Author's Note

Y'know... at some point... this fic's gotta speak for itself.

Have more talking amazons syndrome.
-SS&E

"Ehhhhh.... What's Up, Dick?"

Sunset Shimmer was a drooling mess. Scarlet bangs lay in tattered tangles across her face, shoulder, and collar. The valkyrie's upper half was less lying on the couch and more draped off the cushioned edge, with a lengthy forearm dangling over her brow, across her hair, and hanging the empty wrist in the stale air of the living room. Her other arm was crookedly hidden beneath her torso and the mangy mess of bedsheets covering her slumbering figure. One leg had somehow positioned itself upwards, sloping over the back of the couch, and the other foot peeked through the crooked curtain of off-set blankets.

This was hardly a snapshot of grace or beauty. Any chance at pristine aesthetics was further shattered by her occasional snort or snore. Once in a while, Sunset would cough or sputter... and this would add to the drool. The pony-human-amazon-woman simply trilled, stirred in her sleep, and settled back into the living crater that she had become.

All remained so chaotically serene...

...until a soft hand drifted into frame, gripping a smartphone. A music app had been switched on, and after the device was nestled gently in the sea of bedsheets beside Sunset's head, a tiny finger tapped the overtly-large “play” icon.

The phone played A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes at a low... slowly increasing volume.

“Grnngh... mllppffiiimmm...” Slowly, eyeball after eyeball, the slumber-slaughtered redhead awoke. She licked up the drool crusted to her chin, swallowed once or twice, then lethargically scoured the ceiling with half-dead eyes. At last—as the song reached the uppity moment when Cinderella's mice and songbirds joined in—Sunset's gaze settled on a tiny, demure thing squatting beside the couch.

“... … ...” Flash Sentry smiled back. “Morniiiiing...” He sing-songed beneath his breath, a most heavenly and harmonious thing. With puppy dog eyes, the boi lifted a white plate full of bright orange stalks. “I made you breakfast!”

“... … ...” Sunset stared deadpan at the offering of long, thick carrots.

“Okay... so...” Flash fidgeted, eyes cast aside guiltily. “It's not so much that I made you breakfast as I... fetched some of the carrots you've got stuffed in your refrigerator door and put them on a plate. You got so many of these things in there that I figured it was a normal meal for you so I washed a bunch off that were still fresh and—“

“Shit... shit!” Sunset sputtered and gnashed her teeth.

Flash jerked back. “Wh-What? What's the matt—?!” He flinched as Sunset's fist flew towards him.

But the valkyrie was reaching past the boi, stretching, lifting up and almost exposing her bare breasts beneath the blankets with how far she lunged. Before Flash could guess what was going on, he saw her arm retracting back to herself—fingers gripping a beaded bracelet from her purse on the table. There was a momentary breath of panic as she fussed, fumbled, and ultimately succeeded in fitting the silver beads neatly over her wrist. At last... she breathed calmly once again in the presence of the femboi.

Flash exhaled with relief as well. “Cool. So that's... taken care of.” He raised the plate of veggies up to her gaze once more, smiling in earnest. “Morning munchies? You should totally fill your stomach.”

“Mrmmmnghhh...” Sunset stirred. She tried tossing her hair, but most of the fiery threads simply fwomped back into her face. “Dammit...” Grunting, wincing, she hoisted her massive body up into a sitting position. This proved challenging—what, with the mass of blankets barely clinging to her bosom. She made like a good rated PG-13 actress and hoisted the fabric up along with her, covering her torso and abdomen just below the collarbone as she attempted to adapt to gravity, wakefulness, and the morning light. “Mmmmrnghh...” Her head evidently didn't agree to the gesture, and she winced from her skull to her spine to her pelvis and back again. “Nnnnngh—Fuck!”

The boi winced again. “Okay... so... erm... maybe you don't have a stomach to fill after all.” He tried to stand up with the plate, looking towards the kitchen. “Bad idea. Let me at least get you some orange juice or—“

“No,” the giantess spoke. With the tug of two fingers, she effortlessly yanked him back to his knees. “Food.” She then reached onto the plate and plucked two carrots into her palm. “Now.”

“Oh! Uhm... gr-great!” Flash smiled from ear to ear, sitting pretty in the Princess Peach nightie. He watched with contentment as his lumbering ex snapped both carrots in-twain with a single bite.

She chewed slowly... slowly... like a drunken sea cow after having spent all night watching a sad movie. Her hair was like if you took the movie Brave, stuffed it into a pickle jar, shook it for ten minutes, and tossed it across a mannequin's bust. Her gaze followed the path of her heavy bangs and stared down at the floor—avoiding the boi's gaze.

As the seconds rolled by—and the only thing of note was the crackle of the carrot bits in Sunset's mouth—Flash could not help but wince.

“Ah jeez... it isn't much of a breakfast, is it?” He gulped. “I should have known better than to assume that just because you used to be a magical horse lady that—”

“No. It's good.” Sunset managed between scarfing scarfs. She swallowed a chunk of carrots down and found a better breath to clarify: “You were right. I keep all this stuff in the fridge for a reason. It's my go-to for... go-to's.”

Flash cleared his throat. “So... it's scrumptious enough?”

“Meh...” Sunset managed, still avoiding his gaze. She clutched the bedsheets tighter to her bosom, squirming back into the cushions of the couch. Even with her massive girth and ample beauty—she somehow looked and acted smaller than the dinky specimen of manhood squatting in her shadow.

“You... you didn't eat at all after we came home from Cadenza Corp,” Flash stated. He adjusted the plate in his grip; his poor sissy wrists were getting sore from sustaining the weight. “I know you don't metabolize like you used to, but I'd expect myself to be famished if I was you...”

“Meh...” Sunset managed again. She took another bite, rubbed her head, teetered slightly. “Mrmmmfff... Goddess...” Her eyes squinted past him, observing the gray godrays of morning light wafting in from random windows. “What... time is it...?”

“Uhm... a little bit past eleven?”

“... … …?”

“Sunset... it's... it's tomorrow...”

She nearly choked on the carrot bits. After a snort and a whimpering noise, she was able to belch through: “I went at it all day...?!?”

Flash glanced aside, delicately clearing his throat. “You left and... you... didn't eat... and you didn't sleep... but then you did sleep... aaaaaaaaaaand...” He fluttered his eyes at her with a hopeful smile. “Here we are!”

“Fuck... fuckin' Tartarus...” Sunset rubbed her head. “Fuckin' Tartarus on fire...”

Flash winced, slinking back with the plate in his tender grip.

Sunset must have seen it. Her expression lightened—if only by a bare fraction. She reached forward, grabbed another carrot, and took a bite off its end. After a few munches, she produced: "Mmmmmm..." And she even managed a hearty wink through her disheveled hair. "Reminds me of home."

"That's a good thing... yes...?"

She sighed in between bites. Swallowing. "Things were an awful lot simpler, then."

Flash blinked at her. "Er... well... at least you get your exercise these days..."

"Celestia..." Sunset groaned again, shaking her head. "Over twelve hours..."

"Yes, well..." Flash smiled hopefully. "At least it's vanished now—!" His pupils shrank, and the boi bit his tongue. But it was too late to unsay what had been said.

Sunset Shimmer stopped cold in mid-munch. Her eyes slowly turned to fixate on him.

"Erm... uhhh..." Flash squirmed. "What I meant t-to say was—" He fidgeted a bit too much, and finally his prissy wrists gave way. The young man gave a girlish yelp as the plate of carrots flew from his grasp...

...only for Sunset to catch it. She held the plate of vegetables effortlessly between them, and her voice droned cold and heavy: "You saw me." Another dense breath. "You saw it."

Flash cowered slightly from her.

She exhaled in a defeated tone. "I thought I caught an inkling of a memory... right before I put the bracelet on just now. You saw it." She clenched her eyes shut. "Of course you saw it." She suddenly hissed at herself. "Stupid... stupid bimbo... what was I thinking..."

"Sunset..."

"Stumbling out of the last rinse in my birthday suit..." She dropped the plate onto the table's edge and huffed into the space between. "Shoulda bolted the door shut. Shoulda locked myself in. I always become an idiot... a brainless, bloodless idiot unless I check myself..."

"Sunset, it's okay..."

"... ... ..." She merely stared into the upholstery.

"Really, it is. I... I'm not freaked out or anything. Just curious..." He sat down on folded legs and gazed up at her. "Why didn't you bother just... telling me before?"

"About my magic wand...?"

"Hee-hee-hee!!!" Flash exploded, then slapped two palms over his mouth. Blushing furiously, he lowered his head and toyed sheepishly with a lock of blue hair. "Erm... yeah... that..."

“Given the circumstances...” She grunted under her breath as her whole body shifted. Flash watched as the amazon—clutching the blankets to her breast—stood up and sat casually against the back of the sofa. “...it wasn't the best way to lead into reunion.”

“How so?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. Hard. “'Why, hello there, Flash Sentry! What's it been? Five years?'” As she rambled, she tried in futility to straighten her frazzled crimson bangs. “'Oh, by the way, I have an enormous fully-operational phallus that protrudes from my snatch whenever I get super aroused! So how are you doing!'”

Flash attempted to shrug it off. “All things considered, would it really have mattered what you said? I woke up in the house of an amazon, either way.”

“Flash... sweetie...” Sunset sighed—but endearingly. “Think about it. Put yourself in my shoes.”

“M-my ankles would slip th-through...!” He braved a joke with a crooked grin.

She merely glared. “There's just... so damned much that I have to juggle with explaining to you. You think I was gonna immediately come out with... discussing the thing that comes out?!”

Silence.

“I-I guess you have a point...” Flash delicately touched his fingers together as he sat on the floor. “Still... it just bothers me.”

“What bothers you, Flash?”

“All this time... you have to think about me so much and about yourself so little...” His empathetic eyes darted wide and round towards hers. “Y'know?”

“For crying out loud, Flash...” She chuckled in a bittersweet tone, tossing her messy hair again. “I'm more self-centered than you give credit for. You honestly believe I was 'thinking about you' for twelve-plus hours yesterday after I disappeared?”

He bit his lip. “Weren't you, though?”

“... … ...” She slouched defeatedly in her couch. “Okay. You got me there.”

Flash sighed, hanging his head. “It's all my fault.”

To that, Sunset legitimately squinted. “How in the Hell...?”

“When we talked—our conversation in the kitchen.” He cleared his throat. “I-I drove you to distraction. Remember?” He fidgeted shamefully. “I had you take off the bracelet and talk dirty and everything.”

“I could have said no, Flash—”

He clenched his tiny fists and exclaimed: “I m-made you vulnerable and-and-and exposed and it wasn't nice at all!”

“You were totally being nice to me!” she insisted. “You could tell that I was... o-on edge ever since Cadenza Corp and you were just...” A soft smile. “...trying to help me get some relief!”

“And... did you get some...?” He looked up at her with a sincere expression. “Did you finally relieve yourself?”

Her lip quivered as she sat there, staring down at him. Flash's heart broke to see a tear suddenly running down her cheek. The valkyrie sniffled and practically whimpered to the walls:

“No.”

Flash grimaced. “After... all that time? I... I heard you, Sunset. For... for hours...”

She wiped her cheek as more tears ran down. She looked towards the ceiling with a shudder or two. “It... it doesn't matter how much I release.” A hard gulp. “Because of this world's damnable magic... unless it's done the right way... the way the Harmonic Fountain intends it to...” Her words trailed off, and she merely shook her head.

Flash felt a lump forming in his throat. “I... I'm so sorry, Sunny...”

“D-don't be...” She cracked a tender grin, attempting to deflate the moment, but she was still sniffling as a few fresh tears formed. “That's just the thing, Flash. You didn't ask for any of this either... and it's not like you... c-cursed me or anything...”

“If it feels like a curse, Sunset...” Flash gulped. “...why not just hop into Equestria? Wouldn't that help you cool off? You and the girls?”

“And leave this world unprotected by magic?” She shook her head. “The Elements of Harmony don't play that way. Some things are worth fighting for... or at least living with.” She gulped. “Besides... it's not all that bad. At its worst... it's almost like being in heat back home.”

“Being in heat...” Flash thought aloud. “...you mean like a cat?”

Sunset sighed. “More like a horse, Flash.”

He winced. “Wow. That happens to ponies too?”

“Dear Luna, yes,” Sunset groaned. “It's so prolonged and intense. Practically painful. I guess—courtesy of ancient sorcery—symptoms akin to estrus have followed me through the portal to this world! Lucky me!” She dryly chuckled. “Except... whenever it struck—the girls and I were able to stave it off by... being there for each other.... in the b-biblical sense.”

“But now?”

“But now...” Sunset sniffled, wiping the last tears away. She sighed, curling up and hugging her massive legs to her chest beneath the blankets. Again—for such a large being—she looked incredibly small. “...it's like diminishing returns, Flash. If I was to go to the manor, reunite with all the girls, and experience... what would be akin to a twenty-four-hour orgy... then maybe... just maybe I could wear this shit off.” She shook her head. “But it'll only get worse.”

Flash gulped. “Until the Harmonic Well plays its part with the Fountain.”

Sunset closed her eyes and shook her head. “It doesn't have to be that way.”

“Doesn't it?”

“Not everything is set in stone.”

“Except that it is.”

“Dammit, Flash...” She opened her eyes to glare at him. “I want to consider all options... including the ones that aren't obvious.”

“Even when the solution is so clear cut?”

“Not to me, it isn't.” She frowned. “Flash, there a lot of things—and I do mean a lot of things that I've accepted over the past few years. So many consolations and sacrifices. But it was all fine because it was just us—me and the girls. And we've managed. But now? I... I'm not going to cross this boundary unless I have to. You're not going to cross this boundary. Nobody's... f-forcing anyone to do...” She grimaced at the tail-end of her speech. “...anything...”

Silence.

Flash gazed at her. “This is what the magic comes down to, isn't it?” The sissy bravely swallowed. “Forcing a giant square peg into a tiny round hole.”

Sunset bit her own tongue, hugging her knees tighter.

“That's what you meant when you spoke about the Harmonic Fountain being intimate with the Harmonic Well. It's about filling that 'well' with what spouts the 'fountain.'” He breathed out the side of his mouth. “I'm literally effed.”

Sunset snorted—if only in a knee-jerk reaction to how PG-Rated that last statement was. “Well... let's face it. It's not like your manhood was going to accomplish it.”

He nodded through what most would consider an insult. “Instead... it's the manhoods of seven women.”

“Flash, honestly, it's not exactly written in the stars that—”

His face scrunched. “What kind of ancient sorcerers would imbued the magic of this universe with this kind of an outcome?”

Sunset exhaled. “Very very horny ones.”

“Yeah...” Flash nodded. “Fair enough.” And with that said, the boi climbed up on the couch.

Sunset flinched instantly. “Flash! What are you—?”

But the tiny twenty-two-year-old merely squatted beside her, hooked an arm around hers, and side-hugged her blanketed frame. He leaned his dainty frame into the amazon's—endearingly—and gazed melancholically into the remaining shadows of the room.

“I'm so sorry all of this has happened to you, Sunset.”

She sighed melodically. “Oh, sweetie...”

He nuzzled his cheek into her shoulder. “It's really stupid and unfair. At least you girls should have had a choice in the matter.”

She reached over with a rattle of her beaded bracelet and caressed his head and hair. “Same with you, Flash. You never asked for any of this.”

“But with me... it's not so bad.”

“Pfffft...” Sunset rolled her eyes. “You can honestly say that? After all these years?”

“Yes...” He gazed up at her. “Why can't I?”

“Because...” She spoke warmly, stroking his cheek and chin. “All your life... being smaller and more delicate than everyone else. Being confused as to why you were so much like all the girls and so less like all the boys.” She gulped. “Obsessing over things that made you so happy inside and yet feeling unnecessarily ashamed for it...”

His eyes narrowed. “And when was the last time I felt tortured by something that was inside of me? Like an invader that didn't belong?”

She bit her lip.

His eyes fell somewhere along the lines of where her blanketed abdomen would be. “Where... d-does it even come from? Is it like the claws of a cat or—?”

“Magical bullshit,” Sunset droned with a tired smirk.

“... … ...care to be more specific?”

“I really can't,” she sighed. “It... my womb isn't what it used to be, Flash.”

He flinched hard upon hearing that, stifling a sympathetic whimper.

“Everything down there has been... rewritten. It's less of a biological set of organs and more of a... vacuole for housing an incredible fountain of magical energy.”

“Does... it hurt?”

“Not at all!” She tickled his chin and offered a hopeful smile. “At least not like you think! In fact, if it was a matter of a brand new sex organ being stored in my butt like a bee-stinger... that would be painful. Thankfully, it's not.”

Flash took several deep breaths. “Wow, Sunset... that bee analogy... really almost m-made me barf just now.”

“Sorry...”

“Don't be.” He looked up at her. “So, in short, it's nothing icky or painful?”

“Painful, no. Icky...?” Sunset shrugged. “That's a matter of perspective. But... suffice to say... under the right stimuli, magic conjures the... you-know-what from pure energy.”

“And it... just comes out?”

Sunset nodded. “Ready and willing to serve.”

“And all this time... you and the girls...?”

“Most of the time.” Sunset cleared her throat. “For some of us—half of the time. Rarity and Fluttershy—in particular—put off unsheathing until it can't be helped.”

“'Unseathing?'”

Sunset rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Yeah. Well... that's what we've ultimately called it. Pretty spot-on analogy, really.”

“Better than bee stingers.”

“And... when it's outlived its usefulness...” Sunset motioned with her fingers—a gesture he had spied on in the dark hallway the previous evening. “...we sheathe it right back.”

“So... it disappears?”

“It's as if the magic that conjured it has run out,” Sunset said. “We all can feel it... sense it being drained. And that's when... for the time being... it can be put away.”

“And then what?”

Sunset took a deep breath. “Rinse and repeat when the mood hits.”

Flash thought of the guest room. “Rinse and repeat...” He tongued the inside of his mouth. “Rinse.”

“It...” Sunset's teeth showed as she glanced aside. “...gets messy.”

Flash gulped. “Like how messy?”

“Really. Fucking. Messy.” Sunset sighed. “Our bodies couldn't logically... produce that much... you-know-what.” She cleared her throat delicately. “Again... chalk it up to the Harmonic Fountain of magic housed inside of us. Same source that it unsheathes from.”

“But it's all real?”

Sunset snorted. “What do you mean? Of course it's real. Just because it comes from magical bullshit doesn't mean it doesn't... come come.”

“But... if you and the girls—like Rarity and Fluttershy—only let it come out 'half of the time.'” Flash chose his words delicately. “Isn't there the risk of getting pregnant?”

“Tartarus, no! We don't get pregnant!” Sunset scoffed. “Thank Celestia—we haven't had to worry about that for years! Just like we haven't had to worry about metabolism or sickness or—”

Flash gazed woefully at her. He looked hurt.

Sunset blinked. “Oh. Oh.” With a tender smile, she stroked his cheek. “Flash, you little sweetheart...” He hugged her close. “Trust me. We've adjusted. We got over that a long time ago.”

He sniffled sympathetically, snuggling into her embrace. “Are you s-sure?” he asked in a shaky tone.

“Well...” Sunset gazed off. “To be honest... I was never a fan of the things a human woman has to go through on a monthly basis in this world. Heh... you wanna talk about curses.” But she cleared her throat. “Am I fond of the fact that I could never have children in this condition? Well... first of all—even if I hadn't become an Element of Harmony—I would still have gone back to Equestria to mother foals. This world is nice and all, but such a hypothetical future would be spent back home. Not here.” She breathed thoughtfully. “I still imagine it as a possibility, really. But a distant one. I'm always telling myself that this Equestrian Magic business will someday blow over and I'll be at enough peace to return to Equestria. But with each passing year... that becomes less and less of a reality and more of a fantasy.”

“You deserve any reality you put your mind and heart to,” Flash said, his voice still wavering. He trembled with emotion. “You really do.”

“Awwwwww... honey...” She squeezed him lovingly. “Will you stop being so sappy!” She tilted his chin up so he could see her gentle smile. “I mean it when I say this: we've adapted to what the magic has done to us!”

“Why...?” He whimpered. “Because being the Harmonic Fountain dulls the sorrow with pleasure?”

“Just because we were all born female doesn't mean we all absolutely wanted babies.” She stroked his shoulder and shrugged. “Of course, I won't pretend that all of us have been completely unfazed. Applejack—in particular—has always wanted to carry on her family legacy. But in the last few years, she's more than accepted that she won't be spitting any brats out any time soon. Besides... Big Macintosh is already married and Apple Bloom is such a drop-dead gorgeous goddess of a woman that she's already got—like—a gazillion suitors lining up.” Sunset fidgeted. “And then there's Fluttershy...”

Flash blinked at her.

“But... with Fluttershy...” Sunset's face was caught between a smile and a grimace. “...things are... erm... different.” She cleared her throat. “Then I guess Pinkie probably fantasized about having kids one day... but it's hard to tell what weighs the most on Pinkie Pie's heart. But... none of that really matters.” Sunset smirked at Flash. “Because we're working on something.”

The boi squinted. “What do you mean...?”

“We... have a mutual friend back in Equestria,” Sunset explained. “She's basically our official/unofficial doctor. She pays regular visits and she performs multiple experiments on magical artifacts—alongside Cadenza Corp.” Sunset stroked the boi's bangs. “She and Twilight and I have a few experiments lined up that might just make it possible to undo the power of magic in this world—at least long enough for any one of us to... well... become fertile again.”

“Really...?”

“Granted, one of us would have to be localized to one central environment at the combined focus of a localized spell... and it would also restore the subject's metabolism, frailty, and original imperfect immune system...”

Flash bit his lip.

“And then that subject would have to stay that way for nine months... or until however long it would take from conception to delivery.” Sunset shrugged. “Orrrrrrrr... anyone who wants to get knocked up could just make a trip to Equestria with their betrothed and do it there... come back a year later with a bouncing baby pony-human-boy-or-girl.” She coughed. “It's... crazy as pregnancy plans go. But—when has pregnancy never been crazy.” She winked.

Flash sniffled, rubbing his cheek dry. “I just don't understand how—”

“How what? I can sound no nonchalant about it all? Flash... sweetie... when you grow to be seven foot six and you can read minds or make shit float or punch holes through semi-trucks and you have a giant functioning penis that manifests from your lady loins... like...” She shrugged. “...where do you pick and choose? Where does one choose to start or stop screaming in existential horror?”

He gazed helplessly at her.

She hugged him close, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “We're fine, Flash. We've all wrestled with the heaviness of it all ages ago. And... for what it's worth... it's not all that bad! In fact... sometimes it's awesome... heh...” She smiled, blushing slightly. “We've found ways to enjoy the benefits when they rear their ugly heads—literally!”

“Yes... well...” He muttered, scrunched up against her blanketed form. “...except for yesterday.”

Sunset went silent. She gulped, glancing aside. “Yes... well...”

“Why a penis, though?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Flash parted the hug just enough so he could look up at her. “Why—of all things—would the magic of this world do this to you?”

“Well, Flash...” She caressed his silk blue hair again. “...wouldn't we agree that the Harmonic Well—for whatever reason—bestowed a great deal of feminine energy to you ages ago?”

He slowly... helplessly nodded.

“Well...” A wry smirk crossed the amazon's lips. “...ta-daaaaaaaaaa...”

“So... it imbued you and the girls with something masculine...” The boi grimaced. “But... why?”

“Ancient kinks for ancient finks.”

“Still doesn't explain anything...”

“I think it does.” Sunset said. “After all, the sperm that we... uh... produce can't get anyone pregnant.”

“I thought that it was just because you and the girls were rendered infertile.”

Sunset was dead silent.

Flash blinked. His eyes then widened. “Wait... who else has been...?”

The valkyrie coughed delicately. “I won't... name any names,” she said. “But... at least one of us has gotten friendly with one or two people outside of our social circle. And... needless to say—no. Magical sperm from magical dicks do not lead to conception.”

“But I thought you said it was real.”

“Pffft—as real as it can be! Really warm and—”

“Okay... okay...” Flash shivered. “I get it—but who would have done something so stupid and dangerous?”

“It was long ago,” Sunset droned. “Before our amazonian bodies took off... when the genitalia first started conjuring.” She sighed, eyes rolling. “Somebody decided to experiment with a few of her closest gal pals and... thank Celestia... nothing bounced out of it.”

“... … … … ...it was Rainbow Dash, wasn't it?”

“Snrkkkk—ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Sunset laughed so hard that the sofa nearly tipped over. She wiped at her eyes, chuckling windily. “Whewwwwwwwww...”

“Well?”

“I can n-neither confirm nor deny.”

Flash squinted. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty dayum sure. But—long and short of it...” Sunset looked at him. “No matter how big the hammer—none of us can knock any of us up.”

Flash leaned against her again, exhaling. “I guess it's better that way. Still... it's gotta hurt.”

“What's gotta hurt?”

“Well... y'know...” Flash gulped. “...if the hammers are big...”

Sunset blinked. Then she snapped out of it. “Oh. No. That's never an issue.”

“Huh?”

“I mean... it is an issue... but... we never even have a chance to hurt each other.”

“How so?”

“Because...” Sunset shifted her weight on the couch. “...we can't even begin to try.”

“... … ...I still don't get it.”

“We never penetrate each other, Flash.”

He looked up at her. “Never?”

“Never ever.”

“Just... don't like doing it that way, or—?”

“I mean we physically can't,” Sunset said firmly. “Our hammers—... our dicks are just too damned big.”

“... … ...really?”

“Yes, really,” Sunset growled. “If anybody in this universe would know this is true—it's us.”

“You... can't ever put them inside each other?”

Sunset chuckled. “Do I have to put a drawing on the marker board?”

“I-I'm sorry! I just... but...” Flash's face scrunched. “...how do you—?”

“We get creative,” Sunset explained. “Toys. Tools. Lotion... the works.” She hummed. “And—in the end—it all comes down to finding the right way to get handy with one another...” She tongued the inside of her mouth. “...a bit of lip-service goes a long way too.”

“Wow, really?”

“Mmmmhmmmmm...” Sunset smiled rosily. She attempted to keep a dignified expression. “Really.”

“But... if they can't fit down there—“

“Notice how I said 'lip-service' and not 'throat-service',” Sunset said. “There are... well... there are limits, Flash.”

“Limits...”

“Hard. Limits.” She gulped. “And believe-you-me, what we wouldn't give for a chance to someday feel what it's like to... to sheathe these weapons in a way that wouldn't make them disappear.” She sighed dreamily. “But instead in a warm... soothing... relieving way that nature intended. Magical bullshit nature...”

Flash looked at the floor. He looked at the ceiling. He looked at the invisible stars beyond. And then—his tender tiny lips produced: “The Harmonic Well.”

Sunset said nothing.

“The Harmonic Well!” He looked at her. “That... This is what it's all about. I'm what it's all about!”

Sunset continued to say nothing. Sweat formed along her neck and brow.

“Sunset...” His lips pursed. “...I'm the hole.”

She snapped: “You're so much damn more than a hole—!”

“You know what I mean—!”

“Of course I know what you mean! Flash, I've known what it means before I found you! Before I knew that the Harmonic Well would be—“ She grimaced, unable to finish that sentence.

“But... Sunset...” He breathed tenderly. “...if seven superhuman tall women couldn't fit them inside each other...” His eyes narrowed. “...how could any of you possibly fit them inside me?”

Sunset avoided looking directly at him.

“Sunny...?”

She hesitantly spoke: “It's... virtually impossible for those things to come out of us in the first place, Flash...”

“Meaning...?”

“Meaning...” She tensed up, still avoiding his gaze. “...the necessary balance... the union that this world's magic calls for between the Harmonic Well and Harmonic Fountain would... make it possible... no matter what.”

He gulped. “No matter what.”

“No matter what.” She shuddered, adding: “Twilight and I have run several test experiments... using samples of our blood and... other fluids.” A slight cough. “And... while we've n-not been able to create any of the hypothetical scenarios in the lab... what we've seen manifested in the converging leylines seem to suggest that... the impossible is very m-much... possible...”

Flash looked left... then right... then up at Sunset. “Would it hurt?”

She was sweating profusely now, her face stretched in both embarrassment and concern. Flash felt as she squeezed his far shoulder tenderly, holding him closer. “Aye. There's the rub.”

The house fell into silence.

Flash was the first to move, to speak. His voice was a tender melody: “Sunset... Sunny... if that is what it would take to relieve you and the girls and restore power to the Elements of Harmony—”

“It doesn't work that way—!” Sunset hissed.

“But... you just said—“

“It shouldn't have to work that way! You...!” She winced, gazing away with moist eyes. “...we can come up with something. I'm sure of it.”

“Sunset...”

“There's a reason why I took so long in telling you everything, Flash. I'm a coward. No matter what, it all comes to this... this... damned brick wall.” She sighed, shuddering. “I put it off forever because I thought I could fill in the gaps with... making you comfortable. Making you happy... and all the while I had the far off notion that I could somehow fulfill both your dreams and our needs at the same time and... and... and... it would always come to this dead end. This dead end without a solution.”

“But... there is a solution, isn't there?” Flash asked gently. “I mean... yeah... it's scary. But it's also—”

“I refuse to let there be no other option. Flash... sweetie...” She gazed down at him with a teary expression. “You did not ask to have things get so complicated. To have so much pressure placed upon you.”

He stared firmly back at her. “Sunset... my entire life has been complicated from the start. For years—before and after you—I've wrestled with headaches and heartaches of my own. But you and the girls? Consider yourselves in this matter—”

“Oh, I've considered myself well enough, Flash.” She frowned, wiping her eyes dry as she stared off with a huff. “You're just... too sweet and forgiving to bother seeing it...”

“Are you saying I'm naive, now?”

“Teasing you the way I have... dressing you up... digging into the pinkest parts of your mind and feeling how you tick just... j-just to get my jollies...” She groaned at herself. “Well, I got my jollies all day yesterday and what did it bring me?” She released her hug of the boi to grip her skull through her hair. “Rrrrnnghhh...” Her body shook, causing the couch to shake. “Fucking dammit... sometimes... I swear... I just wanna plug it all up so it never friggin' comes out ever again...” She shook her tangled mess of a head. “I can't do this. I can't live life with two stupid brains! It was so much simpler just to fight evil magic and come back to chill and party with the girls... but this? This is stupid and unbearable...”

Flash's heart ached for her. He reached a tiny hand out to her side. “Sunset...”

“Friggin'... dumbass bimbo with a dumbass bimbo snake between her legs...” She sounded close to hyperventilating. “I used to read minds from half-a-mile away... now I can't even navigate my own! So... clouded with all this... rnnngrh... horny magical bullshit...”

“Sunset...” Flash touched her shoulder. “Sunset...!” He tugged at the blanket.

Sunset gasped, grasping the fabric before it could come off—as if there was anything left between them to expose. She gave the boi a weak, frightened look.

He merely smiled up at the giantess. “Let's go out.”

Sunset blinked. “...go out?”

“Yeah! Outside! For a drive! A walk! Anything!”

She sniffled, rubbed her face, and slowly shook her head. “No. No, Flash... going outside is the last thing I wanna do right now—”

“Which is exactly why you should do it!” He beamed. “We should do it! Not get cooped up in this depressing... dreary house...”

“It's... a nice house that Cadance built—”

“You know what I mean!” Flash stroked her shoulder. “Sunny... I hate seeing you like this. You're beautiful and you're amazing and you deserve the light of day. Let's go out somewhere.”

“... … ...” She squirmed in her seat. Sniffling, the woman brushed at her tangled bangs. “I'm... I'm a friggin' mess. I... I at least need to shower...”

He giggled. “Stole the words right out of my mouth. Mine if I take a shower afterwards?”

“... … ...I really don't feel like going out anywhere today, Flash.”

“Pleeeease...?” He clasped his hands together. “For me? I promise that you'll feel better afterwards.”

“Guhhh... don't give me those eyes.”

“What?” He fluttered his eyelashes. “What eyes?”

Sunset groaned yet again. Slowly—draping the blankets around herself like a robe—she rose from the couch. “Fine. For what good it will do.”

“That's a b-better attitude than none!”

“Only for you, Flash...” And she shuffled off, still aching from the previous day.

He knelt on the couch, calling after her. “That's right! Pen it on me! I can take it!” His eyebrow twitched. “The blame f-for going out! I mean!” As she walked off, he exhaled... breathing to himself in quieter and quieter tones. “I can take it... I can t-take it...”

The boi wrung his hands nervously. Tugging the lengths of the pink nightshirt down across his knees, he looked to where the plate of “breakfast” had been placed. He leaned over, squinting at the long, hard, narrow, turgid stalks of carrots.

“Ugh...” He “bopped” himself lightly in the head multiple times. “Ugh ugh ugh ugh... what was I even thinking? He face-palmed, curling up alone and timid in the corner of the couch. “...shoulda served her eggs instead.”