“Mommmmm!”

Gloam curled her lip in disapproval.

“You’ve got hickies all over your neck! Eww!”

I did, but I hadn’t expected her to call me out for it.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a turtleneck shirt?”

Before I could find my voice, Gloam touched my neck with two fingers, and again, and again.

“All better,” she said, as the warm tingling faded.

Suddenly Isha was no longer laughing at my discomfiture.

“How’d you do that?” she demanded of Gloam.

“Just like you and mom do. I’ve seen you both heal lots of people.”

“But how do you know how?”

“Just watching you both. Mom—” she turned to me “—is it a big deal?”

With a hand, Isha signaled me to hold silent. I was still too slack jawed at Gloam’s use of magic to say anything, not to mention slightly miffed to have my battle wounds removed without so much as a by-your-leave.

“It is dangerous, neophyte, if you don’t know what you’re doing. Tanna, I’ll walk your little prodigy to school and give her a brief safety lesson. You have a lot to learn before you ever do that again.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” I finally found my voice, “obey Isha, it’ll save your life.”

I kissed her cheek after she slipped her school pack on and she followed Isha out the door.

“What will save whose life?” Twilight asked as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Our daughter, dabbling in Terrestrienne magic without training. Needs to listen to Isha.”

“Sooner we get her home, the better. Magna Mare keep her safe until then!”

“Amen.”

—

Gloam and I got home from school to find Twilight reading on the sofa. Gloam ran off to do mysterious Gloamy things that certainly couldn’t end poorly, so I sat close to Twi and leaned against my truelove.

“Whatcha reading?”

“I didn’t know humans had a sutra book too,” she said, “these anthroform bodies sure are capable of a lot of variations. But then again many of the positions here are only trivially different. As far as I can tell the only difference between the ‘Reverse Cuneiform Blender’ and ‘Saving a Lost Chicken’ is the expression on the receptive partner’s face!”

“Uh, take a closer look at where the dick is going.”

“Oh. I see. Regardless, I could condense this whole book into a single educational poster with a hierarchical tree structure to organize it and colour codes for minor variations.”

“Aw, come on, look at that smile—” I pointed at the grin of the blissfully embuggered woman “—is that really such a minor variation?”

Twilight protested, “only about three centimetres apart,” waving a hand at me, and we shared a laugh.

“Once you get that poster made, we’ll work our way through the whole thing in a thorough and logical manner,” I kidded.

“Exactly,” Twilight grinned.

“So… anything you want to try later tonight? No holes bared.”

I mimicked her ‘three centimetres’ gesture.

“Well, actually I was thinking…”

Before I knew it, Twilight had pushed me over and sprawled beside me, kissing me. I stretched and tilted my chin up to give her good access to my neck and shoulders. She showered them with kisses as she ran her hands up my shirt to cup my breasts. I wore no brassiere that might slow down her access: the benefits of small breasts for the win! I slid my hand down to her crotch. Her cock was hard, straining against her pants. I kneaded it carefully, trying to work it into a more comfortable position for her. She acknowledged the improvement by sliding her leg between mine, pushing the edge of my skirt up.

“Do you think we could do it here without getting caught?” she asked.

All she’d have to do is unzip and twitch my exposed panties aside and she could be in me, in no time. That was maybe a little bit too much spectacle for the common area of the domicile.

“Let’s just move to the bedroom, lock the door, and put the sound suppression on max. No chance of getting caught that way. Not that anypony will have any doubts.”

Twilight pressed her argument in favor of ‘here and now’ by grinding her thigh against my groin.

Suddenly a loud squawk sounded from the bathroom. It wasn’t the sound of my daughter, but I could guess she was near to the source.

Gloam came thundering out, pursued by a naked, wet, and angry, Isha.

“You diminutive thermal terrorist!” Isha shouted as she ran.

Gloam sprang to the back of the sofa, jumped to grab the hanging roomlight, swung to perform un grand jeté over the coffee table and dropped to the floor to run for the kitchen. Isha lept over the sofa in a single bound like an Olympic hurdler. For a split second she soared over us, one leg forward the other behind. From where we snuggled on the sofa, Twilight and I had a perfect view upward at her vulva, lips parting and revealing a flash of pink.

“That just happened,” I said calmly after Isha landed and continued her pursuit.

“Isha has a nice body,” Twilight understated, but I didn’t notice any notice lessening of her attentions to mine. Similarly, my hand had returned to the front of her pants. At least I hadn’t made a play for the zipper yet. “You totally should have done her while I was stuck in Equestria. She told me about night dancing on Gallop.”

“I halfway regret that I didn’t. But Aphrodite probably would have told us not to.” With a twinge or guilt I thought of that night on Gallop. Aphrodite wasn’t there to stop us. “Anyway I’ve got you back now.”

As we spoke, I could hear the sound of Gloam skittering under the kitchen table to avoid pursuit. And it sounded like Isha was going over the table. Something crashed to the floor, but I didn’t hear breakage.

“Gotcha!” shouted Isha, but she must have spoken too soon because I could hear Gloam running again.

There was a sound of chairs falling and a split second later Gloam skidded around the corner – she dove under the coffee table.

Isha was only a step behind her and jumped onto the low table. She beat her chest in like Tarzan, but a little higher to avoid punching herself in the tits. Her bellow sounded more like an enraged cheetah than the Lord of the Apes, but it was effective. Gloam giggled hysterically under the table. Isha’s fist blows against her upper chest made her heavy breasts jiggle wildly.

“Boobies,” I said to Twilight.

“Boobies,” she agreed, still kneading mine, still rubbing.

“Now this is what I call primal chaos,” said Twilight, “All we need now is Discord.”

“Your wish is my command, Princess!” said Discord who was now sitting at the end of the sofa, crowding our feet. He had appeared as a well-dressed but piebald toned demi-human, complete with tail, discreet pairs of mismatched horns and wings, single exaggerated fang, and a stylish white chin beard.

“Now this is what I call entertainment,” he nodded at Isha’s jungle savage act.

Isha had not noticed that her audience had increased. Seeing Gloam’s foot sticking out from under the table behind her, she spun dropped to her knees with her rear pointing directly at us. Reaching over the edge she grabbed Gloam’s ankle and started hauling her out of the refuge.

“I’m going to tickle you so much!” she growled.

“Popcorn,” said Discord and snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened, except Isha finally noticed his presence.

“Shit!” said Isha and Discord in unison, for very different reasons.

It was too late to be discrete, so Isha brazened it out. Not that I was in any position to champion feminine modesty: Twilight’s hands were still inside my shirt idly squeezing as she took in the show. I had attempted to fix my skirt when Discord appeared, but it was hopelessly twisted around my waist.

“Next time, Gloam Jet, next time!” Isha growled as she released the guilty party’s ankles. Standing to address the rest of us she stepped elegantly off of the table and explained, “The little prankster reached into the shower and turned off the hot water.” She offered Discord her hand and smiled. “I am Isha. Priestess of the goddess of sex and love. I am also Tanna’s friend and house guest. It looks like you must know Tanna and Twilight?”

“Discord P. Sullivan, Lord of Chaos, pleased to meet you,” he answered, on his best behavior and gave her hand a good solid shake. Again her breasts jiggled. “I know the TwiTan—” shake, jiggle “—from Equestria.” He shook her hand longer – we were all captivated by the effect.

As Discord released Isha’s handclasp I noticed Gloam peering out from under the coffee table. From her view between Isha’s ankles she watched three of us staring rapt at Isha’s chest.

“I’ve heard of you. Nice of you to drop in. I’ll be back in a moment.” She walked, as stately as a naked queen, back to the bathroom.

Gloam wriggled out from under the coffee table to peer at Discord’s horns and other oddities. I took advantage of her distraction to roll off the sofa and straighten my clothes in hopes of retrieving something of my errant dignity.

Gloam stared for a full minute before she spoke a single word.

“Chaos.”

“And this is whom?” Discord asked as if he realized that she might bite. “She hasn’t said anything I disagree with yet.”

“My daughter,” Twilight said. Twilight was still stretched out on the sofa and could probably see right up my skirt. “Tanna here is her mother. Gloam Sparkle, this is Discord Sullivan, the Lord of Chaos.Discord, Gloam.”

“Pleased to meet you, young Sparkle,” he said, extending a hand.

Gloam seized it and shook, just as firmly as Discord had shaken Isha’s hand.

“Chaos,” she said again, with a toothy grin.

“Erm, yes, quite—”

“And you’re still wearing your school clothes,” I broke in. “Please get changed.”

Gloam retreated towards her room.

“Much as I enjoyed the welcome performance,” Discord said to Twilight and me “I find myself in an embarrassing situation, with my power somehow drained. There was something very odd about the inter-dimensional transition to this world. Twilight, could you be a dear and send me back to Equestria? Flutters will worry if I don’t do something wrong by supper.”

“Sorry, Discord. I’m stuck here too, until I recharge. Which goes strangely slow on this world, I should warn you.”

“Charmed, I’m certain. How long are we are in for?”

“Another few days maybe. Week at most.” Twilight had a far away look as she evaluated her power level. If not for my oath I could take us all home in an instant.

“I already miss Fluttershy,” said Discord sadly. “Do you have a Chaos spirit in this world who might help me bust out?”

“I know of several, but not how to enlist their aid,” I offered. “There are Loki, Enki, Raven and Coyote, and there’s the Woodsie Lord, that's who I can think of off hand. I’m sure there are more. Oh, duh! Lady Eris, of course. She’s the only one that I’ve met. She might actually respond if I were to—”

“Eris! She could do it in a blink! I know her from way back at… when we… and I… and then she… in fact it would be best not to bump into her again for a few more evers. Maybe I will just cool my heels here until Twilight or I accumulate enough magic to return to Equestria.”

“Fluttershy’ll hardly notice. There’s a timeslip so it will only be a few hours back home.”

“I’ll just have the belllhop put my things in a guest suite, if you have one with a east facing balcony I’ll take it.” He grabbed his suitcase looking around for the non-existing service personnel. “May I see the dinner menu?”

“The dinner menu is that all new recruits get kitchen duty and the guest suite is me moving the other sofa out here. I dunno if you snore, but I should warn you that Isha does.”

“I what?” she asked as she returned, her lovely chocolaty skin no longer on full display.

“Snore, babe. Discord will be joining the party for a while.”

“Sounds fun, but I’m not sharing my sofa with anypony.”

“Urg, Twilight can you help me move the other sofa out of our room. Do I need to draw a dividing line down the middle of the room?”

—

As the smoke wafting from the kitchen cleared, the five of us, my small pack, gathered around the edible bits of Discord’s first attempt to cook without magic. I’d done worse when I was learning and neither Gloam nor I died of it, so I had little to complain of if our newbie was off to a rough start.

“It’s an interesting take on pilaf, buddy, but I applaud you being a good sport about helping out.”

“Pilaf?” The Lord of Chaos was still wearing a tall chef’s toque which he couldn’t have possibly found in my kitchen. “You wound me, madam, that was the soup!”

After that faux pas I shut up and cut myself another slice of salad.

Discord made an exaggerated pretense of giving me the cold shoulder as he carefully ladled my daughter some more bread to dunk the last of her gravy into, but their giggling gave him away.

—

“I should have congratulated you sooner,” Discord said to Twilight, “for breaking Celestia’s barrier.”

Gloam was off to bed, but the grownups (plus me) were sitting around the kitchen table finishing our coffee after a desert which had safely been delivered from an actual bakery and thus occupied the correct state of matter.

“That’s the funny thing,” Twilight said, “when I finally cast my counter spell at full power it was like nothing was there! Once I had the right magic lined up, I pulverized it!”

“That doesn’t seem quite right to me, but apparently I can’t argue with your apparent success.”

“I hope you will all forgive me for asking so bluntly,” Discord continued before Isha could quiz Twilight about breaking magical barriers, “but I must request clarification on what exactly the sexual dynamic is here. There’s more tension between the three of you than in Miss Pie’s personal confession booth at the Church of the Sun and I totally witnessed both Twilight and Tangent ‘checking out’ the naked Dr. Myrtle even as they had their hands all over each other. And yet, she is bedding coach class on the living room sofa. Why aren’t you a triple?”

“The goddess I serve forbids, and I don’t understand why. I’m supposed to wait for something even better. I don’t even know how that could be possible.”

Isha’s voice was full of longing and despair – I wished I could comfort her, but the comfort I longed to give was forbidden by a divine command we could not comprehend.

Discord’s eyebrows shot up. In a non-magical setting this means that they merely raised a centimeter or so to indicate intense curiosity.

“If you were a triple,” he asked with chaotic insight, “who would be the pivot?”

“Me.”

Twilight, Isha, and I had spoken simultaneously. Now we all stared at each other in shock.

“Ah-ha, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Allow Professor Discord to assist.” He adjusted spectacles I had never seen him wear before. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, why should you be the pivot of the Vee?”

“Because I’m the most powerful, I’m the one who will protect both my partners. It’s just logical.”

“Isha, miss, why should you?”

“Because I’m the priestess of the goddess of love, I’m the one who will hold the group together. It’s just natural.”

“And, Tanna?”

“Because I’m the one who met them both first, I’m the one who introduced them to each other. I guess it’s kinda lame.”

“No, Tanna, you actually have the strongest case.But, be that as it may,maybe you shouldn’t consider a Vee at all.”

Discord paused for a long moment before asking a question that had the potential to throw everything to chaos.

We waited, expectantly, as he took the time to look each of us in the eyes.

Was there chaos in his gaze? Yes, chaos and fire unimaginable. But also a deep compassion.

“What if you three were to form a full triangle?”

I had never thought of that. Judging from the slack jaws on my mate and our future mate, they hadn’t either.

Isha’s eyes lit up with desire.

And hope.

Author's Note

Next week: Is this place getting crowded? And, hints of strange alliances.