“You. Made Gilda. GILDA! A-A FREAKING GODDESS!?!” Rainbow Dash screeched. It wasn’t the first time, nor likely to be the last even since he broke the news of the newest Aspect in town.

“Yay, I’m not the new kid anymore!” Artemis cheered, waving his tiny paws in the air. “Well, technically Realm was the newest, but you get my point.”

“Technically all I did was stick my spear through an anvil and told it to move only for a worthy griffon,” Aspect replied, using his magic to make sure his ears weren’t damaged. Again. “She wanted me to take the damn thing back and actually pulled it out. She wasn’t looking for the position for glory, wealth, power, anything like that. But if she plays her cards right, she’ll be the best Air aspect we could ask for. ‘The best leaders are those that do not seek the position.’”

“But it’s Gilda! For crying out loud… she’s probably dunking the head of every griffon in the region in a toilet somewhere,” Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “Fine, I’ll just file it under ‘Magical mumbo-jumbo about Aspect I don’t understand’.”

“She actually had a pretty nice following for a freshly-minted Aspect, and I gave her a few pointers on how to start on getting a larger one,” Aspect replied. “She was actually pretty responsible. She could have gone out and said something like ‘Bow peasants!’ or anything like that...but she frankly said that she didn’t care if they followed her or not. She’s matured a bit since you last met her.”

Rainbow just snorted and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I woulda made an awesome Air Aspect.”

“Yeah, but I wanted it to not go to a pony for once,” Aspect booped her nose. “We already have plenty of metaphysical ones, I’d like the actual forces of the world to not be relying on ponies. Because, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this lately, ponies can occasionally be crazy.”

“Fun?” Pinkie Pie popped up in front of him, tilting her adorable pink head slightly.

“Like her,” Aspect nodded, petting Pinkie’s head. “It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even question it anymore.”

“Oh, are we still on for going swimming later?” Rainbow asked her pink friend. “I seriously need to relax after hearing that.”

“Yupperooni!” Pinkie Pie nodded as she pet Aspect back. “Usual watering hole?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded as the pink pony saluted and pronked from the room.

“Yeah, relaxing sounds good to me as well,” Aspect sighed. “Riding the wind so much when I’m not Air is draining. I’ll just go...rest in the living room or something.”
“You can always come swimming with me and Pinks,” Rainbow suggested. “Honestly, I’m prolly just gonna nap by the lakeside. It’s a nice day out for it. And I’m working the next week straight, so we won’t see each other much.”

“...Eh, sounds good to me,” Aspect replied. “Let’s go. I need a good bit of relaxing myself.” He cracked his neck. “Today has just been so stressful.”

It was a quaint little watering hole. Crystal clear water that was nice and cool to the touch, and true to Rainbow’s word, she just lounged on a lawn chair, dark sunglasses over her face as she snored.

Mind you, the sleeping pony was also giving Aspect an accidental show~

Aspect was doing his best to ignore that as he laid on a chair himself, just letting his stress melt away. The sun was out, though it wasn’t overbearingly hot.

What was odd is that Pinkie Pie was late, and when she did show up, she played in the water for a few minutes before saying she’d be right back.

And that was a half hour ago.

“Huh,” Aspect hummed, before closing his eyes and just sighing in relief. “You were right Dash, this is the best spot.”

“Mhm, one of my many favourite napping spots,” the mare murmured. “This, AJ’s trees and the clouds above Whitetail Woods.”

Pinkie eventually returned, though she looked a little out of breath. “Phew, that was a doozy,” she forcefully giggled. “Are you guys having fun?”

“Yeah,” Aspect nodded. “I needed to unwind after everything today.”

“Just… keep the noise down,” Rainbow said as Aspect saw Pinkie about to cannonball into the water. She grinded to a literal screeching halt in the air, before sloooowly sinking into the water.

“Not questioning it,” Aspect muttered as he closed his eyes and relaxed again. “Mmm...basking in the light is awesome now.”

The day continued, with Pinkie disappearing a few more times. Well whatever, it means he got to sleep the day away and honestly, he was enjoying it. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this lazy.

Then Pinkie returned, only now she was way more perky and bouncy as she jumped up to him, standing over the stallion.

“Fun?”

“Mmmph…” Aspect muttered as he rolled over. “Lemme rest.”

“Fun?” a hoof poked at his side.

“Pinkie,” Aspect moaned. “Lemme get some sleep…”

“Fun!” two sets of hooves grabbed him and the half asleep stallion rather unceremoniously tossed into the cool water of the lake. Aspect surfaced and spat water from his mouth, opening his eyes to see what was going on.

Pinkie.

Actually, make that Pinkies.

As in, multiple Pinkie Pie’s.

At least two dozen giggled and laughed, repeating the word ‘Fun’ over and over as they bounced, swam, giggled and pronked their way around, on and under the lake.

“...She’s finally done the impossible,” Aspect breathed. “...This is not going to go well, is it?”

“Wha… Pinkie?” Rainbow stared wide-eyed at the chaos. Then the Pink Horde smiled as they started to bounce towards town, still chanting “fun” over and over.

“Well, I’m taking shelter in my house until this blows over,” Aspect said casually. “You couldn’t pay me to get involved in this.”

“Oh no, if I have to suffer through this, so do you!” Rainbow said and grabbed his hoof. “What’s the saying? ‘For better and for worse’?”

“We aren’t married yet!” Aspect pointed out. “Dealing with that much Pinkie is out of my pay grade!”

“Yet, but too bad,” Rainbow huffed as she dragged him along. “Besides… it’s only a few more, how bad can it possibly be?”

“Haven’t you learned not to taunt the universe yet?!” Aspect all but screeched as she dragged him into town.

The universe heard and summoned it’s very best.

Pinkie hadn’t made a dozen clones.

Or two dozen…

No.

The pink pony had made close to a hundred as they bounced, ran and giggled their way across town. And absolutely nopony had any idea of what to do in this time of crisis. They could barely contain one Pinkie. Let alone a hundred of them.

“See?” Aspect moaned. “This is what happens when you taunt the universe. It’s too late now. We’re all doomed.”

“Bucking drama queen, you’re worse than Rarity,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Seriously, aside from being kind of annoying, they really aren’t doing much but bouncing around.”

“And if they all inherited Pinkie’s Earth Pony Strange Magic and talent for bursting out of random places, do you think anypony would ever sleep again?” Aspect questioned.

“PARTY!” Several dozen cheered and Rainbow grimaced. “Yeah… prolly not. Plus, they seem to have the intelligence of a rock. A really bouncy rock.”

“RUDE!” Several dozen more yelled at Rainbow and suddenly the mare was assaulted with a barrage of pies, burying her under whipped cream goodness.

“...You know, if we were in other circumstances, I might take that differently,” Aspect muttered as he helped Dash clean herself off normally.

“LEWD!” the Ponka Parade turned on him and… that was a LOT of Pinkie Pie’s making bedroom eyes at him…

“And they seem to be learning at an incredible clip here,” Aspect noted aloud. “I feel like we should be worried.”

“Gaaah, it’s in my mane, and my wings!” Rainbow shouted as Twilight teleported in and looked around. Her gaze instantly fell on Aspect.

“Okay… what the buck did you do this time?” she deadpanned at him.

“It wasn’t me!” Aspect defended himself. “We were relaxing at the lake when a herd of Pinkies stampeded by. Pinkie did something to duplicate herself.”

“...Something of yours that caused this?” Twilight asked. “Because last time I checked, Pinkie didn’t have a horn… anymore.”

“No, it wasn’t anything in my possession,” Aspect sighed. “I don’t have artifacts like that. Usually when they were, they made the clones were evil and had to be stopped from taking the original’s place, which led to me smashing the artifact.”

“The original…” Twilight looked at the horde. “We need to find the original Pinkie!”

“I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“No I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“I am!”

“Fun?”

Twilight stared at the hundred-strong ponk and groaned. “This… is going to be a challenge.”

“No kidding,” Aspect muttered. “They all seem to be obsessed with fun and the like. So...finding the odd one out? I can’t imagine the original Pinkie Pie is happy with this.”

“I dunno, this looks like Pinkie’s dream come to life,” Rainbow muttered, having used a raincloud to wash herself off.

“...Think this is Luna’s fault?” Twilight hazarded a guess.

“No,” Aspect sighed. “Look, let’s just...figure out what’s going on. There has to be a local, logical, magical reason behind why Pinkie was able to duplicate herself.”

“Let’s check the library,” Twilight said with a nod. “It’s been here since Ponyville was founded. Surely it has to have something.”

“Good idea, I’ll look to see if I can’t figure out which one’s the original myself,” Aspect nodded as he began walking through the town.

“He’s totally gonna bail and hide out at home,” Rainbow sighed as she followed Twilight back to the library.

Aspect had to admit, the town was...more intact than he thought it would be. So, he took his time looking for the original Pinkie Pie. Assuming she was even here.

It was a mess. Pinkie Pie’s were everywhere and causing no end of torments and chaos. Stores were turned inside out and everypony’s lives upside down by the manic mare.

“...Yup, too much,” Aspect nodded sagely as he continued his search for any Pinkie Pie that wasn’t engaging in the town-wrecking. There was one sniffing flowers. Another playing hopscotch with some foals. Another just laying at a table, her head tilted to the side… There were just so many Pinkie Pie…

Wait a moment, back up. Laying at a table? That wasn’t normal for Pinkie. Aspect reversed course and looked at the out of place one.

“Yeah what?” the mare muttered, her just… lying there unblinking as she sighed.

Pinkie Pie… sighed!?

Not a wistful sigh, but a ‘the whole world is heavy’ sigh.

“Well hello there Pinkie,” Aspect sat in front of her. “Guess you figured out that more of you didn’t mean that it was a good thing, huh?”

“Yes I’m Pinkie Pie,” she said in a flat, defeated tone. It was so… unPinkie. “And that’s Pinkie Pie… and that’s Pinkie Pie… and that’s Pinkie Pie…”

“But none of them are you,” Aspect pointed out. “You’re the original, the best one. They’re all hollow shells compared to you. You made them for a reason, right?” He’d ask how later.

“What would it matter… nopony would believe me,” she sighed. “Just a Pinkie Pie of many now…”

“I believe you,” Aspect said honestly. “I always believe in my friends.”

“Yippee for you,” she sighed. This wasn’t right, this was so unlike Pinkie Pie it was starting to scare him.

“Look, you can either tell me how you did it, and Twilight will work on it from there, or Twilight can figure it out herself,” Aspect told her. “But I’m not letting you continue on like this. I know you. You’re the perky, happy, party pony of Ponyville. There might be a lot of you out there, but they don’t have any heart or soul behind what they’re doing. They don’t really care about being you. Are you going to let those pale shells outshine you?”

“Who’s to say I’m even the real Pinkie,” she murmured, deflating more. “What if I just think I’m the real Pinkie…”

“Easy, do you still care about your friends?” Aspect asked. “Because I bet these copies don’t know them enough to know, say...Twilight’s favorite cake. Or Rainbow Dash’s birthday. Or things like that.”

“Chocolate vanilla swirl, February first and of course I do… but I can’t stop all these clones,” she sighed.

“Bet you twenty bits Twilight’s already learned something about how to get rid of them,” Aspect wagered.

“Probably… TwiTwi’s a smarty smart pony,” Pinkie said and sighed with a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not a very good friend anyway… I, I only get in the way.”

“You’re the reason Ponyville is as calm and welcoming to all of my crazy shenanigans,” Aspect pointed out. “Do you think they’d be half as welcoming if you hadn’t already acclimated them to the idea of things happening they couldn’t quite understand? I’d probably have been run out of town if I’d lived anywhere else. You’re the most joyful, life-of-the-party pony I’ve met, and it warms my heart when you’re as random as you are. It’s like...It’s like I never left the valley, like Surprise was still with me. Of course,” he reached over and rubbed her mane with a hoof. “You’re worse than her, but I’d never tell her that.”

“You already met Surprise silly,” she sighed and shrugged. “And I guess…” She snorted and managed a half smile. “Careful with those words, you have enough mares in your harem.”

“I’m not trying to get that,” Aspect rolled his eyes, before pulling Pinkie into a hug. “I’m just trying to bring a little joy back to the one who makes it her mission to see a smile on everypony’s face,” he whispered. “You being sad and depressed like this tears at me, and I want you to know...I’m here for you. Your friends are here for you too. If you need time for yourself, or time off from being so happy...then you can just take it, you know. You don’t have to be everywhere, doing everything.”

“How am I supposed to make everypony happy then?” she said. “I… even I can’t be everywhere. Then I remembered that legend about the Mirror Pool. I thought, ‘hey, I actually could be everywhere. I could make everypony happy’.” She looked up and snorted. “Yep, I really messed that one up huh?”

“Nopony can be everywhere, doing everything,” Aspect pointed out. “I learned that lesson the hard way recently. I couldn’t be helping the ponies and the griffons...and because I was an inattentive parent for so long, they sort of...went off my plan. But I’ve got somebirdy working on it now. I guess the best you can do is make a plan to be with some ponies, but…” he shrugged and beeped her nose. “Not even you can be everywhere, Pinks. Sometimes you’re just going to have to accept that. You’ll just have to plan to catch up with ponies you missed later.”

“But then… I’ll still let ponies down,” she said as Aspect’s ear flicked, he noticed that quite a few clones were now missing.

“That’s called life, Pinks,” Aspect said to her. “But the great thing is...so long as you don’t give up, you’ll have plenty of other chances. So what if you had missed out on hanging out with some of your friends today?” He shrugged. “They’re your friends. They wouldn’t let one little thing like that get between you and your friendship. They’ll understand if you’re busy and have to tell them ‘not today, I’m busy with so-and-so. Maybe next time I can hang out with you.’ It would have worked.”

“But what if they were busy tomorrow?” she said, sitting up. “And what if that series of unfortunate circumstances kept going and we’d always be busy together and I’d never got the chance to see them ever ever again!?”

“Pinks, you live in the same town,” Aspect deadpanned. “Let’s review. Applejack and Fluttershy, maybe...but you know they won’t be busy in Winter, because the farm won’t have that many things to do, and all of Applejack’s trees will go to sleep for the season. Rarity’s schedule is hectic, but she still makes time every week to go to the spa. I’m sure if you scheduled something, unless something truly dire came up that she needed to get done for a client, she’d love to hang out with you. Rainbow Dash might be the lead weathermare for Ponyville, but what’s one of her favorite phrases?”

“Don’t knock me up Aspect?” Pinkie hazarded a guess, a small smile on her face.

“...Okay, that, but the one thing she has as Loyalty and that she keeps telling me in all her stories?” He lifted her chin up and smiled at her. “That she never leaves her friends hanging. And you also know Twilight practically lives by her schedule. So...what were you worried about again?”

“Hey Aspect!” Applejack called out as she ran over to them and looked at Pinkie. “Oh good, y’all found another one. Help me round ‘em all up. Twi has a spell that’ll send ‘em back to where they came from.”

“Applejack, I found Pinkie, not a clone,” Aspect elaborated. “She was the only one to actually feel remorse over the situation she created. So...I mean I can give you something to help if you’d like, but this one’s the real deal.”

AJ paused and looked at her. “Uh… ya sure about that? Ah don’t reckon ah’ve ever seen Pinkie sit this still fer this long.”

“Because she felt like she was letting you all down in some way if she couldn’t spend time with all of you, and so she turned to the Mirror Pool. And when she saw what she unleashed...even Pinkie had to sit and weep at what she’d done,” Aspect illuminated. “But it’s okay, she’s better now. Though I don’t think she’ll really be happy until you round up the others and send them back to the pond.”

“Are y’all sure?” Applejack scratched her head. “Ah mean… Twi came up with this whole idea and…” She sighed and shrugged. “Well, help me round ‘em up. Some of these mares are slippery.”

“Think I can do that,” Aspect said as his horn sparked for a moment. “Hey Pinkie, why don’t you prove that you’re the real Pinkie to AJ here? Like...what’s her favorite type of cake? I don’t think you’d bother to tell your copies that.”

“Apple tea cake,” Pinkie said. “But AJ liking apples is like… Twilight liking books.”

“So ah like apples,” Applejack huffed and folded her legs. “Better than pears.”

“Let’s not fight,” Aspect said as he produced a long strand of light magic from his horn. He quickly knotted the end into a lasso and tossed the whole thing over to AJ. “You’ll have to tell me how it works, it’s my first creation with Light magic.”

Pinkie Pie snorted as she lay back on the table. “Now all she needs is some golden gauntlets…”

“Well… guess ah’ll give it a shot,” Applejack said. “And take Pinkie to see Twilight. We’re roundin’ em all up at city hall.”

Aspect used his magic to pick Pinkie up and put her on his back, looking back to make sure she was secure before setting off for city hall at a sedate pace. “Told you she’d find something,” he said to his passenger. “Feel like playing along with whatever Twi’s come up with, or would you rather sit it out?”

“I feel like sitting it out is just inviting disaster,” Pinkie said, her tail twitched as she used his horn like a steering wheel, turning him right as a flowerpot crashed onto the ground, knocked from a windowsill by another pronking Ponka. “Thanks for believing me.”

“To be fair, I was believing in you when you weren’t,” Aspect pointed out. “Your friends will see you through this, I promise you. You’ve been there for them. Now it’s their turn to be there for you.”

“What do you think TwiTwi has planned?” Pinkie asked.

“Knowing her?” Aspect snorted. “Some sort of test.”

“Math?” Pinkie giggled lightly, much more like her own. She paused and looked at him. “Is it just me? Or did you picture Twi in a sexy schoolteacher outfit too?”

“Nope,” Aspect shook his head. “She’s not into me like that.” To say nothing of the fact that Dash had a student outfit…

“Aww,” Pinkie pet his mane. “I’m sorry. I know you kinda liked her. Are you okay?”

“It’s fine,” Aspect smiled. “Apparently one of my daughters has an eye on her, so...I’m fine.”

“Oohhh!” Pinkie craned her neck down… why was her neck so stretchy? “Which one? You kiiiiiiinda have a lotta kids Aspy.”

“I’ll tell you later,” Aspect promised. “For now, we should get you to the hall so you can take the test.”

“Fiiine,” Pinkie pouted as she sat back and did up a seatbelt… he had a seatbelt? “Giddy up Aspect. We need to move the episode along!”

“...I will never understand you,” Aspect muttered as they finally turned onto the street with the town hall. “Oh hey, we’re there. Okay, so all we need to do is see how well Applejack does with her new lasso and—”

Okay… that was Applejack hauling a LOT of Pinkie Pie’s via her Light lasso. She saw Aspect and waved at him, smiling widely. Somepony liked her new toy a lot apparently.

“Welp, ready to join in?” Aspect asked his passenger.

“I think I’m having second thoughts about this,” Pinkie said nervously.

They headed inside regardless as all the gathered Pinkie’s sat, doing various random things. And on a stage?

Sat Twilight and a giant wall slathered with dripping blue paint.

“The test is easy,” the unicorn said with a smile. “All you have to do is watch paint dry.”

“Welp,” Aspect lifted Pinkie off of him and put her in place in one of the seats. “I know you won’t fail,” he said to her soothingly. “Prove me right, eh?”

“What happens if I fail?” Pinkie asked as another one thought it’d be a better idea to throw confetti around…

And a pink beam from Twilight vapourised her, sending a pink mist floating out of the window.

“I know you won’t,” Aspect told her. “You’d do anything for your friends. Even if it was incredibly boring.”

“I have a bad feeling about this…” she murmured.

Over the course of several hours. Their numbers had been whittled down one by one until only two remained, Twilight’s horn glowing red and smoking slightly from an earlier bout of rapid firing the spell.

The two Pinkie’s stared intensely at the wall. Neither of them seemed to be giving an inch…

“Oh look, balloons!” Aspect suddenly chirped, looking out a window.

“WHERE!?” one Pinkie ran over to the window… and was promptly zapped and sent returning to the Mirror Pool.

And the sole remaining Pinkie continued to stare at the wall.

“You’re the last one, Pinkie,” Aspect told her. “You can stop now.”

“Huh?” Pinkie looked up as she saw she was the last one there. “I...I am?”

“Told you,” Aspect said, smiling at her. “I knew you’d pull through.”

“Huh… I guess you did,” Pinkie said as she sat back and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry everypony. I guess… I guess I tried so hard to make everypony happy, that I didn’t make anypony happy.”

“S’okay,” Rainbow rubbed her head. “We’re not gonna stop being your friends or anything. Just, try and keep the Pinkie Pie levels to one okay?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie smiled. “It's great to have fun, but it's even greater to have great friends. And having lots of friends means that you sometimes have to make choices as to who you'll spend your time with. But that's okay, because good friends will always give you lots of opportunities to have fun. So even if you're missing out, it's never for long.”

“So what’re you going to do now, Pinks?” Aspect asked her.

“Hmmmmmmm!” She hummed and tilted her head. “Well, I think this calls for…”

“A party?” Rainbow said with an amused smile.

“A nap!” Pinkie said and fell onto her back, snoring loudly.

“I’ll carry her home,” Aspect replied after having a chuckle about it. “She’s been through enough today.”

“Hopefully we got them all,” Twilight said as she rubbed her aching horn. “This was certainly… an event.” She looked up at the tall unicorn stallion. “Speaking of events… how’s our… guest from the Empire?”

“We’re waiting for you all to get the Elements again so that we can use them on him, but otherwise, he’s probably doing alright in the local jail. Assuming nobody took the inhibitors off,” Aspect explained.

“I wasn’t aware Ponyville even had a jail,” Twilight said as she lifted Pinkie onto his back. “I’m tired… so I’m going home myself.”

“Good plan,” Aspect told her with a nod. “Until next time, mares,” he tipped an imaginary hat at them all before heading for Sugarcube Corner.

Later at his home, he noticed that the when the sun was descending, it was looking… shaky. Oh yeah, he still had yet to have that talk with ‘Tia.

...Eh, today had been long enough as is. He’d put it off for another time.

...And thinking of talks reminded him about the one he had to have with Yggdrasil.

…...Later. He was so tired. He headed inside and began heading for bed, willing to do anything to get some sleep at this point.

Then he saw he had not one, or two… but four mares lying on his bed waiting for him. Oh right, Lyra was a thing now. And Bon Bon… and Midnight… and Rainbow…

“Mares,” Aspect greeted them. “Hello again.”

“Hello Christopher,” Bon Bon smiled and pat a space on the bed. “Rainbow told us you had a trying day. Come over here.”

“Pinkie somehow multiplied herself,” Aspect agreed as he sat on the bed. “It wasn’t easy rounding her clones up. Though the lasso of light I gave Applejack seemed to help.”

“Yeah, she was talking about that all afternoon,” Rainbow chuckled as she helped him lay down, and Bon Bon’s hooves went to his back, slowly kneading it as she massaged him. Lyra’s magic started on his hooves while Midnight just nuzzled his neck.

“Yeah, I’m getting the hang of making things out of light magic now,” Aspect replied as he relaxed. “Just have to not tell Luna how I stabilized my core for a bit until I can replace the star I took.”

“A star?” Bon Bon paused slightly. “You know, you haven’t told us exactly what happened at the Crystal Empire. What on Equus happened that made you take a star?”

“Sombra happened,” Aspect sighed. “He was a wicked unicorn that took over the Empire and would have tried again, if I hadn’t stopped him. He was aligned to the darkness, to fear...so I aligned myself to hope, to Light.”

“Cause that explains so much,” Lyra chuckled. “Come on, you can tell a better story than that right?” And maybe she also pinched his flank with her magic.

Aspect hummed a little as he thought. “Sombra was a wicked stallion, who overthrew the rightful ruler of the empire. He bound it to himself, in form, in thought, in all things. When my daughters and I went to confront him, we overthrew him and sealed him away. But he enacted a terrible curse. If he was to go...so would the empire. He sealed it all away, took out every mention of the empire from everything. Even our memories were affected. So it was only when it came back, when he came back, that we remembered him and it. And it was then that I remembered a conversation I had with someone about how to stabilize my magical core. A massive infusion of magic, aligned to something positive that was Sombra’s counter, was possible. But I’d have to find something like that in the world. So when I stood against Sombra in the Empire, staring him down...I reached for the heavens, plucked a star out of the sky, and absorbed it into my magic, stabilizing it. My core had been half-finished. Because I only drank a sip from the fountain. But with the massive infusion of Light in the form of a star...I’m well and truly a proper Aspect of my own now. I’ve just been...abusing it for a few days straight.”

“Weren’t you always an Aspect?” Rainbow blinked and shrugged. Sometimes she really didn’t get this stuff. Bon Bon just chuckled and pet his head.

“Well I for one am glad you all made it back safe and sound,” she said. “Things have been… interesting here for the most part. Chrysalis hasn’t been seen, I think she’s still working on her hive. And aside from Midnight’s and my various pregnancy issues…”

“Have you told him?” the thestral asked.

“Oh right,” Bon Bon nodded. “We had our first checkup while you were gone. Redheart looked a bit shocked about mine, but they’re both coming along nicely otherwise.”

“Oh, good,” Aspect sighed in relief. “And in answer to your question Dash...okay, think of a glass. Now imagine that nobody bothered finishing the glass and it couldn’t hold much water. That was me, for the longest time. The smallest, the weakest. Though, because of that, I was ideally suited to hold onto the essences of the Aspects I had slain. I had no real magic of my own, so I could mimic others if I put effort into it. I still can mimic the old Aspects a bit...but I don’t think I’ll be killing anymore. If I do, I don’t know that I could hold onto it. My magical core is finished now, I’m whole. I am Light now. The longer I shine, the stronger I’ll be, but it’ll take time before I can truly be as strong as any other.”

“So… okay, theoretical time,” Lyra said as she sat up. “Say a bad Aspect shows up again. What’s gonna happen then? Are you still able to… rehouse their powers?”

“I...don’t know,” Aspect sighed. “I mean...maybe? I hope I don’t have to, though. There’s only two left that I might consider bad enough for the sword. But one of them...well, we’re thinking about having redeemed. Teaching him the errors of his ways. The other can stay locked in Tartarus for all I care.”

“Well, fair enough,” Lyra said as Bon Bon’s eye twitched a little. She knew exactly who the stallion was talking about. And as far as she was concerned, he could stay there as well. And Discord well…

“Well, three if you count Discord right?” Lyra said. “Isn’t he the Chaos Aspect?”

Dash fell a little silent at that one.

“He’s...a bit more than that, but I’ll tell you all that another time,” Aspect sighed. “Just...a note to you all. Never have memory seals performed on you. Or perform them on yourself. You won’t like it when they unravel.”

Bon Bon raised a curious eyebrow at him. Oh right… that thing with her old job.

“Nevermind,” the stallion said as he slumped a bit. “Just...the ramblings of an old warhorse.”

“It’s okay,” Bon Bon kissed him. “We still love you, even if you are a grumpy old hermit.”

“M’not grumpy,” Aspect muttered as he lay under their attentions. “Just...cautious.”

“Ehh, nah. You’re pretty grumpy,” Rainbow giggled and nipped his ear.

“Am not,” the stallion retorted as he flicked his ear.

The mares smiled… before they each took a hoof of his and started to tickle it.

“Ack, hey, quitit!” Aspect replied, snorting and trying to get his hooves back before they could make him giggle. It was fruitless, four mares were harder to fight off and they were relentless. Soon enough they had Aspect giggling, before he was outright laughing at their attempts to cheer him up.

“Oh wow, he actually can laugh,” Lyra giggled as she let his hoof go. “Who knew?”

“I diiiiid,” Rainbow snickered as the poor stallion was finally let go. “Thanks to Written and Hurricane for showing me his weak spots~”

Aspect slowly calmed down, before shooting half a glare at them. “Gonna...get you back for that,” he promised.

“Promises promises,” Bon Bon sang. “Middy and I have immunity from punishment~”

“I’m too fast to catch,” Rainbow mused.

“...Buck,” Lyra swore.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow isn’t too fast to catch,” Aspect promised. “So you can share it.”

“You don’t have Wind anymore,” Rainbow said with a smug smile. “If I actually tried, no way could you outrace me.”

Aspect demonstrated by throwing out a ribbon of light from his horn and using it to truss up Dash like a turkey. A second ribbon wrapped around her wings, binding them to her body and keeping her from running off.

“You were saying?” he mused. “Pretty sure you can’t outspeed light.”

“...Buck,” Rainbow said, struggling against the bonds. “Oh come on, being tied up is Bonnie’s thing!”

“What?” Lyra snorted as Bon Bon turned beet red and slapped the pegasus’ ass.

“I think I’ll keep you like that for a bit, let Midnight play with you,” Aspect mused as he leaned against Bon Bon and closed his eyes.

“What!?” Rainbow shrieked as Midnight smiled and licked her lips, quickly descending on the pegasus, her mouth going to work on several areas.

“That was a lil mean,” Lyra chuckled and poked Bon Bon. “And who knew that you were such a kinky lil minx.”

“Celestia damn it Lyra!”

“You could try to figure out Lyra’s kink,” Aspect offered. “I mean, if she’s going to be sharing the bed with us, it’s only fair.”

Bon Bon’s frown morphed into a smile as Lyra blinked and rubbed her head. “You know… I don’t think I really have one. Well, not one I’ve found anyway.”

“If you want help, I’m getting the hang of making things with Light now,” Aspect said. “I can make anything you might need to help Lyra...explore~”

“Hmm, well to be honest…” Bon Bon rubbed her head. “I don’t really know anything you could define as a kink. I mean, Midnight aside, none of us have a lot of experience here.”

“Actually,” Midnight lifted her head, letting Rainbow catch her breath. “I haven’t made love all that often. And when I did, it was just sex. The language barrier made relationships difficult…”

“So wait, we’re all pretty inexperienced, and talking about finding each other’s kinks?” Aspect blinked before chortling at the sheer lunacy of it all.

“It is kinda silly huh?” Lyra giggled along with him.

“We could ask Princess Cadence for help,” Bon Bon pointed out. “Didn’t she tell you a bunch of things Chris?”

“She’s a little busy with her own empire and all that,” Aspect pointed out. “Though...we could try experimenting to figure it out.”

“Oh? Well what do you suggest?” Lyra mused, interested to hear what he would come up with.

“Well, Dash has a thing for my griffon form,” Aspect pointed out. “Bon has a thing for being tied up, which I can do easily in my dragon form. Midnight might’ve asked specifically for my thestral form for her foals, but I get the feeling that she would’ve liked my human form too.”

“I would have not had an issue with that,” Midnight replied with a small nod, before resuming in making Dash moan lewdly.

“So, really, what form would you like me to take?” Aspect asked Lyra. “I’m pretty sure it’s in my repertoire.”

“I… haven’t really thought about it,” Lyra blushed. “I mean… I dunno. I only even fantasized about ponies…”

“Well, let’s run the gambit then,” Aspect asked, before turning into a muscular Earth Pony stallion.

“Hhm, handsome,” Lyra nodded. “I mean, I still know it’s you so. I’m most used to your pegasus form really.”

The stallion flashed, gaining wings and losing a bit of the muscle definition as he lay there for her judgement.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Still cute,” she nodded. “I mean, sure, I’d sex you up like that. Sill, most ponies would I think.”

“Hmm,” Aspect hummed, before flashing again.

Now a well-defined zebra stallion lay there, giving bedroom eyes to Lyra.

“Ohmy~ Well that’s… something,” Lyra said, more eying his well endowed package than anything else. “Is it true that zebra’s literally cum bucketloads?”

Bon Bon blushed and coughed into her hoof. “Y-Yeah…”

Lyra looked at her and smirked widely. “Ponies, zebras, dragons. Oooh, Bonnie is lewd~”

Aspect leaned over and nipped Lyra’s neck lightly, testing to see how she’d react to a Zebra. She shivered at the sudden touch as she looked at him. “Mmm, you’re cute, that’s for sure. I dunno, you just look like a stripey pony really.”

Aspect hummed again, before transforming into a thestral stallion, trailing a bat wing along Lyra’s spine.

“Sexy pegasus-like pone~” she murred as her magic teased his ear tufts. Aspect let out a murr of his own as she did, the ears being sensitive there.

“Hmm...maybe this?” Aspect asked, before transforming into Bloodfeather, his griffon form.

And that was Rainbow leaning over to suckle on his weighty orbs. Aspect let out a slight murr at that, before using a claw to play with Lyra’s horn while his closest wing was draped over her.

“I wonder,” Lyra smirked and Bon Bon sighed, she knew what was coming. “Do you taste like chicken?”

“You could try and find out,” Aspect teased her. “Mkay, I’ve got another form or two, and then the rest are way too exotic.” He flashed into a form Bon Bon was familiar with, his long, serpent-like dragon form.

“Meh,” Lyra shrugged. “Plus your lil ‘no preggo’ spell isn't effective with that one.”

“I figured out what I was doing wrong and fixed it,” Aspect replied. “But fine, I guess we can try out another.”

With that, he turned into a bipedal canine. A Diamond Dog. A big Diamond Dog, as he began playing with Lyra’s horn with his paw.

“Can’t say I expected that one,” Lyra said, looking at the massive mutt. “Huh… not quite sure what to make of this one.”

Bon Bon blushed again as Lyra’s mouth fell open. “Whoa… seriously?” she blinked. “Wow… never knew you had such a naughty streak Bonnie.”

“The rest aren’t something I’d use in this sort of setting,” Aspect said, not changing back just yet. “I mean, how would you screw a phoenix? Or a seapony in anything but a bathtub.”

“S-Seapony?” Lyra blinked suddenly, blushing somewhat. Oh? Ooooooh~

“I think we found what Lyra likes~” Aspect teased as he played with her horn a little more. “But like I said, it’s so not happening in the bed.”

“W-Well obviously,” Lyra blushed as he played with her horn. What, those pawpads were soft. “And I never said that buddy.”

“Mhm,” Aspect replied, before his form flashed again, revealing a seapony stallion on the bed, his tail end flapping a little as he leaned on Lyra for support. She blushed a bit harder now as she looked away.

“T-That doesn’t prove anything!” she denied, pouting a little.

“You know, I think if I—” Aspect concentrated a little, before his tail melted into a long, thin set of legs. Everything about him was willowy and graceful, and now he was like a leggy version of an earth pony. “Knew it, called it,” he crowed, leaning up against Lyra. “Neptune's been teaching his subjects some transformation magic for blending in on land.”

“And that is now a thing apparently,” Bon Bon mused as she looked at Lyra’s flushed cheeks. “Hehe, well I don’t know if they classify as a ‘kink’ persay, but I think you found something she likes~”

“Mmm,” Aspect leaned over and liiiicked up her horn. “So little unicorn likes the catch of the day, then?”

She moaned lightly at the lick while Bon Bon facehooved. “Ergh, and I thought Lyra’s puns were terrible…”

“Well, I think that’s just about everyone’s preferred form figured out,” Aspect mused as he began rubbing along Lyra’s spine with a hoof. “Midnight, how’s Dash doing?”

Midnight pulled back, slurping up her long tongue as she looked at the passed out pegasus mare. “Hmhmhm, she will not be participating in any further activities tonight.”

“Aww, you weren’t supposed to break her,” Aspect mock-complained. “Maybe she’s just faking it to get you to stop, though…” Still, he waved a hoof, and the bindings on Dash dissolved into motes of light, fading away. The pegasus fell limp, panting as she just lay there. Yup, she seemed pretty out of it.

“My apologies,” Midnight said, cleaning her face with a hoof, not unlike a cat.

“Maybe she’ll recover for a second round later,” the stallion said as he nuzzled Lyra. “So...who first, and who wants what?”

“Were you not exhausted not too long ago?” Midnight asked as she tucked her legs under her.

“Stallions always have energy for sex,” Lyra said with a sagely nod. “Sex, food and hooffights.”

“Plus I might be capable of cheating again,” Aspect replied. “I might be channeling the magic of my Light aspect into strength, stamina, all sorts of things like that.”

“So, like you were before you gave up Earth and Wind,” Bon Bon sighed. Well at least he’d have the energy to keep up with four mares. She stretched and looked at him. “Well, Rainbow got enough of your attention in the Empire, so I guess you’ll just have to make do with us hm?”

“That answers a bit, but not a lot,” Aspect replied, leaning over and kissing Bon Bon’s cheek before continuing. “Who wants to go first? And what form do they want me in?”

“Well,” Lyra mused and smiled. “Why don’t you surprise us huh? You have three mares and likely even more forms than the ones you showed us. So, have at it~”

“Hmmmmm,” Aspect mused, before leaning back up against Lyra and nuzzling her neck. “I’ve decided she can go first,” he announced, running a hoof through her mane. “She’s new here, she needs to get accustomed to this.” Flimsy reasoning, but it provided enough of a distraction for him to trail a hoof lower...and lower...and rub under her tail.

Lyra let out a squeak and blushed as he felt her moistened lips under her tail, heat radiating from her nethers as she mumbled out something, blushing harder as he stroked her. The stallion smirked as he kept rubbing her, getting a good feel for how ready she was to partake of their activities again. Judging by how wet his hoof was...very.

“I-Is he always this smug?” Lyra panted out, biting her lower lip.

“Yes,” Midnight and Bon Bon answered in unison. Well that was just rude that was.

Well, that could come later. Right now, he had a unicorn to break in~

Aspect nudged Lyra gently, insistently, until he had her turn over onto her back, at which point he nestled himself between her hind legs and got to work.

He might have cheated to give himself a thestral tongue while nobody was looking...and Lyra was about to find out the joys of one. He planted a long lick across her folds, slurping up all her leaking nectar and gulping it down.

“E-Eeep!” Lyra yelped as she felt that long tongue lap at her. T-That wasn’t normal right? How was it…? She glanced at Midnight, who waggled her long tongue at her. Oohh that sneaky little—

That was about as far as she got before she felt that long, slender tongue invade her and begin working at her walls, teasing and testing them for her weak spots. She whimpered and moaned at his ministrations, until one particular spot caused her to squeal, clenching around his tongue.

“O-Ohhno, don’t you dar—”

The tongue inside her writhed like a living thing, but most of his attention was focused on caressing and hitting that spot like his life depended on it. He looked up as he did that, to try and see if she liked it.

Lyra had slammed her head back into the pillow, moaning loudly as he downed her admittedly tasty juices. She was a lot like Bon Bon, her flavour being very sweet and honey like. Likely from all the sweets she got to taste test. She was more slender than her friend, likely due to being a unicorn, though her belly had a soft little squish to it. Her walls slowly clenched and released his tongue, trying to draw him deeper.

So the stallion let her guide his tongue to her innermost wall, tickling it softly with the tip of his tongue as he played with her. As he did, he felt a pair of hooves on his flank, moving his tail as his rump was lifted into the air. Then the feeling of two mares nuzzling and licking at his balls and sheath, while the unicorn he had a grip on moaned louder, wiggling her hips a little, bucking up into his muzzle.

Aspect let out his own little moan, vibrating his tongue inside the mare as he began playing with her again. He brushed part of it against that spot she liked, while the tip of it teased her cervix. Lyra let out a loud shriek as he felt her flavour fill his mouth, the mare climaxing already as one of his others started to take his forming erection between her lips, suckling on it as her flat tongue started to tease the tip, rubbing around his flare.

And oh...was it a long erection. It might not have girth, but he could fill himself spill, and spill, and spill from his sheath. Of course, he was also focused on drinking down Lyra’s essence as she climaxed, tasting that sweetness again as he just focused on pleasing her.

Bon Bon coughed as she pulled back from him, looking at the thing that just invaded her throat. “W-Wha the heck?” she gasped as Lyra groaned, biting down on her hoof so she wouldn’t scream from pleasure.

Aspect didn’t respond, he was too busy focusing on Lyra at the moment. She hadn’t said to stop, so…

Midnight coiled her tongue around his absurdly long cock, sliding it up and down the length as she jacked him off with it, Bon Bon now using her hooves on his sack as Lyra groaned, putting her hooves on his head. “N-No more… aaahh~ I-It’s too m-much~” she cried out, trying not to cum again as her sensitive sex was assaulted.

Aspect slowly pulled back, letting his long tounge slurp from her passage before he pulled it back into his maw. Once it was all back in, he turned it back to normal, licking his lips to collect any remaining essence from her that he could. “Mmm...so what next, my musical minty mare?” Aspect purred to her.

Midnight meanwhile got a surprise. The long cock she was pleasing flexed and twitched around as though it were alive. She squeaked loudly and pulled back, while Bon Bon whinnied in surprise.

“W-What the?” Bon Bon stated and looked at him. “Okay, what the heck IS that thing!?”

“It’s just a penis,” Aspect replied, even as it pulled a corkscrew shape.

“No… no that is not,” Bon Bon stared at the thing. “Like… what?”

“Oooh, I wish to try that out next,” Midnight clapped her hooves in delight.

“It’s Lyra’s turn still,” Aspect said as he returned it to normal and slowly got up, until his body was looming over hers, his long erection brushing up against her fur. She panted as she looked down at the odd penis, her eyes a little unfocused.

“Heehee, it’s pink~” she giggled and booped the tip with a hoof, the soft underside rubbing up against it.

“Mhm,” Aspect nodded as he nuzzled her. “And if you want it in you, you just have to give the word.”

Lyra nodded and smiled, kissing his cheek. “Well, I have to catch up with the others,” she giggled. “You finally succumbed to my charms after all~ Would be a waste to throw that all away now.”

Aspect smirked and leaned back and down, letting the tip of his length draaaag across her lips. He moved forward a little...and pushed his cock into her by making it squirm into her body. She let out something of a giggle and a moan as it filled her up, spreading her wider as her heated walls gripped down on him reflexively. The unicorn moaned as she leaned up and kissed him, her tongue probing at his lips.

Aspect returned the kiss, letting his tongue entwine with hers...before he began cockscrewing his cock. He’d long run into the limits of her tunnel, compared to his length. So in order to get it all in, it would have to twist and turn and stretch her.

It made for an interesting bulge in her abdomen, one that twisted and squirmed as she gasped into the kiss, groaning from her throat as he stretched her wider, cramming more of his cock into her. Mmm, ponies were so delightfully stretchy~ It wasn’t long before it was all in, and technically, he didn’t have to pull out to give her delights. All he’d have to do to stimulate her would be to twist...one way, then the other.

The cock turned inside her, stretching and stimulating her inner walls as he filled the mare utterly. Lyra broke the kiss as she fell back, panting hard and moaning louder.

“H’oohhhhfffffuck!” she swore as he felt her tighten up as much as she could, climaxing again as her moans grew louder. Aspect smiled down at her as his tip pressed up against her cervix, teasing her innermost gates with his length as he liiiicked along her horn, a fizzing pop filling his mouth as her horn sparked, the mare’s eyes rolling back as she groaned, her pussy milking that cock for all he had as she twitched under him.

“Hmm, too much more and I might break her, but I’m enjoying this a fair bit too,” Aspect mused as he licked her horn again. “Decisions, decisions…”

Lyra’s response was just a garbled moan as she blushed hard, another climax tearing at her form. Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at him ruining her friend.

“Having fun?” she quipped, smacking the stallion’s rump.

“Very much so,” Aspect mused as he nuzzled Lyra. “Hmm...what do you want, minty mare?” he posed to her as he held still for a moment. Mostly so she could get her head on straight. It took a minute, the mare well and truly off with the fairies.

“J-Just…” she managed to get out. “N-No foal… g-got it… aaah~”

“Aww, but you wanted to catch up,” Aspect teased her, running a hoof along her cheek.

“A-Ass,” she muttered back, her hips still moving of their own volition.

“Yup,” Aspect nodded. “Well, if you’re sure…”

“Y-Yes,” she gasped out as she howled out a loud moan. “Oh buck YES!”

“Hmm...think she’s earned it?” Aspect asked the other conscious mares.

Bon Bon just rolled her eyes and swatted his rump again. “Manners dear. Is that any way to treat a young mare?”

“What’s your plan~?” Midnight purred, eagerly awaiting her turn.

“I suppose you have a point,” Aspect admitted as he humped Lyra a little, letting his tip wedge against those innermost gates again before his entire length throbbed within the minty mare. She could feel it. It was coming…

*SLAM!*

His bedroom door flew open as a very irate Twilight Twinkle stood there, her face red as she tried and failed to keep her tail down.

“Gods dammit Christopher!” she yelled. “Silence spell. USE THE—”

Aspect jolted, the head of his cock suddenly poking through the barrier so that his seed would be unleashed in Lyra’s womb out of pure surprise. Lyra yelped as her belly started to swell from the torrent he started to unload as Twinkle stood there, wide-eyed, her face aflame with a blush.

“Thank you for that reminder,” Aspect noted, not moving from Lyra. “...Would you care to join in? You seem rather...flushed.”

“W-W-W-W…” Oh dear, seems he’d broken the older mare as she just stood there frozen. Meanwhile, Lyra now looked slightly pregnant thanks to his efforts.

“Midnight, either drag her into bed or put her back in hers,” Aspect told the batmare.

“Hmm, decisions, decisions,” the thestral mused, stealing his words as he continued to fill poor Lyra, the excess now spurting out of the sides of her pussy. Eventually the release tapered off, and Aspect slowly pulled free from Lyra’s abused sex. Very little escaped due to how deep he’d stuffed her full. He even went so far as to poke the mare’s belly to make it squish a little.

“Oh geeze, you really did that huh?” Bon Bon said, looking at Lyra. “I’ll get her a potion a bit later, else you’ll have even more kids running around after that performance.”

“Do you doubt my ability to keep my own seed infertile?” Aspect scoffed. “She’s fine.”

Bon Bon merely arched an eyebrow and pointed at her own belly.

“That’s because I was using runes,” Aspect defended himself. “I learned anatomy since then. It’s easier to keep yourself in line if you know what to disable so you don’t even have the chance to knock others up.”

“Huh...that’s, actually surprisingly smart for you,” Bon Bon teased, poking out her tongue a little at him. But then her eyes widened as a hoof went to her mouth, and she quickly bolted from the room, the door to the adjoining bathroom slamming shut, and the sounds of her retching could be heard.

“Ahh, the joys of motherhood,” Twinkle chuckled.

“Mmm,” Aspect nodded, flashing back into his unicorn form for the moment. “So...who’s next?”

“You’re not done? After that performance?” Twinkle blinked slowly. “Dear gods Christopher…”

“They have been training me,” Aspect replied with a wink.

“...I’m too old for this,” the unicorn muttered and closed his door, returning to her own room.

“Aww, you scared her off,” Midnight chuckled… before she groaned and quickly followed after Bon Bon’s previous escape.

“Wow… way to whittle down the numbers,” Rainbow said, having recovered from Midnight’s attack. Lyra was still round and likely unable to continue…

“Like I choose when they get sick,” Aspect chuckled as he made his way to Dash’s side and nuzzled against her.

“Now see, if you did that to me too, then you’d only have a Lyra balloon to play with,” the pegasus mare mused and nipped his ear. “Also, she gets my vote of approval. She can be kinda weird sometimes, but Lyra’s fun. Cute too.”

“Glad to see others like her too,” Aspect chuckled as he leaned on her, just basking in the afterglow for a moment or three. “Mmm...being together like this is nice.”

“That it is,” she nodded. “Heh, who’d have figured huh. Of all the ponies I thought I would get with, turns out to be a grumpy old hermit with weird powers, a mountain of snark and a penchant for collecting mares.”

“Like I’m holding you against your will,” Aspect sniped back. “Still...I never thought I’d get with a pony either.” He nuzzled Dash again. “Looks like fate has the weirdest way of getting me with some awesome ponies.”

“And I’m about as awesome as you can get,” Rainbow nodded. “Sorry Aspect. But you have the pinnacle of ponykind here. Everything else would be a downgrade.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Aspect mused as he ran a hoof along her stomach. “I can think of one way to try and improve on you. But you’ve already said no.”

“Yup, can’t be a Wonderbolt if I’ma pony beachball,” she said.

“Did you just call us fat!?” cam the unison reply from the bathroom, followed by more retching.

“Sorry, can’t hear you~” Rainbow called back with a snicker.

“You shouldn’t tease them,” Aspect warned Dash. “They’ll get you back.”

“What’s life without a little danger,” Rainbow shrugged as she leaned against him. She stretched her wings, draping one across his back. “Drag the Lyra ball over here and we’ll snuggle.”

Aspect lit up his horn, carrying Lyra over in an aura that was something between just pure light and white-goldish light, putting the mare on Dash’s other side, snug under her wing. He sighed as he closed his eyes and cuddled up against Dash, just enjoying the feeling of being this close…

Life was just good sometimes.

Author's Note

And here's this week's chapter! Aspect gets to flex his power.

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