“My babies!” Cup Cake cried as the back door opened and she saw her daughter and Zenith Zephyr entering. She was covered in flour as well as shortening, but she didn’t care. She took off at a run, slamming into Pumpkin, sending a cloud of flour poofing out, kissed her, and then turned her attention to Zenith.

“Um, I’m not one of—oof!” He gasped as the stout earth pony crashed into him, and Zenith was pinned to the wall with nowhere to hide. A second later, he was both kissed and covered in flour.

“Zenith, be a dear and don’t push your luck.” Cup smiled. “I get to decide who is one of mine, not you, you silly colt.”

“Where’s Pound?” Pumpkin asked.

Cup’s smile faltered for a moment and she looked sad. Then, her eyes brightened a bit and her smile returned, even though it was a somewhat sad smile. “He’s in his room, sulking. He’s without his love, and he is going to die… probably with a heavy, forlorn sigh.”

“Yeeeugh.” Pumpkin shook her head. “My poor brother. Is it okay if Zenith stays with us? We’ve totally missed the evening train and going back to Canterlot at midnight is just plain stupid. He can ride with Twilight and I on the dawn train.”

“He can stay with us.” Cup gave her daughter a delighted smile. She looked at Zenith. “Mind sharing a room with Pumpkin?”

There it was. The most dangerous words ever uttered by anypony, ever, in the history of language. Zenith, covered in flour, turned his head and looked at Mrs. Cake. Saying no would mean rejection; that Pumpkin, her beloved daughter, wasn’t good enough for him. He just knew it. All of his instincts told him “It’s a trap!” Saying yes might as well be an admission that he planned to do untoward things with Pumpkin. Which might be half true; Pumpkin wanted to do untoward things with him. There were moments that he was tempted to let her. He heard Pumpkin snickering. He felt a bead of sweat go trickling down his neck and he came to the quiet, painful realisation that he hadn’t yet made a reply. This was not going to end well.

Facing his own potential end, Zenith went for the fearless, some might even say reckless, all or nothing approach. “I don’t mind at all, but only if you insist. I cannot help but wonder how Pumpkin feels about this.”

The shoe was now on the other hoof it seemed. Zenith noticed a furious blush on Pumpkin’s cheeks. Cup was smirking, some kind of weird facial expression that Zenith could not read, now matter how hard he tried.

“I don’t mind,” Pumpkin said after a long moment of saying nothing. “I’m a big filly and I can deal with colt cooties. I keep a spray in my closet. Besides, Zenith wouldn’t do anything.” She took a deep breath, gave herself a shake, and then headed off for the fridge.

“Dinner was an hour ago… but there are plenty of leftovers… you and Zenith both eat as much as you like,” Cup said to her daughter as Pumpkin sashayed away. She bumped Zenith in the ribs, leaned over, and in a low voice she whispered to Zenith, “She’s good looking when she walks like that, right?”

It’s a trap! Zenith overrode all speech commands before his mouth opened and he said something that would mean certain doom. He had almost replied “yes” because he had been distracted by the way Pumpkin’s plot jiggle-wiggled as she walked. “I’m sorry, what? I was just thinking about dinner… you’re like the best cook I know and the food that the school serves is kinda… blech.”

“You really are a silver tongued charmer, did you know that?” Cup looked up at Zenith, nodding at him, her eyes narrowed. “I just saw you trying to get a glimpse at both of Pumpkin’s piercings I think.”

“Mrs. Cake, I was there when the second one happened. I held her hoof,” Zenith said, matching her low whisper, deciding it was time to deflect all incoming trouble with total honesty. “Also, if I wasn’t so blindly in love with Princess Celestia, I would be banging your daughter at every conceivable opportunity.”

Nodding, Cup gave Zenith a soft nudge. “Dear, if you play with fire, you’ll get burned. The sun is nothing but fire. If you do nothing but stare at it, you’ll go blind to all the beauty in the world around you. There is a whole wide world out there for you to see… and there are some very pretty things out there. Pumpkin is only one of them. Save your eyes and save yourself.”

“Mrs. Cake?” Zenith squirmed, not knowing how to ask his next question.

“Yes, my darling colt?” Cup looked up at Zenith with a hopeful smile.

“I’m not saying anything is going to happen, but as a hypothetical question, if something was to happen between Pumpkin and I, would you be angry with me?” Zenith asked, looking away halfway through his sentence, unable to keep looking Mrs. Cake in the eye. He glanced at Pumpkin, who, her head inside the fridge, was gobbling down something with a lot of slurping and sucking sounds. Beside him, he heard Mrs. Cake sigh.

“Zenith, darling, I would be relieved.” Cup leaned over and gave Zenith a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’ve read my daughter’s journals… she passes them to me every now and then so I can read them… all the embarrassing things she wants me to know but cannot bear to tell me.” Cup’s eyes watered a bit, and she sniffled. “She too, waits upon the sun, and I’m afraid that she’ll wait forever, until beauty and youth pass her by.”

A heavy feeling settled into Zenith’s gut. He gulped, not knowing what to say.

“Go get something to eat before she eats everything,” Cup said as she shoved Zenith forwards. “Pumpkin, stop grazing in the fridge! Get a plate and go sit down at the table!”

“Don’t you think we should check on Pound?” Zenith asked.

Pumpkin’s eyes widened and she shook her head no. A very forceful no. A panicked, worried expression took over her face. “No… my brother has a little loop of ribbon around his doorknob. That means he’s in his room looking at porn and jerkin’ off.”

“Oh.” Zenith cleared his throat.

“Mom, Dad, and Pinkie Pie got tired of walking in on him, so the ‘ribbon rule’ was established.” Pumpkin paused. “Sometimes, I think he leaves the ribbon on the door just so he can be left alone. Nopony can jerk off as much as he does, believe me, I’ve tried. You just get chapped.”

Grinning, Pumpkin crossed her room, moving from in front of her mirror, and came over to where Zenith was, sprawled over her short loveseat sofa. She hopped up onto the cushion beside him, leaned over, and smiled, showing her teeth. “Wanna do some homework?”

“Homework?” Zenith asked.

“Breaking the touch barrier,” Pumpkin replied.

“But we touch each other all the time.” Zenith, sensing trouble, perked his ears forwards and kept a wary eye on Pumpkin. He noticed that his heart rate was increasing. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. There was no sense in getting worked up.

“But I want you to touch me… inside.” Pumpkin’s smile faded as a sad look of longing crept over her face, her lower lip protruding, and her eyes now looking sorrowful. She leaned back and rubbed her hoof over her flat stomach, just above her teats. “Right about here. This is where I want to be touched. Over and over.”

The sadness, it was all an act, Zenith knew it, but he still felt bad. Pumpkin was clearly in the mood to torment him. He sighed, resigning himself to what was sure to be a long night. Without warning, Pumpkin’s forelegs were around his neck and her piercing blue eyes were inches from his own. He tried to get away, but Pumpkin was much stronger than him.

He felt himself pushed over into the arm of the sofa. He looked up at Pumpkin above him, trying to push her away, but then her lips pressed over his own. He could feel her lip ring pressing against his lip and his face, smooshed between them as she kissed him.

Without realising it, Zenith ceased trying to push Pumpkin away and was now trying to pull her closer. She flopped down onto his stomach, grinding herself against him, and felt parts of him awakening from her full body touch. His senses were overwhelmed when Pumpkin’s tongue invaded his mouth and he could feel her licking him, he could feel the rough, bumpy texture of her tongue against his own, he could feel her touching his teeth.

His brain became a confused jumble of thoughts as blood flow was redirected to other places of his body. Pumpkin was warm, she smelled good, there was something spicy about her, like cinnamon perhaps, and when Zenith felt something wet slide over his balls, he let out a shuddering, shivering breath as the surprise makeout session intensified.

There was a gasp from Pumpkin and she broke away from the kiss with a soft moan. Zenith became aware of something hard between the two of them. He looked up at Pumpkin, his barrel heaving, not knowing what to say or do.

“There’s a penis in between us,” Pumpkin gave Zenith a saucy wink as she spoke. “I need a little frosting in my layer cake. Think you can be a friend and help a filly out?”

Zenith could feel Pumpkin wiggling around on top of him, now sliding along his length, he could feel her wetness, her heat, and he could feel two bits of metal. He was mesmerised by the expression on her face, her beauty. Her mohawk had relaxed a bit, and loose strands of her mane spilled around her face and ears.

Without even thinking about what it was that he was doing, he wrapped his forelegs around her middle, prodded around until he felt something wet and hot, and then, overcome by a powerful need, he slammed himself in, sinking in almost halfway, causing Pumpkin to gasp. He saw her biting her lip.

A million thoughts raced through his mind. He was fearful that he had hurt her. He had just done something that he couldn’t undo. He was now half in and half out of Pumpkin, crossing a line that could not be uncrossed. Confused, overwhelmed, broken hearted and feeling as though he had betrayed his love for Princess Celestia, Zenith burst into tears.

In the middle of everything going right, something had gone wrong. Pumpkin saw tears in Zenith’s eyes and he was already going soft inside of her. She lifted herself off of him, she felt him sliding out, and she wiggled her way forwards, straddling his stomach. Bowing her head, she began kissing away his tears, feeling an odd moment of softness, and for once, not wanting to punch something.

“Did I hurt you?” Zenith asked.

Pumpkin shook her head. “No, it felt good, it didn’t hurt at all, but you surprised me. I like being pierced. It was just a big poke, really.” She rubbed his cheeks with her forehooves. “Why are you crying? You’re not supposed to cry.”

“I was saving myself… for her.”

There it was. The white alicorn in the room. Pumpkin stared down into Zenith’s eyes. She felt his forelegs tighten around her middle, squeezing her. She didn’t know what to say. She had thrown everything she had into winning Zenith’s heart, she had made a foolish gambit, and now, everything was going to end in tears. She kissed a few more tears away, squeezed Zenith’s face between her hooves, and then placed her lips next to his ear. “I love you. I’ve tried being with other colts and every single time, it’s felt wrong. I understand. The heart wants what it wants.”

Pumpkin started to get up, to give Zenith some much needed space, but he did not let go. She felt his grip tighten around her. She felt two lips kiss her jaw, and then she was being pulled down. She looked down into Zenith’s green eyes, not knowing what she would see, what she would find.

“I want you… but I’ve put the entirety of my life into winning her over… I feel like if I just give up now, I’ll look stupid… everypony will laugh at me. She’ll laugh at me. I don’t know if I can face the consequences of just walking away from this. I’ve planned my whole life around the hope of being her consort. I don’t know what else to do, what else to be, I don’t know how to walk away from this. This is going to be humiliating.” Zenith sniffled as more tears spilled out.

Blinking, feeling a few tears of her own, Pumpkin felt bad for Zenith. She didn’t know what to say. She thought about every single lesson that Twilight had taught her about being a good friend and how it applied to this situation.

“Zenith, we can deal with this in the morning.” She punctuated her words with a kiss. “Nopony ever needs to know about this. I love you enough that I can let you go and I can pretend as though nothing ever happened, and you can continue to do whatever it is that you feel is right. If this is really the life that you want—” Pumpkin took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’ll be at your side helping you to put the pieces back together.”

“No.”

Zenith’s refusal confused her for a moment, but then Pumpkin understood. She nodded. “Perhaps it would be best if I was out of the picture. I might tempt you away again, I understand.”

Beneath her, Pumpkin could feel Zenith taking a deep breath at the same time she felt her heart starting to break. She closed her eyes, not knowing what to do next, and then felt two lips press up against her own.

The kiss was soggy, confusing, and Pumpkin was at a complete loss for what was going on. She tried to pull away, but felt one of Zenith’s forelegs wrap around her neck. She could taste salty tears, Zenith’s, and perhaps her own.

She gasped when Zenith broke the kiss and she heard him say, “You’re right. We’ll deal with this in the morning. But we still have tonight. I’m going to finish what I started.”

Blinking, Pumpkin looked down into Zenith’s eyes and hoped that this would be a Nightmare Moon sort of night, one of those nights that would last forever. She stroked his neck, her heart racing, and she gave Zenith as much smile as she could muster.

“You know, maybe I’ll have to start taking my lessons a little more seriously… I could earn myself a pair of wings and I could be your alicorn… would you like that?” Pumpkin booped Zenith on the nose as she spoke.

Pumpkin felt her heart fluttering when she saw Zenith nod.

Author's Note

Chaos baby! Now everything flies apart and we have some fun. Begin your speculation! DO IT!