Nothing's More Important

While the newly formed herd certainly needed a new bed, they didn’t have one yet, and everyone still needed a place to sleep. Amelia had laid claim to the couch, whose length better suited her than even Justin’s bed, and Alice had made due to with the living room floor, leaving Justin to the familiar solitude of his own bedroom. But the smells and sounds of breakfast already cooking when he awoke brought a quick end to the familiarity, and prompt assurances that he had not, in fact, dreamt the whole thing.

Justin rolled out of bed and to his hooves, stretching out and looking towards the window. "Good morning, Celestia." He said it without any direct familiarity and trot out to see to his guests, er, wives. The adjustment was still in process, but he looked ready to tackle the day and the challenges of it.

Alice did not look ready to tackle the day in the slightest. As a matter of fact, she was still snoring loudly from the middle of the rug, lying sprawled on her back and kicking fitfully on occasion. Amelia, by contrast, was just getting a breakfast of French toast and eggs onto plates for the three of them, humming happily to herself and practically glowing with joy.

"Good morning, Justin!” she called out as she spotted him. "Did you sleep well? The couch was okay, but I am certainly looking forward to that bed you keep mentioning.”

Justin waved a hoof towards her as his other three legs carried him into sight. "I'll sleep better knowing I'm providing for my new companions. Are you sure you don't want the bed we have?" He tapped at his chin with the hoof he used to wave. "That smells wonderful, by the way."

“It’s too short for me,” Amelia said before adding in a loud whisper “unless I have my legs wrapped around my stallion.” She carried the food out to the dining area, deploying plates and utensils. “I don’t know if Equestria has a similar recipe, but we call this French toast. What would you like to drink with your meal? I recommend the orange juice, but I know Alice prefers water.”

Alice could be heard lightly sniffing in her sleep, but still hadn't managed to awaken. It seemed to be enough to earn a slight wag from her, however.

"Prance? I didn't know you knew any Prench foods." He trotted over towards the source of the interesting aroma, tail wagging. "Today, I'll show you the equipment I have and go over my latest notes. Maybe you'll see where I'm getting stuck." He paused to clop his forehooves. "I didn't think I'd have an alchemic partner!"

“I’ll do my best, but I’m new to this Alchemy thing. A fresh perspective is all I can promise,” Amelia said as she sat crosslegged at the table. “Alice! It’s breakfast time!” she called loudly enough that the wolf actually stirred, and sleepily made her way to the table with a bit of a growl. “It’s best to have food ready to eat if you ever have to wake her,” she advised their husband.

Hopping up into his place and getting cozy, Justin nodded to Alice. "Good morning. Amelia made us some Prench food." He tapped his chin. "Come to think of it, you do your own kind of alchemy, don't you? Maybe we can all visit the lab." His excitement seemed to only grow with every sentence. "A triple team!"

Alice blinked at him blearily, trying to figure out what he was going on about before finally snorting and digging into her breakfast. Not a single sentence that he had just spoken made sense to her, and she wasn’t prepared to deal with it on an empty stomach.

“I don’t know how much help Alice will be in a lab, but she should at least see where we’ll be working, certainly,” Amelia offered, as she cut her food into manageable bites. “But she does have her own magic, and I’m sure between the three of us, we’ll be able to deal with any problem that arises.” That settled, she reached over to scratch each of the others behind the ears in turn.

Justin tilted his head a little before he sniffed at the food and snatched a bread right in his lips, chewing on it thoughtfully without using a fork, the heathen. He gave a little appreciative 'mmm', enjoying the meal despite his bachelor table manners.

Amelia watched him a bit before shrugging. His manners were already better than Alice’s, who gave a fine demonstration of ‘wolfing’ her meal, so Amelia was quite used to being the only one to properly use utensils. “How do you like it, Justin?”

That prompted him to slurp up the rest of the slice and swallow it down. "It's lovely!" He licked over his syrupy lips. "Better than what I usually bother with for breakfast. Dinner's the larger meal for me. On really nice days I even go out and see friends. Oh! I can't wait to introduce you both to them all." His head tilted. "Do you think they'll like you? Oh of course they will." Optimism seemed without bound that morning. Perhaps that stallion just needed to get laid more regularly.

“When do you usually go meet them?” Amelia asked. “Should we try out the lab first, or go give them a visit? I’m a bit nervous about it, but it should be good. We should spend more time with your parents, too, once they’ve had time to get over the shock.”

Alice finally spoke up, “if they’re half as nice as you, husband, it will be a pleasure to meet them. I do hope they don’t get too scared of my smile.”

He waved a hoof. "It won't be a problem. Hay, I bet they'll be more annoying than anything else if you let them ask a thousand questions." He attacked the next slice, making it a fond memory quickly. "But that isn't until later afternoon at the earliest, so lab time first, for sure. I hope you're ready for some science!" Science, magic, hard to tell apart in that world.

“Alright, let’s do some science!” Amelia declared with a giggle. “Right after we clean up,” she insisted, and quickly set about getting the dishes into the sink and cleaned up.

“So… how was she last night?” Alice inquired of their stallion while the human was distracted. “Other than loud, obviously.”

Before Justin could help with the dishes, he was ambushed. "Huh? Oh! Uh… We didn't become wolves, if that's what you mean?" He gave a genuine, if a bit naive, smile. "I guess the time isn't right?"

“It’s not the full moon yet, so you won’t yet,” Alice pointed out. “I meant as a lover.~ I trust she wasn’t too disappointing. But don’t worry, you get me again tonight,” she promised with a grin.

He cocked his head. "Huh? Oh! Oh!" He colored swiftly. "She was fine…" He squirmed, looking suddenly shy about it. "Is that how we're going to divide me?"

Alice shrugged. “I assumed, but you’re right, we should discuss that together. How would you prefer?”

Amelia stepped out of the kitchen, the scant few dishes already cleaned. “What are we talking about?”

Justin spread his hooves. "I hoped we would be a more equal sort of team. If you want something from me, you just ask, not wait for a special day." He looked between his would-be mares.

“Oh? Do you think you could satisfy us both in the same day?” Alice asked with a challenging tone and a wagging tail.

Amelia blushed a bit. “Ah, that’s what we’re talking about... “

Justin cleared his throat softly. "Ahem, yes, well. I would try my best." He smiled a little. "Just as if we were both attacked, you would protect us both, would you not?" He looked to Amelia. "All cleaned up?"

“Of course!” said Alice quickly. “But that’s not really the same thing is it?”

“Sure it is,” Amelia said, giving Alice a blushing but almost predatory grin. “Like if we were both horny at once, our brave stallion here would do his best to satisfy us both… might need to learn some tongue techniques, Justin.~ If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I could always show you.~”

Alice looked to Amelia, confused for a moment, until she started to back away a bit. “Amelia! Where do you even get these ideas?!”

“The internet,~” she replied in a sing-song voice with a laugh.

There just weren't enough throat clearings in the world. Justin opted for distraction instead. "Let's show you lovely ladies the lab, this way!" He trotted to the front door and mouthed open the knob without delay, heading outside.

After exchanging a few looks, the two of them followed him out and through the yard. Amelia waved to a few passing ponies, getting waves of various levels of politeness and friendliness in return, before they ducked back into the building in a separate room, this one filled with a dizzying array of apparatus and assorted plant parts in varying states of processing, from dried powders to live specimens.

Alice immediately set about sniffing everything, while Amelia looked around with a long whistle. “Wow,” the human added. “This is quite the setup you’ve got here.”

Justin bobbed his head with pride as he reared up to be on level with the tallest table there, peering at a blooming flower there. "Ooo! Celestia be praised! This is one I found just before I came to your world. I'm not even sure what it can do, but isn't it a lovely specimen?"

Alice sniffed at it extra attentively. “Well, it smells lovely,” she began.

Amelia peered at it. “So would you like to start working on it, today? Or should we start with something more… predictable? You do have a couple of newbies in your lab, after all,” she pointed out.

He nodded quickly. "Oh, yes, this can wait for now." He fell to all fours and went to the more easily accessed and larger table at the center of the room. "I use a wide variety of standard plants. Thyme, rosemary, poison ivy even. Every one has certain properties, and they change when you mix them together the right way." He pulled out a large book and set it out on the table. "I've taken notes of especially useful or dangerous combinations here. Mixed, mashed, cooked, sometimes even boiled."

Amelia flipped through it a bit, scanning the recipes and their observed effects. She stopped on one that purported to ease aching muscles, handy after a long day of hard work. “Ooh, this looks promising. It says here it ‘enhances a stallion’s sexual performance and endurance’,” she lied. “Do we have all the ingredients to make it?”

“What?! Why would he even have something like that in his book?” Alice asked, putting her hooves on the table to see, only to have Amelia pull the book away. After a bit of roughhousing, Alice had Amelia tackled on the ground, and could finally see for herself. “Hey! I can read you know!” Amelia couldn’t help but giggle about the whole thing, even as she tried to catch her breath with a wolf sitting heavily on her chest.”

Justin coughed despite not actually having anything in his mouth. "W-what?" He watched them wrestle with wide eyes, trying lamely to get his book back. "I shouldn't have any recipes for that kind of thing… Do you even know what sort of names they call wizards and things that study that kind of magic?"

Alice picked up the book in her mouth, offering it back to Justin, a bit worse for wear. “You don’t, she was just teasing us. But this one wouldn’t be too bad to stock up on,” she admitted. “Anyways, you’re quite the virile stud already,” she assured.

“Mmmhmm,” Amelia agreed, using her position pinned to the ground to enjoy the view of his undercarriage with a blatant leer.

He let out a breath of relief before he noticed he was being stared at. Being looked at with lewd intention was new to him. Being unclothed was the default, polite ponies just didn't stare at one another's genitals like that. He started to go red quickly as he realized the truth of it. "D-dear! I'm still showing you both around, we can do that afterwards."

Alice got off of Amelia, letting her stand up. “At least behavior yourself until evening… you have a lot of new things to learn here,” the wolf scolded.

“Alright, alright… I’ll pay attention, promise,” Amelia conceded. “Sorry, I was just having a bit of fun,” she added to Justin. So… what should we make first?”