problem until it is no longer a problem,” Cheerilee chirped, grating on Bucky’s troubled morning nerves.
“I suppose I can teach a few minor cantrips and mostly just stick to basic magical theory, which is all lecture and no spellcraft,” Bucky said, thinking his thoughts out loud. “I take it Mister Rich is that investor?”
Cheerilee nodded, bouncing in place, looking very pleased with herself.
“Miss Cheerilee, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but there are things to do this morning, especially if I am going to send Dinky off to school,” Derpy said, her voice wavering with unbridled happiness and an odd heavy breathing.
The smell of perfume was almost cloying in the air.
“I understand, and I must also prepare for the day,” replied Cheerilee, turning to leave, her smile broad and bright.
Derpy, unable to contain herself any longer, pulled Bucky in and slammed the door.
A second later, Bucky found himself thrown to the floor and pinned by the much stronger pegasus. “You keep looking after my foal,” she said breathlessly, planting a wet smooch on his lips. “You just keep doing all of the right things,” she murmured, now kissing him with more traditional pegasi violence, forcing his lips open and invading with her tongue, the tip of it briefly flicking over the roof of his mouth.
Bucky squirmed, his own breath completely stolen away, and he found he was quite powerless to resist the pegasus’ affections. His head slammed painfully into the floor as she pressed her advantage for another kiss, her forelegs wrapped painfully tight around his body, pinning his own forelegs to his sides, the joints crackling and popping.
For a brief moment, Bucky wondered if he could physically survive the overly affectionate pegasus, as his head was being ground into the floor as she kissed him, her powerful suction actually forcing his tongue from his own mouth, and he had no idea what was going on in the complicated oral interactions taking place.
But he liked it.
After several minutes of abusing the poor defenseless unicorn, Derpy rose to her hooves, wobbling unsteadily, her wings half flared, and she staggered off towards the stairs. “Whew!” she shouted, fanning herself with a somewhat stiffened wing. “I am going to go tell Dinky the good news,” she said, now going up the stairs.
Battered Bucky continued to lay on the floor, his barrel heaving, fearing for his life. He didn’t speak pegasus, but it wasn’t hard to figure out the meaning of what Derpy was communicating.
A terrifying thought occurred to Bucky. There was two of them. Both of them a great deal stronger than he was. He sniffed, sniffed again, and then noticed that Derpy’s perfume had been left behind all over his pelt. His lips felt waxy and oily, and his tongue felt numb and peculiar.
“Ow,” Bucky groaned, trying to get up on his hooves, his whole body aching. “Oh bother,” he hissed, his shoulder popping painfully as he placed weight on his front leg.
He needed a shower. He peered at the stairs, knowing that he was welcomed to shower here if he needed one. He took a deep shuddering breath, feeling more than a little aroused, and silently made note to continue to look after Derpy and Berry’s foals. He took a few cautious steps towards the stairs, his mind flashing memories of the torrid tongue probing kiss.
The shower was hot and soothed his battered body. Bucky stood under the shower head, his eyes closed, his mind wandering. He didn’t mind following Dinky to school. Bucky took a deep breath and inhaled the steam. The shower was in the second bathroom upstairs, the other had a tub.
Bucky’s shower was suddenly interrupted by a plum coloured mare shoving her way into the now crowded shower stall, pressing up against him, smiling broadly.
“Hi Bucky, howdja sleep?” Berry asked.
“Berry!” Bucky shouted.
“Not so loud,” Berry said, leaning up against him and rubbing, causing suds to lather from Bucky’s soapy hide.
“Privacy?” Bucky asked.
“Oh come on, we don’t wear any clothes, not like minotaurs do. How is this any different than standing outside together in a rainstorm?” Berry replied with her own question.
“I uh, well, this is awkward, and uh…” he trailed off, his voice dying.
“I needed a quick shower, I woke up feeling a little… sticky thinking about you tickling me last night, and wondering what other things you might be able to do with your magic,” Berry confessed, causing Bucky to stammer and splutter as he stood beside her under the shower head. “And then Derpy told me about Cheerilee’s visit and how sweet you were,” Berry continued. “And you really need to relax Bucky. This isn’t that awkward, but I could make it awkward if you would like,” Berry offered.
“More awkward?” Bucky replied in a terrified voice.
“Well, there would be a lot more room in here if we were stacked atop one another,” Berry explained, yawning.
“No no no,” Bucky said, trying to get away and finding no room. Berry was blocking the exit. Bucky considered a quick wink, teleporting would fix this problem,
“Bucky, look, I know you’ve never been with a mare before. So stop worrying so much. Just allow these little interactions to happen. Derpy and I aren’t going to molest you too much, but we are going to batter down your defenses slowly until you trust us. And then we are going to molest you. A lot,” Berry said, having turned around awkwardly and was now rubbing her other side up against Bucky to get it soapy.
Bucky froze. Any magic he was about to summon was now completely gone.
Berry nuzzled his neck gently, her body wet and warm against his. “It breaks my heart that you’ve been so neglected,” she said, all traces of her teasing tones gone. “You shy away from contact, you flinch when touched, you cringe sometimes when you see other ponies touching, and you live under constant fear of embarrassment. Even if it isn’t intimate sexy type contact, just simple pony on pony contact, you hold back. It hurts me to watch it. Herd interactions require regular contact. We were never meant to be individuals dear Bucky. We are a social animal.”
Bucky swallowed, gritted his teeth, and lifted the bottle of liquid soap slowly with his magic, straining to perform the simple act of levitation. He tilted the bottle over Berry’s back, squeezed, and then cringed painfully as the bottle made a terrible flatulent sound that echoed in the shower stall as it was squeezed.
“Ooh that’s cold!” Berry gasped, arching her back and prancing in place, her hooves clattering on the tile. “Cold cold cold! Cold soap!”
“I don’t always know how to act around other ponies,” Bucky confessed, using his magic to lift up a scrub brush. He went to work scrubbing, almost feeling as though he was going to throw up at any moment.
“Rough being a type three, I guess,” Berry said.
“That’s part of it. Magic is so strongly tied to emotion,” Bucky admitted.
“So I guess it is easier to deal with objects that have no emotions, like telescopes and books,” Berry answered.
“Yeah,” Bucky said, still scrubbing.
“Speaking as a numbskull to a snob, you have to know something important. I am stubborn, and you can’t out stubborn an earth pony. I am going to make you feel emotion even if it kills us both. I am going to wear you down, batter down your defenses, and I will get to know you, the you deep down inside, the one you keep hidden away, safe and secure in your little mental fortress,” Berry turned to look at Bucky as she spoke, her eyes wide, her mane wet and clinging to her shapely neck. “I will drag you back into the herd kicking and screaming if I have to, and I have help. I understand the need for caution, I understand that you must remain ever vigilant to hold back what could harm us all, but you don’t have to do it alone. It isn’t fair to you.”
Bucky nodded, now moving invisible forces to scrub Berry’s neck. She raised her neck, tilting her head, her eyes wide with pleasure as something she could not see washed her mane.
“Oh that has to be the best feeling ever,” she gasped, her eyes now closing. “Channel your magic doing this all day, I’ll sacrifice myself for the greater good,” Berry offered.
Bucky laughed, a nervous laugh.
His laughter was cut short by another pair of lips pressing into his own, the hot water running rivulets around two mouths pressed together. Berry nibbled on his lip, biting down and pulling away his lower lip away from his teeth, stretching it out before letting it go, opening her eyes and looking into his as she did so.
“See, just a friendly shower, nothing to worry about,” she said in reassuring tones.
“So, uh, after I went to bed on the couch last night, did uh, you and Derpy, well, you know, get to know one another?” Bucky asked.
“No, well, there was a little kissing, and maybe bit a more spooning than usual, but she and I agreed that nopony is doing anything to anypony until we are all in a place we can take that first big step in our relationship together. Just come to us when you are ready Bucky. It really is that simple,” Berry said, punctuating her words with a gentle peck on the cheek.
Both of them stood, allowing the water to rinse soap from their coats. Berry resumed her teasing mood, picking up the shower brush in hoof and giving more delicate parts of her anatomy a good scrubbing.
“I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to scrub these hard to reach places,” she said, sticking her tongue out.