Life Finds a Way

Tuesday, January 27th, 909 AB (2 days later)

"Can I come?" Rising Pitch asks.

Cure, caught off guard by the request, looks to Dawn for approval.

"Sure, I guess… does anypony else want to?” she asks. “We're just going for enchanting supplies."

"I could use some crystal dust," Ferric Shine quietly mentions.

Cure curiously looks to the dark red filly. "Have you started playing with runic channels already?"

Nodding eagerly she explains, "Yeah, Mr. Angle encouraged me to practice with it. He says there's not any demand around here but told me a lot of the expensive custom orders I’ll do later will require it, so I should start learning now."

"Yeah, I'm sure high end weapons and armor use a ton of the stuff. Mr. Angle is your, uhh, mentor?" Cure asks.

"Master," Ferric corrects, pausing at the cringe on Cure's face.

"Sorry, I don't care much for the term, that’s all," he quietly explains. "Still, that sounds like good advice. Did you want to come or do you want me to grab some for you while I'm there?"

"You don't mind picking some up?"

Scoffing, Cure waves the concern away. “Of course not, Red. Just tell me how much you need. I’ll always do what I can to help, you know that.”

Before he can react she leans over and gives him a grateful nuzzle. “Thanks, Cure! Just one kilogram for now would be great.”

Cure’s pretty sure it’s the first time the larger filly has ever initiated physical contact with him except Hearth’s Warming, so he’s surprised enough that he doesn’t catch himself in time to cut off the resulting blush. He’s not exactly physically attracted to the girl, mainly due to the fact she’s at the far upper end of the ‘muscular female’ scale, but she has a very sweet disposition, and he can’t deny the happy smile she gives him upon seeing his blush makes him feel warm inside.

Returning his blush, the dark filly turns and makes a hasty retreat towards her home, practically skipping as her tail swishes back and forth with every step.

Cure doesn’t realize he’s staring until a scowling unicorn appears directly in front of him, interposing herself between him and their larger friend. Cure can’t help but note that the muscular earth pony has good tone all over, and it’s not his fault that the extra skip in her step caught his eye.

Coughing, Cure looks between Dawn, Rising, and Delta Coast. Dawn looks annoyed, but Rising has a subtle smile on her lips. Coast looks on indifferently. “Right… so… Coast you comin too?” he asks.

“Sure but I gotta run home to let my dam know, drop off my school stuff, and grab some bits. I’ll meet you at the candy store in about half an hour, okay?”

“Same here,” Rising says, “but I’ll just be a few.” That makes sense; she lives a lot closer to downtown, just barely on the outskirts between the city and Sapphire Sprint’s home.

“Sure. You ready to go, Sunrise?”

Rather than answer, she huffs out her snout like an annoyed bull and walks away. He looks to the other two and innocently shrugs, ignoring their snerks and giggles as he turns to follow. The pair make their way to the candy store, greeting Lemon before going upstairs.

The two earth ponies with appointments today should be pretty easy; they’re actually a couple of friends wanting to get some dark fades down their legs, then just a little contouring of their posteriors.

After Savvy’s birth, Title had been doing the paperwork at home instead of going into the office. She tried taking the girl to work with her once, but quickly found that all the energy that foals normally expend first learning to move instead got channeled directly into actually moving, thanks to Cure’s help rejuvenating and strengthening the girl’s muscles. Regardless, with Cure having been doing this job for several months now with no issue he insisted she relax at home and keep Savvy occupied instead of trudging out to keep an eye on him.

When his customers show up Cure takes care of the color enhancements, smoothes out their rears, then gives them the complimentary dental and joint cleanup package he’s more-or-less convinced himself should be part of any package. One of the ladies had some minor sinus irregularities he was able to adjust as well. That earned him a big hug when he told her the reason why she always seemed to catch and keep colds that nopony else did.

Dawn takes up residence on one of the couches while she’s waiting for the ladies to finish. Rising joins her a few minutes later, then once the ladies pay and leave the pair walks around the divider to join Cure.

“Did you just fix their butts?” Rising asks.

“Jeez, RP… patient confidentiality. You know I’m not gonna tell you what I did. I will tell you that most of what I do is fixin teeth and joint issues, though, so ya really oughta bring yer dam over at some point if she has any dental issues or just for a check-up. You know I don’t charge friends and family. Much. Usually. I mean, there are some things they could ask for that I’d… what the hay?”

Cure pauses mid-sentence when he hears heavy hooffalls coming up the stairs. Three sets, if he’s not mistaken. The scent in the air tells him that Lemon is at the front and two unfamiliar mares are behind her.

The girls, seeing his confusion, worry that something is wrong, so Dawn pulls Rising off to the side and hides in the corner near the front of the store, lying in ambush at first. Cure notices and gives her a headshake to tell her it's not necessary, even though he still doesn’t recognize the scents. What’s odd is that one of the mares has a much stronger scent than he normally gets.

“Cure, babe?”

“In here, Lemon,” he calls back. As she rounds the corner he activates a Sound Barrier and quickly asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh! No! Nothing’s wrong, exactly. Well, sort of,” she completely fails to clarify. She looks over at Dawn and Rising and tells them, “Hey girls, how about you two go downstairs and help yourselves to a treat. One of my friends has a bit of a medical emergency and needs some privacy.”

“Okay… we’ll be downstairs,” Dawn hesitantly agrees with a nod from Rising. The two make their way around the room divider as Lemon waves the two mares into the room.

“Come on in, Daisy, it’s okay. Cure’s young but he’s a professional.” She realizes they’re not hearing her, so she steps out of the Sound Bubble and repeats herself, escorting the two mares in. Cure recognizes the one right away; it’s the same mare that Amethyst had been chatting with on the park bench several months prior when he was first meeting the girls to run.

“Hey… I remember you,” he softly says as she walks in the room. “I met you back in the park when Amy was watchin the girls play, right?”

“Good memory, colt,” she says with a nod, walking in the room. “I want you to meet my sister. C’mon Rosey, he won’t bite.”

The second mare, a red earth pony appropriately named Rosey, follows behind her, walking strangely. He feels like he recognizes the mare from the first day of births. She just had a son if he remembers right, but that is more of an afterthought right now.

Cure instantly gets a feeling of dread when the mare makes it into the room further. The scent is from her, and from the way the mare is walking funny he comes to an immediate conclusion. Somepony has done something horrible to this mare.

“Cure? Cure, snap outta it,” Lemon calls, shaking him slightly and jolting him out of his angry spiral.

“Did somepony hurt her?” he can’t help but growl out.

The mare immediately lowers her head and sighs out, “Stars damn it,” while Lemon bursts out laughing and Daisy turns away covering a snort. Their reactions throw Cure completely off his game, though, because as far as he can tell there’s not anything even remotely funny about the situation.

“What in the fuck are you laughing about?” he snarls.

“No! Easy there, tiger! She’s okay! I think you might be misunderstanding, son. Nopony hurt her. Well, not intentionally, I guess,” Lemon finishes, barely holding back another laugh.

“Aww, it’s adorable! Look at him!” Daisy yells. “Sweet Celestia, that face! I haven’t seen a look like that ‘cept on a pissed off griffon.” The mare walks over and lays on her barrel to hug Cure, further confusing him, “You are such a little protector, aren’t you? No sweetie, Rosey isn’t hurt exactly. She’s just a bit uncomfortable.” She finishes with a nuzzle and moves back to her sister’s side.

“Uncomfortable? I just healed her like… a week ago when she had her colt. She should be in perfect health." He looks up at his presumptive patient and asks, "Is he okay?”

“Yes, Cure,” Rosey says, finally raising her head. “My son is just fine. My husband and I… we were celebrating,” with a grimace she looks to Lemon. “He’s a colt, Sweets! I can’t even get the words out! I think I’m going to die!”

“Would you rather go to the clinic?” she asks incredulously.

“NO!”

“Then here, let’s make it easy. Can he use his talent on you?”

“Yes! Please!”

“Uhh… okay, would it help to lay down or something?”

“No, I don’t want to move at all.”

Brows furrowed, Cure approaches the mare and puts a hoof on her foreleg, activating his talent.

“What the… Is that a cucumber?” he asks. Lemon almost falls over laughing her head off and Daisy isn't any better, laying on her barrel and pounding the floor while laughing uproariously. The rose mare goes from her normal lighter red color clear through every shade on the scale, blushing dark wine from hooves to eartips and almost tearing up. Cure’s heat sensors trip from the deep blush, making him feel even worse for the poor mare.

He numbs her vaginal canal as best he can and releases her foreleg as he starts nudging the others out of the room. “Alright, enough, you two. Go wait in the lobby or, better yet, go back to work, Lemon. You should be ashamed. I’ve heard of ponies havin stuff like this happen and ignoring it ‘cause they’re too embarrassed to get help. It can get real bad, so get outta here!”

The admonishment works pretty well, especially considering it’s coming from a small foal, and the two shamed mares make their retreat back into the lobby.

“Thank you,” the red mare softly mumbles.

“Look, Rosey?” she nods, “Okay, Rosey, so this isn’t a big deal. We can do this a couple ways. I think the easiest is if I stimulate your muscles just like I did the other day. You remember when I helped you push your son out?”

Rather than answer verbally, she just nods her head.

“Okay, same deal. I’ll contract your muscles and you’ll just push it out, just like a baby. For the record, if you’re going to put things in there, go out and buy something designed just for it. They’re made so this kinda stuff can’t happen, I assume. They’d probably be a lot more enjoyable too. At least, I would hope they are,” he finishes with a shrug.

The odd comment manages to get a snorted out laugh from the mare.

“Here’s what I propose. We both go over to the little attached bathroom. It has a shower stall. You hop in there, I do my thing, I use the cleaning cantrips on you and the f… wait, fruit? Are cucumbers a fruit or a vegetable?”

Rosey looks at him like he’s nuts for getting distracted by something like that right now.

“Whatever it is, fruit I think by the way, we’ll pop the lil fella out, fire off a few cleaning cantrips, I’ll hit the thing with a cutting spell, we’ll flush away the evidence, I’ll heal ya up, and you can go beat the crap outta them once you feel up to it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great. Chin up, Rosey, I'm certain you won't be the last pony I hafta do something like this for." With a pitiable look he tells her, "The day will inevitably come when I have to do this again, except for a stallion." That gets a snort from her as he starts leading her to the bathroom.

"You’re not feeling anything ‘cause I numbed the area, so you should be able to walk fine. Don’t worry, you’re not gonna launch it across the room as soon as you take a step or anything, just come right this way.”

By the time Cure had assisted Rosey in her cucumber birthing, which was slightly more difficult than when he helped her with her son, Emerald Aura and Delta Coast had arrived. Lemon had temporarily closed the store while she helped her friend out, assuming “help” is the right word, so the pair had to wait for a moment until she had come back down to let them in.

Cure didn’t have any spells designed specifically to cut, so instead he had to fake it. After giving the cucumber a cleaning, Rosey had, with her ears pinned the whole time, moved it to the channel for the toilet. He’d held up a crystal and pretended to use it while he actually used his talent to dice the offending fruit into small cubes, all of which were quickly flushed away.

Figuring Rosey had more than “paid” enough with her pride, he told her she owed him nothing, explaining repeatedly that, as a general policy, he does not accept payment for purely healing requests. At her insistence he jokingly asked her to explain which part of their transaction was cosmetic in nature.

She finally relented and, with no small amount of shame, left along with her sister. At least, Cure noted, Daisy was no longer teasing her. He wasn’t sure if she simply got it out of her system or if she considered how bad it could be if Rosey hadn’t sought treatment out due to embarrassment like he’d suggested.

Either way he is hopeful his business doesn’t end up being the go-to hot spot for when irretrievable object insertions happen.

He hadn’t talked to his parents about it at all, but perhaps there was a huge, untapped market out there. Literally untapped in this instance. In a world with a five to one female to male ratio there’s potentially hundreds of thousands of mares involved in female-only relationships. He’s certainly not gone hunting for a sex toy store, but neither has he seen any evidence of one yet.

Still, it’s a topic he can discuss with his mom and, maybe, his sire later. Vines would probably be uncomfortable hearing her son ask about mare-on-mare sex toy options, but who knows? She’s okay with the act itself, so a frank and honest discussion should be fine.

Assuming stores would carry his products, it should be a pretty hooves-off and profitable endeavor, but he would want to do it under an LLC instead of BodyWorks, more than likely. Humanity taught him that, no matter how many safety labels something has, some idiot will find a way to hurt themselves.

Cure trots down the stairs to find Emerald and three fillies looking at him apprehensively. They’d no doubt heard the water running and certainly smelled everything, but he can’t fathom why they’re giving him weird looks.

“What?”

“Are you… okay, dear?” Emerald slowly asks.

“Uhh… why wouldn’t I be?”

“We did not inquire as to the nature of the emergency,” she explains, “but we could guess from the… well, odor.”

“Okay, so you all know my policy on confidentiality by now. I’ll just say that whatever reason you suspect she was here, there’s a good possibility that the actual reason is different. She had a legitimate medical issue and the timing was less than optimal. That’s all.”

“Okay,” she says, accepting the only answer she’s going to get. “We were concerned, that’s all.”

“No crime happened, just a… well, situation, with poor timing. It’s all fine. Is everypony ready to head out?”

The group no more than makes it into Early's Odds and Ends before the elderly beige unicorn greets them. Cure had confirmed on his last visit when filling out the order form for his parents' bags that, unlike the "Beakery" this shop is owned by somepony named Early; the older unicorn that had been running the shop each time Cure had stopped by.

He'd suspected that when the dude made the "hoof over the store" quip back when he was doing his Hearth's Warming shopping.

"Well howdy there, Cure Wave. How's my newest favorite customer today? Heya sweetheart! You keepin yer colt outta trouble?"

"Hey Early, ya old crook. Doin alright."
"Hi Early! No muggings this time! So far, I mean."

Rising hikes an eyebrow at the two. "Come here a lot? Wait, muggings?"

"I'll tell you on the train ride home," Dawn says.

"I would like to hear this as well," Emerald adds, scowling at the pair.

Dawn looks up to her dam, ears pinned back, "I thought bro told you and daddy already."

"HA! Way to throw the stallions under the wagon, Dawn," Coast laughs out.

"Sweet Celestia, babe," Cure mumbles, rubbing at his forehead. He looks up at Emerald and assures her, "It wasn't a big deal, Mrs. Aura. A couple jerks tried to stop us on our way back to the train a couple months ago. The idiots never knew what hit 'em. I kinda wonder what happened to 'em tho."

Turning to the older unicorn he says, "I need to put together an order for a mid-high, two scroll books, a fountain pen, and then I'll need about thirty lows and two dozen mid-lows. Hopefully you have mosta that in stock though."

"Damn, son. I knew it was going to be a good day when you walked through that door. I figured you'd be back so I stocked up on mids and mid-lows after your bag order. I’ve got all the lows and mid-lows you should need." He waves to the aisle as he turns towards a locked door. "Go grab whatever I've got sitting out. I'll get a few outta my stockroom."

"How many mids ya got?"

Early looks back over his withers, replying, "Four in the back room."

"Eh, I'll take 'em offa yer hooves. I'm sure I'll find a use for them."

The stallion gives him a nod as he makes his way to the locked storeroom.

"What is all that stuff?" Coast asks as the group starts towards the aisle.

"Crystals," Emerald answers. "At least one rather expensive one if I'm not mistaken. Cure, I assume you brought sufficient funds?"

"I have a certified check for most of it and enough cash for the rest."

"Certified check?"

"Yeah, RP. It's just like a normal check, but the bank is telling whoever gets it that the money is guaranteed by the bank to be there. With normal checks whoever is accepting it has to trust the pony it's coming from because there's no other guarantee." The group pauses outside the aisle with enchanting supplies. "Hey, was there anything you two wanted while we're here?"

"Not really, maybe some drawing pads," Coast answers with an indifferent shrug.
"Mmhmm. I brought a few bits for some reeds."

"Reeds?" Cure asks, turning to Rising. "Like… for a saxophone? Coast, if you want, feel free to go grab yerself whatever you need. I didn't know you liked to draw."

"Stars, I wish I had a saxophone," Rising gushes. "No, I play the clarinet."

Coast looks a little unsure. "You sure you don't mind?"

"He doesn't," Dawn assures her. "He's spending so much on enchanting supplies he wouldn't even notice."

"Yep, get yerself whatever you need, Coast. Really, I don't mind. If you go wild I may have to work ten minutes extra this week, oh no!" he faux complains.

"RP, I don't know how much a sax costs but if you can find one for a few hundred or so just say the word. I can't begin to tell you how ecstatic I would be if I bought ya something and you found your mark while using it. It would be worth way more than a few measly bits, I promise. Don't forget whatever cleaning kit or supplies you'll need too."

The two girls exchange a look and, tails wagging like happy puppies, take off together to see what they can find.

As the three continue towards the enchanting supplies Emerald speaks up. "Cure, I know it is not my place to criticize, but are you certain?"

"What? About them spending a few bits? Absolutely. They would have to try really hard to spend half of what I made in twenty minutes this afternoon and I have a deaging scheduled tomorrow."

"Ah, I see."

Cure pauses for a moment to meet the blue mare's eyes. He doesn't get to speak to her privately very often, so despite Dawn's presence he goes ahead and makes a suggestion. "I already fixed Mr. Haze up with the rest of the guards. I hope you don't take this as some kinda veiled insult or a round-about way to call you old or something, but if you have any aches or pains or whatnot I could make you feel like ya did fifteen years ago."

Holding up a hoof quickly, before she can respond, he adds, "Just consider it. I certainly don't want you to feel like I'm trying to… I dunno, like, make a big deal out of it. Allowing me to use my talent on you takes an awful lot of trust. I'm amazed so many do, in fact. I'm certainly not offended if you aren't completely comfortable with it. I'm not even sure I would be."

When she gives an understanding nod he continues walking.

Cure and Dawn start digging through the available supplies. He grabs several hooffulls of cantrip, twenty lows, the six mid-lows that are out, and four kilograms of dust for himself and Ferric along with a bunch of ink and some more paper. He's planning on including a few extremely high powered shields and attacks with the book for his parents and the more powerful spells take a lot more ink.

"Anything you need, babe? Mrs. Aura, did you need anything?"

"No, thank you, Cure."
"I can't think of anything I need either."

"Alright, let's see what the girls found," he says, making his way back out of the aisle. The trio find the girls standing by the cashier desk. Cure has, on rare occasions, intentionally made his eyes appear larger than normal to really sell the puppy dog look. The girls have somehow pulled it off with terrifying effectiveness despite lacking his talent.

Rising is sat on her haunches. A black instrument case is hugged tight to her chest and belly; one end resting on the floor between her rear hooves, the other resting against her right cheek. She is giving Cure the most soulful, enormous pleading eyes to the point he barks out a laugh when she meets his gaze.

"Oh my stars, Rising, I wish I had a camera for that look," he chuckles. With an exaggerated curious tone he asks, "So, whatchya got there, hmm?"

"It's a saxophone," she answers demurely.

"Nooooo. You don't say."

With an exciting nod she hums, "Mmhmm!"

"Does it make purty noises?"

She gives quick, small nods while smiling.

"Well… what do you think, Dawn?"

"I dunno, Cure. Just the case itself looks pretty fancy. I bet the sax is really expensive. What do you think, dam?"

"I'm afraid I don't know much about instruments. I sincerely hope she intends to at least share her music with you once she becomes proficient."

That gets another excited nod and a few tail swishes out of the girl.

With a deep sigh, Cure reluctantly nods in agreement, "I suppose it would be a crime to deprive the world of that. How about you, Evil Savvy, you ready?"

Coast scrunches her snout at the moniker, mouthing it out. Dawn snorts out a laugh at the reaction and explains, "His sister's colors are opposite of yours."

"I know, but evil? I was here first! Wouldn't that make her the evil twin?"

Gasping, Cure stares at the girl with huge eyes. He keeps gasping. And gasping. Only thanks to his altered biology is he able to gasp for a solid fifteen seconds, drawing worried looks from the girls and nearby patrons. Finally Dawn punches him in the shoulder, scowling at him.

"She … she said Savvy is evil!" he hisses, waving his hoof furiously in her direction. "Heresy!" he declares, thrusting a hoof at the heavens.

Bumping him with a shoulder, Dawn barks a single "Behave!"

Grumbling, he looks back to the blue filly. "Fiiiiine. Did you get everything you need, Demon, err, Delta Coast?"

She gives him a flat look and holds up a drawing kit that looks more like a drafting set to his uneducated eyes along with a few pads.

"Cool. Y'all ready to check out?"

"Uh huh!" Rising eagerly nods. Cure can barely look at the girl without snorting. Her ears are straight up and tracking him everywhere he goes, her eyes are wide with excitement, she’s smiling as big as he’s ever seen anypony smile, and her booty is wiggling just like his dam’s does when the topic of grandfoals comes up.

Delta Coast is still giving him a somewhat deadpan stare, but he can tell from the minute tail twitches, her posture, and the way her ears are perked that she’s excited.

He knows he probably shouldn’t blast money everywhere and it’s somewhat unfair for Heavy, Sapphire, Ferric, and the pegasi duo, but he figures at some point he’ll be hanging out with them and have an opportunity to even the score. Besides, he truly meant what he said; few things would make him happier than learning he helped one of his friends on the path towards their destiny.

As the last customer in front of them finishes their transaction, Early looks over the group and, upon seeing the two girls, especially Rising, can’t hold back a chuckle. “Well it looks like you found everything alright, didn’chya son?”

“Yup. Go ahead and pass that stuff up to Mr. Moneybags over here, ladies. Look away, though, I don’t think you’re prepared to witness the carnage that’s about to happen.”

“Carnage?” Coast asks.

Dawn leans over and quietly whispers in her ear. “He’s talking about the bill.”

“Did… we spend too much?” Rising quietly responds, suddenly looking worried.

“No, you two didn’t,” the orange filly reassures them. “He’s ordering a few really expensive things, though.”

“How expensive?” Rising asks.

“Umm… Well three of the things he’s ordering are five grand apiece, the mids are over twenty five hundred, then there’s a couple thousand or so of the lower tier crystals, plus all the supplies and stuff.”

“That’s over twenty thousand bits!” Delta Coast hisses.

“I told you he wouldn’t even notice your stuff.”

Rising is borderline hyperventilating. Coast looks on flabbergasted as Cure passes over the check and tosses another seven coins on the desk. She knows the smaller ones are hundred bit coins, something she’s only seen occasionally, but the bigger ones? She’s never seen those in her life. She knows thousand bit coins exist, but who carries that kind of cash around?

“But how?!” Coast manages to get out.

“How what?” Dawn whispers, rubbing Rising’s back with a hoof to try to calm her down.

“How can he afford that?”

Dawn rolls her eyes with a scoff. “He makes that in a few weeks, Coast.”

Emerald leans down between the three and whispers, “Dawn, honey, not the place.”

Dawn cringes remembering the last time they left and were accosted. It’s not exactly a bad memory since everything happened so quickly, but Solar is not with them this time, so their options to deal with a problem, should somepony be planning something, are less than perfect.

Cure, she is aware, is fully capable of handling anypony dumb and unlucky enough to try anything, likely well before they would have time to realize their mistake. The downside is that it would certainly involve him showing off capabilities he doesn’t want to answer questions about and would rather keep between the two of them.

Also, with some of the offhoof comments he has made over the months, she worries a little about exactly what would happen if anypony succeeded in hurting one of his friends. She knows that, as easy as it is for him to heal, it's even easier to do the opposite. Breaking something is always easier than fixing it.

She is thus far unaware of his scan and the resulting capabilities from griffons, though. That, Cure is concerned, may make ponies uncomfortable for a couple reasons. First off, it is “non-pony” in origin. Drift and Glacial took a few minutes to warm up to hands; claws are far more intimidating. Though the ponies of Equestria have, thus far, been far more accepting of other creatures than he expected he knows there’s a limit to that.

Some of the acceptance is likely due to Golden Hills and Baltimare’s location compared to Ponyville. Being only a few kilometers from the coast and having one of the largest trading ports in the nation certainly has increased exposure to, and therefore acceptance of, other creatures compared to the more central small town. Having a pony with legitimate non-pony capabilities is a slightly different story.

The other major concern in regards to griffon’s telekinetic field is the purpose of it. While there is some utility in being able to sharpen a claw there aren’t a lot of reasons to do so. Puncture and slicing wounds are bloody and visibly far more gruesome than blunt force ones. Granted, blunt force does a lot of ugly work internally and can be visible beyond a certain point, but they lack the level of obvious violence that a bloody, gaping wound would.

Dawn is pulled out of her musing as Cure finishes the transaction. “Alright, son, you should expect the order to show up in about a week and a half. Are ya sure you don’t need express shipping?”

“Nah, not this time, Early. Hey while I’m here, I started offering a service a couple months back that you and the dozens of wives ya have should consider,” he says, reaching into his bag.

Hoofing over a pricing list for the services he offers, he taps down towards the bottom while saying, “Now I’m sure most of your ladies are far too young to take advantage, but ya oughta consider sending the three or four that have stuck by yer side for a few decades my way when you come to make an appointment yourself. Who knows, Early, maybe there’s another dozen ladies out there you could turn into honest mares once we get that pep back in yer step.”

“Dozen wives my tail, son. Is this legit?”

“It treats the symptoms, so you’ll feel like twenty five again, but I haven’t quite cracked the secret to the real thing yet. I’ll tell ya what, Early. Most ponies pay up front, but you and the missus come, I’ll do one of ya, if you’re not happy with the results you just walk right on out. If ya are, then maybe I’ll finally make back a few of the bits I keep shellin out here.”

Early looks down at the sheet in thought for a moment, then nods. “Sounds good to me, son. I’ll ask the boss,” he winks, “and see what she thinks. How far out are ya booking?”

“For my favorite shopkeeper? You just pick a Saturday and if I hafta work a little late for ya then so be it.”

“Hah! That sounds great, Cure. We may come see ya soon, alright?”

“Sounds good, boss. Take care,” Cure says, packing away his purchases and hoofing the girls’ back to them. He pauses when they get near the exit of the store. “Umm, Dawn, or Mrs. Aura… would one of you mind wearin my pack? Ya know, just in case?”

“Sure,” Dawn instantly agrees while Emerald asks, “In case?”

“Right,” he says, unclasping his bag as Dawn adjusts the straps and levitates them over her withers. “In case I need to, ya know… deal with anypony stopping us again. Hey Coast, RP, you two wanna come over for dinner too?”

“I need to let my dam know,” Coast says. Rising voices a similar concern right afterwards.

“Here, think of her and send a quick message,” he tells Rising as he reaches into the pack Dawn is carrying and passes a mid-low crystal over. “It has to be brief. Like ‘Dam, using messaging spell crystal. Having dinner with Cure. Will be home after,’ okay? The long range spell Mr. Haze gave me uses a lot of magic. Coast, is it okay if we just stop by your place? You’re on the way, after all.”

“Sure,” she agrees as she watches her friend.

Rising doesn’t say the words out loud, but everypony smirks as she mouths them while concentrating on the crystal. When she’s done she looks at Cure and asks, “How do you know if it worked?”

“Umm… I guess we can’t for sure unless we stop by. That’s why I bought so many mid-low gems though. A dozen are for the guard, but the others are for you two, the gang, and my parents."

“What about Dawn?” Coast asks.

“I can cast the spell, once I learn it.”

“Huh, I guess I forgot how complex it is. Well, it's not like I don't have plenty of crystals to spare at home too. We'll get you one of them so you can just recharge it.”

“How did you enchant a crystal already?” Emerald asks, “Gleaming just gave you that diagram on Sunday.”

Looking around briefly, Cure opts to get moving first. “Eh, I’ll show ya at my house. I have a neat trick for memorization and makin these things.” Reaching out, he takes the Sending crystal from Rising and, holding it, concentrates on his mom.

<< Confirm this works. In Baltimare. Four additions for dinner. Send confirmation to Rising Pitch. >>

“There, I sent a message to my mom and told her to send something to you, Rising, so if…” he pauses as her eyes open wide, “I’m guessing you just got it?”

“Yep! She says she got your message. I guess my dam probably did too then.”

“I can’t imagine it worked on one and not the other. If anypony else needs to send a message it has enough juice for another few sentences. Mrs. Aura, do you need to let Mr. Haze know anything?”

“No, dear, but I could recharge that for you while we walk.”

“Nah, I’m gonna burn off the rest and use it to dump my magic in so I can keep regenerating. That’s what the boss lady suggested, after all,” he explains as he begins walking out the door. “She said there’s only two ways she knows of to expand capacity. Use magic and… hrm… how to phrase it? Follow your destiny, I guess.”

“Boss lady?” Coast asks as they start down the street.

“Lemon Sweet?” Rising asks, face full of confusion. “You don’t work for her though… Are you talking about one of the guards? I know you mentioned a bat pony sergeant.”

“Song. Sgt. Song, and no. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell y’all tomorrow when we go for our run. It’ll be a nice surprise for everypony. I woulda told ya last week, but with the births and all…” he trails off with a shrug.

The group makes it to the train unmolested, much to Cure and Dawn’s relief. Once they’re seated on the train Dawn shares the tale of their last adventure while getting enchanting supplies, giving the modified Cure-venom-free version.

Dinner was pleasant, but Cure could tell the girls’ minds were otherwise occupied, and not only because of the fake evil goatee he snuck onto Savvy when his mom looked away. He figures they’re both dying to get home and play with their new purchases, but didn’t want to appear rude after he spent a few hundred bits on them. Truthfully he didn’t mind at all. They’re foals with new toys; not wanting to play with them would be weird.

Cure makes note of the fact that the family will need a bigger table. The current one is fine most of the time, but there’s only room for one, maybe two more foals or a single adult. Cure was happy to sit next to Dawn to the left of his normal spot and Emerald seemed plenty content to sit by Title and have the opportunity to fawn over Savvy, but another body or two will definitely take up all the room available; especially if the boss lady decides to drop in on a lark again.

After dinner the group tried to convince Rising to play them something, but she turned several shades of red at the suggestion and explained that she couldn’t possibly play a new instrument in front of an audience.

The curiosity about the colt evidently got to Emerald, so once she was done helping clean up she and Dawn flopped onto a guest mat while the other two fillies stole his. Title entertained Savvy with some big colored letter blocks Cure made and Vines climbed on Deed's withers from his right side.

Cure rushes up to his room and comes back down with his "Spell Scanner" plant, setting it up to face her and the girls with his parents and sister behind him. "So this started off as a branch offa the maple out back," he starts, pointing approximately to said tree.

"Mom," pausing, his ears dip, "who is definitely smarter than me-" he continues despite her giggling and enthusiastic nod, "suggested that I leverage an aspect of my talent, so after removing a layer of wood from the tree I affixed it to the branch, basically making a plant notebook of sorts."

He lays a hoof against the branch as he explains, "Like this spell," he shows the diagram for the EMT skeletal system diagnostic spell, impressing the fillies who might as well be looking at gibberish, "which is for bones, I can scan ponies and find problems, though I see everything, and I remember it. Perfectly."

"You have eidetic memory?!" Emerald yells in shock.

"Yep. Ma, you okay with me showing Savvy's scans?"

"Sure, babe, go ahead."

He trots over to his bag, grabs an Illusion crystal, and just as he'd done for the attorneys in Canterlot, projects scan after scan starting from the day after he got his mark up to her most current one this morning.

Next he shows a zoomed in, detailed scan of Solar's knees the very first time they'd met. "I don't think he'd mind; there's your son's knees that first time we went jogging."

"That's fascinating… I've not seen images projected in detail like this."

"Oh, that's nothing," he says, changing the scan to show the lungs of a mare he'd seen at the clinic with pneumonia. "This patient had aspirated on her breakfast after a night of drinking. Her marefriend, bless her heart, wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed and somehow she had a piece of pancake go down the wrong tube. Probably was eating on her side or back. Don't do that, girls. Head and neck upright when yer eating, okay?" he insists, getting vigorous nods in return.

"This fella smoked his whole life," he starts, projecting a pony's heart. "It contributed to plaque buildup, in particular right here," the image zooms in on the aortic valve, "and if he didn't happen to come in for a work-required physical while I was at the clinic… Well, timing is everything, right?

"Once Nurse Gentle got the go ahead from Dr. Night I had him drink a few liters of water while pushing that crap through his system. I had to keep a hoof on him while he peed straight… I dunno, it came out like a freaking gel almost… like pudding or-"

"Oh my stars, Cure! Stop!" Coast yells, ears covered by her hooves and eyes pinched shut. Rising has buried her head under her hooves, covering her ears. Both fillies look a little ill, and Dawn isn't doing much better. Vines and Deed had looked away early on, but Emerald and Title are both enthralled by the unique images that, very likely, nopony has ever seen in such detail.

"Whoops! Sorry girls. Heh… got a little off topic. So anyhow, yeah, I can memorize anything I scan. Those formulas we scanned at the Baltimare library helped me ace the math part of my early graduation test, for example."

"Isn't that cheating?" Rising asks.

"Why would it be?"

"You didn't actually… memorize… wait, does that count?"

"He has it memorized, one way or the other," Title points out. "If a pony's talent was just memorizing things it would be fine, so same thing here."

"I guess…" the yellow filly relents.

"Have you heard anything back about your talent, Mrs. Aura?"

"No, dear, I just sent the message this morning. I'm sure they will want to test the limits and such before doing anything."

"Ah. True, I've had to give a few demonstrations too."

"Hey Cure?" Coast calls out.

"Hm?"

"What are the limits on your talent?"

"How do you mean?"

"Like… what can't you do?"

"Nonbiological and metaphysical."

"Huh?"

"I can't mess with anything that's inorganic, at least not directly. So… a rock. I can't just change it. I could swallow it and break it down like we do food and use the bits, but I can't directly do anything with my talent on it. Same deal with magic. I can't just give myself more magic because there's not a part of our body that stores it."

"Oh."

"What about the cosmetic things though?" Rising asks. "You gave those mares big, round plots today."

"He made that one look fifty years younger a few months back," Coast reminds her. "Drift said you gave her a massage with hands like a minotaur too.”

“What?!” Dawn snaps out.

Deed leans close to Vines and mumbles, “Uh oh. Colt’s gonna get it.”

Apparently only the words Drift and massage registered at first because Dawn’s brows furrow and her expression goes back to normal. “Wait, what? Hands?”

“Uhh, so yeah, I told you we talked on New Year’s Day, ya know… I told you we kinda got in an argument.”

“I know. On Hearth’s Warming Eve. How do you go from arguing to a massage and when did you scan something with hands?”

“Honey,” Emerald hesitates, looking at Rising and Coast, “this seems more like a private conversation.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Cure insists, holding up a hoof, “if you’re squeamish you may not wanna watch, but basically I deaden the nerves in the limb,” he pauses to see if anypony looks away. The girls look nervous so he adds, “this doesn’t hurt at all, so don’t freak out. Anyhow, I temporarily cut off feeling, shift the keratin in the hoof wall up above the fetlock.”

Rising starts to turn away, but seems to force herself back as the hoof essentially liquifies and runs up his leg, “then I rearrange and move the internal bones starting with the fetlock joint. I haven’t scanned a minotaur, so I can’t replicate that model. Instead I happened upon an opossum and some racoons in the woods, and between them and larger cats I can improvise a little bit and come up with a reasonable facsimile.

“I know minotaurs have one less finger, but theirs are thicker. That gives them more strength in each one, but this allows for a lot more dexterity. If I needed strength instead I’d probably just replicate a claw or maybe like mandibles or something,” he finishes with a shrug, waving his now finished hand to the crowd.

Cure smiles to himself at the way all three parents’ focus goes to the hand. He’d turned all three of them into drooling messes the night after Glacial and Drift had left and a few times since. They’re great for playing with Savvy too, who bats at them like a kitten would.

Dawn is the first one to approach and look over the foreign looking limb with Emerald following right behind her.

“Were you just curious, Cure? It seems very odd to suddenly do this unless there was a specific reason.” She lays on her barrel and reaches for his hand, then pauses and asks, “Sorry dear. May I? I’ve only ever met a few minotaurs.”

“Sure, go ahead. So anyhow, I had just come back from a run in the woods-”

Dawn interrupts to ask, “The one where you jumped on that private?”

“Jumped on a private? A guard?” Coast asks as she and Rising both approach for a better look while Emerald continues playing with the appendage, apparently fascinated by the dexterity of the fingers.

Cure nods along explaining, “Private Bolt. Yellow unicorn, kinda slimmer. He’s one of the ones I go to the gym with. I was out there runnin around hoppin from tree to tree and-”

Coast interrupts this time, “What? Hopping from tree to tree?”

“Yeah… RP remember when I had you ‘grab’ the ground so Drift couldn’t budge you after the Running of the Leaves thing?” At her “Yeah” he continues, “You can grab vertical surfaces too and, if you’re strong enough, which you both definitely are, walk right up a wall or whatever. Don’t grab it by the bark, though, you gotta reach down through the bark and get a hold of the actual trunk.

“Also, don’t do it indoors. You can mess up walls or ceilings by doing that. Keep in mind you still weigh whatever you weigh, so it’ll be that much force divided by whatever area you have on the surface. I have a repair crystal somewhere, but best to avoid all that mess.”

Title is giggling at the way Cure is being bombarded with questions and, cute as it is, the way Savvy is giggling along adds another layer of mockery to the whole thing. A quick scowl in his mom’s direction doesn’t seem to help either as she shoots him an innocent smile back.

“So anyhow,” Cure starts, then stops as Emerald rubs a cheek over his hand. It’s weird in a human environment, of course, but with hooves and a TK field the cheek is the main tactile feedback spot. All three parents are suppressing snickers and giggles now at how his brain does a complete reboot afterwards. A part of his brain is screaming “Yay! Petting zoo!” while the rest is happily pointing out that he’s petting his sorta-girlfriend’s mom’s face.

“Watch out, Mrs. Aura, these things are deadly weapons,” he teases. She gives the hand another look and shoots him a questioning brow. “Come here, Dawn. I’d feel weird scritchin yer mom’s ear.”

“Scritching?” she asks as she leans in closer and turns her head slightly to the right towards the other two girls.

“Yep. Check this out, ladies,” he says as he gently massages from the base of her left ear to the top, a motion that causes a full-body shiver to go through the girl before she subconsciously steps forward and leans into his chest, moaning in bliss.

Cure looks at Emerald and says, “See why I said I would feel awkward? It’s bad enough on somepony my own age.” Motioning over his shoulder to his giggling parents he adds, “Don’t let their laughing fool you. Not one survived more than a couple minutes of a hoof massage with these things. I wonder if minotaurs know they could take over the whole friggin country this way.”

“Dawn, sweetie? I think that’s enough, honey,” Emerald says, pulling her daughter off of Cure, causing the filly to whine and stumble back into her dam. “I appreciate the warning, Cure. I did not expect that kind of response.”

“Yeah, ears are a sensitive spot for ponies. Lotsa little nerves there. She’d be down and out in ten seconds if I did that to the base of her horn.” He waves the hand to Rising and Coast next. “Do either of you want a try?”

Coast steps forward first insisting he only get her for a moment. After witnessing Dawn’s reaction she fares much better, but still struggles to pull away after only a few seconds. “You should offer that at your business, Cure. It does feel nice,” she agrees as Rising steps forward and, more or less, repeats Dawn’s performance until he stops after a few seconds.

“I’ve considered it but there’s a few problems.”

“He would need somewhere to put everypony after they fall asleep,” Title points out as the girls all retreat back to their mats.

“That felt really nice,” Rising sedately mumbles, snuggling against Coast’s side.

“You’d probably need a buncha them sound crystals too, champ. I’m not sure Lemon would appreciate all the moanin and whatnot.”

“Yep, those and a couple other issues. Massages take time if you’re doing them right. Thirty minutes is probably about the fastest I could do a full body one, and nopony would survive that long. I’m also not sure how much I would charge. I mean… you’ve seen my price list. Why would I spend thirty minutes on a massage for a hundred bits when I can deage somepony in the same time for twenty five times as much?”

“You could do it between other ponies, sweetie. You’re right though; it probably wouldn’t be worth your time.”

“My thoughts too, dam. My regeneration is getting to the point that I can just do the procedure slowly and be okay. By summer I could probably work a full shift and, aside from being mentally exhausted, the only major concern I would have is running out of customers eventually. Or at least, running out of ones willing to pay what I’m asking.”

“Have you tried like… making wings or anything?” Coast asks. “If you can do that based on a cat, racoon, and opossum then couldn’t you do the same thing from the pegasi or the birds you’ve scanned?”

“I could, but pegasi can only get off the ground because they can reduce their mass,” he explains. “That would also take a lot of moving muscles around. Pegasi flight muscles wrap all the way around to their chest; they’re not all in their back. The chest muscles are what pulls the wings downward, so they’re the main muscles for gettin off the ground.”

“What about a horn?” Emerald asks. “I’m curious whether you could use a horn, given you have an active ability as a special talent. You certainly know how to channel magic outwardly otherwise you would be unable to recharge crystals.”

A look of pure panic crosses Dawn’s face, and it’s only because she’s laying against her dam’s side that Emerald doesn’t immediately know something is up. Cure can feel his parents shift slightly behind him through his heat sensors, but they must have maintained straight faces somehow.

“Honestly, Mrs. Aura, I’m more than a little afraid of how the higher-ups would react to me of all ponies being able to use unicorn magic.”

With a look of confusion Emerald follows up, asking, “Why would anypony be worried about you specifically?”

“They already are,” Vines explains. “Because he has a talent that’s a restricted class of magic, your husband and the other sergeants in town had to write a report for the captain over Baltimare and for Her Highness.”

“The princess has a report about you?!” Rising shouts.

Cure hesitates, looking over his shoulder at his parents. His sire and mom both give nods. Vines doesn’t react, but looks unsure.

He turns back and takes a deep breath, then explains, “Princess Celestia came over for dinner Saturday evening after the first day I helped with the births. She literally showed up at that door,” he motions to the front door, “right as we sat down to eat, then joined us for dinner and stuck around to talk afterwards.”

Rising erupts in an explosion of questions but Coast is apparently not buying it. “There’s no way,” she insists, shaking her head.

“Remember I mentioned the boss lady earlier?” he asks. “That’s who I meant.”

Emerald corroborates Cure’s story. “He’s telling the truth. Gleaming was made aware of it afterwards. She observed Cure working with one of the Emergency Response teams at Town Hall, spoke to a few ponies there, and came here shortly after Cure left for the day.”

Cure spends a few minutes answering the multitude of “what did you talk about” and “what was she like” and gives a brief rundown of his royal visit before he requests that the girls don’t spread the word.

“Please, please don’t tell anypony. Everypony loses their mind when it comes to the princess, so if anypony finds out I’ll have everypony digging into my business, and you all know by now I’m not trying to draw a ton of attention. That’s what I was gonna tell everypony tomorrow. She invited us all to stop by the castle when we go to Canterlot for the Wonderbolts thing.”

Delta Coast bursts out in tears right there on the spot, drawing confused looks from the other two fillies and Emerald.

Vines doesn’t hesitate a second to climb off of Deed to run over and snuggle on the girl. “No need for that, sweetie. Even if you’re afraid of heights you can still go to the capital.”

“Yeah, Coast, that’s what I was gonna say next. You, Saph, Ferric, and Heavy. Y’all can come with even if you don’t go to the Wonderbolts show.”

“Really?!” she asks, still dripping snot. Emerald floats a tissue from out of her pack over to the girl who takes it with a “thanks” and wipes off her face. Vines gives her another quick nuzzle and rejoins Deed, climbing back up onto his withers.

“Of course. I just need to find out if everypony can go with us. My sire’s going to play chaperone for the show but my dam and mom are coming too. Just, again, don’t tell anypony, okay? I was going to suggest you all come with just to visit the capital and leave the whole castle visit thing as a big surprise for everypony. I’d still like to do that for the others.”

Unsurprisingly, both enthusiastically agree to keep quiet. Dawn had known about everything since a couple nights after it happened. While the filly was frustrated and upset there was simply nopony to blame. At least she had the upcoming visit in May to look forward to, which was probably the only thing that prevented her from crying just like Coast had.

Emerald glances out a window and notes that sunset is fast approaching. It’s not late at all, but the sun sets shortly after six o’clock, and most ponies are usually in for the night at that point. Unicorns can stay out later since they have built-in flashlights, but there are few of those in town, so most are still home early due to there being few earth ponies and pegasi keeping businesses open late.

With the promise of an eventual solo performance from Rising and another round of reassurances they’ll remain silent, Emerald departs with her daughter and the other two, leaving Cure with his parents and sister.

“So… I guess earth ponies are good enough for ya after all, eh, champ?” his sire teases.

“First off, I’ve made no attempt to court anypony except maybe Glacial, if you even consider that ‘courting’. All I really did was flirt a bit ‘cause I think she’s pretty. Speaking of pretty fillies,” he says as he starts crawling to his sister. “How’s the pretty Savvy baby? Hmm?” Nuzzling into her little mane tuft, he gets the curious girl’s attention. She happily rears up and latches to his snout, gurgling and making little “ba” noises between giggles.

“I think she needs to eat a bit more, ma. She’s burnin through more energy than a normal foal ‘cause I’m helpin her muscles so much. You’re gonna be in for a fun time when those two are born, dam.”

“I can’t wait, sweetie,” the green mare beams.

“Hey, do any of you know a good photographer or printer or something? I think I need to make some brochures for my business.”

“Why would ya need brochures, son? Seems to me you’re busy enough as it is.”

“Eh… I was thinkin of some kinda pamphlet or something I could leave at stores. I teased Early about comin by for a deaging with his wife, or wives I guess… I don’t know if he’s only got one. Anyhow, the only thing I had to give him was the price list on one of my forms. I’m thinkin some before and after pictures with cutie marks and faces obscured may be a good idea.”

“Don’t worry about that for now, Cure,” his mom insists. “You’re doing plenty of business, so unless you start seeing a slowdown it’s not worth the money to do all that. Besides, couldn’t you use an Illusion crystal and basically trace the pictures just as well?”

“I could but… I dunno, is ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ a saying here?”

“Not a saying, exactly, but I’ve heard similar things. Maybe when photography becomes more widespread you’ll hear stuff like that more.”

“Maybe,” he agrees, wrapping his hand around Savvy’s back and rolling over. He quickly changes his left hoof to a hand too and, with Savvy straddling his neck and her booty on his chest he pets down the girl’s back to her dam’s joy and slight envy. She’s still wearing her silk onesie, but the material is thin and light enough that, aside from the crystal’s location on her back, she gets almost the full effect.

“Uh oh. I better quit or she’ll fall asleep. She’s still gotta eat, right?”

“Eh, she can nap for a little bit first. If she gets hungry she’ll let ya know.”

“Good enough. It looks like we have a little time before she needs a potty break, so I’ll start faking those ‘I gotta pee signals’ soon so she, hopefully, lets you know.”

“Yeah, hopefully that works, but the Cleaning crystals make the whole foal rearing thing a cinch anyhow.”

“No doubt there, champ. I remember what a nightmare changin yer diaper used to be.”

Vines shoots a look at Deed from above, giving him a light punch with a hoof. “YOU remember? You ducked out every time he went potty and made me change his diapers.”

“I changed his diaper a buncha times!” Deed insists defensively.

“Only when I wasn’t there! I started wondering if you had some kind of sense for when it was coming eventually!” Looking back to Cure she continues in a huff, “He’d lay on his back and hold you up in the air, waving you around like you’re flying. You’d be perfectly fine forever, then he’d pass you back to me and not ten seconds later you turn purple and are messing all over the place.”

“Umm… Sorry?”

“Oh please, I know it’s nopony’s fault, but it drove me absolutely crazy!”

“Maybe I just felt more comfortable around you, dam. No offense, dad, but I bet I was just around dam more with you workin and all.”

Deed just waves the issue away.

“I suppose that could be it,” Vines agrees with a sigh.

Title nods along. “I bet it was.” She glances her husband’s direction from the corner of her eye and sagely declares, “Everypony wants to feel comfy when they’re doin the-”

“Don’t you dare!” Deed shouts. “I swear if’n I had a bit every time I heard that one I’d already have that mansion in the sky.”

“Yeesh, sensitive there, babe?”

“I heard that line plenty growin up,” he pouts. “You start that and you won’t be doin this Deed anytime soon, I tell ya!”

Scoffing, she responds, “Oh please. You’ll be beggin for it before the weekend.”

“That there’s what we call TMI, Savvy,” Cure explains in a silly, overly cheerful tone. “Ponies are gross and horny all the time. Maybe it won’t be as bad for you since exposed hoo-ha’s and wieners floppin all over the place will be what you grow up with, but try having forty some odd years of memories without naked crotches everywhere. Mhmm, you try that!”

Savvy, ignorant of the topic at hoof, giggles along and rolls around on her brother’s chest.

Cure lets out a big sigh. “So… I ordered a couple scroll books and a mid-high tier crystal today. Oh hey! Did we hear back from Violet yet, ma?”

“Not yet. I expect we will soon, though. Don’t forget, your great grandsire took a while to reply too.”

“True.”

“How’s business goin since you’re doing it alone, honey?” Vines asks. “Nopony is giving you a hard time are they?”

“Ehh… no, but I kinda yelled at Lemon today. She wasn’t being a very good friend. Then again, she’s not the only guilty one. Right as I was about to leave after I finished my customers she brought up a friend and her friend’s sister. This is one of those confidential things,” he adds with a serious tone. “The friend’s sister and her husband were evidently doin a little foreplay prepping for the main event.”

“Umm… you sure, son?”

“What? That it was before? Yes, very. I can tell when someone’s gotten laid for like… at least five or six days after, dad.” Both of his moms’ ears droop. “Oh come on, you’re all married. I told ya before, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have been born into a loving family. Y’all can get yer swerve on five times a day for all I care, as long as you’re keepin it behind closed doors and clean up afterwards then I’m happy for ya.”

“Weird,” Title quietly mumbles.

“Anyhow,” Cure continues, “so the husband musta thought, for Harmony knows what reason, that a cucumber was a good foreplay instrument. Well, it got… uhh… lost.” His mom and sire snort out a laugh, but Vines just colors slightly red. “It’s funny in a way, I’ll grant, but it’s very not funny from a health standpoint. I heard of that happening to women and they can go into sepsis. A friend of Cyndi’s accidentally left a tampon in she thought she’d pulled out and she ended up havin to go to the ER because of it.”

Title tilts her head curiously at the unfamiliar word. “Tampon?”

“Remember I told you that human females bleed each month? Tampons are an absorbent stick, basically, that they can put in near the opening to catch blood and not ruin their clothes.”

“Ah. Humans sound kinda gross, babe.”

“Yeah, I’ve told you about body odor before. You have no idea how bad it can be. So anyhow, Lemon brought these two mares up and when she had me scan the one both Lemon and the sister cracked up like it was the funniest thing ever. I don’t know how long she and her husband tried to get that cucumber out, but judging from the lack of moisture and the irritation it was a while.

“I felt awful for the poor thing and ended up yellin at Lemon and the sister a little before I threw them out and helped the mare out. Nothing gross, I just helped her muscles like she was giving birth. It kind made me think, though. I know we talked about BoBs a week ago. Ya know? Battery Operated Boyfriends? This chick had me kinda wondering if that’s something that is readily available for ponies.”

“Wait a second, son… you went from helpin a mare push a cucumber outta her thing to wonderin if mares can get their hooves on sex toys?”

“Oh my stars,” Vines mutters while Title giggles.

“Oh come on, dad. VUH-JINE-UH," he slowly sounds out. "It's a body part, not a curse word. You're a big pony, you can say vagina."

"Whatever," he huffs out, rolling his eyes.

"Anyhow, I told her if she’s gonna use somethin for that to get something made just for it so this doesn't happen again.”

The two lose it at the suggestion. Vines covers her face with a fetlock while Deed laughs his head off. Once Title stops laughing she explains, “First off, you’re too young for that. I get why Lemon brought her, but… yeesh. Talk about no good options.”

“Yeah, she really didn’t want to go to the clinic. I have no idea what they would do. Speculum and forceps I assume.”

“Oof. Okay, yeah. Still, even in your ‘health professional’ mode that’s a little weird, honey. Think about it… how many eight year old colts would even know such a thing exists?”

Cure thinks for a few seconds before doing an upside-down nod. “I guess. I could probably make an argument for being aware of healthy sex topics due to my mark, but you’re right. Still, the sex toy industry was a huge, and I mean huge money maker for humans. Does it even exist here?”

Despite her dark blush Vines speaks up first. “I’ve heard of toys in magazines that can be ordered. They’re very expensive.”

“Yeah,” his mom agrees, “I don’t know of anywhere to go in and buy them, but there’s probably at least one store in Baltimare. If there’s one here it must be a secret or something.”

“That’s weird. Ponies are usually a fair amount more liberal than humans when it comes to sex. With the whole five to one gender imbalance I would expect a large and prolific sex toy trade. Hell, early human ones were made of polished wood or animal bones. You could become a millionaire sellin that stuff.”

“You’re not selling sex toys, Cure!” Vines growls.

“I wasn’t gonna, dam.”

“Oh. Good.”

“I bet Lemon or Amy could though.”

Deed and Title burst out laughing again. Defeated, Vines just sighs.

“No, I’m being serious here. I could make a basic toy and they could be sold with a prestidigitation crystal for cleaning and warming. It could have internal muscles like a horn and,” he glances at his sire, “other things to make it vibrate. I bet I could make it ‘turn on’ with a twist motion and get energy from sugar or something.”

Vines nods along and points out, “That screams biomanipulator, Cure.”

“... damn, it does. Well, I could still shape it out of wood or ivory and do everything else, but we would need an energy source that doesn’t point directly at me. I still don't know the 'power' spell some appliances use to draw from crystals. Of course, if Lemon or Amy are running the business it wouldn’t be hard for anypony to figure out.”

“How about we focus on the other ideas ya got, son? When are you gonna stop spendin all yer bits on enchantin stuff and start savin for that property idea ya had?”

“The rest of this quarter. I got two books; one for you and one for Solar. I’ll get mom one when she’s going back to work. When we move I’ll be adding a security system to the new house, so we won’t need anything at home.”

Title raises an eyebrow and looks at Cure. “Dare I ask?”

“Umm… Well, I was thinking of having a plant, kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“Yeah. Like, with the central stalk in the basement.”

“Like… a pony eating plant, son?” Deed teases.

“No, just a plant with vines. That run through the walls. And a neural interface. And runic diagrams. And unicorn horns, additional eyes for targeting, and maybe a few melee and ranged weapon options. Possibly some venoms and projectile weaponry too.”

All three parents stare deadpanned at the still upside-down colt.

“I take home security very seriously," he solemnly declares.

“You don’t say?” the pink mare teases.

“Dad said it best. A stallion’s home is his castle. Honestly, if we ever need it you’ll all be thankin the stars it’s there, and if we don’t then, oh well. We’re out a few days worth of magic. With dam’s help it’ll be easy to put together, I bet."

The parents share a look but still seem unconvinced.

"Look at it this way," Cure begins, "if something were to happen and this plant prevents one of you or my siblings from being hurt it'll save her highness the trouble of putting the country back together when I go to find whoever is responsible."

"That's a good point," Title agrees. "I think it's a great idea, honey. You do whatever you think you need to do to protect your little sisters and brother, okay?" Cure gives her an upside down smile and a nod.

“Son, if we ever need that then we’re gonna have some real uncomfortable questions to answer afterwards.”

“Yeah, but you’ll be there to answer them. Besides, if we ever have to go on the run we’ll be fine. I could bargain for a pardon or whatever if push came to shove anyhow. You saw how the boss lady reacted when I mentioned the whole aging thing. I’m already keepin an eye out for ‘minders’ to start following me. Either that or a new, foal-oriented business suddenly opening near Lemon’s shop.”

All three parents give him quizzical looks.

“You know, some somepony will be nearby that can keep an eye on me. I’ve said it all along; I’m a potential threat. Of course, I’m also a huge potential asset. I’m kinda surprised she didn’t insist I come to live at the castle immediately. She probably only didn’t because of whatever psyche profile they’ve built saying I would refuse.”

Title asks, “You think they would open a business nearby just to keep an eye on you?”

“Absolutely. It doesn’t have to just be for that. This is just an example, mind you, but maybe a new hobby shop opens nearby that, oh wow,” he exaggeratedly widens his eyes, “lookie there, they sell enchanting supplies!”

With a scoff he adds, “What a coincidence. I mean, it would be more subtle than that. Maybe a new pony or a couple just happen to move into town and they happen to get a job nearby or something. Maybe even move into a house nearby. Who knows?”

“Sweetie, would that be so bad? If Her Highness thinks you’re valuable and wants to ensure you’re protected then what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing if that’s all it is. In fact, I would probably welcome the extra security as long as they aren’t followin me around. I’d prefer they keep an eye on you all, though. Anypony with enough knowledge about what a biomanipulator can do would probably be smart enough not to directly go after one anyhow. They would go after the ponies I care about instead.”

“Good point, son. Just ta be safe, and so I don’t hafta worry when I’m workin, how about you put that message spell in a few of those crystals and set yer moms up like ya did me.”

“You’re getting one too!” Vines insists.

“I bought enough for all of ya. I could also give you all both the retractable and internal horns I have if you want. You’ll be able to Shield, Send, Teleport, Slow Fall, and Message, which is just a shorter range, less expensive version of Send. The retractable horns won’t be as good as mine though. Since you can’t use my talent they need to be smaller and they’ll be a little slower deploying. The segments gotta fuse, ya know?”

“They can still cast everything, right?”

“You bet, ma. Given how small our magic pools are you probably couldn’t burn them out either. Somepony that's a real battlemage like Arcane Blast would. Even Solar or Haze probably could, but you guys only have like a fifth of their magic, so running should always be your first choice once you get a message off.”

“Give ‘em the crystals for now too, son. I want them to have that extra magic in case they needed it. They can carry the crystals and, in an emergency, fire off a message with the internal horn."

“True. Okay, sure. I need to make a set of cantrips and a onesie for Heavy anyhow. I told him I would after we ran when he was complaining about changing his sister’s diapers.” Cure looks down at his snoozing sister and gives her one last pet, then gently lifts her up off his chest. The TK field combined with having hands is fantastic. He’s able to lift her enough to slide his fingers under her and not disturb her at all.

Gently setting her by her dam’s tummy, he gives her a quick kiss and goes to the pile of crystals, deploying his horn and getting started.

“Alright… so six mid-low shields, six Sending, and twenty short range low tier Message crystals for Bulwark’s troops. Three mid Sendings for you all. Two Cleaning and a Warming for Heavy. Eight mid-low Sending for my friends. Ugh. Thank Harmony for this quicker casting horn.”

“Hey babe?” Title asks. “I can help you if you can add the spells to the ganglion you gave me. Or, here’s something I’ve been wondering if you can do. Have you tried using multiple horns yet? Like, at the same time?”

“I have. It takes more experience to pull off than I have right now. Not the physical vibration part, the correctly feeding magic part. For this it’s viable because I’m doing the exact same thing multiple times at the same time. For something like… I dunno, casting a firebolt and a shield at once? Yes, I could learn to do it, but it would just take practice. Maybe Dawn and I should start going to the range again.”

“Who would you go with, though? I don’t think Emerald and Haze would be okay with just the two of you going alone.”

Sighing, Cure thinks it over for a moment. With no answer forthcoming he shrugs and says, “The only thing I can think to suggest, which I’m not prepared to do right now, is letting her parents in on the secret. As nice as Mrs. Aura has been, I don't think I would trust her with that, and Mr. Haze is an oathbound guard, not to mention second in command here. Then again he did keep quiet about the whole ‘venom sneeze’ thing.”

“Ehh… I dunno, son. You acted in defense of his foals there. I think it’d be a different story otherwise.”

“I don’t like all these secrets,” Vines complains. “I don’t know why you didn’t just tell Her Highness about everything you can do. She obviously knows you’re a good pony, sweetie. Do you still think you can’t trust her?”

Cure takes a moment to think about why he didn’t speak up when he had the opportunity. By all accounts the meeting went as well as it could have. She was exactly like what he’d expected based on the cartoon. He can’t think of a single legitimate reason why telling the princess he can do unicorn magic would be a bad thing.

As good of a teacher Violet Jewel may be, assuming she’s even willing, there’s not a pony in the world who could compete with Celestia. Probably. There is the possibility that she has gotten rusty over the years, so she may be out of practice as far as the practical side is concerned.

For theory and breadth of knowledge the simple fact she’s had thousands, potentially, of years to learn means that even in a given decade she just picks up a few pointers, by the thousand year mark she would have had more tidbits of information than a dedicated scholar could likely ever piece together.

That doesn’t even include the fact that, if memory serves, she directly studied under one of, if not the greatest magic users of all time.

“Uhh… honestly, I never even considered telling her what I can do.” Cure looks to his mom and sire and asks, “Can you think of any reason at all not to tell the princess about everything? I'm holding off on the future events thing until I know her better, but the rest?”

“I… don’t think so?” Deed answers. “Aside from insistin we all move ta Canterlot so you can be her student.”

“Yeah, I see that as the most likely outcome. Mom, you got anything?”

“Not really,” she answers with a shrug. “I feel like maybe that’s something you don’t throw out on a first meeting, though. Like you said; once she knows, she knows. Well it’s probably not necessary, but I worry she may feel like you need closer tabs kept on you, perhaps.”

Wrinkling her snout in thought, Title mulls it over for a moment, tilting her head back and forth in thought. “I bet you’re right. She’d want you in Canterlot, probably so she could teach you, if that’s what she meant. Is there a reason you don’t want to go right now? I mean… it would be a pain to uproot and move, but there’s not a lot stopping us. We’d be closer to my parents. I bet they would like that.”

“Would Lemon and Amy be willing to move?” Cure asks. “I hadn’t thought about it, but Lemon is kind of established here with her shop. Maybe we need to have a conversation with them too.”

“Oof, hadn’t considered that, champ. I think that may be a problem.”

“I don’t know if Lemon would want to move,” Vines agrees. “If they do ask to join our families we would certainly have to address that.”

“Well… let’s table that line of thought for now,” Cure suggests. “I’m definitely of the opinion that the princess would be cool with me having access to unicorn magic and, maybe even whatever the hay she’s doing. I bet she would want to get to know me better before sharing the latter, though. Especially if it’s an open-ended kind of thing. You don’t just hoof over that kind of power to somepony until you know for sure they’re not going to abuse it.”

“I dunno, Cure. I’m pretty sure if you were actively trying to be evil not knowing that wouldn’t slow you down much.”

“Ehh… that may not be true. If it’s something that operates largely on the metaphysical side it could almost be like a hard counter to me.”

With a raised brow Title questioningly repeats the term. “Hard counter?”

“Ah, another term that doesn’t translate. Water to fire,” he offers as an example. “A hard counter is something that completely counters another thing, whatever it is you’re talking about. Maybe not completely completely, but you get the gist of it.”

“Gotchya.”

“Yeah, so if metaphysical abilities are my weakest point I can see the princess hesitating to share something that would patch that hole in my armor up. Not because she doesn’t mistrust me, though. There’s a point where anypony would say, ‘That’s too much power for one pony!’ and they wouldn’t be really wrong either. Hell, I’m way past that point already. I don’t have a good reason to need that knowledge, at least not for a long time. I hope.”

A brief quiet settles onto the family, soon broken by Cure again. “So yeah, anyhow, I don’t think I can trust Haze and Emerald to that point yet. Mature as I may act,” he shoots a scowl at Title’s coughed out “ahem mostly” before continuing, “most of the time,” he emphasizes, earning an innocent smile from the pink mare.

“I still think that they would worry and, likely, send word up the line. I would really rather wait until I’m a little older to make a big life change like that. Right now I wanna live my life, learn some stuff, and build up my business and my accounts so I can screw off and do whatever when I’m an adult. I’d like to spend more time working on healing solutions that don’t require my direct intervention, though.”

“Like your medical gel or the bacta tank idea, sweetie?”

“Exactly, dam. You remember when we met Dr. Care and Mrs. Hire? The HR pony that I helped with her horn?”

“Mmhmm.”

“She said somewhere around twelve percent of ponies have some kind of disability. In Baltimare alone that’s like… what, seventy two hundred ponies? That doesn’t even count ER visits due to whatever. If I could see each condition just one time I could either create a complete one-shot solution or, more likely, have a different solution designed for each class of problem.

“One for cardiac, another for pulmonary, neurological, another for the various organs, skin issues, etcetera. The only challenge I have is properly visualizing what I’m trying to make, but if I just break it down into parts I’m sure I can come up with something for each issue.”

“I remember you talking about that once, sweetie. You said medical research is where you could make the biggest difference.”

“Exactly. Imagine how long it would take me to see seventy two hundred ponies. It’s not an impossible number, but you’re looking at… I dunno. One every twenty minutes is twenty four hundred hours. That’s five quarters working full time, roughly. I mean, that’s actually not bad in the grand scheme of things, but that’s just one city.”

“Yeah,” Title agrees, “If you could make something that would just address each problem by itself you could spend that same amount of time and fix it everywhere, basically all at once.”

“Right, and there’s going to be a lot of overlap, I bet. Hell, just making a synthetic blood that’s a universal donor would save thousands and I could probably do that in five minutes.” After blurting out that statement, Cure facehooves and mumbles to himself, “Why the hell haven’t I done that?!”

“Well it sounds like ya got yer first project, son. Maybe ya oughta talk to them executives about this. I’m sure the ponies that got themselves workin horns and wings sounds great and all, but you’ve helped a hooffull of ponies when ya could be doin a lot more with less.”

“Frick. Yeah. Okay. I’ll start working on something. Once I have a starting point I'll send Mrs. Gale a message and see if I can’t arrange another meeting. God… how many ponies have died in the last three months because they didn’t have blood for a transfusion?!”

“None,” Title answers. “Ponies give blood plenty, sweetie. You’ll be making it a lot easier, but I seriously doubt anypony died because of this. And don’t start questioning all the other things you can think of and how many could have been saved. That’s not your responsibility exclusively. Got it?”

“Right. You’re right, mom.” Cure lets out another sigh, which is then followed by a yawn. “Dang it, I coulda had most of these done by now. Alright. No more distractions!”