Sorry for ending another chapter on a downbeat. It will all make sense eventually, I promise! Meanwhile, have a little interlude:

“Sugar princess, can we talk?”

“Huh? Sure.”

“It’s not really our business, but your father thought it wouldn’t be fair to keep it to ourselves if you didn’t already notice, and I suppose he’s right, but –”

“Mom, what is it?”

“I suppose you’ve wondered if it’s really Las Pegasus your dad and I go to on our vacations. Well, it’s a resort all right, but –”

“Wait, what?”

“– one morning last week when uncle Harvey and I were out for a walk, we came past Two Fountains Plaza, and a filly who looked exactly like you was having a lot of fun in the stocks with a teal earth stallion.”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“Princess, darling, you’re a grown-up pony now, you can do what you like. And it’s not like we thought you didn’t at all. You remember your safewords, don’t you?”

“Mom!”

“And once you take a black collar, don’t forget you can apply for a contraception waiver through the Breeding Guild . . .”

“MOM!”

Nice to see an update on this story again, keep it up.

11185151
Oh god, that must have been so embarrassing. So that was her parents, and her father whispered to her mother, probably something like 'am I seeing things, or is that our daughter', right?

Oh my goodness, excuse me WHAT?? I am so down with annual updates, because annual is better than never.

Can I perhaps buy you a coffee or some such? Anything to show my appreciation for this lovely series?

11185248
Something like that -- at least if we jump to the conclusion that "uncle Harvey" (with whom Cirrus's mother goes on morning walks in the clocktower, wearing an aftercare hoodie!) is her real sire ...

Also kindly note that interludes posted as chapter comments miiiight not be completely, authoritatively canon.

11185525
Thanks. Hmm, perhaps help recruit more people to read and comment, should you have the opportunity?

Am I missing something about Cirrus and her apparent distaste for Root and the Quiet, or are they not the best match? It would make me so sad if they stopped seeing each other, though.

11186121
There will be more plot movement happening in the next chapter -- but the natural chapter break at this point was impossible to ignore. (I'll let the answer to your question dangle until I can present it in story form).

11186085
Oh, I completely missed that her mother said 'uncle Harvey and I'. I guess I kinda skimmed the comment, got the gist of it, and combined with the part of the chapter where her dom saw the couple my mind took the bit about the mare being Cirrus' mother and said 'Tada! Parents!'

But yeah, dubiously canon omakes sounds better for those snippets you leave in the comments anyway.

11186121
It would be kind of sad, but it happens sometimes.

The best thing Sip could do though, would be learning that he doesn't need to be quiet about it! Poor guy needs to learn that aftercare is for him too, and that they should talk over these issues. Hope he does before it's too late!

You really did a marvelous depiction of this world, and showed us very authentic inner struggles of two young ponies new to bdsm. Well done! I genuinely think that this is the best story in CTS universe, even surpassing the main story by Manifest Harmony himself. Looking forward to the remaining chapters. I wish they won't take years.

11217909
Thank you!

Aw, that was sad. Great story though, hoping for update?

I hope that Sip won't throw away a mare that loves him just because she dislikes the idea of Quiet, which makes perfect sense with her limited knowledge about them. Looking forward to more chapters!

11631898
Thanks. Sorry for the long wait for the final chapters -- I have an ending in mind and occasionally do think about how to actually write it ...