To my friend, Celestia,
Today, I witnessed a powerful act of forgiveness and it has left me humbled. I am still in awe of what I have witnessed, I will try to write more about it later when I get the chance. Against my own better judgment, I took Dinky Doo to the hospital to visit Diamond Tiara. I worried a great deal over what might happen, I never expected the outcome I witnessed.
I am humbled by my student.
Dinky and Piña both forgave Diamond Tiara, and then spent some time comforting her. When we left the hospital today, Dinky and Piña both promised to return and visit. I think I witnessed the first moments of a new friendship.
I am more than willing to pay for the slide, Miss Cheerilee told me about the salary deduction, I suppose I should be responsible. I am willing to teach a little magic to Dinky’s fellow students, but not inside of the schoolhouse, for reasons I am sure you know.
I wish I could write more, but I am jotting this down as I am walking with Berry to her brewery. This afternoon, I am going to help her brew beer and get to know her better. Dinky is coming with us, I think I might have a chance to give Dinky a practical lesson about the use of magic in day to day tasks.
Berry wants to talk to you about opening a magic school in Ponyville, you should listen to her. Oh look, a mailbox!
Your friend, Buckminster.
The brewery smelled fantastic. After the emotional events at the hospital, it was good to have a release. Derpy sat with the two foals as Berry showed Bucky what to do with everything on a large scale.
Ahead of them lay alchemy; barley, malt, water, yeast, and hops. A little molasses, some honey, and a few other extracts also lay ready. Bucky tensed, feeling excited, feeling an odd tingle in his backside where his cutie marks were.
“Okay, the water is hot, those ingredients on the table in the burlap bags all need to go into the mash tun, a little at a time, while the mash tun is stirred ever so often, it is a slow careful process that takes a lot of work!” Berry shouted over the roar of the flames heating the water tank.
The mash tun was enormous. The size of a small swimming pool. A flight of stairs stood beside it. Berry stood at the table, and began to pull a bag upon her back, struggling to pull the corner edge of the bag with her teeth. The bag weighed forty pounds, and there were many bags.
Bucky laughed, Berry was doing this the hard way.
Grinning a manic grin, Bucky extended his will, pulling the bag free from Berry, who looked quite surprised. He lifted the other bags on the table, hoisting all of them effortlessly, he also began to power the large wooden paddle that stirred the grains and ingredients going into the mash tun. With a toss of his head, he threw open the spigot, sending boiling water into the mash tun.
Berry began to head for the stairs, she had one hoof placed on the bottom stair when Bucky lifted her as well, sending her flying through the air, giving her an airborne view so she could supervise.
“Bucky! I am an earth pony! Put me down this instant, my hooves belong on the gro-oh oh OH NO NO NO HAHAHAHAH! STOP TICKLING ME YOU HORSESHOE HEAD!” Berry cried as she whirled through the air with everything else, held aloft in swirling vortex.
Piña Colada clapped her hooves as she watched her sister flying through the room, Berry guffawing riotously. Dinky sat in awe, understanding that she could probably do this someday. Derpy sat back and enjoyed the show. Berry had it coming. She was a tickle tease.
Bucky also began to rise as gravity’s hold upon the room relaxed just a little, he hovered, now focused in the center of everything, in the calm of the swirling magic storm, ripping open the bags and floating each grain individually, making them dance and form shapes, each grain flowing through the air like liquid.
“We need to create the cereal mash!” Berry cried, still giggling, rubbing her forehooves over her body, trying to be rid of the invisible forces tickling her as she flew. Invisible feathers were creeping up her inner thighs, working into very intimate places. Bucky was so going to pay for this later. Even worse, the invisible feathers stopped at a certain point, leaving Berry horribly frustrated and teased. She resolved to have a word with Derpy about revenge as a team effort.
“I wanna see!” Dinky cried, moving forward from her mother.
With a careful jerk, Dinky Doo rose up into the air as well, now joining the swirling masses, her eyes wide as her mane and tail streamed out behind her as she soared through the air. “I’m flying!” she cried.
“Not me!” Piña cried, pressing herself into Derpy. “Nuh-huh!”
The barley began to slowly stream into the mash tun, being stirred, more boiling water being added, everything meeting Berry Punch’s approval as she circled over the steaming vat. “This has to soak for about thirty to fifty hours!” she cried as she whirled through the air. Bucky had done in just a few minutes what would have taken her hours to do alone or even with some help from her fellow earth ponies or Derpy. Berry was impressed.
And flustered. All the tickling filled the air with fragrant perfume that blended with the scents of malt barley and burning wood, filling the room with a scent that Bucky found most pleasing.
“After this has cooked, we do the lautering process, and then it goes into the big copper kettle so the wort can boil, we add the molasses, honey, and a few other ingredients, secret stuff,” Berry said as she flew around the room, watching everything slowly go into the mash tun and become blended with near perfection. “And hops!” she added, breathless, and feeling like she needed to pee.
“No more!” she begged. “I need to go to the little filly’s room!”
Bucky gently set her down with a final tickle just above her dock, which made her hind legs wobble. Berry bleated, making an almost sheep-like noise, and then took off running for the little filly’s room.
“This is neat!” Dinky cried, still floating.
“All this work done in minutes,” Derpy said in awe, her eyes wide and her face full of wonder. “I’ve helped Berry do this before, flying bags up to her at the top of the stairs while she pours them in. It is exhausting work.
“I’ve probably burned thousands and thousands of mana-calories doing this, if I don’t eat a big meal soonish, I’m going to have some problems. It takes a lot of food to power a unicorn for even a small amount of time,” Bucky said, looking at Dinky meaningfully as he did so, gently lowering them both to the ground. “Magic comes at the cost of burning up energy reserves in the body. Higher functioning unicorns, type twos and higher, have to eat a lot of food to keep their magic going, we require a lot of starches, grains, sugars, and carbohydrates to keep functioning. We can out-eat hungry earth ponies and pegasi after an intense bit of spell casting. As we eat food, energies channeled by our horns convert the food in our stomachs into magical energies to replenish our reserves, before our bodies have a chance to digest it into fuel for the body. So after intense spell casting, we have to keep eating and eating, waiting for the feeling of food actually staying in our bellies. Otherwise, we can starve to death even with what seems to be plentiful food. Some unicorns have even taken to eating during intense spell casting, but that can break our concentration. Remember this Dinky, or else you could get very sick. This little display lasting only a few minutes is going to require me to eat for hours.” Bucky explained, saying each word carefully and looking Dinky directly in the eyes. “Do you understand?” Bucky asked, looking concerned.
“I think so,” Dinky said, nodding. “Magic makes the food go away before it gets turned into poop.”
“Yeah,” Bucky replied, grinning sheepishly.
“Oh my,” Derpy said. “I guess I’ll have to do more grocery shopping, I didn’t know anything about this. Explains Sparkler’s appetite. Is this part of the reason you passed out that night?” Derpy asked.
“I’m sure it contributed,” Bucky replied. “I went home and devoured most of the contents of my pantry.”
“Is this why I ate so much popcorn?” Dinky asked, recalling that she ate more popcorn than she had ever done so before.
Bucky nodded, pleased to see Dinky catching on.
“We’ll then, I’ll fix my famous vegetable stew and dumplings tonight, I can make a few gallons of soup, it is the least I can do,” Berry said, coming through the door and entering the room, her eyes flashing with promised mischief for all the tickling. “The dumplings are starchy and there are lots of potatoes,” she mentioned, her eyebrows raising and her mouth forming a wide grin.
“That sounds really good,” Bucky said, licking his lips and feeling the first stabs of hunger. He felt a little light headed suddenly, a pleasant rush of warmth flowing through his body and making his horn feel tingly.
“Well, this explains why unicorns don’t rule the world just yet, takes a lot of food to fuel magical efforts. Explains Barley O’Blivion’s ability to win eating and drinking contests,” Berry said, looking thoughtful.
“Barley O’Blivion?” Derpy asked.
“My uncle. He’s the old fart that used to get Dinky to pull his hoof,” Berry replied.
“Oh… oh him! The obnoxious old unicorn stinker that always made me bean and barley soup when I was nursing Dinky, he said it was good for my milk,” Derpy said, recalling a pleasant memory. “How is he?” Derpy asked.
“Coming to town,” Berry replied, heaving a lusty sigh as she looked at Bucky, her eyes sparkling with attraction. “He’s sick of Vanhoover, he’s coming back to Ponyville, says there is not enough Clan Pickled left in Ponyville after the string of tragedies.” She turned her gaze to Derpy, licking her teeth seductively, and gave the grey mare a wink.
“I wanna see Barley,” Piña said. “I miss him.”
“So do I,” Dinky said. “I barely remember him, but he was funny.”
“I barely remember him. He looked after you sometimes Dinky, when mommy had to work. Will be nice to see him again I suppose,” Derpy said absentmindedly.
“Derpy, we might need to discuss living arrangements, I was planning on letting him stay in my place,” Berry said.
“Of course,” The grey mare replied, looking pleased. “I want you with me, I’ve tried to get you to move in for a long time.”
“So we just walk away and let this boil?” Bucky asked.
“We’ll, I have to come back ever so often and make sure there is fuel for the fire under the mash tun,” Berry replied. “I’d like to upgrade to a gas line, but that’s really expensive.”
“Once I get the hang of things, what if we doubled or tripled our output? Could you afford it then?” Bucky asked.
“Maybe,” Berry said, shrugging. “I might even be able to afford it now, I just keep expenses down so I can live comfortably and not have to dip into the life insurance money I have in the bank.”
“I see,” Bucky said, rubbing his chin. “You know, the gas line might not be needed, if I could get my hooves on the materials and took some time to study, I might be able to make a sunstone. I’ve never done it before, and they are fiendishly complicated to create, but they generate a lot of heat, and, well, actually, for a vat this size it might take several sunstones to make enough heat to make everything boil. They do have to be recharged in sunlight though.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, but I am curious about the idea. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s go home and get to fixing food,” Berry suggested.
Berry put Bucky to work again, chopping vegetables for stew while she went to work making dough for dumplings. Bucky could have just as easily done both, but Berry insisted on making the dough herself, claiming it was therapeutic. Dinky sat alone with a small knife and a carrot, trying to make slices while Bucky gently offered words of encouragement.
Piña, content to watch everything, sat at the kitchen table sipping juice from a small glass through a straw, doing what Piña was exceptionally good at, looking adorable and trying to stay out of the way.
Derpy had sprawled on the couch in the living room, her body aching from her deliveries. She stretched out one wing, and then the other, slowly flexing them and rotating them in their sockets, groaning as she did so. She was starting to get carriers’ wing in both sockets, from carrying heavy loads in her bag that always pulled on one side of her body or another, causing one wing to work harder than the other to compensate. She switched sides regularly, which seemed to have caused the problem to spread to both joints equally. She needed time in a tub to soak and relieve the swelling. She watched Bucky sitting at the kitchen table with the two foals, peering through the kitchen doorway, feeling a heightened sense of arousal as she observed him interacting with Dinky and Piña.
Biology worked overtime to reward her for finding a potential mate.
On the stove, a massive stockpot stood ready, vegetable bouillon cubes tossed into the water, the veggies and the potatoes would all be seared and sauteed lightly in big cast iron skillet (this step would have to be repeated a few times for gallons of soup) and then deposited into the stockpot. Then, when the time was right, the dough would be rolled out like a long snake and then sections of it would be cut off and tossed into the pot and allowed to cook until fluffy.
Bucky, seeing Derpy trying to stretch out and get comfortable on the couch, gently reached out and began kneading her flesh around and along her wings invisibly, which was a terrible, horrible, no good, awful mistake.
The grey mare made orgasmic moans that filled the house with sound and fury.
The two foals froze, eyes wide, mouths open, not sure what to say or do. Berry stood frozen by the stove, looking awfully aroused. Bucky sat in his chair, not sure what he had just done wrong exactly. He knew very little about pegasus anatomy and had merely tried to be helpful. Instead, he had caused the grey pegasus mare’s eyes to roll back into her head and her ears to droop, completely limp, as she squirmed on the couch with her orange tongue hanging out, panting and moaning, her back arched, her backside raised up into the air invitingly, trying to get the maximum effect from the invisible forces at work on her wing joints and her wings.
“Oh- ooh- ooooh… OOH!” the mare on the couch began, punctuating her pleading cries with loud snorts and whickers.
Berry’s jaw dropped open, not believing what she was hearing.
Bucky’s magic died completely, the knife he was chopping with clattering to the table.
“OH IT STOPPED! WHY?” Derpy demanded, still squirming, one hind leg twitching, her eyes rolling around in her head crazily. She blinked a few times, and then began to look around sheepishly, seeing the two stunned foals through the kitchen door and one very embarrassed looking Bucky. “Mommy was getting the nicest back rub,” Derpy explained in a shuddering voice, completely unable to meet the gaze of the two foals who stared at her.
“I think Derpy was having a snoregasm or something like that,” Piña said in a hushed and very embarrassed whisper. “I’ve heard my sister Berry talking with Derpy about how she wants to see Bucky’s face when he has one,” she added. “It isn’t easy being Berry’s little sister.”
Berry facehoofed, and then fled from the kitchen, running out the door giggling fiendishly, trailing flour behind her as she ran.
Repression is the better part of valour Bucky thought to himself as he heard Berry’s hooves on the stairs, the mare laughing insanely as soon as she cleared the kitchen door. She was heading upstairs for whatever reason. He calmed his emotions, took a deep breath, smiled gamely at the two foals, and then resumed chopping the vegetables.
“You did something to mommy,” Dinky accused. “Made her snoregasm.”
The knife clattered to the table once again, and Bucky took a deep breath, saying absolutely nothing. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
“That was awkward,” Piña said, unable to look at Bucky any longer, her eyes staring down at her juice glass. Dinky nodded, her cheeks pink.
“I am not mad or anything,” Derpy said, “Well, actually I am mad to be honest,” she quipped. “It stopped.”
Bucky snerked loudly, making a nasal grunt through his muzzle. Note to self, do detailed study of pegasus wing anatomy before attempting to be friendly.
Berry’s fit of laughter could be heard upstairs and there was thumping on the floor.
“You shouldn’t be all ‘barrassed about making mommy feel good, she’s a good mommy, and she needs to feel good sometimes,” Dinky said slowly, her voice raspy and halting, trying her very best to be grown up about what had just taken place. Her cheeks blazed crimson after she spoke, and her ears folded down against her skull.
“Mommy needs a cold shower,” Derpy said, rising up off the couch, her legs unsteady. “Whew!” she gasped, staggering around the living room.
And it was during this moment that Sparkler walked through the front door with Rising Star, seeing her mother in an obvious state of arousal, feeling embarrassed, and then shrieking loudly as she looked at her coltfriend standing beside her, noticing that he had noticed.
“Mommy had a snoregasm,” Dinky said helpfully, hearing her sister in the living room. “Bucky used magic on her wings.”
Derpy fled up the stairs, her wings rather stiff and unmoving, muttering wordlessly and giggling uncontrollably, leaving poor Sparkler to expire from embarrassment.
“Why does everything have to be so weird!” Sparkler screamed, stomping her hoof and snorting loudly.
“Should I come back at another time?” Rising Star said sheepishly. “I think I should come back at another time,” he repeated nervously.
“I have no idea what I just walked in on,” Sparkler said, suffering every teenaged filly’s nightmare. “And you, you are not going anywhere, you want me, you get my family as well. All of us. Even my crazy mother running around with a half-stiffy wingboner,” she said to Rising Star, who said nothing in reply.
Rising Star thoughtfully shut the front door.
Bucky made another loud snerking sound, nearly choking, now thumping his own barrel with a forehoof trying to gain control over himself.
“Dinky, you ever get the feeling that you and I are going to need therapy?” Piña asked.
Dinky said nothing in reply, but nodded vigorously.
“See what cooties do? They make you craaaay-zeee,” Piña said in a conspiratorial whisper. “This is why I don’t play with colts.”
With a supreme act of will, Bucky summoned his magic and began to chop vegetables again, slowly and methodically, each stroke offering some small comfort to his frazzled and overloaded mind, thinking that he was going to need some therapy before this was over.
There were hooves on the stairs as Berry Punch returned. She kissed Sparkler on the cheek as she passed, nodded at Rising Star, and kept moving through the living room. She strolled through the kitchen door, it was clear she had been crying, but not from being sad. She was still giggling and could not directly look at anypony, least of all Piña.
“Are you going to make my big sister snoregasm?” Piña asked, turning and looking sternly at Bucky, who dropped the knife yet again, this time with a pained groan.
Berry sniggered as she resumed making the dough, and in the living room, Sparkler let out a pained cry of teenaged angst.
“Piña, the word is ‘orgasm’ -OW-” Rising Star tried to say helpfully, cut off by a cuff on the shoulder by Sparkler.
“No no no!” Sparkler scolded, delivering another swat. “We just started going out, don’t make me end you!” Sparkler threatened.
Rising Star fell silent, worried about what it was he was getting into.
“I don’t even know what it is but it must be really bad,” Dinky said, looking around and seeing the chaos.
“I cannot chop these veggies under these conditions,” Bucky protested, his breathing laboured, the corners of his mouth still twitching. “Berry, I am so totally going to get even with you if it is the last thing I ever do…”
“I hope so,” Berry said breathlessly, “and soon.”
The small herd of ponies gathered around the table, ready for a meal, all of them still having some small trouble looking one another in the eye without getting a case of the giggles. There were mismatched bowls of veggies and dumpling soup, bread, and glasses of soft cider to drink.
And Bucky noted that no silverware had been set on the table. He turned and looked at Sparkler. “You forgot something,” he said to her, not able to meet her eyes directly, just glancing in her general direction.
“No I didn’t, mom said no silverware tonight,” Sparkler returned.
Derpy nudged Bucky, smiling sweetly at him, and then shot a knowing glance at Sparkler, who in turn, shot a glance at Rising Star, who also seemed concerned about the silverware. There were also an alarming lack of napkins the two unicorns noticed.
“Uh, alright then, I can use my magic to mimic a spoon,” Bucky said slowly.
“No, no magic, not tonight. You eat like us,” Derpy said, poking Bucky roughly with a hoof, rocking him in his chair. “Dig in!” The mare commanded, and then stuck her own muzzle down into soup carefully, as it was still warm.
Bucky realised he had been taken for a ride. No napkins, no silverware, and the thoughts of last night’s meal fresh in his memory. He whimpered.
“Oh, just do it and get it over with,” Berry said in consolation before plunging her own muzzle into the bowl of soup and slurping in a dumpling loudly.
“I’m cool with this,” Rising Star said, shrugging, and stuffing his snoot into his soup, trying to fish out an oversized carrot slice that Dinky recognised as one of her own efforts.
One very stuffy unicorn struggled with the concept of sticking his face into his soup. Bucky lowered his head, and then tried to scoop up a potato with his tongue. He failed. He tried again, and the potato frustratingly slid out of reach, sinking down into his soup bowl, hiding under a dumping. Finally, in frustration, he slurped up the dumpling, covering his face in soup. He sat up, feeling sullied and embarrassed, his muzzle covered in thick broth.
“Let me get that for you,” Derpy offered, wrapping a foreleg around his neck and pulling him in, licking his muzzle with her tongue. Bucky squirmed, trying to get away, but to no avail. Derpy was much, much stronger than he was.
“You missed something,” Berry said, moving in from the other side and giving a helpful lick, for a moment, Bucky could feel her hot breath on his ear. He shivered.
Derpy and Berry went back to eating their soup, and Bucky watched as Piña and Dinky cleaned one another’s faces. Between the foals, it seemed innocent. Berry and Derpy were certainly up to mayhem. Or were they? He didn’t know. He resumed eating his soup, trying to not get his muzzle dirty.
Sparkler had already finished most of her first bowl, and had raised her head up. She curled back her lips, took a deep breath, and then let fly with a horrendous belch, the sort of belch that would make a dragon hang their head in shame had they witnessed it coming from such a tiny herbivorous animal. Sparkler looked extremely pleased with herself, and Rising Star sat there, slack jawed, dribbling soup.
“That’s kinda attractive,” Rising Star said slowly, raising an eyebrow.
“I have something on my muzzle,” Sparkler said, leaning over towards Rising Star.
Rising Star shot a glance at Derpy, then Bucky, and then Berry, not knowing what to do. Finally, he screwed his courage to the sticking place, leaned over, and gave a tentative lick to Sparkler’s muzzle, and then another, and then finally relaxed and went with the flow of things. “You had a bit of parsnip on your face Sparkler,” Rising Star said, chewing on said parsnip.
“This is madness,” Bucky confessed, pressing his snoot into his soup and hunting down the elusive potato in the depths.
“When in Pegasopolis, do as the pegasi,” Rising Star said, plunging his face down into his bowl.
“Oh look, I dribbled soup all the way down my barrel and then some,” Berry said, grinning evilly.
Bucky whimpered as Berry nudged, him, knowing that she had done this on purpose.
It was going to be a long meal, as Bucky had to do a lot of eating to make up for the magic cast earlier. He settled in, hoping to endure.