Cleaning herself up as best she could, Gleaming made herself as presentable as possible before returning to the cafe. Her eyes were still a little red, but that was easy enough to pass off as her being tired, which of course was the reason she was in the coffee shop to begin with.

Upon exiting the bathroom, she discovered that Anon and String Board were still chatting animatedly. At first she assumed they were still arguing over coffee, but as she drew nearer, the true nature of their conversation became audible.

And suddenly, the exasperated look on Mocha’s face was completely understandable.

“No, no, no! I’m being completely serious here! Like, one hundred and twenty percent serious!” String Board said as she nursed her extra-large iced coffee. “Nopony wants to acknowledge the truth, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening!”

“Nuh-uh,” Anon replied. There was mild amusement in his voice even as he leaned on the counter, one hand propping his head up. “You’re just pulling my leg like ponies used to do all the time when I first arrived here. ‘The moon is made of cheese’, ‘Celestia can see what you’re doing when you say her name’, ‘if mares don’t get enough hugs per day they can die’.” Mocha blushed at the mention of that last one and looked away quickly. “I’m not gullible, little pony. It’s not happening.”

“It totally is though!” Fired up, String pushed her drink away to prevent it getting knocked over. Leaning on the counter herself, she glared up at Anon. “It’s Cloudsdale! I’m telling you, the pegasi at the Weather Factory are totally doing it!”

Leaning back, Anon shook his head. “Nope. I don’t believe you.”

“I-it’s true!” String stood up suddenly, her forelegs on the counter. “And I’m not saying that ponies can’t naturally develop homosexual feelings. That’s not what I’m getting at. I mean, give me a bucking break. Do you think I’m like, oh, shocked by it, so I’m up here bashing it because I don’t like dykes? Cause that’s not it!” Face turning red, she slammed her hooves on the counter top as she shouted. “I’m tired of them putting chemicals in the rainwater that turns the bucking parasprites gay! Do you understand that? I’m sick of being magically engineered by the government for the betterment of Equestria and Harmony in general. I… It’s not funny!” She glared at Anon, who was laughing at this point.

Gleaming sat down next to her friend and adjusted her scarf into a more comfortable position. “String?”

“What?” String snapped, whipping her head around.

“Shut up.” Lighting up her horn, Gleaming picked up her own drink. The second the purple straw touched her lips, a flood of cooling, delicious, caffeinated substance flowed up into her mouth and down her throat. She groaned happily as the familiar flavor coated her tongue. That’s the ticket, baby.

String let out a small whine as she collapsed back on her stool. “B-but he’s ignoring all the facts and figures that clearly point to the fact that Cloudsdale is putting chemicals in the rainwater that are meant to—”

“Don’t care,” Gleaming said around the straw. “Shut up and drink your coffee. Too early for your shenanigans.”

“When you’re licking slits, don’t come whining to me.” Grumbling under her breath, String grabbed her drink and began sucking it down as well. She refused to look at either Anon or Gleaming, staring intently at the counter top instead.

As the two enjoyed their drinks in silence, Anon shook his head. “You have some strange friends, Gleams,” he chuckled before moving off to help a customer that had just walked in. Mocha followed as well, working the machines as Anon took the order.

You don’t know the half of it, Gleaming thought as Cadance floated through the back wall and into view. She circled Anon for a moment, studying him intently, before she settled down on the other side of Gleaming. The drink in Gleaming magic caught her eye for a moment and she eyed them curiously before turning her attention instead to Mocha as she trotted past them to get into the back room.

“Them breeding hips. Unf,” Cadance muttered under her breath before floating off again.

As the she-demon disappeared into the back room, Gleaming rolled her eyes. She gave her drink a hard suck before leaning over and muttering to String Board. “So, you said you found out something about the symbol?”

“Mmm-hmm!” String took one last, long pull on her straw before smacking her lips. Lighting up her horn, she scoped some whipped cream out of the cup and lapped at it. “Oh, did I find something.” Horn still glowing, she pulled a notebook out of her saddlebags and placed it on the counter space between them. She flipped through the note-filled pages until she reached one that had a rough sketch of the heart emblem.

“I don’t know what you did to piss off some higher deity, sister,” she said, “but you, my friend, have some kind of accursed luck or something. Or maybe good luck, depending on how you look at it.”

Gleaming gave her friend a confused look before leaning forward to give the contents of the notebook a read. She immediately noticed that String’s hornwriting was still as illegible as ever. “What are you talking about? What’s the symbol?”

String Board gave her a lopsided grin. “It’s the symbol for a cult. A different cult than Primae Noctis, thankfully. Still, you’ve somehow managed to get wrapped up in two separate ancient cults in the span of less than a week. I’m actually impressed. Nopony has heard hide nor hair of these cults in centuries, and yet, here you are.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Gleaming groaned. Closing her eyes, she pressed her forehead against the counter top, being mindful of her horn. “One cult was bad enough, but now two? This is stupid!”

“Oh, relax,” String huffed. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

Gleaming peaked up at her. “How so?”

String pushed up her glasses before pulling her notebook closer. “Well, you see. The thing is, this particular cult isn’t like Primae Noctis for starters. They weren’t bent on the destruction of pony society as we know it. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite. You see, this cult could easily be described as a sex cult.”

Gleaming sat up. “Come again?”

“It was a cult based around worshipping a being of fertility,” String said. “The Cult of Amore.”

Cadance’s head suddenly poked up through the table and the notebook. “Did somepony mention me?” she asked innocently, glancing between the two mares. “I heard my name.”

Gleaming gave her a look before turning back to String. “The Cult of Amore? Are you sure?”

String Board nodded. “Yup. The Cult of Amore formed about a century after the Solar and Lunar Branches duked it out. It was especially prominent in the Frozen North, although given how cold it is up there, ponies were probably just bonking to stay warm. Either way, unlike Primae Noctis, they didn’t really have a nefarious purpose, if the information I found is correct. They mostly seemed to be devoted to a fertility idol, a minor goddess or demon. The texts weren’t very clear. Anyways, they’d preform all manner of sex rituals and massive orgies and drunken rutfests in her name. Any fillies or colts who were born in these debauched bacchanalia were then forced to attend to the goddess’s shrines, as it was believed she loved to ravish them and turn them into her lust-filled concubines and broodmares.”

“Excuse me?!” Cadance pulled herself up out of the counter. She glared at String indignantly. “ I most certainly did not! Foals are for hugs, not fugs! What manner of lies are these?!” She paused in thought for a moment before a faint blush touched her cheeks. “Well, at least until they get their cutie marks. Then they are for hugs and fugs… b-but that’s besides the point!” Turning to Gleaming, she gave her a pleading look. “The ponies that came to me for help didn’t leave their foals with me! That would have defeated the purpose of me helping them start a family in the first place!”

Staring absently at Cadance’s imploring eyes, Gleaming turned her head towards String. “So, what happened to the cult? Did they try to take over and get destroyed in the process?”

As Cadance squawked, String Board just shrugged. “Nopony really knows what happened to them. They didn’t try a mass take over, nor did they really expand. One century there’s mentions of them in a few history texts, but then the next century, nothing. No mentions, no citations, nothing denoting what might have happened to them. They were just gone. It was almost like something came down and erased them right off the pages of history. No witch hunts, no crusades, no round ups. Just… gone. Vanished. Extinct.”

“Cee-cee is very thorough,” Cadance said as she lounged across the counter top. “I’m not too worried though. My acolytes, while being good in bed, were also good at taking care of themselves when they needed too. I’m sure they just went into hiding when I was sealed away. Probably dispersed and started herds together. Shining would have definitely gotten most of my followers away safely. That’s why I kept him around.”

Gleaming’s eyes flicked to her for a moment before she took a drink of her coffee. “Okay. So then, why do I have their emblem on my stomach if they’re gone?”

Cadance threw a hoof into the air. “Oh, oh! It’s because of me! It’s there because of me! It’s a mark of my blessing!”

“That I can’t tell you,” String said at the same time. “It might have something to do with the Crystal Heart you broke, but nothing I found ever mentioned a rune of any kind appearing on ponies.” She slurped noisily on her coffee, trying to get the last few remains at the bottom. “I can keep digging though, if you want, but at the moment, it looks like it might just be a way to mark one of the cultists? Like, an identifying mark or something? A brand?”

“It’s totally because I’m possessing you.” Cadance grinned.

Closing her eyes, Gleaming took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “Great. Just bucking great. Just what I needed in my life.”

“Hey,” String said as she chewed on her straw, “at least you don’t have to deal with a second cult out there causing trouble. Besides, the worst you’d get from the Cult of Amore if they were still around would be getting trapped in a massive orgy against your will.”

Cadance giggled. “Oh, it wouldn’t be against your will. You’d totally love it. I’d give you the best seat in the house.” Gazing at Gleaming with smoldering eyes, she slowly licked her lips. “The best seat.”

“Joyful,” Gleaming deadpanned, answering both mares at once.

Silence fell over the counter as both mares worked on finishing their drinks—or in String’s case, chewing on her straw. Before Gleaming could reach the bottom of her cup though, Anon came sidling up again. “Ladies. May I interest anyone in a refill? Or another drink?”

I’m thirsty for something, but it isn’t more coffee,” Gleaming thought. From her position on the counter, Cadance tittered before rolling onto her back.

“I’m good,” String said. “I should actually be getting back home before Floor thinks I died and she tries to move into my room. Again. Catch you later, Gleaming. Monkey boy.” She shot Anon an annoyed glare.

“Bean drinker,” he shot back.

As String Board left the cafe, Gleaming gave Anon a small smile. “I’ll have another one please, if you don’t mind. To go.”

Anon returned the smile. “For you, Gleams, no problem.”

Gleaming blushed as he walked off to make her drink. It faded as she watched Anon work, an idea forming in her head. She chewed on her lip as she mentally debated with herself. From beside her, Cadance was nodding her head frantically, a large grin on her muzzle while she muttered through clenched teeth. “Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it!”

“There you are!” Anon placed another drink down in front of her. “This one’s on the house!”

“T-thanks!” Gleaming stammered. She was silent for a moment before hurriedly asking. “Um, Anon? What are you doing on Friday?” The words came out faster than she wanted and she winced internally as she stumbled over some of them.

Anon didn’t seem to notice. “Oh, um. This Friday? That’s game night. I’m playing some Ogres and Oubliettes with the guys.”

“Oh.” Gleaming ears folded against her head. “N-never mind then.”

She turned to leave, and was halfway to the door when Anon called out. Turning, she gave him a curious look over her shoulder.

“You wanna come?” he asked with a warm smile. “There’s always room for one more at the table. That is, if you even play.”

Gleaming stared at him blankly before smiling widely. “I’d… I’d love to!”

From behind her, Cadance pumped a hoof into the air.

Author's Note

no updates next week, probably
earth life is being more active so equestrian life has to be put on hold
will return week after
thnx luv ya bye