Touch of the Sun

by Free Sky

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Dark, Romance
Length: 6701

Crystal Clarity, a mare who was once enslaved, has been rescued and brought to Sunshine Manor. Sunshine Manor is a place for ponies who have suffered, who have lost everything, but now have a chance to start over.

Life is a precious gift, a gift that is sometimes taken away from us. For Crystal Clarity, a unicorn mare, this was especially true. Having been locked up and abused for years, she's being given a chance to make a new life for herself, but not all is as it seems. Something is happening both in her new home and in Equestria at large.

Warning contains: [spoiler]elements of rape, very causal attitudes towards sex, polyamory, and foalcon.[/spoiler]

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-06-06 16:58:12 UTC

Chapter 1

Pain and bright lights in a small, windowless, room. This is my world, for how long I can’t say, maybe weeks or maybe months, probably years. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the sun, or a friendly face I can’t even remember what they're like. Every day I am used, like nothing but a piece of meat. They come in and force themselves on me; they beat me and hurt me. They insult me, treat me like trash, and leave when they’re done. This endless nightmare has gone on for so long that they’ve had to force feed me because I refused to eat. If ever there was Tartarus in Equestria, it was here, but that all changed one fateful day.

The day started as it always does, I wake up in pain, my mare parts ache and my body is stiff. I knew it wouldn’t be long before another stallion came in to fuck me mindless. Like clockwork the door opened and revealed a stallion. I couldn’t see them, not that it mattered of course. Soon he was upon me, mounting and penetrating me with a quick thrust. The thrusting continued until suddenly it stopped and the weight left my back. He didn’t even cum, which should have tipped me off that something was up. Next thing I know a mare is shouting something about a live one, before I felt a wing on my back and a leg helping me up from the ground. This pony helping me leads me out of the building and into the sunlight.

This pony, this mare that is helping me has a coat as white as the light’s in my room and a golden mane that shines like the sun does. She speaks gently to me, telling me that everything will be alright, that I’m safe now. It was then that I noticed the hundreds of ponies in golden armor surrounding the building, some keeping observers out, others holding groups of stallions captive, and even more helping other mares who looked beaten and abused, just like me. That was the last thing I saw before my vision was overcome with darkness.

When I came to I was no longer outside of the building but in a very nice room. The room was round and had four large windows that arched up across the ceiling converging in the center. The center of the windows was a beautiful stained glass mural of the sun that glowed beautifully in the midday light. The parts of walls and ceiling that weren’t glass were beautiful white marble decorated with intricate carvings. Groaning I sat up and stretched, looking about the room I noticed that it was rather high up and looked over a vast forest. The forest seemed more dense than any I had ever seen before.

Getting up from the bed I noticed that it was rather large, like it could fit a dozen or more ponies. I had a bit of difficulty walking, but after a few minutes I was able to move around normally. As I wandered the room a large mirror caught me eyes, it was framed by an ornate wood carving that seemed to be covered in all kinds of arcane glyphs. Walking up to it I noticed that my reflection looked different, instead of my normal ice blue coat and ashen mane my coat and mane were deep purple while my eyes were white. Truth be told it was really creepy, but I shook it off and headed over to one of the windows.

From the windows I could some of the other parts of the house. There was a greenhouse off to one side, and to the other was a beautiful garden. Looking down I noticed that there was a small N carved into the marble floor, turning I saw that there were other letters carved in front of each of the windows, telling me the direction I was looking in. Moving around the room I saw that there was a pool to the west side and a beautiful gate to the south. Looking east I saw a large outdoor dining and a few ponies sitting at the tables.

Looking back to the north I couldn’t help but to admire the garden, which seemed to have a hedge maze in the center of it. This place looked like paradise compared to the Tartarus that I had been rescued from, even the mare that was being rutted by a stallion in the center of the hedge maze seemed to be happy. It was then that it hit me that there actually was a mare getting fucked in the middle of the maze. The other odd thing was that there was another pony tending to the hedge only a couple of rows from the center and they seemed like they weren’t even bothered by the noise of the pair of ponies nearby.

I shook my head and turned away only to notice that the reflection in the mirror had changed. Instead of the strange image it held before it now just showed me as I normally look, it even showed my red irises. My red eyes always earned me extra attention in that Tartarus pit, but now that I was free I hoped that it wouldn’t be such a problem. It was then that I heard a door open and hooves trot up the stairs that were in the south west corner, the trotting was accompanied by the soft sound of a magic aura. From the stairs emerged the mare from before, the one who personally helped me out of the building. Turning to face her I noticed that she had wings but no horn and yet she was using magic. She smiled at me and with a flick of her wing the tray she had with her floated over to a table that sat in front of the westward window.

“I’m sure that you have some questions,” she started, “but first you should eat something. You have been out for a whole day, so you’ll probably be a bit hungry.”

I tried to speak but found my voice strangely absent, even though I couldn’t speak I walked over to the table and sat down. Using my magic I lifted the glass of water she brought up with the food and drank it down rather quickly, leaving the glass back on the tray. “I guess you were thirsty,” the mare said with a giggle before making a quick gesture with her wing which summoned a pitcher full of water, “I thought you might be, so I came prepared.”

After another two glasses my throat felt better, this time it when I tried to talk I was able to make sounds but something was still off. It was then that the mare quickly moved over and tapped my throat with her wing. “−you doing? Oh, thank you. It’s nice to be able to talk again.”

“Sure thing, though I should have noticed the spell that was used on your throat sooner, but that is neither here nor there. My name is Gentle Light but you can call me Gentle, and it’s nice to meet you.” The ma− Gentle said a soft smile dancing across her lips.

“It’s nice to meet you Gentle, I’m Crystal Clarity, and I'm really grateful that you saved me from that Tartarus pit.” I say with a heartfelt smile, looking into her ice blue eyes.

“I’m glad I could help. Heck, you were lucky to be alive. When we started the raid on that compound most of the mares on your level were killed before the ponies who ran the place escaped. It appears the intercom in your room wasn’t working and no one knew. Before you start worrying the guard are actively hunting for the ponies responsible for this slave ring.” Gentle told me with a sad look on her face. “Since I found you I took on full responsibility for making sure that you recovered and were doing better.”

“Well I thank your for helping me, and taking me into your home.” I say before taking a bite of the delicious vegetable chutney sandwich that she brought me.

“You’re more than welcome. Of course you will have a choice to make once you have fully recovered, that choice being either staying here at the Sunshine Manor or heading back out into the rest of the world. Though living here you will see some interesting quirks about this place that would surprise most ponies.” She said with a sheepish smile.

Swallowing the last bite of my sandwich “You mean like that mare that was getting plowed in the middle of the hedge maze while another pony was trimming it a few rows over?”

“Shoot! I was hoping to ease you into the way things work around here. I’ll have to give Estar and Steel a stern talking too.”

“Oh, no you don’t have to do that. It was a bit surprising, but it was nice to see two ponies finding pleasure together rather than one taking it from the other.” I said, shaking my head a bit, “The only thing that was confusing about it was why the gardener seemed not to notice or care.”

Gentle Light looked at me with a strange smile, “That might take some explaining.”

Chapter 2

Gentle Light sighed, “Normally I introduce ponies to the oddities of this place before they can encounter them. I have a whole speech about how Sunshine Manor is a place of peace and love. How ponies in need come here and find a home. And…” She stops speaking as she notices that I’m giggling.

“It’s okay, really.” I say, trying to calm Gentle down, “I think I get it, this place is very different from the rest of the world. It’s a paradise for those who really need it, those like me.”

With a deep breath and a sigh Gentle Light began to properly explain the way the manor worked. Sunshine Manor, was created about three-quarters of a millennia ago, was intended to be a place of hospitality for those who had suffered greatly at the hooves of others or the country. Many years passed and as they did the place changed. Where once ponies were brought here to find normalcy in a tumultuous life the tedium of normalcy began to drive the ponies to experiment. New games and activities were invented, old games were given new twists, but even then they never did anything sexual. It wasn’t until the beginning of the last century that the taboo surrounding sexual activity started fading from the minds of “modern” ponies. As the change affected the rest of the world the ponies of the manor were also being affected, but in more extreme ways.

The ponies that had lived at the manor had tired of the endless different activities that they had tried and began experimenting sexually. As time went on they were encouraged to explore everything sexual they could think of. During their experiments they wrote many books on the nature of sexual arts, though most were never “published” they were printed and stocked in the library. Though, as with all the previous groups, the ponies that lived at the manor during that time moved on, finding love or happiness and a new life in the outside world leaving the manor permanently. That had the effect of spreading most of the fetishes out there among the common pony-

“Wait, you’re telling me that the majority of the fetishes that ponies have to day were started here?” I asked my jaw dropping in disbelief.

Gentle smiled at me, “That’s right, including some of the more ‘depraved’ ones.”

“That kind of explains a lot.” I said, thinking about how the ponies in the maze were fucking.

“I imagine so, but that’s also just the beginning. Over the last few decades things have changed here at the manor. As with all the previous generations there are always one or two ponies who have found their ‘true calling’ or ‘new life’ here at the manor instead of out in the rest of the world. Recently all the ponies we have rescued, that ended up here, have found that this is where they feel most comfortable and have rediscovered their love for life. That is the primary point of the manor, to help ponies who need it.” Gentle paused, probably to gather her thoughts and then continued. “I have the ability to tell where a pony will find their love of life again. It’s part of my natural talent and lately I have noticed that the ponies here are destined to find peace and happiness here.”

“I take it that means you’re taking on less ponies that before.” My face was pensive as I spoke.

“Yes and no,” Gentle told me, “Yes we are helping less ponies, but that is more a product of the times, thanks to the development of modern therapies, rather than this place having too many ponies.”

“So, is that all I need to know about the nature of this place?” I ask stretching a bit looking into her ice blue eyes, seeing a kindness that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“For now at least, you can always ask me if there’s something you don’t know about. Now let’s go meet the others and tell them that you’re off limits,” Gentle said trotting over to the mirror.

“Actually, Gentle, I would prefer not to be off limits. While I won’t participate in the more painful or t-torturous types of activity I would like to experience gentler forms of sex, at my own pace of course.” I tell her, looking straight into her eyes to let her know that I am serious.

“Okay,” Gentle said looking back at me and nodding. With that she turns back to the mirror and taps three of the glyphs around the edge before calling out, “Everyone, it’s time to gather in the main hall, you’ll be meeting the newest member of Sunshine Manor. Please respect her wishes to stay away from the more punitive types of sex.” Gentle tapped the same glyphs again but in reverse order before stepping away from the mirror and gesturing towards the stairs she came up. “Come on, let’s go meet the rest of the family.”

As we walked towards the stairs a thought struck me, “You never did tell me about the gardener.”

“Strong Hoof and you’ll see soon enough.”

Gentle led me down the stairs into the rest of rest of the manor. It was then that I truly began to appreciate the size and intricacy of the place. Though this brought up more questions, the manor seemed so much bigger down here than up in Gentle’s room. When I brought this up Gentle explained that the windows in her room had a magnification charm woven into the glass allowing her to view the entire area in much greater detail. She also mentioned that it’s kind of hard to see anything without it, since her room is as high as the highest tower in Canterlot castle. This also explained why there were so many stairs for us to go down.

As we reached the main hall I noticed that it seemed a little crowded, though that’s not really saying much as the hall wasn’t as big as I would have thought. If I had to guess, I would say that there were about twenty to twenty-two people. To my surprise there were a couple of griffons and a changeling, though it was surprising to see how well it got along with the other people. As soon as we walked down into the hall every one turned towards where we were, and all of a sudden I was greeted by waves, smiles, and calls of welcome.

I was a bit taken aback by the reception, and the general cacophony of welcomes lasted for a minute before Gentle raised a hoof, silencing them all. “Thank you all for gathering so quickly. I know you all have things to do so I will keep this short. This,” Gentle said, indicating to me with her hoof, “is Crystal Clarity. See to it that she is treated like family, and is welcomed here. Please understand her wishes and respect them. You of course can engage her at your leisure, but for now she’s going to be adjusting to life here, and will be accompanied by Anni. You are all dismissed.”

With that almost all of the others left, save for three ponies. The first was an earth pony stallion, with a tan coat and a white mane that had a chef’s hat on. He immediately approached me, “Hello Miss Clarity, I am Sous, the head chef of the manor. Should you ever want something to eat you can ask me and I will make it for you.”

“It is nice to meet you Sous, and I certainly will, given how good the food I had earlier was.” I told him, a small smile crossing my face.

“I am glad you enjoyed it, but as much as I would like to stay and chat I need to get back to the kitchen.” Sous said, and with a bow he bid me fair well. As he let I turned to the pony that was next to him, only to see a green coated earth pony that had no ears.

“Hello Ma’am. I am Strong Hoof, I was told that you were curious about what was happening in the hedge. Specifically I was told that you were curious about why I wasn’t bothered by the noise.” Strong Hoof said offering a hoof, and a smile, which I gladly shook. “You see, with my ears missing and sever damage to my inner ears I cannot hear naturally. I was, however, lucky that Gentle was able to get my collar enchanted so that it could pick up sounds and relay them to my mind. So, to answer your next question, I can turn on and off my hearing, which is why I wasn’t bothered by Estar and Steel. Though they did make their intentions very clear to me before they started, which was nice of them.”

“Thank you for letting me know, with my talent relating to knowledge I probably would have sought you out at some point.” I said with a sort of sad smile. He must have known my smile was sad because he chuckled a bit.

“Don’t worry, I have long since gotten over having my ears hacked off. In fact, sometimes it’s a point of humor. I once had some attachable ‘ears’ and I lost one of them. So one witty Pegasi just had to joke about how I ‘lost’ an ear and she also joked about how is she tromped around maybe I would hear her and be able to ‘find’ my ear.” He said, mirth filled his voice like rain filled barrel.

“In my defense, I had just gotten your collar properly enchanted,” Gentle said, speaking up from a little ways away.

“That you did Gentle, that you did.” He turned back to me, his lavender eyes glimmering with humor, “So, don’t you worry…” He must have seen the look of shock and horror on my face as he trailed off.

“Y-your ears were hacked off?” I asked, my voice faltering a little as I did.

“Yeah,” He said with a sigh, “My Psychotic, alcoholic, father did that to me. Chopped off my ears, battered my head, beat me and nearly killed me. I was found by the royal guard just outside of my house, bleeding and nearly dead. Of course, after that my dad never saw the light of day again, since I was the one who put him down. Not my proudest moment, but I killed him in self-defense. Luckily my neighbors vouched for me and I was free to go, after a moth in the hospital.”

“I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.” I said, hugging him, a gesture which he returned.

“It’s okay, I’ve gotten over it.” He released me after that, “Though I do need to go finish trimming the hedge.” Before he left he gave me a small kiss on the forehead and whispered to me, “time heals all, in time I hope that you will heal from your troubles.”

I was admittedly a little shocked by his gesture, but he seemed to genuinely care for me, like an older brother. Turing away from where he was walking I looked over to Gentle, who smiled at me. “Crystal, this is Anni,” she indicated to the pony standing next to her, “She is my assistant and paramour.”

It was then that I noticed that the pony next to her was clearly young and couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

Chapter 3

I was floored, Gentle’s personal assistant and paramour was a young filly. My expression must have been funny because the two of them burst out laughing. Admittedly my jaw was hanging open and garbled noises were coming out of my mouth. After a little bit I was able to form a somewhat coherent thought, “Y-you- her- paramour- what?”

After Gentle and Anni settled down Gentle spoke up, “Let me explain, Anni was found on the streets of Canterlot by me when she was only eight. She was starving, had no home and no family, so I took her in. From then on she was… was-”

“Your student, friend and assistant,” Anni supplemented, giving Gentle a nuzzle.

“Yes, that would be the best way to describe our relationship for the first two years.” Gentle said, continuing her story, “she grew into a strong young filly. She has always been more responsible than any other filly I have met, well, as long as she knows what to do.” This earned Gentle a not so gentle hoof jab from Anni. “Back to the point, she was always a strong pony and she was always interested in the activities of the manor. Though she was forbidden from engaging in them until she got her cutie mark, which she got just after she turned ten.”

“So she was ten when she first had sex?” I asked, still feeling a bit of disbelief.

Gentle nodded, “She came to me, just the day after her cute-cenera and asked me to be the pony to take her virginity. She explained that she had always been attracted to me, never in love with me, but definitely attracted to me. So I agreed, since the manor is not part of Equestria in the legal sense I am able to make the rules and laws here. Since I decreed that only those who had cutie marks could engage in the carnal arts she waited, and very patiently, but yes once she had her mark she came to me. In more ways than one.”

Gentle went on to talk about how much trust Anni had put in to her, how she refused to disappoint her, and how they became causal lovers, in essence friends with benefits. Though soon we were interrupted by another pony entering the hall, a unicorn with a light grey coat and a deep blue mane. He quickly moved up to Gentle and began speaking, “Gentle, there is a situation. Their back, and they’re in the infirmary. Two with non-critical, one with category 2 critical. Your attention is needed right away.”

“Anni, please see Crystal around the manor and help her adjust to her surroundings.” Gentle said, her voice turning forceful, before turning to me, “Crystal, I must attend to this. Follow Anni, she will help you. Light Step, with me.” With that Gentle vanished and so too did the unicorn, Light Step.

Turning to Anni I asked, “what was that about?”, looking right into her eyes.

“That is for Gentle to tell you, when she feels that you can handle the choice she will offer. For now, you should put that thought aside, Gentle is the most skilled healer to have ever lived, in all of her lives.” Anni said, looking back up at me with a confidence I had never seen before.

“Okay, but what did you mean by all of her lives?” I asked, sitting down on the carpet.

“Simply, Gentle was created by Princess Celestia. The Princess knew that she couldn’t look after the whole country and those who were suffering most, so she made Gentle Light or Gentle Dawn as she was first known as. Celestia came to this decision after she found a mare that had died giving birth in the back allies of a town she was visiting. This mare gave birth to a still born foal, one who had both male and female genitalia. Seeing this horrible sight, she pulled on her powers to breathe new life into the foal. That pony became Gentle Dawn, the first chosen of Princess Celestia, and defender of the lost. She was instructed, and raised by the castle staff under the close supervision of the Princess of the Sun herself. Once Gentle reached the age of eighteen Princess Celestia asked her to go out into the world and help ponies. So Gentle did, finding sad foals that had lost their family and finding them a new home. Saving ponies that were suffering and dying because they weren’t able to get help. Every hundred years or so she changes her name, and begins a new 'life'. Before long she founded this place, and you should know the rest.” Anni explained, in a very impassioned tone that said she really cared for Gentle.

“Thank you, for helping me understand this. Though I’m a bit surprised that Princess Celestia created her. What of her sister Princess Luna?” I asked, having heard of her from one of the clients who was bragging about how he rutted a changeling that looked like her.

“Simple, Princess Luna was banished to the moon at the time. In fact it had happened just a year before Gentle was made.” Anni said simply, before getting up and indicating towards a door, “Come on, I want to show you where the common areas are before we move to the upper floors.”

Anni led me to a door and into a large room where couches lined the walls, small tables were set up with chairs in front of the couches. There were also tables with chairs away from the couches and to be honest I would have thought it was a restaurant were it not for the fact that there was no kitchen connected to it. I could tell that there wasn’t as there was a door that lead to an indoor pool on the left side, connected windows across the far side and a glass door to the patio area on the right side. This was the common area, the ponies of the manor would gather here to engage in many things, from sex to book clubs and everything in between. She told me that there were events, both sexual and non-sexual that happened from time to time. Some ponies came to watch these things, weather they were into voyeurism or exhibitionism during the sexual events, or they just liked seeing two people battle it out on a chess board.

The tour continued for a while and I began to get the gist of the place. The first floor of the manor contained all the public places, like the common area, the indoor pool, the sauna, the kitchen, the entrance hall, the infirmary, storage areas for certain kinds of items like shoes and boots. The second and third floors were public and private quarters respectively. The fourth floor was Gentle’s personal area, though the number of rooms was significantly less than the previous floors. It also included Anni’s room, and the stairwell up to Gentle’s privet room.

“So, what do you think of the manor so far?” Anni asked, turning to me while we stood in front of the window in her room.

“It’s bigger than I expected,” I say turning to her, “from Gentle’s room I couldn’t even tell how big this place is and I’ve only seen the inside.” I run a hoof through my ashen mane and sigh. The place was nice, though really big, and I had to admit the atmosphere was very pleasant. Wherever we went the people of the manor were friendly, whether they were working or talking with their friends they would greet us with a wave and a smile.

“Since you’ve seen the inside of the manor, and it’s getting late, why don’t you come and ‘join’ me in my bed?” Anni propositioned, a small smirk crossing her lips.

“I’m not sure I should.” I replied, a look of concern crossing my face.

“Really, is it because of…” She seemed a bit sad, like she thought that she hurt me.

“No,” I said, looking into her golden eyes, which I had to admit, went really well with her really light grey coat, “No, it’s just, you’re so young, only fourteen-”

“Thirteen.” She looked up at me, brushing her sky blue mane out of her eyes.

“You’re only thirteen?”

“Yes, though I don’t see why that’s so off putting. Where we are isn’t part of Equestria, and Gentle decreed that I was allowed to participate in the activities.”

“I’m still hesitant-” It was then that Anni cut me off with a kiss, and a very nice kiss at that. In that moment I gave in a bit and kissed back enjoying the first, nice, kiss that I had. Breaking the kiss she led me to bed, and I willingly followed. Hopping up onto the bed and rolling onto my back I used my magic to lift Anni up on to me so that I could kiss her. Deeply enjoying the kiss I moved one of my forehooves down to her rump, rubbing and squeezing it a bit and making her moan softly into the kiss. As we continued to kiss I felt her magic at work, using her telekinesis she started to gently tease my marehood. This caused me to gasp and moan, breaking the kiss as she reached inside of me. Spinning around and moving down my body Anni was able to reach my pussy with her mouth, immediately burying her muzzle into me.

Moaning a she did this, I reached for her own cunt with my forehoof, and I started to rub her cunt causing her to moan into mine. I continued to rub her before lighting my horn and pushing my magic into her, caressing her inner walls with gentle rotating motions. I could tell that this was driving her wild as she redoubled her efforts at eating me out. All this came to an end rather quickly as Anni sucked on my clit, driving me over the edge and into orgasm. This caused my magic to spike sending pulses throughout Anni’s cunt, which drove her over the edge too. Her juices squirted all over my chest and face, as I soaked her face with mine. Both of us lay there panting heavily, spent from our orgasms. With the little magic I had left I moved Anni back up my body and spun her to that she was facing me and kissed her.

We continued to kiss for a while, before we separated and Anni rolled off of me. “That was really fun,” I said twisting so that I could hold Anni close.

Anni nodded, “It really was, and I’m glad you gave it a shot.” She gave me a smile before nuzzling into me and sighing contently. I had to admit, where before I was really worried about her age, now it seemed so inconsequential, like the idea that sex can be pleasurable for both parties. Though I by no means have forgotten what happened, and I’m still not sure about having sex with a stallion, but at least I feel better about sex in general. I was brought out of my thoughts by a very light snoring coming from Anni, reminding me that it was quite late. With a few deep breaths I too drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 4

The next morning I woke to the sun light shining in through the window. Blinking I realized that I was still in Anni’s room, but I was alone in bed, but the sheets were still warm. Rolling over and getting off the bed I noticed that there was a note on the night stand. It read:

Crystal

I had to go help Gentle Light with the situation that happened yesterday. I’m sorry that I had to leave you alone in bed, but you are more than welcome to explore or just head down to the kitchen. Sous is working on breakfast stuff so he can whip you up something.

Anni

P.S. Last night was awesome.

After reading the note, and blushing at the last line, I headed to Anni’s personal bathroom. Taking care of business, brushing my mane and washing up, took me a little bit but when I was done I felt much better. Trotting down stairs I noticed that the common area was a quite busy, most of the ponies were eating breakfast or talking to each other, though I noticed that the changeling was sitting between two ponies and nuzzling them in a loving way. The thing that stuck me about that was the changeling wasn’t disguised. A couple of the ponies waved to me as I walked past the common room. I waved back before heading to the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen I noticed a griffon talking to Sous. Seeing me, Sous waved me over. “Crystal, I would like you to meet Swift Claw, one of the two griffons that live here.”

“It’s nice to meet you Crystal,” Swift Claw said, turning towards me which revealed a large scar across his chest, which looked more like a burn than a scar.

“Like wise Mr. Claw.” I said before turning to Sous, “And good morning to you Sous, I hope it’s been treating you well.”

Swift burst out laughing, “I see why you like her Sous, she is very polite in spite of the fact that she is standing next to a griffon who is literally twice her size, and please, call me Swift.” Swift said, turning back to me, “Sous was telling me that you are quite the inquisitive mare.”

I smiled, albeit a little nervously, “That’s true, I tend to ask a lot of questions, but that's because this is the first time I have really had a place where I can be free and be myself.”

Swift nodded, “I head your story from Gen, and she said that you were very lucky, but I don’t believe in luck. Now karma, that’s something to believe in. You must have done something good to be rescued by the most motherly pony other than Princess Celestia.” He looked down at me with a smile, his red eyes looking into mine. That caught my attention, he had red eyes too.

Before I could really think about what I was saying I blurted out “You have red eyes too?!” This question got a burst of laughter from the griffon.

“Yes, little mare, I do have red eyes like you. While the trait is rare in griffons, it is more so in ponies which I can guess caused some problems for you. Don’t worry, the common pony is less likely to react to them than the snobby nobles.” Swift replied, a smile on his face and mirth sparkling in his eyes.

“That’s kind of a relief, I was always worried that they might cause a problem again.” I let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey Crystal, what do you want for breakfast?” Sous asked looking away from the stove for a moment.

I said the first thing that came to my mind, “Avocado, cheddar and salsa scramble.” I quickly added, “With toast.”

“Sure thing,” he said before turning back to the stove.

“Well Crystal, I have to get going, but perhaps I will see you later,” Swift said to me, turning towards the exit.

“Okay, see you later Swift.” I replied, a smile dancing onto my face. He started heading out before quickly turning around.

“By the way, you may want to brush your teeth before coming down next time, you know,” he started chucking, “so you don’t smell like mare cum.” This got me blushing big time as he headed out the door.

Sous was chuckling a bit, “Don’t worry Crystal, it’s not really noticeable to ponies, but griffons have better a sense of smell.” He used his spatula to mix the contents of the pan, “and don’t worry, Swift likes to embarrass ponies a lot.”

“I can see that,” I say with a light chuckle leaving, my blush hadn’t faded much.

“He may normally seem to be domineering to ponies who he isn’t close with, but he really does have a soft heart,” Sous said with a wistful sigh.

“Sounds like there’s something more to that than you’re saying,” I state with a knowing look as he dishes up my scramble.

“That there is Crystal,” turning to me with my food, which I take into my magic, “he and I have had a fare few encounters. At first it was just as friends, seeing as we both have a love for exotic foods.” His eyes were overcome by a wistful glaze, “he was the first person here at the manor who I befriended. Back then I had just started to cook for the manor, and he had been away on a supply trip. When he first walked into the kitchen I was taken aback at his size, which is really an understatement, as I was I cowering behind the serving line.”

Sighing Sous shook his head, “He quickly apologized for scaring me and was about to leave when I asked him not to. I knew that there was a reason he was in the kitchen so I offered to help him with what he wanted cooked. He asked if I could cook up a hotdog, which in retrospect wasn’t that surprising, but at the time I was a little surprised. I did it anyway, and he thanked me for it before heading out to the gardens. That was the beginning of our friendship.”

It was kind of surprising that Sous seemed to have no problem cooking meat, but serving a griffon or two probably had a hoof in that.

“After a year our friendship grew into something more. It was Hearth’s Warming Eve when he asked me if I would like to go out with him. it was great, and we had a wonderful time, but things weren’t meant to be. While we got along well and certainly enjoyed each other’s company the romance aspect didn’t work out so well. With him handling most of the supply runs and me always cooking or preparing something food wise we didn’t have much time for us. So we decided to keep it casual and we have gotten together for fun times whenever we had some time off.”

“That’s one heck of a story, but I had better let you get back to your work. Given how many things you need to take care of.” I said nodding towards the pots on the stove where soups were simmering.

“Alright, enjoy the…” The look on his face was priceless when he noticed that I had already eaten my breakfast.

“Thanks, it was wonderful.” I said with a smile, before floating the dish over to the dish machine, waving good bye, and heading out of the kitchen.

As soon as I stepped out of the kitchen I saw Gentle standing there, “Crystal, it’s time for you to learn the other half of what Sunshine Manor is all about, also to meet Sweet Blossom, Iron Claws, and Shimmering Stars. Their our disruption team.”