There were four mares and one griffoness at the dining table. Bucky, full of fish from a large meal earlier, ate nothing, but drank a strong fragrant tea flavoured with lemon peels and ginger. He would be leaving later and this was their last chance to spend time with one another.
He had spent the afternoon with Thistle, then a bit of time with his foals, all of them, Diamond Tiara included among their number, and now he was spending time with his wives.
The meal smelled and looked delicious. Bucky regretted being so full and eyed the serving platters. Deep fried mushrooms. Onion rings, beer battered and also deep fried. Vegetable pasties, filled with bits of root vegetables, peas, corn, and soft white cheese. Semillon went all out on a wonderful meal.
No one would ever know that the pie crusts and the batter had been made with mealworm flour, making it an ideal meal even for creatures like Belisama.
The griffoness, who had been quiet throughout the meal so far, set down her fork and looked at Bucky. “I am coming with you.”
Lowering his teacup away from his muzzle, Bucky raised his eyebrow. “There is no need. I assure you, I will be fine. This will be a very short, very quick trip.”
“I don’t care… I am coming with you.” Belisama, who had been rather submissive so far, sat up straighter and raised her crest up high. “One of us needs to be with you. Derpy and Berry are pregnant and ideally should remain here at home. Bon Bon and Lyra have their shop to run.”
“And you are indispensable to Violet—”
“It was Violet that told me that I should be going with you and then lectured me on my place in the greater scheme of things. Each of us, all of us, we females who are your wives, serve different roles and functions. In times of war, I am the most suited to be at your side,” Belisama said with an uncharacteristic assertiveness. She fluffed out, making herself look larger, making ready to challenge Bucky if necessary.
Four mares all looked over at Belisama and then over at Bucky in unison.
“Belisama—”
Banging her talons down upon the table, Belisama sat up as straight as possible to make herself look taller. She puffed out a bit more and lifted her other talons, extended her index talon, and pointed at Bucky. “No! You listen to me… I will not be talked into submission. I will not be coaxed into changing my mind. I am coming with you!”
“—I find your assertion entirely reasonable. I need to talk to you anyway about something very important… about our subjects. The good of those we serve.”
Belisama deflated and sank down into chair. “You weren’t going to tell me no?”
Berry Punch tittered around a mouthful of mushroom.
The griffoness’ crest fell; it now lay flat against her head. Belisama heaved a small sigh and looked around the table at her fellow-wives. “It took me forever to work up enough nerve to do that.”
Leaning over, Derpy reached out and gave Belisama a gentle pat on the shoulder.
“Somebirdy is getting braver and bolder,” Bon Bon said. She turned her amused grin upon Belisama. “Bucky can be intimidating… he’s headstrong, stubborn, and at times, painfully stupid. It can be difficult to keep him in line.”
Belisama peeped and Bucky snorted.
“Bucky is really just a big foal,” Derpy said. When she was done speaking, she crammed a bite into her mouth and chewed with a great deal of enthusiasm, making happy little grunts as she devoured yet another pie.
“Bucky and Lyra both.” Bon Bon turned to look at Lyra and stuck out her tongue for a moment. Leaning over, she made up for her teasing with a quick peck on Lyra’s cheek.
“I almost made myself sick with worry trying to work up the courage to be defiant… I played through the scenario in my head so many times trying to come up with arguments for everything that Bucky might say,” Belisama admitted.
“And what did worry get you?” Berry Punch asked as she helped herself to more onion rings. After dropping a bunch on her plate, she crammed one into her mouth.
“It is still difficult for me to just make demands,” Belisama said. She picked up her fork, stabbed a mushroom, and then pecked off a bite.
“Then get one of us to help you if you ever feel insecure about making your feelings known,” Lyra said around a mouthful of onion ring.
Swallowing some of what she was chewing on, Berry Punch nodded and kept chewing.
“I can be a reasonable pony.” After speaking his piece, Bucky took a long sip of tea.
Bon Bon sniggered. “A very reasonable pony.”
Snorting at Bon Bon’s words, Bucky then gave her the stinkeye. “I can be a reasonable pony.”
Swallowing what was left in her mouth, Berry Punch then turned to look at Bon Bon. “To be fair, Bucky has his moments. He can be a reasonable pony. Most of the time, he just chooses not to be.”
Chuckling, Bucky set down his teacup. “That’s fair.”
“Bucky is forced to deal with very unreasonable creatures, so his unreasonableness is probably an asset,” Derpy said.
Lyra made a gesture with her hoof and pointed at Derpy. “She makes an excellent point.”
“I remember one unreasonable creature I had to deal with a while back,” Bucky said.
Taking interest, Bon Bon turned to look at Bucky. “Do tell.”
“Well, I was minding my own business and I bumped into her. She gets it into her head to start chasing me. I kept running, but in all of her unreasonableness, she takes this as an invitation to chase me.” Pausing, Bucky looked around the table as he heard the sounds of chortling, snickering, and Berry Punch’s unrepressed laughter. “Being the unreasonable creature I was, I decided to marry her.”
Unable to contain herself, Derpy began giggling, her bashfulness caused her to cover her face with her front hooves. The giggles became giggle-snorts.
“So, being the unreasonable sort that I am, I decided it would be a good idea to have a whole gaggle of wives… now there is six of them,” Bucky said.
Laughing, Lyra used her magic to flick a green pea at Bucky’s head and bounced it off of his nose. It landed on his tea saucer. “How dare you suggest that I am unreasonable.”
Bucky first looked at Lyra, then down at the lone green pea sitting on his saucer, and then back at Lyra once more. He chuckled, then his chuckle became more of a laugh, and the laugh gave way to a guffaw. He slumped down in his chair and howled until tears began to stream from his eyes.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her foreleg, Berry Punch leaned forward. “It is good that we can laugh like this. After everything we have been through, at least we can still laugh. If you can laugh, it means your spirit isn’t broken.” After speaking, Berry Punch thought back to the times when Bucky could not laugh, the worst of which was after the flogging. Her face became solemn from the memory. “We’ve been through so much together. Even you Belisama. There is no doubt that you are one of us.” Once more, Berry Punch smiled.
“I wish Thistle was here,” Derpy said as she wiped one and then the other, removing tears of laughter. She took a deep breath, let it out a little at a time, and then let out a few more chuckles.
Glancing first at Bucky and then at Derpy, Bon Bon grinned. “I bet Thistle is a happy kelpie. I’m glad she got a chance to have Bucky all to herself today.”
Berry Punch banged her hoof on the edge of the table. “I bet Bucky got himself some tail this afternoon!”
There was a thump as Bucky hit the floor after falling out of his chair while laughing.
Reaching over, Derpy poked Berry with her hoof. “Ugh, puns!”
“Just call me Berry Puns,” Berry said between gasps of laughter.
Derpy made the same sort of face that she usually made when biting into lemon. “That was Berry bad. Berry, Berry bad.”
Without warning, there was a flatulent sound and Lyra almost jumped out of her chair. She giggled, and with all the speed she could muster, placed both hooves beneath the table. “Bucky!”
“Lyra, what’s wrong?” Bon Bon asked.
Squirming, Lyra wiggled to one side, then twisted to the other. “Bucky is under the table! He just raspberried me right in the twa—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
There was another wet sounding raspberry from beneath the table and Lyra shrieked.
Saying nothing, Derpy slipped from her chair and disappeared beneath the table. There was a thump, the plates as well as the platters upon the table rattled, and then there was raucous laughter from beneath the table.
Bon Bon and Berry Punch watched as Lyra was pulled beneath the table. The unicorn vanished from view, there were a succession of loud raspberries followed by giggles. Belisama looked nervous, and had good reason to be. Any of them might be next and a three way glance was exchanged.
As Berry Punch and Belisama’s eyes lingered on one another, Bon Bon was dragged beneath the table with a thump and a titter. Shrugging, Berry Punch slid down from her chair to join the party beneath the table, leaving behind Belisama, who had a very confused look upon her face.
The new streamlined zeppelin design was sleek and cutting edge modern. It had a small cabin secured just beneath the gasbag, attached by a direct connection rather than a suspended ship like older style airships. This one had no markings, no flags, no visible indicators to let anyone know the country of origin.
The night, which neared the midnight hour, was frigid and each breath taken was visible. Off in the distance, the school had a pleasant warm glow coming from some of its windows. The dormitory towers were well lit.
The foals had long since gone to bed save one. Sentinel stood with the adults, remaining quiet as they said their goodbyes. This was a quiet and rather subdued goodbye. He did not sense much in the way of fear; in fact, his mothers seemed to be taking this departure rather well. They were laughing, having fun, and talking about dinner.
Something had happened at dinner. Sentinel wasn’t sure what had happened, but Sparkler had gone into the dining room to investigate the ruckus and then had come back giggling and flustered. Upon questioning, she refused to speak about whatever was going on in there.
Off a short distance away, Barley and Luna were having a moment alone. Sentinel watched them for a moment, he suffered a feeling of embarrassment as he watched them kiss, and then Sentinel turned away. Glancing back, he forced himself to watch for a moment, hoping to improve his own technique.
“Sentinel, look after your siblings.”
Hearing his father’s voice, Sentinel turned away from the sight of Barley and Luna devouring one another’s faces. He nodded. “Yes father. Of course.”
“Look after my griffons.”
Once more, Sentinel nodded. “I will do as you ask, father.”
“While I am gone, Diamond Tiara will be moving to Rarity and Coco’s. Try to understand that it is for the best and try not to take it too hard,” Bucky said.
This time, Sentinel did not nod. Feeling dejected and heavy hearted, Sentinel replied, “Yes father.”
“If you can, tear yourself away from your schoolwork and Diamond Tiara. Spend some time with Thistle. She misses you.”
Sentinel gave a shame-filled nod. “Yes father… I will spend more time with Thistle.”
Watching as his father drew near, Sentinel took a deep breath. Sentinel felt his father wrap his right foreleg around his neck. Leaning in, Sentinel lunged upwards and placed both of his own forelegs around his father’s neck. “I want to come with you.”
“I know… but you need to stay in school.”
Daring to squeeze a little more, Sentinel closed his eyes. “I know. I will make you proud.”
“Sentinel, I already am.”
Unable to stop himself, Sentinel felt the burning sting of tears in his eyes, accompanied by the feeling of shame that always came with them. Overcome with emotion, he kissed his father on the side of his face, whimpered, let go, squirmed free, and then he ran, unable to face his father in this state. He ran until he made it to the front door. He jerked it open. He could hear voices behind him, but he dared not stop. He ran through the entrance way, down the hall, until he finally made it to his cubby beneath the stairs. He pulled the door open, bolted inside, and slammed the door shut behind him.
Burying his face into a pillow, Sentinel wept.