Haven stared down at the sights of Maretime Bay. She had wanted to rush over and ask ever so nicely what her precious Pipp was doing on the internet as soon as Zipp broke the news, but it was impossible to move around her schedule even a jot as ruling was a matter of perspective. If she decided to go off and fix this slight issue- her Pipp was gifted and wonderful and all that, but she was naïve and running headlong into a sexual tryst- it would be costly. Wonderful in theory, but costly. She knew that from experience and while she got two wonderful mares as compensation for her labors, there was as mucg heartache and pain that any relationship had within. There had also been great amounts of joy within her loving marriage, but relationships took a clear head and good amounts of work. And dear sweet Pipp was rather temperamental.

Haven hoped that arriving unannounced in this section of Equestria would be fine. Unlike Alphabittle who loved her company for a myriad of reasons, Phyllis Cloverleaf had never liked her one bit. A judicious difference of opinions between the both of them made them unable to see eye to eye on numerous societal issues. But when one party decides that burning effigies and handing out propaganda about racial purity was a great idea. . .well, Haven found she couldn't get past that.

"Your Majesty, we are ready to land at your discretion. Where exactly would you like to disembark?" Zoom's voice came in loud and clear from her small microphone that was included for each and every personal Royal Guard of theirs. The discreet technology was hidden in their helmets and It had been Pipp's idea since she had many of her backup dancers were drawn from the Pegasi Guards. She had called it a "retrofitted two way microphone and Zipp had provided the schematics. It had been one of the last times the pair of ponies had worked on a project together. She felt the small microphone next to her ear and smiled. She thought of her daughters every time she used it.

"Thank you, Zoom. While we are in the less regal version of the Royal Carriage, I think landing at that Crystal Brighthouse that Pipp and Zipp reside at currently is accetable." Haven felt a twinge at her own breast as she wondered if Pipp still lived there. Haven had herself moved quickly in love and marriage and while it wasn't a three week affair, it had been a real scandal.

She had raised her daughters to he best of her ability and like how she saw Zipp as so much like her father, Pipp was so much like her. And that made her worry. Pipp would probably be a wonderful Queen- but Haven had to temper her own moral failings with age and wisdom. While it was a tradition that the eldest would inherit, she had almost decided to make Pipp her first heir. . .bucking tradition for the modern age.

And then Pipp was just too much like her.

"I hope this isn't too sudden. I hadn't even sent a missive of my intentions to visit the either of them."

***

Sprout carefully adjusted his reading glasses and sighed. He had spent most of his free time in the last week or so reading through Canterlogic's different rules and regulations- addendums and proposed bylaws included to find some kind of loophole that his mother and her lackeys had forgotten about. He had hoped that his grandfather's laws would be antiquated enough to be useful but unless he wanted to appoint a duelist and propose a fight to the death for the control of Canterlogic. . .his mother had been rather thorough with her wordings. And outside of a no confidence ruling or a fully catastrophic restructuring due to gross mismanagement, his mother would probably stay in power.

He placed his glasses on his desk and groaned. "So honor duels are out because knowing Mother, she'd force Posey to fight and that has multiple problems there. And I can't use the normal "breach of common decency" morality clauses that some Zephyr Heights conglomerates use to corral upper management. I've seen Mother hold mock hangings for the public good and then have us all take commemorative photos. How do I take down somepony who's normalized that? Even Sunny had her own issues in combating Maretime Bay's insular issues. . ."

He would have continued to wallow in the futility of it all but a loud banging came from the front door and it startled him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the clock and, seeing that it was too early for Posey to be up yet, Sprout rose to his hooves. "Coming. Coming." He shuffled his papers together again and cantered over to the door. "Who is it?"

Pipp's voice wavered through the shut door. "Sprout, let me in. Please."

Odd. While he wasn't doubting it was Pipp on the other side, he hadn't heard the popstar's voice like that before. She was usually full of confidence and was usually slightly annoying with the way she spoke. But she sounded oddly normal. Terse even. If that was Pipp on the other side of the door and not some shapeshifting menace that sounded like her, it was a major problem.

Sprout unlocked the door and before he could let Pipp in, the pink pegasus pushed open the door herself and slammed it shut behind her. Pipp looked barely put together, her golden hairband absent and her hair uncharacteristically messy. She nervously paced about with an eye always at the door behind her.

Sprout tried to cut the tension with a simple question. "Uh, hello there, Pipp, what can I. . .and Posey once she wakes up. . .do for you? I mean not like I hate surprise appearances but its barely eight in the morning and that isn't your schedule. Though Hitch might have told me wrong."

Pipp's eye twitched. "Oh you know. The usual. Princess things. That's what I'm doing. Not totally worried that for some reason my own mother is here in Maretime Bay. Right now. And she didn't warn us, and that's never a good thing cause if she's off her routine, there's only a few things it could be. A surprise nice visit where Zipp and I have some fun with her and bond over things. Zipp hates those. But the other reason is that she knows. Zipp told her and she. . .freaking. . .knows about Hitch and all of that stuff."

Sprout rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. That. Posey mentioned that. Your sister had this whole issue last week? Week and a half ago. . .with Posey and she solved it by forcing the issue. So yeah your mom already knew about it. Plus you two weren't exactly subtle about it. Uploading porn to the internet of the two of you would have sooner or later caused issues- especially since Hitch and your mother met at least once with the whole "Thanks for Bringing Magic Back Ceremony" she held.

Pipp stared blankly at Sprout. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. That is so much worse. It'd be one thing if she learned of it a day or two ago. She wouldn't have time to stew in her anger. But nearly two whole weeks of her obsessing over it. I'm so dead and Hitch is extra dead."

Sprout sighed. "Sit down and relax. You want something to eat? Posey and I don't have much outside of pizza stuff and ice cream- we know what we like and all that and we're both adults and adding vegetables to pizza is a nice alternative to using so many pans- maybe we have some breakfast stuff. . .I think." He hadn't gone to the market to buy anything with Posey for weeks since a part of him knew that if he did, the town would gossip about it and parts of the town already did a bit too much talking about Posey and him already. He didn't mind too much since he was totally fine with the stuff Posey chose anyway. It wasn't like his mother would barge in and make a scene about his food choices. Well. he figured she might, but with how Posey and his mother mutually despised each other, a nice equilibrium had formed. So random pizza and ice cream it was. He wasn't complaining and as Posey put it rather delicately, they were burning all those extra calories by fucking.

Maybe things would change once a baby actually was more real to the both of them, but for now it was doing just fine. Their current living situation was like an oasis of mutual understanding. Their lives really only got complicated the moment they stepped out the door. Or in the current situation, a certain princess barged in and placed her issues on the table.

Pipp tapped her hooves together. "I wouldn't mind it, but I doubt you have a triple chocolate mocha coffee in there. Or maybe a quiche. Or an omelet with bechamel sauce and infused with herbs."

Sprout frowned. "I know what those are, sure, but I've never had most of those. And I doubt Posey of all ponies would have something that fits your princess tastes. We might have some chocolate cereal instead.

Pipp twitched slightly. "That will be just fine."

***

Posey sighed as she listened to the hurried explanation of Pipp's as the three ponies walked into view of the Crystal Brighthouse and its large doorway. "So all I have to do is entertain your mother? Why again do I have to do this? Sure, I've become oddly used to waking up and doing really stupid plans in the name of community service but this is a new low. Even if Hitch might be held hostage by your own actions. Which we don't know if he is or not."

Pipp huffed and stared at the pair of earth ponies. "Yeah, well, while sex is the most mindblowing experience I have ever experienced, I thought that maybe we wouldn't ever broach this subject and that if any known issues came up we could work those out."

Posey shook her head at that. "Fine, but you and your sister need to learn how to actually talk to your mother. Seriously how hard can she be?" Posey opened the door to the Brighthouse and quickly figured out that at least at first glance, Queen Haven was rather good at her job. Or at least she could act intimidating on command.

Haven sat comfortably on one of the couches that took up the main room of the Brighthouse, her posture both regal and relaxed in how she looked about the room and commented on every little nook and cranny she could see from her perch. "Izzy, if you had told me that you were Sneaksy, I might have approved a Bridlewood delegation of artists much faster than I did. Though after looking around your little place here I should have seen the signs. Artistic bits of color choice and the way each stroke or use of your canvas is a hint of intent. Your creative nook is so you," She briefly smiled at the slightly nervous Izzy. "I might have to commission you for something later. Thunder, please provide the mare with my contact details later so we can catch up- especially since this isn't the time or place to exchange such pleasantries. . .don't you agree, Hitch?"

Hitch sat on the other couch, flanked by both of Haven's personal guards, their armor shining under the artificial lights and faint hints of wingblades glinting in their plumage. Two weighty bladed polearms crisscrossed in front of Hitch and prevented his escape from this decidedly unpleasant talking to.

"Pipp consented to the whole thing. She even was the one who brought up the recording of it. I said it might be a bad idea. . .we're both rather important so I thought filming it from the waist up on my end would be a good thing." Hitch's face went through a myriad of emotions as he tried to place how exactly the news had been broken. "Did Canterlogic tell you or did you cross reference my physicals. . .because Canterlogic demands photo evidence for every physical. You could have figured out which worker it was just by the photos they take of everyone's. . .junk. It's for breeding purposes. At least I think it is." He looked down slightly ashamed that the thought had crossed his mind.

Haven looked at him with a scowl. "How uncouth of them. But no, while I could go on all day about my dear Phyllis and her racial hangups and hatreds, I had a much easier time with you two. Let's not ask if Dear Leader aborts any racial miracles. She was always one to take her proclivities too far." Haven cleared her throat and sighed. "No matter. Zipp provided me the evidence and while she was rather reticent on these events- taking an entire month before spilling the news. . .I have to say that while I disprove of her choice of username on these horrible forums," she shot a look at Zipp who blushed and looked away. "I think 'HappyEndings6969' did enough for our purposes."

Pipp charged in and stared daggers at her sister. "That was you? You've been an hundred bit a month subscriber for nearly an entire year. I did videos for you about a whole number of topics that I don't even like. Seriously you made me watch videos on how to fly made by you. And sports. You called yourself a Zippster. Which is weird cause I keep hearing from ponies that you hate that. So what is it? Do you like the nickname I gave your fans or not?"

Zipp stammered out a hurried mess of words in her defense.

Haven raised a hoof and turned to look at the new arrivals. "And here is my rather wonderful daughter and the whole matter of the affair. And I can talk to you later Sprout, we can catch up on a whole number of things." Haven moved to Posey and her expression of confidence that had been cultivated for nearly three decades on the throne faltered for a brief moment as she was thrown back to fillyhood for a brief moment. She breathed slowly to regain herself and nodded at the spitting image of a phantom. She had known her first royal guard had moved to this town due to the letters sent back and forth, but to see it so plain made her heart flutter for a brief moment. She breathed out and let her motive for being here hide her excitement. "And you, I don't know your name yet, but if my daughter decided to drag you along, I guess you must be important."

Posey nodded, hoping that the Queen was more stable than her daughters.

***

Haven held up a hoof for a moment. "Zoom, Thunder, drop the weapons. While I'm perfectly fine with intimidating a stallion because some of them do not get the hint that mares aren't playthings to toy around with, it seems we can all act like perfectly reasonable ponies." She swept her eyes around the room at Pipp, Sprout, and Posey who had each taken a seat on different chairs. "I'd offer to give you adults tea or brandy, but alas, unlike Bridlewood's inhabitants, I can't cast that form of magic. . .Izzy be a dear and supply our friends here some refreshments."

Izzy demurely nodded and skittered around the room trying to work the coffee machine as quietly as possible.

Haven crossed her hooves in thought as she searched Pipp's face for an answer to this conundrum- she had given everything to her daughter, tried to foster a world where she could be whatever she wanted, listened to her rant and rave about technology she barely understood or could even turn on, and yet here she sat with her little Princess untangling a stallion issue. She could hear the words from her own mother echoing from the grave. "So have you been using protection? Or a pill? Because while I'm decidedly not like Cloverleaf. . ." she glanced over at Sprout, who uncomfortably shuffled in his chair. "Sorry about your mother. . .but while I'm not her, you can have any child this tryst may produce no matter if its a pegasi, earth pony, or even somehow a unicorn. . .I can't understand why you chose him of all ponies."

Hitch sat there confused. "What does that mean. I'll have you know I was voted Maretime Bay's most eligible bachelor. Though that wasn't of my own choosing."

Haven rolled her eyes. "Of course it wasn't. But I was talking to Pipp here. Why. I mean I get not wanting to be with Sprout. That choice of suitor wasn't on my radar originally, that was an attempt at a white flag with Canterlogic. But I tried adding your whims and hobbies into it after that first attempt: Zephyr Heights' most eligible author of the macabre. Then multiple attempts at musicians, dancers. . .even "influencers" though most of those ponies were rather heinous when I ran background checks. I was close to asking Alphabittle for help in this dating dilemma of yours since he. . .seems rather knowledgeable. . about unicorn matters. . .and he could widen my search for a potential partner of yours." Haven stumbled over her words for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts. "Uh, I thought of everything I could to make this work and the first stallion you meet in this town just so happens to be compatible. He's decidedly average in comparison to the pegasi models I looked through."

Pipp's face flushed crimson, not with pleasure but with rage as she stared down her mother. "Yeah, well I chose him and he's perfectly fine to me. There's some flaws that I might not care for- his complete inability to watch scary movies, his failure as a public speaker. His abs." Pipp threw up her hooves in disgust. "I don't even know why all of Maretime Bay cares about that trash. They are great and all but I don't boil down Hitch to a nice pair of abs. If I wanted a pony with abs, I'd have dated my backup dancers. Electric Blue's members date fans and each other all the time. No tabloids lose their mind whenever any one of them date a pony they work with. But no, the moment I date somepony of my own choosing, you beat down the door and hold him hostage."

"But I-"

Pipp glared at her mother. "You want to know why I am dating him? Sure the sex is nice and the bits are rolling in, five, even ten times as much. But I chose him cause he has a real good heart, charisma by the spades, and most of all a house. You think I don't sometimes lose my mind when Zipp or Izzy or Sunny has some weird hangup that day and, as a roommate, I have to listen to their problems. Love the three of them but sometimes I need a house away from the crazy stuff they cook up. And most of your suitor choices, mother, were rich beyond measure, but most of them didn't have a house." Pipp got up and stomped off in a huff, everypony else had gone silent since the pop diva rarely popped off.

With a final loud slam, Pipp left the Brighthouse.

"As one of the three Pipp mentioned, I get it. Sometimes I get in the crafting mood and focus so hard on that. Or Sunny and I relax by trying out magic, that gets fun and exciting. Though our bed budget sometimes runs low when Sunny's alicorn strength kicks in. So who wants coffee?" Izzy shrugged and floated over the coffee.

Sunny uncomfortably felt the myriad eyes of everypony fall on her for a brief moment. "I do. I definitely want some coffee now."

***

Sprout stared up at Mane Melody and grimaced. Posey had set up this whole plan to fix, or at least bridge this issue and she had decided that sending him to talk to Pipp would be far easier than having her do it. He didn't mind, he could handle Pipp at times- while he didn't like walking into M.M. because it felt a bit too friendly at times- too focused on selling him a makeover and he was perfectly happy with how he looked. He didn't need a hooficure or a dye job or any variation of care to feel perfectly content. They might be nice, but Posey was perfectly happy raving about his looks and attributes just fine.

"This is going to suck." He pressed forward and heard the bell announcing his presence. "Is anypony here? I want to talk to Pipp about some things. I brought pizza." That wasn't a lie, he had walked to the pizza place in town and bought some. Sure it was awkward because he still remembered far too well how his relationship started with Posey right there in the booths, but a gift of food greased many a business proposition. Or an apology.

Jazz smiled ever so briefly. "We're closed. I told Rocky to lock up since it was an emotional emergency, but it seems he got slightly distracted." She sighed. "He's rather new about Pipp's mercurial moods. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart."

Sprout stared at the rather large hair salon. "So you're going to close shop for the day because of this. Seems like a terrible idea for business."

Jazz laughed. "That can happen because Mane Melody is what Pipp calls a side hustle- she makes more bits in an hour via sponsorships, podcasts, livestreams, and her perfume business than this makes in a month. This is her hobby and creative outlet. She keeps pestering me with ideas about future projects- feather dye products being one of them. Which is such a headache. Have you even tried dyeing pegasi feathers? They are built to wick away moisture and all that. It's a bloody nightmare."

"So Pipp. . .can I talk to her?" Sprout would have loved to talk business since he had been raised since birth to see an opportunity and grasp it firmly by his mother's coaching. But time was of the essence and he suspected that Posey was having a terrible time with the blubbering mess that Haven was when he left the Brighthouse.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Would you even leave if I said no? Can't call the cops since from what I could infer from Pipp's hurried explanation that her mother has Hitch in a situation. Plus I can't even call Canterlogic cause I still think even if your mom hates you, you can't be arrested by them, family privilege and all that." Jazz sighed. "Damn it, I told Pipp that this would be terrible for business- sure we get sponsors from Bad Kirin and the like but I knew that Queeny would lose her mind. She did that when Zipp and Pipp moved here, she did it when Zipp learned to fly. Goes on and on further back than I know- probably a mama bird worried about the chicks leaving the nest situation." She waved a hoof. "Go on, though be careful. Pipp loves throwing hooves when she's in a mood."

Sprout carefully walked through the mess of Pipp's relaxing sanctuary, stepping over pillows and perfume bottles, computers and clothing racks. He slid up to what he thought was Pipp. He thought the hastily made pillow fort that had a faint glimmer of light shining from within was enough to confirm Pipp's presence.. He tapped gently on the pillow to show that he was there.

"Go 'way." A pained moan came from within. "If it's Jazz, leave the food. Anypony else, I refuse to talk."

Sprout smiled and opened the box of pizza he had. letting his hooves push the hot pizza smell into the impenetrable pillow fort. "An offering."

He could hear Pipp fumble about in her cavernous abode and a pink hoof snaked out the crack of the pillow fort and felt the stiff cardboard box. In one swift motion, the pop princess snatched the whole pizza away into the depths of her plush fort and Sprout waited. He had learned this particular trick when Posey was rather miffed at him- it didn't happen often- but when it did, all he had to do was appease her with food and it usually made things bearable.

"Want to talk about it? What was it about Blue Fantasy?"

Pipp grumbled and a green eye peered out. "Not really. But we can talk about other things. And it was Electric Blue, only the hottest pegasi modern rock band in existence. Sure there's the Sky Knights and Fear of Falling and Motionless Rainbows, but those were old school, back when electric guitars were newer and wing technique was not a thing. Then boom, Electric Blue comes on and they made wing tapping a thing."

Sprout cocked his head. He had expected Pipp to have knowledge about music- at least a rudimentary one since he had been forced by Hitch to listen to her music in what the orange earth pony called "bonding sessions" but he never would have expected her to like something out of her genre. "-you like rock music?"

Pipp briefly nodded. "I did flirt with an idea to be a heavy metal star when I was younger. Zipp kept talking about all these new bands and how cool they were and one thing led to another. Mother was completely aghast when I came dressed up as the lead singer of Swish. The rainbow face paint and a foal's attempt at a wing dye job probably ruined the Manesqurade Ball. Though she seemed totally fine with it at first. Then once the guards told her who I was, well it shifted."

"What do you mean?"

Pipp bitterly laughed. "That's when I learned she's. . .what did the doctor call it. . .face blind. If I had become a rock star- the way I wanted to, she'd probably never realize who I was on stage and that hurt. She rave and rally against my rockstar persona and flip moods I'd be her little princess. It would be stress city and terrible for my mood. And we can't have the princess of the Heights talking about downing the system. It was devastating once I realized I couldn't combine my love of makeup with the freedom I felt playing rock music. Cause I was really happy in that moment. You know how hard it is to be nine and have reality come knocking?" Pipp breathed out. "I've always wanted to find something that brought me the joy I felt back then. And being Princess Pipp and having an adoring mass of fans feels nice, but its sometimes hollow. Like they love the idea of me and they don't care about the real pony on the inside." Pipp glanced out at Sprout. "And yes, I know that Hitch has a whole shrine to me too, but he's really sweet and the time we've had together is. . .like that brief moment of joy I had when I was little. Bright, exciting, and fleeting. Not exactly the same, but close."

Sprout stayed silent for a moment, taken aback that Pipp wasn't some vapid mess. He felt a twinge of pain as he remembered the last musicians he knew, quietly thanking that Pipp was nothing like them. "Have I told you that I love rock music. I mean Posey likes it too but she didn't make a whole rock opera when she was leader of a mob. I did. Even had basic choreography down." He chuckled. He hadn't thought of his time as Maretime Bay's first and, currently, only dictator by choice in a positive way before. But letting the creativity take hold of him was nice. He had let his Canterlogic pride get the best of him and he had driven the town to a religious fervor- he still couldn't look at some ponies since he knew what they had gotten up to. But at least he still had the hastily written music to show for it. "It wasn't pretty."

Pipp popped her head out and stared at him, her mood shifting immediately. "Tell me everything. Cause that sounds like my jam. Spill it. I mean I know what happens and all but interviews are my thing on my podcast and the Posey one did numbers. And I'm all for gossip and speculation, listening to the hot new tea makes me feel better and with how I'm feeling, I need some spicy info. Can I record it?"

***

Posey sipped the coffee that Izzy had provided and tried to mute Haven's blubbering nonsense. She'd deal with that after she drank this coffee- Izzy had a way with coffee and the rich dark flavors of the roast woke her up and kept her focused on what truly mattered. She tipped it back and set the cup down, crossing her hooves in thought. Plan A didn't work. Ignoring the queen's plight had just made her cry even louder. Plan B hadn't worked either- Zoom and Thunder had rolled out the karaoke machine and it had devolved into a sobfest of "No Hugs" and "Parents Suck", both good songs by the Dreamlands but it wasn't the time or place to wallow in misery.

She groaned. Maybe she was getting too sentimental in her advancing pregnancy, but Posey knew she had to step in for one reason. And that was everypony else sucked at telling it straight. Sunny was a pushover, Izzy was nuts, Zipp was avoiding eye contact with her mother, and Hitch was still frozen due to him probably thinking Haven would order his execution.

Hopefully Sprout was doing better with Pipp, though with how flighty that mare was, she didn't expect much.

"Equestria to its one and hopefully only queen." She hadn't asked Sprout the logistics of Equestrian politics, so she hoped she was correct. "Can you stop bawling into your fainting pillow and actually hold a conversation?" Direct confrontation was Posey's strong suit and while most of Maretime Bay thought of her as the bitch supreme, at least she cut through most of the red tape of propriety. "You want a. . .thing to fix your face cause your makeup is all messed up."

Haven looked up puzzled at the comment and glanced at a nearby mirror. She looked terrible, her bleary eyes and ruined makeup making her look more like a racoonicorn than a pony, dark rings of purplish black makeup smeared itself over her coat. If the tabloids could see her now it would probably be a mess of libel and slander, but she tried to breathe slowly. She knew that tone of voice so well and now she was certain she was staring at a ghost.

"Equestria to Zephyr Height's only princess. You want a tissue? Or a shoulder to cry on for your totally real stallion issues? Or do you want to talk about your horrible mother?"

Haven let the memory pass and carefully dabbed at her eyes with a hooferchief. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually this bad."

Posey shrugged. "Seen worse. You should see Sprout when a romance movie hits its final moments, he's there sobbing like a baby. Honestly with the hassle of all that." Posey waved a hoof at Haven's face. "-I just don't really wear makeup. For that and if I work up a sweat, I'd just blind myself cause damn."

Haven shivered at the tone of voice this mare was using in her presence. Most ponies saw her station and deferred to a sense of proper decorum, their bows more reflex than true belief, but still she entered a room and there was silence. That was normal. That was expected. There hadn't been somepony who talked to her truly as an equal- barring her late husband- in decades. And the pony in front of her reminded her too much of Skyflower.

Haven breathed out and composed herself, pushing down her flood of tears. Alphabittle could handle her hurt if she needed more of a tender hoof. "I dare not to ask such a probing question, but who are you related to?" She was pretty sure, but to have her suspicions confirmed by the horses mouth would solidify it.

Posey cocked her head in confusion. She had prepared talking points to handle each and every sob story she could imagine a royal pain to whine about, but getting jabbed with that question threw her off her groove. She was not used for crying ponies to hug her. She was "Skyflower Zeph. . ." Posey didn't get to finish that sentence as the pink mare glomped her in a strong hug that surprisingly hurt a lot. "Did I misread the situation or not?"

Haven let go for a moment, her cheeks blushing crimson. "I. . .uh. . it's a long story. You have time or, if not, I can invite you to Zephyr Heights. Though I doubt Phyllis would love that."

Posey rolled her eyes and waved a hoof. "Love to but I'd rather focus on the here and now currently. So did you get most of the whole bawling your eyes out finished cause I have other stuff we could do. Namely get Pipp's attention. Give me a moment and I'll text Sprout my plans. . .oh and fuck her, sorry, sorry, royal niceness and all. Once we get this mess over and done with I bet Sprout and I'd love a vacation. I'm not going to agree to it until we get this thing sorted."

***

Pipp leaned back on her fort of pillows and felt way better. She rarely let out her emotions since she was always on- an influencer's job was not difficult, just emotionally taxing. Breaking down and showing the mortal side of yourself when everypony had a camera caused issues. Moreso if you truly messed up and needed to apologize. Bottling up all her issues was easier in a way. And food helped. "Got any more of those churros or are we out?"

Sprout stared at the empty box that used to be full of sweets and shook his head. "Ran out. I tried looking for more since Posey usually likes stress eating too and nope."

Pipp sighed. That was probably a sign from somewhere that it was time to do something cause while her deceptively high metabolism made it so she could do things like this and not suffer as many consequences, she'd rather not fill the emotional hole with stuff. She learned some of that lesson when she had almost bankrupted herself buying designer horseshoes and where every meal was ice cream after a particularly bad album drop. She had gained like twenty pounds due to stress and constant eating. "Fine. What do you think I should do? You know besides actually talk to mother cause I really don't want to do that. Unless I have to."

Sprout shrugged and felt his phone vibrate. "One moment." He swiped through his phone and stared at his phone for a moment. "Okay, that's something. Hey, Pipp, so how bad would it be if your mom leaked your relationship status to your fans?"

Pipp's eye twitched. "She wouldn't. It'd hurt the whole system in Zephyr Heights, you know how many bits the crown gets from ponies thinking they could pay me enough to be my coltfriend? That's my whole tier 3 subs that don't realize that my porn tapes aren't staged. And that's on top of my internet posts that totally hinted that I was into Hitch. Some of my fans are really into me. And the merch sales would go down slightly. She'd crater the goodwill I helped rebuild after the whole debacle of us almost going to jail for outright societal fraud for like a whole decade. It'd be the nuclear option."

Sprout frowned. "-well Posey texted me that she's going to do that if you guys don't talk. That and imprison Hitch for improper royal encounters. Some ancient pegasi law? Something about defiling royal flowers and bridal prices plummeting. Posey seems confused in this text. That or your mom sucks at explaining things right now."

Pipp deflated and sighed. "But I had this whole thing planned out. Mope and write about the incredible pain I'm going through, then after things blow over in like a whole week I'd be able to talk to her without me worrying that she'd need the whole Royal Guard corps as backup. . ."

Sprout raised an eyebrow at that. "You'd take on all of those guys? I mean they seem ineffectual but that sounds implausible. Unless you know martial arts I doubt you could take on a royal battalion."

Pipp waved a hoof. "No. I'd just threaten a coup, it's much easier and she always backs down then. It's the theater of things and we both know actually going through with it would ruin the whole monarchy. Think of it as a really unhealthy way to show dissenting royal opinions. And it's not like I'd bring it to the net. There's ways to do it safely. . ."

Sprout rolled his eyes. "That seriously makes zero sense. You'd threaten a takeover because your feelings got hurt?"

Pipp crossed her hooves. "Not like you'd do any better or does Hitch telling me you got all serious recently tell me something other than 'family issues needing to be resolved via commercial intrigue' isn't on your plate."

Sprout blinked. "How did you. . ."

Pipp smiled. "This is why you could never beat me at chess. I could read you like a book. Well, it helps that after meeting your mother, I'd be down for some good old fashioned revolutionary change. Though I seem to be a vapid mess, I just play that part incredibly well. How else do you think I don't go all kooky dealing with the highs and lows of the music industry? Good lawyers help and being seen as weak and vapid makes ponies write me off as incredibly safe." Pipp got up and grimaced at her emotional binge. "Yeah, I should totally find a better way to deal with my feelings. . .the internet already debates if I'm chunky. Let's deal with this now. It's one thing to go through normal royal channels, its another to put Hitch in prison. What would his crime even be? Sexually blowing my mind? Like passionate sex is a crime. If I was Queen I'd make bad sex a crime. The sheer pleasure foreplay gave me made the whole second act way better."

Sprout cringed. "Can you just stop talking about sex, please? I still have the image of you two doing it on his desk on my mind."

Pipp smirked. "We totally go at it like rabbits, Sprout, that's what my mother wants to take away. Hot, passionate, unstoppable banging."

Sprout gagged.

The pink pegasi princess covered her mouth with a cloudlike wing as she tried to stifle a laugh. "Couldn't resist. Plus the few stories Posey shared with me to explain how sex worked? You two get up to way freakier stuff than us. I had to ask the internet what half the terms she mentioned even were. Heck, I had to look up thicc once because ponies wouldn't stop commenting it on my posts. I had no clue what Posey was talking about until I looked up porn. Those were some horrifying images." She breathed out and composed herself. "Okay, okay, game face." She glanced in a mirror and sighed. "Terrible game face at that- barely even have makeup on. Give me five minutes and we can deal with this like responsible ponies."

***

Haven closed her eyes and breathed out, slowly counting to ten and wishing that Alphabittle was here to handle this madness. Though if he was, that would open a whole other can of worms- the pair of them had kept their relationship out of the tabloids and quiet. Introducing a new relationship of hers while dealing with her daughter's very own relationship issues would just be hypocritical. "Why is Hitch hanging upside down? And what's with the costumes."

Posey smiled as she carefully slid into the spandex and cape, grunting softly as she slid the costume along her baby bump. "These aren't mine if you are asking. Ask Casanova here why he made superhero costumes."

Hitch swayed like a pendulum back and forth from the sheriff's office second floor. "I'm going to be sick, Posey, let me down. And who hasn't wanted to be a superhero? It's a cool power fantasy and I barely even remember making them since it was during that whole time Sparky was missing. I wasn't even thinking straight. I worried myself into a tizzy and made them."

Posey rolled her eyes. "Stallions and their silly ideas. Now we just have to wait for my favorite stallion and Pipp. Can somepony help me with the zipper, somepony made these costumes have zip up backs instead of the side. Thunder don't give me that look, Sunny's friends work out their problems in dumb ways, this makes sense. Anyway you and Zoom helped Hitch out for the search for his dumb dragon- as Sprout explained it to me, all three of you looked ridiculous."

Haven mentally noted that. She was totally fine with the pair of pegasi doing what they did together- Zoom and Thunder were her two best guards in the whole force and worked fantastic as a unit. She just didn't expect it from Thunder to join in some oddity like this. He was usually the pony who balanced out Zoom's reckless ideas.

***

Phyllis stared dumbfounded at the cameras that sat across from the Sheriff's Office. She had been pulled out of a perfectly nice quiet lunch thinking of ways to try to work out her son's issues. A good mother would figure out multiple plans to ease out her children's terrible ideas. She wasn't nervous about the silence coming from Sprout or his madcap mare. Fear wasn't in her vocabulary. "You're telling me Haven entered my town without ringing me up and warning me about it? It's sure nice I hadn't planned any pro earth pony rallies this week. Imagine if she entered the food pantries and did an audit on food quality. And that's before Alphabittle has been pressing me for more unicorn acceptance and trade. Sweets, also tell me why our dear Sheriff is trussed up like that?"

Sweets uncomfortably fidgeted, the pink earth pony running a hoof through her mane as she tried to come up with a graceful reason. "Uh, well, you know how you like keeping tabs on all of Canterlogic branded or affiliated workers in the Bay? There's this one thing that might, just might, be the reason he's like that."

Phyllis turned to her assistant slowly. "Which is what? You usually keep me abreast of all situations, Sweets, you're my front line of defense between law and order and the dismantling of traditional values. What, pray tell, is bad enough for you not to tell me before we have some nonsense where Sprout's whore is dressing up in spandex like a complete menace to society."

Sweets tapped her hooves together. "Hitch broke rule nine in the company code. The new addendum rules with the nicer language to fit current Unity standards."

Phyllis took off her glasses as she tried to remember the nicer rules. "Let's see rule nine. Company relations. Haven's brood isn't related to the company, there would be no reason why the idiot is trussed up like a prize hog. . ." Phyllis blinked since she remembered exactly what rule nine was before the purge. "You can't be fucking kidding. That's why Haven's here, he screwed one of her abhorrent daughters. Probably not the older one, always gave me butch vibes that one did. Of course she didn't provide a courtesy call, she pulled royal prerogative on me. Curse father for providing the Heights with that olive branch."

Sweets nodded. "There's video evidence too, ma'am. Should I fire him after this or not? The whole dating outside of your race thing is a well documented rule set by you. Keeps the bloodlines pure. Going by the rule, he should be canned immediately and a replacement set in place."

Phyllis' eye twitched, the last few weeks had been a nightmare on her sanity. From the Filly Four debacle that she had messily fixed to this, she could feel her grip on Maretime Bay slipping. "And what? Replace him with my dear son who has his own issues? Plus the town adores Hitch and his stupid charisma. He pays for the law enforcement budget via his stupid calendars. Tell him to keep his relationship quiet."

Sweets frowned. "Looking at the videos we can't do that. The pink princess filmed it all. It's probably going to hit the news so . . ." Sweets cowered as she waited for Phyllis' rage to bubble up. She had been working as her assistant for so long that she could tell immediately when the older mare was on the last of her rope and she was near it.

Phyllis breathed out and punched through her desk, snapping the hard wood with a well placed strike. "Leave and call R&D. Maybe they have a bot or something that can deal with that. I know the scientists blow our budgets on stupid ideas. Earth, they probably have something built from the last time they indulged their mad science. Let them handle it. And if they somehow beat it, doubtful, have a scapegoat ready to go. Say a water main broke or a oil leak. Ponies eat that up."

Sweets bowed and cantered out of the room as fast as possible.

***

Pipp stared at the sight in front of her and wished that she had a livestream going. "Posey, we got your text and while I was expecting something mondo crazy cause its Maretime Bay and I walk two feet and step into what Sunny calls a 'Friendship Issue' but this is a bit much. I get Mother and her theatrical vibes, I expected that Even Zoom and Thunder since they helped Hitch find Sparky that one time. . . but you don't seem too into dressing up like a goofball and holding my stallionfriend hostage."

Posey balanced herself carefully on her hind legs and wobbled slightly due to the odd posture before she pointed directly at the short pink princess. "And that's how this worked."

Sprout rolled his eyes. "You texted me, Pose. You didn't have to get the cosplay convention to draw us out."

Posey frowned. "Sprout. I had a whole villain speech planned, practiced it all and everything."

Sprout shrugged. "You probably did. You can show it to me later, in a better outfit. The Empress Posey one you sewed together- its kind of cute, if weird, that you made that, but it fits way better than that outfit. Though I love the view, leaves very little to the imagination. Two hooves up."

Posey rolled her eyes. "I'm like three months pregnant and I'm shocked this thing fit."

Pipp facehooved. "While I'd love hearing you two hit on each other can we please get Hitch down from there? He's looking really pale and I don't want to see what he looks like throwing up."

"Oh sure, Thunder can you-"

"By order of Canterlogic, please leave the streets. If you do not leave the streets, we are permitted to use force." A loudspeaker screeched to life and blared out a message that could be heard throughout Maretime Bay. "The Director of Canterlogic has ordered all ponies to return to their homes."

Posey cupped her hooves and yelled at Sprout, since the blaring siren and voice was making it hard to hear anything else. "Sprout, what in the world is going on?"

The red stallion shivered at the thought and readied for the worst. He didn't have an exact idea, but he had an inkling since it sounded like something he had come up with when he had been in control. The idea of martial law was a massive power trip to him and he had committed some rather heinous things in keeping the peace.

Though he hadn't realized it at first, he loved the power since it made ponies pay attention to him and take him seriously for the first time in a long, long time. And as the hairs raised on the back of his neck, he realized that while his Mother disavowed each and every single weapon he had dreamed up- she had kept the R&D department going. And those tinkerers were probably dying of boredom.

A smaller version of his Sprout Robot, painted industrial grey rolled through the town. It looked similar, but at a quick glance he could see slight improvements to its build quality since Sprout Maximus- he cringed at that name since it screamed "I need to get laid so bad " since he had secretly named it after his pet name for his dick- had been built haphazardly and under extreme duress since he had whipped up the entire town into thinking the pegasi and unicorns would invade and destroy the town any minute. The R&D team had seemingly refined his machine after six months of secrecy and Mother had decided to let them test it out.

He glanced at the odd superhero like ponies surrounding him and sighed. Mother had to be under a lot of stress, but it didn't allow her to turn a weapon of war onto them because she wanted order. He didn't know exactly if that was her reason, but years of listening to her talk about law and order and putting it firmly on a pedestal and having that ideal smashed to bits every time Sunny and her friends- and Posey fucking his brains out, to be fair- had to wear on her. And knowing how she ran the company, she was rather good at passing the blame to somepony else- he doubted even this mayhem would throw her out of Canterlogic. She had built a cult of personality around herself and she could do no wrong. If his mother could marry law and order, she would.

He had imagined asking Haven if she would be on his side if he did a vote of no confidence weeks and weeks from now- he had sketched out the general plan of things, a slow change here and there, getting ponies on his side. Asking the leaders of the other tribes to pull their deals. A nice and slow tumble of her house of cards. But his mother didn't work like that- she had a face that was magnanimous and nice but she could be quick to anger and so this giant robot fit her so very well.

"Are you freaking serious? There's another of those things?" Pipp crossed her hooves and pouted. "What is with you Cloverleafs and giant robots?"

"My grandsire was a mechanical genius. We Cloverleafs had built up the whole town, he had provided the spark to fully electrify it. Mother had other good ideas on our way to modernization- barring her earth pony first ideas, and I built weapons of war for like two weeks when Hitch left me in charge. Call it a familial flaw or a need to create. And Posey, I know you are giving me a look right now, but its not the time or place to comment on how how it is. We can talk about each and every idea I had while I was Emperor Sprout later, in private."

Posey shrugged. "Caught me. Okay, so how do we deal with a twenty foot tall robot?"

Sprout quickly looked around and sighed. "Cut down Hitch, we need everyone we can use for this. It's not going to be pretty, but here's the plan.

***

"So why did you stay back?" Haven cocked an eyebrow at her pristine pink daughter. She knew that Pipp wasn't a fan on danger like Zipp, but she knew her daughter's mercurial moods well enough that seeing her in the same room after such an emotional blowout would normally involve kicking and screaming or at least taking away her phone and electronics.

Pipp nervously swiveled back and forth in Hitch's desk chair. "I'm not in a giant robot mood. I wasn't in a supervillain mood either, but today is just not my day. I get Maretime Bay can be weird, but I'm fine with weird. Heck, I scroll through internet threads all the time where ponies chat about being possessed by ghosts, but I know my limits and dealing with whatever that is. . ." Pipp cautiously pointed at the large robot who currently was cutting a swathe through with a large amount of missiles, laser eyes, and massive tank treads. "Sunny and the rest of us dealt with one of those before, I'm all robot-ed out."

Haven sighed. "I'm sorry."

Pipp cocked her head. "For what exactly?"

Haven rolled her eyes. "You know. . .for all this. The holding your stallion hostage." Haven tapped her hooves together. "I've just been so busy and. . .distracted with my work. Helping connect Equestria in this new world of unity. . .though with how Phyllis seems to collect weapons of war for a rainy day, I expect our next few meetings will be particularly frosty. Or at least more frigid than usual. I just acted after seeing you in such a compromising position, online and all that rot, it was just a lot to take in. Though I should have seen this day come sooner or later. Zipp is an adult and while I definitely don't approve of her overall choices- primarily her excessive drinking and not her choices in mares, she's an adult. I guess I still thought of you as a foal still, or at least young enough to not deal with the weight of adult decisions."

Pipp hugged her mom tight. "Aw, that's oddly sweet. But a part of me will always be needing you, somewhat. You're still my mom and all and I might need random help or advice."

Haven breathed out. "That's good. Alphabittle told me I was probably overthinking things. I guess I was. He's rather good at calming me down after I overthink things."

Pipp's eye twitched. "What was that?"

***

Sprout skidded to a stop as he ducked behind a brick wall. This wasn't going particularly well and he hoped the town would be fine with rebuilding the entire town square since it now looked like a small warzone- the fountain that dominated the middle of it had cracked and it was currently spilling gallons upon gallons of water. He carefully checked his hooves for broken glass since the shockwaves from the explosives had shattered probably every pane of glass in a three block radius.

"Bad news, Sprout, there isn't a pony in the cockpit." Zoom landed hard and rolled to cushion the landing. "It's remte controlled."

Sprout cursed and facehoofed in frustration. "The Fantastic Stallions, issue 97. I had to get ideas for war weapons somewhere- at least the first bits of inspiration as a base since Canterlogic was far more focused on control and defense at the time. I gave R&D a few issues of old comics and they said they didn't have time to build electrical receivers for direct input." He glanced over the wall and saw Zipp and Thunder act as distractions for the robot, their patterns more like buzzing insects than the complex bag of tricks either pegasus knew. He thought he could see Hitch clamoring over the machine to find an opening, but with the smoke and dust the robot had kicked up, it had become difficult to fully see what was going on.

"Speak Equestrian. I doubt any of us can keep this up all day."

"It's a drone. We need to get it out of town cause if she added any other failsafes I had drawn out, then we need to get it out of town just in case it has a final explosive on board. Hitch, Posey, and I will do what Earth Ponies do best and you three draw it towards the sea. We should have an easier time doing that at least, it seems to be out of missiles, thank earth. On the count of three, let's do this."

"Should we follow them or should we stay here? I'm just wondering since its been a fair while that I've been without royal guards." Haven stared at the devastation and mayhem the robot had caused with an almost flippant attitude. She did feel a pang of sadness that this wonderful town with its quant architecture would need to be partially rebuilt due to dear horrible Phyllis deciding it was that time of the month to choose violence, but the only thing Haven cold do as a ruler would be relief work and jobs. Anything more and she'd get Canterlogic branded emails on how she was a terrible monarch. You know, normal revolutionary drivel. Well, she wouldn't call it drivel if it was genuine calls for revolution but like most Canterlogic things, there was always an invisible hoof and a cost that they wouldn't say.

"Mom, I'm right here, and if that stupid robot is going away that's a good thing." Pipp swiveled in Hitch's chair. "Hitch would freak if his office was a smoldering ruin." Pipp checked her hooves for a moment to check for any cracks or chipped paint. "And anyway we were still on the whole telling me that you and the leader of Bridlewood were seeing each other. And with my new understanding on what that could mean. . .first, ew. And second, doesn't that make all of this spectacle a tiny bit hypocritical?"

Haven rolled her eyes and crossed her hooves. "First of all, Alphabittle Blossomforth is a perfectly wonderful gentlestallion that I bonded with through our similar jobs and backgrounds. We were both looking for a partner or a friend to share in our lives and give our later years some nice moments and it blossomed into something more. I still miss my dear sweet Goldbriar and his antics and he misses his family- I dare not pry into exactly what happened there but by how he stares wistfully out into the distance when I broach the subject, it must be something raw."

Pipp sighed. "I don't need the life story, I am just saying its hypocritical. So you held my coltfriend for emotional ransom while you get to do all the weird stuff with what? My future stepdad?"

Haven blushed crimson. "We have not thought fully about the future and if we did go beyond our current arrangement, we wouldn't just spring that kind of news on either of you."

Pipp raised an eyebrow. "I don't really want to ask, but what is that arrangement?"

Haven tapped her hooves together. "You know, game nights with him, he's rather good at twenty questions, dancing, board games, cards. He even introduced me into this Ogres and Oubliettes thing that seems rather fun in a sort of creative way. You should try it, you can make any character you want and play as them in some wonderful, magical adventure."

Pipp facehooved. "You just play games with him and that's it?"

"We do more than that, but unlike you I don't post my private time with stallions for the entire world to see."

Pipp threw up her hooves. "The ponies who pay for access for PonyFans are paying customers and I can send privacy takedowns for the video copies- its a whole system, mother. It's a thing. Every celebrity has it or something like it for their fans and I didn't just throw it up, I spent like a whole week figuring out how the adult section worked. I plan everything I ever do because I know there's going to be backlash from fans, from the tabloids. . .everywhere. I just didn't expect such a harsh backlash from you. I expected something, I always do, but. . ." Pipp's words trailed off as she tried to fight back tears and failed.

Haven breathed out and let her snap judgments and worries go. Sure, she was still highly worried about her daughter and still could see facets of her own past indiscretions and faults written plainly on Pipp's very own actions, but her daughter was her own pony, her own self, and she was still a fragile butterfly that could get hurt by the world's cruelty. She held her hooves out and her pink daughter fell into them. For a brief moment she saw her as that wonderful young filly that wanted to take on the world. She was still there, still as wonderful, smart, and unique as she ever was. "I didn't meant to, sweetie. I just was worried. I mean I'm your mother and. . .I'm sorry. Okay. I messed up and here's a deal, we both have our relationships and we let them be."

Pipp quickly wiped her eyes with a wing. "I wasn't going to agree to break up with Hitch anyway. I'd have just found some other work or done something different. I've done it before."

Haven wondered what her own mother would say. The apple seemed to not fall far since that was exactly what she said about marrying Goldbriar. even if he was just a random colt she had chanced upon in the market selling perfume that had fancied the secret princess on an adventurous stroll through her city. He was a positive gentlestallion who had shown her a side of the Heights no royal visit could- the true experience of the common folk. But her mother had known about her emotional tryst with a simple commoner from the beginning and one cool fall evening, the Queen herself had walked up and laid down a harsh ultimatum about the ponies she was cavorting with. Haven had laid a counter offer to Queen Petunia with "if I can't have him, then I'll just become some commoner then you don't have to care about my life choices."

Honestly, if Petunia had met her her granddaughter, she would have died laughing as she held up her personal hoof mirror and said Haven and Pipp were cut from the exact same cloth. And then she would have invited the three of them to tea.

***

"Okay, keep holding it down, Hitch, and breathe. Flora magic is a bit of a mess when you add stress into it." Sprout carefully placed his hooves in the warm sand and felt around for the hints of magic that he knew was there. He hadn't practiced much with his magic, but with how explosive his attempts had been- from enlarging an entire fruit without any issue to the blowout mess that had been just a few weeks ago with the Filly Four. . .he surmised that he had a knack for earth pony magic stuff. How ironic. It almost made him laugh since he grew up thinking magic was the scariest and worst thing ever and how freeing technology was.

And here he was with Posey and Hitch trapping a robot in a blanket of plants.

"It's not my fault, I have no clue what I'm even doing." Hitch looked uncomfortably out of his depth as he tried to add onto Sprout's careful net of plants. Hitch's own tentative attempts wrapped the undergrowth in poisonous plants- nightshade, poison ivy, oleander and more that neither Sprout nor Posey could name. Posey dealt with plants ponies wanted in their houses that didn't cause things like rashes or death so she knew of a few plants there that could be classified as a weed.

Sprout sighed. Hitch was helping out fine enough but growing things via magic wasn't his specialty. Though to be honest, Hitch would have helped way more if animals could overpower a robot. It had been one of his many plans he had come up with but he couldn't imagine bunnies disarming missiles or birds deflecting lasers so Plan A it had been.

It had gone rather well since the large robot was stationary, dim laser pulses had been constantly going off but with how the blanket of greenery ensnared it and its general location, the robot was rather ineffectual now.

"What now?" Posey huffed as she lay down on the sandy beach, the clanking whirr of the motor in her ears. She stared out at the idyllic ocean waves and groaned as the stress of the last hour hit her. "It's tiring, but I doubt Canterlogic would allow a thing like that to be public knowledge. Makes your mom look worse than she already does. Breaks the image of her being a nice leader and all."

Sprout shrugged and watched Zoom, Thunder and Zipp splash around the beach, the pegasi using their wings to scoop up water and fling them at each other. "She'll find some reason. It's all optics and spin. Rampaging robot stopped by a crack team of Canterlogic branded team members. . .due to a freak missile, the oil line in town exploded. It's super simple." Sprout lay back, careful not to touch Hitch's poison ivy patch and fished out his phone and quickly dialed his mother.

He knew she was particularly livid since she took an uncharacteristic four whole rings for her to pick up. She was usually so punctual about her phone, especially her private number. "Hey, so we dealt with the robot, mom. Yeah, it's out of the town, you'll find it at the beach. Kind of hard to miss. And we don't even have to mention it if you let us have a vacation." Sprout listened to his mother hem and haw about things that didn't really matter right now. He was exhausted and the pinkish sunset was far more interesting than whatever his mom was saying. He hung up on her and smiled.

"So what did she say?" Posey rolled over and raised an eyebrow.

Sprout cradled her in his hooves and debated on taking her right then and there. Though he pushed that thought aside quickly since he was on a public beach with at least four other ponies. But the adrenaline rush and everything that had happened today caused his thoughts to be particularly obvious. The blood rushing to his dick punctuated his thoughts as it poked into Posey's side. "I don't really care. But I think we earned a vacation after this, don't you?"

Posey rolled her eyes and kissed her dumb stallion. "Zephyr Heights sounds good this time of year. That and the Queen offered." The yellow earth pony laughed as she watched the sun dip below the horizon. "Since Zephyr Heights is on a mountain we can say we tried out the mile high club."

Sprout grinned. "Will be odd to be there for pleasure. Last time, I spent half of my trip in boring meetings and apology tours. Will be nice just to relax and not have my mother's itinerary telling me what to do and where to be. Could even see the sights and try the food."

"We're going to eat pizza aren't we?"

Sprout shrugged. "It'll be pegasi pizza and that's unique enough for me. I could be in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and it'd be fun enough with you there."

Posey hid her face as she felt a mist of tears well up. She wasn't the emotional type but she chalked it up to the cocktail of hormones running through her pregnant self. "Thanks, Sprout." She rolled over and kissed him on his snout. "Oh and at some point, I need to get this stupid outfit off." She tugged at the lycra outfit she wore, feeling each and every body hugging inch of the costume. "Hitch doesn't know the first thing about breathable fabrics or fit. Plus I doubt it'd hold up against the things I plan to do to you in thanks."

Sprout just nodded in understanding as Posey whispered every single lewd idea she could in his ear.

Author's Note

was tempted to write this whole backstory with Haven and Posey's mom and realized I spent way too long on something that bogged down the current chapter so I cut like two thousand plus planned words. Made the chapter far more manageable imo.