Saturday, October 18th, 908 AB (slightly under 6 hours later)

"He’s squishin me a little.”

“I bet he is… he’s strong as Tartarus." Delta Coast pokes at Cure a few times before asking, "Are… are you hurt? He isn't hurting you is he?”

“No. It’s not uncomfortable, but I gotta pee.” Glacial wiggles a little, but there's no escaping the hold she's locked in. The two are on their right sides, Cure spooning the filly and holding her tightly. He has both forelegs under her legpits, his left around her chest and his right over her belly. Her back and wings are held tightly against his chest, completely pinning them in place.

“Heavy, you hang out with him most. How do we get ‘em offa her?”

“I don’t freakin sleep with ‘em, Coast! I mean, we’ve had sleepovers, but it’s not like we snuggled or something.” Snickering, he suggests, “Maybe you should ask Dawn instead.”

Drift snaps to Dawn’s direction. “You sleep with him?!”

“No! I almost fell asleep when he massaged my horn, but that’s just ‘cause it felt amazing.”

“Oh my…” she starts, her voice doing nothing to hide the smile. Drift tries to ask, “Did you massage his-”

With a glowing horn Dawn turns and growls at her. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Crosswind Drift!”

“Fine! Jeez, I was just joking," she insists, hooves raised in surrender.

“Is he… rolling over?”

“Yep, and yer goin with ‘em!” Sapphire laughs at the ensnared pegasus. “Woo! Ride that Wave, Glacial!”

The six fillies and one colt watch as Cure languidly rolls from his right side onto his back, a frozen Glacial still pinned, now between all four legs. Fortunately he doesn't stop in the incredibly compromising position. Instead, he keeps going, gently setting her on their left side, then rolls her onto her barrel, rolling with her to her withers.

“HA! Oh my stars, he’s pinned her down! I can’t believe he rolled on top of ‘er.” Stooping down, Rising gets a better look. Cure settled on her withers with his back legs off to her left side. Unfortunately he rested his neck and head right on top of hers, flattening her into the mattress. “You okay down there?”

“Yeah… he’s kinda heavy though. He’s got most'a his weight on his back ‘n legs, but jeez… I can barely move. He's still wrapped around my chest and belly. Those legs aren't very comfy to lay on."

“Yeah, it’s a lot more comfortable when you lay on him. I think he barely notices the weight.”

Ferric can’t help but blush while asking, “Do you do that a lot?”

“Just once, again, after the massage,” she admits with a sigh. “I was sleepy and he was warm and soft.” Smirking, Dawn can’t help but remind everypony, “If you recall… Drift was on him last night before bed. Then she spent the whole night sleeping on Heavy.”

With a dreamy look, Heavy gives Drift a friendly nuzzle. “Yer warm. It was nice.”

She whacks with a wing and hops away. “Don’t get any ideas, doofus!" Waving a hoof at the blue colt, she complains, "It’s his fault I fell asleep early!”

“He did warn you. Oh, hey, dam," Sapphire calls as Midnight trots in to check on the group. Poking at Cure a couple times, she explains, "Glacial’s gotta go potty but Cure’s got her wrapped up pretty good. You got any ideas?”

Midnight approaches the pair and gets a good look at the colt snuggled into Glacial's mane. “Oh wow. He’s a cuddler isn’t he?” she asks with a titter.

“C’mon dam, don’t just watch and laugh. Do something!”

“Aww, but it’s so cuuute! Look at that big smile on his face. He must really like you.”

“Alright, enough of this.” Done with playtime, Dawn walks up to Cure, reels back, and kicks him as hard as she can right in the shoulder, eliciting gasps from the gathered herd.

“Jeez, Dawn. Not so friggin hard!" Rising yells, inspecting the impact site for any damage.

“Oh please, I’d probably break a hoof before he’d even feel it.”

Midnight looks at the sleeping colt, who’s now nuzzling a cheek into the top of Glacial’s muzzle. “Oh my, he’s a tough lil fella isn’t he? You shouldn’t do that to your coltfriend, though, sweetie.”

“I felt that through his chest. What’d you do?”

“She just kicked the Tartarus outta him,” Coast answers. “He didn’t even move.” Poking the colt with a hoof a few times, she turns to Dawn. “What in the hay is he made of?”

“I don’t even know anymore. I’m gonna have to levitate him off of you.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dawn. Just be careful, and don’t drop him! He’ll squish me!”

“Alright, I’m lifting him up, just gimme a sec.”

Everypony quiets down while Dawn lifts Cure in the air. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one that floats up when Cure wraps his hind legs around her as they lift off the bed.

“There. Just… ah fudge, he’s really got ya. Yer not goin anywhere.” Eyes going wide at the grip’s positioning, Coast stammers out, “Umm… is he… uhh… ya know?” getting blushes and uncomfortable giggles from the entire room. Heavy just sits on his haunches and covers both eyes with his hooves.

Grimacing, Midnight shakes her head. “He’s just snuggling. I… think we need to get some water or something to wake him up though. He’s young, but sometimes when stallions are asleep… well…”

Squirming to get loose, Glacial cries out “I really gotta go! WAKE UP, CURE!”

“Hrm?”

“Oh, that did it. I think he’s waking up,” Ferric calls.

“Hey Glacial. G’mornin.” Nuzzling into the top of her head, Cure barely pays attention to the group around him as he stretches his back legs. With a titanic yawn, he finally looks around at the group. “Oops. Sorry! Lemme down, Dawn.”

Dawn lowers the pair off the mattress, setting them on his haunches. As soon as both hit the floor Cure sets Glacial down. She quickly rushes off to use the restroom while Cure finishes his stretches and looks to the group. "’Mornin all… everypony sleep well?" he asks, absently scratching at his chest with a hoof.

Drift smirks at his drowsy face. "Some slept better than others, it seems. Enjoy your cuddle time with your Azure Flame?"

"Oh yeah, definitely,” Cure happily agrees as he rubs at his face with a fetlock. “She's a lot nicer to cuddle with than you were last night. You just laid on my back like a dead fish. Hey Heavy, she keep ya warm all night or did all the attitude give yer back frostbite?"

Drift, growls, bears her teeth, and her wings start to lift for a fight, but she's interrupted just as she's about to pounce..

Clapping her hooves, Midnight yells "Alright you two, no arguing before breakfast.” Dancing back and forth on her haunches she explains, “Sapphire's sire ran to the bakery so we have goooodieees!" she finishes singing out the word. Turning to trot out of the room she calls back, "Go wash up and come get yourselves some food! And no fighting!"

Drift glares another second, then turns with a huff and trots out of the room, everypony soon following behind her. Cure takes the opportunity to give Dawn a quick nuzzle. "Hey Sunrise, how'd ya sleep?"

"Good," she says, walking beside him out of the room.

There's three other rooms splitting off of the upstairs hallway; the only one Cure gets a look in has several maps and what looks like pins or markers stuck in them on the walls. There's also a desk and a bookshelf. Given the parent's professions and the titles of the few books he can see, he assumes this is Onyx's home office.

"I woke up snuggling with Ferric." Rounding the top of the stairs, Cure trots behind her as she continues. "You had Glacial wrapped up tight. She looked like she was a little worried you'd break her."

"Huh, that's weird. I woke up at one point last night and you were on me with her on the other side of ya. Saph was layin across my back and Ferric was on yers."

"Dunno. I guess we traded places somehow. You seemed happy to get a hold of her."

"She was soft and warm and snuggly," he says with a shrug. "I hope yer not upset because I somehow ended up wrapped around a pretty filly while sleepin. I'm certainly not upset you snuggled with Ferric."

"Ferric isn't a colt. We'll talk later," she flatly explains, ending the conversation as the group enters the kitchen.

It's much more modern than what Cure is used to. Like Grandpa Brick, Midnight and Onyx have a legitimate refrigerator. They also have a fully magical stove, nice counters, and a dining area with a table long enough to seat the eight guests easily. The foals all arrange themselves on both sides of the table with a parent at each end.

Cure finds himself between Onyx at the head of the table and Dawn with Ferric across from him by her sire. Down the opposite side to her left are Glacial, Drift, Heavy, and Sapphire closest to her dam. Cure notices Heavy leaning slightly towards Drift and looking at her with googly eyes while occasionally blushing a little. Evidently Cure isn’t the only one chasing after a fine feathery filly.

Good luck with that minx, dude. You better have the patience of a saint if yer gonna tolerate the purple ball of fury. Maybe pegasus snaring runs on the Y chromosome; your sire managed it somehow.

Delta Coast and Rising Pitch take positions to the right of Dawn with Midnight Gem opposite Onyx at the other end of the table next to her daughter. Cure can’t help but notice how nice the house is and how much fancier of a kitchen and dining room the pair have. It’s shocking to him that they didn’t have more foals, but who knows… maybe Onyx has “fulfilled his obligation” by siring other foals out there like Ferric that Cure doesn’t know.

Jeez I never realized it but I think my parents are poor. I guess they woulda been, having a kid at friggin sixteen with, apparently, nopony to help them financially. I'll have to remember to punch my dam and sire's parents in their worthless faces if I ever meet them. Forget what I said about being cordial with ‘em.

They'll never go without again if I can help it, I swear.

"Cure?" Dawn softly calls, laying a hoof on his side and jarring him out of his thoughts. Apparently he’d channeled a little of his frustration into his stare and it hadn’t gone completely unnoticed. Whispering, she asks, "Are you okay?"

With a sigh he explains, "Sorry. Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about work. Ya know I gotta be at the clinic around ten, so I'll need to go home and get cleaned up soon. Don't wanna be late for the first day and all. It’s like… eight or so right now, right?"

"Probably… but you're starting to work already?" Drift asks. "You said something last night too. Aren't you like… too young?"

Midnight Gem apparently agrees with her. "You're only… what? Eight, right?"

Cure leans forward a little to look down the table. "Yes, ma'am. I approached the clinic Dawn's dam works at for an apprenticeship. Counting that, I technically have three jobs with another one starting soon. Once we get the legal forms situated, at least."

"Son," Onyx starts, reaching over to put a big hoof on Cure’s withers, "I respect a hard worker as much as anypony, but I feel like I hafta ask why a young colt like yerself would have four jobs. My lil girl’s only got the one to learn her trade."

All other conversations have stopped and everypony is paying attention now.

"Umm… it's because of my special talent. I can heal ponies and fix things that are wrong like disabilities, poor hearing, or deteriorating eyesight. Something I've kept quiet is that I can also do cosmetic things."

"Cosmetic things?" Midnight asks. "What kind of things?"

"I know a pony that had stretch marks after she had a foal. I was able to smooth them out and give her back a flat, unblemished tummy. I could also help somepony lose fat or remove scars. That's separate from the clinic I'm starting at today. We need to get legal forms for that so nopony can say I didn't do what they paid me to."

"The clinic, cosmetic work… and you have two other jobs too?"

"Yes sir, I'm going to start working with the guard this coming Friday. Staff Sgt. Bulwark has a bunch of guards he wants me to help whip inta shape, so I'm taking 'em to a gym in Baltimare every Friday to work out. You know how muscles are built, right?"

Onyx nods, so Cure continues, “Imagine you lift something heavy, and instead of being sore, that muscle that you just strained is healed back stronger a moment later. You keep doin that for an hour and you just got months worth of exercise in one visit.”

"Dude yer gonna get even more ripped…" Heavy sighs out.

Cure shakes his head no while explaining, "Nah, I'm not going to get any bigger until I grow up more. I don't want to overdo it and I'm plenty strong enough now." Sensing the next question, Cure decides to head it off. "The other job is a private corporate health advisor position that I'm contractually not allowed to discuss."

"What the fuck?" Drift mutters. Normally Cure would expect Sapphire's parents to admonish her, but apparently that's what they were both thinking too because they both just kind of stare at him like he's got a second head growing out his shoulder.

"Does… it pay well?" Coast asks.

"Yes. Very much so. Sorry, but I'm not allowed to discuss it, but even without the cosmetic stuff I should do very well. I expect the cosmetic thing to be the most profitable because, let's be honest, everypony has something they'd like to change about themselves. My parents and I need to figure out prices for different things."

"... Huh. Well, good for you, young stallion," Onyx gives an approving nod, "just don't work too hard, son. You only live once, ya know?"

"Yes sir. Hopefully I'll only actually be working five or so hours per week, though. Two on Friday, two on Saturday, and the other jobs will be PRN."

"PRN?" Glacial asks. "What's that mean?"

"It's ancient ponese for "as circumstances require" so, basically, when needed. The cosmetic things will be by appointment and should only take a moment. The contract job is also just when they contact me."

"Can you show us something?" Drift asks.

"Sure, come here." Popping the last piece of donut in his mouth, Cure scoots over for Drift to sit between him and Onyx, intruding on Dawn's space a little. Once she settles in he has her face away, sit down, and despite her hesitation, spread her right wing towards Onyx so everypony can see.

Running a hoof down her back he explains, "Okay, so Drift, your wings are lovely, don't get me wrong, but they're solid purple the same as your coat. What if we mixed in your mane color a little bit instead? Maybe add some white and black highlights too?"

"You can do that?"

"Sure, it's just altering some pigments. Wanna see? I have just the thing in mind."

"Umm okay. You can fix it if I don't like it, right?"

"Oh yeah, of course. No problem."

Pulling up a scan from a bluejay, Cure overlays the pattern on Crosswind's wings, swapping the blue palette for hues of pink and purple to match her coat and mane. The effect bleeds down her wings like paint pouring down her back, causing gasps from everypony in the room.

Glacial is the first to yell out. "Woah… that's beautiful, Cure! How in the hay did you do that?!"

"What? Lemme see," Drift says, spreading a wing while looking over her withers. "Oh my stars! Mirror! Where's a mirror?!"

Jumping out of her seat, Midnight calls for Drift to follow. "Come with me, honey. I have a big one in my vanity," she says, waving towards the stairs.

All of the fillies follow along, abandoning their mostly-eaten breakfast and complementing Drift the whole way up the stairs. Cure, Heavy, and Onyx just watch them go, waiting until they're out of sight.

"Son… I got a feelin year gonna be workin more than five hours a week."

"Yeah, dude… every pegasus on the planet is gonna be huntin you down when they see that. And pegasi can fly really far."

Grimacing, but acknowledging they’re right, Cure can’t help but worry he’d just made a terrible mistake. "Ah fudge. Well, I'll certainly make some bits, at least. I dunno how much mares pay for a manedo, but I feel like custom wing effects should cost more than those, especially for the more complex designs."

"HA! Last time my lil Gem got her mane done she paid fifty bits. You could charge twice that and every pegasus from here to Canterlot will be fighting to stand in line to get that done. How long does it last?"

"Until I change it back. I changed everything. She’ll keep that pattern… I think forever. Unless something happens to her wings when she hits puberty, I guess."

Onyx stares for a few seconds, then bursts out laughing. "Oh son. You better be able to change yer own colors too, cause you won't be able to walk down the street without a whole flock tryin to steal ya away."

Hopping down off the seat, Cure starts backing towards the front door while mumbling. "I… better go. I may need to warn my parents."

"You better hurry before… Whoops, too late."

"Huh?" Cure barely has time to turn before a purple missile barrels into him. Unfortunately for Drift his immediate panic reaction is to brace, so instead of tackling him to the ground she bounces off his side and lands in a heap a couple meters away.

Cure rushes to help with the Heavy and Onyx right behind him, worried the filly may have broken something.

Groaning, Drift mumbles a thanks when she's helped up. A quick scan shows she would have had a bruise on her chest, again, but Cure quickly fixes it. Otherwise she's completely fine thanks to the bullshit pinball pegasus aura. That doesn’t stop Heavy from fussing over her like a mother hen, which Cure finds hilarious; mainly because it annoys Drift so much.

Arriving just a few seconds later, Glacial rolls her eyes and comes over to check on her friend. "Seriously, Drift? You literally couldn't budge him a centimeter just last night so you slam into him? You dummy."

"He was supposed to catch me!"

"I was?"

"No, you weren't," Glacial answers. "Maybe in her crazy head, but whatever." She looks Cure up and down. "I'm guessing you're fine?"

"Yeah."

The rest of the fillies, along with Midnight Gem, all pile in the room next, each with a twinkle in their eye and a hungry look about them.

"Well… I was fine, at least."

Cure was, fortunately, able to talk the girls down from doing anything too wild like he had with Drift. Most of them just ended up with some light coloring or an odd stripe in their manes and tails, while Ferric, Rising, and Glacial temporarily declined his offer.

Ferric wasn’t terribly interested and Glacial said she wanted to see how everypony reacted to Drift before she did anything wild. Rising said she wanted to look for a good style before she committed to anything.

Cure had a hard time not sniggering while doing Delta Coast, who ended up with a nearly-identical color scheme, though different style, to a future Mrs. Cup Cake. Sapphire, similarly, got a white streak like Lyra will eventually have, and Dawn got some yellow highlights to resemble future Sunset’s bacon-style.

Cure couldn't remember much about Sunset's character other than the basics. From what he recalls she was kind of a bitch, but he had to admit her color scheme on the fit unicorn was a real sight to see, and would certainly draw a lot of eyes her way. He couldn’t remember Sunset’s eye color, but Dawn’s magenta worked really well with the walking torch scheme she had going.

Midnight got in on the action once he offered her a freebie, though her request was a little more involved. With the promise of giving him a good deal for his special somepony's present someday, Cure, after securing permission from Onyx, helped with a little "fat redistribution" in the flank area. The dark stallion was eyeing her rear like a starving lion eyes a steak when he finished, so he was quick to flee the scene afterwards.

Once he’d appeased the fillies (and the parents) he beat a hasty retreat to get ready for his first day at work, almost sprinting home the whole way so as to not be late.

"I'm home!" he yells, pushing the door shut with a hind leg.

"Hi sweetie. How was your sleepover?"

Title and Vines are snuggled together with Deed sitting off to the side drawing. He didn't end up getting any painting supplies in Canterlot but the family stopped by Early's Odds ‘n Ends in Baltimare on the way home and got him some drawing pads, charcoal, colored pencils, and a few other things Cure has barely any familiarity with. The prices were half of what the Canterlot hobby store was selling the same stuff for.

An unconscious scent of the air confirms that his sire did indeed visit the neighbors last night, not that Cure cares one way or the other. He figures they’ll be one big happy family sometime before spring estrus in all likelihood.

After a round of hugs, kisses, and nuzzles Cure gives a quick, five minute recap of the evening and his accidental revenue stream he happened upon this morning, an idea that seems to intrigue both of his moms as they turn a critical eye at the suddenly nervous stallion working on a landscape illustration while doing his best to avoid making eye contact.

Cure rushes upstairs to get cleaned up and, upon returning to the living room, finds his dam packed and ready to accompany him. “Dam? Are you coming with me or something?”

"Oh don't worry, sweetie. I'll just be working on my crafts in a spare office. I spoke to Emerald while you were in school a few days ago. Until you're a little older I would prefer one if us be around so nopony tries to take advantage of you."

"That's probably not a bad idea, at least until they get to know me better. Also, who knows? If something big happened you being there to help me with magic could save a life. Either way, I'm sorry you're losing part of your weekend, dam."

Vines nuzzles into his mane and between his ears. "It's not a problem, honey. It's only a couple hours. Did you get enough breakfast?"

"Yep. I had a buncha donuts darn near crammed in me when I told 'em they helped me recover magic faster, so I'm all set."

"Let's go, then. You don't want to be waltzing in fifteen minutes late, right?"

"Har har, dam. C'mon."

Cure gives his dam a more thorough recap of last night and this morning while the two are trotting to the clinic. She’s thrilled to hear Cure had a good time and was relieved nothing too insane happened.

Apparently Onyx has indeed more than fulfilled his duty, not just in Golden Hills, but also in Baltimare. According to his dam, the dark stallion is pretty well known amongst the market gossip circle that she’s a part of, and each season he lands at least a couple well-paying contracts in the city or a nearby suburb and likely has a couple dozen foals out there.

Vines explained that Ferric’s dam works with Midnight Gem at the jewelry store. The two are work partners and good friends, so Midnight gave the slightly older mare her blessing when Diamond Pick asked her to borrow her stallion a year before Midnight decided to have a foal too.

Pony relationships are just flat out weird. I hate to pass the buck, but I think I’ll end up a lot happier if I follow Onyx’s path unless I can somehow pull off a Hail Mary like dad has managed and find a group of mares that like each other too.

“I think Dawn may be a little mad at me over this morning,” he confesses.

“Why, sweetie? You didn’t do anything wrong. You were snuggling with a pretty filly in your sleep. Would you have been mad if you woke up and found her and Heavy snuggled together?”

“I dunno… it may have possibly twigged some kinda territorial part of my brain. Maybe. Not once I cooled off and thought it over, I don’t think. Then again, it may be a different story if she immediately said how handsome he is when I asked about it. I’m not a good indicator for typical pony behavior, dam, that’s why I always talk to you about this stuff.”

“True. It’s better to be upfront and honest, honey. If you think you’re interested in more than a monogamous relationship then you’ll certainly save yourself a lot of stress and unhappiness sorting that out early on. Still, you two are too young to be worrying about it.”

Stopping mid-step, she fully turns and looks at Cure who pauses too. “Do not let this upset you, Cure. Like your mom and I said, let the fillies sort it out first. You may just be misunderstanding what she wants to talk to you about.” Resuming their walk she continues, “Also, if you two were to stick together she may change her tune later on in the relationship too. You never know.”

“Yeah, I guess. I do like Dawn, but I’ve really only been hangin out with her for a month and a half or so… I guess it is kinda dumb to act like she’s the only filly out there. I just hope she doesn’t get mad and blab about everything I can do. I’ve kinda told her almost everything, except for the memory stuff of course.”

“Well if she does that then we’ll deal with it then. I would be very disappointed in her if she did so. You’ve been nothing but wonderful to her and her brother the whole time and, again, you’ve not done anything wrong at all.”

“Yeah… I guess. Thanks dam,” he says, nuzzling into her barrel.

The two continue in silence until they reach the clinic. The regional manager, Ivory Gale, is waiting outside for them. She perks up once they come into view, smiles brightly, and enthusiastically waves for them. “Good morning! You must be young Cure’s dam, Mrs. Spreading Vines, right?”

“Mmhmm. You’re the manager, Ms. Ivory Gale? My husband and wife mentioned meeting with you a couple weeks ago.”

“That’s me! Please, just Gale though. That goes for you too, Cure! It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she waves a wing towards the door. “Come on in. Emerald asked for a spare office for you. I’ll show ya where it is.” Leading the way into the clinic, Gale walks past the desk with the same teenage receptionist girl that was there a couple weeks prior, pausing just past her.

“This is Miss River Falls,” Gale says while motioning to the young mare. “River, this is Cure Wave and his dam, Spreading Vines. He’s going to be working here for a couple hours each weekend as an apprentice.”

“Oh! Solar’s little friend, right? I remember you coming in a couple weeks ago.” The young mare smiles brightly and waves a hoof at the pair. “Hi there, little colt. Emerald says you have a very special talent and we’re all super excited to see you in action!”

“Hello. Nice to meet you too, Miss River.”

“Come along, Cure. Let’s get your dam situated and then I’ll introduce you to the nurse you’ll be working with.”

The clinic hallway is completely unremarkable. Other than the typical “Healthy Hooves Stay Clean”, “Cover your snout!”, and various other generic “health” posters there’s no decorations. The floor is the classic linoleum that’s easy to sanitize and the walls are an off-white with a slight blue tint to them.

The hallway itself is a bit wider, of course, so that four earth ponies can walk side-by-side down it, which is something Cure would expect in an actual hospital instead of a clinic, but is still convenient. Doors are wider than a house typically has too, and at least as tall as a human house would have.

“Nurse?” Vines asks as they walk to the back.

“Yep! We don’t typically keep doctors on staff in the clinics on the weekend, especially here where it’s a town of earth ponies. There’s just not enough traffic to justify the expense of a dedicated doctor seven days a week, so instead we have a nurse assistant covering the weekend and we have a pegasus on staff to fetch the doctor if something urgent comes up.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” she agrees.

“That’s probably normal in earth pony towns, dam. You know how hard it is for us to get sick or injured, after all. I don’t remember hearing about anyone catchin whatever that was Amy had last month and nopony at school is sick at all.”

“We had a bit of a flu going around at the beginning of September. You know how it is,” she says, shrugging her wings, “seasons start to change and everypony gets a runny nose.”

Pausing as they come to an office door, Gale opens it, leans in, and taps a panel on the wall, turning on a ceiling light fixture over a desk. The room looks like it’s completely unoccupied normally, though there are some medical reference books on a shelf to the side and a few lab-style coats on hooks along one wall.

“Mrs. Vines, feel free to use this room however you like. If you have need of anything please don’t hesitate to say something to anypony you see walking by, or just go speak to Miss River and she’ll take good care of you. Is there anything else you’d like before I take Cure to meet Nurse Gentle?”

Vines walks in the room and looks around before reaching back and starting to take her bags off. “No, this is perfect. Thank you, Gale. Have fun, sweetie,” she says, giving Cure a quick nuzzle before climbing into the chair to get started on her crochet-whatever-thing.

“Right this way, Cure,” Gale calls, leaving the office door open and heading to a large office room. Apparently all of the nurses share an office, but each has their own sectioned off half-height-cubicle area with a file cabinet, a small desk, and occasionally a framed family picture for decoration.

The only occupant of the room is a dark purple mare with a white mane. The coat color is very unique and the only other pony Cure can think to compare her to is Princess Luna’s. Cure’s not sure he’s ever seen a single other pony with that coat color, but it looks quite beautiful on the thirty-something earth pony mare before him.

“Gentle, sweetie?” Gale calls, causing the pony to look up. She even has Luna’s teal blue eye color, Cure notes. “I want you to meet our newest employee and your every-Saturday apprentice; this is the young Mr. Cure Wave I talked to you about.”

While she's coming around her desk, Cure notices the mare’s mark is a large white cross with a red heart superimposed over it. She greets Cure in a soft, warm voice. “Hello there, Cure, I’m Nurse Gentle Heart. You can just call me Nurse Gentle, though, dear. I understand you have a special talent to heal ponies, is that right?”

“Yes Nurse Gentle. It’s nice to meet you. Gale says I’ll be working under you for the next year or so.”

Nurse Gentle gives Gale a quick smile and turns back to Cure. “That’s right, dearie. I’m not sure if I’m going to be your favorite pony today, though, because before we get started we need to get you a flu shot. It’s that time of year and we don’t want the ponies coming to the clinic to make us sick, after all. Did you talk to his dam, Gale?”

The gray pegasus face-hoofs and apologizes, “Ah! Sorry, Gentle! You know I don’t do a lot of hiring myself!” Brushing a shoulder into the colt she asks, “Are you going to be okay with that Cure?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I can go tell my dam.”

“Sure, I’ll come with you and, Gentle, is it okay if we meet you in room one?”

“That’ll work. I have his chart right here, he just needs the one and he’ll be all set.”

“Alright, we’ll be right there.”

The two trot back to the office and give Vines the update, which she doesn’t voice any objection to, of course, and then head to room one. Cure hops up on the exam table just as the nurse walks in pushing a small roll cart in front of her with one hoof.

The cart is similar to the ones Cure had seen at the grocery store, with a pedal that the nurse is pushing on and can also use to stop it with her field or turn it.

With Gale off to the side he watches as the nurse washes her hooves, dries them, and turns to the pair.

“Okay, Cure, how do you do with needles?” Nurse Gentle asks.

“No problem at all. Technically I probably don’t even need the shot, but I understand… protocol and all, right?”

“That’s right. This one will be in your shoulder, right here,” she says, tapping him in his left deltoid. “Just let me know if you feel dizzy or anything.”

“Sure,” he says, sitting on his haunches and holding out a leg for her. Quickly thinning the skin in the area so as to not bend the needle, he watches as she prepares the injection.

Cure has kind of learned to dismiss most tools he sees ponies using that seem to be designed for hands. After all, even with the weaker TK field that unicorns have, hooves are perfectly capable of doing the same things. Syringes are one of the few things he’s noticed are not the same, even if it’s a relatively minor difference.

The design is nearly identical; a needle, a reservoir, and a plunger. The only significant difference is that the body of the unit is clipped into a triangle shaped wedge that fits in the user’s frog, allowing for easier use of a pony’s TK field to depress the plunger.

Cure activates his talent and watches intently as the syringe is plunged into his leg at the shoulder. The shot appears to be designed to protect against a viral infection he’s already encountered at school.

The vaccine is mostly… not actually a vaccine. The vast majority of the mixture he’s injected with is water, along with a variety of sugars, what he assumes is preservatives, and several fats that Cure doesn't know the name of. Only about a percent or two of the half milliliter injection is what Cure would consider the actual vaccine part of it.

That means that his cherry tomatoes can likely house thousands of actual vaccine markers, but Cure isn’t sure if that would be safe. Perhaps a better approach is to, instead of trying to vaccinate a pony against thousands of viruses all at once, have the tomatoes focus on the specific virus that the leaves have detected.

That would alter the project a fair amount; making it a genuine “Cure Tree” rather than more of a “Vaccine Tree” as he originally planned. Or maybe he can make one of each and submit both for medical review when he’s ready. Cure is pulled out of his musings by the Nurse finishing up, and prepping a bandage for the tiny pinprick.

“I don’t need a bandage, Nurse Gentle. The wound is already gone.”

Pausing, the nurse parts his coat to get a better look causing Gale to lean over as well.

“Huh… you sure work fast,” Gale comments.

“Yep, a tiny poke like that is nothin. I don’t have enough magic for the big things, but for cuts and stuff I can take care of those easy!”

“Well, dear, I think if you could just do that for foals when they have to get shots that alone would be wonderful. Most young colts and fillies don’t just sit there all relaxed and watch like you did.”

“I bet not. I was just paying attention to the process, that’s all.”

“Well you’re obviously a very tough young stallion, aren’t you?” the nurse asks. She’s being sincere, but Cure still has to hold back the eye roll from the inadvertent patronization.

“Part of my talent. I can turn off pain in an area, so if you have to give somepony a shot I can do the same thing. They won’t even feel it.”

“Huh. Well that’s very useful, Cure. We’ll have to get some volunteers to see how well you can patch ponies up too. Gale?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you see anyone in the lobby when you came back?”

“No, I’ll go check with River and let you know. How about you give Cure a little tour?”

“That sounds wonderful. Come along, dearie. Let’s show you the best room in the clinic.”

The tour is short since the clinic isn’t very big. There’s the exam rooms, the staff offices, the reception area, a supply room, an actual legitimate office for the doctor (Doctor Warm Night according to his door’s print), bathrooms (both a visitor’s room and a staff one), a record's room, a room with some basic diagnostic equipment that Cure never will need to learn much about, and Nurse Gentle’s favorite room; the break room.

Cure has to hold back a chuckle when he’s walked into the room and offered another box full of donuts.

The work day, such as it was, ended quickly. Cure assisted Nurse Gentle with two patients; one a preschool aged foal that Cure didn’t recognize with a sprained ankle, the other a young mare who had somehow managed to slip while cutting up a melon and managed to slice her foreleg fairly badly.

She would have required stitches normally, but under close observation from the nurse and with the patient’s blessing, she instead walked out wound-free, cleaned up, and coat repaired within twenty minutes of her arrival. Cure isn’t sure if she was more excited about; not getting her leg shaved in the area or the actual healing of the wound itself.

Much of the day is spent observing Nurse Gentle as she checks supplies, fills out paperwork, and chats with the other staff between everything else she takes care of. Of course the question of whether Cure has a little fillyfriend comes up, and wary of saying much around ponies that work with Emerald Aura, Cure elects to give the “we’re young but I like her” line, which seems to placate the gossipy mares.

Cure considers the day a great success. Nothing wild happened like he half expected, the staff were friendly and considerate, and he got to help a couple ponies that otherwise would have had a slower recovery, minor as both injuries were.

He was even allowed to bring his dam a donut, something he originally wasn’t going to ask. Somehow it just felt tacky, but it was absolutely something a typical eight year old would do, so he figured screw it. She seemed happy that he thought of her and nopony went without.

It’s when he and his dam are just leaving town that Cure’s day seems to take a turn.

“CURE!” he hears shouted, causing both he and Vines to stop and look around. Glacial and Drift land just a little ways in front of him and trot over, seemingly in a panic. “I don’t know if you should go home! There’s a lot of ponies there lookin for you,” she says, turning to glare at her friend.

Drift shrinks a bit under the stare and her ears and tail fall. “Oh my! Cure said he gave you a little touch up, Drift… I must say, the coloration is absolutely beautiful.” Vines’ compliment doesn’t seem to help, unfortunately, and Drift only wilts more under the mare’s attention.

“Uhm… thanks Mrs. Vines.” she shyly mumbles out, something that is not even remotely like her normal demeanor.

“Let me guess,” Cure starts, “Somepony went around showing off and now there’s a horde of pegasi at my house waiting for me. Is that about right?”

“... maybe.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what happened,” Glacial growls, staring daggers at the unusually passive girl.

“How was I supposed to know they’d all go nuts? I thought I was helping him!”

“How is sendin a bunch of ponies to his house helpin him at all?”

“I didn’t send them there! I don’t know how they found out where he lives!”

“They found out because you told them exactly what he looks like. How many light blue colts with green manes around his age are there in the entire city, moron?”

“Please be nice, Glacial. There’s no need to call names,” Vines insists.

“Sorry, Mrs. Vines.”

Drift, who’s been considering the questions, grimaces and hangs her head. “He’s the only one, isn’t he?” she softly asks.

“Yes! He is!” Glacial pauses in thought a second, “At least, he’s the only one I’ve ever seen around town. One of my sire’s coworkers on the weather team probably saw him leavin his house this morning. You can see the whole freakin town from up there,” she yells, waving a wing towards the clouds.

“Yeah… and your eyes are ridiculously good, too… crap, that’s not good. Dam? Any ideas?”

“I think we should just go talk to them, sweetie. Surely they just want to know how to get something similar done, right?” she asks the girls.

“Mostly. I think a couple were complaining sayin you’re tryin to make us look like griffons or something, though, on account’a them havin a lot more marks on their wings.”

“Do they realize I can switch them back in an instant? It’s not like I forced anything on anypony after all.”

“I don’t even know, Cure.” Glacial sighs and looks around, keeping a wary eye on the sky. “This is exactly why I didn’t want anything. I was worried somepony would go nuts or something… I didn’t expect them all to rush over and surround your house, though,” she finishes with a grimace.

“Maybe we should go check in with the guard station before we head home, dam. I’d feel better about walkin into a group of ponies with the sergeant there to maintain order if he’s workin today.”

“That’s probably a good idea sweetie. Oh I hope Deed and Title are okay.”

“C’mere Drift, I’m not mad at ya,” Cure says, walking up to the filly and wrapping her in a brief hug. “Onyx, Heavy, and I kinda joked about somethin like this happening. It’ll be alright, so don’t let it bug ya,” he says, letting go.

“They’re fine. They tried talkin to them, but everypony was just insisting they tell ‘em where you were. You should probably… yanno… like hurry before somepony spots you,” she suggests, continuing to scan the air for any other pegasi. “You’re really lucky we’re the ones that found ya, but you said you were goin to the clinic, so I figured we’d find ya there.”

With a sigh, Cure nods and changes his colors to brown and yellow as both pegasi watch in fascination as his appearance is altered. The group turns and heads back into town, hopeful they can get some assistance from the guard.

“WHAT IN THE FLAMING PITS OF TARTARUS ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE?”

Cure has to give Staff Sergeant Bulwark credit. The shout isn’t quite at “Royal Canterlot Voice” levels, but for somepony not actively running magic through his lungs and vocal folds the dude can put out some serious decibels. At least four of the thirty or so pegasi shot up in the air when he let loose before they realized they weren’t under attack.

The sarge was not even remotely amused when Vines, Cure, and the two fillies gave him a run down of what was going on. Cure barely suppressed a snort when the sarge rolled his eyes and blurted out “stupid ponies sometimes, I swear” before he hollered for a couple guards to form up on him.

The seven made good time to his house, hopeful to get there before some kind of riot broke out. They found several of the pegasi (overwhelmingly mares) peeking in windows, wandering around the back of the house, and a few gathered in small groups just chatting and hanging out.

“This is a private residence, not a place of business. And the colt you are all hunting like a pack of ravenous wolves is EIGHT YEARS OLD. Everypony disperse and go home. I’ve spoken to the colt and his dam and he will shortly begin offering cosmetic services, but NOT TODAY. Now get movin’ or I’m gonna start handing out citations.”

When nopony moves Bulwark starts to draw another breath, pausing when Cure taps the sergeant on a foreleg asking, “Sergeant, may I explain to them?”

Bulwark nods and motions to the group who have, collectively, gathered to hear what the colt has to say. “Hey everypony. I just wanted to let you all know that, as Sgt. Bulwark explained, I will be starting to do small cosmetic procedures in a few weeks. I’ve only had my cutie mark for about six weeks, so my parents haven’t had time to do all the legal stuff to start a business yet.”

“Also, once I get started I’ll probably only be able to do a few a day. I still have school and, depending on how much somepony wants done, I will run out of magic after a few ponies. Hopefully when I grow up more I can do more, but please be patient. Thank you.”

Fortunately, ponies, while excitable at times, seem to be a lot more understanding than the average Black Friday shopper. None of the pegasi seem upset and a few clearly regret the way they’ve acted. There’s some talking in the crowd for a moment before Bulwark, apparently out of patience with them, yells out, “You heard the colt! Now get movin!”

Somepony in the crowd catches Bulwark’s eye as the group begins to take off.

“PRIVATE SWOOP, IS THAT YOU? GET DOWN HERE!”

HA! One of his own is in here. Oh man, somepony’s gonna get their ass chewed later.

While the rest of the pegasi take off the poor private gets a few lines like “You damn well should have known better” and “I want your rear in my office at 0600 tomorrow” before she’s allowed to flee, which she does with great haste.

Deed and Title, obviously able to hear the sarge, pop their heads out the door just as the last few mares take off. With a relieved sigh, Deed opens the door all the way and comes out to thank the sergeant.

“The colt said he’d done up one of his filly friend's feathers at a sleepover this mornin,” he says, waving a hoof towards Drift. “I sure as Tartarus didn’t expect this,” he continues, waving all over the place with his hoof. With a big smile he turns to Bulwark, “Thanks for talkin to ‘em, sarge! Yer a real lifesaver!”

With a proud smile Sgt. Bulwark insists it's all part of the job. "You're welcome, Mr. Deed. If you or your family get harassed anymore just make note of the colors and cutie mark and send word. I'll send a couple scouts to have a talk with the culprit. In fact," he chuckles, looking in the direction the private took off, "I believe I already have a volunteer."

"She did seem eager," Deed agrees. "Heya, sport. How was your first day? Is the clinic still standin?"

"Hi pa. It was when I left it. Thanks for the help, sarge."

"No problem, son. Just try to go a little longer without having any more issues with pegasi, will ya?"

Cure gets a trot-by nuzzle from his dam as she greets his sire. The two retreat back to the house, Title waiting for them at the door. "No doubt. Apparently it's one extreme or the other with 'em." Cure looks at Glacial and Drift. "Hmm… ya know what? I'm pretty sure I need to stop being nice to Drift, she's the common factor here."

"What?"

"That's… huh." Bulwark looks at the pegasus in question for a moment in consideration. Drift looks back and forth between Cure and the sarge, wings raising slightly in agitation. Turning back to Cure he says, "Be that as it may, please try not to cause any more disturbances if you can help it."

"Yessir, sarge. Thanks again!"

Bulwark turns, calls for the two guards that had accompanied him, and starts trotting back to town.

Despite the scowl from Drift, Cure smiles at the fillies and invites them in. "You two wanna come in for lunch? I think I'm gonna be sick if I don't get something other than donuts in me before too long."

"You just tried to sic the guard on me!"

"Oh please," Cure rolls his eyes and waves a dismissive hoof. "The sarge knows I was jokin. He was just playin the straight pony to my wise colt act. You think I'd invite ya in for lunch if I was upset at all?"

"That sounds nice, Cure, but we gotta head home," Glacial interrupts. "I'm sure word's gotten to our parents by now, so we better go see what kinda craziness big mouth over here has caused."

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Okay. Well either way, I really appreciate the warning." Cure takes a second to look around, taking in all the trampled grass and few shed feathers. "I can't even imagine how bad just walking into that mess coulda been, so thanks for huntin me down."

He gives each a friendly nuzzle and starts trotting to the house, calling back "I'll see ya later!" over his withers as the girls turn and take off. Pausing as they fly off, Cure gets a good look at the work he’d done on Drift. He has to admit, it’s really eye-catching when those wings are spread open.

Damn, maybe I did too good of a job on her. I guess I never really thought about how pretty such a common bird is.

Title pokes her head out of the door when he's watching them go. "Get yer plot in here, Cure! We're ready to eat."

With a sigh, Cure trots in the door and joins the family for lunch, giving them each a more thorough recap of the night and the day he’s had so far.

Lunch was thankfully more of the normal fare, but even still Cure shied away from anything sweet like the melons they’d grown. He thought it was funny that, despite the ability to taste anything he wanted, he found himself hankering more for something bland than the tasty produce his dam’s garden was producing.

Most of the afternoon was spent looking over spell sequences and identifying repeated patterns between them. It didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. It seems like each spell is custom made to do exactly what it does with some variation, but different spells that are doing similar tasks (i.e ranged attack spells) seem to go about it a completely different way.

Cure likens it to looking at work being done by different individuals. Some may use a few of the same principles, but each will likely accomplish a task via a different method. Until he can find a book or, perhaps in the future, a teacher that will help him gain a better understanding of what’s going on in the metaphysical realm the chances of guessing a correct runic sequence to accomplish a specific task are looking slim and, based on the safety warnings he’s read everywhere, dangerous to attempt without trained supervision.

Lemon and Amy came over for an early dinner before their run, bringing the girls along with them. The table was crowded with everypony around it, but there was enough room with Cure, Lotus, and Cherry on one side, Vines and Amy to their left, and Lemon and Title on their right. Deed, being the widest of the group, had his side to himself.

It was nice, Cure thought, having everypony together like that. He loved being sandwiched between the two fillies too, and their dams were gushing every time he stopped to lend a hoof or wipe their faces off. Vines and Lemon took the pair to the playground afterwards while the more business-minded ponies chatted in the living room while waiting for the first few runners to show up.

Title and Deed are snuggled on one cushion, while Cure’s happy to snuggle up to the purple mare on another.

“Huh, I hadn’t thoughta doin color alterations. That’s smart thinkin, Cure. Not how I expected ya to use yer talent. Bein’ a forever change oughta save ‘em some bits long term.”

“I dunno, Amy… I can see ponies not living nearby being a little leery of permanently changing their colors. I guess adding an extra stripe to yer mane isn’t a big deal, but I really just did Drift’s like that on a whim. That’s kind of a big change to not put any prior thought into.”

“Yah, but puttin thought into decisions ain’t somethin most ponies do, ya know?”

“True. Either way, it’s a cosmetic service, so we probably need to sit down and come up with some kind of pricing scheme for that and everything else I can do that’s simple. I figure you and mom would have a far better idea on that stuff than me and dad would.”

“We also need to hash out whether I’m going to offer more complex medical procedures for free through the clinic or if I’m going to try to contract with whatever health organization is in charge to at least cover expenses like my time and travel to see ponies missing limbs or whatnot. The hourly wage they’re offering is okay, but nothing like what you’d expect to pay a pony to, I dunno… fly to the capital to regrow somepony’s leg.”

“Start small, Cure,” Title suggests, “Until you have enough magic to tackle the big projects let’s just focus on the small stuff like your cosmetic procedures. I’m sure the clinic is aware you can’t wave a hoof and regrow a leg or whatnot, so they probably won’t even ask that kinda stuff until you're older.”

“Yer mom’s right, son. You are too. Better to let the mares sort those cosmetic prices out; most’a that stuff sounds like it should cost a fortune ta me, but without the need for a fancy office, staff, and all the years of education to pay for I’m just not sure what’s a fair price ta ask.”

“Well it’s a good thing we have somepony with a special talent in that department, isn’t it?” Title asks, turning to a somewhat unsure Amethyst.

“The numbers I’m thinkin’a still seem high. That little touchup ya did fer Lemon? Two thousand bits, easy. She got a consultation for it once. They quoted her 3k ‘n that woulda taken weeks of visits. Not a lotta doctors do cosmetic work ‘cause the spells are so complex. One mistake and yer gonna hafta take extra time ta fix it. At best.”

“Yeah but I feel weird asking for thousands of bits for literally ten minutes of work. Maybe half that or something would be more appropriate. I gotta be careful about undercutting the ponies doing it right now, too.” All three adults look a little unsure. They’re clearly thinking the same thing and aren’t sure what to recommend. “What about something simpler then; the color effects in the manes and tails?”

“A small stripe n'style? Fifty bits. More colors or more complicated? A hundred, easy. A big, complex pattern like that filly? Two hundred feels right. Of course yer gonna wanna make ‘em temporary, not like hers,” Amethyst explains. "I'd double the permanent ones cause they probably ain't comin back soon. Yer able to do temp work, right?"

“Yeah, I can just change the actual hair, fur, or feathers themselves instead of altering their pigments and follicles like I did with her. I’ll have to talk to Drift when we go to run tonight and see if she wants me to fix that… plus I don’t know how it’ll look as she grows.”

“There’s unicorns that do temporary work like that, Cure,” Title points out. “Well, not like that, but they already do mane coloring and whatnot, but I don’t get the impression you're interested in doing that kind of cosmetic work anyhow.”

“No, not at all. I mean, bits are bits but it was just a fun, one-off thing I did for demonstration purposes. I didn’t get any of that… you know… satisfaction?” Cure pauses to think. The word seems close enough, “feeling I normally get when helpin somepony like when you were sick, Amy.”

“Dern grateful fer it, too. Poor lil Lotus… I woulda hated seein her as sick as I felt. We’re lucky ta have ya, Cure,” she assures him, leanin down to give him a nuzzle. “Iff’n y’all want I can get with the attorney Lemon used to file her business paperwork tomarrah. We’ll getchya registered with tha city. Yer ma or pa can “own” the business and you’ll do yer thing till ya turn fifteen an’ can take it over.”

Cure considers it for a moment. He can’t think of any reason not to. Plus, it’s just another sign of the mares’ plan to join the family as far as he’s concerned. He knows Amethyst is grateful for everything he’s done so far, but taking care of all of that feels more like “something you do for your foal” than “helping a neighbor” even with the referral fee he’s offered… something he notices she hasn’t brought up yet.

“Well, did you three have a chance to hash out an agreement as far as your referrals? I definitely want you taking any expense on your part out of the pot before we go dividing anything up.”

“We sorted all that out, son. Don’t worry, we’re also gonna set some aside so when yer older and ready to work full time you’ll have plenty saved up to rent a real office too.”

“Good thinkin, pa. I’ll probably get an office in Baltimare; way more ponies that way. By then hopefully I’ll have plenty of magic to get through a long work day. Damn, it’s crazy to think I’ll be finishing school so early.”

“Gotta pass yer test first, colt. If ya do you’ll be quittin early, but you already know most’a what they’d teach ya anyhow,” Deed explains.

“Yeah, I guess y’all don’t exactly get high school diplomas do ya?”

“What’s that?” Amy asks. Cure freezes, realizing his mistake. He’d gotten so comfortable leaning on the mare he let the fact it wasn’t his dam completely slip his mind, despite the completely different coat color and scent.

“It’s a certificate of completion that some schools offer,” Title tells her. “No, Cure, you wouldn’t get anything like that anyhow. You'll get documentation indicating you've completed your schooling, though.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Maybe when I’m in my teen years I can set up some kind of contract with Baltimare Hospital or the bigger health organization that’s over them all and they can ship in disabled ponies for me to heal."

Conversation topics mostly covered, the group settles in to wait for the runners to show up. Cure nuzzles into Amy’s side for a few minutes while the three adults chat about some current events or whatnot he doesn’t pay attention to. A knock at the door draws him out of his stupor and he hops up to answer before anypony can react, scenting Dawn and Solar just outside.

Cure opens the door to greet the pair and calls back to his mom, sire, and Amy that they’ll be out back waiting for everypony; the majority of whom should be by within the next fifteen minutes.

Sat under the maple tree, Cure’s relieved and maybe a smidge wary that Dawn sits her haunches by him and lays across his withers. Solar is happy to sit just opposite of the two and turns to flop on his side.

“So,” Solar starts with a mischievous smile, “our sire said you had another round of fun after work today. He and dam really like the fire effect you gave Dawn too.”

“Did they? I think it looks nice on her,” Cure says, looking up at the underside of her chin.

“They really did,” she explains. “Dam said she’s seen styles like this costing mares a hundred bits or more. She was a little leery of it being permanent, but I told her you could change it back easy enough.”

“Yeah, do you want me to go ahead and leave the hair that color and just change the follicles so new hair comes in your normal color?”

“No way, I love it. If I change my mind will you change it back later?”

“Sure.”

The group falls into a minute of silence before Cure finally decides to address the elephant in the room. “So while I would normally not bring this up with anypony else around, I think we both trust yer brother enough for him to be present for this conversation… and frankly, I would value his opinion as an older colt and sorta-big brother. You seemed unhappy with me after I woke up this morning.”

“I… was annoyed, I think. Everypony knows you have a thing for Glacial. I thought they would give me a hard time when you were nuzzling into her like that after we’ve been hanging out so much.”

“Did they? I was the first to leave, so I didn’t get to stick around after I gave everypony a dye job.”

She answers with a deep sigh. “No. I talked to Rising and Coast. They looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if they were going to tease me. Between the jobs you're starting, the cosmetics, and Drift's vivid description of the massage I’m surprised nopony was already here when we arrived."

“So you kinda expected them to react like a unicorn typically would to their stallion straying?” he asks.

Solar’s happy to just sit there quietly and listen, so he continues paying attention even though he hasn’t had a reason to speak up yet.

“Basically.”

“Are you expecting the pony you marry to be monogamous? What about you, Solar? Were you gonna only have one wife? I would think unicorn stallions, especially, would be in high demand for studding.”

Solar elects to answer first. “I think I could be happy with one wife, but bigger families work better as long as everypony gets along. They provide more support if somepony is sick or hurt or loses their job. If I'm going to stay in the guard for a while I'll have to have at least a second wife so somepony is still there to help with foals if I'm ever deployed somewhere."

“Also, as you say, there’s not enough stallions out there. Unicorns are the worst off, I think. Pegasi can at least travel to find mates. Earth ponies have a few more foal producing years. The only advantage unicorns have is that we mostly live in cities, so we don’t necessarily need to travel usually.”

“I don’t know.” Dawn softly answers. “I think I would like my own stallion, but I just don’t think that’s gonna happen. It would be nice having more help with foals, though. How do you really feel about Glacial?”

“I’ve been kinda crushin on her since we played kickball last month. I’m sorry if that hurts to hear, Dawn, but I’m not gonna lie to ya. I think I actually have some kinda fascination with wings to be honest, but it’s not like… ya know? It’s not like I’m obsessed with ‘em or anything, just I think they’re pretty.”

“That and her coat is pretty unique. She told me her great great granddam was a pure crystal pony, so she has a nearly one-of-a-kind sparkle to her that caught my eye… it was when she launched up in the air and caught a kick and the sun was all behind her just right.”

“Wow… okay, yeah,” Solar agrees, “that sounds like a crush more than actual legitimate interest.”

“Duh. But that’s where most relationships start, too. Physical attraction leads to one pony approaching another. They get to know each other and it either goes further or ends there when ponies realize they’re not compatible. You’re rarely gonna get to that point with a pony you don’t find attractive though.”

“I haven't had a chance to get to really know her. She was interesting to talk to last night, but I talked to my moms about how relationships like that should work. From what they say I should just sit back and let the fillies approach me once I’ve shown I’m interested.”

Solar waves a hoof to get their attention. “They’re right. That's normally how it's done. Regardless, you two are too young to be stressing over this. Dawn, you have six or seven years to decide what you want before it even starts being an issue. Maybe a little more, but most colts are snatched up by about eighteen. Just be friends for the next few years and let it go from there.”

"Cure, you're not doing anything wrong by speaking to other fillies. You two have only even been… well, frankly, "dating" is more than what I consider your relationship since you haven't even actually gone on a date. Anyhow, you've only been hanging out for a few weeks. You're damn sure not expected to be exclusive; either of you."

"Cure, for the next five to six years, if anything, you should be searching out more potential wives since you'll probably have the income to support them. Not only that but the nation needs the kind of strong, healthy foals you'll eventually have."

“Dawn, if another filly shows interest in Cure don’t let it upset you. They may not get along enough for it to matter. Or, who knows,” he says with a shrug, “you may find you like them enough too. We are a herd species, after all… Cure’s parents seem plenty happy, and from what Cure's said that's with another two mares likely to join in. Or, not to sound negative, but you two may not work out and may even end up going your separate ways. You never know.”

“I guess… we’ll just see how it goes, then. Sorry if I seemed jealous, Cure.”

“Pfft… don’t apologize for that. My dam asked how I woulda felt if you were snuggled up with Heavy. I’d like to say I’d understand, but I think some part of me woulda felt the same way. At least, for a moment I would. It’s normal.”

“So,” she asks, “how was your mornin at the clinic?”

“It was pretty much what I expected. Nothing major happened; just a sprained ankle and a cut that happened in the kitchen. I was only there a couple hours and, like ya said, earth ponies don’t get hurt a lot.”

“Sounds boring.”

“I reckon most jobs are, Dawn. I think I can manage two hours per week though. I could see them shippin in ponies from far away once they realize I can fix almost anything. I haven’t said anything yet, but I’m sure they’ll put two and two together soon enough. Hey Solar?”

“Hrm?”

“You gonna ask yer sire if Bulwark’ll let ya come to the gym on Friday?”

“I… hadn’t thought of it. The sarge knows I’m enlisting come January, maybe he’ll be okay with it. Are you even going to have enough magic to get through the workout with however many ponies will be there?”

“My sire’s comin, so six plus him as I understand. I should be fine thanks to the magic regeneration cheat. I just need to load up on food before we go and minimize what I use otherwise. If ya can’t go this time I’ll ask Bulwark if he minds you playing chaperone if there’s a week my sire can’t or doesn’t wanna go.”

“That would be awesome. By the time I’ve gotta go I’m going to be in great shape.”

“Yep, forget one wife. The mares at basic are gonna eat you up. You're gonna come home with ten of 'em. You'll have your very own squad as a private!”

“Shattap, Cure. Jeez, I swear there’s no way you’re only eight.”

Cure changes his voice to sound like an adult mare. “Oh Solar… look at those big muscles on that chest. I bet they’re so warm. Let me rest my head there tonight, will ya?” he finishes, waggling his eyebrows at the older colt. Dawn gives Cure a good kick in the haunches and glares down at him.

“Stop hittin on my brother, Cure. It’s weird.”

“Oh look, your friends are here for the run,” Solar deadpans. “How incredibly convenient. Let’s go greet them.”

“Fiiine. Yer all the fireball I need anyhow, Sunrise. C’mon, let’s get these lazy slouches movin. Unless my eyes deceive me that’s yer sire headed this way too. Guess we picked up another stray.”

Author's Note

Okay, so, ironic with the way the story started and all, but guess who caught COVID? Fortunately I didn't die. Yet. The fucking cough is damn near killing me though. What's worse is, as symptoms started getting better I was exposed to the flu. So yeah... I've been sick as a dog since Nov 19th and am still hacking my brains out nonstop. Thank goodness Theraflu has a yummy lemonade packet. Good times!

Between the illness, work getting a little nutty here at the end of the year, and some things I put in 34 - 38 that I think I really need to revisit I will not be publishing a chapter later this week. I am very sorry for that, really. I would love nothing more than to sit down at the keyboard and pound out 10k words every day, but that just hasn't been happening lately due to unforeseeable circumstances.

Hopefully I'll get over this in the next day or two and can get back on schedule for next week.

Thanks, folks!