Author's Note

Fair warning, this chapter does contain an explicit sex scene. It is, however, a small part of the story.

Book 1, 9. A Night with the Nights

“Rose jam… Rosehip preserves…”

Rosemary tapped both jars into a pouch and considered the rack of sealed jars. She had some pears steeping in a mixture of rose jam and sugar water. But she hadn’t even tried them yet, and it would be a few weeks before she’d be willing to give them a try. They might turn out slightly alcoholic, too, and that wouldn’t be good for Velvet Night. And it wouldn’t be nice to let Rosie and Trestle Night enjoy them when she couldn’t.

“Hrm.”

Rosewater poked her head in. “You seem distracted.”

“Just trying to think what I should bring that Velvet can enjoy.” Rosemary flicked an ear back as she continued perusing the shelves of preserves, jams, and pickled fruits and vegetables of all kinds.

Rosewater cast an aural shield, something she did more and more often of late, and stepped inside. “You know, when Carnation was pregnant with you, she had odd cravings for salty things. And she hated pickled things. But she loved dried, salted fruits.”

“You never talk about her much anymore,” Rosemary said, hoping she’d drop another breadcrumb about her mother. Sometimes the oddest things triggered memories. Smells, a glance at a painting at a certain angle, a sound. Sometimes, she could get Rosewater talking for a few minutes, an hour… or just one little tidbit.

“It hurts, Rosemary.” Rosewater’s eyes glistened, but she smiled. “I… you should know more about your mother, Rosemary.”

“I know you write about her,” Rosemary said softly.

Rosewater was silent for a long time, poring over the shelf without actually seeing anything, the distant look in her eyes enough to fool somepony else. “Try these.”

It took a moment for Rosemary to adjust to the shift in topic, eying Rosewater and giving her a wary tick of the ear. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Salted nuts are great for new mothers.” Rosewater’s ears dipped. “And those are letters to her, not a journal, Rosemary.”

“Have you heard back from her?” Rosemary asked, already knowing the answer.

“I haven’t even sent them.”

Roseate. The mare always seemed to loom in the places Rosemary wished her least to. “Can’t you smuggle them to her? Even if she can’t write back, she’d love to hear from you.”

“And you?” Rosewater asked, raising a brow. “I’m pretty sure that diary you write in once a week is the same thing, isn’t it?”

Rosemary huffed and flicked her tail. “That’s private.”

Rosewater chuckled and nodded. “As are my letters to her, little mouse.” She walked to the door and stopped. “You fall asleep with it open sometimes, reading what you’ve written. I couldn’t help but catch a passage or two when I tucked you in.”

“You haven’t tucked me in in years.”

“I still remember every time, Rosemary,” Rosewater murmured and touched her chin with a spell. “She used to be the one to tuck you in.” The spell warmed to almost a touch, and a phantom hoof the light pink of Carnation’s coat formed out of mist. “Have a good night tonight, Rosemary. She would want you to enjoy life and not hurt.”

It’s what you’ve always told me. “I know.”

“She’ll be back, Rosemary,” Rosewater said gently. “This war ends with my generation.”

“I believe you,” Rosemary said, smiling brightly as she could. It wasn’t certain, and Rosemary’s own study of the histories told her that there had been so many others who’d believed the same thing. “Don’t lose yourself.”

“I won’t.”

Rosemary paused a moment and slid past Rosewater, nipping her neck. “I think I’m about set.”

“Tell Rosie hello for me,” Rosewater said with a small smile as she backed up into the hallway. “And feel free to stay the night. I’ll be fine. It would be good, if you’re up to it, to accept their invitation.”

“You promise you won’t stay up all night?”

Rosewater rolled her eyes, “No, mother, I’m not going to stay up all night.”

“You’d better not.” Rosemary winked, opened the door, and let it close behind her to the sound of Rosewater chortling to herself. It was good to hear her at least halfway laugh at something.

Merrie in the latter evening on the weekends was a wild place, exactly the kind of place Rosie said her clients warned their children about in Damme, but it was also a place where rules took precedence over simple lusts, where the dance of tongue on tongue was on open display, but never more than that.

At least, not on the streets. Bathhouses were festooned with lights and advertised the availability of both contraceptive spells and candies, made by Rosie or one of the other half dozen candymakers in town that knew the formula well enough to make it in large batches.

Ponies still worked, still tended to bars and made food for taverns, delivered packages and parcels from business to business, and from house to house, but there was an added salaciousness that came and went every weekend that wasn’t there during the week.

It was time to relax, after all, time to enjoy the fruits of the labors of the last week, and Rosemary was no exception. Quite aside from preparing for her mission and practicing every aspect of needing to be a proper raider, including the deceptive arts, she had been working on her jams and her preserves, a few sampler perfumes she wanted Rosewater’s opinion on for general sale for a few extra bits, and various odds and ends projects.

Tonight was going to be for relaxing, forgetting the trials of the week, and recharging.

The broad, curving arc of Mane Street, running from the riverside up into the hills and back down to the riverside a mile downriver carried her all the way to the small offshoot road that led to one of the smaller neighborhoods that bordered the city between the sandy river hills and the verdant forests just beyond that fed off the watershed of the Merrie.

There among the hills and dales, families made their homes higher in the ridges, forming small micro-communities that ran for the length and breadth of a ridge.

Rosie’s home was on a ridge that descended almost perfectly to the top of a rounded hill with a heart of crystal-striated stone, the remnants of a long-ago glacier that had deposited the crystalline errata and later silt-covered.

At least, that’s what she’d read in one of the natural philosophy books Rosewater had insisted she read that claimed the Great Migration wasn’t a localized event caused by angry spirits of ice and wind, but by a climatological shift caused by the change of the sun’s path across the sky.

Whatever had caused it, the result was a beautifully green ridge that sported so many terraced gardens it looked like a patchwork building all on its own, with entire sections of the ridgeline taken over by single colors of flowers and single types of crops.

Ponies tending to their gardens in the middle autumn waved to her and called out greetings she returned without hesitation, laughing when she saw foals in the gardens and staked out safe places where the community of neighbors kept close watch and guided and taught as much as relaxed.

There were no communities like that in her part of the city that wanted her, nor any communities with foals that she would feel safe to be around. Rosejoy and her lot didn’t care about whom was listening to their taunts and jibes, and didn’t care about the common sense community rules about protecting foals until they were ready to learn about the sides of Merrie that Damme so vocally railed against.

Soon… there might be. At least one small community that would welcome her as a foalsitter and teacher.

Velvet Night was pregnant, and stars if she wasn’t excited for that prospect.

Seeing the mare again after their month-long voyage by sea and land, travelling part of the way with Budding Rose, now surely in Saddle Arabia clenching deals for the Rosewine Hill’s wines, was going to be the highlight of her night, no matter what else she ended up following her heart to.

She was, in fact, resting outside in the sunlight, her wings stretched out while her husband Trestle Night tended to them, carefully going over the features with a hard-bristled comb, the wooden nobs on the end protecting the features while the ‘bristles’ helped separate and clean the feathers without harming them.

“Velvet!” Rosemary called, pausing to wave a hoof. “Great to see you again!”

The pregnant mare startled and looked around briefly, her ears flicking before she oriented on Rosemary. “Hey there, little lovebird!” she called back, grinning but not rising from her spot. “Forgive me if I don’t come greet you. Just a bit relaxing in the sun.”

“She was sleeping,” Trestle said, grinning and sticking his tongue out at his wife. “Don’t let her lie to you.”

Rosemary laughed and pranced the last few steps, careful of the glass in her saddlebag, and gave them both kisses on their cheeks. “Stars, it’s so good to see you! Let me get a look at you, Vel.”

“Oh.” Velvet rolled her eyes and huffed with a playful smile. “Just like everypony else and their mother,” she said, raising one wing to almost brush the rafters of the porch overhang. “Go ahead and give a listen. She’s very active lately.”

“He,” Trestle said doggedly, as if it were a long-running argument.

“Pftle,” Velvet snorted.

Roundly pregnant, only a month or so away from giving birth, if not sooner, Velvet’s dark purple coat shimmered in the sun as she rolled to one side, giving Rosemary a better place to settle her cheek and ear. Two heartbeats out of cadence with each other, mother and child, and the firm press of a hoof against her cheek greeted her.

“Kicker, isn’t she?” Rosemary murmured, rubbing her cheek against the motion. “I’m here, little one.”

“She is,” Velvet murmured, watching her with half-lidded, sleepy eyes. “She has wings, too. I can feel her stretching them now and then. Big for her age, too…”

“Eight months along, and three months or so to go,” Trestle said at Rosemary’s raised brow. “He’s gonna look just like his daddy,” Trestle said with a wink at Rosemary. “Or just like her daddy,” he added, when Velvet gave him a stink-eye.

“Mmm. Compromise,” Velvet giggled. “Rosie should be back soon. She just ran out for some mustard for the carrots and fish.”

“Carrot-stuffed fish?” Rosemary asked, raising a brow. “That sounds delicious. One of your recipes, Trestle?”

“Oh, no. One of my parents. I just substituted the nuts for fish. Doctor’s recommendation.”

“Oh.” Remembering the nuts in her saddlebags, she shifted. “Are nuts bad for her?”

“Mmm. Not necessarily,” Velvet murmured, closing her eyes again and resting her cheek against Trestle’s chest. “Depends on the nut. Need to be careful about almonds. Peanuts and walnuts are okay, though.”

“Oh, thank the stars.” Rosemary sat back and hefted the jar out and shook it gently. “Peanuts salted with sea salt and wrapped in kelp.”

“You are a life saver,” Velvet squeaked, tucking her wings in close to the brief annoyance of Trestle. “Thank you!”

“She’s been looking for a better way to get her salt intake,” Trestle said with a sigh as he put away the wing grooming kit and nuzzled his wife’s ear. “A salt lick is just a bit too bland for her, and she’s getting tired of only fish for her high protein needs.”

“Please tell me you have more,” Velvet pleaded, sniffing the jar as Trestle opened it for her and reached in to take one. “Oh my stars… with a faint… is that rosemary?”

“It is!” Rosemary laughed, winking. “Just the plant, I promise.”

“Tease,” Velvet said with a chuckle and made an effort to get to her hooves, then stretched before she gave Rosemary a proper hug. “Stars, I’ve missed hearing your laugh, my dear.”

“It’s good to have you here,” Trestle said, nuzzling her ears. “Especially after what Rosie told us. Stars, I’ve been worried about you all week.”

“I’m okay, really,” Rosemary murmured, nuzzling one then the other and luxuriating in the warmth radiating from both of them, loving it and the closeness she felt to them, lovers and almost… “Stars I missed this.”

“We missed it, too,” Velvet murmured, dipping her head to kiss Rosemary’s shoulder. “Wh-what…” Her cheek heated against Rosemary’s neck.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Rosemary whispered in her ear. “If you’re open for it, maybe. I have… I have another I’ve been thinking about, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to delve into it tonight.”

“Quite understandable,” Velvet said, drawing back and looking into her eyes. “It’s Cloudy?”

Rosemary nodded. “How much did Rosie tell you?”

“Just that you got hurt, almost got lost… she left the rest for you to tell us if you wish,” Trestle said, nipping her ear lightly and drawing her attention to him. “You know our offer is still open.”

“You’re one of the few lovers all of us feel comfortable with,” Velvet said, her cheeks still heated but her blush all but invisible under her coat. “Stars, a couple weeks in Canterlot and thinking about the other lovers we share…”

“You’ll grow back to it,” Rosemary said, grinning. “And… I’ve been thinking about it, but my focus has been on making sure my life here is secure. I’m still mainline Rosethorn. We have… expectations.”

“I know.” Velvet clucked her tongue. “And who would we talk to for your parents?”

“Rosewater’s my guardian,” Rosemary said. “You’d either need to talk to her or find out where Carnation went to.” The custom of talking to parents was less for permission and more for… meeting, seeing if two families were compatible with each other before the joining and making sure that if there were any rough spots, they were known. It was an often stressful time, but it was customary.

Velvet glanced at Trestle. “Rosewater is…”

“She can be intense, but she…” Rosemary shook her head. “You have to give her a chance. She’s been hurt. Badly.” And she keeps hurting herself. What Glass had told her had resonated with her, but Rosewater did her usual smile and listen, then dismiss it with a good reason. Or, at least, one that Rosemary could never brush away. It always devolved into a debate that Rosewater won by simple dint of being more stubborn than Rosemary was willing to be. “She can be stubborn, too.”

Velvet lifted her head as the sound of hooves got closer. “Rosie!”

Rosemary extricated herself from the embrace just in time to be caught by another one, trapped on three sides in a triangle of love that wanted her to be the fourth side of a square. It felt good to be wanted.

“Stars, mare,” Rosie whispered into her neck. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Cloudy sat on the building rooftop, spyglass pressed to her eye as she watched the love of her life, barely more than a speck even in the magnifying view of the scope, as she disappeared into the home of the Nights.

Collar leaned against her, nuzzling her ear. “You don’t have to watch,” he whispered. “I know it must be painful.”

“I need to know she’s safe,” Cloudy whispered back, not even sure why she was whispering. Collar’s silence shield, and only a silence shield, was keeping out everything, the silvery surface of it barely visible. It wasn’t like they had to hide here in Damme. Everypony knew who Collar was. He could hardly hide once he started casting spells. She was in her hood and cape, hiding her Rose heritage as best she could. “Besides…” she shifted to watching Rosewater’s perfumery.

Collar had held a watch over the building while Cloudy tracked Rosemary’s veiled path through the city. “She’s been busy lately. Three customers today. As far as I can tell, they’re just regular customers. And she just went back after closing the store.”

“It’s nearing the end of the regular tourist season, and there is a ship leaving tomorrow,” Collar said with a shrug. “Los Pegasans, Canterlotians… looking for one little sample of the City of Sin before they go. They always do.”

It was safe, too. Cloudy grunted and shrugged. “She’s exotic and she has a reputation for salacious perfumes. The safe ones are pretty mundane.”

“She’s been spending more time in silence, too,” Collar said, flicking his ear to one of the other perches where an aural mage sat, his horn glowing faintly. Prim Note, the best they had. “She’s received several special deliveries over the past week. It’s making me worried about what she’s actually doing.”

“Who knows what she’s up to,” Cloudy said with a sigh and turned her attention back to the Nights’ house. Lights were coming on inside, smoke curling from the chimney, and all Cloudy wanted to do was fly over there and knock on the door. That’s all it would take to see her again, to talk to her again, to hear her laugh again.

“Cloudy,” Collar whispered in her ear. “Don’t watch. Don’t torture yourself. Let’s go home.”

“I love her, Collar.”

“I know you do.” He kissed her cheek gently. “I hope…”

“I love you, Collar. I love both of you.” But I can’t love both of you. Not in Damme. “Lets go home.”

Rosemary stared into the stew, a thickening radish and mustard stew, small cut carrots floating in the midst along with a few other tubers and various bits and pieces of flower that added a uniquely floral texture to the smell rising from the small pot.

It made her wish she would be sharing it with one more pony that night.

“Hey, don’t be mopey like that,” Velvet said, nipping her cheek as she passed by, carrying a tray of cornbread muffins on a hot pad on her tucked wing.

“Sorry. I’m just… I’ve been thinking a lot lately.” She flicked her tail and sniffed the pot again, her Rosethorn marks glowing as she separated out the different fragrances and gauged them before adding a pinch of sea salt. “Thank you for letting me.”

Trestle snorted. “Darling, you’re here to relax. If thinking helps you relax, that’s all to the good.” He flicked his tail against her as he passed by with freshly minced celery mixed with some sesame seeds and a quarter of the cooked fish they would be serving on top. “Ready for these?”

“Ready. And thank you.” Rosemary nodded and stepped back as he added the ingredients, stirred once, and sniffed.

“Oh, you’re welcome!” Rosie chuckled and patted the side of her muzzle. “Dear, while you’re here, do whatever you want. Think. Stir the stew.” Rosie twirled her hoof. “That one, you kinda have to do right now. Need the fish to separate. The big pieces are for the rice pilaf.”

“Ah!” Rosemary stirred slowly, watching the pieces come up and start to separate already. “Sorry.”

“Anyway, think, stir, sleep, stay the night…” Rosie’s eyebrow arched as she smiled, deepening into a salacious grin. “Not sleep.”

Velvet nipped the back of her wife’s ear, “That wagging tongue of yours can find my rear later if she doesn’t want it.”

“I’m still not sure,” Rosemary murmured, fighting the innate desire to hike up her tail. She wanted this. The night. The Nights. They wanted her. But to talk to her about bonding customs and sleeping together in the same night. “I… don’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

Velvet caught on first while the other two stared at her. “Dear. We would love to have you as our fourth. But I, and my spouses, also understand that your choice might not exactly be only yours to make. Especially not with your heart half-trapped on the other side of the river.”

“Exactly,” Trestle said, rising from preparing the last of the fish to be baked, throwing scales into the composting basket and fileting the rest into long strips. “We do understand, Rosemary. And we would also understand if you decided to stay and make love with us. No attachments. No obligations. Just a night to lose ourselves in each others’ company.”

Rosie flicked her ears. “We love you for you, Rosemary, regardless of whether you’re bonded or planning to bond with you. This is us, three of us, offering you a night together.”

“I…” Rosemary’s ears flattened into her mane. She could do this, partake in an offer of companionship for a night. Even the offer meant more to her than she’d thought it would, even knowing they loved her like another member of their family, even knowing her heart was on the other side of the river, they were going to open their entire selves to her. “Yes. I would like that.”

“No crying, love,” Rosie murmured against her neck. “Tears make the stew taste bad.”

Rosemary laughed, hiccupped and sat back, accepting the embrace Rosie offered her, then the one Trestle pulled her into, warmed on both sides and then from behind as Velvet sat heavily behind her and leaned into her. “Stars, you…”

“Many loves make the burden lighter,” Rosie murmured to her. “Whether those loves are part of your family or not.”

“That’s not the quote,” Rosemary rasped out, her smile straining her cheeks, her throat tight as she tried to return every hug all at once. “S-stars…”

“It’s alright, love,” Rosie whispered. “You’re with us tonight. Stay with us tonight. Tomorrow is another day.”

“But we’d better get back to fixing dinner,” Velvet said after a long moment, her stomach gurgling as the fragrance from the cooking fish started to fill the main room of the home. “Or the little one will get angry.”

“Can’t have that now, can we?” Rosemary laughed, wiping her cheeks with the back of her ankle and wiggling to give herself a little room. “Really, thank you.”

Her only answer to that was a kiss from three loves at once and a heart full to bursting.

“Careful,” Trestle whispered in her ear, “Careful….”

Rosemary huffed and glowered at him. “I have plated food before, Tres.” Rosemary finished pouring the stew over the rice and nipped his cheek. “You just want an excuse to hover over my shoulder.”

He lifted one hind leg, brushing it against her hindquarters. “Well, I would prefer to hover over your rear, but…”

“Not before dinner, dear,” Velvet chided and bit his ear, pulling him away to focus on his own part of dinner. “Fish now. Sex later.”

“Fiiine.” Trestle snorted and turned away, not even erect, and his scent only aroused but not flaring to the level of pre-coital musk. “Maybe I can have a sample of dessert?” he asked, flashing a wink at Velvet.

“It’s for Rosemary tonight, darling. Maybe tomorrow night.” Rosie stuck out her tongue and laughed when Velvet flirted her tail aside. “She did ask first.”

Rosemary stared as the older mare showing off her pouty marehood, and just underneath, the soft swell of her teats, each topped with a dark nipple and shaking as she stomped a hoof. They would be soft and tender, and she could just imagine Velvet’s cries as she suckled them. And Trestle’s urgency as he mounted her.

“Careful, or Trestle might try a sample of his dessert,” Rosie said with a snort, flicking her ear and staring pointedly at his flaccid member as it slid free, halted, and retracted.

Trestle rolled his eyes and pulled out the last of the fish and began preparing it for the rice. “My dear. As much as I would like to mount her right now, I shan’t because my dearest wife has yet to eat, and my dear unborn child is also hungry.”

“And that,” Velvet purred as she bumped against his other side and kissed his neck, “is why after we eat dinner, I am going to lay down, embrace my wife and lick to my heart’s content. Because momma is also hungry.”

Rosie shivered and flicked her tail, but settled herself with a flick of her ears. “My dear. You may attempt to rile me up, but I’m not going to give you the pleasure of watching me flirt my tail.” She gave Trestle a little wink and stamped a hind hoof. “Before it’s time.”

With that, she pointedly turned her attention back to her work with a pot of artichoke hearts steeping in a honey mustard and cumin bath by the hearth fire, steaming and letting loose the fragrant scent of artichokes and the smoky, aromatics of mustard and cumin together with the strong metallic tones of the hearts.

“Hearts for all,” Trestle said when Rosie presented the pot to him. “Specially prepared just for you, Rosemary,” he said as he scooped out a heart for each bowl and set it gently atop the slab of fish slowly melting into chunks on the fish. “It’s a family recipe from Canterlot. Heated Hearts.”

“Spicy?”

“Not very much,” Trestle said with a grin. “It’s lickable safe. With a little pre-dessert dessert.”

“That’s the strawberry cream delight,” Velvet said, nodding to a frosted double-sealed clay jar sitting in a bucket of chilled water. “It’s been chilling all day.”

“And I can’t wait to taste it,” Rosie crowed as Trestle and Rosemary set the table and set the bowls of dinner about for everypony to enjoy. “Rosemary, would you care to speak the guest’s blessing?”

She nodded quickly. “Always, Rosie.” She cleared her throat and began to recite the old, not always adhered to traditional blessing a guest gave upon their host’s table, “In such wonderful company I find myself, let all know that I feel welcomed and loved. My love is your love.”

The other three repeated the last sentence in a soft undertone.

“Enjoy, everypony,” Velvet said, ducking to tuck into her stew without another word.

Trestle and his wife, Velvet, had come to Merrie on a vacation and fallen in love with the city’s beauty. And then run into its quite shockingly open views of love and sex, and sharing, wandering the streets with a perpetual blush that marked them as outsiders no matter what shade their coats.

To hear them tell it, Rosie had taken them under her care the instant they got off the ship, love in their eyes already for the city that would become their home. To hear Rosie tell it, they’d wandered into her shop, their necks and cheeks so flushed she thought it their coat color at first; a story both disputed with laughter and a tinge of pink in their cheeks.

Rosemary had been a gawky, eager lover at sixteen at the time they’d bonded together, and the vestigial mores of the Canterlotians had kept her from their bed for another two years, though she enjoyed talking and laughing and comparing notes on sexual practices with Rosie until then, and respected their preferences.

And still saw Rosie on the side.

“How is it?” Trestle whispered in an aside to her.

“Mmph!” Rosemary bobbed her head quickly and swallowed the thick stew. “Delicious. I did a good job stirring it if I do say so myself.”

Rosie paused between taking a bite of biscuit and stew to chuckle. “You don’t have to be quiet dears. Please.”

Rosemary nodded, ears flat. “Sorry. I just want to include you all.”

“Oh, we’re included,” Velvet said with a chuckle, dabbing at her lips. “Please, I know it’s been a while since you’ve seen Trestle.”

“And you,” Rosemary said with a scoff. “I love you both. I want to hear all about your trip to Canterlot.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Trestle said. “It was a long voyage with the wind barely moving half the time, and screaming at the sails the other half. Then a week-long carriage-ride to Canterlot.”

“And then back the same route. Because the roads north were mud,” Velvet grumbled. “It would have taken a whole month to get back that way, and with all the bandit activity…”

Rosemary groaned and nodded. It was one reason for the Royal Guard being cut in the last year to handle caravan guard duties. “And your parents?” She shifted her attention between Velvet and Trestle. “I know you were worried about telling them about Rosie. How’d that go?”

Velvet flicked an ear at Trestle as she slurped another mouthful of stew, her faint smile telling her she’d hear good news last.

“Well…” Trestle took refuge in a flaky biscuit, chewing thoughtfully. “Mama Table wasn’t… pleased. The least to hear all the ‘horror’ stories about Merrie were true.” He rolled his eyes. “It took a while to convince her I was still married to Velvet. I probably took a few years off her life with that revelation.” He chuckled. “Papa Table patted me on the back and wished me luck in my marriages. To which I corrected him: it is only one marriage, of course.”

He fell silent for a few minutes while he caught up on his meal, and Rosemary did likewise, enjoying the subtle burn of the radish and mustard against her tongue. Just enough to waken her nose to smells too faint for her to otherwise savor in the stew. It was a lovely bouquet of mustard, pepper, and creamy potato with a dozen other spices in small measure.

“My parents were more understanding, and congratulated her on the foal and the second marriage.” Velvet said. “When we told them about our other lovers, they were not as pleased, but they accepted it. Some of that old pegasus blood I suspect Rosewing had more of.”

“I’m glad, Velvet. Did either accept the invitation to come visit?” Rosemary glanced at Trestle, then Velvet. “When the foal is born?”

“Velvet’s did. Mine… My dad offered, and mother threatened divorce if he set foot within the city limits.” He shrugged, but couldn’t hide the pain behind his eyes. “She’s very traditional.”

Rosemary’s jaw firmed. That pain wouldn’t last past the night. “I’ll be there for the birthing, if you’ll have me.” She glanced at Velvet. “I mean, I know you still have some foibles, and I’d rather not tread on your tail if I can avoid it.”

Velvet’s ears ticked for a moment as she slowed her chewing, then swallowed. “Yes. Whatever you choose about our offer, Rosemary, yes. I want you to be there, talking me on.”

“I’ll be there. I promise.”

“Delicious,” Trestle said around his clean tongue candy and scraped out the last of the stew out of Rosemary’s bowl with his spoon before dunking it into the sink with the rest of the dishes. “And you mares never leave me anything to scrape out like generous Rosemary does,” he added, pouting.

Rosie chuckled as she rolled her hooves down Velvet’s back in a slow massage of her aching muscles, making her as comfortable as possible while she mewled soft pleasure at the ministrations.

“Rosemary is a kind and generous soul who eats far too primly to ever lick her bowl clean.” Velvet purred, displaying her candy on her tongue for a brief moment, teasing them all and rolling her shoulders before she sagged nearly to lay her chest against the table. “Just like you, Trestle.”

“Bah. That’s what spoons are for,” he declared, spinning one in his magic and plunking it back in the sink. “Why don’t you three go set up and I’ll join you as soon as I’ve washed everything.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rosie said, “and it’ll get Velvet on her side sooner. You really need to rest more, lovely. You were on your hooves far too much today.”

“Meh.” Velvet grunted as she rose, hind legs shaking again as she took the weight of her foal and water. “I need to exercise or I’ll get too fat to fly.”

Rosemary held her gently while she swayed with a spell, and set a gentle massage spell along her spine. It wasn’t as intimate or welcoming as hooves, but it would do the trick until Rosie could take over again. “How are you for tonight?”

“Eager,” Velvet said, raising her tail to show her marehood already damp. “I’ve been wanting to be in your embrace again, lovebird.” She crooned as Rosemary ducked forward to sample the damp with her tongue, a faintly sweet acidic taste to her. “Not yet, lover… Let me get to bed first.”

Rosie flicked her tail up as she fell back to kiss Rosemary and get the taste off her lips. “Delicious, Vel… as always.”

She glanced over her back, shuddering, and hiked her tail higher, marehood contracting and the tight bud of her anus puckering tighter. “Stars, you two. I’ve missed that sight.” She grunted as she stepped up to the bed, holding herself steady with her wings partly spread.

Rosemary stood behind her, waiting until she steadied herself with a with a wider stance of all four legs, an obvious invitation for her with her tail still raised, her thighs apart to show off the gentle swell of teat and nipple. One step forward was all it took to nip at the back of Velvet’s thigh to let her know she was there, then tucked her muzzle between those delicious thighs to latch gently onto one teat and draw the nipple against her teeth with a strong suckle before releasing it.

Velvet’s hind legs quivered and her clitoris stiffened briefly to part her lower petals. “I-is that the game tonight?” she asked through a stuttering breath.

“Mmhm.” Rosemary nosed her thigh again, kissing her winking clit. “Lie down.”

“Oh, Trestle, you poor stallion,” Velvet said with a groan as she settled first to her chest, then settled more tenderly and in stages to her belly before rolling to her side in the trough just for her. “I take it…” she glanced at Rosie. “You’ll be on me, too?”

“Behind,” Rosie said.

“No… no, let me take care of you tonight.” Velvet nosed the blankets in front of her. “Come lie down. You’ll get a better view, too.” She glanced at Rosemary, grinning. “And I want to watch, too. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him mount another pony.”

“Last night?” Rosie asked, eyebrow arched. “Or did you fall asleep?”

Velvet laughed and nosed the sheets again. “Slept like a foal. Now come lay down. I want to get you started before she starts on me.”

“Shoot. And we did it so you could watch, too.” Rosie sighed and flicked her tail up. “Ah well, still fun.” She backed up to the bed, tail flagging high and to the side, stepped up, and crept back until Velvet reached up to nip her hind leg, then settled slowly, dangling her forelegs over the edge of the bed to touch the ground but barely.

Rosemary settled in on the bed to watch, idly nosing Velvet’s belly and rubbing her cheek against the midnight blue expanse. Her tail flagged and raised as Velvet began her always slow starting ministrations, nuzzling and snuffling at Rosie’s hard-winking marehood and only offering occasional shallow licks that made Rosie’s breath catch before she released it in a huff.

Her ears ticked as she caught the sound of cupboards opening and clinking dishware being piled up. She shivered, anticipation wringing her thoughts into noodles, and the smell of Rosie’s rising desire and Velvet’s anticipatory need flooded her nostrils.

Rosemary cast a simple reflective spell above Velvet’s head, mist drawn into a plane of ice so pure and flat it reflected, angled so she could watch her lovers working together.

Rosie’s breathing grew shallower, then deeper as Velvet plied her tongue and nose along the deep, slick canal, then left to begin at her clitoris, licking and suckling to draw it out, then latching on with a soft sucking sound. Evelvet met Rosemary’s yes with one of hers, making the younger mare shiver and rock her hind hooves farther apart, tail flicking up to almost curl over her back.

“Vel…” Rosie groaned, licking her lips and shifting her hindquarters. “Stars… that tongue always—” She gasped as Velvet’s tongue slipped into her without warning. The pregnant mare’s violet eye trapped Rosemary’s gaze before it closed and she pushed her muzzle more firmly against Rosie’s sopping sex. “Vel! Stars, deeper!”

Trestle came in, a bowl still held suspended, and grinned. “Ah… thank the stars I didn’t miss it.” His cock slid free, stiffening quickly as he watched in the mirror. He glanced at Rosemary, shivered, and half-pranced towards, her, his member bobbing and slapping against his belly as he flexed his stomach. He glanced at the bowl, shook his head, and set it on the bedside table. “I am not missing this.”

Rosemary raised her hindquarters fractionally higher, inviting him to take her right there and then. “I want you, Tres. Come mount me.”

“Ah, with an offer like that,” he murmured, stepping to the side and pressing his muzzle against her thigh, dipping between to lick at her teat and then up to suckle at her exposed clitoris. “Such a sweetly musky odor, little bird,” he crooned, his eyes flicking from her face to the mirrored surface.

Rosie was mewling, her forehooves curling and uncurling as Velvet rocked her head up and down, coming up only for brief seconds for air, then slipping back into Rosie’s pulsing, slick vulva. Her ankle, she positioned under Rosie’s nethers to let her rock her clit against the hard surface as she wished.

She wished, and her cries rose as Trestle’s tongue started bathing Rosemary’s dock in between bites and pauses to watch.

“Stars… you learned a few things about the dock,” Rosemary said, clenching her hindquarters and feeling herself quiver with need as he did, his tail flicking as he eyed her rear, grinned, and nipped beside her tail.

“You are too kind to me,” he said in a rolling husk of a rumble, his shoulders hunching as he flexed his stomach, another clear drop of liquid budding and dribbling to the bowl.

Rosemary stamped a hind hoof, more out of reflexive need than a demand, but he nosed at her nethers and plied his tongue slowly up the crease between her petals, flicking lightly across the tiny dimple of her urethra and then up to her depths, sliding in, then out in a second and drawing a dribble of her excitement as she whimpered and shuddered, pressing her cheek more firmly against Velvet’s belly, eyes closed for just an instant.

Rosie cried out, her hindquarters twitching. Rosemary had missed the moment just before, that clenching of the brow, the twitch of lips, and the sharp, sudden breath just before the release. But not the aftermath. Rosie’s beautiful face slackened as she moaned, her mouth dropping open, her ears going slack.

Velvet lifted her head, her muzzle slick from nose almost to cheek with the excess she’d rolled against, her hind leg lifting in her own arousal, mimicking Rosemary’s own wide stance and revealing her twinned teats in all their glorious beauty.

Rosie panted softly, her withers shivering, her coat twitching with each aftershock as Velvet plied her tongue more liberally and chastely along the outer of Rosie’s thighs, cleaning her as much as she could. Bathing would be the order of the night before bed, and perhaps another quick rut. If Trestle was up for a third.

“Stars, Velvet,” Rosie said at last, swallowing and licking her lips, eyes straying immediately to Trestle. “And our good stallion, watching me become dessert.” Their eyes met as Rosemary watched, and a spark seemed to pass between them, a faint flick of his tail and a soft whinny said more between them than Rosemary imagined they could say with words.

“‘Twas only admiring the dishes before I found my own dessert. And such…” He paused to press his nose firmly against the winked open passage. “Such an eager dish she is…”

“I’m with you tonight, Trestle,” Rosemary said in a throaty husk, setting her stance farther apart. She wanted him to mount her vigorously the first time. She wanted the heat and pressure building inside her.

“Ahem,” Velvet said, shaking her raised hind leg and setting her teats to shifting and rolling against her stomach. “And I’m yours, Rosemary.”

An unaccustomed flush touched her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Vel. I was so excited by…” She swallowed, the sound of Rosie’s orgasm and the smell of it still lingering in the air making her almost want to switch places. “Stars, Rosie… I forgot how beautiful you are when you come.”

“Mmhmm…” Rosie purred a laugh. “With your head between my thighs, that’s not a surprise.”

“May I, Rosemary,” Trestle asked, his voice fuzzing with the intensity of his desire. “I fear I may not last long if what I suspect…”

Rosemary confirmed his suspicions for him, nosing the lower of Velvet’s teats before slurping the nipple between her lips with a flick of her tongue.

“Stars, you mares…” He reared up without much preamble and settled to Rosemary’s back, his forelegs finding purchase around her barrel as he sidled forward with halting steps, his cock probing the back of her leg, twitching up to prod her thigh. “Been too long,” he grumbled. “You’re too short, little lovebird.”

“Says the giant,” Velvet said, her voice already fuzzing as Rosemary plied lick after lick against the nipple, wetting it thoroughly. “The first time you mounted me, you went in the back door.”

“As I recall,” Trestle said with a grunt as he prodded again at Rosemary’s back… almost finding her backdoor. “You quite enjoyed that.”

Rosemary slipped Velvet’s stiff nipple between her teeth, gentle as she could, and began to suckle slow, pulling Velvet’s teat against her lips with each slow draw and release of breath. The hind leg over her cycled once, then straightened out as Velvet opened herself wider to Rosemary’s suckling.

“Stars… let me get in before you…” Trestle hilted himself in her canal, his cock’s head already half flared as he groaned aloud, sidled a step closer, and rocked his hips back, pulling the thick head of his shaft against her inner walls.

She drew in a sharp breath at the first entrance, sending Velvet into a mewling whimper. As the smell of her arousal peaked and her breathing grew more labored and she pressed her head against Rosie’s dam hindquarter’s her ears flicked back.

“Vel? I… I want to watch,” Rosie said, shifting herself about.

“Go, Velvet said, shivering. “I get to watch the next one. Stars, I love watching him mount you Rosie… And you, Rosemary.” She shivered and rolled her head back. “And those teeth. Gyah… More…”

Trestle grunted and hilted himself deep, his length pulsing inside her, her muscles contracting in waves as she huffed and pulled more firmly at Velvet’s teat, huffing through her nose.

“Let me know when, Rosie…” Trestle rocked his hips once, stopped with a shudder and pressed his nose into the back of her neck, his cock twitching inside her. “But hurry. She’s teasing me really badly tonight. I think...” He groaned and raised his head, his hips twitching as Rosemary released the teat and gave her mound three quick laps, teasing her and not quite touching Velvet’s clitoris..

Rosie slipped to the floor pushing herself under Rosemary and reaching up with two hooves to stroke her belly and her own teats. “He’s all the way in, Vel… I can barely see his cock at all.”

Velvet shuddered, her tail dancing on the bed. “Gah! Don’t tempt me to come watch.”

“Too late,” Trestle said with a huff. He pulled back, slipping free of Rosemary entirely to spill a thin streamer precum and marecome into Rosie’s mane and across her ears. Without more than a fraction of a second’s pause, he thrust back in, and built up a quick rhythm of thrusts, each one dragging at Rosemary’s pleasure, drawing her higher and higher, fuzzing her mind towards that ecstatic release of heat. She still tried to keep her focus on Velvet’s teats, but her suckling was becoming more erratic the faster Trestle rutted her, and the thicker his medial ring and flare grew.

Rosie’s tongue danced along the skin of her labia as Trestle pulled out again, her hot breath adding to the flushed heat pulsing in her loins and making Trestle whinny as tongue and slick flesh teased him into pulling out for longer, his hooves curling against her flanks as he settled and whined his pleasure out into her neck.

“Rosie!” She cried into Velvet’s stomach, she couldn’t focus on suckling her lover’s teats anymore, she couldn’t do much but pant and keep her stance as she rocked against him, pushed more and more against the bed as his thrusting grew more frantic, quicker, shorter, his head flaring inside her.

It was Rosie’s hooves on her belly, her lips on Rosemary’s clit, tongue slipping into her with Trestle’s final thrust, that helped her cross close to him, pressing against the surge of her climax.

She screamed out her pleasure into the space between Velvet’s belly and the bed, a short, sharp cry as pleasure and heat broke over her, shivering her hind legs as he continued pulling her against his loins, each new press of loin to hindquarter spilling his hot seed into her, flooding her with heat not of her own making as his mingled with hers.

Four more thrusts drew a short whinny from her, and she panted herself into a shuddering stop. He made one last effort, but faltered, resting heavily on her back, his breath fogging her mane as he licked her neck and nipped at her shoulder before resting his cheek between her shoulder blades.

Rosie laughed softly, panting herself as she lapped away at the mixed come dribbling from her. “Marvelous!” She paused to nuzzle Rosemary’s teats before she went back to lapping away at the results of their combined orgasms, breaking for breaths and exhortations of her own lost. “Oh, stars Rosemary. Trestle. That was beautiful.”

Trestle limpened within her and he dropped from Rosemary’s back, his cock flopping as Rosemary looked back, beautiful and red and black mottling shining with their combined lusts. “Give… ah… give me a few minutes, lovely.”

Rosie moaned into Rosemary’s nethers as she licked away at the still dribbling come. “Vel, you next,” she said when she leaned away for a breath.

“Mmm. Came once already,” she moaned. “Watching Trestle. Might have to try him in the back.”

“Any time,” Trestle murmured. “Any time.”

“Tomorrow,” Velvet moaned as Rosemary plied her gentle teeth against the swollen nipple as she pressed her lips into the tender swell of her teat. “Stars, Rosemary.”

An hour later, Rosemary lounged in the common bath just down the road, her heart and body filled with the fading afterglow of sex with her lovely friends who rested in the water around her, Velvet with her head resting on Rosemary’s shoulders, sleeping quietly and lightly.

“How are you doing?” Trestle asked softly, nuzzling her ear.

“Fine, sweetheart. Stars…” Her tail flicked through the water languidly. “I forgot how much I missed you three.”

“Not as much as we love you, sweetie,” Trestle murmured, nipping at her cheek.

“I wanted it a little hard. I was hungry tonight.” Rosemary grinned and turned to nuzzle him, then meet him in a slow, heated kiss that lasted a few seconds before he pulled back, his eyes smouldering for a moment before he looked past her.

“Rosemary, lovely, did tonight help you at all?” Rosie whispered in her ear.

“Yes. Stars yes. Just being with you, being away from the estate, even having a bit of normalcy…” Rosemary let out a breath. “I needed tonight.”

“Then we’re glad to have given it to you,” Trestle murmured from Velvet’s other side. “Our home is always yours.”

“Thank you.”