Cracking A Herd

Chapters

Before The Date
Rehoming
First Times Yet Again
Meeting The Folks
Epilogue
First Date
Starting Over
Second First Date

Before The Date

There were many places that caused Crashing Thunder at least a little bit of anxiety, seeing as he was already a bit of a nervous stallion, but the gym had never been one of them. He didn’t like public places with too many creatures around if he was alone, and he certainly didn’t enjoy a place where he might stand out due to his size being so much bigger than the average pony. The gym though had always been a place where he felt free to let his guard down and focus on himself. Even before he had become a royal guard he liked to come to the gym and simply let his thoughts drift into nothingness as he focused solely on his routine.

Today, however, the gym was terrifying. Gilda was at the gym.

Crash let out a long sigh as he sat in the locker room clutching his bag at his side. He stared down at his hooves as he sat on the bench. He was beginning to regret letting Lost Way drag him all the way out here.

“You’re gonna see her tomorrow night anyway,” Lost Way said as he finished stuffing his own items into their shared locker. “What’s it matter if you see her now?”

Crash let out a long sigh. He had been dating Lost Way for such a lengthy period of time now that he had truly forgotten what it meant to have a legitimate crush on anypony else. They had gone so long with just the two of them that up until Lost Way had announced he was ready to finally open themselves up to the possibility of others Crash had almost let the idea of a herd slip away from his mind. He was happy with Lost Way. He was safe with Lost Way. He didn’t have to worry about anxiety or fear that he’d screw up on a date with Lost Way.

“I don’t know,” Crash said in a pitiful admittance. “I don’t wanna embarrass myself or anything in front of her.”

“How would you embarrass yourself?” Lost Way asked with a playful chuckle as he turned around and sat down on the bench beside Crash. “We’ve talked to her loads of times here. She’s kinda abrasive but she’s never been mean to either of us, right?”

“Mmm,” Crash made a noise of acknowledgement under his breath as he squeezed his bag in his forelegs tight against his chest. “I just want her to like me, Lost… Like us, I mean.”

“Hey, we don’t have to strike gold the first time we look for another creature to join us,” Lost said before grabbing Crash by the hoof and giving it a gentle squeeze. “We’re just feeling the waters right now, okay?”

“I’m just having really bad flashbacks to all those awful blind dates,” Crash said under his breath with a frustrated sigh. “Always feeling awkward and like I was saying the wrong thing.”

Lost Way leaned over and surprised Crash with a light kiss against his cheek. The stallion felt his heart thump a little as he looked over and saw the zebra smiling up at him.

“It’s not like those blind dates though,” Lost Way said. “You’ll still have me even if the date goes bad, right?”

Crash felt himself relax the tiniest bit.

“Lost…” Crash said softly.

“I’ll still love you at the end of the day tomorrow,” Lost Way said. “And the next day, and the next day.”

“Okay, now you’re just being gushy,” Crash said.

“Pfft, like you hate it when I get gushy,” Lost Way said before rolling his eyes and standing up. “I won’t force you to go out there with me if you wanna just go home, but I really don’t wanna walk back alone in the cold without my favorite pegasus’ wings draped over my to keep me warm.”

“Guilt-tripping now?” Crash asked with a raise of his brow. “That’s mean.”

“I’m not guilt-tripping you,” Lost Way said. “I’m just saying if they find my body frozen on the side of the road covered in snow you’ll never forgive yourself. No guilt!”

Crash rolled his eyes and let out a long-winded sigh before standing up and shoving his own bag into their shared locker.

“Fine, fine,” Crash said with a groan. “I’ll stay for a little while… you’re making dinner, though.”

————————————————————--

The inside of the gym wasn’t quite as busy as usual. It was both Crash and Lost’s afternoon off from work when most ponies might still be doing their day jobs. There were a few scattered faces here and there working on weights or machines designed for cardio, but most of the gym itself was freed up.

“What’s up, nerds?”

That voice alone was enough to make Crash feel his heart skip a beat. He had just barely made it over to his usual spot where he liked to train weights before he heard the raspy and deep voice of Gilda sneak up from behind him. He just managed to keep himself from yelping as he whipped around to see the gryphon standing there with a towel around her neck and a water bottle in her hand.

“G-Gilda!” Crash stuttered.

“Heh, made you jump,” Gilda said in a mocking yet friendly tone. “You two are here early. Day off from the guards or something?”

“Something like that,” Lost Way said. “I had to practically drag Crash out here, though. I think he’s nervous about tomorrow night.”

“L-Lost!” Crash snapped before looking over at Lost Way, who could only offer back a playful smirk.

“Aww, I’m not that scary are I?” Gilda asked. “Then again I can totally bench more than you, Crash. So maybe you should be a little worried about me.”

Gilda let out a laugh that both made Crash excited and nervous all at once. He suddenly realized just what he was getting into with this relentless teasing from both his lover and the gryphon he intended to go on a date with. Why did he always have to pick creatures who made him blush so easily?

“Relaxxxx,” Gilda said in a lazy sort of way before walking by Crash and placing one of her taloned hands on his shoulder. “We’re just getting drinks. No whoop.”

She was so casual about it, too. Perhaps that was why Crash had become so enamored with her over the past few months. Her confidence. She carried herself like no other, and didn’t let anypony get to her. He admired that more than he could put into words. Perhaps in equal parts envy and adoration.

“I’m gonna go stretch,” Lost Way said. “My limbs feel like stone.”

“L-Lost,” Crash tried to call out to his boyfriend begging him not to leave him alone with Gilda. Lost Way of course only responded by looking over his shoulder and giving a brief wink as he went over to a large mat in front of a mirror several feet away from the two and got down close to the ground.

“Jerk,” Crash muttered under his breath.

“Y’know, I was kinda surprised when Lost Way explained the whole thing to me,” Gilda said, seemingly not noticing just how nervous Crash had gotten without Lost Way by his side.

“Y-Yeah?” Crash asked as he stared at Lost in the distance. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Gilda without blushing. The zebra was wearing yoga pants and a headband and was looking a bit like a workout instructor. “Why’s that?”

“I dunno,” Gilda said with a shrug. “You two are really clingy. I didn’t think you’d really be the kinda guys to open up to others or anything.”

“Are we?” Crash asked. He was a little surprised and intrigued by Gilda’s comment enough to momentarily distract him enough to turn to the gryphon without embarrassment.

“Well, I hardly see you two without each other,” Gilda said. “You live together too, right? Same job and everything.”

“It’s not like we work in the same department,” Crash said. “Lost Way’s just my best friend. He’s been there for me ever since we were colts.”

“Hey, I’m not knocking,” Gilda said with a shrug of her shoulders as she stared over at Lost Way. “Must be nice to have a ride or die kinda guy with you all the time. The whole herd thing though was kinda surprising. Don’t you worry you’ll get… jealous? Like, what if you start spending less time together?”

Normally Gilda carried herself with confidence and a nonchalant attitude, but there seemed to be genuine worry behind those words. She was frowning as she looked over to Lost Way.

“It wasn’t really until a few days ago that Lost Way said he was ready to start a herd,” Crash said. “I always wanted one. Being part of a big group that all loves each other has always just sounded… nice.”

“How long have you been together, again?” Gilda asked.

“Over a year,” Crash said.

“That’s a pretty long time for your boyfriend to only just get comfortable with something you wanted,” Gilda said.

“My partner's comfort is always going to be more important to me than what I want,” Crash said with confidence. “I always told myself that, even before I realized how much I liked Lost. I’d rather stay alone with him forever if it meant not making him upset by rushing into something he wasn’t ready for.”

“Heh, look at you Mr. Selfless,” Gilda said with a chuckle.

“I don’t think I’m selfless,” Crash said and felt himself get a bit embarrassed. “I just think that’s how ponies who love each other should act. The fact that he’s willing to try opening up our relationship proves he cares about me back, doesn’t it? Ideally, I’d try to make anypony else who comes in feel the same… or any creature.”

Crash added that last part and felt himself instantly blush a little bit.

Gilda thought about that for a moment. She was silent as she looked down to the floor and frowned. Crash wondered if that’s just how she looked when she was thinking, or if she was actually upset.

“Honestly I kinda thought you guys were just looking for a quick threesome or something,” Gilda said.

“H-Huh?” Crash asked.

“Not anymore, bird brain,” Gilda snapped before reaching out her talon and flicking one of Crash’s ears a bit roughly. Crash flinched and rubbed the spot where it stung as Gilda let out a long sigh. “But that’s how it sounded when Lost came up to me at first. But you’re looking for all that mushy stuff, huh?”

“You’re sounding a bit like Lost now,” Crash said.

“Heh, makes sense,” Gilda replied. “He’s a lot less of a big nerd than you.”

Even Gilda’s teasing was starting to remind Crash of Lost. She smirked at him, and for a moment Crash felt himself tense up.

“You really wanna try going on a date with me, though?” Gilda asked. “As your first option? That’s kind of a lot of pressure.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Crash said quickly. “I-I mean, not that you aren’t a great pick, just… Lost just said he noticed how much I enjoyed hanging out with you when we were at this gym. He likes you too, just…”

“He’s not one to stare at my ass when he thinks I’m not looking?”

Crash felt his heart skip a beat. He suddenly wanted to melt into the floor and disappear.

“I-I’m so sorry…” Crash said softly.

“Heh heh,” Gilda chuckled as she moved forward. “Don’t worry. You don’t come off as some kinda perv when you do it. You’re too much of a dork for me to see you like that.”

Gilda lifted up her tail and flicked it over Crash’s muzzle. It hit down like a whip and caused Crash to stumble back a step. By the time he adjusted himself Gilda was already walking away, though seemed to noticeably keep her tail lifted as she walked away and glanced over her shoulder to see if Crash was staring.

She was heading straight over to Lost Way… Oh, Celestia…

Crash stood there still as stone as he helplessly watched Gilda say something to Lost Way. The two laughed, and instantly both glanced back at the pegasus. Crash felt his cheeks turn scarlet. They had to be talking about him but he couldn’t hear them. He didn’t want to get closer either, as that would likely only lead to another bout of teasing that he wasn’t sure he could handle right now.

Suddenly Lost Way bent over. Crash couldn’t help but notice the tight yoga pants he was wearing were gripping firmly to his butt and showing him off very noticeably. Crash might have thought it was an accidental exposure if not for the fact that a moment later Gilda did so as well as she bent down in a long stretch with her paws extended as a cat would. Her bottom lifted up and revealed her own butt.

Were they… taunting him?

Both Lost Way and Gilda were chatting and giggling to each other. If they really were taunting him he knew he was only feeding more into their desires by being unable to move. A tiny voice in the back of his mind told him that he should ignore them and go find some workout equipment to get started on his own routines. That voice was very weak compared to his desire to stand here and stare at his boyfriend and potential crush…

“Dammit,” Crash muttered under his breath as he struggled to break his eyes away.

Both zebra and gryphon continued to do yoga in increasingly provocative poses. The fact that Gilda looked like she had no idea what she was doing, and now that Crash thought about it he had never once seen her doing yoga, only told the pegasus that the two were indeed trying to get to him. He really was getting himself into a mess by inviting another teaser like Lost into the herd, wasn’t he?”

“Mmm,” Crash whined to himself as he shifted from side to side. He couldn’t get the image of his boyfriend’s butt out of his mind even when he did finally manage to look away. Dammit, he really needed to go somewhere private before he caused a scene.

Crash quickly scurried off and cursed both his boyfriend and his own dirty mind for subjecting him to such thoughts in public.

—————————————————

“Hahaha, oh man, did you see him?” Gilda asked in an amused tone as she rolled over onto her back on the mat and let out a loud guffaw of laughter. “He freaking SPRINTED!”

“Heh, told you that’d get to him,” Lost Way said with a satisfied expression. “Once you know how to push Crash’s buttons it’s like taking candy from a foal.”

“Good to know,” Gilda said with a smirk. “Any buttons of yours I should know how to press?”

“Heh, good luck with that,” Lost Way said before giving himself one final stretch and finally standing up. “Unless I get reaaaaalllly drunk I doubt anything you do is gonna work on me.”

“Aw, c’mon,” Gilda said before rolling her eyes and rolling back over to stand up. “Something the ladies do is gotta get you worked up.”

“Fraid not,” Lost Way said with a shrug. “Not unless you’re about to tell me you’re coming out as a guy or something.”

“Huh?” Gilda asked, and raised her brow.

“I’m gay, Gilda,” Lost Way said with a light chuckle. “Crash is the one who likes both.”

“Waitwaitwait,” Gilda said when Lost Way began to walk away. She quickly walked up and grabbed Lost by one of his forelegs to stop him in his tracks. “You don’t like chicks? Like, at all?”

“Not really?” Lost Way said before lightly pulling his hoof out of her talon’s grasp. “Is that a problem?”

“I mean… I guess not?” Gilda asked. She was sounding more confused by the second now. “But if you’re inviting me into your… threesome thrupple whatever you call it…”

“Herd,” Lost corrected.

“Yeah, whatever,” Gilda said before shaking her head. “Shouldn’t you look for a guy or something to bring in?”

Lost Way shrugged his shoulders. Truth be told he didn’t understand why it was such a big deal.

“If Crash is happy with you that’s all I really care about,” Lost Way said. “I might not get turned on by girls but I can still care for one if they’re gonna be joining us. Love isn’t just a sex thing all the time. At least, as long as I’m satisfied it’s not I guess.”

“That’s… Honestly, that sounds like a lot more trouble than it’s worth,” Gilda said. She seemed more confused than ever as she shook her head. “You two are freaking weird, Lost.”

Lost Way frowned. He didn’t expect Gilda to get it, in fact, he hardly got it himself, but her outright bewilderment was starting to make Lost Way feel a bit self-conscious.

“Is it gonna be a problem?” Lost Way put flatly.

“Huh?”

“Is me being gay gonna be a problem with our date tomorrow?” Lost Way asked. “You can still call it off, y’know.”

“Hey, hey, who said anything about calling it off?” Gilda asked with a light glare. Her confusion was turning to frustration. “I’m just trying to get it is all. This whole thing new to me too, now. Going on a date with a guy and his gay boyfriend and all.”

Lost Way let out a long sigh.

“I guess it is a little weird when you put it like that,” Lost Way admitted a bit sheepishly before giving a slight shake of his head. “Look, I don’t expect you to get it, Gilda. I barely get it. But Crash makes me the happiest I’ve ever been… I think that’ll make him happy. I’m not the type to get jealous easily. He gives me what I want and need, and if a mare or a dragoness or even a gryphon like you wants to join us someday I can love them my own way. I think that’s what a herd is supposed to be like.”

“You think?” Gilda asked.

“I’m… Not exactly an expert at all of this,” Lost Way said before letting out a sigh. “Look, I think you’re cool. I’m just trying to do my best at this whole lead stallion thing to make every creature happy in this situation. I think that’s my whole job in all of this.”

Gilda frowned, but it didn’t look like she was upset. It looked more like she was simply pondering over all of what Lost Way had said.

“I’m not gonna pretend to get it or anything yet,” Gilda said. “But… You seem cool too, for a dweeb. Plus your boyfriend’s kinda cute.”

“Heh,” Lost let out a chuckle.

“Look, the date’s still on,” Gilda said. “Obviously. But uh… Try not to freak out if I don’t mesh well or anything, okay? I’ve never been good at being a third… anything.”

Gilda rubbed behind her head with her talon as she looked away.

“No pressure,” Lost Way said. “This is new to all of us.”

“It’s not gonna be weird between us if things don’t work out, right?” Gilda questioned before glancing at Lost Way. “You guys are cool. I don’t wanna lose some buddies just cause it’ll be awkward.”

“Heh, heck no,” Lost Way said with a shake of his head. “I’m not gonna let us change gyms or anything if it doesn’t work out. I picked you cause I liked you as a friend, Gilda.”

“That’s good to know,” Gilda said with a light sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll see you two nerds tomorrow night. I gotta get back to my sets before I gotta head back to the nest.”

“Alright,” Lost Way said as he said goodbye to the gryphon. “See ya tomorrow!”

———————————————————

Crashing Thunder hadn’t felt like he had been able to do that much at the gym today. Thanks to Lost Way and Gilda’s team effort in distracting him he had struggled to put much focus into his usual routine. It didn’t help that his head was also swimming with thoughts of both worry and excitement for the upcoming date. As he tred home with Lost Way at his side the sound of hooves crunching into the thick snow was the only sound that entered his ears for quite some time.

“You okay, big guy?” Lost Way eventually asked when they were at least halfway home and neither creature had said a word. “I didn’t tease you too much with Gilda back there, did I?”

Crash looked over to Lost, who was giving him light and playful smiles.

“No,” Crash said with a slight shake of his head. “Just… my head feels kinda full. I’m thinking about a lot.”

“Mmm,” Lost Way made a sound of slight worry as he gazed at his partner. “What about?”

As they walked he took a step toward Crash and bumped their bodies lightly together. Crash couldn’t help but let out a light smile at that as he looked back to the Zebra.

“I guess just about what Gilda and I talked about,” Crash said. “Bunch of stuff about jealousy and the herd and whatnot. It kinda made me think that I have no idea what it’s like to even feel jealous. At least, not like that.”

“Oh, come on,” Lost Way said before rolling his eyes. “You’ve been jealous before.”

“Well, obviously,” Crash said before shaking his head. “But it was always about stuff like when we were colts and you had a cool toy or when I was looking for a partner and saw a bunch of ponies happy and in love. It’s never been jealous like seeing somepony I love with somepony else. I’ve never seriously liked anypony but you.”

“Are you worried you might?” Lost Way asked.

“Aren’t you?” Crash asked back.

Lost Way seemed to think about it for a moment. The two walked side by side in silence before eventually Lost Way shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ve never really been the type, I guess. I mean back when I had a lot of one-night stands I used to see stallions I just slept with on dates with somepony new a week later and they always got all awkward. I never saw any of them as serious relationships, though.”

“So how do you think you’d feel?” Crash asked. “If you saw me and Gilda… or anypony together.”

Lost Way only gave another shrug of his shoulders.

“If you were happy… I don’t think I would care,” Lost Way said. “I know you love me, and I know I love you. We both have a lot of love to give and it doesn’t have to be just between us forever, y’know?”

That was a mature way to put it. Crash was a little surprised, and also a bit ashamed that he had never considered Lost Way to see their herd in such a serious way before. It was clear the zebra had put plenty of thought into how things would work out before committing to opening themselves up.

“You’re taking this lead stallion thing pretty seriously,” Crash said.

“Well, yeah,” Lost Way said with a bit of a chuckle. Despite his laugh, the zebra turned his eyes away, and Crash could see a hint of a blush form on the zebra’s cheeks. “You trusted me with it, didn’t you? I’d be dumb to not.”

Crashing Thunder couldn’t help but give a little bit of a grin. Silently he extended out his wing above Lost Way’s body and lowered it down until he was gripping the zebra in a feathery embrace. Lost let out a slight gasp as he was tugged a bit closer to Crash, but soon enough settled and rested his cheek up against Crash’s side.

“I think you make a better lead stallion than I woulda been,” Crash said.

“Oh, shut up,” Lost Way said. “Though I doubt you coulda score a date with some creature like Gilda without me.”

Crash let out a little chuckle. Despite the clear intent of teasing in Lost Way’s voice Crash knew he was probably right. If it wasn’t for him finally opening his eyes and seeing Lost Way in such a new light a year prior he probably would have still been desperately searching for even one pony to love. He felt a warmth in his chest that grew the more Lost Way snuggled up tight to him.

“Let’s have a nice night together,” Crashing Thunder said. “I’ll make us some dinner and start up a fire.”

“Heh, what’s the special occasion?” Lost Way asked. “You normally hate cooking after a workout.”

“Well, it might be our last night together as just a duo,” Crash said. “I want you to know I’ll always love you.”

Lost Way noticeably tensed up at the overly mushy words Crash poured out.

“Jeez,” Lost Way muttered softly. “I love you too, birdbrain.”

The two walked back to their home the rest of the way in silence, with enough warmth shared between their bodies to ignore the cold entirely.

Rehoming

The weight of Crash’s body on top of Lost Way was always enough to make him at the very least blush. A day off for the two usually meant that they would be sleeping in, but this morning the two happened to wake up before even the first sliver of sunshine had ripped through their window and poured light onto their bedroom floor. Lost had been lying in bed trying to work up the nerve to get up when he heard Crash reenter the room. His wet mane told Lost he had just gotten out of the shower.

“Hey cutie,” Crash said as he climbed on top of the bed and laid his body on top of Lost Way’s own. His weight from his sheer size was intense, but in a way Lost Way didn’t mind being crushed by his partner. The pegasus lowered his lips and tried to press them against Lost Way’s lips but the zebra turned his head last second so they only landed on his cheek.

“Ugh, babe, you really don’t wanna kiss me,” Lost Way said with a drowsy giggle. “I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.”

“I always wanna kiss you,” Crash said. “Even if your breath is gross.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were into that,” Lost Way said. “I’m dating a gross pony, huh?”

“Oh, shut up,” Crash replied with a giggle before he took Lost Way’s head in his hooves and forced a big kiss right against the zebra’s lips. Lost Way was giggling as they parted, and Crash was already lowering his mouth to begin spreading pecks against Lost Way’s neck.

“Hehe, somebody’s in a mood,” Lost Way said. He could feel Crash’s legs open up on his lower body and felt the sensation of something warm and hard flop down in between Lost Way’s legs.

“Mmm, I can’t help it,” Crash said. His breath was warm and trailed down Lost Way’s body over his chest. “You just looked so cute laying there with your mane all messy. Plus your face looks just, like, entirely kissable.”

“Oh my god you’re such a dork,” Lost Way said with a laugh of his own. “I swear you’re like a big dog who wants attention sometimes!”

“Woof?” Crash asked as he began to grind his half hard cock between Lost Way’s legs. “Woof woof?”

“Down boy, down!” Lost Way laughed before suddenly he lifted his forelegs and wrapped them around Crash’s body. They connected lips again as the zebra felt Crash begin to squeeze his legs around Lost Way’s lower body and press them closer together. Now that Lost Way was getting excited their cocks began to press up against each other. As they parted lips for a quick breath of air Lost couldn’t help but let out a quick moan.

“Oh, wow, now that’s a view,” A voice that didn’t belong to either Crash or Lost Way said.

Both boys let out a shriek of fear, and instantly the magic of the moment was gone and replaced with blind panic. Crash flung himself right off of Lost Way and ended up tumbling out of the bed with a loud thud. Lost Way sat up quickly only to see the sight of a familiar gryphon standing in their doorway clearly trying her best not to laugh her ass off.

“Gilda?” Lost Way asked as he sat up and covered himself with the blanket.

“Sorry, sorry, I knew I shoulda knocked,” Gilda said as she covered her eyes and looked away. “I seriously thought you two would be dead asleep, though!”

“Ow,” Crash whined as he sat up and shut his legs together and rubbed his head. There was a deep blush on his face. “No… We gave you that house key for a reason.”

“Hey, you okay?” Gilda asked as she stepped into the room towards Crash. In response Crash could only panic and grab at a nearby sheet to cover himself up. “You didn’t get a concussion from me, did ya?”

“I’ll be fine,” Crash said a bit sheepishly. He was unable to meet Gilda’s eye, but at the very least he was able to talk instead of clamming up entirely. “What’re you doing here so early, though?”

It had been about three weeks since Crash and Gilda had their big date together. Things had been going smoothly since then. They had met up to hang out at least three times a week, and even on their off days they usually ran into each other at the gym. It was the last time they visited each other that Crash and Lost had come to the decision to entrust Gilda with a key to their home to show she was always welcome to drop by.

“Ugh, my place sucks,” Gilda said with a roll of her eyes. “The water heater is busted and I really don’t wanna have to ask my creepy landlord to fix it.”

“Creepy?” Lost Way asked.

“It’s no big deal,” Gilda said with a shrug. “He just always makes these gross comments whenever he sees me. I could totally kick his ass though if he tried anything…. So is it cool if I shower?”

“Oh, right, go ahead,” Lost Way said.

“Thanks,” Gilda said with a mock salute. “I’ll let you two finish whatever you were doing.”

“Very funny,” Crash said from the floor as he slowly got up to his feet and shook his head. “I think the moment’s passed.”

“Aww, and it was a pretty hot show,” Gilda said before rolling her eyes and snickering to herself. “I was hoping for an encore.”

Crash blushed at that, and wasn’t able to think of any proper response before Gilda turned and made her way toward the shower. Within moments the bathroom door was closed and the sound of running water filled the room. Crash let out a big sigh and laid his upper body down on the bed and put his head in Lost Way’s lap.

“Sorry, hon,” Crash said.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault,” Lost Way said as he reached down his hoof and brushed aside some of Crash’s mane so he could see his lover’s blue eyes. “Besides, it was bound to happen sooner or later after we gave Gilda that key. We DID tell her she can come unannounced any time.”

“True,” Crash said with a slight sigh as he lifted his head and glanced up to Lost Way. “That stuff about her landlord… You think it’s that bad?”

“What, that he’s a creep?” Lost Way asked. “I wouldn’t doubt it. A lot of stallions are creeps. That said, I'm also kind of struggling to think of any stallion that wouldn’t get their butt kicked if they crossed a line with Gilda.”

“Still,” Crash mumbled to himself as he glanced toward the shower. “She shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

“Heh, trying to be her knight in shining armor?” Lost Way asked. “She’d probably call you a dork.”

“I-I’m just worried about her,” Crash said a bit defensively as he looked up at Lost Way. “I know she can take care of herself, but I mean… we are dating her. Isn’t that what boyfriends are supposed to do?”

“We’re her boyfriends now?” Lost Way asked with a raised brow.

“Is… Is there a difference between dating and being a boyfriend?” Crash asked. He looked down with a hint of embarrassment again.

“Heh, trust me,” Lost Way said. “There’s a difference. Though I’d say we’re far closer to boyfriend than casual dating since we gave her our freaking house key.”

“Okay, so, regardless,” Crash said. “If that guy is really a creep…”

“Hmm,” Lost Way pondered for a moment as he continued to stroke Crash’s mane. “Let’s ask her about it once she’s out of the shower. How about I make us some breakfast.”

“Alright,” Crash said. It seemed almost difficult for him to pull his eyes away from the bathroom door. “In that case I’ll make us all some coffee. Not that I really need to be woken up anymore after Gilda saw us.”

Together both Lost Way and Crash went about their usual morning routine. Crash had gotten the coffee maker set up and Lost Way was halfway through frying up some hay bacon strips by the time the shower stopped and Gilda came waltzing out of the bathroom. Her feathers were damp and stuck to her skin as she tried her best to dry herself off with a large and fluffy towel.

“Oooh, something smells real good,” Gilda said. “Heh, I wasn’t expecting breakfast when I came over this early.”

“Nopony said we were bad house guests,” Lost Way commented as he opened the fridge. He was about to reach in and grab a few eggs to fry up in the pan when he suddenly hesitated. “Um… Gilds?”

“Yeah?” Gilda asked. “What’s up?”

“Is it… Do Gryphons eat eggs?” Lost Way asked.

“Um, yeah?” Gilda said. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Don’t you like… hatch?” Lost Way questioned. “When you’re born, I mean.”

“There’s a difference between gryphon eggs and chicken eggs, birdbrain!” Gilda snapped. “Snakes eat eggs too, y’know!”

“Do snakes hatch?” Crash asked.

“Of course they freaking hatch!” Gilda said before planting her talons against her face in a facepalm. “They’re reptiles! Oh my gosh I’m dating idiots.”

“Okay, okay, I was just checking!” Lost Way said defensively as he grabbed six eggs from the fridge.

That was enough to cause Crash to start breaking up, and in a rare occurrence it was Lost Way who blushed in response to the comments. Soon enough Gilda started laughing as well.

Crash made sure Gilda got the first cup of coffee, which was black just how she liked it. As she took it she thanked Crash with a kiss on his cheek and moved over to the breakfast counter where she sat down and let out a long sigh.

“You good?” Crash asked as he poured himself his own cup and stood opposite Gilda on the other side of the counter.

“Yeah,” Gilda said. “Thanks for the shower, guys. I really needed it. Normally I wouldn’t hate a cold shower but my place is freezing.”

“Your heat doesn’t work either?” Lost Way asked as he was sliding the last of the eggs and hay bacon from the pan onto a plate and carried it over to the counter.

“No, it works,” Gilda said as she lifted her talons into the air to put quotation marks around the word ‘works’. “It just sucks ass and doesn’t keep the place all that warm. I mean I don’t really mind most of the time since y’know, us gryphons are built to fly in the cold ass sky and all. But when I’m soaking wet from a shower I’m basically a gryphon popsicle till I dry off.”

“You never mentioned it was that bad before,” Lost Way said as he pushed one of the plates over toward Gilda who picked up one of the strips of hay bacon and began to chew on it.

“Well, I guess I’m not there much,” Gilda said. “I’m usually either working or at the gym or hanging out with you guys recently. I kinda just go there to sleep. Stuff like the hot water is busted all the time, though. Normally I just go to the gym to do my stuff but since you guys gave me your key…”

“No, no, I’m glad you came,” Crash said as he shook his head. “But… Is that really the best place you can afford to live?”

“I dunno,” Gilda said as she shrugged. “It’s cheap. I like cheap. The Gryphon Kingdom ain’t exactly a five star luxury resort, y’know. Most of the houses there have big holes in them in the roofs so we can fly in from our nests. It doesn’t really get cold like it does here, though, I guess.”

Gilda frowned slightly as she chewed on her bacon and sipped her coffee. When she wasn’t looking, both Lost Way and Crash exchanged a look.

“And your landlord?” Lost Way asked.

“Ugh,” Gilda said. “I don’t wanna talk about him… He’s an annoying little runt who treats me like some kinda exotic dish he’s never tried or something. I keep telling him I’m not interested but he never gets the hint.”

“You don’t feel like he’s dangerous, do you?” Crash asked.

“Huh?” Gilda asked. “No way. Guy’s a runt and I could knock him out in seconds if he tried something… though I guess that’d also leave me without a place to sleep if he gets pissed enough…”

Gilda frowned as she looked down into her steaming mug of coffee.

“Hey, what’re you guys asking all this for?” Gilda asked. “This conversation kinda blows.”

“Sorry,” Crash said. “I’m just worried, I guess.”

“What, you don’t think I can take care of myself?” Gilda asked.

“N-No!” Crash stammered quickly as a blush crossed his cheeks. “I didn’t mean it like that! I-I know you can, I just…”

Gilda started laughing which made Crash instantly clam up.

“I’m joking, you dork,” Gilda said as she stood up and moved around the table to quickly give Crash another peck on his cheek. “It’s sweet that you two care. I’ll just suck it up and ask him to fix my water, though. He’s too damn meekly to try anything other than a gross comment or two.”

“Can I… Can I at least come with you?” Crash asked.

“Uh…” Gilda said, and then suddenly glanced away. “To my place? I mean… It’s kind of a dump compared to here.”

“Do I seem like the kind of pony to judge?” Crash asked.

“I guess,” Gilda said, and frowned slightly.

“I could come along too,” Lost Way said. “Neither of us work today. I mean, it could be a good herd building exercise… or something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Gilda said before she rolled her eyes. “Look I won’t stop you two but I really don’t see the point. I can deal with it on my own.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to do it on your own,” Crash said as he reached out his hoof and touched one of Gilda’s talons. “That’s the point of us being in this herd, right?”

Gilda looked down at her talon for a moment with a thoughtful expression. She eventually smirked and shook her head side to side and began to chuckle.

“I forgot you were a dork,” Gilda said. “Sure, let’s head over once we’re done with breakfast.”

——————————————————————————————

Gilda’s place was relatively far from Crash and Lost Way’s own home. It was on the outskirts of Canterlot far from where the upper class elite liked to live, and more so home to a series of hotels for visitors and a few scattered apartments for those who couldn’t afford the more wealthy homes in the area. By flight it was only about ten minutes, but due to the fact that Lost Way was the only one of the three not to have wings they had to make the forty-five minute walk on their own.

Truth be told the fresh air felt good filling up Crashing Thunder’s lungs. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been out for just a simple stroll this early. Normally he was in a hurry on his way to work and didn’t have time to just take it easy. It was a bit warmer than it had been in the previous weeks, and most of the snow had melted save for some piles that remained on the sides of the street from where they had been pushed aside to clear the road from before. Lost Way looked happy to simply wear a pastel pink scarf as opposed to having to jam his body up against Crash’s just to remain warm.

“I’m telling you, my place isn’t great,” Gilda said. It had been the third time she reminded both boys of this since they left.

“You keep saying that,” Crash said. “And I keep saying I really don’t care. I don’t judge.”

“I know, I know,” Gilda said with a groan. “Just that your guys’ place is so nice. I kinda just rented it cause I wasn’t sure how long I was gonna be sticking around when I first came to town.”

“Can’t look any worse than me and Crash’s first rental when we moved out of our parents’ houses,” Lost Way said. “I don’t think either of us knew how to clean a toilet for like… half a year.”

“Ugh, gross,” Gilda said.

“Well we do now!” Lost Way said.

Crash chuckled at that, and so did Gilda. Lost Way simply scoffed and rolled his eyes before flipping an end of his scarf around his neck.

“Okay, I’ll stop mentioning how bad it looks,” Gilda said. “But if either of you make fun of it I’m not afraid to punch you. I don’t give a damn if you two ARE Royal Guards.”

It wasn’t long after that when the three of them strolled up to the apartment building. It was small, and only looked to house about ten units at most. The bricks were discolored with age and the wood stairway looked to be just as ancient. There was a walkway up top that had each of the doors of the units.

“My place is on the second floor,” Gilda said, and nodded toward the stairway. “One at the end down there.”

The stairway creaked as the three ascended it. Gilda fished for her keys as they approached the door and jammed them inside. She rattled the knob and pushed only for it to not give way. She let out a slight grunt and had to try a few more times before it finally opened up.

“Damn door’s crooked,” Gilda grumbled.

The inside of the place was small to say the least. Everything inside from the living room to the kitchen seemed bunched together in one tiny box. The only thing saving it from being labeled a studio apartment was a wall that separated the entrance to the bedroom. The sink was filled with dishes that were awaiting a wash, and one of the lights overhead flickered three times before it fully turned on.

There really wasn’t much furniture to speak of. There was a small couch that looked like it had been bought third handed with a coffee table in front of it that houses an old cider bottle that Gilda swiftly picked up and tossed into the garbage as she walked into the room. Other than that there was a stack of books on the floor with no shelf to speak of. By the looks of it most of the books were related to sporting events, namely racing. However what did catch Crash’s eye was a couple of novels that seemed to be romance related judging by the studly stallions and beautiful mares drawn provocatively on the covers.

“What?” Gilda asked when she caught Crash staring. “I gotta get my rocks off somehow.”

“Never took you for a… romance novel reader,” Crash said.

“I like some buildup in my porn!” Gilda replied. “Jeez!”

“Oh my gosh,” Lost Way said before giggling as he went over and picked up one of the books. It had two stallions on the front both of which had equal muscle mass and chiseled jaws seemingly sculpted to perfection. “Oh, hey, I think I read this one! Wait, is this a sequel? Oh my gosh!”

“Ugh, anyway,” Gilda said before rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh. “Here’s the place. Again I only really sleep here so I don’t really buy much to snazz up the place at all. It’s kinda cramped for one gryphon, much less all three of us.”

Lost Way was already distracted with the book in his hooves and gravitated over to the couch to sit down as he opened it to a random page. A blush went across his face as his eyes widened.

“Oh, my,” Lost said softly.

“So, uh, your room?” Crash asked. “If you don’t mind showing me.”

“Eh, why not?” Gilda said before nodding her head for Crash to follow.

The one bedroom was about half the size of the living room. As Gilda moved toward the window to open the blinds and shed light into the room Crash was surprised not to find a bed, but a large mound of blankets and pillows all shaped to form a nest in the corner of the room. There appeared to be several layers of bed padding to make up sort of a makeshift mattress in the center of it.

“That’s different,” Crash said with a chuckle of amusement.

“Yeaaaah, it’s a gryphon thing,” Gilda said as she rubbed the feathers behind her head with one of her talons. “Back in the Gryphon Kingdom we usually build them ourselves out of whatever we can find and cover them with padding after to make them comfortable. I kinda had to improvise since the ponies around here don’t really like it if you start stealing branches from trees and whatnot.”

“That’s actually cool,” Crash said as he approached the nest. It certainly was the size of a bed. It had to be at least similar to a queen sized if he were to use his own bed back home as a comparison. “Is it comfy?”

“Heh, why not test it out?” Gilda said.

Crash smiled as he slowly got into the nest. It was firmer on the center yet soft on the outside. It seemed like anywhere along the edges was a good enough place to lay down his head. It was actually pretty nice.

“This feels good,” Crash said as he shut his eyes.

“Well duh,” Gilda said. “You think I can look this good without proper beauty sleep? Gimmie some credit. Gryphons learn how to make their own nests before they’re potty trained!”

Gilda laughed as she herself crawled into the nest next to Crash and laid down on her belly. She resembled that of a cat in the way she was seated with her limbs all close to her body and her taloned hands crossed.

“This might be my first time…” Crash said aloud without thinking.

“Huh?” Gilda asked. “First time doing what?”

“Uh… Being in a girls room,” Crash said before realizing how dorky that sounded. He proceeded to blush and then looked away.

“Seriously?” Gilda asked.

“You already knew you were my first kiss with a girl,” Crash said. “Why’s that part surprising?”

“I dunno,” Gilda said with a shrug. “But if it makes you feel better, this is probably the first time a guy’s been in my room since I came to Canterlot.”

“Really?” Crash asked.

“Actually the last time I had a guy in my room was probably when I was a teenager still living with my mom,” Gilda said with a playful snort of laughter.

“Was she strict about that stuff?” Crash asked.

“Naw, not really,” Gilda said. “She was a cool mom. The kind who always said if I was gonna be doing drugs or having sex I should tell her so she could make sure I was safe. I think she realized I was the kinda kid who’d rebel if she tried to keep me on a leash so she just always made sure to steer me in the right direction instead of outright controlling me. She had me when she was pretty young, so I think she was still young enough to remember what it was like to be a teen.”

“Where does she live now?” Crash asked.

“Uh…” Gilda paused and looked away with a slight frown. “Somewhere in a cemetery in Gryphonstone?”

“Crap,” Crash said as he sat up. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Gilda said as she shook her head. “It happened years ago. She was pretty sick. I had plenty of time to say goodbye and do all that other sappy stuff. Honestly when she finally passed I was just more relieved that she wouldn’t be in any more pain. She was still cracking jokes and stuff right up till she died, though.”

Gilda smiled, but it was a somber sort where her eyes were lost in the memory. Crash frowned as he reached out his hoof and gently touched it to Gilda’s cheek.

“Sorry,” Crash said again. “I don’t really know what it’s like to lose somepony like that.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” Gilda said as she reached up to grab Crash’s hoof and lowered it. She continued to cling onto it and offered it a gentle squeeze. “I dunno where all that came from, honestly. I don’t really remember the last time I talked about her with some other creature. It kinda felt nice.”

There was a sense of genuineness behind her words. Gilda smiled and Crash could see that it reached her eyes. The two gazed at each other for a few moments before eventually Gilda leaned in and pressed her beak right up to Crash’s lips.

Crash was keenly aware this was something he used to dream about. Sitting alone with a girl he found beautiful in her room kissing her on her bed. In many ways it felt like a fantasy come true, but it was also so much better given that it wasn’t just some random filly. It was Gilda. It was a gryphon he cared about dearly. She leaned in and even began to roll on top of Crash. Her arms went around Crash’s body as they parted their kiss and she settled her head down against his neck. They cuddled silently for several moments.

After a bit Crash began to feel a light vibrating sensation come from Gilda’s neck. He heard it too. It was steady and consistent, and not to mention loud.

“Are… Are you purring?” Crash asked.

“Shut up,” Gilda said. “I’m happy, you dork.”

“I-I just didn’t know gryphons could purr,” Crash said as a blush crept across his face.

“I didn’t know a pegasus could be such a good kisser when he hasn’t even been in a girl’s room before,” Gilda said. “We all learn fun things every day.”

The two of them laid there in the nest simply embracing one another and relaxing. Crash closed his eyes and lifted one of his forelegs to put around Gilda’s back and began to gently rub up and down between the wings on her back. This was a moment that he wanted to last.

Which was probably why the universe decided that now was the appropriate time to knock on the door. Even in the bedroom the walls were so thin that it startled Crash enough to cause him to jolt up.

“Uuuggggh,” Gilda let out a groan as she rolled over onto her side. “That’s probably my shitlord.”

“We haven’t even gone to see him yet,” Crash said in confusion.

“I may or may not have slipped a letter under his door before I left,” Gilda said. “Asshole probably just woke up and read it. Ugh, let’s get this over with.”

The two exited the bedroom, and Lost Way was still laying on the couch with the book in his hooves. He was at least twenty or so pages deep into it and laid it down against his chest when the knock occurred.

“I’ll deal with it,” Gilda said. “You two wait here. I’ll talk to him outside.”

“You sure?” Crash asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a big girl,” Gilda said with a smirk before lifting her tail and flicking it over Crash’s nose. “Just hold tight.”

Crash couldn’t help but worry as he made his way over to the couch to sit down next to Lost Way. Gilda opened the door and on the other side was a unicorn about the size of Lost Way with a brown coat and black mane. He looked to be at least twice Gilda’s age.

“Well hello there, beautiful,” The pony said in a tone that made Crash’s belly turn.

“Hey, Lodge,” Gilda said. “You get my note?”

Gilda closed the door behind her to make sure that it separated Crash and Lost from her and the Landlord. Through the curtain on the window Crash could see their shadows.

“So what, did you two make out in there?” Lost Way asked as soon as the door shut. “You were gone awhile.”

“What do you think?” Crash asked before reaching over and tossling Lost Way’s mane with his hoof. “I had to do something while you were snooping through her porn.”

“I’ll have you know this series is very romantic and thought provoking!” Lost Way said with a huff. “It also has really hot sex, yes… But it doesn’t get started till like chapter five.”

Crash chuckled as he glanced back over to the shadows. He could hear mumbling sounds but couldn’t quite make out words.

“That guy seem like a weirdo to you?” Crash asked.

“From the, what, three words he said?” Lost Way asked. “Kinda weird he called her beautiful like that but I dunno? I believe her when she says he’s a creep. Why, you wanna eavesdrop?”

“That’s… That would be rude,” Crash said before blushing softly.

“Oh, please,” Lost Way said before hopping off the couch and moving over closer to the window. He very gingerly reached his hoof past the curtain and tugged up the window. Suddenly the sounds of the twos voices were much clearer.

“Lost!” Crash hissed as he moved forward to tug the curtain back.

“What?” Lost Way asked. “I know you were dying to hear.”

“Keep your voice down!” Crash said.

The two stallions remained silent as they huddled together on the other side of the curtain. Crash couldn’t shake the feeling in his belly that he only got when he was worried.

“Look, it’s been like a week,” Gilda said. “You said you’d fix the water heater five days ago! What the heck is taking so long?”

Crash couldn’t help but notice that Gilda had said a week. The way she was talking earlier made it seem like it was something that only happened this morning.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” The landlord who Gilda had called Lodge said. “No need to get so upset! You look much better with a smile, sweetheart.”

“Gross,” Lost Way whispered.

“Shh!” Crash hissed.

“Look, Lodge, can you just do your job?” Gilda asked. “I’m tired of going to the gym just to shower every day.”

“Well, you could always come over to my place,” Lodge said. “I don’t mind letting you use my shower! It’s much closer than a quick flight to the gym I bet.”

“Dude,” Gilda said. Crash could almost see the annoyed look on her face. “I don’t want to go to my landlord’s place just to shower, I want to use my OWN shower in my OWN home!”

“Okay, okay, settle down,” The landlord said. “You’re getting awfully worked up here! It was just a suggestion! No need to take it so personally!”

“Lodge,” Gilda said in a tone that Crash could tell she was getting on her last nerves. “This place sucks, okay? I’m… I’m tired of you putting off work that you should be doing, and honestly I’m tired of you always making weird jokes or comments whenever you talk to me. Can you please just… just stop?”

It wasn’t like Gilda to sound like that. She sounded almost like she was pleading with Lodge. For a while there was a stark silence between the two of them, and during it Crash forgot to breathe.

“Fine, I get it,” Lodge said. “I’ll go ahead and get fixing on that water heater.”

“Thank you,” Gilda said after letting out a heavy sigh of relief.

“After you pay me the rest of the rent you owe,” Lodge said.

“What?” Gilda snapped. “I just freaking paid rent!”

“Oh, didn’t you get the letter?” Lodge asked. “It went up. You still owe me a hundred bits more.”

“A hundred freaking bits?” Gilda asked. “What kinda bull…?”

“If you can’t pay it, that’s no big deal,” Lodge said. “You can make it up to me in other ways. I’m sure a big birdie like you has plenty of ways to… entertain company.”

That was right about the moment that Crash couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed himself right up off the wall he was leaning against and went straight to the door only to throw it open. The moment he jumped outside the older unicorn let out a shocked cry. Gilda whipped around. Her eyes were angry from Lodge yet confused to see Crash standing there. It was a blind moment of anger that took over the pegasus.

“Crash, c’mon, I can handle this!” Gilda said. “Were you freaking listening?”

“Wh-Who is that?” Lodge asked. “You can’t have anybody else living in your place! Not without telling me!”

“I’m not living here in this dump,” Crash said as he took a step forward and made his way past GIlda. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and grabbing the necktie around the unicorn’s neck and tugging him forward. He towered over Lodge, and right now his eyes were glaring daggers directly into the unicorn’s own. “Is this how you treat all of your tenants? Or just the ones you have a crush on? That make you feel big and strong? Screwing chicks over when they won’t fuck you?”

“G-Get off me!” Lodge said in a whiny and panicked tone.

“Crash, stop,” Gilda said and reached out to try and grab Crash’s hoof.

“No way,” Crash said. “I’m not gonna let some creep stand there and talk to my girlfriend like that!”

Out of the corner of his eye Crash saw how Gilda’s eyes widened. She lowered her talon from Crash’s foreleg and took a step back.

“Unhand me!” The unicorn snapped. “I’ll call the guards! I will! I mean it!”

“No need,” A voice said from behind the three. Crash looked around to see that Lost Way had stepped out of the apartment as well and was pushing past Gilda and Crash to stand at the side of Lodge. “Royal guards here, Lost Way and Crashing Thunder. At your service! How can we help you, Mr. Lodge?”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Lodge said in a helpless voice as he looked between Lost Way and Crash.

“Mr. Lodge?” Lost Way began. “Do you know it’s illegal to up your tenant's rent without notice? Much less claiming they owe more AFTER they already paid?”

“I-I didn’t do it without notice!” Lodge squeaked. “I sent a letter! I swear!”

“Did you?” Lost Way asked. “So you’re telling me if I go through each and every one of these apartments and ask all the tenants they’ll all tell me the same story? That rent suddenly went up a hundred bits? I mean, me and my buddy Crash here would LOVE to take you at your word! We just can’t, you see. Legal proceedings and all. Should we go knock on the doors now and ask some of the residents?”

It was about then that Crash felt his sudden burst of anger begin to simmer down. He slowly released Lodge’s necktie and let him sink back several hoofsteps.

“I-I… I mean, of course… But right now I…”

“Do you know that it’s also illegal to try and offer your tenants a way to pay rent by doing sexual favors for you?” Lost Way asked. “Or to withhold your responsibilities as their landlord because they won’t respond to your advances the way you like?”

“You don’t have any proof!” Lodge snapped.

“No, you’re right,” Lost Way said. “But I think the fact that not one but two royal guards just happened to overhear you admit to such things yourself along with the resident’s statement will be enough to put you under some financial strain, hmm? Even if you win the case it’ll still be a steep legal fee. Actually, now that I think about it we don’t really need to go through with all of that. I could just arrest you here and now and we can talk about it back at the castle? A night in one of the Princess’ dungeons might change your tune a little.”

Lodge winced at those words and looked down. He looked like he was shaking and about to fall over. He was nothing of the confident and cocky slimeball that Crash had just overheard from the apartment window.

“Fine,” Lodge said. “I’ll… I’ll drop the rent thing. Just please don’t arrest me! I’ll fix the water, too!”

“You had better,” Crash said before taking another threatening step forward. “And if I find out you’ve been mistreating other residents in a similar manner I will be back here, and believe me I’ll have a warrant out for your arrest! Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind!”

Lodge looked down as Crash roared at him. He let out a curse word under his breath before turning and running with his tail tucked between his legs like a puppy who had just been kicked. Crash stared at the spot he had just been for several seconds before he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He jumped, and looked down to see Lost Way looking up at him.

“Crash,” Lost Way said. “You’re shaking.”

Crash didn’t realize it until then, but Lost Way was right. Without thinking he turned and embraced the zebra tight in his arms.

“Thank you,” Crash said. “I was… I was seriously gonna put that stallion in the hospital if you didn’t show up.”

The last few minutes suddenly felt like a blur. Crash felt his eyes sting as he continued to squeeze Lost Way. He wasn’t sure if it was brought on by anger or just an overwhelming amount of emotion.

“Wow,” Gilda said. It was the first thing she had said in some time. “You two just… I think Lodge was seriously about to piss himself there.”

“Are you okay?” Crash asked as he parted his hug from Lost Way and turned to Gilda. He stepped forward and put his hooves on her shoulders.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Crash,” Gilda said. She reached up one of her hands and placed it against Crash’s cheek. “Are you okay, though? Lost is right, you look shaken up.”

This time it was Gilda who stepped forward and gave Crash a hug. The pegasus froze for a moment before lifting his forelegs to hug back.

“I’m sorry,” Crash said. “I-I know I shouldn’t have gotten involved. I just… I just got so angry when I heard him.”

“It’s okay, big guy,” Gilda said as she rubbed her talon up and down Crash’s back. “Thanks for being my knight in shining armor. Both of you.”

Gilda pulled back slightly to look over to Lost Way.

“I can’t believe you were seriously gonna arrest him for me,” Gilda said.

“Uh, actually,” Lost Way said with a nervous chuckle as he gently scratched his cheek with one hoof. “I wasn’t. I mean, I would have. I just really don’t have that kind of authority. Neither does Crash.”

“Seriously?” Gilda asked with an amused expression.

“Hey, he didn’t need to know that!” Lost Way said. “I just said what I thought would make him the most scared. Guys who treat girls like that crumble the second a bigger guy bullies them. It helps if you resemble some kinda authority over them. I mean, if any guard could just throw anypony they wanted into the dungeon this city would be chaos.”

“Holy shit,” Gilda said before laughing. “You got balls, Lost.”

“You sure you’re fine?” Crash asked. “I mean… All those things he said.”

“Don’t worry, Crash,” Gilda said. “I think any anger I felt got settled when I saw him almost piss himself… Also when you… y’know?”

“When I what?” Crash asked.

“When you called me your girlfriend, dork,” Gilda said before glancing away. “That’s the first time you’ve called me that.”

“I did?” Crash asked. He could feel himself blush now. “I-I mean! Are you cool with that? Is that too fast? It just slipped out and I…”

Gilda interrupted Crash’s ramblings by leaning forward and pressing her beak against his lips. Admittedly it was a good way to calm Crash’s nerves.

“You two are awesome boyfriends,” Gilda said. She reached out and grabbed Lost Way only to lean in and kiss him on his cheek. The zebra giggled. “Seriously. I can’t wait to actually have a hot shower again.”

“You mean you…” Crash paused and then glanced toward the apartment door that was still hung open. He thought about Lodge, and how he might act as soon as he realized both Crash and Lost Way were gone. He found his words getting stuck in his throat before he glanced over to Lost Way. The two stared at each other and seemed to communicate in silence. Eventually Lost Way let out a sigh.

“Alright, fine,” Lost Way said. “Y’know, Gilda, this place really is a dump.”

“Uh… Okay?” Gilda said as she lifted her brow in confusion. “Thanks?”

“I just mean compared to our place,” Lost Way said. “Ours is pretty big, you know. Even bigger since I stopped sleeping in my own bed and started sleeping in the same one as Crash. Plus as a herd it might be nice to… y’know, all live under one roof?”

“Are you asking me to move in?” Gilda asked.

“I-If you want!” Crash said quickly. “I mean, you can always come back here! I know it’s a really big leap really suddenly! I just don’t want you to have to deal with that creep again. Again, it doesn’t have to be a permanent thing. You could just stay with us awhile to see how it feels?”

Gilda looked between the two of them with a quizzical expression. Eventually she let out a long sigh and shook her head.

“Jeez, you two look like needy dogs begging for food,” Gilda said. “I mean, a few days couldn’t hurt. Enough time for Lodge to cool off at least. I just don’t wanna be too big of a hoofful for you two.”

“Believe me,” Lost Way said. “We have the space.”

Gilda smiled, and let out a chuckle as she shook her head.

“You two are so weird,” Gilda said. “Alright, fine… I guess I’ll grab some of my things!”

—————————————————

Turns out a few of Gilda’s things took most of the day to collect and drag over to their place. They weren’t exactly in a hurry given that Crash and Gilda took most of the stuff by air and took their swell time flying it back to the house. Lost Way had decided to take the long way back on hoof and organize the things as they came. It turns out that Lost Way’s old bedroom had an awful lot of room in it after he reorganized most of his stuff to migrate into Crash’s room.

It took about four trips total between the two flying creatures before they finally seemed satisfied. By then it was evening. They stayed up for hours just talking about things that they would likely forget by morning. They ordered take out and sat around the fire laughing and telling jokes until their throats hurt from talking so much. Gilda had a glimmer in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. She seemed far more relaxed and casual than she had ever been in their home.

“So, you think you’ll like it here?” Crash asked.

“I still haven’t decided if I’m staying,” Gilda said.

“R-Right, I mean…” Crash blushed as he glanced away.

“It’s nice, though,” Gilda quickly interjected with a laugh and a quick jab against Crash’s shoulder with her talon. “I just need to give it my own touch. Get a few of my feathers stuck between the cushions. Make it more like my place, y’know?”

“Feel free to do anything you want,” Lost Way said as he glanced around the place. “We’re… not too good at interior decorating. This place looks kind of like a stage house you try to sell sometimes.”

“Uhh, if you let me go wild in this place it’ll look a lot less like a home and a lot more like a punk show,” Gilda said. “But, seriously, no music players? At all? What the hell is up with that?”

“I-I guess we just don’t really listen to much,” Crash said sheepishly.

“I need to fix that,” Gilda said with a long sigh. “I thought I was gonna go nuts in that place when my old system broke. All my vinyls have just been collecting dust. We’ll need to get a real big one if we don’t want this place to be a snooze town.”

“Speaking of snooze,” Lost Way interrupted. “You can probably use my bed for tonight. It’s not really big or anything, though.”

“Uh, your bed?” Gilda asked.

“Yeah,” Lost said. “Something wrong?”

“Dunno,” Gilda said with a shrug. “I just kinda thought we were gonna be sharing a big bed or… something? I dunno, herd stuff?”

“I uh… Actually, Crash, how is a big herd supposed to sleep?” Lost Way asked as he looked to the pegasus.

“Just cause I wanted a herd first doesn’t mean I know everything!” Crash said. “I-I guess we normally just sleep with whoever we want? Or alone? These kinda things aren’t exactly set in stone?”

“Sooo, I like to sleep in a nest,” Gilda said. “But it might take awhile to set up. Is it cool if I just crash with you two tonight?”

“I’m picturing myself as a tiny little hay burger between two giant sandwich buns,” Lost Way said as he glanced between Crash and Gilda. Their size was about equal, but compared to Lost they were massive. “I think I’ve had a few dreams like this when I was a teen… Except Gilda was a stallion named Bruno.”

“Ppppffft, Hahahaha!” Gilda burst out laughing.

It wasn’t long after that the three creatures realized just how exhausting the day had been. Wrapping up for bed with an extra creature trying to get into the bathroom to brush their teeth was different, but not unwelcome. Lost Way was the first to reach the bed and snuggled up at the side. Crash followed and spooned Lost Way from behind. There was still plenty of room on the bed for Gilda.

“I didn’t force this on you, did I?” Crash asked quietly while he heard the sound of running sink water in the bathroom. “Gilda moving in, I mean.”

“Naw,” Lost Way said. “I wasn’t just gonna let her live in that place. Besides, we were always planning to have the new herd live with us weren’t we?”

“I guess,” Crash said as he kissed Lost’s cheek softly. “Thanks for being my rock today. I love you.”

“I love you too, dummy,” Lost Way said with a giggle.

“Alright, nerds, scoot over,” Gilda said with a thunderous tone as she entered the room. She landed on the bed without grace and extended her wings as she did so. One of them draped over Crash like a blanket, and Gilda made the move to quickly move to put him into the position of little spoon.

“Heh, you’re warm,” Gilda said with a chuckle.

“I-I’m in the middle?” Crash asked.

“Well, why not?” Lost Way asked. “You’re fun to cuddle and fun to get cuddled by!”

“Lost’s right,” Gilda said. “Stop whining.”

Gilda pecked Crash gently on his cheek when she spoke, but was quick to lay her head down and bury her beak right into his neck. She relaxed quickly, and her arms moved to softly wrap around Crash’s body. It was a gentle touch and unlike any kind Crash had ever felt from her. It felt right.

“Night, nerds,” Gilda said softly.

“Night, Gilda,” Crash said as he raised a hoof to gently squeeze over Gilda’s talon.

“Also… Thanks for today,” Gilda added softly. Her voice was almost a whisper. “You guys really are awesome boyfriends.”

Nothing else was said between the three for the rest of the night. It had been a long way, and sleep welcomed them all with open arms. Their embrace was tight and warm, and wouldn’t be broken even for a second until morning.

First Times Yet Again

The rhythm change in the Crash and Lost household hadn’t changed much in the transition to being a three-creature household much at all. Three weeks in and no creature had shown any sort of sign that they would snap at another’s company, which Gilda told Crash was a good thing. Crash had only ever lived with his parents, and of course Lost Way, so he had simply had to take Gilda’s word on it.

The morning routine was simple. Out of the three of them, it was Gilda that seemed to wake up the earliest. If she managed not to rouse the boys out of sleep with her loud yawns and groans from stretching she always went straight to the kitchen to get started on coffee. Crash had wandered into the kitchen one morning to see Gilda looking like a zombie. Her feathers were all ruffled and her eyes were practically shut as she hovered around the kitchen grabbing mugs and hot water. It worried Crash that she was operating an open flame upon the stove looking so dazed, but when he offered to help she practically bit him.

Coffee was Gilda’s thing. Crash learned quickly she enjoyed doing it and it was something she wanted to do for the sake of the boys. She had even learned how to mix Lost Way’s drinks with cream and sugar and all sorts of ingredients that she would never let touch hers. Lost Way was frequently the last to wake and often was greeted with a cup of coffee so sugary and sweet that he perked right up right before the other two had fully awoken.

Their work schedules seemed to line up as well. They all left the home within the same hour, and returning was often similar. Gilda was usually the first to get home because she was able to fly, and often days Crash liked to stay and walk with Lost so he wouldn’t be alone on their way home from the castle.

One thing Gilda hated when she moved in was the lack of food Crash and Lost actually kept on hoof. The store was close enough and typically the boys kept no more than a few days worth of food in their home at a time. That changed quickly when Gilda moved in and began to come home late with armfuls of groceries. Pretty soon their fridge and cabinets were starting to look pretty full with both fresh and pre-packaged goods alike. It turned out that gryphons ate quite a bit more than ponies, and that included ones the size of Crash. Their bodies burned calories more easily and combined with Gilda’s frequent visit to the gym she needed the boost to keep herself going.

Evenings in the household were typically eventful despite being contained primarily inside of their kitchen. Lost typically cooked most days back when it was just him and Crash, and it was an activity he enjoyed. What they didn’t realize was that Gilda had a certain way around the kitchen herself. She didn’t know how to make many dishes, but the few she did were some of the tastiest both boys had ever had. She insisted that she was a one-trick gryphon and could ruin any other dish she touched, but neither stallion would hear it after practically inhaling the dishes she was able to make.

So that somehow became the routine. It was getting more and more common for the three of them to exchange morning greetings without another word and sleepily go about their business, and then come back home and hang out together until it was time for sleep. Gilda joked how in three weeks’ time they had turned her from a club-frequenting menace to a stay-at-home bird.

Somehow having Gilda around began to feel normal far before the worry of butting heads or awkward tension began to arise. It felt natural to have another creature in the house that had felt so spacious for so long.

Lost Way’s old bedroom was essentially Gilda’s. Ever since Crash and Lost had become an item the zebra had been spending less and less time in his own bedroom to the point it was a glorified storage room at this point. It turned out that Crash and Lost had been putting off a lot of cleaning and throwing out old junk, because when they tried to held Gilda tidy up the room to customize herself it turned into a whole weekend endevour where they were forced to order pizza and stay up through the night sorting through what junk to keep and what junk to give away.

A lot of the junk in Lost Way’s old room was just that. Junk. Nearly everything he found actually important he had migrated into his new room with Crash, and everything else could easily be stuffed into a closet. They stuffed the old mattress up into the attic just in case, since Gilda made it clear she didn’t want it. Instead she took to spending the past few weeks hoarding blankets and pillows and anything else she could get her talons on. When it came time to make her nest Crash and Lost watched her like a wild animal as she seemed to with their untrained eye throw one wrinkled pillow from one end to the other about a dozen times. When she said it looked finished it looked to both boys exactly the same it had before.

“Ugggh, this is nice,” Gilda said as she laid down in her nest. She rolled over onto her back and gave a good stretch. “Oh man, I hate beds. Something in this place finally feels like it isn’t yours.”

“You’re welcome to change whatever you want,” Lost Way said with a chuckle. “I don’t think Crash or I ever really cared about where we lived as long as it was nice.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve gotten pretty strict criticism about my decorating decisions,” Gilda said. “Though I was five, and my aunt was yelling at me about drawing on the wall. I don’t know if I wanna relive through that trauma via your disappointment.”

“Point taken,” Lost Way said before chuckling. He got up to his hooves and let out a long stretch before glancing out the window. “It’s gonna get dark soon. I could go out and get us something to eat if you guys want? We kinda worked the whole day getting all this set up.”

“Want us to come with?” Crash asked.

“Naw,” Lost Way said. “I’m gonna leave you and your girlfriend alone to break in her brand new nest.”

“Lost!” Crash snapped. He was hardly able to threateningly get up to his front haunches before Lost Way giggled like a devilish brat and scurried out of the room giggling. Crash knew his cheeks were pink even before he turned to glance to Gilda who was smirking at him.

“What’re you blushing for?” Gilda asked. She was teasing him too.

“Leave me alone,” Crash whined. “I’m tired! I spent all day helping you and your gonna gang up on me too?”

“Aww, poor baby,” Gilda said with a chuckle before reaching out her talons and grabbing one of Crash’s forelegs. She pulled him forward, and despite feeling his heart skip a beat Crash didn’t hesitate to allow himself to be drug. He was pulled into Gilda’s arms just as he heard the door to the front of the house shut as Lost Way made his way out.

Truthfully it had been some time since Crashing Thunder and Gilda had been able to do anything physically to advance their relationship. Lost Way was around most of the time, and while technically that being an issue sort of went against the way of a herd Crash couldn’t help but feel that his first time with Gilda should be more special. Or, at the very least, more private.

Crash couldn’t help but be reminded they were alone as Gilda pulled him on top of her and they kissed. This they had done plenty since she had moved in. Crash had gotten more and more used to all sorts of physical affection from Gilda. When she wanted something she wasn’t afraid to reach out and take it, even if said something was a living breathing pegasus. As such Crash ended up being yanked on top of her as their first kiss commenced. As he was rolled over so the two could lay on their sides with their chests facing each other they momentarily split, and Gilda was looking at Crash with a wicked grin.

“You know,” Gilda said slyly as she reached up one of her talons and trailed it from the back of Crash’s jawline up to the tip of his chin. “Lost might be awhile.”

“Y-Yeah?” Crash asked.

The pegasus started to feel a bit like a dolt. Was all he could really think to say to something like that ‘yeah’ of all things? He wasn’t blind and deaf, she was clearly hitting on him and expecting him to do something. For a brief moment Crash squirmed in place before scooching forward and kissing Gilda once more. Since she had made the first move he took it as permission to make one of his own as she pushed forward a bit until he was the one on top of her again.

This time Crash ran his foreleg down Gilda’s side. He gave a gentle squeeze when he reached all the way down to her rump. He hoped that his pounding chest pressing up against her didn’t give away too obviously how nervous he was.

“Mrow,” Gilda said in a playful meowing sound as Crash’s hoof squeezed her. “Somepony’s grabby.”

“Sh-Should I not be?” Crash asked. He lessened his squeeze on Gilda’s flank but was too unsure if he should pull away entirely or not. “I thought…”

“You’re doing fine,” Gilda said before reaching up her left arm and wrapping it around Crash’s neck to tug the pegasus closer. Crash let out a light gasp as his neck was suddenly forced down and the hard sensation of a beak pressed into his skin. She drug her beak upward until it was close to one of Crash’s ears and he could feel her warm breath as she spoke. “It’s real cute that you’re trying to be the guy, but I think we both know I’m gonna take control of this one way or another.”

Crash’s eyes widened as a massive blush spread over his face. He could feel Gilda’s other talons move down HIS side now before squeezing over HIS flank. She brought up one of her hind legs and wrapped it over Crash’s back to press it down against her. She reached up her other talons and began to softly rake them through the blonde curls in Crash’s mane.

“Heh, shouldn’t try to fly the carriage without the reigns,” Gilda said as she sat up slightly with her body parts all still wrapping around and grabbing at Crash. She paused slightly and perhaps had seen the look of worry spread over Crash’s face. She frowned slightly. “What’s wrong? I’m not going too fast, am I?”

“N-No,” Crash said quietly, though was unsure if he was lying or not even to himself. “I’m just realizing probably way too late that I… have no idea how to do things with girls compared to guys.”

“Y’know I’ve heard that from a few girls in my day,” Gilda said with a coy grin. “But never from a big stallion like you.”

“I-I told you Lost Way was my first,” Crash said as he glanced away sheepishly. “In a lot of ways. He’s still pretty much my only for a lot of those things. I uh… I don’t wanna make this uncomfortable for you.”

Gilda chuckled softly. She continued to run her talons through Crash’s mane with that grin on her face that made Crash blush oh so deeply. Despite their sizes being practically the same Crash suddenly felt far smaller than Gilda.

“You’re such a gentlecolt,” Gilda teased. “But don’t worry about me. I’m used to bossing guys around when they have no idea what they’re doing.”

Crash could feel his eyes widen and his heart pound within his chest. He had always expected it to fall to him when it came to sleeping with a mare to know what to do. He hadn’t ever really given much thought to a girl with the personality and intensity of Gilda coming into his life. He knew she was probably over exaggerating and teasing with the ‘bossing around’ bit but he wouldn’t hesitate to believe it.

“Hey, what’re you looking at me like that for?” Gilda asked.

“Nothing,” Crash said. “I’m probably the most boring guy you’ve ever been with though, huh?”

“Boring?” Gilda asked with a raised brow. “Slowest, maybe. Most guys would be begging to lay in a nest with me by the third date.”

“Sorry,” Crash said on instinct alone.

“Hey, would I be LIVING here if you weren’t worth it so far?” Gilda asked with a smile. “I like you, Crash. Lost Way too, obviously. You two are… Sort of the best thing to happen to me in a long time, actually.”

“We didn’t do anything,” Crash said. “Just did what anypony else would do.”

“No, you didn’t,” Gilda said. “Most ponies woulda dumped me after the club. I know I’m high maintenance sometimes… It’s hard to believe I was so convinced I was never gonna see you again that night.”

“Really?” Crash asked.

“Well,” Gilda said, a bit awkward now as she shifted uncomfortably on the nest. “I figured either you wouldn’t wanna talk to me again or I’d end up too awkward and avoid you two and find a new gym or something.”

“I thought you were worth trying for,” Crash said. He didn’t realize how cheesy it sounded until it came out of his mouth.

“You’re such a dork,” Gilda said. She reached out her talons and ran her fingers down Crash’s face with a light and gentle touch. “But I guess you’re my dork, now. The two of you.”

“Yeah,” Crash said with a slight chuckle. “The two of us.”

Crash thought about Lost Way. He realized just how entangled he and Gilda had become. Their forelegs and hindlegs were wrapped around each other and their body heat had practically become one given just how much of them was touching. It reminded him of when he would wake up in a mess of thrown sheets and Lost Way’s legs all over him. Suddenly a pit grew in his belly as he began to frown and glanced away from Gilda.

“Hey,” Crash said. “I’m really sorry, but… Can we hold off on doing anything major? Just for a little?”

“Not ready?” Gilda asked.

“No, I am,” Crash said as he felt a blush begin to form across his cheeks. He knew he didn’t sound all too confident in that, so he very quickly added. “As much as I’ll ever be, I mean. It’s just… Lost.”

“What about him?”

“The three of us never really talked about… intimate stuff outside of me and him,” Crash said. He was beginning to feel sillier by the second. How long had he known Gilda, much less been living with her, and waited right up until this moment to even consider this? He knew Lost Way had teased him earlier about breaking in the nest, but that was just what Lost Way did.

“I wanna talk with him before we do anything,” Crash said. “It doesn’t feel right, even if we are a herd. At least for the first time.”

Crash wondered if he made any sense at all, or if he just sounded like he was trying to ask permission to be intimate which just made him feel pathetic. However, now that the thought of Lost Way was firmly lodged into his head any hope of proceeding with Gilda seemed impossible.

“No, you’re right,” Gilda said before untangling herself from Crash’s legs and sitting up with a slightly strained grunt. “I should know a thing or two about jealousy. I don’t wanna mess up anything you two have just cause you’re really damn cute right now.”

“You’re not upset, right?” Crash asked.

“Oh stuff it, bird brain,” Gilda said with a roll of her eyes before moving forward and pecking Crash lightly on his cheek. “Think about your OWN feelings for a change here, Crash. If this is something you wanna do I won’t get upset. You wouldn’t want to make me uncomfortable, right?”

Those words gave Crash a sense of reassurance, though also a slight hint of embarrassment. He hadn’t really realized how often he had been putting Gilda’s feelings before his own. While most of the time the two hadn’t conflicted, right now seemed to be the point to make it count. This wasn’t just a new relationship with him and Gilda, but one that roped in Lost Way as well. This wasn’t the time to be careless and listen to his initial instincts which told him Gilda was gorgeous and he should take his chance.

Luckily the mature part of him kept him rational. He loved Lost Way and his feelings for Gilda were strong. Everything felt so close to fitting together perfectly that he wanted to avoid any more drama at all cost. He looked into Gilda’s eyes, and realized for the first time that he felt the same warmth in his chest he did when he stared at Lost Way.

“That doesn’t mean we need to leave the nest, though,” Crash said gingerly before glancing away. “What we were doing before was kind of nice.”

“Oh wow, you horndog,” Gilda said with a teasing giggle that only made Crash’s faint blush worsen. She scooted closer, and very quickly they became entangled once more.

Like teenagers in love, they restricted themselves to basic things like kissing and gentle touching, and for now, that was fine by Crash.

————————————————-

It was about another hour before Lost Way returned home with forelegs full of groceries. He had really gone above and beyond with his plans. He claimed that since they hadn’t had a proper chance to do so before that this would mark a good occasion to celebrate Gilda moving in. He had decided to splurge without telling the two and had gone down to a local wine store that sold wine that was typically a bit out of their budget.

“Oooh, how fancy,” Gilda said as she took up one of the bottles. She then proceeded to show off a party trick of hers by jamming her talon into the cork and twisting it out without any tool required. It was actually a bit impressive, as it was something both boys figured would be impossible without the aid of magic. She took a swig straight from the bottle, which made Lost Way burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Gilda asked.

“I’m trying to imagine one of the ponies who normally buys this wine watching you chug it like that,” Lost Way said. “Their faces would be priceless.”

“I’ll have you know I am a VERY classy lady,” Gilda said in a mock stuck-up attitude as she raised her nose and looked away from the boys. “Those hoity-toity nerds would just be awestruck by how awesome I am, clearly.”

“Awestruck enough to need a hospital after fainting?” Crash asked.

“You want some of this wine or not?” Gilda asked.

“I’m very sorry, ma’am,” Crash said quickly.

“That’s better,” Gilda replied.

The three shared a laugh and then proceeded to make a complete and utter mess of a kitchen while attempting to help Lost Way. It soon became clear that the kitchen that could hardly hold Crash and Gilda running around certainly couldn’t handle the main chef being jostled between creatures twice his size as he kept an eye on the pan. Gilda eventually went over to the breakfast bar with her bottle of wine to sit down and watch the two boys prepare her meal, on Crash’s assistance that he be the one to help cook.

Lost really had taken the extra step. Most of these ingredients were fresh and clearly pricier than those they normally bought.

“Thanks for this, hon,” Crash said as he stood next to Lost Way near the pan and planted a kiss on his forehead. “You didn’t have to do all this, though.”

“I wanted to,” Lost Way said with a smile. He seemed happy, which in turn made Crash smile. “It’s actually been nice having the house be a little more full.”

“Yeah,” Crash agreed as he leaned closer to Lost Way and leaned his head atop the zebra. He shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had been the one to practically force Lost Way’s hoof into letting Gilda come and stay with them, so nothing made him more relieved to see that Lost was accommodating to the sudden change in life so well.

The vibe around the house was far more lively lately. Sometimes Crash would hear Gilda and Lost practically screaming with laughter in another room late into the night as they stayed up drinking and telling stories. The two of them got along well in a way that made Crash feel like they were meant to be close. It was different from the way himself and Gilda interacted, but it was just as special and meaningful. Crash began to feel an aching warmth in his chest upon the realization that this was what a herd felt like. This wasn’t imaginary anymore, or something that was a far-off dream. He looked over his shoulder and felt nothing but affection for Gilda, and then turned to Lost and felt the same.

“Ugh, I feel so useless watching you two work,” Gilda said before pushing back from her seat and getting up. “I’m gonna go outside and grab some more firewood so we don’t freeze our butts off eating, okay?”

Once Gilda was gone it was just Lost Way and Crash together. Right now when the mood felt perfect and everything seemed to be divine was where Crashing Thunder knew he had to take the next step.

“Hey, hon?” Crash asked.

“Mmm?” Lost Way asked as he mindlessly stirred some veggies and oats over the stovetop and added pinches of seasoning at a time. “What’s up?”

“I uh…” Crash felt his voice get quieter as his usual shyness kicked in much to his annoyance. “We’ve been with Gilda for awhile now.”

“Mhm,” Lost Way said. It was clear he was only half paying attention as he focused on the pan before him.

“I think I might be ready to try… more,” Crash said.

“More?” Lost Way questioned. He seemed to be pulled out of his focus for a moment.

“You know,” Crash said with a slight shrug. “Intimate stuff.”

“Oh,” Lost Way said. His hoof stopped stirring the veggies in the dish, and for a moment Crash felt his chest tighten and his belly twist. “Uh, what’re you telling me for?”

“Cause!” Crash said. He backed off of Lost Way slightly. “I love you, and I didn’t wanna just do it without telling you.”

“Aww,” Lost Way said with a slight smile. He turned to Crash and stepped forward before lifting up his hoof and grazing it against Crash’s cheek. “Crash, you worry way too much.”

“I know,” Crash said with a sigh of defeat as he lifted his hoof and placed it against Lost’s hoof and held it firmly to his cheek. “Everything’s just going so well I… I wanna make sure it stays that way. Hurting you or her scares me more than anything.”

“Honey,” Lost Way said in a tender voice. He only called Crash such a sappy nickname when he was trying his absolute best to be comforting and reassuring. “It’s okay. Let yourself enjoy this. If we’re gonna be a big herd you can’t worry like this every time we take a big step. I’m really glad you told me, though.”

Crash saw Lost Way put on a small smile as he leaned in and gave Crash a quick peck on his nose.

“So you’ll be fine?” Crash asked. “You mean it?”

“I mean it,” Lost Way said, and then put on a smirk. “Besides, I know you’ll always come back for more from me. I’m your own personal drug and you know it.”

Crash couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was so silly to hear Lost Way talk about himself like that and he just couldn’t help it.

“Hey, stop laughing!” Lost whined. “I’m serious! Her butt is NOWHERE near as good as mine and we both know it! I don’t care how many squats she does!”

“Ahahaha!” Crash burst out laughing. A mixture of relief that this had gone so smoothly on top of Lost Way’s insistence to lighten the mood got to him very quickly. It wasn’t until Lost Way moved forward and kissed him that his laughter died down, and once they parted they looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.

“Stop being silly,” Lost Way said. “I love you. Now do you want me to ditch this place after dinner so you can finally stick it in or are you gonna beat around the bush with her some more?”

“C’mon,” Crash said with a roll of his eyes and a blush of his cheeks. “I-I mean… If you have someplace to go for awhile.”

“Heh, horndog,” Lost Way teased.

They kissed again just as the door opened and Gilda came into the home with a loud groan. The sound of logs hitting the floor followed by a whipping winter breeze was enough for her to justify kicking the door shut as fast as possible.

“I’d say get a room,” Gilda said upon seeing the two kiss. “But I am technically the one who just busted into said room.”

“L-Lemme help!” Crash said in a hurry as he went over toward the discarded logs. “You need a jacket? Is it that cold out?”

“Calm down,” Gilda said. “Just help me start this fire, will you?”

By the time the fire was lit and roaring with some much-needed warmth Lost Way seemed to finish up his dinner. Upon gathering around the fireplace Gilda took her first bite and let out a groan of pleasure so loud it practically rocked the room. Crash also had to admit the meal blew away his expectations, and Lost Way was clearly eating up the praise being thrown his way.

Once their meals were done it was Lost Way who took the dishes to the sink and began cleaning them. It left Gilda and Crash alone sitting on the rug in front of the couch snuggling up to each other close to the fire. Crash leaned over to Gilda and began to whisper.

“I talked to Lost,” Crash said.

“Oh?” Gilda asked.

“Mhm,” Crash said. “I think everything is almost good to go. If you’re still ready, I mean.”

“Please, I’m practically holding myself back from tackling you right here,” Gilda said jokingly, but it was serious sounding enough to make Crash blush. The sound of whistling interrupted their conversation and when Crash looked over Lost Way was bundling himself up in a tight scarf.

“Going somewhere?” Gilda asked.

“Oh, just a walk,” Lost Way said with a sly grin. “You two lovebirds aren’t gonna do anything naughty when I step away, are you?”

“Lost,” Crash whined.

“Why, do you wanna watch?” Gilda asked.

“Oh Celestia,” Crash groaned as he stood up. “Both of you just live to tease me, don’t you?”

Both Lost Way and Gilda began to giggle as Crash reacted to their verbal torment. It wasn’t until Crash went over to Lost and wrapped his forelegs around him to give him a quick hug goodbye that the zebra seemed to drop the teasing act.

“Have fun,” Lost Way said softly. “Oh, and don’t put it in the wrong hole.”

“I-I’m not gonna… What do you…?”

“Kidding,” Lost Way said before pecking Crash on the cheek. “I love you, now please go get laid.”

“Subtle,” Crash said before sighing and giving Lost Way a light kiss. “Love you too. Don’t freeze to death out there just so I can get laid, though.”

“Heh, and here I was ready to do it for sympathy points later,” Lost Way said with a shrug.

Lost Way was gone quickly, and left Crash there standing at the door as he let out a long sigh. He could hear Gilda come up from behind him and suddenly felt arms wrap around his body and a bean press down to his neck.

“Heh, looks like we have the place all to ourselves,” Gilda said. “Ready to have fun, big guy?”

Crash could feel his cheek flush, and swore that the embarrassment was reaching up to the tips of his ears. He leaned against Gilda as he thought for a moment.

“Um, Gilda?” Crash asked. He could not believe he was actually about to ask this.

“Yeah?” Gilda said.

“What… What did Lost mean about the wrong hole?”

—--------------------------------------------------------

It took Gilda some time to stop laughing at Crash’s question. The pegasus really did feel more and more like an inexperienced teenager by the moment, but Gilda was quick to reassure him that it was far more endearing than embarrassing. Still, the blush stayed all the way until she led him into the bedroom. Her bedroom. The nest was just how they had left it with blankets and pillows scattered. Truthfully it was Gilda doing most of the work.

Gilda pushed Crash onto the bed. He wasn’t expecting it, and let out a little yelp as he fell onto his back onto a pile of blankets and plush. Gilda crawled on top of him. It was far, far different from when Lost Way got dominating. When Lost was dominating Crash was always keenly aware how much bigger he was than his smaller boyfriend, and honestly that was part of the excitement, but he had never considered the same sort of role with somepony who was just as large as him. Gilda could probably overpower him if she wanted, which Lost Way couldn’t say the same.

“Just let me handle the reigns, big boy,” Gilda said as she crawled on top of Crash. Her sly grin.

“O-Okay,” Crash said.

Gilda kissed crash and almost immediately he felt himself swoon. She grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him into an intense kiss. It was aggressive yet smooth at the same time, and demanded that Crash put the same amount of intensity into his own half lest he be overwhelmed by Gilda’s affection. Eventually he found the nerve to work his limbs again and raised one of his forelegs to wrap around Gilda’s body around her midsection and pull her close into a hug. Their bodies pressed together as beak and muzzle tried their best to work as one. Gilda was the one to push out her tongue and force it into Crash’s mouth. His eyes widened as it happened, but he let it be the first time he heard her give a grunt of satisfaction. When they finally parted it was a messy kiss that left them both needing to wipe a bit at their mouths.

“Heh, you really are making me feel like a teenager again,” Gilda said.

“Is that good or bad?” Crash asked.

“Good,” Gilda said. “Cause I was a horny fucking teen.”

Crash felt the blush return fast. Gilda’s talons settled on his chest and began to move down. She sat up and trailed the tips of her claws downward. She was quick to go for his sheathe, and when she touched it Crash let out a little gasp.

“Lemme know if I’m going too fast,” Gilda said. “I’ve been told I can get a bit… intense.”

That word choice both frightened and excited Crash all at once. His heart was pounding as he gave a little nod of his head. Already he could feel his sheathe begin to tingle and grow as her talons gave it a light squeeze.

“Been awhile since I handled one of these bad boys,” Gilda said as she reached her talons down and gripped the part of Crash’s member that was showing.

At first Crash’s eyes widened in alarm when he realized what Gilda was doing. She opened her beak wide and began to lower it towards Crash’s cockhead. He had absolutely no idea how that sort of thing would feel with a hard beak compared to the soft lips of a zebra he was used to, but most of his fears were gone rather quickly when she was able to put her beak around the top of his cock and he felt no pain. It was firmer than he was used to, but her tongue slid against the underside of his member in such a way that caused him to grip the sheets around him and bite down on his lip.

“Mmmh,” Gilda made a noise as she slowly bobbed her head up and down. She was taking her time with this. Each little touch and stroke was slow and precise. Somehow Crash had expected her to be faster and rougher with him, but she was actually a bit tedious with how she worked her beak.

What Crash didn’t expect was how far down she was able to go. She went further and further down his lengthy member to the point that Crash’s eyes widened in a panic when she went far further down than Lost Way had ever been able to handle.

“Holy crap,” Crash said. She was practically touching his goddamn balls.

Gilda lifted her head and put on a smirk.

“Oh, haven’t told you of my little party trick?” Gilda asked. “My gag reflex ain’t shit, Babe.”

“I-I can see that,” Crash said. He couldn’t help but feel silly for staring in awe. “That doesn’t hurt, does it? Wh-Where the heck did you fit all of it?”

“Heh, you talk too much,” Gilda said before wiping her mouth. She crawled forward with a devious grin on her face. “How about we occupy that mouth of yours some. Wanna know what it’s like to go down on a girl for a change?”

“Oh Celestia,” Crash whispered.

Gilda was quick to push Crash back down until he was lying there. She crawled forward and sat on his chest with her legs spread. Her talons went down to between her legs and began to toy with her visible hole. She spread it apart and the sight of it made Crash tense up.

“Take a deep breath,” Gilda said.

“Wha—- MMMPH!”

Crash was interrupted by Gilda grabbing his head and pulling herself forward. All of a sudden Gilda was practically sitting on his face with her pussy shoved right up into Crash’s muzzle.

“Good boy,” Gilda said as she began to squeeze her thighs around Crash’s head. “Be a good boy and give it a lick, would you? It’s only fair to return the favor.”

Gilda wasn’t exactly giving Crash much of a choice given her position, but to be perfectly honest Crash didn’t care. This was… shockingly hot. Lost Way’s dominating side was so different from Gilda’s that he couldn’t even say he preferred one over the other. This was simply its own unique experience.

Crash did as he was told and extended his tongue. He glided it around the entrance to her pussy and she gave a little grunt of pleasure.

“That’s good,” Gilda said with a smooth voice despite her gravely pitch.

Crash put his lips up against the top of her pussy where her clit was located. He didn’t know much about sex with mares, but hearing enough jokes in his lifetime about girls not being satisfied had been enough to make him commit the location of this pleasure point to memory. He drug his tongue against it and then wrapped his lips around it the best he could.

“Nnngh, shit!” Gilda grunted. “Ah… N-Not bad, big guy!”

Gilda’s legs trembled a bit around Crash’s head. To hear her voice crack with pleasure because of something he was doing to her gave him a boost of confidence. He lifted up his forelegs and grabbed for her flank which he was quick to squeeze. He could feel her tail flick against his stomach more erratically as he continued to suck and lick the clit. He wanted to bury his face deeper into her so he did just that, and in doing so pressed down against the pleasure point.

“Ahhh,” Gilda moaned softly. “Mmm, sure it’s your first time with a girl?”

Crash was sure Gilda was just flattering him, but the happiness he felt sure didn’t care. He had the feeling Gilda wasn’t the type of creature to beat around the bush when somepony wasn’t giving her a good enough time even if she did care about them.

Crash craned his neck back upon realizing just how badly his lungs were burning. He was panting a little.

“Heh, don’t pass out on me,” Gilda said. “I ain’t done having fun yet.”

That made Crash’s heart skip a beat. Gilda slipped off of Crash’s body and crawled to the back of the next where his lower half still was. He was fully hard now and it was obvious. Gilda grabbed it with her talons and began to gently pump it. She snickered as Crash bit his lip to avoid making any embarrassing noises.

“Since it’s your first time with a lady,” Gilda said before jokingly batting her eyes. “How about I show you how it’s done?”

“How?” Crash asked.

“Easy,” Gilda said. “I get to go for a little ride.”

Her smirk was mischievous. She got up into a position where Crash was able to see her pussy once more. She told Crash to remain on his back and he complied. She took his cock and sat up in such a way where the head was pointed right at her hole. She reached over to a random pillow, and much to Crash’s surprise pulled out a bottle of lube right from under it.

“Wh-When did you put that there?” Crash nearly squeaked out.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Gilda asked as she popped open the bottle and began to smear the substance all over his member. Once she was done she set the bottle aside.

“You don’t need lube?” Crash asked.

“Naw, I’m wet as hell,” Gilda said with a giggle. Crash’s face flushed in response. He felt like he should know these things at his age, but the fact that Gilda was giggling and smiling made him feel okay for being so inexperienced.

Gilda put the head of the cock against her. Crash sat there with his heart pounding as he felt himself go inside of her. She was just as tight as Lost Way. She slid down far faster than Lost Way though, and it was quick enough for Crash’s eyes to widen in worry. She looked over to him with a playful laugh.

“Heh, don’t worry big guy,” Gilda said. “I’ve handled bigger.”

“Oh gosh,” Crash said. He remembered that even Lost Way had struggled a bit to get used to Crash’s size… just what kind of guys had Gilda been with? Or was it maybe toys? Crash’s head was spinning a bit, but before he could think too hard Gilda hit the base of his cock. She was quite literally sitting on him.

“H-Hoooly crap,” Gilda groaned as she leaned her head back. “Nnngh… Fuck… Okay, yeah, that’s big…”

“A-Are you okay?” Crash asked. He became terrified of moving even a muscle.

“Y-Yeah,” Gilda said with a nod. “Hoo… I-I’m getting used to it. H-How the hell does Lost Way walk?”

Crash blushed. A few moments passed where Gilda panted before starting to get control of herself once more. She began to slide up and down Crash’s member with ease.

“Just let me do the work right now, Big Guy,” Gilda said as she cocked her head back. “Least till it gets normal.”

Watching Gilda ride him was unlike anything Crash expected. She seemed so powerful and strong even though it was her receiving it. Sure Lost Way had occasionally been a bit demanding when he was on bottom but it wasn’t this sort of raw radiating power. She leaned forward slightly and squeezed her talons into him. It was rough, but in a way that only excited Crash as opposed to harming him.

“Nnngh,” Gilda grunted as she rose and fell. Clearly whatever she was doing was certainly giving her a lot of pleasure. Crash would be lying if he said he didn’t feel it as well. She was so tight against his cock and every little movement he made caused it to rub and throb with bliss. Crash tried his best to remain still but it was difficult, so he resorted to grabbing the sheets and balling them up into his hooves in a tight grip as his back arched slightly. He couldn’t stop himself from lightly humping every time Gilda moved up and down.

“Ohoho, getting into it now?” Gilda asked. “Okay… I think I’m as stretched out as I’ve ever been. You gonna fuck me now or what?”

Her tone was… invigorating. Crash wanted to obey her command. He nodded his head.

Very gingerly Crash sat himself up. Gilda remained on his member until he was able to wrap his forelegs around her body and hug her tight. She did the same to him, and suddenly the two were embracing and panting from all the stimulation they were both receiving.

“Tell me if it hurts, okay?” Crash said.

“Heh, aren’t you a gentlecolt?” Gilda asked as she dug her talons into one of Crash’s shoulders. “Just shut up and fuck me, would you?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” Crash said.

Crash began to hump his hips. Gilda’s grip tightened on him as she buried her face into his neck. He could feel the tip of her beak stab into him, and soon felt hot air as she moaned into his shoulder. She was trembling a little, but Crash thought that was from pleasure. He continued to hump his hips in their tight embrace in slow and careful movements.

This position was far different than something him and Lost Way could have done. The motions were the same and the feeling was similar yet it was its own unique flavor all together. Crash grunted as he felt the base of his cock hit Gilda’s body again and again. She grunted with each push, but never once told him that he needed to slow down.

“Nnngh, damn,” Gilda said. “Y-You’re good at… ngh! This!”

“J-Just cause I’ve never done it with a woman before doesn’t mean I don’t have plenty of practice railing somepony by now,” Crash said.

“Heh, was that a hint of— Ahh! H-Hint of attitude?” Gilda asked. “Heh, I’m rubbing off on you.”

Crash knew what Gilda meant. The longer he sat there humping her the more wild he felt. As it became more and more clear that his size didn’t harm her he became less afraid with how rough he was being.

Eventually Crash pushed forward until Gilda was on her back, and suddenly their positions had reversed entirely from where they had started.

“Ahh!” Gilda let out a cry as Crash pushed into her. Her eyes shut and she balled her talons into fists.

“Y-You okay?” Crash asked.

“Don’t freaking stop now!” Gilda panted. “Y-You’re hitting a good spot, keep it up!”

Crash nodded his head and kept it up. He started to move in rhythm with his frantic panting. In and out of her he went trying his absolute best to not slow down. Gilda was eating it up grunting and moaning. Her back arched and then she lifted her talons to wrap them around Crash’s back and sink her claws into him. It was a rough touch and certainly one Lost Way couldn’t replicate with his hooves which is what made it so thrilling. Crash buried his face into Gilda’s neck and began to kiss and nibble. He could feel her throat vibrate as she continued to moan.

“Keep going, nnngh, don’t you dare freaking stop you bastard!” Gilda grunted as her sinking talons traveled down Crash’s back. Crash hardly noticed the slight pain he felt as Gilda panted louder and louder.

“Shit,” Gilda grunted as she threw her head back. “I’m gonna freaking cum!”

Gilda clung to Crash with such intensity that Crash was afraid to slow down in fear of what she would do to him if she was this close. Like a wild animal he let his instincts take over and pound her with all his might. She seemed to eat it up as she let out a long moan that seemed to just keep going and going. It was far longer than any sort of orgasm that Lost Way had ever had. He could feel wetness trickle from her pussy down his cock and onto the nest of blankets.

Even as Gilda’s moaning subsided she continued to ride Crash. She grunted loudly and like a wild animal grabbed him by the face and kissed him. She squeezed herself in such a way that Crash felt his eyes snap wide open, and with her continued movement alone she brought him right to the edge of his own orgasm.

“Fucking breed me, you dork,” Gilda said firmly as they parted.

Well, that certainly pushed him over the edge.

“Ahhh!” Crash let out a cry of pleasure as he hugged Gilda back as tightly as he could. She grunted as he filled her up with cum. His whole body trembled and shook as the seed left him and pleasure touched every inch of him. He buried his face into Gilda’s feathery chest and panted loudly. He could feel her talons run through his mane as she chuckled and whispered in his ear.

“Good boy,” Gilda said. “Heh, guess Lost Way’s been a good teacher for the fucking part.”

“That was amazing,” Crash said. Only now was the scratches Gilda left along his back starting to ache. She hadn’t drawn blood thankfully, but she hadn’t exactly been kind to him. In a way it was sort of thrilling.

Gilda pulled herself off of Crash slowly, and a mess of liquids and seed dripped out of her. She chuckled as Crash fell onto his back in a panting mess as she left the room. Moments later Crash could hear the sound of running water from the bathroom, and a little after that she returned with a towel in her talons.

“Sorry, had to clean up a bit,” Gilda said as she handed Crash the towel. “You doing okay, big guy? Didn’t squeeze the life out of you from your dick, did I?”

“That was great,” Crash said. He managed to catch his breath, but the exhaustion had really done a number on him. The best he could do with the towel was half heartedly rub it around his crotch before rolling over onto his side and letting out a slight groan. “You’re so… You’re so beautiful, Gilda.”

“Hey, don’t get sappy,” Gilda said with a chuckle. She moved over to Crash who was happy to lift his head and forelegs to wrap around her. “You’re pretty handsome yourself, though.”

“Heh,” Crash chuckled. As Gilda curled up near him he noticed that some of her feathers had gotten ruffled near her wings. She settled down, and without much thought Crash moved his head forward and put his mouth against one of them. Gingerly he began to pull and straighten them out with his lips as he was accustomed to doing with his own wings. It felt natural. Gilda looked at him a little confused at first before realizing that he was trying to preen for her.

“You know, in gryphon culture usually only mates do that kind of thing to each other,” Gilda said.

“Aren’t we mates?” Crash asked.

“Well, yeah,” Gilda said with a chuckle. “So you gonna let me work on you too, or what?”

Crash chuckled and stretched out one of his wings toward her. She mimicked Crash’s movement and put her beak over some of his feathers and began to clean them. She was gentle with her touches, clearly aware just how sensitive feathers could be from her own experience.

This was new to Crash. He would never let Lost Way do something like this simply because Lost wouldn’t know the proper strength or technique. There was something intimate about sharing it with Gilda in a way he couldn’t explain. Despite their different species they knew how to handle this aspect of each other with careful precision.

The two of them did this in silence for some time. They cleaned just about every feather on each other’s wings without needing to speak and just letting their kindness for one another do all the talking for them. It was certainly a unique sort of pillow talk, but it was nice.

“So uh, is this some weird straight sex thing I don’t know about?”

Lost Way’s voice interrupted Crash so suddenly he nearly ripped one of Gilda’s feathers out jerking his head up. He heard her let out a gasp and quickly released his mouth as his eyes shot from the doorway where Lost Way was suddenly standing back to Gilda who was yaking back her wing on instinct.

“S-Sorry!” Crash said quickly. His mind was split. “L-Lost? When did you get back?”

“Just now,” Lost Way said with a smile. “The coffee shop was closing and it’s cold as heck out there!”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to look at a gryphon when they’re preening?” Gilda asked with a roll of her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at Lost Way. “Much less when doing it with a mate.”

“Heh, sorry,” Lost Way said. “Judging by the smell in here, I take it…”

“Ahh, stop talking!” Crash whined. “You already knew so don’t say it!”

“What, that we fucked?” Gilda asked. “You can say we fucked, Crash, I don’t mind.”

“I-I do!” Crash replied. “We already know so why go into detail?”

“C’mon, don’t we share EVERYTHING as a herd?” Lost Way asked. He stepped into the room and invited himself right into the nest. “So, Gilda, how’d my man do for his first time with a girl?”

“Well,” Gilda said. “He was…”

“Ahhh, I don’t wanna hear you compare it!” Crash cried out. “You two are ganging up on me again!”

“Are we?” Lost Way asked.

“You know I think we might be,” Gilda replied with a slight shrug. “Well, anyway, about Crash in bed…”

“Oh my gosh I’m taking a shower,” Crash groaned as he got up and covered his ears. “Lalalala!”

Crash exited the room only to hear Lost Way and Gilda devolve into giggles. He stopped in the hallway to let out a weary sigh as he leaned up against the wall. As their laughter died down her could hear them continue to talk with much less of an obvious tone of teasing.

“So really, how was it?” Lost Way asked. “Did he… like it?”

“I think,” Gilda said. “He was really sweet… Kind of needed to push him around a little though.”

“Yeah, he needs that sometimes,” Lost Way said back. “I mean, during our first time…”

Crash let out a long winded sigh. He supposed this is what it would be like to have a herd. Even if they were teasing him they still were open to talk about him like this. Regardless of his embarrassment he couldn’t help but smile slightly that not one but two creatures were talking about him with such interest and affection. In that room back there his two favorite creatures in the whole world were waiting for him.

It began to really hit Crash in that moment that right here and right now he had what he always wanted. A herd.

Meeting The Folks

The pitter-patter of chilly rain against the window along with the first flowers outside beginning to bloom signified the end of winter and the reemergence of spring. Despite the annoyance that her morning fly around the kingdom would have to wait Gilda actually enjoyed sitting by the window and watching the rain as it poured down. The overcast sky kept the morning sun from hitting her in the eye as she woke up, and the window that was cracked for air finally considered warm enough to justify doing so was lucky enough to not be in the direction of the wind, thus no raindrops flew in. She took a slow breath to take in both the fresh smell of rain as well as the steaming cup of coffee in her talons.

“Mmmph, do I smell coffee?”

Lost Way’s groggy voice came from behind Gilda. She chuckled as she looked behind her shoulder to see the Zebra with his usual mohawk all lopsided and his pink eyes drowsy and glazed over. He was always a walking zombie in the mornings, even like today on one of his days off when he was permitted to sleep in.

“I just made it,” Gilda said. “Should still be hot.”

“Thank Celestia,” Lost Way muttered softly, more to himself. He shuffled over to the fridge to get himself his usual milk and creamers as Gilda’s attention turned back to the outdoors. As soon as Lost Way finished making his cup he went right up to Gilda and sleepily leaned against her.

“Watcha looking at?” Lost Way asked before letting out a big yawn.

“Nothing,” Gilda said. “I just like the fresh air. If it wasn’t raining I’d be drinking outside.”

“Can’t you like, fly up above the rain?” Lost Way asked.

“Well yeah, but then I couldn’t see the rain,” Gilda said.

“You’re confusing,” Lost Way mumbled before giving a slow sip to his drink. Gilda chuckled at her sleepy partner as she looked over her shoulder.

“Crash still out?”

“Out enough to where I had to crawl out from under him,” Lost Way said. “I had a dream I was suffocating over a massive rock… turns out it was just Crash laying on me.”

“Oof,” Gilda said with another laugh. She had grown to know all too well Crash’s heavy sleep problems. Unless one was willing to shout and shake him it was very difficult to get him to budge the tiniest inch when he was truly out.

Lost Way leaned up against Gilda sleepily and put most of his weight on her. Gilda didn’t mind, and actually thought it was kind of cute. As the breeze picked up and the sound of it whipping against the house could be heard she enjoyed this rare moment of peacefulness simply staring out the front of the house.

Living here the past few months had really been one of the best experiences of her life. This place felt like more of a home than most homes Gilda had known. She had never really thought about settling down in one place this heavily, but the longer she spent here with the boys the less she wanted to ever leave. Her room felt like hers, and not just someplace she was borrowing. She had always considered herself sort of a drifter, but it had been quite some time since she had even considered drifting away from Canterlot. As annoying as the stuck-up snobby elites closer to the castle were, there were enough good creatures around to balance it out.

“Mmmm nother cup” Lost Way mumbled softly. Gilda glanced down to see he had somehow managed to drink his entire mug's worth while she was distracted. He pulled off of her and began to shuffle his way back to the coffee. Gilda chuckled before turning back to the window.

She watched the rain for some time as it splashed into puddles. It got to the point that the first time she actually saw another creature outside, two ponies, it surprised her. One large mare, and a smaller stallion. They were out in the middle of the street without so much as an umbrella to protect them from the chilly winds. They were huddled together walking side by side.

“Did you forget the weather report, dummies?” Gilda asked aloud

Expecting the two ponies to keep trotting past her home she was surprised when they actually turned toward it. Not only that, but they began to actually walk right up the cobblestone path that led right up to the door.

Gilda froze. They didn’t seem to see her. They were getting closer to the door.

“Ugh, stupid salesponies,” Gilda grumbled to herself before rolling her eyes. She pushed herself up off the window.

“What was that?” Lost Way asked as he lazily poured more milk into his fresh mug of coffee.

“Nothing, I’ll handle it,” Gilda said. She went over to the door, and just in time because right as she moved she heard the knock of a hoof on the other side. Gilda took in a breath and prepared to let the two ponies have a piece of her mind if they refused to go away with a simple “no”

“Hello?” Gilda asked as she pulled the door open.

The mare and stallion stood side by side looking soaked. The mare was nearly twice the height of the stallion next to her, and had a wing draped over his back to do her best to protect him from the downpour. The stallion wasn’t small, but standing between a gryphon and an abnormally large mare made it seem that way. He had thick rimmed square glasses and a blonde mane that was beginning to recede on the top.

“Oh, um, is this the right…?” The mare said with a bit of hesitation in her tone.

“Look, we really aren’t interested in anything you’re selling,” Gilda said. “I haven’t even finished my coffee, so can you beat it?”

Gilda thought the best way to deal with sales ponies was to be firm with them and deny them outright. It usually kept them from coming back at least.

“I think there’s been a mistake,” The stallion said. “Does a pegasus named Crashing Thunder live here?”

“Crash?” Gilda asked.

“Winter?” Lost Way’s voice surprised Gilda from behind. He was far more alert than he had been moments ago. “Lightning?”

“Oh, Lost Way!”

The mare without any sort of warning charged forward right past Gilda into her home. She rushed up to Lost Way and embraced him in such a sudden hug that the poor zebra let out a sound like he was a squeaky toy on its last legs.

“It’s been so long!” The light blue mare cried out. She sounded emotional but in a happy sort of way. “Oh I missed you so much! Where’s Crash? Is he at work? Oh, I’m so sorry we dropped in without warning it’s just that…”

“Honey, slow down,” The stallion said with a chuckle. He too walked into the room, and it was only then that Gilda seemed to recognize just how familiar the mane and coat color of this earth pony was. He was far smaller than Crash, but he certainly had the pallette down.

“I missed you too, Winter Storm,” Lost Way said wearily as he was unclenched from the mare’s iron grip of a hug. “My back didn’t miss your hugs, though.”

“Hey, uh,” Gilda spoke up, suddenly feeling very invisible in this situation. “You two wouldn’t happen to be… Crash’s parents, would you?”

“Why yes!” The stallion said with a big grin. “I’m Lightening Strike and this is my wife, Winter Storm… er, who are you, ma’am?”

“Ma’am?” Gilda questioned. She couldn’t remember a time in her life where anybody called her that. “My name’s Gilda. I’m Lost and Crash’s… friend.”

Gilda suddenly felt a big twist in her belly. Guilt and fear and a little bit of embarrassment flooded her.

“Friend?” Winter asked. “Visiting this early?”

“She’s our other roommate,” Lost Way said. “And Crash is still asleep. It’s our day off.”

“I’ll go wake him,” Gilda said quickly, looking for a reason to get out of this situation before she said something stupid. “He’s usually up by now anyway.”

Before Gilda could see any of their reactions she moved forward quickly, and nearly stumbled her way to Crash’s room. She made sure to close the door behind her before standing there trying to catch her breath. Her face was hot. Why oh why did she have to try to tell those two to leave on instinct?

The sound of Crash’s snoring interrupted her train of thought. Gilda let out a long sigh before turning around to see Crash sprawled on the bed. The spot where Lost Way must have crawled out from under was still vacant.

“Crash?” Gilda said softly as she approached. She got onto the bed and shook him by the shoulder. “Crash, get up!”

“Mmm, Gilda?” Crash said groggily. He looked half dazed “Mmm five more… minutes…”

His eyes shut again, but he reached up to grab at her. For a moment Gilda let herself be pulled down before an alarm went off in her head and she pulled back suddenly with her heart racing.

“No, dammit, Crash, wake up!” Gilda hissed under her breath. “Your parents are here?”

“My wha?”

Gilda let out a groan, though quietly in fear she would be heard. She crawled up on the bed and got right next to Crash’s ear.

“Your freaking parents are here!”

Crash’s eyes snapped wide open.

“MY WHAT?” Crash cried out.

Never had Gilda seen Crash wake up so suddenly. He sat bolt upright in bed and threw the covers off of himself.

“Wh-What do you mean?” Crash asked.

“What else do I mean, dummy?” Gilda said. “Stop freaking shouting! They just showed up I dunno! You had no idea?”

“No,” Crash said before shaking his head. “Oh, gosh.. I haven’t… did you…?”

“Lost called me your guys’ roommate,” Gilda said. “Don’t worry, no big talks right now.”

“Okay, uh, crap… I-I should…”

Crash seemed a bit scattered. Gilda couldn’t really blame him, as it was a lot to suddenly process the second he woke up. She let out a sigh and for a moment settled her own nerves.

“Rocky relationship?”

“N-No,” Crash said as he gathered up a bunch of strewn about litter throughout the floor in a panicked state as he ran his hoof through his mane to try and straighten it. “They’re great, really. I just… I haven’t ever explained to them the whole herd thing. I didn’t think they’d just show up like this. I’m really sorry, Gilda.”

“Hey, Dork,” Gilda said as she scooted off the bed and went over to Crash. She placed her talons on his shoulders. “Go out and see your parents, okay? I’ll be fine. I swear it won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t wanna dump all this herd stuff on them right away.”

“That isn’t fair to you though…” Crash said. He lifted a hoof and put it over Gilda’s talon. “I want them to know you.”

“And I don’t want you to get a panic attack right when you wake up,” Gilda said. “Just do what comes naturally, okay?”

Crash took in a deep breath and slowly nodded his head in agreement. At the very least he seemed a lot less scattered and more focused. He looked focused for a moment before turning toward the door and heading out. The very first thing Gilda heard was an explosion of cries as the mother pony spotted her son and squealed with delight.

“Oh, Crashy, you’re here!”

Winter Storm was loud. As Gilda peaked out from the door she could see the large mother rush over to her child and embrace him. She was still a bit bigger than Crash, and it wasd a little funny seeing the already large pegasus be so easily nearly knocked off his hooves.

“Ow, ow, Mom!” Crash whined. “I missed you too! Ow! You’re squeezing!”

Lightening came up behind and put a hoof on his son’s shoulder before chuckling.

“What are you two even doing here?” Crash asked. “Your place is like half a day away by train.”

“Oh, your father and I were just so bored at the home,” Winter Storm said with a long-winded sigh. “With your father retiring we’ve been traveling so much, and I wish I could have sent you some warning but it was a really last-minute decision. I hope you weren’t busy today.”

“No, not busy,” Crash said as he looked over to Lost Way and then over his shoulder back at Gilda.

“Are the royal guards really paying you so badly you need another roommate?” Lightening asked with a bit of worry lingering on his tone.

“It’s not like that,” Lost Way said. “Gilda just needed a place to stay so we asked her to move in. We have plenty of space, you know. It’s not like we use the second bedroom that much anymore.”

“Your son is great!” Gilda said suddenly when she felt eyes fall on her. She felt herself blush a little, but it felt far more awkward to just stand there in silence. “He and Lost Way really are… They’re really good guys.”

“Glad to see you still know how to treat ladies right,” Winter said as she finally ungripped her iron forelegs from around Crash’s body. “Have you been eating well, Honey? You look thin.”

“He looks fine, Winter,” Lightening chuckled from behind her.

“I’m fine,” Crash echoed. “You two must have been traveling all night, though. Do you wanna sit or eat something?”

“Do I have to make food or are you two gonna pay for us some brunch?” Lost Way asked.

Gilda was a little taken aback by the casual tone Lost Way had with the two, almost like they were his own parents. Though they looked nothing alike Lost Way was such a far cry from Gilda’s own stiff worry. She felt like background decoration right now and was unsure how to behave which led her to keep herself clamped up. Meeting the parents was something she never had much experience with, and under these special circumstances, it was a bit stranger.

“Oh, what about that little place nearby?” Winter asked. “The one with the fancy hay strips. Are they still around?”

“I think so,” Crash said. “Do you really wanna go out, though? You must have been up awhile.”

“Oh, I’m fine I’m fine,” Winter Storm said. “I can sleep after I catch up with my sweet boy.”

“Mom,” Crash said with a little groan of annoyance.

“Are you coming, Gilda?”

Lost Way walked up to Gilda and gave her a slightly reassuring smile.

“I dunno,” Gilda said. “I don’t want to ruin any kinda get-together or anything.”

“Oh, psh,” Lightening said. “I wanna hear about the girl my boys have been living with!”

Boys. Plural. There was something so warm and welcoming about Lightening’s tone of voice. The way he spoke made it clear that Lost Way had been for years now accepted as a member of their family. Gilda was caught between feeling like she was stepping out of her place as well as a desire to push herself into the group.

“C’mon, Gilda,” Crash said as he pushed out away from his mom who looked ready to attack him with another hug, and moved up to the gryphon. “They’ll love you.”

“Jeez, if you’re all gonna beg me,” Gilda said. “Alright, alright.”

—---------------------------------------------

It was clear to Gilda pretty fast that Crash had inherited the body size of his mother, but none of the personality. Winter Storm was brash and chatty and excitable, and it was her husband who was far quieter and reserved like Crash. She asked question after question about every mundane detail of Crash’s life from his recent weeks at work down to what he had for dinner the night before. It was clear her affection for her only child was through the roof. Crash was clearly bashful about all the attention but in a sort of way that Gilda could tell he liked deep down.

In front of Gilda walked the three ponies in a line. Next to her was Lost Way who had intentionally slipped back to walk alongside Gilda.

“They’re kinda cheesy,” Lost Way said.

“I mean… yeah,” Gilda said with a little shrug. “I dunno. It’s kinda nice.”

“I don’t think Crash is gonna want to beat around the bush too much,” Lost Way said. “When we first told them me and him were dating she cried for an hour.”

“Damn, that upset about grandkids?” Gilda asked.

“Out of joy,” Lost Way said with a roll of his eyes.

“I know, I know,” Gilda chuckled. “That’s kinda a lot of pressure. I dunno if I’m that likeable to… That kind of chipperness.”

“You’ll do fine,” Lost Way said. “If Crash loves you, they’ll love you. They only care about him being happy, trust me.”

“Yeah?” Gilda asked. “So like, they didn’t care at all about him dating a guy?”

“Well,” Lost Way said. “They were surprised, yeah. We went up for Hearths Warming Eve last year and broke the news to them after we had enough time to figure out if we were gonna stick with this dating thing or not. Crash didn’t even realize he liked guys until me so I guess he was just oblivious enough to not really show any signs. After the shock, though, they were really excited he found somepony. They’ve always welcomed me as family but after that night they were really insistent on including me in literally everything that entire trip.”

“Hoo boy,” Gilda said as she looked back. “I dunno if I’m really good with the whole… family thing either.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lost Way asked.

“You tryin’ to start something, short stuff?” Gilda asked with a slight glare.

Lost Way chuckled a little before shrugging, and Gilda couldn’t help but crack a smile despite her annoyance. She supposed by this point Lost Way saw well enough through her.

Gilda glanced up and saw that Crash was looking over his shoulder back at the two of them, but it was Gilda’s eyes who he kept meeting. His mom was rambling on and it was clear he wasn’t really able to fully listen to her due to his distraction. By the time they got to the restaurant Lost Way had to run up and grab him by one of his hooves to keep him from walking right by it.

“Woah, slow down, we’re here already!” Lost Way said.

“Oh, crap, sorry,” Crash said with a shake of his head. “Got kinda lost in the conversation I guess… Um, Lost? Could you…?”

Lost Way seemed to read Crash’s mind and gave a quick nod of his head.

“Sure thing,” Lost Way said. “Winter! Lightening! C’mon, let’s go grab a table!”

“Oh, wait, but what about Crashy?” Winter asked as Lost Way took her hoof and tried to pull her away.

“I forgot to ask Gilda about something. It’s uh… A little personal,” Crash said sheepishly. “You three go in, we’ll be right behind.”

A frown of confusion crossed Crash’s mothers face, but it was Lightening who stepped forward and took her hoof from Lost Way.

“Give the boy, space, Dear,” Lightening said.

The three went on ahead, and suddenly it was just Crash and Gilda standing in front of the building. Crash looked back before letting out a sigh and walking up to Gilda.

“What’s up?” Gilda asked.

“I think I wanna rip the bandaid off pretty quickly,” Crash said as he glanced over to the door as his parents and Lost Way went inside.

“You sure?” Gilda asked. “At a restaurant?”

“What, you think they’ll cause a scene?” Crash asked with a chuckle. “They’re not like that. I just wanted to make sure you were fine before I did anything.”

“They’re your folks, Crash,” Gilda said.

“Yeah, but you’re MY girlfriend,” Crash said as he reached his hoof down and grasped Gilda by her talons. She felt herself flush, but Crash wasn’t looking at her face as he spoke and instead down at what connected them. “I feel like if I put it off too long it’s acting like I’m ashamed of you or something, but I don’t wanna force you into something that might be a bit awkward. That’s why I wanna make it up to you, but I’m ready whenever… I think.”

“You’re real sweet, Crash,” Gilda said with a slight smirk. “I think I can handle it, though. Not really fair to make you do all the work.”

“Glad you said that,” Crash said with a little sigh of relief. “Okay, um… A-Are you ready for this?”

“Are YOU?” Gilda asked with a chuckle. “C’mon, Dork, don’t be all cute and romantic and then get cold hooves on me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Crash said as he shook his head. “You’re right… Let’s go.”

—--------------------------------------

The restaurant was small, especially for Canterlot’s usual standards, but that was what Crash liked about it. As he made his way inside with Gilda next to him he tried his best to settle the knot in his belly. He couldn’t decide if it was better or worse for his parents to find out like this as opposed to a simple visit. When he had come out to them about both his sexuality and dating Lost Way he had obsessed for days beforehand about how they might react. He could hardly eat or drink at the time he was so nervous.

Even with the memory of that though them showing up like this did have its downsides. He had no time to plan what he would say about Gilda, stupidly not thinking about it until they were quite literally inside his home, and no plan for how to go about it. Still, it was either this or feel an unwavering guilt in his belly that he was doing something wrong by hiding what Gilda truly was. Even if Gilda said she felt okay with it he certainly didn’t. Why in Equestria had he spent so long trying to start a herd only to get nervous about being proud about it?

Luckily for them they were able to find his folks and Lost Way pretty easily. His parents greeted them again. They had managed to get a nice seat by the window where not too many ponies were nearby. They each slid onto their cushions around the table with Crash sitting right between Gilda and Lost Way. After they had all ordered their drinks the waiter left and casual conversation started up instantly.

“So tell me, Gilda,” Winter Storm asked. “How did you meet Crash and Lost?”

“Oh, uh,” Gilda looked a bit surprised that Winter had taken a sudden interest in her. “At the gym. I used to go pretty much every day and ran into them a lot.”

Crash smiled a little at the memory.

“You asked me to spot you on weights,” Crash said. “I remember. You came up to me and said all the other guys looked way too scrawny to help you.”

“Well, they were,” Gilda said. “It’s not my fault gryphons are stronger than ponies.”

“I remember,” Lost Way piped up. “All the other people in the gym stared cause they had never seen somepony lift that much. Actually I was a little worried if Crash was gonna be able to help you on his own if something went wrong…”

Gilda chuckled at that. For just a moment the nerves seemed to leave her eyes and it was just casual conversation between the three of them as they reminisced.

“So how did you end up as roommates?” Lightening asked.

“Well, uh… She was just looking for a place to stay since her old place was kind of bad,” Crash said.

“Oh please,” Gilda said with a roll of her eyes. “What’re you being so modest for, dork?”

“G-Gilda,” Crash said bashfully.

“What’s she talking about, Dear?” Winter asked.

“My last landlord was a total… er… jerk,” Gilda said, censoring herself last moment. “He refused to fix anything and wouldn’t stop hitting on me. Crash stood up for me and basically made the guy look like he was gonna wet himself. After he chewed him out he offered to let me live with him and…”

“My goodness,” Winter said.

“It’s true,” Lost Way said. “Crash was kind of cool. A little scary, but cool.”

“Guys…” Crash said sheepishly.

“We definitely raised you right,” Lightening said to Crash before reaching his hoof across the table and squeezing Crash’s. “You were never able to stand up to bullies when you were little, at least not until they started going after Lost Way. You were always a protector even when you were a foal.”

“I-It’s not a big deal,” Crash said. “I just did what anypony else would do. Gilda could have taken care of herself, I know that, I just got so mad when I heard how that guy talked to her. I probably shouldn’t have lost my cool.”

“Not a big deal?” Gilda asked. “Dude, nopony’s ever stood up like that for me.”

“I mean…” Crash tried to speak.

“Oh, come on,” Winter said with a chuckle. “Remember what I told you when you got in trouble for standing up to Lost Way all those years ago? I don’t care if you have to get rough as long as you’re protecting somepony you care about. This landlord sounded like a real… excuse my language, a Bastard!”

Gilda couldn’t help but snort a little. It was pretty funny to hear the older mare swear like that, Crash had to admit. Soon enough Lost Way chuckled as well, and it was Crash who was sitting there blushing and squirming with all the praise being put onto him. Gilda stopped laughing when she realized Crash was staring at her, and for a moment the two simply stared at one another. He gave a single nod of his head, and suddenly Gilda realized what was about to happen.

“Mom, Dad?” Crash asked. “Um… Can I get serious for a quick second?”

“What’s wrong?” Lightning asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Crash said with a shake of his head. “Just… Don’t freak out, okay?”

“Oh, Hon, you’re making me worry,” Winter said.

Crash let out a long-winded sigh before reaching over and grabbing Gilda by her talons. He squeezed her hand, and for a moment both of the parent's eyes fell down to there. Visible confusion appeared on their faces, and it looked like Winter Storm was about to open her mouth to say something right before Crash cut her off.

“Gilda isn’t just me and Lost Way’s roommate,” Crash said. “For the past few months, we’ve been… Seeing each other.”

There was a pause. A long one where the room seemed to grow quiet despite the bustling noise of the rest of the restaurant.

“But, you and Lost…” Winter said as she looked over to Lost Way. “I thought you two…”

“We are,” Lost Way said before taking Crash’s other hoof. “Crash is still my boyfriend, and I still love him a ton.”

“I don’t…” Lightening began.

“For as long as I can remember,” Crash interrupted his father, though it seemed to be more a rambling of words spilling out than intentionally cutting his old man off. “I never imagined myself with just one pony… or one creature, I guess. I’ve always wanted a big home full of creatures I love, and I don’t just mean kids.”

“It’s true,” Lost Way said. Though he wasn’t informed of the plan, he seemed to pick up rather quickly to insert himself into the conversation. “I’ve known for a long time, even before we started dating. Actually, I used to sort of assuming when Crash did settle down with a mare and start a herd of his own I’d have to move out… then, y’know, everything happened with him and me.”

“So… I’m sorry, I’m confused,” Winter Storm said with a shake of her head.

“That’s okay, Mom,” Crash said. He could feel himself get choked up a little, and he hated it. His eyes stung a little as he looked down. “You and Dad don’t need to get it. Just don’t get upset with Gilda or Lost Way, okay? This doesn’t mean I love Lost Way any less or that we’re having problems… In fact, we’ve never been better. Gilda being here makes me happier than I’ve ever been. I… I love them both for different reasons, but I love them both the same.”

“Crash…” Gilda said softly.

Crash realized he was on the verge of tears now. It came on suddenly, and his vision blurred before he sniffled slightly. He felt silly for getting so emotional so quickly. He found himself holding his breath in fear his emotions would get the best of him, and soon enough his lungs began to ache.

“Son,” Lightening said. He reached across the table once more and took his son by the hoof. “I’d never be mad at you for loving somepony else. I told you that when Lost Way and you started dating. I… I’m a little confused, I admit, but you’re an adult now and you’re old enough to know what you’re doing.”

“Oh, Honey,” Winter said. She suddenly looked like she herself was going to start bawling. She looked like she was about to get up from her seat and charge over to Crash to give him a hug, but it was Lightening’s hoof on her shoulder that kept her from rushing over and making a scene.

“Um… Crash is really great to me,” Gilda spoke up. She sounded more sheepish than Crash had ever heard her sound before. “Lost Way, too. I get that you don’t know me at all, especially compared to Lost Way… But I hope we can work on that? If you… accept me, I guess?”

Seeing Gilda so nervous was still new for Crash. Suddenly his parents' eyes were on her and then shifted back to Crash.

Winter let out a long sort of sigh that sounded filled to the brim with emotions. Gilda was starting to see more and more where Crash got his enormous heart from. She put on a tear-eyed smile before looking over to Gilda.

“I don’t fully get it,” Winter said. “But that’s okay… All I’ve ever cared about is that Crash is happy.”

“Mom…” Crash said. His voice was trembling with emotion now, and it looked like he too was going to start spilling tears.

“Oh!”

Without warning, Winter broke free of Lightening’s grasp and rushed over to the other side of the table. She embraced her son in a tight hug that was nearly a tackle strong enough to knock him over.

“I love you, so so much, Crashy,” Winter said. “I always knew you had so, so much love to give with that heart of yours. You’re the kindest stallion in the world and I don’t know how I was so lucky to have you.”

“Mom,” Crash whined. “You’re starting to embarrass me.”

“That’s what mothers do, silly,” Winter said.

“Your mom’s cool, Crash,” Gilda said with a chuckle.

“See!” Winter said. “Even your new girlfriend thinks so!”

Girlfriend. It was remarkable just how easily that rolled off her tongue without hesitation. Crash had always known his parents were accepting, but even with that in mind he had expected the revelation of him starting a herd would throw them for a bit more of a loop.

“Dear,” Lightening said. “Ponies are staring.”

“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry,” Winter said before backing off her son and quickly trotting back to her seat. As she sat down she wiped her eyes. Crash could feel a shaky breath exhale from his lungs as the last bits of his anxiety faded away.

“Okay, okay, let’s start over!” Winter said. “Gilda… Tell me everything about you, please!”

“Oh, um…” Gilda started.

“Sorry,” Crash mouthed the words to Gilda, who let out a long sigh in return before rolling her eyes.

“Dear,” Lightening said with a chuckle.

“Oh my gosh!” Winter gasped. “Does this mean you have two weddings?”

“Mom!” Crash snapped, a blush fully on his face now. “Slow down!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Winter said. “Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!”

—----------------------

Lost Way let out a long-winded sigh the moment he felt the fresh air hit his lungs. As much as he loved Winter Storm when she got excited it was like listening to a record on double speed. Even hours later after the knowledge of Gilda’s relationship she had still yet to stop talking and asking questions determined to know every little detail of Gilda’s life. It had lasted so long that the late breakfast they had burned through them and they needed to get started on dinner. Inside the kitchen, both Gilda and Winter cooked, and while Lost Way and Crash had tried their best to worm their way inside both women had practically kicked them out to do their job. As such Crash had gone to the living room to sit on the couch and wait while Lost Way had excused himself out the front door to catch his breath.

Though before he even had a chance to so much as gather his thoughts he heard the door creak behind him. He had expected to see Crash, though when she looked over his shoulder he instead saw the older stallion who was far closer to his size. Lightening stepped out of the door and shut it behind him.

“Trying to run away from all that?” Lightning asked.

“Course not,” Lost Way said with a chuckle. “Just needed some air.”

Lightening chuckled at that. He walked up beside Lost Way and sat himself down on the slight step in front of the door. The old man rubbed at his joints as he looked out into the streets. Lost Way slumped down beside him, and for a moment they just sat there.

“So, tell me,” Lightening said. “You’re happy too, right?”

“Huh?” Lost Way asked.

“I mean, with Gilda and all,” Lightning said. “Unless something’s changed aren’t you a stallion-only kind of guy?”

“Yeah, no, that’s the same,” Lost Way said with a chuckle before shaking his head.

“This might be a silly question,” Lightning said. “But… You wanted this too, right? You aren’t just trying to make Crash happy?”

“Trust me,” Lost Way said with a long-winded sigh. “I spent… a really, really long time thinking about that. Almost a year. When me and Crash started he told me he was fine just being the two of us forever if that’s what I wanted… He never pushed me or asked me about it after that.”

“That sounds like my boy,” Lightning said. “He never was selfish, even when it was something he wanted more than anything in the world.”

Lost Way chuckled and looked over his shoulder toward the window. He could see through it that Crash was trying to sneak his way closer to the kitchen to see what was being made, only for Gilda to fling some eggshells at him and snap at him loud enough to be heard through the door to sit back down or else he’d ruin the surprise. This was followed by him frantically apologizing and scurrying out of sight like a mouse when it saw a cat.

“Thanks for worrying about me, though,” Lost Way said. “I’m fine, really. The way Crash loves Gilda isn’t how he loves me. This might sound cheesy but even with her around he still makes me feel… I dunno, special?”

“Heh, that’s my boy,” Lightning said. “I always tried to set a good example for him growing up. I never wanted him to feel like love was a chore or somepony you married was just whoever you were stuck with. He used to roll his eyes when I and his mom kissed in front of him or I gave her little gifts for no reason… I used to tell him that I didn’t care how much trouble he got in if it meant standing up for ponies he loved. I actually told him that right after he stood up to those bullies for you.”

“Yeah?” Lost Way asked. “I remember… Actually, he cried the whole time after even though I was the one who got punched.”

“Heh, that sounds like my boy,” Lightning said. “Hearing that story about that landlord Gilda had, though… It reminded me just how proud I am of him. When I heard he was going to be a royal guard I knew it was perfect for him. He’s always been a protector.”

There was a bit of a pause as Lightning stared out into the street. The twilight sky was fading and most of the sunlight was gone as the nearby street lights flicked on one by one. They glowed with magic from the spell that put them on a timer for each and every night.

“So, do you think they’ll be more?” Lightning asked.

“More what?”

“Partners that Winter and I should prepare to meet?”

“Oh,” Lost Way said. He looked down at his hooves. “I’m not really sure. I think I want there to be. It isn’t something you can really force, though. I guess it’ll just depend if it happens naturally or not.”

“Well, I already told Crash this,” Lightning said. “But please don’t ever hesitate to let us meet them if it happens. I may not fully understand this herd thing but I know that I want to meet everypony my son loves. You too. You were practically family even before you and my son started dating, you know.”

“Heh, thanks,” Lost Way said a little sheepishly.

“You and Crash have always made a great team,” Lightning said. “I used to always tell Winter that no matter what you two faced you would come out on top because you had each other. I might not know her that well yet but I think Gilda might make you two even stronger.”

“Thanks, Lightning,” Lost Way said as he looked over to the older stallion with a smile. The words coming from him really did feel like the sort of talk that would come from a father, at least if Lost Way had to guess.

“Well, I better get in there,” Lightning said. “Before my son gets a rolling pin upside his head from trying to sneak a peek at dinner.”

Lost Way chuckled as Lightning stood up, but before he reached for the door Lost Way couldn’t help himself from speaking up one last time.

“Lightning?” Lost Way asked.

“Yes?”

“Just… Thanks for checking up on me,” Lost Way said. “I didn’t need it, really, but it was nice.”

“Just being a dad,” Lightning said.

After the stallion left and Lost Way was left alone the zebra took in a long breath. The air that just a week ago had been frosty was already bearable to sit outside without so much as a shiver. The change of seasons was in the air. As much as these past few months had been important to his relationships time continued to march forward. He reflected briefly on Lightning’s question about further creatures being added to their herd. He wondered briefly about if and who that creature might be.

Just as the seasons changed so would the three of them. Instead of feeling worry, Lost Way felt a strange sense of excitement. Even if they were never going to meet another creature to add to their herd the three of them would continue growing together.

Lost Way smiled as he turned and opened the door. As he stepped into the house it was right at the moment Gilda came from the kitchen into the living room with a spoon full of some sort of sauce.

“Since you’re such a starving baby here, does it need anything?” Gilda asked as she forced the spoon up to Crash’s lips.

“Mmm!” Crash said. “Oh, wow, that’s great… maybe salt, though?”

“On it!” Winter said from the kitchen.

Gilda looked over her shoulder to see Lost Way.

“Hey, dork!” Gilda said. “Dinner’s almost done.”

“Good to know,” Lost Way said. He moved forward with a smile and went right to the back of the couch to hug Crash from behind. He buried his face in his mane with a smile. He looked over to Gilda as she went back to the kitchen, and deep down he felt a sense of warmth within him.

“Hey, hon,” Crash said. “Something up?”

“No,” Lost Way said. “Everything’s perfect…”

“Oh, Gilda, I forgot to ask you one thing!” Winter said from the kitchen.

“Yeah?” Gilda asked. “Need something.”

“Oh, no, the food’s done,” Winter said with a giggle. “I was just wondering, have you ever thought about having kids?”

“MOM!” Crash shouted from the other room.

“What?” Winter asked as Gilda stood there stunned. It was a shock she didn’t drop the spoon in her hand. “You and Lost Way wouldn’t give me a straight answer the last time I saw you!”

“I… I uh…” Gilda paused. “I mean I guess I… haven’t thought about it?”

“Oh my gosh,” Lost Way whined as he pulled himself off of Crash. Even he was beginning to feel a tingle of embarrassment. It was bad enough when Winter asked them this but to ask Gilda?

“Your mother doesn’t mean to pressure you,” Lightning said. “It’s just we want to know if we should expect it or not!”

“Oh my gosh you’ve known her for one day PLEASE don’t ask her that!” Crash whined loudly as he got up from the couch and went over to Gilda.

“You always wanted to be a father, haven’t you, Crashy?” Winter asked. “When you were a kid you used to carry around that toy pony with the bottle and pretend to feed it…”

“MOM!”

“Wait a doll?” Gilda asked. “That’s… kind of cute.”

“I was four!” Crash whined.

“Wasn’t that doll still in your room when I started hanging out with you?” Lost Way asked. “Actually, isn’t that doll STILL in the attic?”

“Aww, you still have her!” Lightning said. “Heh, I knew you were lying when you told me you were too big to have that toy anymore.”

“Holy crap I need to see that,” Gilda said. “Is it like, in a box up there or something?”

“Crashy used to sleep with it all the time,” Winter said. “What was its name? Sherbert?”

“Cherry,” Lost Way said. “Isn’t that right, hon?”

“Can we… Can we go back to grandkids please?” Crash asked.

Epilogue

Crashing Thunder stared forward into the empty, unused fireplace that sat in front of his couch. It had been a few months since there was any need to burn logs in the thing now that summer was well underway and the scorching heat outside was enough to make even the thought of hauling in logs unbearable, much less burning them. Still, Crash couldn’t help but wish in the back of his mind for the warmth and comfort of a roaring fire on a cool winter's day.

The last time it had been cold enough to justify using the fireplace he had curled up on the soft rug with both Lost Way and Gilda in a makeshift nest of blankets and pillows. Just remembering that made Crash smile softly.

“Are we seriously out of hay bacon?” Gilda grumbled from the kitchen.

“What, really?” Lost Way asked with a groan. “Uuughhh, dammit.”

“What kinda lousy garden club doesn’t have bacon?” Gilda grumbled under her breath. “This lunch sucks now.”

“You guys need something?” Crash asked. It was his day off, and he was starting to feel restless with nothing to do. Both Gilda and Lost Way had insisted they prepare food for lunch though it took them at least twenty minutes of rifling through the contents of their kitchen to find anything able to be salvaged into what could be considered a meal. They had all been avoiding the store since the heat was getting to be near unbearable at peak hours of the day.

“Yeah, uh… everything, really,” Lost Way said as he gazed into their fridge that had been robbed of nearly everything except condiments and a few shreds of greens. “Jeez, this heat though.”

“I’ll be fine,” Crash said. “I don’t like sitting around feeling useless anyway. Plus I can probably guilt trip you two into making what I want when I’m back.”

“If you go out into that heat to get us food I’ll give you the ride of your damn life,” Gilda replied with a groan before shutting a nearby cabinet. “Oh yeah, we’re low on coffee too. Man, things didn’t run out this fast back when I was on my own.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t want it any other way,” Lost Way said with a hint of a tease before moving over to Gilda and giving her a playful hug on her side. He seemed to be intentionally clinging to her despite the heat. “You loooove us, don’t you?”

“Jeez, no being cuddly when the sun’s up,” Gilda whined. “Okay okay fine you’re right, now get off me before I need another shower!”

Crash chuckled as he wandered around the breakfast counter and Gilda let out a groan as she squirmed still trying to get Lost Way to unlatch himself off of her.

“Ugh, don’t tell me you want a hug too now?” Gilda asked, sounding miserable.

“No, just a kiss,” Crash chuckled as he leaned forward and gave Gilda a quick peck on her beak.

“What about me?” Lost Way asked, and feigned puppy dog eyes at Crash.

“I dunno, maybe if you stop making our girlfriend so miserable,” Crash said.

“Ugh, fine,” Lost Way whined before unlatching his arms from around Gilda. He then went up to Crash and gave him a firm kiss on his lips as well as a quick hug around his neck. “Hurry back.”

“So I don’t die from heatstroke?” Crash asked.

“No, so we can eat,” Lost Way said sarcastically. “You can die at the door when you’re back for all I care as long as you bring food.”

“Heh, jerk,” Crash giggled before giving his boyfriend’s ear a quick flick with his hoof.

Crash smiled to himself as he went for the door, but much to his surprise the moment he tried to open it there was a knock on the other side. It startled all three of them and made Crash jump a little.

“Woah,” Gilda commented. “Spooky.”

“Who the heck is that?” Crash asked under his breath before going up to the peephole and gazing out. His eye widened a bit. “Um… It’s a dragon.”

“What?” Lost Way asked before moving over to a nearby window.

Right outside of their door was a small purple dragon still fluttering his wings as he hovered in place. Crash recognized it instantly as Spike, Princess Twilight’s faithful assistant. He looked like he was clutching a scroll of some kind in his hands. He was fiddling with his hands along it looking a bit bored before Crash pulled back from the peephole and pulled the door open. When the door cracked Spike jumped to attention and put a smile on his face.

“Greetings!” Spike said with a cheery wave. “Oh, um, this is Crashing Thunder’s place, right? The royal guard?”

Though Crash had seen Spike before he had never actually spoken with the dragon personally. He seemed kind enough.

“Yes,” Crash said with a nod of his head. “I’m Crashing Thunder.”

“Oh, good, I got it right,” Spike said, and looked a little proud of himself to boot. “Oh, right, I’m here on orders from Princess Twilight. She wanted me to give this to yo— Wait, what? Gilda?”

“Spike?”

From over his shoulder, Spike and Gilda met eyes. There was an instant look of recognition on both of them that they clearly knew each other.

“You know him?” Crash asked.

“Course I know him!” Gilda said. “I told you that the gryphon who started training with you guards awhile back was a kid I knew back with the other gryphons!”

“We actually uh, met a little before that,” Spike said, though he was keeping his voice down so as not to be heard directly. “You were kind of…”

“Hey, zip it!” Gilda snapped, and Spike jumped a bit. Gilda instantly looked both annoyed and worried over her words as she groaned. “I mean… Please don’t bring that up. It’s embarrassing. Sorry.”

Spike seemed a little surprised that Gilda actually apologized. He nodded his head a bit and put on another warm smile.

“It’s fine,” Spike said.

“Um, that scroll?” Lost Way chimed in, and pointed toward Spike’s chest.

“Right, right, the scroll!” Spike said as he shook his head and blushed a little over clearly having forgotten why he was here at all. “Right, lemme just uh, read it to you.”

Spike unfurled the piece of parchment with his hands and gave a cough to clear his throat before reading the words.

“Princess Twilight is hereby requesting the aid of Royal Guard Crashing Thunder for aid in her recent travels to the dragon kingdom. He is asked for the help of transporting goods on a journey that could take a few days. Should he accept he will receive an ample bonus of bits to his regular pay as well as Princess Twilight’s eternal gratitude.”

Crash could feel his eyes widening as the letter was read out loud. Princess Twilight had sought him out specifically for a personal matter. Even if it was just official business this all felt a bit strange.

“Me?” Crash asked.

“Mhm!” Spike said with a nod. “Twi talked to the guard captains and they all said you were one of the most reliable when it came to your transportation job. Plus since it’s a long journey they’ll need somepony with stamina to keep up.”

“Oh, wow,” Crash said. “I uh… I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes, dummy!” Lost Way said. He ran up to Crash’s side and hugged him. “Dude, the Princess herself wants you for a job! That’s awesome!”

“I-I can’t just leave you guys for a few days,” Crash said.

“We’re adults, Crash,” Gilda said. “Not dogs who need to be walked.”

“The dragon kingdom, though?” Crash asked. “I’ve never been there. What if I… I dunno, offend them or something?”

“Um,” Spike spoke up, and suddenly all eyes turned to him. “The dragons are a lot more calm these days ever since they started sending dragons to Twilight’s friendship school. They’re trying hard to be less aggressive. As long as you don’t do anything intentionally to upset them they’re pretty kind once you get to know them.”

“See, even the errand boy wants you to go!” Gilda said.

“I’m an assistant…” Spike said softly.

“Well, I mean…” Crash looked from Lost Way to Gilda. He had always been so comfortable in his career that he had never thought of being given a chance like this to promote himself. He was happy doing a good job and living peacefully during his offtime with Lost Way and Gilda. Most of his ambitions lay in his desire to start a herd and expand his love to others, and he was already well underway in that.

Still, he supposed he wouldn’t be a very good member of the herd if he just ignored their advice so easily. He shut his eyes and tried his best to calm the part of him that was nervous, and thought hard about how excited Gilda and Lost had been for him just moments ago.

“Okay,” Crash said as he opened his eyes again. “I… I’ll do it! Yeah! I can totally do this!”

“Attaboy,” Lost Way said before giggling and going up to Crash to give him a quick peck on his cheek.

“Awesome!” Spike said. “So, should I give Princess Twilight the yes?”

“Mhm,” Crash said and nodded his head. “When do we leave?”

“Three days!” Spike said, and lifted up three of his claws to Crash. “I’ll tell her you said yes and you’ll be expected at the castle bright and early in three days time!”

Spike left moments later to go inform the princess, and it was only after the three of them were alone together again did Crash feel like he could truly breathe properly once more.

“Wow,” Crash said softly.

“Look at you, big hotshot in the guards escorting the princess herself!” Gilda said as she nudged Crash’s elbow.

“It feels a little surreal,” Crash said with a chuckle.

“Alright, that’s it,” Lost Way said. “You’ll probably be too scatterbrained with all this new info to remember everything at the store, so I guess I’m going.”

“Y-You don’t have to…” Crash started, but Lost Way held up his hoof and pressed it to Crash’s lips.

“Hon, just relax,” Lost Way said. “Take a sec to process it all, it’s cool. Let’s have a big meal tonight to celebrate, huh?”

Crash put on a little smile. Suddenly the nerves he felt before seemed to be entirely gone. The encouragement from his lovers meant the world to him right now. This was going to be exciting, even if it was just a job.

Looks like he’d have to prepare himself for a stay in the dragon kingdom.

First Date

“This feels weird,” Crashing Thunder said out loud as he felt Lost Way’s hooves fix the shoulders of the jacket around his shoulders and wings.

“The jacket?” Lost Way asked. “Too small?”

“N-No, not that,” Crash said sheepishly. “The jacket’s fine.”

The pegasus let out a long sigh. This night had approached all too quickly for the pegasus’ liking. He was getting that awful anxious feeling inside of his belly that he hadn’t felt in over a year since he quit going out on those blind dates. This routine also felt familiar with Lost Way and him picking out outfits for one another and making comments about what was too fancy or too casual for their chosen date location. Standing here in Lost Way’s room, one that was seldom used these days for anything but storage given the two more often than not shared a bed in the evening, was almost like stepping into a memory of the past.

“Going on a date again is what feels weird,” Crash said as he shook his head.

“We’ve been on plenty of dates just the two of us,” Lost Way said with a slight shrug before stepping back slightly.

“Those have been different,” Crash said with a slight frown before shaking his head. “That was with… well YOU for one. I never felt worried like this when we went on dates before. It always felt way too similar to just hanging out. I could ignore these stupid stomach turns.”

“That’s not how it seemed whenever I threw you some bedroom eyes,” Lost Way teased. “You practically melt if I do that in public~”

“Lost,” Crash said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m serious.”

“Alright, sorry,” Lost Way said before taking a step forward and lifting up his hoof. He settled it down against Crashing Thunder’s chest before craning his neck up to leave a light kiss on the left side of Crash’s muzzle. “You’re nervous. I get it. This is weird for me too, y’know.”

“I know,” Crash said softly. “Sorry… I’ve barely even asked how you feel about all of this.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Lost said. “I’m not nearly as nervous as you are. Did you even sleep that well last night? You kept tossing and turning.”

“Eventually,” Crash said. “I just have these really bad butterflies and… and I’m worried I look too much like a dork for her. I don’t know if I should comb my mane or if she’d say that looked like I was trying too hard…”

“Hey,” Lost Way said before lifting up a hoof and placing it over Crash’s muzzle. “Calm down, big guy. I’ll be next to you the whole night, okay? Nothing’s ever been that scary when it’s just the two of us together, right?”

Crash couldn’t help but glance down to his hooves. Lost wasn’t wrong. The world was always so much easier to handle with the zebra by his side even before they became an official couple.

“You’re right,” Crash said once Lost Way pulled his hoof away and allowed him to speak once more. “I just… I want her to like me. Like US.”

“You are awfully loveable,” Lost Way said. “I don’t think you got much to worry about.”

Crash couldn’t keep himself from letting out a tiny chuckle. He was both annoyed and impressed that Lost was always able to put a smile on his face despite how anxious he got.

“Now let’s hurry up,” Lost Way said. “If she knocks and we aren’t ready I get the feeling she’s the kinda girl to get pissed.”

Throwing together the rest of their outfits was easy enough. The hardest part was deciding on what Crash would wear, and the light brown jacket was casual enough while still looking somewhat sleek on his body. Lost Way on the other hoof was quick to sport himself in a white shirt with a low hanging neck to reveal his chest fur and bright pink scarf which he wrapped stylishly around his neck. A pair of shades was what really brought the look together.

“How do I look?” Lost Way asked as he lifted up the sunglasses.

“Uh… not straight?” Crash said.

“Excellent,” Lost Way replied before hiding his eyes back behind the shades. “Now that we’ve established how amazing I look, I think it shouldn’t be too long before…”

It was spooky just how on queue Lost Way was. Even before he finished speaking both stallions ears perked up at the sound of a knock coming from their front door. Crash felt his heart skip a beat as he turned around and then glanced quickly to the clock.

“It’s her,” Lost Way said. “Damn. Right on the dot.”

Crash tried to muster up what courage he had and turned around first as he led the way to the door. He hesitated for only a moment to compose himself before he worked up the courage to open it up. He stared forward, and saw the sight of Gilda standing there in his doorway. His eyes widened. She looked… so different.

“Sup, nerd?” Gilda asked.

Crashing Thunder couldn’t stop himself from staring like a doofus. Gilda was wearing a bright crimson leather jacket with a fishnet shirt underneath exposing her feathers. The feathers atop her head were slicked back with products that seemed far too meticulous for her. Her eyes were far more noticeable than usual with bright colors on the rims that Crash quickly recognized as makeup. Black eyeshadow and a crimson red lipstick that matched her jacket were covering her face. It was subtle.

“Um… hi?” Gilda asked.

It was that moment that Crash realized he hadn’t said anything. He adverted his eyes quickly and began sputtering incoherently.

“I-I’m sorry, uh… H-Hi, Gilda. You look… You look…”

“Damn,” Lost Way said before letting out a loud whistle. He had been right behind Crash on his way to the door and made an effort to push past the pegasus before hopping up to Gilda and walking around her as he looked her up and down. “You clean up real damn good!”

“Um, duh?” Gilda asked. “You two usually see me when I’m all sweaty and gross at the gym. Didja think I was gonna show up on a date looking like I normally do?”

“I didn’t expect you to be one to have a half decent taste in fashion,” Lost Way said. “Doesn’t she look awesome, Crash?”

Lost Way was clearly trying to throw the sputtering and flustered Crash a bone here.

“She looks… you look… You look really cool,” Crash said softly.

Gilda let out a snort and rolled her eyes.

“As if I don’t always look cool,” Gilda said. “But thanks. I don’t normally break out this stuff for anypony so you two are getting the DELUX Gilds tonight. Don’t make me regret it, featherbrain!”

“N-No ma’am,” Crash spat out quickly before standing up straight. “I won’t!”

Gilda chuckled. She had such an overwhelming sense of power and confidence about her that Crash couldn’t help but stare at longingly. Her look wasn’t traditionally feminine, but it was so uniquely her. The way she carried herself made it look beautiful. The pegasus felt his heart pick up pace.

“Don’t stare, Hon,” Lost Way said while looking back at Crash and rolling his eyes. “At least talk if you’re gonna gawk at her like that.”

“Lost,” Crash whined with a hiss under his breath as his cheeks turned to a sudden scarlet. He turned around and shut the door behind him as he did. He could hear both Gilda and Lost giggle at him. He shut his eyes and let out a long breath. This night was going to put him through the wringer.

“We should get going,” Lost Way said when Crash worked up the nerve to turn back around. “It’s already pretty chilly tonight, and I’m the only one here who doesn’t have feathers to keep me warm. Or a jacket, actually.”

“Whose fault is that?” Gilda asked before sniggering and turning. “Well, c’mon then boys. Mama’s ready to party!”

There was so much fire in this woman. Crash found himself following her blindly without a second thought. Once they were well past the entrance to their house the three of them fell in line with Crash walking sandwiched in the middle between Lost Way and Gilda. The light snowfall crunched under their hooves and talons as they made their way down the street.

“So glad you suggested a club,” Gilda said. “When you said date I was worried it was gonna be some hoity toity stuck up restaurant where they’d expect me to put on a gown and raise my talon while I sip wine or some crap.”

“You don’t like fancy places?” Crash asked.

“Do I look like a wine and dine kinda gal?” Gilda asked before rolling her eyes and giving a dismissive ‘psh’ sound to Crash’s question. “I mean the food’s usually rocking and all but I can’t stand the way ponies look at me when I ain’t behavin’ how they think a proper creature should.”

“I’d much rather eat at a bar and get a nice greasy hay burger, honestly,” Lost Way said. “That’s where we had our first date, right Crash?”

“Well, part of it,” Crash said before chuckling awkwardly. “You wolfed down fries like your life depended on it.”

“Heh, and you were too nervous and hardly touched your food,” Lost Way said.

“Ugh, get a room,” Gilda said. “And stop making me freaking hungry!”

“Heh, sorry,” Lost Way said. “So uh, you seemed excited about going to a club? Do you like to dance?”

“Do I like to?” Gilda asked. “Hell yeah. Does that mean I’m any good at it? Look, I’m a flier not a dancer. But if anybody said my dancing sucked I’d sock them so I don’t actually know how good I am…”

“I’ll be sure to keep my opinions to myself,” Crash said with a light smile.

“Aw, he’s learning already,” Gilda said before lifting one of her talons and giving Crash a light pinch on his cheek. His face which was already blushing must have felt warm against GIlda’s bare skin.

“C-Cut it out,” Crash said before pulling his face away. “Or I won’t get you any drinks to woo you over.”

“Ugh, lame,” Gilda said before grinning and looking over to Crash. “What’s the point of this stupid date if I can’t tease you?”

“Don’t worry, Gilda,” Lost Way said. “If you tease him I’ll buy you double the drinks.”

“I hate you,” Crash said with a long winded sigh.

Both zebra and gryphon took turns chuckling at Crash’s misfortune. After it settled down they walked silently for some time. The sky was beginning to shift from twilight to night with a few stars popping in one by one above their heads. Nopony seemed to take notice of the three dressed up creatures all heading for the sight of Canterlot’s nightclub. They were all absorbed in their own lives.

Eventually it was Gilda who broke the silence.

“So uh… this whole date thing,” Gilda said. She brought a bit more straight of a tone than she had before. “I gotta be honest… I still don’t know how I feel being your guys’ first choice and all. It’s kinda a lot of pressure, y’know?”

“I-I’m sorry,” Crash said almost instinctively to the sound of any worry slipping into Gilda’s voice. “I didn’t want you to feel weird about it.”

“Relax,” Gilda said before sighing. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Crash bit his tongue and glanced over to Lost Way who looked back at him with a slight shrug as if to say he too wasn’t sure how to respond. Gilda grew quiet for several moments and stared down at her talons as she walked while pondering what to say next.

“You two are nice and all,” Gilda said. “But I’m not exactly great when it comes to being the third in… anything, really. One on one dates are one thing but jumping into the middle of a couple like you is… really weird, you dig? I mean if we were just hooking up for one night or something that’d be cool, but after talking to you two at the gym it made me realize how serious you two were about this whole herd thing.”

“I wasn’t trying to pressure you when I asked you,” Lost Way said. “You just seemed cool, like I told you. It’s fine if the whole herd thing is weird to you. It took me a long time to get used to the idea.”

Crash frowned slightly as he glanced back over to Lost. As another moment of silence fell he watched as his boyfriend stared at him expectantly, and then quickly realized the zebra was trying to silently tell him to hurry up and say something when he felt the jab of a hoof into his side.

“Ah!” Crash gasped as the hoof dug into his ribs. “I-I mean… Don’t take tonight so seriously, okay? If it makes you feel any better we’re just going out to dance and drink a little as friends! I seriously wouldn’t want you to make any rash decisions tonight. If you felt like we were forcing you I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry’s your favorite word, isn’t it?” Gilda asked with a coy smile and side-eyed directed at Crash. The pegasus felt his blush return.

“Um... Am I being annoying?” Crash asked.

“No, you’re just being a doofus,” Gilda said before lightly bumping her body into the side of Crash’s own. The pegasus was surprised at her strength and had to steady himself to keep himself grounded. “You’re a cute doofus, though. Both of you nerds are.”

That was enough to make Crash feel his belly flutter. He smiled to himself before looking down at his hooves. Things felt like they were going well… an experience he didn’t have often when it came to dates.

“Oh boy,” Lost Way said. “We’re here!”

Crash looked up to see the sight of the club less than half a block down the street. Already as they approached the sound of music flowing out of the doors flooded the streets. A clearly drunk pair of stallions stumbled out of the door laughing hysterically and clinging to one another.

“Club Diamond,” Lost Way said. “The best club this side of Canterlot!”

“Pfft, I’ll be the judge of that,” Gilda said before striding forward ahead of the two boys. She paused briefly and nodded her head to the door. “C’mon, let’s cause some chaos!”

———————————————————————————————————

Inside of the club was like night and day to the world outside. The noises and lights that had managed to creep out the door out front were only a glimmer of the absolute auditory overstimulation that was inside. A rainbow of lights shined overhead and so many of the ponies were dancing that the ground itself seemed to shake. A DJ atop the stage roared to get the crowd's attention, to which the crowd itself cheered back.

Lost Way smiled to himself as he made his way through the club with a drink in hoof. A peachy flavor lingered on his tongue as he took a sip. He felt right at home here with the over abundance of energy and loud, booming tunes. Before he and Crash had become an item he used to frequent places like this on the regular. Unfortunately for him, Crash was much less interested in the loud and eventful night life. It had been months since the two of them had last gone out of their way to have a night quite like this one.

Lost Way moved through the crowd before eventually spotting the small circular booth the trio had been able to snag. Both Crashing Thunder and Gilda were sitting at the table chatting it up. Judging by the smile lingering on Crash’s face as he listened to Gilda speak he seemed to be getting along just fine.

“You sharing all your fun stories without me?” Lost Way asked as he slipped into the booth once more.

“You know it,” Gilda said as she swirled her talon around an empty shot glass she had downed the vodka inside of not long ago.

“Gilda was just telling me about the time she fell asleep on a cloud not realizing it was scheduled to drift into a storm,” Crash said before chuckling.

“Hey, don’t laugh at my misery!” Gilda snapped playfully before using her wing to bat Crash on the foreleg. “You try waking up from thunder right next to your ear and tell me you don’t wet yourself!”

“You wet yourself?” Lost Way asked.

“I-I didn’t say…!” Gilda turned her attention to Lost with a glare. Both Crash and Lost started giggling, and eventually Gilda groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I thought you and I were supposed to be teasing CRASH, dummy!”

“I can multitask,” Lost Way said with a playful shrug.

“Whatever,” Gilda said before shrugging. “I still can’t believe you two drug me to a gay bar for a DATE.”

“Hey, don’t you act like any straight bar is as cool as this one,” Lost Way said. “I mean, did you see the drag queen on stage awhile back do a death drop?”

“Holy crap I thought I was hallucinating that,” Gilda said. “I thought she broke her damn hoof when she fell.”

“Heh, Lost Way usually loses his cool when they do something crazy like that,” Crashing Thunder said before giggling. “Normally he’s squealing like a filly when they go wild.”

“Hey, I’m trying to look cool in front of our date,” Lost Way said before nodding over to Gilda. “Besides… give me time to get a few drinks in and then I’ll scream at the drag queens.”

“Speaking of cool,” Gilda said before turning her attention towards Crash. “Are you just gonna sit huddled up here all night in this booth? You haven’t even gotten a second drink!”

“I-I uh…” Crash was clearly taken aback now that the focus had managed to drift back to him. For a moment Lost and him locked eyes, and all the zebra could do was give his boyfriend an encouraging smile. “I-I’m not used to this kinda place, really. This is way more Lost’s scene…”

“Then why the heck did you bring me here?” Gilda asked before smirking.

“Cause… Cause I thought you’d like it,” Crash said before glancing down into his empty drink cup. “Sorry, was that a dumb reason?”

“Gosh, you’re damn cute,” Gilda said.

Lost watched Crash’s eyes widen and found himself smiling just as wide as Gilda did. This seemed to be going so well so far. He felt a sense of calm rest itself in his belly that he hadn’t realized was even there. He felt in that moment he had made a good pick.

“Well, I won’t pressure you to jump out of your shell all at once,” Gilda said with a long winded and over dramatic sigh. “But do I at least get to have one dance with you tonight?”

“Oh, um…” Crash looked taken aback. “S-Sure…”

“Good,” Gilda said before grabbing Crash by his hoof and giving it a violent tug. “Cause this song kicks ass!”

“A-Ah, hey!” Crash called out suddenly as he was yanked from the booth. “Hold it, hold it, lemme put down my drink! Ah!”

Lost giggled to himself as he watched Crash get drug off. Gilda was so forceful in a way that Crash really needed to get out of his shell. Lost Way could recall countless times he had pushed Crash to do the same during their friendship.

The sound of music began to grow louder as the song Gilda was so eager to dance to kicked into beat. The floor seemed to rumble as the lights went wild. Lost Way sipped on his drink as he scanned the crowd for the sight of the two creatures. Both Crashing Thunder and Gilda were taller than most of the other ponies in the crowd, so it was easy to spot them.

Gilda was really going wild. She moved from side to side without a care in the world for ponies who might be in her way. Lost giggled to himself as he watched ponies move in waves to clear room for her as she spun around. She had a rhythm all her own that while wasn’t perfect was admirable to watch. She really let the music flow through her.

Crash wasn’t as eccentric as Gilda by a long shot. Half the time he seemed to just be staring at and admiring Gilda over anything else. He swayed from side to side and moved his hooves a little, but it was clear that he was moving to his own contained beat. Still, it was clear the two were together. Gilda would grab Crash by the hooves and pull him close before pulling away. Crash had no choice but to follow her movements if he hoped to keep up. Gilda was clearly leading the charge.

The song continued to build and build in energy the two continued to move faster. Crash clearly was getting more lost in the moment as he too began to match Gilda’s sheer speed and intensity. Briefly Lost saw Gilda come close to Crash and whisper something into his ear. Crash’s eyes widened in confusion before Gilda hopped back.

Suddenly Gilda charged and then jumped. Crash seemed to let out a cry of terror before lifting up his hooves and grabbing her by the midsection as she flew above his head. She used her wings to steady herself in the air before fluttering back down with Crash still holding onto her. His eyes were squeezed shut in clear terror before she landed back on her hind legs. Several of the nearby ponies began to cheer at the sight of it all. Crash opened his eyes and realized Gilda was safely on the ground once more in front of him. He began to laugh with a look of relief on his face.

“Show off,” Lost Way chuckled under his breath before taking another big sip of his drink.

Then something happened that threw the zebra off guard. While Crash was still laughing at what had just happened Gilda took his face in both her talons. Without warning she dove down and kissed him. Her beak pressed up to his muzzle. It looked forceful and powerful all at once. Lost Way nearly choked on his drink he was so shocked by her forwardness. He coughed as he set his glass down and struggled to pay attention as he fought for air to return to his lungs.

With the music so loud and the two being so far away it was impossible for Lost Way to figure out what happened next. Suddenly Crash lifted up his forelegs and shoved Gilda away. There was a look of panic in his eyes and a look of confusion and frustration in Gilda’s. Crash stammered something, and Gilda clearly yelled something back. Before Lost Way could even fully process what he was witnessing he saw his boyfriend shout something in a panic before turning tail and charging into the crowd away from both Gilda and even Lost Way.

“Shit,” Lost Way said as he hurried to scramble out of his seat. He took off jogging to the dance floor and quickly lost sight of his lover once he was lost in the crowded sea of creatures. He grunted and shoved to get to the last location he saw both Crash and Gilda before eventually managing to catch sight of the gryphon who was simply standing there in the middle of the dance floor still as a statue. She was staring down and biting her beak. She looked concerned and frustrated and angry all at once.

“What the hell just happened?” Lost Way had to shout to be heard about both the music and the crowd.

“How the hell should I know?” Gilda asked. “Your boyfriend just freaking shoved me and I… I just…”

Gilda averted her eyes away from Lost Way. For a split second the zebra thought he saw some semblance of guilt or regret in her eyes. Part of him wanted to stop and comfort her, but his heart ached too badly for the stallion he loved.

“Go back to the table,” Lost Way said. “I’ll be right back, I promise… I-I’ll find him!”

“Let me help!” Gilda said.

“No!” Lost Way said. It came out a bit more forceful than he intended. “He’s… He’s probably gonna be too embarrassed to see you right now! Let me talk him down!”

It looked like Gilda was about to object once more; however Lost Way didn’t have time to stay here. He was worried about Crash. He shook his head and dove back into the crowd in the direction he saw Crashing Thunder run.

“Dammit, Crash,” Lost hissed to himself. “Where did you go?”

Lost Way felt his once calm and collected demeanor start to slip away as worry flooded his system. The night had been going so well. A pit began to form in Lost Way’s belly as he shoved his way through the dancing ponies who didn’t know nor care at all about the zebra’s problems.

Eventually Lost Way made some headway out of the crowd. He was at the very back of the club and panting as he looked around. Even in the dark like this he should be able to see Crash given the pegasus’ height, but he saw nothing. The zebra bit his lip and whined to himself before eventually spotting a doorway with the words EXIT labeled overhead.

Crash would want to be alone after a freakout like that. It only made sense for him to leave the club entirely in hopes of finding some solitude. Lost Way made his way for the exit door and pushed his way out into the chilly night. A gust of air hit him with the stinging strength of a whip.

“Gaaah, dammit,” Lost Way hissed as he shuddered. “You better be out here, you moron.”

Lost Way looked up and down and realized that he was standing in an alleyway. The smell of garbage and old booze was lingering in the air. It was probably the most unpleasant place one could be unless they truly were desperate to be alone.

It didn’t take Lost Way long to confirm his suspicions. He had hardly made it far enough outside of the club for the door to shut behind him before he heard the sound of Crashing Thunder’s voice.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…”

A low muttering repeating itself again and again came from the other side of a nearby dumpster. Lost Way bit his tongue as he gingerly walked around it. He eventually spotted the sight of the pony he loved sitting in the snow with his wings wrapped around his body muttering to himself how stupid he was. Each time he spoke he dug the pointy end of his hoof into his forehead as if to punish himself.

“Crash?” Lost asked as gently as he possibly could.

As expected Crash hadn’t sensed Lost at all. The sound of the zebra’s voice caused the pegasus to gasp and look up. Lost realized that Crash had been crying by the streaks of damp fur going down his cheeks and his puffy eyes. There was fear in his eyes that only faded upon realizing who was standing there wasn’t Gilda nor some other pony, but Lost Way.

“L-Lost,” Crash managed to choke out before lowering his head. His blonde bangs covered his eyes before he used his hooves to bury his face and hide the rest of himself. The tenseness in his body was visible.

“Hey,” Lost Way said as he drew closer to Crash. For a moment he forgot about the elements and crouched down in front of Crash in the snow. He lifted his hooves and forced his forelegs into the cocoon of wings Crash had made for himself to try and give the big pegasus a hug the best he could. “You okay?”

“No,” Crash said. “I… I messed up. I messed up so bad, Lost.”

It was clear that Crash was either having or on the verge of a panic attack. Lost Way felt his chest ache. He had seen this sort of behavior from Crash so many times in the past but it never got easier to handle.

“I saw what happened,” Lost Way said. “Gilda’s not mad, I think. She’s just really confused.”

“She should be mad,” Crash said sourly as his body shuddered while fighting off tears. “I’m so freaking stupid, Lost.”

“Stop saying that,” Lost Way said before lifting his hoof and trying to graze it against Crash’s cheek. “Do you wanna tell me what happened there?”

Crash was silent for some time. For a while all there was to hear was the whipping winds and the sound of Crash sniffling. Lost Way waited patiently.

“Things were going well,” Crash said in a bitter tone. “Before I screwed it up I…”

“Stop that,” Lost Way said. “Just tell me what happened and stop beating yourself up.”

Crash finally uncovered his face from his hooves a tiny bit and looked to Lost. His eyes were still puffy. Eventually he gave a slight nod of his head.

“When we were d-dancing,” Crash said while fighting off the urge to stutter his words. “Everything felt good. I was worried cause all the ponies were looking at us at first but the more we danced the more I just kinda got lost in her... Everything felt right. Then when she kissed me like that I just…”

“Panicked?” Lost Way asked. “It was pretty fast for a kiss like that. I’m not surprised it made you panic.”

Crash bit his lip and gave a slight shake of his head.

“Lost… What if I’m no good for being in a herd?”

“What?” Lost Way asked as confusion seeped into his voice. “What the heck are you talking about?”

“I wasn’t scared cause things were going so fast when she kissed me,” Crash said. “I… When she did that it scared me cause of how good it felt. Then all of a sudden all I could think of was you, and how much I loved you. I… I haven’t been honest with you, or myself…”

“Crash,” Lost Way said softly as he reached up his hoof and ran it over Crash’s cheek.

“What if I don’t do it right?” Crash asked. “I got so used to just the two of us that I almost stopped thinking of how bad I always wanted a herd! What if one of us gets jealous? What if I start feeling like I’m betraying us just cause I start to fall for Gilda too? What if… What if I don’t have enough love to give to more than one pony and everything falls apart cause of it? I don’t… I don’t want to hurt anypony. You or Gilda or anypony else!”

Crash looked like he was close to start weeping again. The way these worries poured out of him like a dam that had just been shattered by a raging current told Lost Way everything he needed to know. These thoughts hadn’t sprung up from nowhere. They had been bubbling and building for days. A pit of worry began to form in Lost Way’s belly as he wondered to himself if he had been too sudden.

“I’m sorry,” Lost Way said. “I’m really sorry.”

“What the h-heck are you sorry for?” Crash asked while wiping one of his eyes with the back of his hoof.

“I shouldn’t have jumped the gun on us going out with Gilda so fast,” Lost Way said before reaching down and grabbing the hoof Crash wiped his eye with. “I should have just told you I was ready to move onto the next step and let you process it from there. I-I just thought you’d be eager to get a herd started and wouldn’t want to wait so I just asked the first creature I thought you’d like. I really dumped her on you out of nowhere, huh?”

“Please don’t blame yourself,” Crash said before tugging Lost’s hoof closer to his chest. He grabbed it with both of his own hooves and squeezed.

“How can I not when you’re putting everything on yourself?” Lost Way asked. “I love you, Crash. Seeing you hurt like this is… it’s painful.”

Crash bit his lip right before it looked like it was about to start quivering. Before Lost Way knew it the pegasus extended both of his forelegs at once and tugged Lost Way forward until the zebra was forced to stumble into his embrace. Wings wrapped around Lost Way’s body as well as hooves. The tight squeeze from Crash was nearly back-breakingly strong but the zebra didn’t dare tell him to lighten up.

“Did I hurt her?” Crash asked eventually with lingering fear in his tone. “If somepony did that to me after I kissed them I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I don’t know,” Lost Way said honestly. After that Crash’s impossibly tight hug seemed to get even tighter. “But Crash… You know you care about other creatures more than anypony I’ve ever met?”

Crash remained silent and simply kept squeezing Lost Way.

“I think if you really didn’t have enough love to give then you wouldn’t be out here crying cause you’re scared of hurting one of us,” Lost Way continued. “I wish you told me that you were so worried about all of this.”

“I’m sorry,” Crash said softly.

“Don’t be,” Lost Way said. “We both made some mistakes… We should feel sorry for ourselves later, though.”

“You’re right,” Crash said before finally beginning to loosen the grip on his forelegs and give Lost Way some much needed breathing space. “I need to talk to her. The way she looked at me when I pulled back… I’ve never seen her look hurt like that.”

There was sorrow in Crash’s voice along with regret.

“I’ll be there with you,” Lost Way said. “You don’t have to do it alone.”

“I know,” Crash said before leaning down and pressing his lips up against Lost Way’s forehead. “Thank you, Lost.

————————————————-

Gilda let out a long sigh and watched as the frigid air turned her breath to mist. She tugged the ends of her jacket closer together as she shifted uncomfortably on the bench. The booming noise that shook the walls of the nightclub behind her were like a constant reminder of what she was running from. Part of her wished she had the balls to simply ditch and pretend like this night had never happened. The only problem was she *really* liked that gym. Oh yeah, and her conscience or something did sort of feel bad for Crash.

“Stupid,” Gilda grumbled to herself before reaching inside of her jacket and pulling out a flask. She always kept one on her when she went to bars to avoid having to deal with the outrageously jacked up prices. She took a sip of the whiskey inside and felt it burn as it went down her throat. It was just about the only thing to keep her warm right now. The jacket was mostly for style and the fishnet shirt underneath wasn’t exactly warm and cozy.

“You never learn, do you Gilds?” Gilda asked herself aloud as she squeezed the metal flask between her talons.

Gilda kept telling herself that she should have listened to her gut. She was wary of tonight from the moment she first heard of it. Getting in between two ponies who were already an item was the last thing she should be doing. She was stupid to convince herself that things would be different this time, and she wouldn’t be sitting here feeling exactly like she did this moment. She hadn’t changed at all. She was still a jealous, featherbrained gryphon who couldn’t stand the sight of somepony she liked with another.

Gilda clamped her beak shut. She was angry. Angry at Lost Way for asking her out, angry at Crash for running away when she kissed him, and most of all angry with herself for letting herself get dragged into this mess.

Gilda kept repeating the moment over and over in her head. The way she yelled at Crash when he broke from her kiss. She had let her frustration take hold of her and truly didn’t care about the apology he was trying to sputter out. She had just been mad. She let him run off even after seeing the guilt and fear in his eyes at what he had done. She stood there frozen like some stupid statue unable to move.

Why didn’t she run after him?

Why did Lost Way have to be the one to go find him after it had been her screw-up?

Why was she even still here after ruining everything?

“Gaaaah!” Gilda let out a sudden loud scream of anger and frustration before digging her talons into either side of her head and viciously tugging at her feathers. “Why am I so freaking bad at this?”

This sucked. The first two creatures she met and managed to befriend in this stupid town who weren’t so far up their own ass they could taste yesterday’s lunch and she managed to blow it the first time they actually hung out.

Tonight was supposed to be fun. She wasn’t supposed to let the old Gilda come out. The Gilda who cost her friendship with Rainbow Dash. She thought she had stamped out that Gilda a long time ago.

“Gilda!”

The sound of Crashing Thunder’s voice made Gilda’s feathers stand on end and her chest instantly tighten. She looked over her shoulder to see both Crash and Lost Way were running toward her with worried expressions on their faces.

What was she supposed to say? Sup? What’s going on? What the hell happened back there? I’m sorry? Get Lost? Every one of those options crossed her mind to the point she could only remain silent when the two finally did catch up to her.

“We looked… everywhere…” Lost Way said in a slow and panting tone. It seemed like he had to run to keep up with Crash’s much longer legs.

“Sorry about that,” Gilda said. “The music was kinda giving me a headache.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Crash said. His voice was quick and concerned. “Are you… I-I mean… Are you okay?”

Gilda felt her jaw clench. Seriously? Wasn’t that supposed to be her line?

“Fine,” Gilda said. It was short and to the point. She looked away and at the snow-covered ground with a pained look resting on her face.

“Seriously,” Lost Way said before taking a step forward. “Talk to us Gilda, please.”

“Look, just… back off, both of you,” Gilda said before shaking her head and letting out a frustrated groan. She turned away and felt very tempted in that moment to simply spread her wings and fly. Somehow she managed to keep herself grounded. “I really feel like hitting somepony and I don’t want it to be either one of you guys, okay?”

“Gilda…” Lost Way said softly.

“Gilda, that kiss,” Crash tried to speak.

“I get it, okay?” Gilda snapped. “I was getting in the middle of you two and messing everything up so you freaked. It’s my own stupid fault for making a move like that in the first place!”

“Please, Gilda,” Crash spoke. He walked up until he was beside Gilda. The gryphon turned her head to the opposite direction and felt her talons sink into the snow. She really wanted to punch something. “You can be pissed at me if you want, that’s fine. I panicked and let myself freak out. I was really having fun and enjoying spending time with you. Both of us were. I-I just…”

“Three’s a crowd, right?” Gilda asked.

“That’s not it,” Crash continued.

“Look,” Gilda said as she interrupted Crash. “I’ve been on this shitty ride before. All I do is get jealous and I blow up at people and end up hurting others! I got so goddamn angry at Lost and I don’t even know why!”

“With me?” Lost Way asked with a shocked tone of voice. “What did I do?”

“Nothing!” Gilda shouted before turning back around. “Neither of you DID anything wrong but I still got so freaking angry at both of you! I lost my temper like I always do and… argh!”

Gilda hit her balled up fist down into the ground and violently shook her head.

“I couldn’t even freaking go see Crash myself to see if he was okay because I knew all I’d do is yell at you cause I was so pissed!” Gilda snapped. “I’m still angry as hell! Wh-Why the hell couldn’t I just fix my own damn mistake? Why did Lost have to do it for me? ARUGH!”

Gilda knew she was starting to cause a scene. When she finally looked up both boys and several of the crowd outside the bar were all staring at her. She hung her head and took in deep slow exhausted breaths.

“I’m not good at this thing,” Gilda said. “You picked the wrong gal. I couldn’t even make it through one stupid date without blowing everything up…”

Gilda shut her eyes. After yelling her feelings she was starting to feel herself cool down. The chilly breeze made her shudder. She shook her head slowly, and knew deep down she had made herself look like a fool.

“Gilda,” Lost Way was the one to speak first. Gilda heard the snow crunch and knew that the zebra was walking towards her again. “Did I ever tell you how my first date with Crash went?”

“What?” Gilda asked before raising her head and looking at Lost in confusion. “The hell does that got to…”

The gryphon trailed off.

“No,” She said.

“Well, it was pretty bad at the start,” Lost Way said. “We were both on a blind date and ended up being paired with each other. We fought for most of the dinner. Eventually I got so overwhelmed that I started just bawling in the middle of the restaurant. When it was happening I remember I was really, really angry at Crash too. Angry enough to cry over us fighting like that.”

Gilda stared at Lost Way. She wasn’t sure why but she struggled to picture him crying. It must have been pretty emotional for him to bawl in public.

“We finally stopped fighting when I did that,” Lost Way said. “He hugged me and we started to seriously talk with each other, and not at each other. I think we were both really scared at losing what we had back then. After that it somehow led to being one of the best nights in my entire life.”

Gilda looked over to Crash who looked embarrassed at being talked about, but determined to keep his eyes on Gilda.

“What’s your point?” Gilda asked.

Lost Way let out a brief sigh.

“The point is,” The zebra said. “Sometimes our emotions make us do stupid things. Like when Crash ran off, and when you got angry at both of us, and back when me and him fought on our first date. Do you really want to call this off? If you do we won’t stop you.”

“I…” Gilda started and then found herself growing quiet. She looked from Crashing Thunder to Lost Way and then back again. Her insides were turning. Aw, dammit, she hated all this anxiety crap. She was starting to miss when she just wanted to punch something.

“Gilda,” Crash said as he finally spoke up. “I don’t think we picked the wrong gal.”

Crash’s cheeks flared up with blush as soon as he said that before looking away. Gilda hated that she started to feel a bit mushy at that comment. It was one of the sweetest things she had heard.

“Dammit,” Gilda said before letting out a long groan. “You two are so… so freaking weird!”

Both zebra and pegasus looked at Gilda with confusion.

“What’s with you two?” Gilda asked. “I should seriously sock both of you for getting all melodramatic on me. Y-You can’t just say stuff like ‘I don’t think we picked the wrong gal’ with a straight face and expect me to not puke my freaking guts out! I-I mean… Argh!”

Gilda knew she was blushing now. She covered her face with her talon and bit down on her tongue hard enough for it to sting. She couldn’t remember the last time anypony had seriously made her blush like this.

“Um… Is she mad?” Crash asked.

“I have no idea,” Lost Way said.

“Ugh, fine,” Gilda said as she uncovered her face and glared at the two of them. “I’ve never been a freaking quitter. I guess if you two are featherbrained enough to wanna keep trying to make this stupid thing work then… then I can keep trying too.”

“Really?” Crash asked before stepping forward. There was a glimmer in his eye. He looked… happy.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Gilda asked.

Before Gilda knew it Crash moved forward and wrapped his arms around Gilda’s body. The gryphon let out a squawk-like sound as she was squeezed. Her whole body tensed up. She really, REALLY wasn’t used to hugs.

“I’m so sorry I made you stress like this,” Crash said into Gilda’s ear softly. “The last thing I ever wanna do is hurt you or Lost.”

Gilda hated that her body loosened up a bit at those words. Why the hell was she feeling so damn mushy?

“So, uh,” Lost Way spoke up from behind the two hugging, which caused Crash to release Gilda and for both to turn to look at him.

“Do we wanna try to figure out where we go from here?” Lost Way asked.

Starting Over

The familiar ache of his head and the discomfort of his stomach was the first thing to greet Crashing Thunder as he woke up. Instantly he knew that he had drunk too much last night and was likely going to pay for it today. At the very least he could tell that it would likely pass in a few hours, but for now the pounding of his head was enough for him to let out a loud groan as he rolled over in bed and outstretched both his arm and his wing looking for the familiar touch of his zebra lover.

Only when he rolled over his body simply landed on more bed. Crash cracked open one of his eyes and saw the disheveled side of the bed that was full of wrinkles in the sheets and a pillow lying crooked. He must have really been out of it to totally miss that Lost Way had gotten out of bed already, as normally he was a light sleeper.

Crash forced himself to sit up despite the ache in his head. He let out a groan as he rubbed his temple and then ran a hoof through his messy hair. He felt like crap. After a moment he realized he could hear the squealing of pipes from across the hall. The sound of a shower was going strong. Lost Way must already be in there. The idea of warm water against his body sounded pretty appealing right about now. Maybe it might do good to start to shake off his hangover.

With slow and lumbering movements Crash half-crawled half pulled himself out of bed. He stared down at his hooves as he walked and trusted muscle memory to guide him toward the bathroom. The sound of water grew louder. He pressed his cheek up to the door in a half-dreamy daze and felt the cool wood do wonders against his cheek.

Silently Crash reached for the doorknob. Thankfully it wasn’t locked. As he pushed into the room steam slipped out from the cracks in the door and he was suddenly embraced by warmth. Already the idea of standing in warm water and leaning on Lost Way sounded more appealing than anything. He shut the door behind him and let out a yawn.

“Hey, babe,” Crash said as he approached the shower. He put on a sly grin. “Need help washing your back? Or even your butt~”

Crash pulled open the shower curtain and instantly froze. Lost Way wasn’t in the shower. Instead the wide eyes of a gryphon were staring him down. Her talons were still on the feathers atop her head scrubbing in some soap.

“Actually I’m good,” Gilda said. “Babe.”

Crash let out a shriek.

—————————————————————————————-

Lost Way hummed merrily to himself as he fumbled for his keys with one hoof and attempted to balance a tray of warm steaming beverages with the other. He had woken up with a slight headache but that was about it. It was nothing a little morning stroll down to the coffee shop wouldn’t fix. The thought of sweet and caramel flavored coffee was normally enough to get him out of the house just about any morning. He had gotten himself a caramel latte and Crash his favorite blend of raspberry brew. He was unsure what to get for Gilda, so he had simply gotten her black coffee and grabbed a handful of flavored creamers on his way out for her to choose from.

Lost Way thought he would be able to avoid the awkwardness of what was eventually to come by offering a bit of brew to liven everypony up. Unfortunately for him the moment he opened the door he seemed to trot straight into chaos.

“I-I’m so, so, sosososo sorry,” Crash said frantically.

“Dude, chill, it’s cool,” Gilda said.

“It’s so NOT cool!” Crash whined.

Lost Way stepped into the house to see that Crash was sitting on the couch balled up with his hooves covering his face in shame. Gilda was wandering around picking up her discarded clothes from last night and piling them together. There was a towel on her head and also wrapped around her body.

“Um… Hi?” Lost Way asked.

“Oh, hey,” Gilda said. “Your babe’s here.”

“Mmmmm…” Crash let out a loud and humiliated whine. He didn’t look up from his hooves to even greet Lost Way.

Lost Way shut the door behind him with a kick of his hind leg and walked slowly into the living room. It was just as much of a mess as he had left it with many of the couch cushions thrown on the floor along with several blankets to form a circle in a makeshift nest. When he had first come out this morning he had found Gilda sprawled out on the floor on her back snoring loudly in the mess of fluff. The couch looked pretty barren with Crash sitting on it and all of the cushions gone.

“Will you stop whining?” Gilda asked. “I said it was cool.”

“Did I miss something?” Lost Way asked.

“Your boyfriend walked into the shower thinking I was you,” Gilda said. “Then he screamed like a little girl. It was kinda funny.”

“Oh, jeez,” Lost Way said. He resisted the urge to laugh but instantly felt a smile creep up on his lips that he was glad his clearly humiliated boyfriend was too busy sulking to notice. “Crash? Honey? I got you some coffee. Will that cheer you up?”

Crash gingerly rose his head and looked over to Lost Way. He looked defeated and upset, but the sight of the coffee did perk him up a little.

“Raspberry blend?” Crash asked.

“Duh,” Lost Way said before holding out the cup to him. “With whipped cream, obviously.”

Crash took the cup of coffee and held it in his hooves. He continued to sit balled up on the couch in his shame but took a tentative sip of the warm brew. It did wonders and already Lost could see his body loosen up the tiniest bit.

“I wasn’t sure what to get you, Gilds,” Lost Way said. “I got black coffee but I got a bunch of creamers if you wanna flavor it up.”

“Naw, black coffee’s my jam,” Gilda said before walking up to Lost Way and grabbing the outstretched cup. She took a sip and let out a loud refreshed sounding sigh once her beak was pulled away. “Mmm, nice and fresh.”

Lost Way sat down next to his boyfriend on the couch who seemed to be coming out of the protective shell he had made around himself using his wings.

The night before had ended… strangely. It was late and emotions were high. Lost wasn’t sure if it had been him or Crash who first suggested Gilda crash at their place. They were all tipsy and clearly there were words that needed to be said. The moment they arrived however it seemed that both exhaustion and the alcohol they consumed had run their systems ragged and they all decided to sleep as soon as possible. They offered Gilda Lost Way’s old bed, which had practically become a guest room since Crash and Lost started dating, but she had insisted on taking the couch.

Gilda settled down on the floor on top of her makeshift nest.

“Sorry about the mess,” Gilda said. “Bird thing. I’ll clean it up later.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lost Way said. “So uh… I kind of intended to let everypony wake up with some coffee but I think you two already are pretty alert.”

“You could say that,” Crash said softly. He gave a quick glance to Gilda and then looked away before attempting to shield his face with one of his wings. He was still clearly embarrassed as hell over what happened.

“Ugh,” Gilda let out a soft groan. Lost glanced at her as she looked away with a look on her face that Lost couldn’t read very well past negative. She started to drum her fingers on her coffee cup and frowned. It seemed she wasn’t looking forward to this.

“A lot happened last night,” Lost Way said. “It wasn’t all bad, though. You two had fun for most of it, right?”

“I guess,” Gilda said with a shrug. “It wasn’t totally lame up until the end, yeah.”

“Do you wanna talk about… what happened?” Lost Way asked. He scooted closer to the edge of the couch and thus closer to Gilda.

“Ugh, not really,” Gilda said with a grumble before rolling her eyes and taking a long sip of her coffee. “But what the heck?”

“Gilda,” Crash piped up finally. “You don’t have to if you don’t wanna. Don’t think that just cause we let you crash here you have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

Gilda let out a little chuckle, which caused Crash to blush once more. She sat up a bit and straightened herself out.

“Normally when I have bad dates they don’t invite me over to sleep on their couch and wanna talk about feelings over coffee,” Gilda said with a smirk. “You two are weird, y’know that?”

“I’m aware,” Lost Way said with a chuckle of his own.

“I’m really sorry,” Crash said. A phrase he was well versed in repeating. “Anything I did to make you uncomfortable last night… I’m not good on dates, especially first ones. They always go bad some way and…”

“Ugh, c’mon,” Gilda interrupted Crash to let out a groan. “It wasn’t your fault, Crash, jeez.”

“S-Still,” Crash piped up. “I don’t think it was your fault either!”

“Guys,” Lost Way piped up. He was feeling like a mediator more than anything. He was a part of this, not just a separate entity trying to hook two friends up. “I feel like we’re gonna go in circles here. Can I make a bit of a suggestion?”

“Shoot,” Gilda said before shrugging.

“A-Alright,” Crash said softly.

“Look, Gilda,” Lost Way said. “The reason you got weirded out last night was because there were two of us, right?”

“I guess,” Gilda said with a shrug. “I don’t… Mmm…”

Gilda looked to Crash briefly before looking away.

“That’d be intimidating for anypony, especially on a date,” Lost Way said. “I think we may have accidentally made you feel like a third wheel. Me and Crash kinda have been connected at the hip for… well, most of our lives.”

Gilda didn’t agree, but she didn’t disagree either. She simply remained silent and glanced away as if she were struggling to put into words how that made her feel.

“I was thinking maybe we could just go out one on one, maybe?” Lost Way asked. “Have a chance to really talk without one of us getting in the way. Let you get used to one of us before both of us?”

“What, like two dates?” Gilda asked with a chuckle. “You seriously wanna take me out again after last night?”

“It doesn’t have to be a date,” Lost Way said. “We can just talk alone someplace. I’m still new to this herd thing but I don’t think we’re all supposed to be one big unit all the time. I think we’re supposed to care about each other equally and want to spend time with every creature.”

“Right,” Crash spoke up. “That’s how I always pictured it.”

“So, what?” Gilda asked. “Clubbing together or something?”

“I was thinking something a little easier,” Lost Way said. “It’s pretty close to lunch. We slept in late. We could get some food, maybe?”

“You and me?” Gilda asked before raising her brow.

“Well, I think Crash is a little…”

“Hey!” Crash snapped to defend himself. “I’m fine! I just…”

Crash looked to Gilda quickly and then instantly looked like he was overcome with embarrassment again.

“He might need some time to cool off,” Lost Way finished.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up, Crash,” Gilda said before raising up to her legs and stretching out. She moved up to Crash and ran her talons through his mane. He looked up briefly with wide eyes at the gryphon. “I know, it takes some time to calm down from seeing a gorgeous gryphon like me soaking wet.”

“Th-That’s not…”

Gilda leaned down and lightly pecked Crash on his cheek. That shut the pegasus up very quickly.

“We’re cool, Crash,” Gilda said softly.

“So do you like my idea?” Lost Way asked.

“Yeah, why the hell not?” Gilda said before backing up and letting out a long sigh. “I’m honestly starving. Just please don’t take me to any place that only has salads. I need some fries or something greasy.”

“I’m offended you think I wouldn’t,” Lost Way said. “You ready to go? I already showered and stuff before I went out.”

“Sure, why not,” Gilda said with a shrug. “I’ll wait outside. Coffee tastes better when you’re cold, anyway.”

As Gilda made her way to the door Lost Way sighed and moved towards Crash. The pegasus was touching the spot on his cheek where Gilda had kissed him as he looked up.

“You gonna be okay?” Crash asked. “Are you sure you wanna go alone?”

“I’ll be fine, hon,” Lost Way said before leaning down and kissing Crash on his nose. “I think this’ll be good for us. All of us. I’ll butter her up then you can try having a real date with her in a few days or something.”

Lost Way brushed aside the hair covering Crash’s eyes and chuckled.

“Alright,” Crash said. “I love you.”

Lost Way smiled.

“Love you too.”

———————————————————-

The little restaurant near the outskirts of Canterlot was nothing special, which was probably why Lost Way liked it so much. It was the perfect place to slip into when you were craving carb-loaded and overly greasy food. The two of them were able to slip in and get a table without any wait time and were sitting with cups of freshly brewed coffee awaiting their orders.

“So,” Gilda said just as Lost Way was finishing up stirring creamer into his coffee. “You got me all alone now. Not often I go on a date with a gay guy.”

“What about a gay guy and his boyfriend?” Lost Way asked.

“Probably rarer,” Gilda admitted with a chuckle. “I’m kinda just surprised you wanna sit here with me all.”

“You’re still my friend, Gilda,” Lost Way said with a slight frown. “I don’t just up and abandon my friends when we have a little blow up over something.”

“Heh, well that makes one of us,” Gilda said with a shrug. “If you two didn’t run out of the club when you did last night I’d probably be halfway back to Gryphonstone right about now.”

Gilda frowned and stared down into her black coffee. Her reflection stared back at her, and for a moment the two were simply silent.

“Do you wanna talk about last night?” Lost Way asked.

“Is this therapy or lunch?” Gilda replied with a chuckle.

“It’s just two creatures talking,” Lost Way said. “I know you’re not really into opening up about feelings and stuff but it can help sometimes. Especially if you know the other creature won’t judge you for what you have to say.”

“Ugh,” Gilda let out a groan. She leaned on her elbow and rested her face on her hand while she began to run her talon in circles over the tabletop. “I’m not good at opening up and talking about feelings, y’know.”

“Gee, I hadn’t noticed,” Lost Way said with a hint of a tease.

“You’re lucky you’re cute or I’d kick your leg,” Gilda said before rolling her eyes. She grew a bit more serious as she let out a sigh and looked a tad somber. “I just keep wondering if it’s worth it for you two to waste your time on me. I thought maybe enough time had passed and I was… better.”

“Better?” Lost Way asked.

Gilda shut her eyes. She looked annoyed, or possibly even angry, but it wasn’t directed at Lost Way. It seemed to almost be directed inward at herself and whatever was going on inside her head.

“I get clingy,” Gilda said. “When I like somepony, I mean. I had this friend… this really really good friend a long time ago. I couldn’t stand that they were having fun with some other pony. I made sure for a while that that friend wouldn’t wanna talk with me.”

“That sounds rough,” Lost Way said.

“I deserved it,” Gilda grumbled. “I was a jerk for no reason just cause I was jealous. It took me a long time to see that I was the problem… I thought I had grown since I realized that but…”

“But last night you felt it come up again?” Lost Way asked.

Gilda continued to frown. Her finger stopped swirling on the counter top. She glanced up to Lost Way.

“For a second I kind of wanted to punch you,” Gilda said. “Last night, I mean. When Crash ran off and I didn’t know how to help him.”

“Well, I guess I’m glad you didn’t,” Lost Way said.

“But I REALLY wanted to,” Gilda said in a grumbling tone. “It felt like I just let myself regress to some jealous brat. If I lost my temper and hurt one of you I… I’d be just as bad as Dash thought I was.”

Lost Way had no idea who ‘Dash’ was that Gilda was talking about, but he could only assume it was the friend from her past.

“Gilda,” Lost Way said. “You still held it back. You just had a little blow up at Crash. He blamed himself way more than he blamed you.”

“I don’t WANT him to blame himself,” Gilda said with a frustrated huff. “I just… I kept thinking how pissed I was that I couldn’t fix it like you could. I felt like I wasn’t good enough to even be in that damn club with him all of a sudden and…”

Gilda stopped talking and shut her eyes. She had been close to shouting and a few of the other restaurant patrons were giving strange glances. She let out a long winded sigh that seemed to relax the muscles in her body.

“You two work so well together,” Gilda said. “I feel like I’m… Like I’m messing with this big antique clock. Everything is running perfectly and it doesn’t need anything else but I’m trying to shove my big awkward gears in and it’s messing up the whole thing.”

“I didn’t really take you as one for metaphors like that,” Lost Way said.

“Yeah, good for me, I’m a multi-layered jealous bitch,” Gilda grumbled. “Isn’t it overwhelming?”

“Is what overwhelming?” Lost Way asked.

“Y’know,” Gilda gestured vaguely with her talons. “Being the lead stallion or whatever? You told me back at the gym that you didn’t think you’d get jealous.”

Lost Way let out a slight sigh and looked down into his own drink. He had filled his own with cream so his reflection was muddled in creamy brown waters. He shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“I did, I guess,” Lost Way said. “I wasn’t being entirely honest back then, I guess. Back when me and Crash first started dating it scared me a lot, actually.”

“No shit?” Gilda asked. “So you aren’t Mr. Perfect?”

“I never said I was,” Lost said a bit indignantly.

“Well you coulda fooled me,” Gilda said. “You always seem like you have things under control. You’re running laps around me and Crash trying to keep this train from totally wrecking, y’know.”

“It’s not easy,” Lost said as he gave a slight shake of his head. “And yeah, it is a bit overwhelming. But last night when you two were dancing I felt… good. It felt really good to see Crash look like he was having that much fun. I don’t think he’d ever do that kind of thing with me.”

“Seriously?” Gilda asked.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get Crash to dance in public like that for a hundred bits,” Lost admitted. “But you did it just by being you. You drew something better out of him that I couldn’t, Gilda.”

Gilda remained silent at that as she glanced away. It looked like she was pondering her thoughts for a few moments before the familiar sight of a pink unicorn in an apron approached carrying two plates with her magic. The interruption in conversation felt strange, and even though the food she set down between them looked and smelled great neither creature made the first move to dig into their burger or fries.

“Y’know,” Lost Way said. “After my bad date with Crash we went to a bar and got burgers and fries too.”

“Heh, getting fat solves everything, huh?” Gilda asked.

That little joke seemed to break a bit of the awkward silence between them as Gilda reached for a few fries and shoved them into her beak.

“So, you were scared?” Gilda asked before she had finished swallowing.

“Huh?”

“You said when you and Crash were new you were scared,” Gilda pressed. “About what?”

Lost Way should have known that question was coming, but still it caught him off guard. He took a moment to ponder as he picked up a fry and ate half of it before setting it back down realizing he really couldn’t eat with that question unanswered.

“I guess I was just scared I wouldn’t be enough for him,” Lost Way said. “He told me all the time those first few weeks that he was totally fine if I never wanted to start a herd, and it was my decision. It was really scary, though. The idea that I was falling so fast for my best friend and that I might not be able to make him happy the way he really wanted was… I was scared for a long time that even if I did decide to start a herd I’d just be doing it because it was what he wanted.”

“Do you feel like that changed?” Gilda asked. “When you decided to ask me out?”

“It took a few months for that fear to start to fade,” Lost Way said. “After that I could think about it seriously, and I had to do that for a few months more. I think I just eventually realized that how I felt about him wouldn’t change if he or I loved somepony else as well. Love is unique and no creature can really replicate the way he made me feel, y’know?”

“That sounds really… cheesy,” Gilda said. “Sweet, but cheesy.”

“I think being with Crash made me realize real love is kind of cheesy,” Lost Way said. “Believe me I would have gagged back when I was still doing weekly hookups if I heard somepony talk like that.”

“Hehe,” Gilda chuckled. It was good to see her with a glint of humor in her eye.

“Crash has always had a big heart, though,” Lost Way continued. “I think he always knew he wanted to be in a big family of creatures who all loved each other. My heart had to grow a little before I realized I could be okay with that too.”

“I dunno if my heart’s willing to grow,” Gilda said with a slight sigh. “The more I hang out with each of you the more I like you both, but I keep thinking that old me will come out and I’ll lose it when I see you two snuggling without me or something stupid.”

“You said we were like a clock before,” Lost Way said. “Maybe you’re not looking at it right.”

“Oh Celestia we’re back to metaphors?” Gilda groaned.

“Shut up and listen,” Lost Way said with a hint of a chuckle before growing a bit more serious. “Even if me and Crash are some perfect clock, which I really don’t think we are, every clock needs some creature to take care of it eventually. When the gears don’t work or we don’t chime every hour somepony has to care for it. Their relationship is just as important as the gears in the clock itself, don’t you think?”

“Did you just take my metaphor and use it to try and make me join your thrupple?” Gilda asked.

After a moment of silence where the two stared at each other Gilda was the first to crack. She broke up into a smile and started laughing. After that Lost couldn’t stop himself from joining her and they sat there laughing to themselves loud enough for a few of the restaurant’s patrons to give them the side eye. As they struggled to control themselves Lost saw a smile on Gilda’s face that properly reached her eyes. It was a sort of vulnerability that he didn’t think she had shown before to either him or Crash.

“You’re really sweet,” Gilda said. “A lot more than I’d probably be to a loudmouth like me.”

“Thanks,” Lost Way said. For the first time since they sat down he felt himself properly relax and sink back into his booth.

“Crash is a lucky guy to have you,” Gilda said, and then after a few moments pause she reached out her talon and grabbed for one of his hooves that was still residing on the table. “So am I, I guess. I’ve never had anyone fight this hard to keep me around.”

“Hey, c’mon,” Lost Way said. “Look who's being cheesy now.”

“Yeah, don’t push it,” Gilda said before releasing his hoof. “I’m not above kicking your legs under this table. Can we stop sapping and eat now? Fries taste gross all cold.”

“Heh, fine by me,” Lost Way said before grabbing a small hoof full of fries and shoving them into his mouth. Suddenly his appetite felt like it was there in full force.

“Lost?” Gilda said.

“Mm?” Lost questioned with his mouth shut and still chewing.

“Thanks for not… giving up on me, I guess,” Gilda said. “I think I’m gonna seriously try now with you two.”

Lost swallowed what food was in his mouth and gave Gilda a smile.

“That’s great to hear,” The zebra said.

——————————

Even as the morning sun that shone in through the windows and left sunbeams on the carpet slowly faded as time crept forward and the sun rose higher Crashing Thunder still did not move from his spot on the couch. His mind was abuz, and doing just about any task felt impossible.

He had tried to get up to make himself food but anything past eating a few hoof fulls of leftovers felt too much. He thought about taking a walk but the idea of Gilda and Lost returning without him there sent his stomach into twists and turns.

Crash knew he was a worrywart and had always been. He had understood what Lost meant by suggesting the two of them go on separate dates, but still he hated the anticipation of simply waiting for what felt like an eternity. He wished he could at least know if things were going poorly or better than the previous night had ended.

It felt like both an eternity and far too quickly when the familiar sound of the door unlocking clicked. Crash felt his heart pound as he sat up quickly. As the door cracked he heard the sound of… laughter?

“Oh my gosh, shut the hell up!” Gilda said with a laugh. “You did not! With those weak little hooves?”

“Okay, first of all rude, second of all I AM a royal guard, y’know. I can throw a punch if I want!”

Things seemed as if they had gone… well?

“Oh, hey hon,” Lost Way said cheerily. He trotted up merrily to the couch and held out a bag in his hoof. “We got you some food. Figured it wasn’t fair we got all the good stuff while you waited at home.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Crash said. He didn’t even bother to look at the bag as he took it and set it back down on the couch. He stood up, albeit slowly, and tried his best to eye Gilda.

“Hey, nerd,” Gilda said with a grin upon spotting Crash.

“H-Hey,” Crash said. He could still feel the lingering embarrassment of that morning but enough time had passed where he was able to properly look at Gilda without turning beet red. “Did it go well?”

“No, it went horribly,” Gilda said sarcastically. “I’m never speaking to either of you again.”

“It went great, babe,” Lost Way said. “Me and her had a really good talk.”

“That’s good,” Crash said with a long winded sigh of relief that quickly followed.

“Heh, worried about me?” Gilda asked as she approached Crash.

“Course I was,” Crash said defiantly. “I was worried about both of you!”

Gilda seemed a bit surprised by the honesty in Crash’s voice. After a moment she cracked a smile and slowly shook her head in amusement.

“Heh, you’re cute,” Gilda said, which only caused Crash to feel a familiar flood of embarrassment upon realization that he had gotten a bit emotional over what seemed to be nothing. “No, things went great, Crash. I… I think I really needed to sit down and talk with somepony. Your boyfriend’s a really good listener, y’know?”

Crash glanced over to Lost Way who seemed to be suppressing a smile at that compliment.

“I know,” Crash said. “I dunno what I’d do without him.”

“Will you two knock it off?” Lost Way asked. “All I did was pay for brunch and talk about some feelings.”

“Hehe,” Gilda chuckled before turning her attention back to Crash. “Listen… There’s probably a lot you and I gotta go over, too. After talking with Lost I… I think I wanna give this thing a real shot. So uh… you wanna grab a bite in a few days? Dinner maybe? Someplace that’s actually first-date worthy?”

Was that embarrassment Crash was detecting on Gilda? She seemed to grow quite sheepish as her words finished and she glanced away. Crash didn’t know if he had ever actually seen her look so flustered before.

“Well?” Gilda pressed.

Crash realized he had simply been staring dumbfounded and quickly felt himself blush.

“Dinner sounds great,” Crash said. “I should probably warn you, though… I have a pretty bad history of first dates.”

“Heh, you don’t say?” Gilda asked. “Well, good thing this is our second, huh?”

Crash put on a little smile at that and looked right into Gilda’s eyes. There was an openness and honesty he didn’t think he had ever seen in her. She was really trying to do this now. Crash suddenly felt like he had to work harder.

Crash took a step forward and craned his neck. He planted a quick kiss right on Gilda’s cheek. He could feel her tense in surprise before he backed up and glanced away.

“That’s for last night,” Crash said. “Maybe I can make it up to you for real on our date.”

“Wow,” Gilda said. “I didn’t know you of all ponies could be smooth, Crash.”

“First time I’ve seen it,” Lost Way said.

“D-Don’t lie!” Crash said quickly and pointed at his boyfriend with his hoof.

Lost Way cracked up, quickly followed by Gilda. After a few moments of embarrassment Crash had to crack a little smile of his own if only for relief that the tension from the night before seemed to be near entirely gone from the three of them.

“So, dinner,” Gilda said. “I’ll be here tomorrow at eight, sound good?”

“Sounds great!” Lost Way interjected before Crash had a chance to reply. He moved between the couch and Gilda and made his way over to Crash before wrapping a foreleg over his back. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s all ready for you!”

“What are you, my mom?” Crash asked.

“Heh, you two are such dorks,” Gilda chuckled.

Things seemed to finally be looking up for the three of them. For the first time Crash started to seriously ponder what it might be like to finally have a third member and start a proper herd. The idea filled him with worry and joy, as most exciting things in his life did. Still, in that moment with both Lost Way and Gilda next to him he felt like he wouldn’t have to handle the weight of it all alone. He was finally finding creatures to love, and to love him in return.

Second First Date

All of this was beginning to feel like deja-vu to Crash in the worst way possible. He stared at himself in the mirror at his neatly combed hair and the suit jacket clinging tightly around his body. It felt tight, which told him he had gained a bit of weight in the year since he had last worn it. His reflection stared back at him and showed him a familiar looking face with eyes riddled with anxiety.

“I’m beginning to think I’m kind of an idiot,” Crash said out loud.

“Why’s that?” Lost Way asked from behind him. The zebra slipped into view of the mirror as he cozied up to his lover and rested his chin gently on Crash’s shoulder.

“I really hate first dates,” Crash said. “But since I want a herd so bad I’ll have to keep going on them. I feel like a masochist.”

“I dunno if you can really call this thing with Gilda a first date,” Lost Way said.

“It might as well be,” Crash said as he let out a long sigh. “Without you there I… ugh, I don’t even wanna think about it.”

“It’ll go fine, Crash,” Lost Way said before lifting his hoof up and gently turning Crash’s head toward him. “I already did most of the damage control on my date with her. You just gotta work that charm and she’ll be all over you.”

“Charm?” Crash asked with a bit of a snort. “What charm?”

“You know,” Lost Way said with a giggle. “That way you say really sweet things without even thinking, and how you’re a big sweetheart without trying.”

Lost Way leaned in and pecked Crash right on his nose. The pegasus sighed once more and laid his head up against Lost Way’s own and shut his eyes. The familiar warmth of his partner settled down his anxiety a bit to where he could see the logic in his words.

“You’re gonna do great, Hon,” Lost Way whispered. “You were good enough to make me fall for you, after all.”

“Thanks, Lost,” Crash said. “Now could you maybe follow us around all night and keep telling me that when I feel like puking?”

Lost let out a little giggle as he pulled away from Crash. As he exited the room Crash re examined himself in the mirror.

Crash had been taken aback when Gilda had been the one to suggest someplace more fancy to have their date. She said something about wanting to give it a try if she was going to take their date seriously, and by that point Crash saw no reason to disagree. Though if he felt like an alien in his own skin whenever he went to a place he had to dress up it was still nothing compared to picturing Gilda in that scenario. Her outfit and attitude the night of the club fit her far more, but it was clear neither of them were willing to take a second go at a date like that quite so soon.

Crash looked into his own eyes and thought about Lost’s words of encouragement. He wondered if Gilda had suggested a place that would intentionally make her uncomfortable to put them on a more even playing field. She seemed to have far more experience than him when it came to this sort of thing, so he wouldn’t be surprised. She had to have thought this through enough to think this was a good idea, and he trusted her.

———————————————————————-

“Celestia, Gilds, you really didn’t think this through,” Gilda muttered under her breath as she let out a long and irritated sounding sigh. The beauty of the twilight sky above was dampened only by Gilda’s twisting belly as well as the whipping winter winds that bit right through her suit jacket and vest.

Gilda had never been one to wear dresses. She could dress feminine when she wanted, as made evident by the eyeliner and blush on her face, but dresses were almost always out of the question. Still, it was her stupid idea to go to a fancy resturant so she couldn’t just show up wearing similar get-up to how she had looked at the club a few nights prior. The fanciest outfit she had was this ill-fitting suit which clung to her body awkwardly. She had bulked up her muscles in the years since she had last worn it, and every little movement she made caused her to fear she might tear at the fabric. She was reminded of this every step she took, which probably was a sign that it was time to sit herself down and wait patiently.

However Gilda didn’t want to sit. She couldn’t keep herself still when she was nervous like this. She kept pacing in slow circles around the large fountain in the center of Canterlot listening to the heavy streams of water. Some kinda pony magic that she just went with allowed it to run year round without fear of freezing even in harsh cold weather like this. She had circled around the fountain so many times that she was surprised she hadn’t made a hole in the ground that went along her path.

It was getting harder and harder to remember that feeling she had when she had her one-on-one with Lost Way a few days prior. She had felt so confident and convinced that this was the right thing to do then, but as the hours ticked by and the inevitable date she had set up came closer she couldn’t help but wonder if she was fooling herself. The bowtie around her neck started to feel tighter, and suddenly Gilda felt like she was being choked.

“Uuuugh, this sucks,” Gilda quite literally shouted into the air as she cocked her head back and proceeded to let out the loudest groan she could muster. She cared not for the nearby ponies who were probably staring at her.

What she did care about however was the fact that she had just done this in front of…

“Am I that late?”

Gilda practically jumped out of her feathers at the sound of Crashing Thunder’s voice. Her tail shot straight up like a frightened house cat’s as she let out a shocked cry and nearly fell to the ground. She whipped her head to see Crash standing there staring at her looking mildly concerned. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks.

“O-Oh, hey, dude!” Gilda said. “I mean, Crash. Hey, Crash. No, I wasn’t yelling about you… Were you late?”

“By about five minutes,” Crash said with a shrug. He quickly glanced Gilda up and down before putting on a little smile. “You look good.”

“You think?” Gilda asked, and knew she sounded uncertain. “I hope you weren’t expecting me to wear a dress or anything. That kinda thing feels… weird on me.”

“I think this look suits you,” Crash said with a slight nod as he moved forward. “But uh, your bowtie’s kinda off.”

“Ugh,” Gilda groaned as she looked away. She knew just how crooked and awkward her bowtie looked, and was hoping that she had messed with it enough to where it wasn’t the VERY first thing Crash pointed out. “I don’t know how to tie the stupid thing, alright? I looked weird without it too so I… ugh…”

“Here,” Crash said with a small chuckle as he stepped forward. “Can I?”

“Uh, sure,” Gilda said.

Crash grabbed the ends of the bowtie and managed to undo the damage Gilda had caused. As he began to tighten it Gilda couldn’t help but stare down at the focused look in his eyes. She noticed that his hair was neater than usual, and he had the distinct scent of some kind of cologne.

“There,” Crash said. “Fixed it.”

“Thanks,” Gilda said as Crash backed away.

“Don’t feel bad,” Crash said. “I didn’t know how to tie one either until Lost showed me. He used to do it for me for all our blind dates before one day he got annoyed and forced me to learn.”

“Yeah, I’m not really… used to all this stuff,” Gilda said. “Fancy stuff, I mean.”

“We didn’t have to go someplace fancy,” Crash said with a slight frown. “We still don’t have to, y’know.”

“I know, I know,” Gilda said before shaking her head. “But I wanted to go someplace… I dunno, romantic? All the places I like to go are way too loud and it’s hard to hear somepony talk. Besides, I can’t get wasted if we’re someplace nice and do something dumb. Probably. Maybe.”

Crash chuckled, and that was enough to make Gilda smile. She always thought he had a cute laugh. It always reached his eyes and sounded genuine. She liked the rare moments when Crash came out of his shell and fought past his shyness to show her a genuine part of himself. Though she would be lying if she said she hated the way he was easy to make blush.

“Uh… We have some time before the reservation,” Crash said. “Wanna walk and talk a little? Or sit and talk?”

“Walk,” Gilda said instantly. “I think I’ll freeze my butthole off if we sit here for too long.”

“Ditto,” Crash said with a smile. “I could buy us some cocoa. There’s a coffee stand near here that me and Lost get sometimes when we’re out. I think it’ll still be open.”

“Chocolate and a way to warm up?” Gilda asked. “You sure know the way to a girl’s heart.”

Crash visibly looked a bit flustered at that, but tried to brush it off with a playful chuckle as he began to lead the way and walked forward. Gilda smirked and jogged up to walk beside him. Standing like this the two of them were practically the same height with Crash winning out only by the length of his ears atop his head.

The two of them spoke for a bit about meaningless topics ranging from their jobs to their plans for the upcoming days. It wasn’t until they arrived at the coffee vendor and Crash had paid for a couple mugs full of hot cocoa for the two of them that they paused under a streetlight to take a sip. By now the twilight sky had turned to dusk, and the stars were beginning to appear one by one in the sky.

“Mmm, this hits the spot,” Gilda said with a relieved sigh once the steamy cocoa touched her beak.

“Heh, glad you like it,” Crash said. “I was worried it’d be too sweet for you.”

“Hey, I can like sweet things sometimes,” Gilda said. “For example, I like your sappy ass.”

Crash snorted at that.

“What, hey, you were supposed to act embarrassed!” Gilda snapped, which only made Crash crack up more. Gilda let out a groan as she rolled her eyes.

“Sorry,” Crash said with a chuckle. “Just hearing you say something like that with a straight face is kinda funny.”

“Dork,” Gilda said before rolling her eyes and cracking a smile. “C’mon, I wanna stretch my legs before I have to act all prim and proper.”

Gilda led the way, which led to Crash trotting quickly to catch up to her. The streetlights and the illumination coming from the windows of the shops and restaurants soon became their only source of light as the stars began to show themselves one by one above. Gilda was halfway through her hot cocoa before she no longer felt all that bothered by the winds whipping at her body.

“So,” Gilda said. “It’s been about twenty minutes since we met up and you haven’t clamped up from embarrassment. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were getting used to being around me.”

“H-Hey,” Crash said, sounding a little taken aback. “I mean… It had to happen sooner or later, right? I couldn’t just shut down and have my brain short circuit every time I tried to talk with you one on one. I really don’t want a repeat of what happened at the club.”

Those words seemed to bring a hammer down on the conversation as both of them grew quiet. They walked in silence for a good thirty seconds before Crash let out a sigh.

“Sorry,” Crash said. “I didn’t mean to kill the mood.”

“No, no, it’s cool,” Gilda said as she waved her hand dismissively. “We had to talk about it eventually, right? At least without your boyfriend here, I mean. Better now than when some snobby waiter with a pencil mustache keeps interrupting us.”

“I guess,” Crash said with a slight shrug. “Me and Lost already talked about it a bunch. It helped me sort out what was messing with my head a bit. He’s really good at getting me to open up and realize why I’m panicking.”

“I’ve noticed,” Gilda said as she thought back to her own date with Lost Way.

“I think that night I just got scared when you kissed me,” Crash said. “Realizing that we weren’t just playing around and it might actually go somewhere… Suddenly the thought of hurting you or Lost made me panic. I feel stupid that I didn’t think about it that hard before and let it just hit me right then and there. I felt like I was treating you more like some kinda experiment to see how it worked but then all of a sudden it hit me. You could seriously get hurt if I did something wrong or didn’t take it seriously… that just scared me, I guess.”

The way Crash spoke was slow and introspective. He had clearly been sitting on these thoughts in his head for some time. He looked down at his hooves as he kept walking with a slight frown on his face.

“You know,” Gilda said. “You’re one of the nicest ponies I know.”

“Huh?” Crash looked up and over to Gilda, who suddenly felt her chest tighten at the sight of his wide blue eyes.

“Y-You know,” Gilda said before glancing away. “I keep telling you I’m not used to creatures trying so hard to keep me around. When I try to push them away they usually just let me. You weren’t the only one scared that you might end up hurting somepony.”

“Gilda…”

“My jealousy sucks,” Gilda said. “Even knowing it’s part of me that I don’t like I can’t just turn it off. I keep telling myself I’m okay but in the back of my head I just… I just have this nagging fear that suddenly I won’t be okay with you and Lost. That you’ll give him too much attention instead of me and I’ll turn back into that bitch.”

“Lost Way told me about your friend,” Crash said.

“Rainbow?” Gilda asked.

“I hope that’s okay,” Crash said as he nodded his head.

“Naw, it’s fine,” Gilda said. “I hate explaining myself again and again. Thank Celestia your herd isn’t bigger cause I’d be really sick of this if I had to go through a few more creatures.”

That was enough to make Crash chuckle, which in turn brightened up Gilda’s mood a little bit.

“I wouldn’t hold it against you though,” Crash said.

“Hold what?” Gilda asked.

“If you got jealous,” Crash said. “This herd thing isn’t for everypony. I had my crisis at the club thinking I was wrong about it being for ME, and I’ve wanted this for as long as I can remember. I know it’s not easy thinking of somepony you love with another.”

“Oh, so you love me now?” Gilda asked.

“I…” Crash instantly blushed and looked down at the ground. “That’s not what I…”

Gilda started to crack up. She loved watching Crash squirm when she teased him. It made the tense feeling in her chest loosen up the tiniest bit. She reached out her fist and nudged Crash on his shoulder with it.

“I’m just kidding, dork,” Gilda said.

“You and Lost are really good at that, yeah,” Crash said softly.

“I get what you mean, though,” Gilda said. “Lost and I talked about it a little. I think I get it a bit more now. Different partners serve different needs or whatever. How I’d feel about one of you wouldn’t change how I feel about another. Y’know, if I actually decided to do this whole herd thing with you nerds.”

Crash looked over at Gilda, and the gryphon realized it was her turn to feel embarrassed. She felt her cheeks flush but she refused to look away as their eyes met.

“Can I ask one question, though?” Gilda asked.

“Sure,” Crash said.

“Why’d you pick me, anyway?” Gilda said. “I know Lost or whatever’s the one who made the first move for you two but he obviously did it cause he knew you thought some way about me.”

“I uh…” Crash started, but then paused. “It’s a little embarrassing.”

“Oh, and me talking about my rampant jealousy issues isn’t?” Gilda asked.

“No, no, it’s just…” Crash bit his lip briefly before taking in a long breath of air. “I guess I just admired you a lot. Looking at you from the outside you’re kind of like how I always wanted to be. You always seem so confident and strong, but you were still nice to me and Lost when we hung out at the gym. When I got to know you more this past week I only felt stronger about those feelings. You’re actually… better than I thought you might be.”

Gilda paused and stared at Crash who was looking down at his hooves. The two of them had stopped walking and were standing directly under the light of a lamp post. Crash glanced over looking sheepish but still confident in his words.

“Guess I screwed up that perfect image at the club, huh?” Gilda asked.

“No, not really,” Crash said. “If anything it made you feel more… real. It’s not as scary to talk to you like this anymore. I feel like I understand you more. I like you for you, Gilda, flaws and all.”

Gilda blinked and stared at Crash. It took Crash a moment to look over at her and then suddenly look sheepish.

“Wh-What are you staring at?” Crash asked.

“Nothing,” Gilda said. “You just… you can be weirdly romantic when you don’t mean to be.”

“Lost says that too,” Crash said softly, clearly embarrassed by what he had said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get sappy like that.”

“Heh, I’m starting to like sappy,” Gilda said before gently punching Crash’s shoulder once again. “Hey, don’t you think we should be heading to that restaurant sometime soon? What time’s our reservation?”

“Ah!” Crash let out a loud gasp as he looked up to the sky. “Crap! You’re right, we should really get moving!”

Crash began to move, but before he could take so much as a step Gilda reached out and grabbed him by the foreleg. He paused and looked down before looking up with a puzzled expression.

“What is it?” Crash asked.

“Nothing,” Gilda said. “Just… Thanks for trying so hard on me, Crash.”

Crash paused, and then chuckled softly.

“No problem,” Crash said with a smile kind enough to make Gilda’s chest feel tight.

“Okay, now let’s go,” Gilda said before moving forward and grabbing Crash’s foreleg once more to drag him along.

—————————————————————————————————

Surprisingly the two of them made it to the restaurant with time to spare. They had opted to fly, which saved them some time. However Crash was keenly aware doing so had messed up his combed mane and ruffled his suit jacket a bit. However for once Crash wasn’t overly obsessed with how he was presenting himself. By the time the two of them were at the table and well into their meal he had all but forgotten just how nervous the idea of this date had made him feel earlier.

“Celestia, say what you want about those hoity toity ponies,” Gilda said as she took a sip of her dark red wine. “But they sure as heck have good taste in wine.”

“It better be for that price,” Crash said.

The two of them had managed to have a downright delightful dinner so far. As soon as Crash had sat himself down at his table across from Gilda he had forgotten just how out of place he felt in the environment. He and Gilda talked with ease to the point there was hardly a lull in conversation save for when one of them wanted to take a bite of food or a sip of their drinks. Gilda told stories of her time as a kid in flight school and her temporary gig working on the weather around Canterlot. Crash talked about his job with the royal guards and shared stories of how Lost Way used to get the two of them in trouble by pushing Crash to do things he would have never done without encouragement.

Gilda was busy laughing at a story Crash had just finished telling, and was loud enough for a few of the other patrons to glance at their table. She tried to stifle herself but it was no use. Crash was trying his best not to crack up as well. Both the wine and Gilda’s laughter were equal catalysts for him to join in.

The sound of a small group of musicians rang just above the sounds of the chatter filling the restaurant. A violin sung while a piano played a melody in sync. It was pleasant. Crash had never taken the time on all his other dates in places like this to really appreciate the atmosphere, as he had always been too nervous and self conscious.

“This isn’t half bad,” Crash said as he swirled around the wine in his glass. “I guess I finally get why ponies like high end places like this.”

“If you ask me it could use a bit harder booze,” Gilda said. “Maybe some rave lights.”

“Yeah, the lack of any blackout drunk ponies puking on the dance floor really brings down the place,” Crash said.

“Shut up,” Gilda said before snickering. “I won’t lie though… I’m not as miserable here as I thought I’d be.”

“It’s probably because we’ve gone through almost two bottles of wine,” Crash said.

“Well, that and decent company,” Gilda said.

Crash couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I dunno about you,” Gilda said as she sat back and pushed forward her near empty plate a few inches. “But I’m stuffed.”

“You wanna head out?” Crash asked.

“Yeah, I think if I stick around here any longer I might get one of those dumb accents,” Gilda said. “That or I’ll stop finding that waiter’s tiny moustache funny, and that’d just be a travesty.”

It wasn’t long before Crash managed to call over the waiter to get the check. He insisted to Gilda that he be the one to pay for it, but in return she demanded to be the one to leave a tip. She practically demanded a to-go box to stuff the rest of their complimentary bread into before they got up to leave, and looked quite pleased with herself when she managed to squeeze every piece into the tiny tub.

By the time the two got outside it had chilled considerably. It seemed neither of them wanted the date to end quite yet, so they quietly walked around the side of the restaurant and through the outdoor seating area that was closed for the winter. They were close to the musicians in the restaurant, and from just outside the window were able to hear them even better than before. They found a small bench that hadn’t been covered in snow and sat on it together and stared into the busy restaurant through the windows.

“This was nice,” Gilda said. “I dunno if I’ve ever actually had a proper date like this.”

“Do you think this makes up for the club yet?” Crash asked.

“Totally,” Gilda said. “But next time let’s just get junk food and see a movie or something. I dunno if I can handle another night trying not to laugh at the uppity ponies here.”

Silently Gilda leaned up against Crash, and even grabbed his foreleg and hugged it gently. Crash could feel his body tense, but not in a bad way. He could smell a light tinge of perfume on her feathers that he hadn’t noticed before.

“I honestly never saw myself doing this much just for some guy,” Gilda said softly. She ran her talons gently up and down Crash’s foreleg.

“Doing what?” Crash asked as he tried to control his pounding chest.

“Dressing up and going someplace nice,” Gilda said. “Much less enjoying it. I dunno, most guys and gals I go out with don’t take things as seriously as this. I never thought I’d say this but… it’s nice to be treated like this. Romantically, I mean.

Crash chuckled softly. It was clear Gilda wasn’t used to putting her feelings into words like this. Gilda stayed silent for a few moments before picking herself up off of Crash’s body. She stared down at the ground with a slight frown.

“I know it’s dumb to say,” Gilda said. “But I really feel like you and Lost Way helped me grow. I thought I had to just deal with all my flaws on my own before you two. I really didn’t take the idea of the whole herd thing seriously until… well, until after the club I guess.”

“I don’t think that’s dumb,” Crash said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted a herd to be. Caring about and helping each other. I care about you not because I think you’re some perfect gryphon or anything, but because you’re you.”

“Heh, care about me?” Gilda asked. She looked over to Crash with a cocky grin.

Crash felt his cheeks blush, but for once he bit his tongue and demanded he not take it back.

“Yeah,” Crash said. “I really care about you, Gilda. I… I really think you’d be great for the herd.”

Gilda’s eyes widened slightly upon realizing her usual teasing wasn’t working. It was her turn to blush now as she looked down.

“Y-You don’t have to decide on anything right now,” Crash said quickly once a few moments of silence passed. “I just… I want you to know I think that I’m done with seeing how this goes. I don’t want just anypony to join me and Lost, I want you.”

“Jeez,” Gilda said. “There you go again being all romantic.”

Gilda smiled softly while still glancing down at the snow. Behind the windows the current song came to a halt and a new one began a few moments later. This one was slower, and the sort of thing Crash expected to hear at a ball at the castle. Gilda glanced up in the direction of the musicians.

“Hey,” Gilda said. “There is one little thing I wanna make up before tonight’s over.”

“Yeah?” Crash asked. “What’s that?”

“I wanna dance,” Gilda said.

“H-Huh?” Crash asked, and felt his heart pound in his chest.

Gilda stood up and turned around before extending her hand toward Crash.

“Don’t be a wuss,” Gilda said. “I’ve never done any kinda slow dance with a stud like you before. C’mooon, the music’s perfect!”

Crash stared at the extended talons for a second. His belly twisted a bit with nerves, but when he looked up to Gilda and saw her smiling face he couldn’t help but suddenly feel like everything was going to be okay. He gingerly extended his hoof and was quickly pulled up off of the bench and closer to a small clearing. Gilda pulled him close.

“I uh…” Crash said. “The only time I’ve ever slow danced was with a mare in middle school.”

“Yeah, and how’d that go?” Gilda asked.

“Not great,” Crash said. “I kicked her shins cause I was so much bigger than her and didn't know how to lead.”

“Well good for you I know how to lead,” Gilda said. She extended her head and pressed her cheek gently against Crash’s own. Crash wondered if she could feel the warmth on his face from his blush.

Gilda moved slowly, and tugged at Crash gently to follow along. He mostly stared down at his hooves to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid and step on her talons. He was a bit behind in her movements, and nearly stumbled trying to catch up. She lifted one of her hands and gently stroked the side of his neck where her face wasn’t.

“You’re tense,” Gilda teased. “Just close your eyes and listen to the music.”

“B-But I…”

“I’ll guide you,” Gilda said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Crash bit gently on the inside of his cheek. After a moment he shut his eyes and put his faith into Gilda. The sound of a violin rang out, and suddenly very little existed aside from the music and the warmth of Gilda’s body pressing up against him.

One step. Two steps. Three steps. Four steps. Crash moved slowly and allowed Gilda to pull him along. He allowed his face to gently graze against her feathery neck. As he breathed in he couldn’t help but notice just how familiar her scent had become, even under the perfume. It calmed him.

The two danced slowly. It was one of the most basic slow dances two creatures could do, but that didn’t really matter. Crash stopped thinking about how his hooves moved and began to think more about how soft Gilda’s feathers were and how much he liked the smell of her perfume. She was so warm, and it made his chest feel the same. Her talons squeezed around his hoof and pulled him along, and the two simply swayed with each step.

For those few minutes nothing else in Equestria seemed to matter. Nothing mattered except the two of them and the sound of the beautiful music. Crash forgot about the chill of the wind and the worries of the herd. He cared only for Gilda and that simple dance that they were sharing. As the music came to an end he slowly opened his eyes and pulled his cheek off of Gilda’s own. They stared into each other’s eyes.

Something about that moment just… felt right.

Crash leaned in and pressed his lips gently against Gilda’s beak. She gave a small sound of surprise, but very quickly relaxed. Kissing a beak was far different from kissing Lost’s muzzle. It was hard instead of soft, but not unpleasant. Something about it felt just as right as when he kissed Lost, but for entirely different reasons. He pulled away slowly, and the two’s eyes lingered.

“Was that… okay?” Crash asked.

“Huh?” Gilda asked.

“That’s only my second time kissing a beak,” Crash said sheepishly. “Did I do it okay?”

Gilda cracked up. Then she laughed. Then she struggled to contain herself as Crash stood there blushing.

“It was fine, you dork!” Gilda said before raising her talons and placing them on either side of Crash’s cheeks. “Goddamn you’re so freaking cute.”

Gilda leaned in and this time kissed Crash. It was far more passionate and forceful than Crash’s had been, but not unpleasant. She took control of the moment as lips and beak locked. Crash could feel his heart pound in his chest harder than ever. He lifted his own forelegs and wrapped them around Gilda’s neck and held her like that for the remainder of the kiss. Her body in his forelegs for so right. Everything about this felt natural and like it was always meant to be.

The two stood there in the snow, and kissed to the sound of beautiful music. Time seemed to slow down just for them to the point Crash was unsure how long they had been sitting there.

One thing he knew for sure was that he didn’t want this moment to end, and he wanted Gilda to be a part of his life forever from that moment on. He could only hope she was feeling the same.