Rest and Relaxation

Yards slowly walked back to the home they were staying in; stopping frequently to look around without seeing the world around him. He sat in the park and watched ponies go by. Numb from his fight he tried to figure out his life. When had he lost control? He’d always been so good about being in control of his life. It was measured. It was ordered. Slowly his life had been usurped and he no longer felt he had any control. Was it the military? Had the otherwise orderly routine made the transition into the hierarchy let him not notice how much autonomy he’d lost? Was it the mares? Exploring new areas of his life and fording into areas of unknown, where they causing him to question everything? Unable to find his answers he made his way back to the once stately manor.

The door to their room was locked. Oh great. He walked down the hall to the next door and tried it. This one wasn’t locked. He knocked briefly, unsure what was going on or if he even should walk into the room of two strange mares. The door open and a heavily mascaraed eye looked through the crack.

“Oh,” Aurora opened the door while announcing “Yards is back.”

Star poked her head out of the bathroom door. “Hey, we were about to go looking for you.”

Aurora walked into the room, holding the door for Yards..

Yards walked in behind her. “Yeah, I was doing some thinking. I’m a horrible pony.”

“No, you’re not, you had a lot on your mind. You made a mistake and the old mare got all flank-hurt.” Aurora blew her bangs back, giving

Yards a brief glimpse of both of her eyes. Was that a beauty mark or a massacre glob?

“Hey now,”

“No, she’s right to be upset. We both know what it’s like to be unable to do normal unicorn things. We can both relate to why she feels inadequate, but why unduly burden yourself with a mare who’s already had a foal, and...uhm...is quite a bit older.” She stopped looking at him. She seemed suddenly very interested with the carpet. “She…” her voice trailed off as she swallowed hard. “She’d just be a much better friend...than...marefriend.” Her usual bravado quickly fell away as she entered the more personal territory.

Starfall raised an eyebrow at the unicorn before looking over at Yards. “Well. Aren’t you just the charmer.”

There was a knock at the bathroom door. Starfall turned around and stuck her head in the bathroom behind it. There was a tersely whispered conversation before she reemerged and looked at Yards.

“So, Toffee is wondering if you still want to go out. We waited for a while, but when you didn’t come back for a couple of hours, she wanted to get ready, you know, just in case.”

“Uh…” It wasn’t really fair not to. It was Toffee’s turn and she had gone through a lot of troubles. “I may not be the best of company but if she still wants to go I’ll try and be fun.”

Screw it. She was the element of Honesty. It would be best to be honest with her. He’d already lost the element of Loyalty by not being as loyal as he could have been to her.

The door opened and Toffee stepped out. She looked amazing. She had changed her mane style. There were now two pigtails bound with strings of green glass. A thin braid gathering the rest down the middle of her neck. She was actually wearing make-up. The mascara was nowhere near as thick as Aurora’s. Her lips were a soft pink. She had a choker with an emerald looking cabochon and ahead of some refined lady. Her saddle was emerald green with white lace. The skirt was multilayered and alternating green and white with a white petticoat under it. Her stockings were a matching green. Yards lost the ability to talk.

She blushed and rubbed at her forehooves together. Her martyr’s charm clanked against a bracelet on her other leg. “So…”

Yards wheezed ineffectually. “Wow!” He finally managed. Aurora snorted. Toffee blushed deeper. Starfall grinned. Catty walked into the room from the bathroom.

“Hold on, we’ve got to get him cleaned up.” She ran behind Yards and started to shove him into the bathroom. “We can’t have you going out there looking like a rag-a-muffin with her at your side.” She shoved him into the shower stall. “Hurry! WOO WOO!” She shouted again.
He turned on the shower and allowed it to pound down on him. Oh, what had he done? Was his team lost now? What was he going to do? He was going to try and be fair to Toffee. She’d gone through some serious trouble to get this together. It was only fair.

There was a bang on the shower door. “Let’s go! I don’t hear any sudzing in there!” Catty then walked towards his room.

Yards grabbed the shampoo and began to clean his mane. He took time in cleaning his hooves. They were filthy from all his walking around. There was a knock at the shower door again. “You’re outfit is on the vanity. Hurry up!”

Grumbling Yards turned off the shower. A towel flew down and wrapped around his head. He took it and began to dry himself quickly. As he walked out Catty had the blow-dryer at the ready. She instantly turned it on as he emerged. He stood there taking the hot air to the face. Catty began to work his tangled mess with a brush in her fetlock. She wasn’t gentle, tugging and yanking she grunted her displeasure at the state of his mane. “You really need to get a haircut,” she grunted with a mouth full of dryer handle.

With a final inspection, she turned his head back and forth, making slight adjustments. Then she sprayed him down with something sticky and foul smelling. He coughed and she “tisked” at him, readjusting his mane as it sat up. She glanced down at his hooves and gasped in horror. “Do you even own a rasp?” She pulled out a spare and began to chug away at the overgrowth of his hooves. He looked down at the zebra.

“Kathy?”

“Catty.”

“Oh, sorry. Catty, was Apple right?”

She grabbed his other hoof and started working it over. “I don’t know. I’ve not known her long enough to know how you’ve treated her.”
“What about the rest of it, I mean, I didn’t ask you to buff my hooves. Why are you doing this? It’s not because I’m a unicorn, right?”

“Toffee told me she never went to prom. This is her first real date.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she stood up and got nose to nose with him. “That’s why you’re going to give her the best night of her life, right?”

“Okay, but how? I mean, she’s cute.”

“Did you go?”

“With my cousin.”

Catty started to say something then stopped. “No, that’s so wrong even I can’t make a joke about it.” She then booped his nose. “Trust me, Toffee is way more your speed than Aurora.”

“You’re really not going to answer me about Apple, are you?”

“Some lessons have to be lived.”

She let go of his hoof and grabbed the business collar on the vanity and lowered it around his neck. It was white with a dark green tie. Catty snugged the knot against his throat.

“There, you’re as handsome as you’re going to get.” She smacked him on his flank with a grin. “Go get ‘er.”

Yards walked into the room. The mares all nodded approvingly.

“The tiara is still adorable,” whispered Catty.

“It’s not a tiara, it’s a mana governor,” he snapped. “Well, are you ready?” he asked Toffee. Toffee nodded her agreement and the two left the room together.

“We won’t wait up!” called out Starfall.

“Woo woo!” shouted Catty once again.

They made their way out of the house, turning several heads.

“So, where are we going?” he asked his date.

“To ‘The Constellation’.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“Sure.”

“That’s a really nice dress.”

“Thanks. Turn here.”

They walked in quiet for a block. Unsure what to say to each other. Finally Yards broached a safe topic.
“So, about the case, do you have any other ideas after…”

“No.” Toffee didn’t discuss the fight either. This was supposed to be their time. “We did go check into all the other cases and the victims were all unicorns.”

“Not even a pegasus?”

“Nope. Just unicorns.”

The Constellation was just on the edge of the “bad part” of Canterlot. It was an old theater that had been listed as a historic landmark, but fallen into disuse. Now it had been reopened as a dinner theater that was ideally located close enough to the bad part of town for street credit for the well to do, but still close enough to a good neighbourhood that the well to do felt safe.

Yards pulled the door open for his date and watched as she walked into the foyer.

“Chips, party of two,” she told the maitre d. The unicorn behind the podium made a show of checking the list.

“Ah, this way.” He turned and walked the couple to a table near the stage. He used his magic to push in Toffee’s cushion as she sat.
“Thank you,” she said. He nodded ever so slightly in recognition. Another unicorn came up to their table, floating a list in front of her. With a flourish she presented it to Yards.

“Our wine selection.”

Yards looked over at Toffee. He knew nothing about wines. His eyes glazed over at all the foreign words on the paper. “Uh…” He randomly pointed at one in the middle.

The wine steward snorted, “Would you like a full or half bottle.”

“Half is fine.”

With barely hidden disdain she turned to fetch their purchase.

“Which one did you get?”

Yards shrugged. “Something I couldn’t pronounce. I’m not that big on wine.”

“Awh, I’m surprised you don’t use knowledge of it to wow women.”

“Nah, I don’t handle alcohol that well.”

“Really? No wild parties while you were in boot camp?”

“Nope, learned my lesson back in high school.”

“That sounds like an interesting story.”

The steward returned with a bottle and two glasses. She pulled the cork and poured a little into one of the glasses before presenting it to Yards. He waited for her to fill it. She sighed and floated it up to his muzzle. For what he was paying he better be getting more than that. Toffee made a “drink it” motion with her hoof.

He tipped the glass. It tasted like old grape juice run through a sock. He coughed slightly, trying to cover it with his left hoof while thumping the table with his right. “Smooth…” he managed to choke. Toffee giggled and the steward grinned, despite herself
She poured the remainder of the bottle into the two glasses then sat them down in front of the couple before bowing ever so slightly and walking away.

“So, about that story…” Toffee looked at him over her wine glass. Yards pushed his away.

“It’s really embarrassing.”

“Oh, it can’t be that bad.”

Yards sighed. “Well, I was 15. I was ‘too old’ to go to the fair, or so I told everypony so they left me there at home.”

“Alone?”

He shook his head. My older cousin stayed too. She was at that phase too.”

“The ‘I want to assert my maturity by throwing a tantrum’ phase?”

“Yup.”

Toffee laughed, “When we’re done I’ll tell you a story about when I was that age.”

Yards smiled. “Good. Well, uhm, we found the key to grandpa’s liquor cabinet and, well…”

“How bad?” Toffee winced.

“Well, uh...I don’t remember. Me and Cotton had to work all fall to replace everything that was gone.”

She laughed. “Well, it could have been worse.”

Yards looked away. “yeah,” he whispered.

She perked up and tilted her head. “It gets worse?”

Yards looked up at the ceiling, blushing hard. He reached out, trembling and took a chug of his wine. He coughed again, kicking the table under the table cloth.

“Okay, how bad was it?”

“Uh, they came back that night. They...caught...us...”

“Wow, caught drunk by your family.”

“Yeah, ‘drunk’,” he mumbled into his wine glass.

She stopped, looked at him as his eyes opened wonder. “No.”

Yards finished his wine.

“No.” Horror spread across her face as she realized what had happened. Curse it but she was smart. “You and her...?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember. We weren’t actually...we were…” His blush turned him purple. Toffee slammed her head into the table.

“Wow, okay, I’ve got nothing that bad.” She blushed in sympathy embarrassment. “When I was a filly, I was a paste eater.”

“eau, you know what that’s made out of?”

“Well, yes, I do now.”

“You’ve tasted…”

She shrugged. “I was young. I didn’t know it was made out of animals.”

Yards shook his head.

A tray of toasted ravioli was sat down in front of Yards. He looked up curiously at the waiter. “I had to order when I made the reservations,” Toffee said.

Yards looked over at her as she ventured closer and reached out with a fork in her wing to pluck one of the pasta pockets and dip it in marinara. She hesitated for a moment, then offered it to him. He smiled at her and gently bit down. The gooey, cheesy, spinachy mass exploded in his mouth. It was pretty good. He nodded while he ate.

She grabbed one for herself and let out a happy squeal as she chewed.

Slowly the lights grew dim. A pony in a beret and an overcoat walked out onto the stage. There was a voice from nowhere announce: “Ladies and gentlecolts, welcome to the Constellation. We bring you the comedic stylings of Sam Kindercolt.”

Toffee stomped excitedly. “He’s funny, I love him.” They moved closer together so they could both be on the same side of the table to see the comedian.

Yards was surprised to hear of her love for the foul mouthed comedian. It seemed like something too coarse for her.

“Alright, alright. Thanks everypony. Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s good to finally be around people who are happy to be around me for a change. I was stuck in my hotel room with my wife. You know I wanted to bring her to Canterlot, do something nice for her. Right, ‘cause you’ve got to do that, am I right stallions?” The stallions in the room stomped their agreement. Yards played along.

“Yeah, that’s right. do it or NEVER HEAR THE END OF IT! Oh, you married stallions know what I’m talking about, right? Those lucky single bastards. Are there any single stallions out here?” Yards joined the small collection of hooves going up. The comedian caught his glance. “You’re not married to her?” he pointed over at Toffee.

“Uh, no.”

“Ah, is she your marefriend?”

Yards swallowed hard then glanced over at Toffee.

“Uh oh!” started in the comedian. “What do you have another one? Does she know?”

“Three,” said Toffee.

Kindercolt’s eyes grew wide. “Three? You and two others or you and three others?”

“There’s four of us.”

Kindercolt shook his head and looked back at Yards. “Four, really? What are you a glutton for punishment? Man, are you deaf? How do you handle all the nagging?”

“I hide in the barn.”

Everypony laughed. “That’s okay, there’s a lot of that going around, anypony else here have a herd of mares that wants to admit to it?”
To Yard’s surprise there were several hooves that went up. Nowhere near a majority, but quite a few.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised. Now how many of you have lived with them for more than two years?”

They all put their hooves down.

“What I thought. Me, I’ve been married twice. Trust me guys, there’s something about that 2 year anniversary that just…” he started laughing to himself. “You know, you take her to some nice place, like this. You know. The whole flowers and sweets and you’re like, ‘Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you.’ And she smiles and you think, you think ‘oh, this is going to be a great night.’” He shook his head. “No. Oh no. She keeps smiling, then she smiles so big her head starts to split open. She knows then that her hooks are firmly set into you and she splits open and her true self spews forth. BOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

Toffee laughed and nudge Yards with her wing. He gave a slightly concerned grin. The waitress took their finished appetizer plates, giving the table a quick wipe to maintain the immaculate table cloth.

“Then they just reach in,” the comedian extended his hoof, “and rip out your heart and swallow your soul in front of you! AAAAHHHHH!”
Next came a couple of pieces of lettuce with a crouton, about half a carrot’s worth of shavings , two slices of Radish and a peppercorn. They were artfully arranged as a face.

“Four mares, gez...Well is it true what they say about earth ponies? Is that why you’re dating him?” he looked at Toffee.

“From what I hear,” she shouted back, then giggled behind her wing as she looked back at Yards.

“Ah so you two haven’t,” he waved his hoof around,

“First date,” she answered.

“Ah, so you don’t know how his tongue skills are yet?”

“Not yet,” she said still behind her wing.. Her whole head was beat red.

He looked back at Yards.

“Remember, when you’re back there start working the alphabet. Drives them crazy.” He started making exaggerated licking motions. Everybody started laughing. “Hey, I’m here to help my fellow stallions here. Because nopony ever talks about this sort of stuff. It’s up to us to figure it out. And we never do. Well, except Mister Four Mares here,” he waved his hoof at Yards as the rest of the audience laughed. “Mares, mares aren’t any help either. They just lay there during it and are all ‘oh, yeah, do it.’ Ladies, that doesn’t help any. We can’t see down there! Sure, it’s got a head and an eye but that doesn’t get to our brain! Say something!” He started pacing back and forth on the stage. “You’re all the time telling us we should talk more. Fine, set the example. Talk to your stallion. Tell him what you want done. Because he doesn’t know. Nopony tells us. Not you, not our exes. Sure you’ll tell that bitch BUTTERCUP BUT YOU WON’T TELL ME WILL YOU? AAAHHHHH, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” He screamed in the face of a mare on the other side of the stage.

“I’M MARRIED! MY LIFE IS HELL! KILL ME!” He ran back to Yards. “SAVE YOURSELF! DON’T MARRY THEM!”

The comedian carried on as Toffee stretched her wing over Yard’s back. Oh Luna why was a pegasus’s feathers so soft? He loved the feeling of them on his body. He leaned into her. She responded in kind. It was so great to feel her body against him. The soft fabric of her dress brushed against his side as she laughed at the closing jokes.

Her body was so soft. She wasn’t nearly as developed as Rhu was. She wasn’t completely fluff, either. It was like a comfy mattress. Just enough softness to make snuggling with her seem like an awesome idea. He could feel his head growing fuzzy. He reached up and booped her nose. She giggled and smiled up at him. They leaned in and kissed. He slipped her some tongue which caught her by surprise. She pulled away and gave him a crafty smile.

“Well, somepony’s finally feeling foreword.”

“It’s feeling those wings.” He leaned in and kissed her again. This time she accepted him inside her as he ran his tongue across her vomeronasal organ. There was a polite cough at the edge of the table.

They broke off their kiss and saw their waitress holding two plates. “Eggplant alfredo?” asked the waitress.

Toffee raised her hoof. Yards moved his hoof down her back to her flank. Her eyes bulged quickly as she looked over at him with a “behave yourself” look.

He grinned back at her as the waitress placed a plate of penne pasta covered in a red, semi-transparent sauce that looked suspiciously to Yards like hydraulic fluid.

“I know you like some spicy things, but I wasn’t sure about if this is too hot.”

“You picked it out. I’m sure it’s fine. Is that peanuts in there?”

“I don’t know.”

The voice from nowhere returned. “And now with your entree, a scene from ‘Death of a Dream’ enjoy your evening.” Four mares came out onto stage, dressed as the Martyr and the Three Princesses. This was a retelling of the martyrdom of Twilight Sparkle. He should have known she would have wanted to see this. That girl playing Twilight was cute. Bah, he had enough flank. He had an amazing mare at his side right now. She wanted to be with him. Not just now but forever.

He leaned in and nuzzled her mane. Gently he whispered into her ear. “You’re great.”

She smiled, warm and genuine.

“No really. I mean it. You’re cute, and smart. I love your wings. They’re so soft. You’re just amazing.” His hoof returned to her flank.
She pushed it off with her wing. “This is a first date, if you think you’re getting anything, especially if you keep this up, you’re greatly mistaken. Now shush and watch the show.”

Yards tried to clear his head and munched on his pasta. It was spicier than what he would have liked and he was in desperate need for this woman beside him. He wrapped his foreleg around her shoulder. She blocked his leg from going lower with her wings.

“Toffee, I love you,” he said, sweating and with a mouth full of food.

Her only reaction was a smile that wouldn’t go away.

“Hey, I through Celestia wasn’t there when it happened.”

“Shhhh.” She looked up at him with some annoyance.

He cleaned his plate with military precision. He then gulped down the water they’d brought him with his spicy entree. Tomorrow would haunt him.

He looked over at his date as she slowly chewed and watched the princesses pontificate on freedom vs responsibility. He found it rather heavy hoofed. Of course this was the Solari capital so the Princess was portrayed as overly naive and easily manipulated by an emerging Chrysalis. Lunari were rash, emotional or sexual deviants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’d heard it for the last 10 years. This was nothing that interesting.

Toffee’s neckline, however, was far more interesting. He nuzzled her mane and nipped at her spine. She flinched. Those, ears, so small, so delicate, so...delightfully fuzzy. He nibbled them. She allowed him to while she took a bite of her eggplant. He nuzzled her again then rested his chin between her ears.

He could feel the slow rhythm of her eating. “Whatever happened to Cadence?” he asked the librarian.

“Shhh.”

They watched as Twilight and Cadence sought to mediate between the sisters. Of course in this versions idea of “mediating” was done by reminding the Princess of her past mistakes and lapses of judgment and reminding Celestia of her magnanimous gestures. Magnanimous...stupid Trixie. Stupid slut-whore cutting off his horn. He pulled away slightly from his date. There were a few red lacquered helmets here. Damned Inquisition. They could go straight to Tartarus.

He noticed the final course was being wheeled out. Small little bowls of something. Then they’d pour something on it. Nopony was eating it though. Finally they brought two to their table. It was some sort of something in a ceramic bowl. They ladled some sort of fruity smelling something over the top. One of the staff stood by their table.

“I’m full if you want mine,” she whispered.

“What is it?”

“Uh, creme brulee with a Grand Marenier sauce.”

“What’s Grand Marenier?”

“It’s…orange flavored. Shhh.” Her attention was back on the story. They were getting to a “good part.” Twilight was making her big plea for friendship when suddenly she fell over, taken by the sniper’s round. The lights went down and slowly all the desserts were lit, providing an intimate light. The actress playing Celestia created a ball of light and started going on about how the fire of friendship should never be extinguished despite the arguments that may come. Well, that was a nice display of detente.

The lights came back on and the desserts were extinguished. The sauce had hardened onto the dessert to create a crust. Soft music began to play and the performers began to mingle with the crowd. Yards disengaged from Toffee and tried a spoonful of the mystery food. It tasted a lot like a creamsicle. The crunchy top was kind of like the shell on ice cream, protecting the sweet goodness underneath. He quickly scarfed down both servings. His belly was protesting slightly, but he’d deemed them good.

Toffee smiled at him. “Were they that good?”

He nodded. “What now?”

“Well...I don’t know. Maybe a walk, or, if you’re ready…”

She was demuring down. It was her way of doing things. Give him an easy opening and let him have enough lead to let him think he was in charge. Oh Luna, how he loved this mare. He rose and immediately regretted it. He stumbled into the table. Toffee’s smile turned into a grin.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she rose to her hooves.

“Yeah, just legs asleep. I guess.” He put down several bits on the table for a tip and waved for Toffee to come with him. They walked out side by side, curling their tails together.

Toffee gave him a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He grinned down at her. “Of course. Why?”

“You’re staggering.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“You’re slurring...are you drunk?”

“No.”

She snickered. “You are. That explains why you’re getting so fresh, doesn’t it.”

“Nah.”

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.” They walked through the doors into the refreshing night air.

“Sweet.”

She gave him a look. “I’m not going to do that to you.”

He nuzzled her and pulled at one of her pigtails. As one they turned back to their home.

“Did you enjoy tonight?” he asked her.

“Yeah. It was fun. What did you think? I mean I know you weren’t paying that much attention to the play.”

“I enjoyed being with you.”

She “awed” and pushed feebly at his side. It made him feel so strong. He gently checked back and she had to take several steps to regain her balance. “Hey!”

He smiled back and once more walked beside her, reentwining their tails.

“So. Do you really love me, or is it just the wine?”

“No, I told you I love you.”

She grinned from ear to ear. “Do...do…” She looked away.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“And you think I’m drunk? At least I can finish my sentences.”

She looked away. “It’s just something I read about once. I...was curious.”

“Is this something you want to do together?”

She nodded, refusing to look at him.

“Wanna do it tonight?”

“You’re drunk. It wouldn’t be right.”

“So? I’m not drunk. We could do it before we get home.”

She sighed and then he realized. “Oh, you mean, sometime when we’re together, together.”

“Yards, it wouldn’t just be sex, would it? I mean, we’d be a real couple, right?”

“Okay.”

“Okay is not a correct answer. It’s a yes or no question.” She looked up at him, locking her gaze onto his.

‘Uhm, yes.”

“Really? You’re not just saying it?”

“No, er, yes, uh. If we were together then we’d totally be a couple. Wait,” he tried to cut off her hurt look, “You’re saying you want to wait until we’re a couple?”

“Well, yeah. I waited 24 years, I can wait a little longer, I suppose.” She seemed slightly upset. “I just want it to be like in the books. The two of us, a happily ever after.”

“Like a couple foals and a white, picket fence?”

“Would it be so bad?”

“Nah. Where would we live?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, I don’t think your little cottage behind the library would be big enough. Plus all my stuff is over at Sweet Apple. Hey, wanna live under it in the base?”

She laughed. “We could hire Delta to clean it.”

“She does work cheap. Though you might have to share some of your kisses.”

Toffee scowled. “I’m sorry about her, let’s not discuss it.”

“Okay. Wanna make out in the park?”

She laughed. “You are incorrigible when you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.”

She stopped at the park and sat down on a swing. Softly she rocked aimlessly.

Yards really did love this mare. The problem was he also loved Apple. Even after their fight. He was so comfortable with her. He just didn’t understand why he couldn’t the other night. Well, technically that was last night. Toffee wanted to wait until he picked her to have sex. He could respect that. It just meant that if he wanted any tonight then he’d have to say goodbye to Apple. That would be wrong after their fight. He’d want to at least say goodbye to her. She deserved that.

Yards stood in front of Toffee and gently pushed her. As she came back he matched her speed and gave her a quick kiss before sending her off again. When she returned she stuck her head out to claim her kiss. They smiled and he pushed her a few more minutes on the swing. She opened her wings slightly, catching the breeze and smiling.

“Wanna do something you enjoy?” she asked him.

He grabbed the chains and stopped her movement. “Like what?”

“I hear you’re really good a preening.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“And you’ve got some natural talent at imping?”

“I guess.”

“Well, I’ve always wanted rainbow extensions. It’s really expensive to get done, though. If someone could do the labor for me, maybe…”
“Rainbow extensions?”

“Some pegasi sell their feathers. They make them into extensions.for those of us who’d like longer wings. They sell them in different colors, and sometimes they have feathers left over and sell rainbow sets. I’ve always wanted beautiful wings.”

“Your wings are beautiful.”

She smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. “Thanks, but they’re small, and my coloration is so...dull. I just want to feel pretty.”

“I can’t have such a beautiful mare thinking she’s not pretty. I mean, who won the wet mane contest at Marephis?”

She harumphed. “Only because I kissed Starfall.”

“The crowd was behind you even before then. Come on, I’ll gratefully nuzzle your wings for a few hours.”

She smiled. “Thanks. Wanna go home?”

Yards nodded. They made their way back to their suite. The other girls were out which was fine with them. “Let me go change and I’ll see you in your room. Okay?”

Yards nodded and headed off to his room. He took off his collar and tossed it into the foot locker. Eagerly he jumped onto his bed and rolled to the edge. Maybe he could talk her into something even if she didn’t want to go ‘all the way.’

Half past eternity she opened the door to his room. She was carrying a blanket wrapped parcel in her mouth. As she walked through Yards gulped hard. She’d changed clothes, now wearing a simple white lace vest and matching stockings. Her mane was pulled into a simple ponytail and secured at both top and bottom. She sat the blanket down in the middle of the small space on his floor. Inside the bundle was a mother of pearl box shaped a lot like the one Starfall had had, a squirt bottle, a bag of feathers and a bag of candy corn. She settled down into the middle of the blanket.

“Is this where you want me?” she asked somewhat self consciously.

Yards bit back the first three things that came to his mind. “Extend your wing.” She had to scoot over to fully extend her wing.
Yards began to hungrily nuzzle at her feathers. She closed her eyes and allowed him to ravish her wing. Softly she gasped. “Okay, wow. That’s way different than when they do it at the spa.” Softly she leaned into him, grunting quietly. Yards came up for air and to spit out a downy feather. She offered him the spray bottle. “It works better when they’re wet. It’s why we usually do it in the shower.”

With some difficulty Yards got the bottle to pump a mist of water over her wing. Then, pulling the feathers back, sprayed the downy bits of her afterfeather. With a little more care he worked his lips around each of her feathers in turn and kissed them softly. She squealed at his attentions.

“Wanna roll over so I can do your front?”

She folded her wing to her side and rolled against the bed. She spread her wing along the floor. Gravity pulled her pelvis apart, almost beckoning. Yards swallowed hard as he closed his eyes and buried his muzzle into her feathers. She squealed and held his head in one spot. “There, get more of the muscle there.”Yards shifted the attention of his lips from feathered shafts to knotted muscles. Occasionally she would grunt in satisfaction as Yards got her overworked muscles to relax.

Finally he stretched his neck, giving it a good shake. “So, should we start with the imping, or do your other wing.” She gave him a satisfied smile.

“Yards,” she reached out for his chin. “You keep saying that you’re not drunk. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I drank that hours ago. I should be fine by now.”

Behind her eyes was a war of desire and integrity. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. Carefully he stepped over her torso. Her hoof slid up his jaw, then down his neck. She folded her forehooves in supplication.

“This is a weird position. Is it another one of those things you read about?”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “It’s a pegasi thing. Yards…” Her face scrunched up before her back hooves came to rest on his hips. The feel of the fabric wrapped limbs around his body set him on fire.. “Swear you can make this decision.”

By way of answering Yards leaned in and kissed her. He could feel her lace scratching his chest. She picked her hips up into the air, bringing herself into alignment with his body.

She was so smart. They both had no experience. Yet she’d researched this thoroughly. He’d been distracted with so many other things. Maybe this was right. Maybe he should dedicate himself to one thing and one mare. He was so busy trying to be responsible for all of them. Maybe he should just not become an elemental. Maybe he should just do what he’d always done. Take care of a base.

Sure Toffee could go off and be an elemental. Heck, he could even teach her everything he’d learned in the military. Sure it wasn’t much. But at least with her love of learning she could use her knowledge to keep the other mares safe. He’d just stay home. Focus on being a logistical end. Take care of a house, a job, a mare when she was home. He looked back down at the mare under him. So smart. So cute. Too bad she didn’t have enough self confidence to fully realize her potential.

He just stood there and stared down at her, unable to do anything else. He wanted to. He wanted it so badly, but his body just didn’t respond. He wanted this mare. Wanted her physically. Wanted her to be happy, Wanted her to feel fulfilled. Yet, all he could do was stand over her.

“Yards?” she asked him quizzically.

The door to the other room burst open. “Hey you guys!” shouted Catty. Oh thank Luna. Yards jumped off Toffee as she let go of him and rolled to her hooves.

As the pair came out of his room they saw Catty and Aurora were holding a shaken Starfall.

“What happened?” asked Yards.

Catty just shook her head while Aurora answered. “We went for some frozen yogurt. She started screaming and zoned out. I don’t know why.”

“What kind of yogurt,” Toffee asked.

“Wow, hey, we weren’t interrupting anything, were we?” asked Catty.

Yards looked at Starfall. She was crying hard. Yards went into the bathroom and got her something to blow her nose with.
As he came out, Toffee had a foreleg around Starfall’s neck, talking quietly with her. Yards walked over and handed her a tissue. She wiped at her face.

“There was grape yogurt there,” Toffee told him without looking up. Yards nodded. It was a flashback to what had happened to her. Yards came along side her and hugged her as well.

“Should we take her to the hospital?”

Starfall squeaked.

“Let’s give it a few minutes. The doctor said it might happen.” Toffee walked away from her friend and to the dresser in the room. She fished around in a drawer and came up with a bottle. “Water,” she said to the assembled group. Catty disappeared to the bathroom while Toffee pour a pill into her hoof. She offered it up to her friend as the zebra returned with a drink for her. Yards took the water and helped her slowly drink it. Yards and Toffee were mumbling softly to her while gently rubbing her neck and back, trying to help her calm down.

Slowly her breathing returned to normal.

“Are you okay?” Toffee asked.

Starfall nodded. “I’m sorry, everypony. I didn’t mean to interrupt you two.” She looked over at Toffee’s outfit.

“He was going to imp my wings. I was covering myself incase he got glue everywhere accidently.”

“Right, ‘glue’ everywhere.” Catty’s voice made it clear the other three didn’t buy her excuse either.

“Stallions can get their ‘glue’ everywhere. It helps if you can direct it somewhere.” Starfall smirked at her friend.

“Well, that was enough excitement for me for one day. I’m going to my room.” Aurora walked off through the bathroom.

“Since I’m not interested in ‘group’ activities, I’m going to leave you three to your own devices as well.” Catty smiled then turned away to follow her fellow STARE member. She glance back over her shoulder and pumped her forehoof twice before disappearing into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

“Well, I don’t know about a ‘group’ activity tonight, but if you two want to go back to what you’re doing, I think I’m okay.”

“Nonsense. You just had a major emotional fit. Come, lay down on the bed.” Toffee walked over and turned the sheets down. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go ahead and take this all off.” She walked over to the dresser and began to roll her stockings down.

Yards walked over and picked up Starfall’s bee off the floor as she settled down onto the bed. She took it from him and gave him a look, getting his attention off of Toffee’s rump.

“If you want, you can go ahead. I’ll go to the other room. I’m just, not in the mood to join in.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine. Wait, what?” He looked her square in her eyes. Starfall shrugged. “Uhm,” Yards desperately did his best to ignore what had been said. “Toffee wants to wait until we’re, together before we’re, uhm, together.”

Starfall gave him a genuine smile. “That’s so sweet.” She looked over at the pegasus climbing into the bed. Toffee just shrugged. Star rested her chin on her bee. “Thanks guys. It’s great that you would do something like this for me.” Yards sighed and jumped up onto the bed beside Starfall, bracketing her in between two friends. Resigning himself to another evening of wing buffeting, he laid down on his side, his hooves dangling off the side of the bed. When he finally got back to Sweet Apple Acres he was going to have to make a bigger bed.