Sparkler appeared with a jangle of teleportation imperfection. As she staggered in disorientation, New Leaf, a.k.a. Rinky Do, regarded her and asked Derpy, "Is this…"

Derpy supplied, "This is your granddaughter." Everypony who already knew caught her slight emphasis on 'grand'.

Rinky grinned. "Teleporting! I never got the hang of that, though at times it would have been useful. My, my. I'm proud of you already! Both of you. How many ponies in Ponyville can do something as grand as that?"

Sparkler commented, "Considering half the pillars are at the party, including Starswirl the Bearded, and I did a terrible job, let's not get boastful."

He blinked. "What?"

"Starswirl the Bearded, Rockhoof, and Mistmane made it to the party. And the elements… even Spike… I'm decidedly third rank in this company."

"Well, teleportation is still something to be proud of."

She shyly looked aside. "I'm working on it."

Dinky managed to wriggle her way through the crowd and snuggled up to her mother. "What's wrong? What were you shouting about?"

Derpy gestured to her father. "This is my father, Rinky Doo. Starlight saved him too, just like the Apples."

"She saved the Apples too?"

"Do you remember what this party is about?"

Dinky blinked. "She saved Buttercup and Bright Mmm… oh, they're Apples." She looked around at the many apple-themed decorations in dawning comprehension.

Derpy turned back to her father, and gestured down to Dinky. "This is my other daughter, Dinky Hooves. And, ah, I go by Derpy Hooves now, mostly."

Rinky asked, "Mostly? Is it okay if I still call you Ditzy Doo?"

Derpy nodded. "And you can still call me Muffins, Dad."

Dinky put in, "No better name than that."

Rinky added, "And ever since we've… been parted, I've gone by New Leaf."

Derpy repeated, "New Leaf. That's a nice name. I think I'll call you that."

New Leaf softly asked, "And, should I expect to run into Dinky's father at some point?"

When Derpy didn't answer immediately, Sparkler supplied, "Deceased."

"Ah. I'm sorry to hear that."

Dinky frowned for a moment, and said, "My father's dead? That's what you were hiding all this time? I thought it would be something bad about him!"

Sparkler, sensing impending catastrophe, and also noting that he hadn't had to ask about her father, redirected onto a safer topic. "So, have you met the Apples?"

"Yes, but not recently. Did they get into trouble like I did and have to be saved?"

"Yeah. Starlight did something with Pinkie Pie and found them all turned to stone."

And with that, Buttercup and Bright Mac approached. They gave New Leaf an inscrutable look. "Hello", Bright Mac said tentatively.

New Leaf raised a hoof. "Nice to meet you again. New Leaf, now."

Buttercup smiled. "So we've heard. And if you raised Sugar Belle like she told us, then you must really have been innocent back then. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

He blanched slightly. "Innocent would be putting it a little strongly. Dit–Derpy covered the level of my guilt pretty well earlier. I can work the rest out with her, to whatever extent she wishes me to make amends."

He looked aside, in shame, and suddenly caught sight of Sugar Belle standing right behind him. "So, Sugar Belle. I expect you already know your big sister."

Sugar Belle and Derpy shared a look, laughed, and hugged. Derpy said, "Yes, we met when I was carrying mail." A tiny frown crept onto her face. "Just to be clear, she's adopted, right?"

Sugar Belle nodded. "We don't know who my biological parents are. We'll see about saving them too, if they just disappeared."

Then Bright Mac asked New Leaf, "How did you survive? It seemed… hopeless."

Sparkler concurred, "Yeah, I only just heard that ponies tried to kill you today! It seems… interesting. Unless it's too traumatic to talk about?"

New Leaf looked around for Starlight, didn't find her, and sighed. "I need to figure out how much it's safe to say without tripping a strange magical trigger and destroying things."

"Whoa."

"I think I can explain everything to you, but I need to check with Starlight first."

Derpy said, "How about you come by in the morning and you can tell us over breakfast?"

New Leaf closed his eyes and swallowed, then reopened his eyes, crying a little. "That would be nice."

~~~~

Apple Bloom poked Applejack and gestured to their mother as she stood next to Derpy's family. "Which of us do you think is in there?"

"What?"

"Mom's pregnant. Gotta be. She threw up this morning."

Applejack considered. "After all those pies last night, not too surprising. But it could be. Why do you think she ain't carrying you?"

"I figure, if Big Mac isn't actually the oldest, it's all okay if he marries Sugar Belle."

Applejack swallowed. "And Starlight delivered us."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Which means we need to be looking out. I'm fine. Are you in any danger of getting knocked up by a non-Earth Pony?"

Applejack choked. "No."

Narrowing her eyes, Apple Bloom went on, "Actually, I've never seen you look twice at a stallion. Are you into mares? That'd be convenient, I guess."

Applejack choked harder. "What? No." Then she thought for a moment. "Well, not more into mares than I am into stallions, which seems to be not at all."

"Really." Silence fell between them for a minute as they nibbled on party food and watched the others. Apple Bloom continued, "You know, none of the other elements actually seem to have ever been attracted to anypony either. At least, not before this whole business started."

"What? Rarity was all over Blueblood, then Trenderhoof, and then…"

"Yeah, and do you know what each of those guys had in common?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "No. What?"

"She found them in magazines. She was told to be attracted to them, and I think it was all social. Name one stallion she ever became attracted to by meeting him, before this business. Or any of the elements."

Applejack looked to Spike and saw him reach up and kiss Rarity on the cheek. And she wracked her brains. Not me for sure. Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy… "Can't say I can think of one."

Apple Bloom added, "Isn't it kind of weird that the crusaders have gone out with literally twice as many ponies as the elements? Rumble, Tender Taps, Griswold, Button?"

"You dated Griswold?"

"Didn't go far. I'm judging by intent, here. But point is, we aren't even quite as old as you six were at the time you became elements and we already have four times the experience per pony than you do, and all of your real experience is since this thing got started."

Applejack swallowed.

"Ah think you were all under some kind of magic thingamajig that was keeping you from getting attracted to ponies, and this new thing is finally breaking it."

Applejack frowned. "Except for me."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Except for you."

Applejack looked around at the various ponies. "I… can see that ponies are good looking or not. Thunderlane cleaned up real nice. Got a suit on. He and Fluttershy are a good couple."

Apple Bloom looked them over. "Yeah, he's good looking. See how Fluttershy's looking at him? You aren't looking at him that way. Do you want to feel that way about any pony? Hay, just look how Twilight's checking out Rockhoof. Or better example still:" She slowly emphasized each word, "Mom and Dad." A deep breath. "Do you want to be that someday?"

Applejack blushed. "Ah. I… don't know? I mean, it's okay not to be interested."

"Yeah, it's fine. If it was just you I wouldn't make a deal out of it. But all six of you? 'tain't natural. And ah think you're still stuck in it. If you want to be that way, great. If you don't…"

Applejack looked down to the ground, then up. She intensely watched the couples and other ponies at the party, watching as she'd never done before, trying to see what was in their heads that wasn't in hers. In her fourth minute, she suddenly declared, "Ah don't."

"All right, then. Should we go visit Flurry Heart and have…"

Applejack cut her off. "No, want to solve this without layering on more magic. If we can."

Apple Bloom said, "All right, Twilight could at least take a…"

"No. Twilight's so wrapped up in that other magic it'd just end up with me in it too."

"At least should we check with the other elements to make sure we're interpreting it right?"

"Don't matter no more. I'm pretty sure there's something mucking around with me."

Apple Bloom took a deep breath. "All right. What do we have to work with? You're not attracted to ponies. Take it from the other end - do you touch yourself at all?"

"Just enough to clean."

Apple Bloom sighed. "Figured. Have you seen ponies doing things with each other? Porn?" Applejack shook her head. "Well, we could start with that. What do you think?"

Applejack took a few seconds to think it over, then chuckled. "Part of me says this is pointless, but I don't trust that part. And another part says it's inappropriate. Maybe it is, but I think this is serious enough for something inappropriate. I'm determined to see it through. If this was shoved on me, even if it was shoved by the tree herself, I want to go be who I really am."

"All right. My plan starts off by checking whether touching yourself at least feels nice." Apple Bloom looked around. "Party's still going. Want to put this off til later? Bit of a hike back to the house."

Applejack nodded. "'s not like we aren't sleeping in the same bed tonight."

Apple Bloom considered. "Well, maybe we will, but maybe not mine. Who do you know who has the most experience in plumbing pony's most personal identities and helping them realize what they truly want?"

Applejack saw it and buried her face in her hat. "No…"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders… …!" Fortunately for all, Apple Bloom stopped right there, the occupation they would be attempting left blank.

Scootaloo popped up, momentarily followed by Rumble and Sweetie Belle, then Button.

Scootaloo asked, "What's the case?"

Apple Bloom coughed. "It's a special case, a secret one. Kind of different from usual." She looked to Applejack. "Do you have any objections to their involvement?"

Applejack looked them over. "Including the boys?"

Apple Bloom nodded. "They're essential. It'd be a little lacking a certain something without them, right?"

Applejack took a deep breath. "Which of you haven't been hit by what's going around lately?"

Button and Scootaloo raised a hoof.

Applejack pointed to Button. "Button, I more trust that you're clear of this than Scootaloo, so I am appointing you sanity checker. If we do anything that seems crazy, you tell us and we stop. Well, crazier than the basic idea of this thing. I'm going to do my best to go along if you aren't objecting. And it'll be a lot easier to go along if you're there ready to say no… but ya haven't. If we get to the point where I'm sure it's too much and you haven't said anything… I'll be mighty disappointed."

Button nodded gravely.

Sweetie asked, "I don't get it. What's the job?" She looked Applejack over. "Surely you don't need help interpreting your mark, and 'this mess' wouldn't be helpful for that."

Apple Bloom nodded, then softly said, "Right. AJ is involuntarily asexual."

Scootaloo blinked. "Uh, isn't the kind of thing you don't change?"

Apple Bloom held up a hoof. "We suspect foul play. Somepony or something is suppressing her usual… self."

Sweetie slowly nodded. "So maybe we can un-suppress it. What's your plan?"

Apple Bloom swallowed. "I think we'll start with her watching you making out."

Button laughed, then clarified by asking, "How far? I mean, Sweetie and I haven't done a whole lot?"

Apple Bloom shrugged. "It was just a thought. I think it's more important to be sensual than sexual. Also, we can talk about the things we've been imagining. I wonder whether that effect was created specifically to counter what is hitting Applejack."

Rumble grunted and said, "If so, their aim is not great. I had no problems before."

Apple Bloom then asked, "Where would be good? I'm thinking, whichever guest wing of the castle the Pillars aren't roomed in. But it's kind of sterile, and it'd be rude to go without an invitation, and getting one seems awkward. Anywhere else?"

Sweetie offered, "Clubhouse?"

"We'd get pretty muddy getting through that low field, and there's nothing to wash with there."

Button offered, "My room? My mom doesn't bother us for anything short of a house fire."

Sweetie giggled. "And even then she knocked."

There were no objections, so Button told his mom he was taking the crusaders home (not mentioning Applejack), and they headed out.

As they approached his home, Applejack swallowed and declared, "This is already feeling weirder than I've ever felt."

There was a general murmur of assent, but Rumble added, "And hotter, too."

Button's room was dominated by his bed. It stood right in front of them, headboard against the wall at their left. At their right was a work desk with soldering iron, clamps, and electronic components. Next to it was a bookshelf with more components and manuals. Past that, next to the corner, was the half-disassembled pinball machine he had been modifying. Just past the player end of that was the screen and console, with a beanbag chair in front. His dresser took the corner, facing the pinball machine. Above the monitor was an up-to-date map of Equestria and neighboring lands, and over the dresser was an art-poster diagram of the fundamental magical and physical forces as understood circa year 250. Alongside the dresser, to the left of the foot of the bed, was a large wall-mounted mirror, then a bookshelf for school and general purposes, then his study desk.

There was just enough floor space for all six of them to file into the room and stand in a C shape around the bed. Button, in the lead, climbed onto the head of the bed. "I guess we won't all fit on here. Maybe four of us if we get really cozy? Or three on the bed, one on each of the other seats."

So Sweetie joined him in the middle of the bed, and Applejack got on the foot for the best view; Rumble sat upright in Button's work chair, and Scootaloo stood next to him at the door; Apple Bloom took the study desk at Button's left.

Button laughed and kissed Sweetie lightly.

Apple Bloom asked, "Button, do you have any porn?"

Button choked. "Umm." Looking around the room, and finally at Applejack, who was not looking stern but merely wondering, he finally answered, "Between the two tall manuals on the second shelf."

Rumble turned around and pulled it out. "Heat. This… this is vintage. 986? Wow."

Then he laid it carefully on the work bench and opened it so Applejack could see.

Applejack saw it and glared. "Put this away."

Apple Bloom, exasperated, said, "Sis… how are we going to help if…"

Rumble spoke over her, "No, she's right. This is that new guy. Derpy's dad. Think we should probably let him start over. Don't need to see him like this." He put the magazine back.

Applejack squinted. "Could you could tell what they were doing? It seemed… vague."

"Well, it was the first page. They didn't get closer than her hoof on his dong. Button, that seemed a little thin - was it just the one series?"

Button nodded, and swallowed.

Sweetie kissed Button. "Oh well. Thanks for sharing." He kissed her back, working through the embarrassment. While he was pulling back from it, she yanked his hips to put him on his back, then lay across him and put her head on his chest. "Sooo… you said we should talk about what we were imagining? One of the things I imagined before was sort of 'ignored sex'. We'd have a little orgy going in here, and your mom would knock and we'd say come in and she'd give us cucumber slices and juice and remind us to go outside later, and she simply wouldn't care what we were all doing." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo noticed what she didn't mention about that orgy (that Button was not a participant but also ignoring it), but didn't move to clarify. Button chuckled, and she continued. "But for the past few hours I've been imagining something different. I've been imagining that Princess Twilight determined that you were the perfect male, and she needed you to get her pregnant. But you only wanted to be with me. So, I blew you and spat it into her. Then she recommended that Pinkie also have your baby. So then we had sex, and then she got below me and I dripped into her. Then princess Twilight convinced all the other elements to also have your babies, and she cast a spell on me so that made me super stretchy, so you could go into me your cum would come out my belly button, where it went into this stone tube, and then we got them pregnant through that, and Princess Celestia carefully secretly monitored all of this through a magic mirror."

Button blinked. "We've kissed, and you were imagining all that?"

Sweetie shrugged. "A. I told you it was a magical mind whammy thing. B. We have also held our bodies together like this before, which as far as I'm concerned is beyond kissing. C. Imagination goes way ahead of reality, right? What have you imagined, totally unaffected by magic?"

Button took a moment to think. "Well, I have imagined doing all the usual things, I guess, but mostly just, normally. Except once I imagined that we were in a video game doing it, and the players were watching. And… once dreamed that I'd made a pinball machine of you. And it kind of was you. I got the ball up your chute."

Sweetie smiled. "Imaginative. How about we let Scootaloo do the talking next? She seems like she wants to share something?"

Sweetie shifted up a little on Button and they began kissing, and kept at it. Apple Bloom watched Applejack watching the two lying diagonally in front of her, their butts aimed right at Apple Bloom. Sweetie shifted her legs, widening her stance, and her pussy winked once.

Scootaloo, having gathered her thoughts, said, "Yeah, since I heard your stories I've been kind of working on my own, I guess. So, the crusaders were called in to help a stallion who worked with his forehooves. Like, road worker or something. Only his legs were broken. After a while it came out that the cutie mark problem would take care of itself when his legs got better, but in the mean time, he just wanted to see some road-laying action. So we made a small stretch of road in front of him. And the way we did it involved a lot of putting our forelegs close to the ground and our butts in the air. He liked that a lot. We noticed he liked it, and began trying to be sexy. He admitted that the real problem wasn't so much his cutie mark but that he couldn't hoof off. But then we were so sexy at him, he came, hooves free."

Rumble laughed, but the others were too concentrated on the way that Sweetie was grinding against Button, still kissing. She raised her body for a moment and glanced down.

Scootaloo observed, "Hey, got something down there, what do you know?"

Apple Bloom got off the chair and walked around to where she could see. She only got a glimpse of Button's elevated erection before Sweetie pressed it down with her belly and resumed kissing him.

Rumble coughed and said, "I guess it's my turn? So, before I was imagining that everypony loved my sperm. Used it for all sorts of things. But today, when I was waiting around at the party, I… I imagined that I came to Princess Celestia with some really stupid petition, and she told me that to make up for wasting her time, I should orally service her in front of the court during the next petition. I felt so embarrassed, but Scootaloo felt bad and to give me support came up and helped me with it. The next petitioner had this enormously complex thing about taxes, and we were edging Celestia the whole time, at least after the first few minutes. Eventually, she came and said 'yes', and for some reason that had to be interpreted as her meaning she accepted the proposal, and we should be punished for making her do that, so we…" he suddenly had a harder time speaking, as Scootaloo had begun tickling her feathers against his half-erect shaft. "… we had to sign into this group of ponies who royalty could call on to service them. Not exactly a harem. Any… way… hoooo. The first pony who took us was Prince Blueblood. And this is the weird part. Because I wouldn't normally interested, but the magic… anyway, he had us blow him, which we also did together; then once he was ready, he had me take him up the butt while he took Scootaloo that way too." He paused and shivered from the sensation.

Apple Bloom took advantage of the break to ask Applejack, "How are you feeling?"

Applejack frowned. "It's like I can barely see what's happening right in front of me. I can kind of see… well, it's not blurry, but it takes work to recognize it. I can understand what I hear better."

"Then we need more stories, or even just narration, and maybe we need to work on the physical side. Can you rub yourself?"

"How?"

Apple Bloom sat back in the chair, spread her legs, and demonstrated. "Like this. Maybe lie against the head of the bed?"

Applejack got off the bed; Button rolled Sweetie over and lay on top of her; Applejack took the vacated spot at the head of the bed. Apple Bloom got up next to her and used her right hoof to guide Applejack's left. "More like this. Maybe we can bust through that way." And they looked down upon Button and Sweetie rubbing their bodies, and at Scootaloo stroking Rumble.

Rumble continued his story. "So… the next princess to call upon us was Luna. She… ffff… oh Scootaloo this is so good." Scootaloo giggled, and he managed to continue. "So Luna cast a spell to give you a dick and I did her pussy while you did her butt. And it didn't go away after we went home, eith… ooooooh." Scootaloo had wrapped her wingtip around his penis and positively gripped it.

Button said, "Whooooa."

Applejack stopped letting Apple Bloom guide her motion against herself and sharply asked, "You said 'whoa' - is it too far? I, ah, think Scootaloo is touching his willie, right?"

Button gulped and described, "She is holding it. And, uh, I guess that's okay? Just surprising and, just, 'whooa' in general."

Apple Bloom added, "Also, sis? Willie is for little colts. Pick any of the other hundred words. What you're looking at is basically a fully-grown stallion's cock."

Applejack stared at it, frowning, trying to parse her visual field better. After a few seconds, she relaxed and Apple Bloom set her hoof in motion again. After a few more seconds, she figured that Applejack probably had that motion down. So, she began to withdraw her hoof. But Applejack put her right hoof over Apple Bloom's right and pulled it back in against her left hoof, making Apple Bloom guide her masturbation again. "Please - if you let go I'd probably just stop again. And, Rumble, Ahm sorry, but the beginning of your story was a lot better than the later parts. Maybe it doesn't need to be authentic, just make something up?"

Apple Bloom said, "I could take my turn. So, I'm imagining that Starlight's going to have a very busy time next year. She'll be not only carting me back, but all of the elements too. Turns out Twilight's real mom is Rarity. And Rarity's real mom is Pinkie. And Pinkie's real mom is Fluttershy. And Fluttershy's real mom is Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash's real mom is you, and your real mom is me. But all of the fathers are right."

Button complained, "That didn't make any sense…"

Scootaloo said over him, "So you're going to bang your own father to conceive Applejack?"

Apple Bloom laughed. "I only met him yesterday. As far as most of my brain is concerned, he's just a hot stallion. So, which pair do you want to start with?"

Applejack said, "I'm sorry, Bloom, but that isn't working for me."

Apple Bloom cast around for another idea, looked around for help, then back to Applejack. Then she noticed Applejack was looking at the way Scootaloo's rear end wiggled as it pointed towards her. Applejack glanced to the mirror before shifting back to Scootaloo. Apple Bloom looked to the mirror. Though she couldn't see anything but Sweetie Belle's hoof there, she guessed that from Applejack's point of view, it would be looking up her leg a good bit further. Could I also have been right the first time? She's into mares?

"Rumble, I'm sorry to interrupt the most amazing thing that's happened to you, but can I borrow Scootaloo? And Button…" she gestured him off the bed.

The boys reluctantly disengaged, and the other two crusaders gathered on the foot of the bed.

Apple Bloom tried to work it out. "Okay, can each of you lean back against your boyfriend and, uh, do what I'm doing?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie shared a look. Scootaloo said, "You want us to hoof each other off."

"No, each hold the back of the others' hoof…"

Applejack moaned.

Sweetie gulped at the sudden appearance of progress. "Oh. I guess I can do that." As they slowly put their further hooves on themselves and snaked their nearer hooves over to the other, she recalled, "If this is what you want, then maybe a few more details about my old thoughts would help? So, the elements and crusaders were right here, but the bed was bigger. You're sitting where you are, and Twilight's where Apple Bloom is. Facing her, legs all tangled up and kissing, is Fluttershy. Rarity is at the foot of the bed, scissoring Pinkie."

"Whatting?"

"Uhhh, not sure how to describe that."

Scootaloo joked, "We could demonstrate." Sweetie glared at her.

Scootaloo laughed harder. "Hold on, Rumble. Yeah, enjoy the view Button." She swung her right leg over Sweetie's left. "Like this, see?"

Applejack squinted."That doesn't seem very intimate?"

Sweetie realized that Scootaloo wasn't aiming to actually scissor her, just give the idea, and rolled further over to improve how they were lined up, then shifted a little closer: their pussies lay around half a foot apart.

Apple Bloom said, "You see how they are?"

"I... I think they're hugging each others' hind hooves, with the other hind hoof on their back?"

Apple Bloom sighed. "Close your eyes, lean your head back, and visualize. I think your eyes are worse than useless here. Basic shape was right, but they're jammed up so they're rubbing pussies against each other." In reality, Scootaloo was slowly retreating to a neutral sitting position.

"What's it like? I can feel the bed shaking, so you must be doing something."

Apple Bloom blanked, confused that Applejack thought she was narrating what was happening instead of describing what scissoring was in general. Scootaloo dove into character and supplied, "It's soft, and damp, and warm, and special. There's this filly I've known for years and we've never done this before." She twitched her butt against the bed to make it shake rhythmically as if she was doing what she was describing. "It's like… it's suddenly okay to do this. We never realized we felt this way, but now that we're here…" She paused and sharply breathed in.

Sweetie took up the narrative. "It feels like love and acceptance, and wanting and getting, and I can't wait to do this with Apple Bloom too."

Apple Bloom laughed a little and ramped up Applejack's action. "Yeah, I can't wait to get in on that."

Scootaloo suggested, "Come over and kiss me."

Sweetie narrated, "I'm on your hoof now, since Apple Bloom went over to kiss Scoots." Having finished the true part, she proceeded to lie, "They're still at it, got some tongue in there. And Apple Bloom's spreading her legs apart, and pulling with one forehoof so she's wide open. I just want to bury my nose in it, mmmm..." Sweetie began writhing on the bed and making slurping sounds, while intensifying her motions Applejack's hoof. Rumble suppressed a snicker.

Applejack angrily said, "Button? You're not saying anything." She jerked her head forward, opened her eyes, and found the three fillies writhing but not touching each other. After a second, "Oh."

Button facehoofed. "Sorry, should have been granting permission for what they said they were doing."

Applejack blushed, then got off the bed. "Well, uh, I actually think that might have helped. I… have a lot to think about." She opened the door and rushed out.

There was silence until they heard the front door close, then Apple Bloom suggested, "Want to go back to you couples doing each other? That was nice."

Button coughed. "As the responsible party here, I'm declaring tonight over. How about we meet for lunch at the fountain at half past noon? Then we can decide what we want to do, when we aren't already massively, massively turned on?"

Rumble and Apple Bloom groaned. Sweetie nodded, used to this sort of thing.

Button continued, "In the mean time, I recommend you all go home and hoof off."

Scootaloo, Rumble, and Apple Bloom filed out, but Sweetie instead turned on the monitor.

Button gaped, then shook his head. "In case you didn't get the hint, I intend to hoof off right now too."

"'sokay, I won't watch. I'll just be over here playing."

Button froze.

After five seconds, he shrugged. "Okay."

~~~~

An hour later, Cream Heart came into her son's bedroom. He was lying back, uncovered on his bed; a game was on the monitor, showing 'game over' superposed over a screen showing a character in a safe place but the timer having run down to zero. She went to turn it off, and found Sweetie Belle lying there, controller in hoof.

She whispered, "Sweetie?"

Upon receiving no response, Cream Heart settled onto her haunches, slipped her forehooves under the filly, gently picked her up, and placed her on the bed. Sweetie slept through the mare's gentle rearrangements that left her on her side next to Button. With a smile, the mare left.

Author's Note

Anyone notice a pattern in the stories?

Sorry about the delay - summer ate my time. Should be a bit better starting next week.