Author's Note

Two chapters left until the end of the road. The next chapter should only be a couple weeks at the longest since I split this chapter in two. The part at the end is a reference to the Gentlemanverse classic, Feathered Heart If you haven't already done so, go read DEL's masterpiece and badger him into updating it again! Seriously, bro, we're getting thirsty over here!

Edit: 10/13/2015. We're still waiting.

5/22/2018: Grammarly edit and F pressing for DEL who left for greener pastures in late 2016.

[F]

Do The Right Thing Part 1

I moaned gently as I awoke in my bed with Richard laying next to me, holding me around my middle. I called out to him softly but he was fast asleep. I looked out the window, and into the starry sky, feeling a warmth in my heart that complemented the cool night air. Could a moment be more perfect than this? Not wishing to wake him up after giving me such a wonderful night, I allowed him to rest as I contemplated the previous day.

Expecting to come home to a standoff worthy of Daring Do, I was blindsided by the completely unforeseen contingency of a perfectly normal workday. Lily occupied her usual spot amongst the plants in the greenhouse, listening for incoming calls, while Daisy took care of the huge line of human and pony customers. Daisy greeted him warmly and told him it was okay for him to help me with the work so long as there was no ‘horseplay’ while Rose was on the job. I asked about Lily and was told she could wait until the workday was over.

“Did I do something wrong?” I’d asked her.

She shook her head. “No, but you’re about to be very, very busy.” She had me go inside and manage the books — a job she normally reserved for herself.

Even with Richard’s help, it was hours before the paper wars were brought to a successful denouement. Of course, Daisy’s filing system made no sense to me at all, and the phones were ringing off the hook. I looked out at Daisy who was talking animatedly with the customers, wishing I was in her shoes, while Richard sorted waybills and receipts. Celestia help me, I actually preferred haggling with Granny Smith at that point!

Even Richard seemed determined to keep me working, having turned me down for a quick chase around the bedroom. “I’d rather not give your boss reason to hate me.”

“Why not? I do all the time!” I retorted.

Richard just laughed, shaking his head, as he continued working.

By the time we got done sorting all the paperwork and managed the books, the shop was closed up, and to my surprise, Lily left with Golden Harvest without coming in for dinner. I couldn’t shake the feeling I was personally responsible somehow but reminded myself that she had her own life now and not everything was about me.

If it was somehow my fault, I didn’t get that impression from Daisy, who spent that night entertaining us. Dizzy Twister made a rare appearance, still dressed in her maid’s outfit — a rather odd profession for a pegasus, but who am I to judge? Richard stole the show, as usual, charming the two mares with his tales of high-flying adventures. Thankfully, Daisy hadn’t mentioned his other profession, saving the lot of us from awkward questions.

The two of them did ask about Gala but were more interested in hearing about the visiting human politicians than about the Princesses. Dizzy Twister peppered him with questions about western governance ranging from the role of a U.S. senator to the difference between governors and governors-general. Richard admitted he didn’t know as much as Canadian government as he should, but from his explanation, they were once ruled by a monarchy that shared many traits with our diarchy — except their monarchs couldn’t control the heavenly bodies, and weren’t immortal. It struck me as a very inefficient system. Who in their right mind would give mortals absolute authority even though they can’t even control their own weather? I’m sure to them, it must make perfect sense... somehow.

Pleased that Richard had won over the two of them over and confident that the others would eventually follow suit, we bathed and headed upstairs to my room, enjoying each other’s company the best way we knew how.

*****

A loving kiss to my right ear followed by an equally exquisite nibble told me that Richard wasn’t quite done with me yet. Not content to merely tease, his tongue went to work on the sensitive part behind my ear he knew was there, drawing a needy moan. My body given over to my increasing desire to be filled by him, I felt my inner walls expand.

“Mount me, Richard!” I said huskily, standing on all fours and exposing myself to him.

In reply, I felt each inch of the thick shaft of his manhood glide slowly across my entrance, making me anticipate the moment when I would feel every one of those glorious inches inside me. He does so enjoy his work! “Yes, ma’am!” he replied, getting onto his feet and kneeling down on the bed while leaning into me for support. Despite the urgency of my request, he couldn’t help but first kissing my cutie mark, and giving my teats a gentle squeeze.

An impatient whine escaped my muzzle. I was loathe to make him rush into action, but the house would soon be filled with activity, so time was of the essence. He stretched himself across my back, slowly as not to create a painful pressure point. I could easily support his weight as long as it was distributed properly.

With the hand he wasn’t using to balance himself, he stroked the length of my tail, appreciating the feel of the long hairs in his hand. The human’s fixation on such seemingly mundane and non-sexual parts of the pony anatomy was and is one of his most endearing and occasionally exasperating qualities, but one I was content to allow him to indulge. He found something in me that set me apart from every other mare in Equestria when he just as easily could found a mare of much higher status to match himself with. And yet, despite everything, he was in my room at that very moment seeking my approval — a humbling thing to consider. So, instead of telling him to get on with it, I allowed him to satisfy his curiosity, thankful to experience such an intimate exchange.

Having contented himself, he entered me gently, parting the lips of my marehood and locking himself within my warm and welcoming embrace. I bit my lip to keep from crying out: Lily was awake by now, and I didn’t want to make a sound. Ever the receptive lover, Richard worked his way inside me with slow and practiced thrusts, as eager to prolong the engagement as I was to contain my excitement. I thought of Lily and Daisy listening carefully near the doorway; the idea of being overheard both thrilled me and filled me with shame.

We continued on for over an hour, taking turns pulling out before the climax. Outside my window, the sun began to rise in the sky, heralding the coming of Daisy storming up to my room to demand my presence downstairs. “Richard, five minutes!” I told him, reminding him when we had to start our day.

“Hang on tight, Rose!”

We abandoned any pretense of formality and began to rut in earnest, my back legs occasionally leaving the bed as we ground into each other. Feeling myself approaching the threshold, I wisely bit down on the pillow to keep from screaming, whinnying, or otherwise calling attention to myself as he came inside of me — setting me off as well. Instead, I just snorted loud and long before taking a shuddering gulp of air, and hoping I wasn’t as obvious as I sounded.

Of course, Richard managed his end of the bargain without so much as a sound. Show off!

“One day, I’m going to figure out how you do that, Richard.” I climbed out of bed onto four shaky legs, grabbing a towel from the closet with my teeth, and flinging it over my back.

Richard opened the bedroom door having grabbed his own clothes, and invited me to go through. “Let's just say I’ve had quite a few incidents similar to your own back in the day. In the enlisted barracks for the Air Force, you don’t get a lot of privacy. ”

I imagined myself packed into a room with a bunch of mares, trying to clop one off without alerting them to what I was doing; I felt a surge of appreciation for the sacrifices of the Wonderbolt cadets. Having passed through my own trial without creating a third Great Disaster, I thanked the stars and walked downstairs to breakfast for another day of work.

*****

Lily was already hard at work inside the greenhouse after having loaded the cart I’d be pulling to Canterlot for a routine delivery: no arrangements or setup this time, just a basic drop and collect. I had half a mind to go talk to her right then and there, but I still wasn’t sure what to say to her. So I took the easy way out of it and trotted off without a word.

By the time I got back, the shop had closed for the day. Daisy was nowhere to be seen and Lily was securing the flower stall. Sighing, I decided the time was finally now. “This is it, Richard. I guess I better go do this…”

He nodded sagely. “Rose, just remember that’s your friend over there; she isn’t looking for reasons to hate you… and neither am I.” Richard ran his fingers through my mane, reassuringly.

And yet, she’s never had a problem with finding fault with me before. I sighed. “Cover me, Stuntman, I’m going in!”

“Once more unto the breach, dear friend, once more,” Richard said dramatically.

“Or close the wall up with our Equestrian dead,” I added, solemnly.

“Somehow, I doubt it will come to that,” Richard said with a smile, “good luck!”

I secured the wagon next to the greenhouse and walked over to Lily while Richard went inside the house to give us privacy. “Hey, Lily. You need some help with that?”

Lily looked up at me in surprise. She’d been pushing the stall, now up on wheels, with her head and hadn’t seen me coming. “Oh, ah, sure! So, um… how are you and Richard doing?” she asked, trying to break the ice.

“We’re doing great, Lily,” — Lily and I began pushing the stall together — “things are getting pretty serious between us.”

I caught the barest flash of disappointment in her eyes. “That’s… great, Rose. I-I don’t really understand why it’s a human that finally won you over, but I’m glad you finally found somepony.” With one last push up the ramp, we secured the stall, closed the door to the greenhouse behind us, and sat next to a cluster of zinnia pots.

Confident I’d found some privacy for the moment, I wiped my forehead and looked into her golden eyes. “Lily, I’m scared…”

Her worried expression softened. “Rose, like I’ve said before, I’ve been through this before too. Everything will be fine.” She reached for my hoof with her own.

I couldn’t help but flinch at her touch, and not because it was at all unpleasant. “All of the time we’ve been together, and this happens now!” I stamped my forehooves angrily, making her start. “How could I go for so long without telling you how special you are to me? I was so happy for you when you and Golden Harvest got together, I couldn’t help myself. But how could I tell you all of this? You, who’s spent all of this time hiding from the world and suffering in isolation? I might have taken some of that pain off of you, and helped you find your place, but I just didn’t know what to say. I-I still don’t know what to say…”

Lily was silent for a moment. She then took a visible breath and closed the distance between us until all I could see was her face. Amidst the red flags and alarm bells suddenly going off loudly inside my head, I caught a whiff of Lily’s scent — lily of the valley, appropriately enough. Cadance, help me, she’s in heat! I felt the small hairs of her muzzle brush against my own, and then I heard a gentle gasp only to realize it was my own. The heat in my cheeks and marehood growing, we began to nuzzle each other intimately, my inhibitions useless as Lily’s scent washed over me.

“Forgive me, Rose…” Lily said softly, as she began to nuzzle my neck. “I still want you so much…”

“I… I…” my voice caught in my throat. Rose, you are doing something very stupid and will soon get caught! Stop now before you can’t!

The voice of reason was lost as my inner fooler took command of the situation. Lily’s tongue began to work its way up my neck in long, languid strokes, stopping occasionally to plant a kiss. Reaching the top, our eyes met once more and our tongues finally met; we licked each other with all the demure grace of two school fillies having their ‘first time’. In that instant, I realized just how badly I wanted to have been the source of her release that night. Perhaps I should have joined Golden Harvest...

Rose, Stop! Richard and Daisy are inside the house right now, you stupid foal! To my mingled relief and regret, the thought of Richard snapped me out of my lustful haze, causing my eyes to widen, and myself to hurriedly push back. I immediately looked around frantically for somepony watching.

Lily had a similar sudden surge of sanity, pushing back at the same moment. “Rose, I’m… we’re… eep!” Lily hid under a huge, elevated bed of red, yellow, and pink knockout roses.

“We’re standing inside of a building with see-through walls!” I exclaimed, finishing her thought, making another desperate search for possible spies. Something about this greenhouse really makes me paranoid, even with nopony I can see from the inside. “W-where’s Daisy?”

“L-Last I saw her, she was out back setting up the firepit. We’re going to have all of our friends over, soon, to meet your new stallion.” Lily’s explained shakily, her normally high-pitched voice approaching ‘breezie’ levels. “I’m… afraid to look, d-did we get busted by Daisy?”

My own heart was going a mile a minute at the thought. “There’s nopony looking, Lily, you can come out.” It is comforting to see that even after everything that’s happened to us, she’s still the same old Lily in some ways. “Let's go catch her before she catches us. It’s foalproof! We can, ah, talk later, in a less obvious venue.”

Lily climbed out from under her thorny fortress, brushed off her coat, and smiled at me awkwardly. “I guess I never really stopped caring about you either huh? That was… wow.” Lily exhaled deeply, her cheeks still flushed. “I’ll j-just be in the back then…”

“I’ll see you there, Lily, and… yeah, that was definitely... wow.”

Lily, having been backing up mindlessly towards the door, reached it with a bump to the rump causing her to squeak again. “Um, bye!” The exalted overmare of the undignified exit turned, opened the door on this final attempt, and departed forthwith.

She should change her name to ‘Exit Strategy’. I covered my face with both hooves so much for any questions about my orientation! “At least nopony saw anything…” I mumbled to myself, knowing my world had just changed irrevocably, and not necessarily for the better.

“Your secret is safe with me, Rosie!”

“Thanks, Pink... ie?” my blood froze.

“Nopony here but us daisies!” the Pink Menace replied from somewhere inside the greenhouse.

“You saw nothing!” I shouted, leaving the greenhouse and locking the door behind me. I knew better than to ask why she was there.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie called back cheerfully from behind the closed door.

I briefly considered telling somepony about Pinkie’s intrusion but changed my mind immediately. If there’s one thing every pony in Ponyville can agree on, it’s that Pinkie Pie is watching... forever.

*****

I didn’t go immediately to Richard and tell him about what happened. I remembered the fear in his eyes when I’d first brought up my Lily issue. No, this was an issue I’d settle myself once and for all, no jerking his reins for me.

Richard and I greeted our guests in the living room within an hour of me leaving the greenhouse. Golden Harvest, pleased to see me in a less grouchy state, greeted me warmly before going out back to where Daisy and Lily were putting Daisy’s filly scout training to good use starting a fire. Linky, whose mane was tamed down to a manageable two curls in the front and one in the back with three curls on her tail, looked more civilized than ever. As if to answer my unasked question of why, her new marefriend, Twinkleshine, stood next to her.

“Hiiii Roseluck!” Twinkleshine greeted me with the voice of a grade-school filly. It’s amazing to think she’s in her late twenties.

“Come on in, gals!” I lead them inside to the living room couches. As we were both paired off — Linky with Twinkleshine and Richard with myself — it made seating arrangements a bit confusing. Traditionally, it is considered bad form to sit alongside the members of another herd, assuming, of course, they’re guests and not members of your household. To improvise, I gave Richard the recliner and stood next to him; Linky and Twinkleshine laid on the sofa, facing each other. I offered them all hard cider, except Linky who didn’t drink alcohol, which they accepted.

“Greetings, Lucky Shot!” Linky exclaimed, addressing me affectionately by the nickname she’d given me during our snowball fights with the other Ponyville teams the previous winter. “Who’s yer human friend? He looks quite strong!”

“I’m Richard, stunt flyer and honorary pegasus. And would I be correct that you are a farmer from the Southern Region of the Gryphon Kingdom?” The Gentleman gave her a knowing look.

I was very impressed that Richard would know such an obscure piece of information. Then again, he’s probably befriended more griffons than I’ve ever met in my life. I wondered if he’d ever had sex with one and made a note of asking him sometime. I am curious about such things, or perhaps just very nosy.

Visibly impressed, Linky smiled proudly. “Oho! Yeh know a thing or two about Caleponians do yeh? Well, ye right — me sister and I were born and raised in Caleponia Province in the Shetlands and came to Ponyville after Goldie grew old enough to call herself a mare: I wasn’t about to leave her up there to brave the winters alone. We said goodbye to our friends and family, and moved here to Equestria ten years ago.”

“What made you decide to leave? Did you just get tired of the farming and the weather?” Richard asked.

Linky scowled, a look that would terrify a lesser pony. “Oh, I hate farming. It’s all rubbish! Lots of work and when yer done, yer reward is more work and ending with winter and boredom! I wouldn’t have done it at all if I hadn’t been born into it. Not Goldie though, she just thinks there’s no better life than rooting around in the dirt and minding yer own business. Not me! Fighting’s in me blood!”

Twinkleshine giggled. “She’s not lying. She really is an ancient warrior ware at heart. Isn’t she just the greatest?” Across from her, Linky gave a silly grin that made me chuckle, which is managed to pass off as a coughing spell.

Linky reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a water bottle which she opened and picked up with her teeth, gulping it all in one swallow before setting it back down. “Yeh coming down with the cold, Lucky Shot?” she smirked, successfully fooled by my fake coughing. “Anyway, it seemed like the perfect plan: get out of farming and take Goldie someplace safe. Well, one outta two is… sumthin’ at least. Me parents were too old for farming, and I wasn’t having anything to do with that nonsense, so they sold the farm, and moved to the nearby steadholt to live out their retirement days in peace as they’d always promised. But then...” Linky’s face went grim.

Richard’s face fell as he assumed the worst. He wasn’t mistaken.

“Six years ago, when the Cloven of The Sun invaded, they left none alive. Me friends, both pony, and griffin, and nearly all of me family perished early in the war with nuthin’ but their courage to stand against them.” Linky’s voice never faltered, but her quivering eyes and lip grew more pronounced.

Richard moved quickly to try to salvage the situation, “Linky, I’m very…”

“Don’t yeh apologize for nothin’!” Linky cut in, her eyes flashing as she pointed a hoof at Richard’s chest. “The Gryphon Kingdom would have fallen prey to the Cloven without the help of yer nation’s marines! Me family and friends died as heroes and their blood was avenged; I can’t ask for more than that.” Linky gazed into the eyes of her mate and placed a forehoof atop hers. Twinkleshine returned the gesture with her other hoof and nuzzled Linky’s cheek.

I’d never seen such an open acknowledgment of vulnerability from the steely mare in my entire life. I discreetly wiped a tear from my eye, while the room gave the two of them their moment.

Linky’s expression softened as she turned to face us, the moment gone. “I… I’m sorry. That was… not how I meant to enjoy our evening.” she choked back a sudden surge of tears.

“There was nothing you possibly could have done to stop it, Linky,” Twinkleshine said, lovingly. “At least your sister is safe, thanks to you.”

“Yeh make sense, Twinkles, as you always have. One day I might convince meself of the truth of your words, but in me heart, I can’t help but feel me place was defending me kin as any Caleponian warrior would. I know It sounds ridiculous, but…” she couldn’t continue.

“Not at all, Linky,” Richard spoke up. “I wasn’t there, but Twinkleshine is correct that there was nothing you could do to prevent what happened. If you had been there, you and your sister would have died along with them.”

“Aye…” Linky muttered miserably.

“But, as a warrior, you feel responsible for defending your kin, as you did when you came here with your sister,” Richard said. It was a statement of fact, not a question.

Linky nodded jerkily.

Richard crossed the room slowly and knelt down next to where Linky lay on the couch, where she was staring sadly at the floor. “I’ve been lucky to have never lost a comrade in battle, but it’s something you’re always thinking about whenever you go off to war. The thing about that level of kinship, something you must carry with you at all times, is the faith that those who’ve passed on would have offered no less than their own lives that you might live. Your friends and family would be happy to know you’re still alive, and honored to know their lives and their memories meant so much to you.”

“He’s right, Linky.” I walked up to my imposing friend and placed a comforting hoof on her back. “You’re one of the coolest mares in Ponyville, and we’re all very lucky to have you alive and well.”

Linky gave a choked sob and looked at Richard, who smiled again. “Your love for your family and friends and desire to defend them does you proud, Linky. I’ve known a few, so take it from me — you’d make a fine marine.”

She sniffled hard and her eyes glistened as slowly, she extended a hoof towards him. “O- oorah.”

Richard smiled and he extended his fist until they met halfway. “Oorah.”