Friday, September 5th, 908 AB

"You smell funny," Vines observes as the family approaches the house. "I thought it was the ducks, but it's you.” Giving Cure a critical look she asks, “Why do you smell so weird?"

"There's a very good reason for that, dam. I had four momma ducks practically throwing themselves all over me, much to the amusement of mom and dad, I noted," Cure says, giving his other two parents a mild glare.

Deed and Title simply smile back, clearly unperturbed by the colt's annoyance.

"We figure you probably did something, likely a dumb thing mind you, to earn all that attention. What kinda parents would we be if we didn't laugh at your mistakes?"

"Normal, I think."

"Your mom's right, son. We know you did something.” Bumping the colt with a foreleg he prods, “C'mon, ya know you wanna share."

Grumbling under his breath, Cure gives in barely a moment later. "Fine. I copied their… what's the word? Their chicks' scent." Wait… chick doesn't sound right. "Is chick right for a baby duck? No, wait, duh, duckling. Yeah, so when I did that I think I might have gotten the potency a bit wrong. Or the quantity. Something, obviously, wasn’t right."

Title looks at him confused, "All that was because you smelled like their ducklings? That doesn't sound like it would cause that."

"Really? Look at dam right now." Vines frowns back at the three's sudden looks. "Notice how she's staying several hooves away even now and keeps glancing at me?"

Opening the front door, Title looks over her withers at Cure. "Well you smell like a duck… and something else. What is that?"

"Cat and dog. I had to put off a predator smell to get the stupid ducks to back off. That's not my point though. I don't smell like me right now, and you're eyeing me like I'm some kind of imposter. The hens probably thought I was one of their babies with a weird pony smell they needed to clean off."

"I'm not eyeing you funny," Vines defensively replies with a pout.

"Don't be upset.” Cure waves away the issue explaining, “You have two sets of senses telling you different things. Your brain was saying “something is wrong” and you didn’t know why."

“Well I know exactly how to fix that,” she says with a predatory smile.

Knowing full well what was coming next, Cure wisely accepts his fate. With a small sigh he sits on his haunches in the entryway and lifts his forelegs in surrender.

“HA! They have you totally whipped, colt!”

Shrugging, Cure smiles as his dam picks him up and puts him on her withers. “You only get to be a child for so long, dad. Look me in my eyes and tell me you don’t like being doted on.”

With a sigh, Deed looks at his son as Vines happily trots towards the stairs. He nods in agreement saying, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Enjoy it while ya can.”

A few hours later the entire family is starting to stir from their nap.

Deed wakes up first, stretching all four legs as far they can reach forwards and back. The movement causes both of his wives to stir, one on each side. Still laying across his back and withers is his son. Between his magic use and his shorter legs, Deed figures Cure used a lot more energy than any of them earlier in the afternoon.

He can't help but note that the colt is way more solid than he had been just a few days ago. Stars, compared to just yesterday when he'd held him at the incident there was a pretty significant change; enough that he told himself he'd say something if it gets any more noticeable.

Gently laid on the cushions the parents have vacated, Cure is a bit slower to rouse, and once he does he spends longer getting ready than Deed ever remembers him taking. “Gettin all dandied up for a special filly tonight, son? You seem to have that mane in finer order than I recall you ever wearing it before.”

“Not really, I just know I’m starting to get into that age where kids label each other. I would prefer not being the “unkempt one” for the next few years.”

Finishing with one last stroke of the brush he starts towards the stairs, Deed in tow. “It may be a bit late to avoid a bad label, though. Before the duck flash mob hit us, Heavy told me that he ran into Ferric Shine last night. Apparently she was there in the park and heard Drift’s dam talking to all the pegasus fillies after we left.”

Continuing as they walked into the living room, he explains, “I don’t think they’ll be going to social events for the foreseeable future. They’re all grounded, maybe literally, for quite a while. All their parents had been expecting them home a bit earlier, that’s why they were out looking for them when they found us. It just was bad luck that Wind’s and Drift’s parents found us first.”

“Ah, well that’s too bad. Hopefully those fillies won’t blame you for that mess. Chin up, son, there’s plenty of ladies that’d be thrilled to snag ya either way, and you got plenty of time anyhow.”

Seeing her two stallions approaching from her cushion, Vines perks up. “Oh you heard something about those fillies?”

“Just that they’re grounded for a while,” Cure says. “Dad had asked about them being there tonight,” motioning with his head towards his sire.

“Good!” Title shouts while walking in from the kitchen. She had volunteered to get dinner ready while everypony else was getting cleaned up. “They should be, the way they chased you down and ganged up on you. That’s no way for a good pony to behave.”

“Yeah, I get that. I’m a little disappointed that Drift and Glacial followed along, but peer pressure makes for bad decisions, so I’m not upset with them. Wind Shear is a nutjob, though. I never did get the name of that gray filly that tried to jump me when I had Wind pinned.”

“Well I wouldn’t worry about all that, son. Once I send this letter to your great grandpa I’m sure he’ll line up some protection for ya in no time.”

“A letter? The same grandsire of yours that was in the military?” Cure asks as everypony sits at the table and starts digging in.

“Yep. He’s kind of the head of the family. He also runs a few businesses over in Baltimare. We figured he probably has a lot more options available to him to help ya out than we ever could,” Deed explains, passing the food around.

“Oh yeah? What kind of businesses does he run?”

With excitement in his eyes, Deed lists off his grandfather’s business dealings. “He has a few delivery companies, plus a few that have contracts with the city for keeping the streets clean and removing the trash. He’s also a part owner of some of the brewing and distilling outfits in town, so he’ll be thrilled if you were right about your alcohol ideas. They’re always on the lookout to hire smart ponies like chemists and what-have-you.”

His enthusiasm thoroughly sapped, Cure pauses mid-bite. He can only stare at his sire in disbelief, “... you’re freaking kidding me right now, aren’t you?”

Vines, baffled at her son’s confusion, answers before Deed can. “No, sweetie. He’s still a very busy pony and is very successful, despite his age.”

“Yeah, the one time I met him he said he’ll quit working when his heart does. He’s a tough old warpony, but everypony says he really watches out for family,” Title adds.

“You’re all serious right now, aren’t you? Does he make ponies call him “The Don” too?”

"Dawn? Like... that unicorn friend of yours? The Sunrise filly?" Completely confused, Deed looks to his wives for a clue. Getting equally confused looks and shrugs back he looks at Cure for an explanation.

“Umm, dad, I don’t know how to ask you this tactfully, but is your family the mob?”

Not quite understanding what his son is asking, he slowly answers, “Well, there’s a lot of them, so maybe they get a little excited at reunions and whatnot. It depends on how much of the good stuff grandpa brings.”

“No, that word must not have the same context here. I mean like, the mafia…” seeing the still confused looks he breaks it down, “Organized crime, dad. Does your grandpa have a group of ponies that work for him to control territory, offer ponies protection, and sell booze under the table?”

Slightly offended by the accusation, Deed tersely replies, “No, son, why would they try to hide selling booze? They’re one hundred percent legitimate business ponies. I did forget about the security company he runs, though. They really only work around the distilleries and breweries to keep them safe overnight and keep trespassers out, though.”

“Okay, well… very quickly, in human history the mob, or the mafia, or organized crime, however you want to call them… they were business people that, when the government temporarily outlawed alcohol stepped in to supply it to the people illegally. It made them very rich and families would fight for territory and stuff.”

“Oh, sweetie, nothing like that ever happened here. Your father’s right. His grandpa is a former guard, after all. He’d never do anything illegal.”

“As I understand it, dam, former guards typically know best how to get away with illegal things.” Seeing the arguments forming from his parents he holds up his hooves in surrender. “You’re probably right, I may just be paranoid. The businesses you listed off are basically exactly what the mafia used as legitimate fronts for their illegitimate businesses.”

“Well, probably because they go hoof-in-hoof, Cure.” Adopting a lecture pose that makes Cure suppress a smile, Title explains, “He probably started off with the distillery. Well you might as well deliver stuff other than booze, so he had his distribution ponies take other jobs from nearby businesses too.”

Deed waves a hoof at her with an “Exactly!” in agreement.

She continues, “From there they probably needed ponies to keep the distilleries secure, so his own security firm just made sense. They’re probably just separate businesses for liability and financial reasons. I’m not sure how the city contracts could have come about. Deed, babe, do you have any idea about those?”

“The way he told it was one of the council ponies was in his squad back in the day. They were having problems with collection schedules and city sanitation, so since my grandpa was so good at keeping ponies organized he said something to him when they went out drinking one night.” With a proud smile he adds, “A few months later he’s running a new business and there’s no more trash problems.”

“Huh. Well, my apologies for slighting your grandfather’s honor, dad. It’s just… such a huge coincidence, though.” Sitting there in thought for a moment, Cure finally shakes himself out of it. “Well, I realize you’re the parents and all, but please at least talk to me before sending off life-altering letters or making big decisions. Is it fair to ask for that?”

“Of course, sweetie. We’ll be sure to discuss things like this with you from now on.”

“Okay, well, if you’re all in agreement that this is the way to go I’m fine with it too. As long as I don’t have to worry about somepony in a trenchcoat with a tommy gun I’m in.”

“How in the world do you know about Tommy Guns?” Deed asks.

“What?”

“The famous boxer?” Deed asks, completely serious. Cure simply nods back, still baffled. “He was a legend when my sire was a colt. Big blue feller that dyed his mane with red and white stripes?” Cure dumbfoundly nods again, so Deed continues, “Shame he died about five years back. I’m shocked colts your age even know the name. Then again he did only lose that one time. He always joked about his cutie mark; said his special talent was makin his opponent see stars.”

Okay, that’s where I draw the line. I don’t even care if there’s an Italian Stallion out there.

With a deadpan expression Cure insists, “It must be another weird Earth-Equus coincidence thing, dad. "

“Huh. Well I’m sorry we didn’t include you, we just discussed it at the pond while you were busy shacking up with all those lovely duck ladies. Yer dam wants lots of grandfoals, son, not grandfowls.”

"Deed!" Vines snaps at the stallion.

“Ugh… gross dad. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m going to have far, far more interaction with reproductive stuff in this life, but I was not prepared for what I saw when I scanned those ducks.”

Vines is happy to leave the subject alone, but Title’s curiosity eventually wins out. “Do ducks have something wrong with them, Cure?”

Deed starts laughing quietly. Cure suspects he may know from the farm work he did when he was younger.

“I don’t think dam wants to hear it. I’ll spare you the details, but male ducks are… well let’s just say different than any other male I can think of… and female ducks match them, of course.”

With a big grin, Deed pushes the topic. “Well now you got me curious, son. What’s so different? We’re all adults here… sorta.”

Looking to his dam for permission, she rolls her eyes, then relents with a nod and a sigh.

“Fine. They’re like spring-loaded corkscrews. And they’re enormous relative to the size of the duck. Oh, and there’s structures that look like barbs on them. They’re hollow, so guess what that means when they’re excited. No fun times for the hens, I’m thinking.”

“Well… that’s horrifying,” Title says, to the agreement of everypony else.

“Yep. The good news is that their eyes are pretty good. Not pegasus good, but there’s another light receptor in there that is either ultraviolet or infrared sensitive. I think it’s UV because I’m not really seeing anything different like I would if I was seeing heat.” After a moment’s thought Cure facehooves and mumbles a bit.

“I didn’t even realize it. The cat and the dog I scanned this morning both have UV receptors too. Duh! No wonder cats can see so well at night. I figured they just had more rods than cones in their eyes. Oh well.”

“Huh. I’m gonna need you to explain the whole infrared and ultraviolet light thing at some point.”

“Sure thing, mom. Maybe while we’re walking to the rodeo I can give you the short version.”

“That sounds neat, Cure.”

“Oh I also got a frog and a couple fish, so I could, in theory, give somepony gills, or just change lungs to get air from water. I don’t think there’s enough oxygen in water to actually just breathe it though. It would definitely take other changes to survive underwater for long. I haven’t really looked at the frog yet… there’s probably a lot there but frogs are weird from what I remember.”

“The big get was the catfish that swam near me. I was able to get a scan of its venom sacks. It seems to attack nerves and blood cells. The former is probably what causes pain.”

“Please don’t test that on yourself, sweetie.”

“Oh I did that already. I just turned off the nerves in the area first.” Holding up a hoof to show his frog he explained, “I just basically gave myself a tiny, tiny sting in my frog and watched what it did. I healed it up within a minute. I’m the perfect candidate for those kinds of tests, dam.”

“So… basically, you can’t be poisoned?” Deed asks. “Not that I can imagine you ever would be, but still, I’m curious.”

“I could be if I was asleep, probably. I don’t know if I could make myself wake up to isolate and counter the poison.” Thinking for a moment, Cure adds, “I bet I could come up with a gland, so if I come across a poison once it would automatically administer a counteragent if I’m stung. I wouldn’t say I’m completely immune to all poisons, but I’m awfully darn close to it.”

“Well if I ever get stung by a bee I’ll come to you first.”

“Oh yeah, definitely mom. I can just have your system make an antivenom. If I ever do make that gland I mentioned I could give you all a copy of it too, that way if you get stung or bit by a spider you’ll already be immune.”

For several minutes the conversation lulls while everypony finishes eating. Deciding that he’d trusted his family with everything thus far, Cure shares the one aspect of his ability he’d kept quiet about.

“Hey before we go tonight I wanted to make you all aware of something and make a sort-of suggestion, request, or proposal... however you wanna classify it.”

“Well that’s not ominous at all. Is there something we should be concerned about, son?”

“No, it’s nothing bad, just a tiny detail I hadn’t shared before. You know how I have always put a hoof on somepony before scanning them or boosting you or whatever?” At their nods he explains, “Well the thing is, I don’t actually need to make contact. It’s not like a unicorn where I can be far away, but within about a meter and a half I might as well be touching somepony.”

Vines is the first to figure it out. “Oh, I get it! You said your culture put a bigger emphasis on privacy and informed consent. You’ve been pretending to need touch so it’s clear when you are or aren’t doing anything, haven’t you honey?”

“Ah, that’s why you always ask permission first. That’s a human thing?” Title asks.

“He had talked about it when he first said he may be able to slow aging. Apparently humans are very paranoid about their health,” Vines explains, Cure nodding in agreement.

“I don’t think that’s a big deal, son. As long as you’re helping ponies, nopony will be upset.”

“Yeah, dam said the same thing. I’m not about to go around and start just healing anypony I come across without saying anything, but that’s not the only reason why I brought this up now.”

“You want to scan ponies at the rodeo, don’t you? It’ll be a much larger crowd than you’ve been around since you got your cutie mark.” Title observes.

“That’s it exactly. It mainly comes down to a privacy thing, if it makes sense. The logic is a little backwards, though. Basically I couldn’t make a good guess whether or not dam is going into estrus because I only have one other adult female scan to compare it to… well, two, but with mom being pregnant her scan doesn’t help. See... there’s different kinds of data. The kind I’m interested in is called aggregate data.”

“Like adding up a bunch of values?” Deed asks. At Cure’s surprised look he snorts and says, “Don’t look so surprised, son. Your ‘ol pa got both the brains and the brawn, donchya know.” Standing and waving a hoof at himself he adds, “I didn’t get by in real estate just with my awe-inspirin visage, after all.”

“Sorry dad, I just didn’t realize ponies do much data analysis. I figured that’s more mom’s speed, honestly. You’re right though, data becomes more anonymous once you have enough of it. Comparing dam’s health to Amethyst and giving an analysis based on it would be a violation of Amethyst's trust without her permission.”

“... but if you had dozens or hundreds of random, unknown ponies to compare it to, you could give a better analysis and not compromise any one pony’s identity,” Title finishes.

“Exactly. So aggregate data is the mass of data without a specific pony’s data separated out. Humans would call the other kind “personally identifiable information” and go to great lengths to safeguard it since it was typically shared with the understanding it would be private.”

“I think Equinely Identifiable Information works, son, but that'll only apply to ponies I guess. Maybe Individually instead? Triple-I? Double-I Info?”

“I dunno, dad. I think the latter is a little more clear since it gives context to the whole thing. Anyhow, I’d like to scan as many ponies as I can tonight with the understanding that I would never do anything to compromise a specific pony’s information.”

“Sweetie, this sounds like one of those things that could get you in trouble.”

Nodding in agreement, Cure says, “I’m inclined to agree, sort of. You’ve all separately said that ponies are not as concerned about medical info as humans are. That leads me to believe that nopony, or few ponies, would object to the scan. At the same time, I would definitely want somepony to ask me permission before scanning me like that. That’s why I brought this up now. I’d told you I would keep you informed when I wanted to do stuff. Well…” he finished, waving a hoof at the three parents.

“Your dam makes a good point, son. I agree, I don’t think anypony would be mad, especially since this is your special talent, but now you’ve got me thinking it may be best to hold off. Maybe next time there’s some big event we can come up with a way for you to scan ponies where they aren’t left unawares.”

“That’s a good idea, honey. Cure, what if we set up some kind of “medical scanning archway” or something. Ponies walk through and you give them the results. We would need to sort out some details, but it would be a great way for you to get your scans legitimately.”

“That sounds like a good idea, but I’m worried some inquisitive pony may want to find out more about the clearly magical archway. I could see that drawing a lot of attention. Also, I’ve brought up the changeling thing a couple times. I would like to see if my scan can identify them, and they would never walk through a scanning archway.”

“Why would a changeling go to an event like this anyhow?” Vines asks.

“Remember I said they feed off ambient emotions too?”

“Ah, so a gathering of happy ponies would feed them?” she asks, getting a nod in answer.

“I feel like this is another thing we need to talk to your grandpa about, son. He’s got much more experience in the world, maybe he could come up with an idea that we just don’t have the know-how to think about.”

"That's fair, I'll keep my magic to myself tonight. Who knows, maybe a unicorn could detect my scan anyhow. Or the guard may have a device to detect casting-like effects. I could see that encounter going poorly."

"Yeah, let's avoid two guard incidents in a row, please," Title requests.

The family finishes dinner and cleans up the table and kitchen. A round of potty breaks and last minute prep later they are all gathered in the living room.

"So how are you all feeling after the running and everything? Does everypony feel good? No fatigue or tiredness, right?"

"I feel wonderful, honey. I wouldn't mind doing that again."
"Doing good, Cure. I wish I could've done that trick about seven years ago."
"All set, sport. The shoulder never bothered me once."

"Awesome. Are you all ready to go then?” At their nods Cure walks towards the door, “Well let’s make like a baby and head out.” Ignoring the snorts from his mom and sire and the scolding “Cure!” from his dam, he bolts out the door.

The trot to the rodeo took about half an hour, a good ten minutes of which was simply them stopping by the post office to send the letter to Deed’s grandsire.

The rodeo looks to be a lot like a rural county fair. There are bleachers set up around the main arena, but Cure notes the lack of a fenced-in area. Since he's never been to a rodeo searching his memories doesn't help at all.

Still a little ways from the actual event, Cure considered what a rodeo may actually be like.

Wait… aren't bulls intelligent creatures? I know female cows are, the males have to be too. If they're intelligent and we're the freaking horses then what the hell is a pony rodeo even like?

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah, sport?"

"I just realized I have never been to a rodeo… here. What kinda things do they have?"

"Ah, different rules huh?" he asks, getting a nod. "I assume they'll have some competitive roping, maybe some goofy races, then some odds and ends strongpony kinda events like weight pulling, lifting, and hauling."

"Huh. Neat. Roping what, though?"

"It's a rope duel, Cure," Title explains, "two competitors go in with ropes and start at each other when the bell rings. The first pony to get a lasso around the other's neck wins. They can push and shoulder each other but no striking, ramming, or headbutts."

"That actually sounds pretty awesome."

"Eh, it can drag on if both are really good… or bad, I suppose."

"Do I stay with you all or am I allowed to go check out the stalls and stuff?"

"Your mother and I bought seats over in section four," Deed says while pointing at one of the bleachers, "so as long as you can avoid getting arrested you can go find some of your friends and come join us when you wanna. Got plenty of bits?"

"Yep. Thanks dad, dam, mom. I'll poke around a bit and come to you later."

Giving each a quick nuzzle, Cure takes off towards the crowd.

"Honey, are you sure we shouldn't keep an eye on him?"

"Ha! Why? I don't think you've noticed like Title and I have, probably because you're around him all day, but that colt has really put some muscle on over this last week… really, just in the last day he's put a lot on. He's not bulky but I could tell when he was laying on my back earlier. The colt's pure granite with a soft fuzzy coating."

"Don't worry, babe," Title says, "there's lots of ponies around and he can be very loud. Besides, what are the odds something like last night happens again?"

Begrudgingly agreeing, Vines follows her mates to the stadium.

The entirety of the event, he estimates, is around the size of a couple human city blocks. The "stadium" area is closest to Golden Hills' downtown area to the west with numerous stalls, food vendors, arts, crafts, games, and other attractions lining paths towards the east.

The rodeo is apparently a traveling carnival that will be shutting down for the next month after this weekend. Much like his dam had described, mares don't go stallion-crazy or anything, but the estrus seasons are viewed almost like government approved bonding time for married ponies.

The rodeo, while fully capable of staying open throughout the weeks, doesn't get enough business for the performers to justify not going back to their family for the duration. Though there is no government mandate at this time, there's still significant social pressure strongly encouraging businesses to make it easy for families to be together.

Several of the performing stallions also take the opportunity to "advertise" their availability and pedigree at events like this as well, and the successful ones have good odds of securing a profitable contract for the season. They are, after all, in great physical shape and everypony loves a winner.

Cure trots through the crowd looking for other foals his age. In a sea of taller ponies, improved eyes or no, it's much more difficult than he’d expected. Fortunately, even in the crowd Dawn Glow and Rising Pitch are both easily spotted. They’re with Delta Coast again, as well as Sapphire Sprint, a mint colored earth pony with a slightly darker green mane.

"Hey everypony! You all find anything fun here yet?" he asks, approaching the group.

After a round of greetings it's Delta Coast that speaks up first. "We're going to see what games they have, Cure. Have you been here long?"

"Mind if I tag along? I just got here, so I haven't checked them out yet."

"Sure thing Cure," Rising says as she starts walking, "on the way you can fill us in on the craziness from last night," she adds with a smirk. "Everypony heard about it!"

With an exaggerated groan Cure tells his tale, "So I was headed into town to get some treats for myself and my parents. I had time to kill and after you all got me thinking of ice cream I decided I had to get some too."

"Ah, did you get your sundae?" Coast asks. "I did after we left and it was delicious!"

"No, not exactly," he explains as the small herd makes its way through the crowd. "I ran into Drift and Glacial at the parlor. They were there with some other pegasi, so I went over to say hi just like I did tonight."

Sapphire jumps in to ask, "Was Wind Shear there? I heard you fought her and almost broke her wing!"

"That's not even close to what happened!" Cure immediately denies. "She was there, so were three others I never got the name of. Well they were teasing Drift because," adopting a waspish tone he mockingly says, "some colt came over to say hiiii," he drawls out. Continuing in his normal voice, "Wind made a joke about me liking Drifts chest, probably over the whole bruise thing."

"Bruise thing?" Sapphire interrupts.

Dawn jumps in to explain, "Drift had made fun of Cure's mark at the park, said he can't tell when ponies are sick or hurt. He proved it by pointing out a bruise her younger sister gave her under her coat on her chest."

Cure picks up after the muttered "Ahh, okay" from Sapphire. "Yeah, so I didn't like them using my friendly introduction against Drift so I made a joke about them being jealous no colts had come to say hi to them and excused myself. I bought a chocolate shake and started towards home."

"Mmm. A shake sounds good," Coast says, licking her chops.

“You should watch saying those kinda things, Cure. With how few colts there are, some fillies are really afraid of being alone, especially when they’re getting close to being an adult.”

Nodding to Rising, Cure concedes the point, “Ugh, I hadn’t really considered that. Yeah, you’re right… that could be a real sensitive subject. Still, there was no reason for them to act like that just because I came to say hi.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Still, be careful with jokes about that.”

"Right, thanks Rising. Coast, I saw an ice cream stand on the way to meet you all," Cure offers. She nods and says "later" while motioning for him to continue. Picking up where he left off his story, he explains, "Right, so they all landed in front of me on the way home, blocking the path."

"All of them?" Dawn asks.

"Yep. It didn't seem like Drift, Glacial, or two of the others wanted to be there though. They just went with their sisters or friends or whatever. I really hope they didn’t get in trouble because they never did anything.” With a sigh, he continues, “Anyhow, I tried talking the two down but Wind wasn't having it. She kept jabbing her hoof into my chest."

"So you… tried to break her wing?" Sapphire asks.

Coming to a full stop, Cure looks over to her and slowly explains, "I don't know where you heard that but I would never do something like that over a silly argument. That's a horrific injury for a pegasus. She flew home for Celestia’s sake. Would she have been able to do that if I'd done anything to her wing?"

Sapphire wilts a little under the stare and mutters an apology before the group continues to the game stalls.

"Anyhow, I said to stop, she didn't, I grabbed her hoof and yanked her off balance, then knocked her on her side. I had to pin her at her shoulders and her wing so she couldn't move. That's it, no injuries at all. The gray pegasus tried to jump me from behind but I threatened to escalate and she backed off."

Since the story isn't finished, Cure moves off the path to sit near the game stalls to finish his story out of everypony’s way.

"So you did threaten to break her wing?" Sapphire once again asks.

"Stars, Sapphire, what in the hay is wrong with you?" Dawn admonishes her friend. "He was surrounded and alone against a group of older fillies. He did the only thing he could. Are you and Wind best friends or something?"

"No, she's a jerk," Sapphire quickly insists.

"Then stop spreading whatever dumb story you heard that makes him sound like a jerk. Seriously…" Rising piles on. Looking back to Cure with an excited smile she says, "That sounds like a total hardflank move, Cure! Wind's like two or three hooves taller than you though…"

"Yeah, but I'm an earth pony, she's a pegasus," he says with a shrug. "She can fly but I'm way stronger… probably a bit heavier too since I'm a colt and all."

"Ooo he's so strong," Coast teases. With little clap she shouts out, "Flex for us Cure!"

Playing along, Cure jumps to his hooves and turns so he’s facing slightly to the side. He strikes a nose-in-the-air mid-march pose with his left front and right back hooves slightly off the ground. Yelling “You got it babe!” he flexes every visible muscle in his neck, chest, shoulders, back, sides, hips, and legs, all while laughing with the girls.

It takes a few seconds to realize that his chuckle and some distant game noises are the only sounds nearby.

"Sweet Celestia, colt. What the hay are you doing to get ripped like that?"

"Huh?" Looking around he finds all the ponies that had been walking on the path nearby, as well as the four girls, all staring at him. Looking down over himself, still flexing, he says the only thing that comes to mind. "Ah… fudge."

Releasing the flex he goes back to a sitting position and explains to the still gawking crowd, "It's my special talent."

"Being fuckin shredded?" an older teenager asks, getting a whack, presumably from his dam.

"Umm, sorta? I can help ponies be their healthiest. It, uhh… lets me get the most from any exercise I could possibly get."

"Nice," the teenager nods. "You should totally open a gym, little dude. I'd go for sure."

"I'll keep that in mind, bud. For now I'm thinking of being a doctor."

"Cool. Good luck, jacked colt," he says as the passing ponies all resume moving.

Finally picking her jaw up off the ground, Sapphire, obviously the one in the group with no tact at all, walks up to Cure and starts poking his chest and foreleg muscles. "Do it again!" She commands him.

Standing to flex just the areas she's poking, Cure can't help but love the attention. Still, when the other girls join in he starts to wonder if he's going to need the guard for a different reason.

"Alright ladies, you keep feeling me up and I'm going to start charging for the show."

That apparently snaps them all out of their haze, as they sheepishly give him a little room before sitting in a semicircle around him.

"Sweet Celestia, Cure…" Rising mumbles. "No wonder you flattened her. What the hay have you been doing for the last few weeks?"

"You were never this muscular, Cure. I know this is just since you got your cutie mark," Dawn nods, agreeing with Rising's sentiment.

"Not all of it, but I was telling the truth to that older colt. My talent lets me get the absolute max out of any exercise. My family and I ran like seven or eight kilometers by the pond near my house today. It only took us like twenty five minutes, and that's with breaks."

"That's insane. How are you still on your hooves?" Coast asks.

"Umm… easily? I could keep going… like… for hours." Drifting off Cure gets a feel for his fat stores and mumbles, “six… eight maybe?” Rubbing his chin in thought he finishes his calculations and nods, “Yeah, that’s probably right. I’d be starving by then though.”

Sharing looks with each other, the girls reach some kind of unspoken agreement.

"Do us too!" they shout together.

A bit bewildered by their sudden interest, Cure can only nod. "Uhh… I guess. We can meet at the park and go on runs and stuff. With the way my talent works you'll all be in really good shape in no time. There's a few details, but we'll go over that before we start."

"Okay!" they chorus.

Raising an eyebrow at the four, Cure asks, "Are you doing that on purpose somehow? Like… did you rehearse just in case this exact scenario came up?"

Waving it away, Dawn explains, "It's a filly thing. Don't worry about it."

"Riiight. So, we playing any games or are ya just going to poke at me all night?"

"Let's go win some stuff!" Coast cheers to the collective "YAY!" of the group. "We can poke Cure later!" she added, getting another "WOO!" from three quarters of the others.

Despite the improvements he had already made, Cure wasn't much better at the games. He managed to not embarrass himself, but Rising Pitch was definitely the reigning champ of the group. At least he was able to get the weight on the "high striker" game most of the way up despite the fact it was geared for adults.

Ponies have a modified version that transfers a buck's inertia upwards somehow. He tried to get a look at the mechanism, but circumstances prevented him from investigating it. Thankfully the buck target could be raised or lowered, so he didn’t have to stand on a crate just to take a swing.

The operator was kind enough to give him a few small WonderBolt plushies as a consolation prize. Since he passed over four and they were accompanied with a wink he must have misunderstood Cure's situation somewhat.

Or maybe, Cure realized, he's the smart one and I'm actually an oblivious isekai protagonist. I am surrounded by girls and have zero sex drive, so I'm checking almost every box on the list. How would I inadvertently trip and land first face in boobs here though? To his relief, a quick look around for bipedal females showed none in sight.

After a couple hours of playing games, chatting with the girls, and eating entirely too much sugar, Cure wishes them a good evening, distributes the plushies, and goes to meet with his parents.

Despite reassuring his wives, Deed was a little worried about his son not having anypony watching over him. He'd still enjoyed the rodeo competitions, as did both of them, but he kept a wary eye out for the colt the whole time. Fortunately he'd found a spot towards the top of the bleachers where he could see most of the fairgrounds, so he'd been able to check on Cure every so often.

Thank Celestia for that orange unicorn and the bright yellow filly he's hanging out with. I don't think I could find him in the sea of ponies without the twin suns acting as beacons.

Watching the colt separate from the fillies and start towards the bleachers, Deed returns to his seat to the amusement of his wives.

"I thought we don't need to keep an eye on him, honey," Vines reminds him with a smile. "How's he doing?"

"Great! Those fillies were bumpin shoulders with him almost every step. He's on his way back now, and they stared at his rear from the moment they separated until he rounded a corner. Poor colt'll have a dozen lil fillies chasin 'em before he even grows up. I think that mint one even scented his mane when he looked away."

"Aww, hear that Vines? He's gonna give us so many grandfoals we'll hafta make 'em wear name tags or something." Looking over to the entrance, Title spots Cure as he enters the stadium and makes his way to them.

"Hey everypony, how's it going so far? Why is dam doing the happy wiggles? Is it because dad saw me hanging out with the fillies?"

"Sure is, sport. Not much gets past them peepers, huh?"

"Nope, but thanks for checking on me anyway."

"Sure thing, son. Now how's about ya hop up on yer pa's withers so you can see the show?"

Set atop his sire, Cure actually does enjoy watching the dueling rope bouts. He'd missed much of the competition, but was in time for the semifinals.

The first round ends in only moments when the two ponies shot out of the gates at each other. With an impressive slide to the left the smaller of the two, a slate grey pony, ducked under his opponent's rope and flicked his rear, tail, and lasso out in one smooth snap, giving the larger pony no time to dodge.

To the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd the winner does a shuffle and a spin, reminding Cure of a football player dancing after a touchdown. Giving his opponent a hoofbump and a quick nod he exits the ring, prancing for the swooning mares near the front of the bleachers.

The next round ended up being a stalemate for several minutes, with both ponies slipping or dodging lassos with practice ease. The round had to be forfeited when the brown pony got his legs wrapped up after failing to completely jump over a low thrown shot. He'd apparently landed wrong, twisting an ankle and ended up bowing out rather than risk aggravating the injury.

"And that's why ya keep yer hooves on the ground, son. If he'd just let that bounce offa his chest he woulda had a perfect shot before the green one coulda got his rope back."

"Heat of the moment, pa. It's always easier to make calls from the stands, especially after the fact."

"That's right, sweetie. Now the winner of the previous round has a huge advantage though. That green pony looks pretty worn out from the longer round."

"I dunno, babe," Title says, "greenie's got some moves. Give him the five minute break and he should have recovered enough."

"Are ya kiddin me honey?" Deed asks, waving a hoof towards the grey finalist. "That grey stallion has roped damn near everypony in under a minute. Ain't no way he's gonna lose."

"Wanna bet?" Title asks.

"Loser gives the winner a massage?"

"Pfft, you just wanna get yer hooves all over me."

"Chicken."

Jabbing a hoof at Deed's face, Title yells "You're on!" and the bet is sealed.

Cure leans a bit closer to his dam and says, "If ya want, I can give you a back, neck, and hoof massage. I can't have my dam being neglected after all."

"Oh you don't have to, sweetie. Thanks for offering though."

"You're turning down a Cure massage? Are ya nuts?" Title asks, shoulder bumping Vines.

"Let the colt spoil his dam a bit, babe. You know he doesn't mind."

"Oh… are you sure?"

"You bet, dam. You'll be so relaxed by the time I'm done with ya you won't be able to move. It’s the least I can do after stressin ya out all week."

"Oh… well, that does sound nice."

"Oh! They're starting!" Title shouts, waving at the contestants.

"Ya see, son, what year mom isn't aware of is that the gray stallion there is six time national rodeo champion, Thunder Whip. I'll give greenie credit for gettin to the final, but he's got a saltlick's chance in a flood at winnin this one."

"What?! That's not fair!"

"I think I said something about not knowing things being dangerous…" Cure offers, getting an unamused glare from the pink mare.

Just as Deed predicted, Whip shot out of the gate, juked left drawing greenie's shot, spun like a top in a quick 360, and, like a bolt launched out of a crossbow, nailed his opponent with his lasso before he could even blink.

"Wow, mom. Your dude got smoked. To be fair though, that was pretty impressive."

"Thanks, Cure. I didn't notice," she grumbles out.

Celebrating again, Thunder did a little shuffle dance, this time rearing up and launching himself into a full-on backflip, something Cure didn't even know ponies could do. "Jeez…" he mumbled out.

"Yeah, that'll land 'em a couple fat contracts, I bet. You can damn near see the heat waves coming off the bleachers where that group of ladies are all bunched up," Deed laughs out.

"Dad, c’mon dude…"

"Oh please, son. After that chat yesterday I know you're no blushin maiden. Besides, I saw those fillies all over ya walking around."

"Yeah we'll need to talk about that when we get home. I kinda underestimated how much I've been bulking up."

"Oh my," Title starts with a teasing smile, "did you accidently make them all swoon while striking a pose?" Looking away embarrassed, Cure lowly mumbles a "kinda" to Title's amusement. "Every bit as absent-minded as your sire, I swear."

"Damn, son. No wonder they were all but markin ya. What'd ya do?" Moving back enough his sire could see, Cure once again struck a pose and flexed, drawing the eyes of his parents, most of the surrounding ponies, and, much to his dismay, the announcer that noticed a bunch of heads in the crowd swivel at once.

Pointing to Cure and Deed he shouts for all to hear, "Wooo howdy, young colt! That's one duuuurn impressive setta muscles ya got yerself thah. I sure do hope we see ya competin' in a few years, son. Show 'em what ya got, colt! Give the audience a big flex!"

Standing tall, Deed turns so everypony can see Cure from the other bleachers. Yelling "let 'er rip, son" he nods towards the crowd.

Cure, taking that as carte blanche, sets his magic to full blast, standing tall on his sire's back, and flexes every visible muscle on his body. The effect is just a hairsbreadth short of unsettling as every muscle's outline is easily visible in the evening sun's light, and the bulging muscles pop enough to cast a shadow on the next set down his body.

"Damn, son..." Deed mutters under his breath.

"DAMN, SON!" the announcer yells at the top of his lungs. "You come see me in about five years, colt. Iff'n her majesty's service don't snatch ya up first, that is."

"Yessir!" Cure shouts back.

Lowering whatever device is amplifying his voice, the announcer shouts to a stagepony, "Silver, grab the colt some merch and a card!"

With a nod the mare runs off to fill the order.

"Well, folks I dunno bout y'all but Imma ready ta see some metal movin! Let's get our strongpony competitors lined up!"

With the focus back on the rodeo Cure and Deed both relaxed. The stagepony mare, Silver apparently, brought up a nice set of Tejas Pete's Rodeo Show branded saddlebags that are just a bit bigger for Cure to grow into, along with some posters, a few trinkets, and a couple business cards for Deed and Cure.

"Cure, sweetie?"

"Yeah, dam?"

"I think you may be overdoing the strength training, honey."

Ignoring the "no shit" Title mutters, Cure wholeheartedly agrees, "Yeah, I think I just kept "exercising" and let it get away from me a bit. Intent matters, yanno… well I was thinkin I didn't wanna be weak when I went to bed last night…"

"Set the furnace on high and smelted too much steel overnight?" Title asks.

"An apt analogy."

"Can you tone it down some, please?"

"You got it, dam."

The strongpony competition didn't hold Cure's attention very well, but without the distraction he did notice a particularly big pony setting up the obstacle course. Looking with his enhanced vision, it seemed to Cure that this behemoth just had to be something other than a pony.

"Dad, is that stallion over there an earth pony? I've never seen anypony that big."

"Yep, he's a real biggun, ain't he? I know some earth ponies can be big like that, but I've only ever seen a few in my time. The princess herself is barely eye level with him, I'm betting."

"Jeez. That's gotta suck to be that big... unless you got access to the royal coffers, at least. Having to pay extra for any home or furniture to be custom built, not to mention finding a mate."

"Yeah, there's definitely a point where being bigger is a curse. That right there, in my opinion, is well beyond that point."

The obstacle course ends up boring Cure immensely. He isn’t sure exactly why they don’t just call it a race, as there’s barely anything he would define as an obstacle on the course. There are some hurdles, a mud pit, and some other minor inconveniences on the loop around the stadium floor, but that’s it.

Damn twenty first century entertainment has completely spoiled me. Between that and the colt brain I don't think live shows are going to do much for me. Little interest and barely more attention span… not a good combination.

It was around the tenth pony's run that Cure noticed he had something trying to pierce his skin on his back. A very small, unwelcome something. Scanning the tiny invader, Cure conjured up a tiny pocket of catfish and bee venoms directly in the path of the proboscis and let out a dark chuckle at the poor mosquito's short, horrific plight when it took a sip.

That’s a spicy meatball, ain’t it ya sonuvabitch? I swear even if the rest of my life sucked I’d be pretty happy walking around poisoning those shits every day. Talk about acceptable targets. I can't even force myself to feel bad for any level of cruelty to these parasites.

Analyzing the scan gave Cure two things that excited him to no end; infrared sensors and a highly specialized CO2 detector. Though unsure when he'd ever need to hunt something down, Cure was confident that any breathing organism would find it nigh impossible to escape him at this point unless it could fly or teleport miles at a time.

"Uhh, son? Kinda creepin out the mares here. Do ya mind easin up on the sinister laughin a tad?"

Looking over, Cure sees both Title and Vines eyeing him a bit warily and leaning away slightly. With a reassuring smile he explains, "A mosquito tried to get me. It didn’t go well for the little blood sucker though. I’ll try to keep evil cackling to a minimum."

"Thanks, son."

“Geez, it’s like y’all are just waiting for me to go full iron-hoofed overlord or somethin…”

“Mmm not as such, Cure. We’ve just seen you get lost in thought enough times that, even if it’s good, it’s still a little worrying… and quit that pouting, I know you’re faking it,” Title says, pointing a hoof at his face.

Taking the mature route, Cure instead blows a raspberry at her.

“Well somepony’s clearly in a good mood…” Title observes.

Waving a hoof at her to get her to lean close he whispers in her ear. Deed, feeling the movement, tilts an ear down as well, “I scanned that mosquito. Guess how they find their prey.”

“Well, given how excited you are… heat?” she ventures.

“Good deductive reasoning, mom,” he says with a nod. “Yep, heat and a really interesting sense of smell. It may even exceed a dog for sensitivity, but it’s specialized for following carbon dioxide trails.”

“Ah, so that’s how the lil bastards find ponies. No wonder you’re excited, though. That was the last big “sense” thing you wanted right?”

“Other than hearing it was. There’s others I’m curious about, but nothing else I had on my “must have” list. We’ll talk more when we get home, though, okay?”

“Sure thing.” Leaning over, Title passes the update on to Vines who was curious what the whispering was about.

“Sounds to me like you’re not gonna be watchin much of the rodeo from here on out,” Deed says.

“Eh… I’m getting better at multitasking with this. It barely distracts me anymore.”

Turning back, Deed and Cure keep watching the show, all the while Cure is fiddling with the heat sensors. They are not, as he anticipated, a “viewing mode” exactly, but a different form of “feeling” instead. The range is limited not just by the size of the sensors, but also environmental conditions such as wind.

With a visual locked in his head, Cure urges his magic to create patches of the sensors just a layer below his skin on his forehead, chin, and cheeks without altering his appearance. Wiring them into existing touch sensors turned the system on and, within several meters, he could close his eyes and tell exactly where everypony was that he was facing.

Rather than waving his head around with his eyes closed like some kind of loon, he simply returns to watching the show that seems to be getting to the last event of the evening.

Okay, so I got a little distracted. Sue me. The heat sensors were a helluva lot more interesting than ponies running in a circle for five minutes at a time. Honestly I’d rather be in bed with a snuggle buddy than at this boring-ass show. I’m at that age where sleepovers happen a lot, I guess I’ll just wait and see if I get invited to ones at girls’ places.

Actually, who am I kidding? With so few colts in my age group parents are probably damn near throwing their fillies at any colt that shows a passing interest. God this gender imbalance thing is fucked up. How’d they survive long enough to develop civilization? One bad battle coulda caused a town to fail.

The final event? A hay bale distance toss. Cure could barely contain his excitement.

The trot home was busy for the first few miles, with everypony heading home at about the same time. Cure was able to spot several of his friends, including some he hadn’t seen earlier, as they went home, but everypony was clearly tired and the sun was going to set soon.

Cure took it as an opportunity to get used to navigating with heat rather than vision, at least up close. The resolution wasn’t fantastic at a distance, but he could very easily identify and differentiate ponies and their individual parts once they were a few meters away. The environment itself was hit and miss, with some objects blending into the background enough that navigating by heat alone wouldn’t be possible.

Mosquitos can cheat with their flying, I guess. It’s not like you can trip over things in the air.

It occurred to Cure that since this upgrade hooked right into existing nerves there was no reason he had to limit it to only his face. Experimenting with adding additional sensors on areas like his back, belly, sides, and rear, he could get a full sphere view. He quickly toned down the size of the sensors, though, as “sensory overload” was a real problem.

Okay, so I’m guessing I’ll be able to expand this over time. It’s probably just like a deaf patient getting a cochlear implant and being able to hear the first time. Gotta let this become my normal, get used to it in everyday situations, then see about pushing the envelope a little at a time.

Eliminating most of the sensor's surface area, he leaves small patches in each location instead, giving him a slight feel for when somepony or something is nearby, but not the higher resolution “image” he was getting before.

Entering the house, Cure makes a beeline for the bathroom, takes care of his urgent needs, then cleans up a bit and brushes his teeth in case he falls asleep in the living room again. The adults are no better, immediately taking off do the same thing. Within about ten minutes everypony is refreshed and, once again, gathered in the living room.

“Alright, before I knock dam out with the most amazing massage anypony has ever seen, I have a couple updates I wanna share with everypony. But first off, thanks for taking me to the rodeo.” After giving each parent a quick nuzzle-hug, he returns to his cushion. “I had a lot of fun, though I’m not sure that modern-day entertainment venues are really up to par compared to what I remember.”

“A lil spoiled with yer fancy bookshelves and plays and whatnot, are ya son?”

“I admit, I am. Still, tonight was pretty great and the rope duels were cool. I kinda wish I had been able to watch more of those and hang out with the girls afterwards, but oh well. I had a good time and really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“Yeah, glad to hear ya had fun, Cure. At least you got to see the last few matches.” Shooting a glare at Deed she adds, “even if they were kinda rigged…”

“HA! Them’s the breaks, babe. You can feel free to start that massage whenever you like though,” Deed says while stretching his fore and back legs all the way out. “Pay special attention to the flanks, and try not to drool on ‘em too much.”

Muttering to herself, Title honors the bet and gets started kneading away at his back.

Raising an eyebrow at his sire, Cure can’t help but ask, “Really, dad? You’re actually gonna make the pregnant mare that ran like twelve kilometers today give you a massage?” Tsking at the stallion, he looks to Title and says, “Don’t worry, mom. Your filial son won’t let you go without either. Once I get dam taken care of I’m all yours.”

“Have I mentioned you’re never allowed to leave, honey?” Title asks.

“Once or twice. Anyhow, as mom figured out, I kinda sorta accidentally attracted a bit more attention than I meant to tonight.” At the round of raised eyebrows he looks to the side and adds a “twice” on before looking back with a sheepish smile.

“So after I met up with the girls they prodded me for the whole story with Wind last night. Well, one of ‘em made a comment about her being a lot bigger than me. I waved it away explaining that, as a pegasus, even if she is older she wouldn’t likely be stronger on the ground than I would.”

With nods and mumbled “uh huh”s from his parents he continues, “Well I think they were teasing me a tad and jokingly called out for me to give ‘em a flex to show off. You… kinda saw that the exercising and tinkering I’ve been doing has had a bit more profound effect than anticipated.”

“Profound effect, he says…” Title laughs, shaking her head. “You look perfectly normal most of the time, Cure. I mean, anypony can tell you’re in good shape, but yeah… that definition when you flexed, that was unreal.”

With a small sigh, Cure admits, “Yeah, I didn’t intend to go that far. Every time I moved, ran, whatever, I told my magic “fix it better, improve” or whatever. I just didn't realize how far it had already gone because I haven't actually pushed myself. I’ll still use it to recover from strain, but I’ll be holding off on any actual strengthening until I've grown a bit. I may actually have to lean down a tiny bit… but that’ll happen naturally as I grow either way.”

"Last night when I was snuggling with dam the last thing on my mind was having a bigger, stronger, faster, armor plated stallion standing over me threatening me. Not in a "I'm scared" kinda way, just that I hated that feeling of weakness. Well I think my subconscious reacted…"

"Huh… so just in the last day you've put on several kilos of muscle?" Title asks.

"Yeah, but I think the run earlier contributed too. I wasn't really paying attention to my muscles because I was watching my lungs, the test I was doing, and monitoring my oxygen levels in my blood. Apparently bulking up, at least to this point, doesn't grab my attention like an injury would, so it just escaped my notice."

"I'll have to start actively monitoring stuff like that from now on. I can only imagine how I could be not paying attention and let other things get out of hoof, especially if it's not always a conscious thing."

“That sounds like a good idea. I’d told yer dam you had put on a bit of muscle, but I hafta admit I was a smidge shocked myself at the show ya put on. So…” with a mischievous smile, Deed leans forward a bit, “the lil ladies show ya their appreciation, son?”

“Actually, yes. Very much so. I had to threaten to start charging them if they didn’t stop feeling me up.”

“Oh my…” Vines mumbles, tail wagging slowly, “did you enjoy spending time with them all?”

Rolling his eyes while his other two parents snicker to themselves, Cure nods to his dam. “Yeah, dam… I actually had a lot of fun. The mint colored one, Sapphire Sprint, really ticked me off at the start, but I think she may just be a bit of an airhead, so she wasn’t trying to be mean.”

At their questioning look he explained, “She’d heard very exaggerated rumors saying I’d tried to really hurt Wind badly and she asked about it. Repeatedly. The other fillies shut her down pretty hard though, so no worries. She apologized afterwards too.”

“Ahh. Hopefully you can squash that rumor real quick.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to go very far, mom. Wind did fly away last night. She wasn’t hurt at all and everypony saw it. It’s even part of the official report, I bet. It adds credence to the whole “guard impropriety” accusation.”

“That was very sweet of you to heal her, honey. Sometimes a mean pony just needs a friendly hoof to show them how to be better.”

“Yeah, well… it’s not like I told her I healed her, so who knows. I bet she’d remember me hurting her more and resents that either way. Anyhow, the point of this all is to let you know that all four girls were very impressed and asked me to help them all get in better shape.”

“Okay… so what’d you say?” Title asks.

“I told them we could meet at the park and do some exercising tomorrow. We planned to meet in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time to get the garden ready, eat lunch, and I can go running with them around the pond again.”

“That’s a good spot to exercise,” Title says while working on Deed’s shoulders. “Having that pond nearby to cool off in afterwards is perfect. You’ll have to be home by evening time, though. The weather team has a storm scheduled tomorrow night.”

“Oh! I forgot! I need to head out and catch a lightning bug!” Shooting off his cushion, he runs out the door, leaving his parents behind to laugh at his impulsiveness.

“It’s so adorable when he’s like this, but he gets so excited it’s like he just zones out,” Vines explains.

“That colt better not come back in here with his rear glowin, I swear…”

“HAH! As long as he doesn’t grow that gross mosquito thing I could live with that.”

“Eugh, that’s an upsetting idea.” Face contorting in thought, Deed growls out, “Damnit, honey, why’d you put that in my mind? Now I’m gonna have nightmares of some kinda mosquito Cure chasin me all night.”

Coming back in with a big grin, Cure says, “Well you wouldn’t get very far, dad. I could just sprout some wings, after all.” Trotting up to his dad, he squats down, ready to pounce. “BZZZZ BZZZZ I NEEDS ME SOME POOONY BLOOD!” he shouts, launching at Deed’s neck.

“AH! GET EM OFF!” Deed yells, thrashing around under his son.

Title, moved clear of the madness, just shakes her head. Looking to Vines she asks, “Does this mean I can be done now?”

Deed, now on top of Cure with him pinned on his back, pauses to look at her, gives her a quick head shake and “nope!” and goes back to snacking on colt belly. “Bite yer ‘ol pa will ya?! I’ll show you who the stallion of this house is, ya lil punk!” Giving him a big raspberry with a loud “PBBBBBBBBBBT”, Deed has to constantly dodge thrashing hooves and knees. “And I know you just went potty… SO NO MERCY!”

Several minutes later, a laugh-drunk Cure is sitting on his cushion smirking at his sire. Deed, once again being massaged, smiles triumphantly back. “Just you wait, old timer. One of these days…”

Waving a hoof dismissively, Deed doesn't even bat an eye. “Yeah, yeah, keep dreamin.”

“Ahem… Anyhow, a few other things. With your approval, I did plan on helping the girls by cheating a bit. Obviously I won’t be doing for them what I did for myself… or even as much as I’m doing for you all, but still. I figure I can play up the “physical touch” part at the start and end and just use my talent while running to keep them movin.”

“You’re always allowed to use your special talent, sweetie. Nopony is trying to say you can’t, just be careful how much you trust other ponies with knowing the extent of your abilities until we can talk to your great grandsire.”

“Sure. Hey, by the way dam, I scanned a mosquito. That’s what I was laughing about, at the rodeo when you all acted like I was gonna eat somepony.”

“Your mom told me.”

“Okay, I thought so. Anyhow, mosquitos have the ability to sense heat. It’s neat, but not exactly how I figured heat vision would be. It’s not vision at all, really. Umm. It’s hard to describe, would any of you like to try it? It’s like how you feel heat when you’re by the fire, but much sharper and from further away… so no brain anything needed at all.”

“Ya know what, sport? I wouldn’t mind trying out one of these fancy abilities of yours. Come set yer pa up and we’ll see what it’s like.”

“Okay, cool. My first vic... uhh volunteer… well, officially, since I’m doing Title’s eyes next weekend. Alright, dad, so what I’m going to do is I’m going to put a thin layer of heat sensors just barely under your skin here, here, and here,” he explained, touching his own spots on his face. “In a week or two once we get used to detecting heat like that we can add more if you want.”

“Sounds neat. Go ahead, son.”

Placing a hoof on his sire’s outstretched leg, Cure gives Deed the same treatment he initially gave himself, keeping the sensors the same size even though there’s a lot more room for them on Deed’s face.

Looking closely, both Vines and Title see there’s no visible change to their husband.

“What? Were you expecting to see them? It’s under his skin, you wouldn’t even know they were there unless you took a biopsy and analyzed it under a microscope.”

“Sorry, sweetie, we just wanted to be sure.”

Waving a hoof, Cure backtracks a bit, “No, you’re right. I didn’t mean to snap at ya. Always double check my work, there’s no reason not to, after all.” Looking at his dad, he takes a few steps back so he’s directly in front of the sensors. “So… can you kind of “feel” me from where you’re laying?”

“Huh. That’s weird.” With his eyes closed, Deed turns his head to look at Vines, then Title, then back. Deed then pans over the rest of the room, pausing here and there to “feel out” the space. “That is kinda awesome, Cure.”

“Yeah? Well watch this,” he says, going around the corner to the kitchen. Leaning up against the wall he says, “Look this way.”

Following his ears to look in Cure’s direction, Deed’s jaw almost hits the ground. “No way! You can see through walls?” Whipping his head around to Title he points to the wall and shouts, “Babe! I can see him through the wall!”

“Ehh, not exactly right, dad,” Cure corrects, coming back to his cushion. “You can see where I’ve warmed the wall up by being close to it. If I was further away it may not be so obvious. Still, if somepony is on the other side of a door or something they won’t be able to surprise you.”

“That is so cool! Oh wow, the guards would absolutely kill to have somepony like you making them all super soldiers. Nopony would be able to sneak around anywhere they weren’t supposed to!”

“That’s not even the really amazing “pony finding” ability. Mosquitos can track the carbon dioxide we exhale from hundreds of feet away. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m betting I could combine that with the dog’s sense of smell and make it almost completely impossible for anything living to hide from me.”

“Oh, son… your great grandpa is gonna fall over when he sees what all you can do.”

“That kinda reminds me. Mom?”

Pausing the massage, she looks up. “Hm? Yeah, honey?”

“I have a job for you or,” looking to his dam and sire also, “we may need to seek professional help.”

“Oh sweetie, I don’t think you’re that bad. Just a little impulsive at times. I’m sure you’ll grow out of it,” Vines says with a supportive smile.

Pausing for a moment, Cure looks closely at his dam. “... ya know, dam… you’re so smooth with your delivery I almost couldn't tell you were messing with me again.”

Poking the floor with a hoof, Vines makes an exaggerated pout. “Ruinin my fun…” she mutters.

Looking to his sire, Cure asks, “It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it pa? You never expect it from ‘em and then, bam! The ‘ol sneak attack.”

With a sage nod, Deed agrees with the colt, “Wise words, son. You gotta keep an eye on the quiet ones. You know what they say… meek in the streets…” he says, rolling his hoof for Cure to finish.

Cure lets out a snort, unable to hold back a laugh. “HA! I’m not finishing that. You’re serious though? That’s a saying here too?” At his sire’s nod he chuckles and says, “Oh wow, that’s good stuff. I haven't even seen anything I'd call a street yet." With a cringe it dawns on him that it's his dam they're talking about. "Ah, I didn’t need to know that though. Whatever, “doctor mode” brain filter engaged.”

“Getting back on track, in the country from my memories there’s a lot of rules in place specifically to protect people from the government. The country was actually founded when it rebelled against an oppressive monarchy, so the pendulum kind of swung the other direction and the rights of the individual are fairly expansive.”

Getting nods of understanding, Cure continues, “Well one of the core philosophies in the justice system is that any discussion one has with their lawyer is sacrosanct. Even if the accused flat out tells their lawyer they committed a crime, the attorney must still do everything in their power to represent the accused.”

“Okay…” Title says, urging Cure to continue.

“What I want to know is, does the same attorney-client privilege exist here, and to what extent?”

“Yes,” Title begins, “with the exception specifically for treason against the crown or if you confess to a crime that hasn't happened yet. They can take action to prevent the crime. Otherwise, anything short of actively betraying the country to a foreign power is considered privileged and an attorney can lose their license and be imprisoned themselves for violating that. The princess set that up specifically to protect accused ponies from being screwed over by nobles paying off their attorney to turn on ‘em hundreds of years ago.”

“Good to know. Then… can’t we just hire a lawyer to see if biomancy is illegal in the first place? We may be walking on eggshells this whole time for nothing.”

Mouths hanging slightly open, all three adults look at each other for help.

“None of you even thought of that, did you?”

“Umm… I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a lawyer before, honey. I’m sorry. I thought we were going to ask your mom to see if she could find it with her cutie mark.”

“We only deal with notaries, son. I’ve only had to get help from a lawyer once when somepony accused us of making off with their money, which was nuts, so I didn’t think of it.”

“Yeah, that butthole was an idiot. We never even touch ANY of the actual money!” she says, stamping a hoof down on Deed’s flank, to his dismay. “That lawyer wasn’t cheap either!” She finally looks down and rubs the spot, mumbling a “sorry babe!” to Deed who’s glaring over his withers at her.

After a moment Title looks to Cure and says, “Okay, yeah, sorry Cure. We definitely missed that one. Deed, babe, are any of your friends or cousins lawyers?”

“I think a couple cousins have a firm that works with grandpa a lot. Maybe we should hold off until we meet with him. Like yer mom said, son, lawyers ain’t cheap.”

“Huh… I would think a simple consult would be pretty reasonable, but okay.” Shrugging, he continues, “Meh, different economy, I guess. I can wait a few weeks. Keeping it in the family may be best either way.”

After the silence drags on for a moment, Cure gets up and gives his dam a nuzzle. “Alright, dam. I think I’ve talked about everything I needed to. Are you ready to have the best massage you’ll ever have in your life?”

“I’m super excited, sweetie. What do you need me to do?”

“Just sprawl out like dad and, with your permission, I’ll cheat with my talent and you just need to stay awake. Or don’t, either way is fine.” Getting into position, Vines’ front and rear legs hang off the cushion by about a foot either way.

“Son? Are your hooves heating up?” Deed asks, looking down towards Cure’s hooves.

“Yep, I’ve been warming them for a few minutes now. That’s why I was sitting with them under me, to speed up the process,” he explains as he climbs on her back and begins kneading into Vines’ upper back and shoulders.

Using his talent he slowly relaxes the muscles as he rubs them with warmed hooves while making massaging “fingers” with his TK field. Vines practically melts into her cushion and lets out a relaxed, content sigh.

“So unfair…” Deed mutters while looking on jealously.

“Uhh, this is something you can do too, dad. You just need to visualize it. Remember on the way to the rodeo how I was tellin mom about light, heat, and how it all works?”

“Light smacks into the tiny vibrating particles, shaking them more and making heat, right?”

With an impressed glance over, Cure gives a respectful nod to his sire. “Well put, actually. Good summary, dad.”

“So yeah, just imagine your hooves are made of billions of those tiny particles. Everything is, after all. Just use your TK field… ya know, vibrate them back and forth a tad, and help them shake a little faster. It’ll take ya a moment, but you’ll see them warming up slowly.”

Title pauses and looks at her own hooves for a minute, clearly in concentration. Glancing over, Cure can sense that it’s working. “You’re on the right track, mom. It’s not a fast thing. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

With a nod, she goes back to massaging Deed, who is clearly enjoying the warming hooves grinding into his muscles.

“Now keep in mind, you can do the opposite, and it doesn’t have to be your hoof itself. I put a glass of water between my hooves and imagined holding the tiny particles still instead. After a minute those little particles of water were vibrating slower. It cooled the water by a few degrees. Just think how much a nice, cold glass of water would be on a hot day.”

Throughout the explanation, Cure starts moving his back hooves to give his dam’s hips and waist area a massage, one hoof at a time while holding himself with the other while still working her upper back with his forehooves.

“Still with me, dam? I know this has to feel amazing, but I don’t want you to fall asleep before you can enjoy it.”

“Mmhmm, still awake,” she barely mumbles out.

Once he sees that his mom’s back, hip, and the upper shoulder and neck areas are all thoroughly relaxed he slowly climbs off her and sits next to her forelegs to reach her neck. Working his way from her spine down, he gently grinds on her upper trapezius, down into the lower muscles, all while slowly moving up towards her head.

Ensuring that the massage avoids any “overly sensitive” areas, he gently massages the small muscles at the base of her ears, then moves to her jaw, cheek, and forehead.

“You there, dam? You don’t look like you can take much more.”

“‘mm so good…”

“I haven’t even gotten your legs yet, dam. Do you need to go to bed?”

“Mmm, hooves… get my hooves, Cure honey.”

Cure glances over to his sire and mom with a raised eyebrow.

“Go ahead, son. If she passes out I can carry her up again.”

“Alright, you got it.”

Repeating his performance, first on her left foreleg, then right, then her rear legs, Cure is completely unsurprised when she begins snoring. Still, he finishes the massage and gives her a goodnight kiss on her forehead, mumbling “love you dam” in her ear while she softly snores away, a serene smile on her face.

“I want one of those.” Title declares as soon as he steps away.

“Not down here, no you don’t. I ain’t carryin both of ya upstairs.”

“Oh! Even better! Vines can have you tonight, I get my wondercolt for a snuggle buddy!”

“Ugh, I can’t even blame you. Mind givin’ yer 'ol pa one of those tomorrow, son? If I’m gonna be pullin that plow I’ll probably need one.”

“Pfft, I think you’re gonna be surprised how easy pulling that plow ends up being, dad. Sure, though. The ladies tonight, I’ll make it up to ya tomorrow.”

“Sounds great!” Deed says while standing up. “G’nite Cure, love ya son,” he says, wrapping Cure in a quick hug and getting one in return.

Just like the other night, Title helps Deed load Vines up on his back and he carries her upstairs. Giving Title a kiss and a nuzzle goodnight, he rolls Vines into the bed while Title splits off to have her turn.

Thirty minutes later the pink mare is snoring on her belly, passed out under Cure’s warm ministrations. With a little nudge he gets her to roll onto her side. He then snuggles his back against her chest and belly before quickly falling asleep with her forelegs wrapped around him.

Author's Note

So... Time skips are coming soon. The way I have this planned out is that around 25... maybe 26, Cure and the fam will mostly be in a routine. We'll peek in on special occasions, big events, holidays, noteworthy random encounters, or other fun things that I can toss in the mix, but unless we want a 3 , 4, or 500k story about typical everyday stuff a kid has happen (which could be fun with a talented writer, I suppose) we gotta move the clock forwards.

Look for 21 around Monday, give or take, and I'll probably stick to the two-chapter-per-week schedule for the next few, then I'll have to see what kinda craziness I can throw Cure's way.