Something niggled at Bucky’s mind when he thought about the Black Cloaks and their destruction. The group was a thousand strong. The nobles, those who had the strongest magic by average, were mostly accounted for. And of those nobles, most of them were barely even able to write their own name with magic.
Something did not add up in Bucky’s mind and he was still in full blown accountant mode.
Where was the force responsible for taking out the Black Cloaks? Tirek had killed quite a few, but the Black Cloaks were hardened killers and skilled wizards. Something had hunted them down and killed them. Something had infiltrated them. Systematic extermination.
This bothered Bucky. Certainly Luna would know about a large group of capable unicorns running around murdering ponies. Everypony dreamed. Unless of course Luna had a blind spot… Cold fear crept up Bucky’s spine and made him shiver. His balls prickled from fear.
Bucky began to sense that there was something wrong.
Thistle lay sunning herself upon a large rock. It was a good rock for sunning. She was still in merpony form and her long tail hung all the way down to the water. The heat from the rock made her back feel better, and swimming had done wonders for mood and pain levels.
Beside her, a very wet Berry Punch was getting comfortable upon the rock which happened to be sticking up out of the water. To reach the rock, there was a bit of a swim. Or flight, if you were a pegasus.
“Are you happy Thistle?” Berry asked.
“So very much,” Thistle replied.
“Feeling settled in?” Berry inquired.
“Mostly. I needed some time to myself. I didn’t mean to run away from everypony,” Thistle answered. “The lake is lovely. It is a healthy lake. Mostly. I’ve been herding the fish and encouraging them to breed to increase their numbers. There is even a cave down there. Somepony was very thoughtful when this was created.”
Berry Punch rolled over onto her side, wiggled her forelegs around Thistle, and carefully pulled Thistle on top of her, enjoying Thistle’s weight pressing down upon her. Thistle squeaked a few times and then squealed when her tail and midsection sank in between Berry’s hind legs. Berry snaked a hoof up along Thistle’s spine. “I’ve always found you so attractive in this form,” Berry whispered before she kissed Thistle. The kiss was long and passionate, and Berry discovered that even in merpony form, parts of Thistle could become very warm. Berry could feel that warmth pressing against her.
Thistle became keenly aware of where her bulk was resting as Berry kissed her. She relaxed into the kiss and placed both of her front legs, now with fins on the ends, on both sides of Berry’s face, touching the mare lovingly. Her tail flapped against the water, splashing, and her movements caused parts of her to grind against Berry Punch.
Pulling away, Berry gasped a few times. “Thistle… Derpy and Bucky told me to come and remind you that we are all married. And you need to come out of the lake for more than just sleeping with us in the bed. We miss you…”
“I’m sorry,” Thistle said tenderly, kissing Berry on the snoot for emphasis. She ground herself into the growing heat that she could feel just below Berry’s belly. She could feel Berry’s hind legs wrapped around her tail section. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” Berry moaned, feeling Thistle rubbing all of the right places.
“Mmm, good,” Thistle whispered just before she kissed Berry again. Flexing her long body and tail, she flopped from the rock and pulled Berry along with her. With her lips tightly pressed against Berry’s lips, Thistle pulled the earth pony down into the depths where she could have her way with Berry. It was the kelpie way.
From the shore, a very aroused Lyra thought the kelpie and the earth pony making out was the most erotic thing she had ever seen. Feelingly suddenly needy herself, she hurried off into the house to find Bon Bon. Some itches required help to scratch.
Bucky continued unpacking books from various trunks and placing them onto shelves in the library. The books about dark magic were carefully warded and protected from anypony viewing them but him. Luna had seen to that. There were spellbook primers for foals, he placed those on the lower shelves. There were a few spellbooks about geomantic magics intended for Sparkler. Several books about fire spells were for Rising Star.
Bucky pulled out an enormous tome with the words “Enthralling Evocations” printed on the cover. There was a snowflake, a wisp of fire, and a bolt of lightning, the three major elemental powers. It was too big to fit upon the shelves. He placed it upon a small table by a chair instead.
He lifted another book from one of the trunks… “Spell Shielding and You: Special Germaphobe Edition.” He stuffed it away on the shelf with a snort. “Advanced Spell Shielding: The World Is Not Safe Edition.” He tucked this one next to the first. “Advanced Protections and Shielding: Sometimes Pegasi Fly With Scissors Edition.” Bucky rolled his eye. Unicorns were strange creatures and he did not understand them at times. “Avoiding Trauma: Defensive Augmentations for the Phobophobic.” This went with the others. “Practical Protections for the Persnickety Pony: A Brief Abridged Dissertation of Dueling Defense by Starjammer.” Bucky gasped. The book was over a foot thick. He felt a keen sense of loathing for Starjammer for a moment and then stuffed the book onto the shelf.
“Mama, Diamond Tiara is going to need a lift home later,” Dinky said.
Derpy nodded and patted Dinky on the head. “I can do that,” she offered.
“Sentinel won’t come out of hiding,” Dinky reported.
“Well, maybe he needs time to himself,” Derpy responded. “He probably just needs some time to adjust to everything. He’s sensitive.”
“Maybe you’re right. Anyhow, gotta go!” Dinky cried and then took off running up the stairs.
Feeling peckish, Derpy sauntered into the kitchen and began to look around. She checked the pantry, she looked in the cupboards, and after finding the waffle iron, she began to pull out ingredients. She plugged in the waffle iron.
She separated two eggs, getting her wings slightly messy. She put these into a small bowl and set them aside. She poured a little bit of milk into a mixing bowl, poured in a tiny amount of lemon juice from a bottle, and then set that aside. She measured out some flour, some brown sugar, a little bit of baking powder, and a bit of salt into another mixing bowl. She then set this aside.
She beat the egg whites until they were perky and formed peaks. She added the egg yolks to the milk and lemon juice mixture and mixed that. She added a dribble of vanilla, a little bit more, looked around the kitchen with a naughty gleam in her eye, and, seeing that she was alone, added just a little bit more vanilla. She giggled. She continued to mix the milk mixture. She added all of her dry ingredients just a little bit at a time, whipping as she added them, her movements making parts of her jiggle as she stood on her hind legs at the counter. When the mix was creamy, she began to fold in the whipped egg whites carefully.
She pushed the bowl aside and began to brush oil over the hot waffle iron. Using a ladle, she added a dollop of waffle batter to the iron and closed the lid. She hurried to the fridge, found a jar of orange marmalade, set that on the table, and then hurried back to the waffle iron.
Lifting the lid, she removed the waffle, afterwards, she put the waffle on a plate and covered it with a clean towel to keep it warm. She added more waffle batter to the waffle iron and then closed the lid.
In no time at all, she had her favourite treat from when she was pregnant with Dinky. Waffles. She slathered them down with marmalade and tore into them, scarfing them down with abandon.
“You have something sticky on your muzzle… let me get that for you.”
Freezing in place, Derpy heard Bucky’s voice right beside her. Somehow, he had crept up on her. A moment later, she could feel his hot breath on her cheek. It lingered there for a moment, and she could feel and hear him sniffing her. Her heart began to race. She felt a tightness in her wings as she began to feel too hot.
And then, she felt his tongue traveling down her muzzle and over her lips. Derpy closed her eyes and tried to remain calm. Again, Bucky’s tongue slowly slithered over her skin, licking away everything sticky. She could still hear and feel him sniffing her.
“Something else is sticky I bet… real sticky. I can smell it. I’ll be in the bedroom. Finish your waffles. I’ll be waiting for you. Come to bed… sticky.”
She heard Bucky walking away and she opened her eyes, feeling entirely too hot. She scarfed down her waffles and made a real mess of herself. Leaving dirty dishes all over the kitchen, she hurried off to the bedroom where Bucky was waiting.
“Me kitchen!” Barley cried as he came through the kitchen door after coming home. “Me beautiful kitchen! Who did this to ye?”
He trotted into the kitchen and set about cleaning everything up. Waffles. Marmalade. He knew of one pony in particular that loved waffles with jam or marmalade, and he remembered how much she ate when she was carrying Dinky.
“Me poor grey mare was famished,” Barley muttered, his anger softening as he moved about the kitchen cleaning up. As he cleaned, he began pulling dried white beans from a bin, placed them into a giant stock pot, covered them with water, and then put them on to boil. He was old, but he had magic still. Stuff flew all over and in no time at all, everything was neat and tidy. He pulled out onions and garlic, set them aside, and then wandered off to the bar to have a drink.
The sun was drifting down near the treeline when Princess Luna burst into existence near the farmhouse and then flapped her wings to slow herself for a landing. She cleared the steps in a single leap as she always did and then let herself in as she had always done.
There were screams this time however, which were sorely out of place. Luna froze. A pink foal went scurrying off down the hall in terror. Sighing, Luna drooped and her head hung low. No matter what she did, this still happened far too often.
“I think Diamond Tiara might have overreacted,” Dinky said as she looked up at Luna. “Hi Godmother.”
Feeling her heart warm, Luna smiled down at Dinky. “Where is everypony?”
“Well, mama Derpy is in the bath and then she is going to fly Diamond Tiara home. Berry is in there with her. Lyra and Bon Bon are in their room. Sentinel is hiding under the stairs in his colt cave. Daddy is napping a bit in the bed. I think mama wore him out. Thistle is in the library reading a newspaper where it is quiet. Barley is coming up right beside you and about to hug you I think… yep,” Dinky said, as she watched Barley wrap one foreleg around Luna’s neck and smooch her cheek.
“Ye just can’t keep away from me,” Barley said as he waggled his eyebrows.
“I plan to spend some time with you, but Buckminster and Sentinel require some education. Give me some time,” Luna said softly.
“Whatta mare,” Barley muttered as he teetered away on rickety knees.
“Sorry.”
Sentinel sighed. His sanctum had been violated. “There is nothing to fear from Luna.”
“She scares me,” Diamond Tiara whispered.
There were two forelegs around his neck and Sentinel could feel the earth pony trembling. He sniffed. There was no scent of fear. Sentinel felt very puzzled. Diamond Tiara was pressed tightly up against his side. A slow realisation crept into Sentinel’s head as she continued to huddle up against him in his darkened cubby.
“I am already betrothed to be married,” Sentinel whispered.
“You’re WHAT?” Diamond Tiara shouted.