“Hello?” Pumpkin pushed her way into the back door and looked around. “Anypony home?” She made her way inside and was met with silence. It wasn’t often that Sugarcube Corner was silent. She tried to remember if she had been told about any catering or party planning. She felt Zenith bump into her as he entered. His touch, however brief, was not unwelcome.

There were hooves on the stairs and Pumpkin turned her head to look. She saw her brother and began to feel the sort of worry that twin sisters feel when something was wrong with their twin brother. “Pound?”

“Hey.”

Zenith waved at Pound; the pegasus had long been his friend. He and Pound, because of Pumpkin, had grown up together. Pound, who was quite unlike his sister, was soft spoken, gentle, and already a fantastic baker. Zenith had been there when Pound had earned his cutie mark, a frosting piping bag with white frosting squirting from the tip.

“Pound, why are you home? What’s going on? Shouldn’t you be in Canterlot?” Pumpkin shoved Zenith out of the way, almost bowling him over, and made her way to her brother’s side. “You look sad, what’s going on?”

“I lost my apprenticeship,” Pound said. There was a faint lisp in his voice when he spoke and he did not look his sister in the eye.

“WHAT?” Pumpkin’s eyes opened wide and she stared at her brother.

“Mom and Dad don’t know yet, but they’ll find out.” Pound kicked the floor with his hoof. “I got in trouble… bad trouble… and it’s all over for me.”

“Sh’up Pound, don’t talk like that!” Pumpkin slugged her brother in the shoulder.

“Ow!” Pound winced and stepped away from his sister. “I didn’t mean it like that… I just meant that it’s all over for me… my apprenticeship is gone and Mom and Dad are going to kill me… that’s all.”

“What happened?” Zenith asked, feeling a bit of concern for his friend.

“Want the long version or the short version?” Pound looked at his sister and Zenith.

“Just spit it out before I have to extract a confession from you!” Pumpkin replied.

“Short version… I got caught with Croissant’s dick in my mouth.” Pound shook, took a shuddering breath and looked at his sister. “Long version… Baguet walked into his son’s room without knocking or warning and caught us. He freaked out… lost his shit completely. He had no idea that Croissant was gay and no idea that I was gay either.”

“You mean you’re gay?” Zenith stared at his friend. “Oh my stars, your cutie mark is like some kind of double entendre!”

Pumpkin, still in shock, stared at Zenith and her brother, shaking her head. She heard the two colts start snorting and laughing with one another. She took a deep breath, feeling somewhat relieved. At least Pound was laughing. She felt a flood of emotions welling up inside of her. Anger, shock, disappointment, and frustration.

“You know Zenith, it was because of you I realised I was gay. I spent half a day checking out your balls while you walked around.” Pound blushed and the feathers on his wings ruffled. “I remember how scared I was when I first told you… I thought it’d end our friendship.”

“I hate to say I told you so, but you should have told your parents that you were gay. Now, they are going to find out under less than ideal circumstances… you’re screwed now, buddy.” Zenith shook his head. “I know it’s tough, but—”

“Oh shut up and leave him alone,” Pumpkin said as she poked Zenith. “Both of you are gay… Pound is gay for hot dick in his mouth… and you… you’re queer for alicorns.”

“Um, Sis, I don’t know if that applies.” Pound, sniggering, could not look his sister in the eye without laughing. He sighed. “At least my sister and I have something in common now.”

“Yeah, we’re both cocksuckers—” Pumpkin froze when she heard the back door being opened. She tucked down her tail, trying to look a little more proper, glanced at Zenith, slugged her brother once more to let him know that she loved him, and then turned to face the back door.

“Mom!” Pound’s ears perked forwards when he saw his mother.

“Mrs. Cake.” Zenith bowed his head.

“Mama,” Pumpkin said, scooting forward to give her mother a kiss.

Standing just inside the door, Cup Cake smiled when her daughter kissed her, waved at Zenith, and looked at her son. “Pound, what are you doing home?”

“Um, Mom, I have a confession… you’re going to hear something about me because of everything that happened and there is something you should know.” Pound sucked in a deep breath, almost wheezing, and his faint lisp was more pronounced from his stress. “Mom, I’m gay.”

Cup Cake snorted and rolled her eyes. “Well DUH!” She looked at her son. “Of course you are. Why are you telling me this now?”

“You knew?” Pound, looking very confused, glanced at his sister, then at Zenith, and then stared down at the floor, unable to look his mother in the eye. “How’d you know?”

“Because I watched you checking out Zenith’s backside.” Cup looked at her son, snorted again, and waved her hoof. “You’ve been staring at other colts for years now and you never give fillies a second glance.”

“I was so scared of telling you,” Pound admitted. “Does Dad know?”

“No, he doesn’t, but I know that he’ll be fine with it.” Cup stepped forwards, brushing past Zenith, kissing him on the cheek as she passed, until she reached her son. She placed a foreleg around his neck and pulled him close. “Why were you scared to tell me?”

“I dunno.” Pound shrugged and then gave his mother a fierce hug. “Mom, Baguet caught Croissant and I in the middle of making out—”

“Oh dear, Baguet is the most narrow minded pony I know… he’s just awful.” Cup squeezed her son and kissed his cheek a few times. The heavy set mare, lifting her head, but still squeezing her son, looked at her daughter and Zenith. “Did the two of you check on that nice filly that ran off into the woods?”

Pumpkin nodded, glanced at Zenith and then looked her mother in the eye. “Yes we did.” She looked at her brother, who was trying his best to squirm out of his mother’s embrace. “You know, the reason I came home was to gather up some treats and take them out to her. Then I found out Pound was home. I still gotta get those treats out there.”

“Well, take Pound with you, he seems troubled,” Cup said to her daughter.

“Mom!” With a grunt, Pound squirmed free. He backed away, his wings flapping, his feathers mussed, and he shook his head and his mane, whipping it around.

“Well, now that this is out in the open, can I buy you frilly dresses? I never got to do that with Pumpkin—”

“MOM!” Pound gave his mother a wide-eyed mortified stare. He blinked and then stared down at the floor. “I don’t like frilly, I like simple elegance.”

“Okay, all of you, go on, get out, I have a lot of work to catch up on. Clear out the display case of all the morning’s leftover baked goods and take them out to Buttercup—”

“Buttermilk,” Pumpkin corrected.

“Take everything out to Buttermilk.” Cup blinked and smiled. “Go on, have fun, all three of you. Pound, I love you. Pumpkin, I still haven’t made up my mind about you—”

“MAMA!”

“And Zenith, don’t be a stranger. I know that you could escape that school and visit here a bit more often. Don’t make me come to Canterlot to check up on you!” Cup gave Zenith a mock-fierce glare. “And if you and Pumpkin are doing anything, please, stay out of sight, be cautious, and use protection… I don’t want—”

“MAMA, PLEASE!” Pumpkin slammed her hoof into the floor and shook her head.

“What?” Cup Cake looked at her daughter.

“Ugh, I can’t even deal with this right now!”

“Feeling better, Freakshow?” Pumpkin asked. She looked at her brother, hoping that he felt better. As aloof as Pumpkin tried to appear, she had a sincere affection for the ponies around her. “I know I’m feeling better after doing a good deed.”

“Yeah, I’m okay… I’m going to miss Croissant,” Pound admitted.

“So it was more than a fling?” Pumpkin asked. She watched her brother come to a halt, his feathers ruffling, his tail twitching from side to side. Zenith came to a halt beside her brother, and Pumpkin, catching up to them both, she poked her brother in his cutie mark.

“We both had our first time with each other… we’ve done more than just making out. We’ve been doing this for a while now,” Pound replied.

“Oh shit… you mean you let him fuck your tight little asshole?” Pumpkin looked her brother in the eye.

“Sis, don’t be so crude for once… I’m in love… I don’t want to hear talk like that.” Pound turned away from his sister and saw Zenith looking at him.

“Pumpkin doesn’t understand what it’s like for us.” Zenith brought himself up to his full height and looked down his snoot at Pumpkin. He prodded Pound with his hoof. “Cheer up. Look, we’ll figure something out… come to Canterlot to visit me, I’ll figure out some way of getting Croissant out and away from his parents somehow, and the two of you can be together.”

“But you don’t know Croissant.” Pound shook his head.

“He’s a baker, right? I can have him summoned to the castle for his services… I can… I can say that I prefer his baked goods… I can start throwing some of my weight around and maybe make a few requests.” Zenith’s brows wrinkled.

“Croissant’s parents would lose their minds if they thought their son was good enough to deliver goods to Princess Celestia’s personal student.” Pound extended a wing and rubbed his chin.

“Oh, fuck you both!” Pumpkin’s lip curled back into a snarl. “Zenith, I try and get you to do sneaky stuff and you lecture me, telling me that it’s wrong… but my brother… you’re bending over backwards to help him! What gives?”

“I understand what it means to be in love.” Zenith gave Pumpkin a haughty sniff. “Us queer types have to stick together.”

“Oh, son of a bitch…” Pumpkin stomped away, rolling her eyes.

“Pumpkin, you’ve been really cranky lately!” Pound shouted at his departing sister.

Sitting on the train, Zenith tried to collect his thoughts as the train wound its way up the mountain towards Canterlot. Upon their return to Princess Buttermilk, she was gone again, off to some other part of her empire, looking after whatever it was that she had been called away for. He, Pound, and Pumpkin had left the boxes of food behind.

As he tried to think about the Princess Buttermilk situation, other thoughts intruded. Was he really queer for alicorns? The phrase refused to leave his mind. Was this a sexual orientation? It seemed like such a weird thing to say. Celestia was female, but she was considered unobtainable. Zenith was certain that he would find a way somehow. She might have been an alicorn, but she was still a pony, and he knew for certain that many other ponies forgot that fact, and this was something that irked Princess Celestia to no end. She had even said it herself, she appreciated the fact that Zenith treated her like any other pony, so he had done something right.

He thought about Pumpkin, and as much as he didn’t want to, he thought about everything he had seen when she had hiked her tail up. He sighed, thinking about what might have been, what could have been… what might still be. As much as he didn’t like admitting it, he was tempted. Pumpkin was his friend, a close friend.

Princess Twilight Sparkle had lectures about the varying levels of trust and intimacy within a friendship. There was a spectrum of friendship, like a rainbow, and past a certain point, friendship blurred into love. Her students called it ‘friendship with benefits,’ but Twilight never called it that in class. She talked about how important it was to respect boundaries, maintain trust, and to always seek consent, lest your friendship get damaged. There was nothing inherently wrong with two friends having an intimate moment, like having a bath together in the spa, or perhaps sharing a bed together during a sleepover. These were examples, but the entire class knew that there was more to it than what was being said.

In class, Twilight never came right out and said to bang your friends, but she spoke of scenarios where it wasn’t hard to imagine that sex would be the eventual outcome. Zenith endured a troubling thought; would it really be so bad to be good friends with Pumpkin if he was saving his heart, his love, for Celestia?

He didn’t know, and his brows furrowed as he searched his heart for the answer.

Author's Note

So... is this worth updating? Who's reading?