Author's Note

I was going to release this next week, but it's ready now and I don't think I'll have an abundance of free time on Christmas Day, so you all get it a week early.

This is a busy chapter with lots of ponies (nearly the whole Golden Hills cast), so it's... yeah... busy is the right word, I suppose. I tried to avoid it being overwhelming, but that's not easy to achieve with so many moving parts.

As for the "likely NSFW" part, it isn't really a clop situation, but still is NSFW enough I figured a warning is appropriate. Cure witnesses an intimate moment. Be warned - I didn't place any in-chapter warnings before it starts. It should be pretty obvious, but just in case, you could skip from the "Saturday, August 8th, 909 AB (shortly after midnight)" to after the chunk of quoted text. You won't lose out on much, story-wise.

It's times like this that I wish the site could support both top and bottom author's notes. Oh well, the chapter will just have to speak for itself, I suppose.

Oh right! Last chapter I left a comment saying I had toyed with one of those AI generated image things. If you want to see a sorta-kinda depiction of Cure in his day-to-day earth pony appearance go ahead and dig through there.

As always, thanks for reading, and especially for the comments and ratings.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Here's the comment regarding Cure's AI-Generated picture so it appears in-story:
Somewhat close-ish depiction of Cure Wave in his normal, day-to-day earth pony disguise. I lack the photoshop skills to add his cutie mark in, but you get the idea. Hopefully this link won't die too fast...

This was made with Imagine with Meta AI. Link: https://imagine.meta.com

I kinda envision ponies having shorter barrels and slightly less horse-like faces. I dunno. It may just be that we're in that uncanny valley area where it's not cartoon-like enough to be a cartoon but too cartoon-y to be real life. All in all, not bad.

Chapter 90: Memorable Shows (NSFW)

Friday, August 7th, 909 AB (7 days later)
Shortly after dinner

Plugged into his plant, Cure spots the familiar and familial herd from halfway down the street. He finishes spreading the roots underground and gives the plant instructions to continue expanding downwards before he disconnects. Making his way down the stairs to the door, he calls out to his parents, “The unicorns are comin! Load the crossbows! Heat up the tar! They ain’t takin us alive!”

He opens it to a quartet of unimpressed looks. Plastering on an exaggerated smile, he enthusiastically greets, “I mean… uhh… Hi, everypony! Come on in! So nice to see you all again!”

“Good afternoon, your highness,” Haze flatly intones, “I hope you’re only teasing,” he says as he enters, warily looking around, “but with you I can never be sure. No poisonous dart plants ready to pop, I hope?”

“No ambushes this time, sarge. Probably. Howdy, Mrs. Aura!” he chirps, hopping over to nuzzle against the mare’s chest and shoulder.

“Hello, Cure,” she greets, stiffly reaching over to give him a quick squeeze of a hug. She at least makes an attempt to be friendly, but he can still smell the hint of fear she exudes. The mare’s disposition has improved somewhat after suffering a setback following his coronation. Despite him being perfectly happy letting bygones be bygones she still acts like she has to walk on eggshells around him.

She did accept a hippogriff hug from the colt and even admitted wing hugs are “quite comforting,” but their relationship seems to be stuck at the polite-but-distant setting no matter how friendly he tries to be. That’s fine as far as he’s concerned. She is his fillyfriend’s dam; it’s not like she has to adore him, even if he knows he’s irresistibly adorable.

“Heya, Sunrise,” he calls, sharing a full-cheek nuzzle with the orange filly that turns into a brief chest-to-chest neck hug. The sound of hoofsteps on the stairs behind him signals his parents are starting to make their way down. As Dawn slips by into the house Cure greets the young stallion with an outstretched foreleg. “Solar, I’m kinda surprised to see you here,” he says, getting a hoofbump from the young stallion. “You’re going with ’em tonight?”

“Sure am. Star and Prism are meeting us at the station in Baltimare.”

“Oh? The roommate’s taggin along, huh?” he leans closer and nudges Solar’s chest with a fetlock. “Way ta go, stud! Are you three makin it official?”

“Uhh…”

“C’mon, bro, I have a better sniffer than a bloodhound.” He motions his head back towards the adults and says, “I can smell yer dam’s nervousness every time I’m around her.” With waggling brows he adds, “I’ve caught her roommate’s scent on ya enough times that there’s no mistakin it. You ain’t foolin me, dude.”

Solar winces at the colt’s observation, but with no way to deny it gives in with a shallow nod. “She just… doesn’t have a coltfriend right now, that’s all. That and the two of them get along really well -”

“I gathered.”

He scowls at the interruption, “- and, of course, I’m off to Maelstrom in a few weeks, so they’ve both been looking forward to going out tonight.”

Cure offers an easy shrug, saying, “Hey, that’s fine. I’m certainly not trying to discourage you, bro. It’s not like I have any room to talk, after all. Any idea what Star’s doing when you ship out? I know her lease is up soon.”

The stallion’s shoulders sag slightly at the reminder. “She’ll probably renew it. We were going to get an apartment together, but with Artillery School…” he trails off with a sigh.

“Did she consider going to Chicoltgo with you?”

“She can’t. Well, she could, but her job and everypony she knows is here. Besides, I won’t even be there a full year before I come back... or get shipped somewhere else.”

“That kinda sucks. Any idea when you’ll get a break long enough to visit? Can you at least come back every few weekends or something?”

“Not really. If I left Friday night I could be here Saturday morning, but I would have to leave that evening to be sure I’d get back before Monday roll call. I won’t get a break until December, and even then it’ll only be for three weeks around Hearth’s Warming.”

“Well…” the colt’s face twists in annoyance, “Shit.”

Solar blows out a commiserating sigh. “I know.” He pauses to look over his withers when he detects the pegasi coming in for a landing a ways behind him. The young stallion gives Cure a playful bump with his shoulder as he walks by, saying, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Everything will work out. You try to have fun tonight too.”

“You bet,” he calls as the stallion joins the others inside the house.

Cure turns back to the approaching pegasi for a quick head count. Wind Shear didn’t tag along, but the youngest fillies of each family are accompanying them, so she must have somehow avoided foalsitting duty. Just like Heavy’s twin sisters, Frigid Glaze and Swirling Leaf are at the age where pegasi are usually not carried on their parents’ backs for short trips anymore. Assuming they’re awake, that is.

He calls out in greeting as they approach the house, getting a warm wing hug from Thunder, a more demure one from Snowstorm, affectionate nuzzles from both of the girls, and a couple masculine hoof bumps from the stallions. Both dams are showing, though it isn’t nearly as obvious on a mare at this point as it would be on a woman. A quick check shows that all four colts are in great shape, as are the ladies themselves.

As they’re making their way in the house, Rising shows up with her dam, Crisp Script, carrying her saxophone in its case on her back and skipping merrily. “Yo, RP, Miss Script. You look unusually excited today,” he observes.

“You’re not going to believe what happened!!!” the filly squeals, launching herself at him in a tackle hug. With his quicker than normal reflexes, he easily catches her out of the air and the two end up nearly belly to belly in a sitting hug with her bouncing eagerly on her rump. The effect when both participants are nude and furry is a little more intimate than he suspects she intended. Oddly ignorant of his goods basically snuggled against her lower tummy, the ecstatic filly continues on. “Remember my instructor wanted me to play for somepony?!”

“Yeah… was that this week? How’d it go?”

“FANTASTIC! The pony she wanted me to meet? It was Missus! Resonant! Sonata!” she exclaims, shaking the colt with each part of the mare’s name. He does his best to convey excitement, but the filly immediately realizes he has absolutely no clue who the hay Resonant Sonata is. Shaking him more violently, she explains, “She’s the band director and a music instructor at Baltimare University!”

Her dam chimes in, adding, “She was very excited about Rising’s potential. With diligent practice my little sunflower could easily make their band in a few years when she applies. She even suggested a partial scholarship may be available!”

“Wow! I don’t know much about college bands and stuff, but it sounds like a heck of an opportunity. Congrats, RP!”

In lieu of a verbal response, she grabs him by the neck and plants a soft, warm kiss on his cheek, then releases the stunned colt and skips through the door to tell her other friends, tail wagging like an eager puppy with each swing of her hips. The colt sits there bewildered, watching as the other three fillies squeal in excitement and ponypile on the girl. Script chuckles, gives the colt a knowing look, and quickly nuzzles his mane as she walks by to join the other parents.

Snapping out of his daze, Cure begins to close the door only to pause when he spots the remainder of the earth pony contingent on their way. Ferric, Sapphire, Coast, Heavy, and all of their parents are trotting in his direction while his twin sisters flit about around the group.

The gray colt’s dam is carrying his youngest sister, Berry Blitz, on her withers. The filly inherited her mom’s dark blue coat and the same silver as her sire in her mane. She’s the same age as Savvy and the two get along like a house on fire whenever they’re together.

Onyx Mark is dressed in a dapper suit vest with a deep purple shine to it along with a matching hat. Slightly more angular and less deep than a fedora, the hat sits further back on his head with the bill fitting perfectly between his ears. The black strip around the base of the crown is a nice addition. As silly as ponies normally look in clothes, Cure can’t deny the stallion looks good in the outfit; it adds a bit of color to his dark coat and mane.

Sapphire’s mom, Midnight Gem, must have spent a fair amount of time in front of the mirror. Cure isn’t sure how pony makeup works, what with the coats and all, but she’s painted up and ready for battle with purple eyeliner slightly darker than her coat and blue polished hooves to match her mane. Thankfully she isn’t decked out in a bunch of jewelry this time; Cure knows they’re all going to a somewhat upscale nightclub near the water, but wearing jewelry beyond maybe a set of earrings to a bar just sounds like a bad idea.

Diamond Pick is trotting on Onyx’s other side. The deep maroon mare did her hooves in a jet black polish to match her mane, but is otherwise unadorned.

Coast’s dam, Level Plane, must have gone to the groomers to prepare for the evening. Her bright green coat nearly shines in the sunlight and her deep blue mane is curled and bound with a white flowery band laced through it.

“Hey!” Cure calls back into the house, “Everypony else is here! Y’all ready to head out?”

Various shouts of “All set” chorus back as the procession of adults makes its way back out.

“Behave yerself, sport,” his sire says as he strolls by, giving Cure a playful shove on the way.

“You behave yourself, pa. Don’t overdo it, okay? It’s been a minute since you’ve drank without that gland, so don’t make yerself sick.”

“Please, colt,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Ain’t nothin out there yer pa can’t manage jus’ fine.”

“Uh huh. Yer gonna be sick as a dog tomorrow, ya worn down plug.”

“Plug yer flappin jaw,” his sire scoffs.

“You’re sure you don’t want one of us to stay, honey?”

“Totally and completely. It’s all under control, dam. Yer worryin too much. I mean… What could possibly go wrong? I’ve planned for any eventuality! Even if something did happen I’m sure I could manage it just fine. I am, after all, an all-powerful alicorn, ya know! There’s not a thing to be concerned about.” The repeated tempting of fate earns him a disappointed look and a sigh.

Title snorts out a laugh as she passes by, nudging her wife with her shoulder. “They’ll be fine. C’mon babe.”

Vines watches her for a second before turning back. “We’ll be too far for the Sending crystals, so if you need us you’ll have to fly a kilometer or two before they’ll work.”

“I know, dam,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Nothing will happen. Go. Have fun,” he insists, shooing her away.

She leans down and kisses his brow, then turns to catch up to the others, calling back, “Be good for Ferric, okay?”

“Be good for Ferric?! What the hay?” More quietly he grumbles, “I’m the friggin prince here…”

“Wait, I’m in charge?” he hears the dark filly ask from the front nursery room just opposite the stairs.

When he walks in the room he finds the pegasi all piled on a couch save Glacial, who is using her wing to entertain Golden. Dawn is laying with Blazer between her forelegs snuggled into her chest and neck just like he does with Celestia. Rising wisely put her sax in a closet before laying next to Dawn. Sapphire seems content to entertain Cherry and Lotus by puppeting a few plush toys to make them talk and dance.

“That’s bunk! I’m just as old as you are!” Drift instantly argues.

“Yeah, Ferric,” he agrees as he sits by the room’s entry. “Drift is in charge of everything.” The larger filly deflates a tiny bit while the pegasus preens, thrusting her chest out proudly. “That means she gets to change diapers and make sure the foals are fed,” he adds. “After all, if there were an adult here that would be their job, right?”

“Sounds right to me!” Sapphire eagerly agrees. “Drift gets to do everything while we go play!”

The purple filly’s eyes bug out at the suggestion and she quickly shakes her head no. “No way! That’s your job! I’m deliberating, err, delegate… wait… yeah, Delegating! I’m delegating that to you. That’s what leaders do,” she insists with a firm nod. “Besides, almost all of ‘em are your siblings anyhow!”

“Terrible wife material,” Sapphire tisks, shaking her head in disappointment. Drift shoots the aqua filly a warning glare that is completely ignored.

“What is the plan for tonight?” Dawn asks as she nuzzles onto Blazer’s back. The young colt rolls over, happy to latch onto her snout and coo up at her.

“Well these four,” he waves to Savvy, Goldie, Blaze, and Berry, “are too young to really do much with, but Frigid, Swirling, Summer, Cherry, Lotus, and Farty,” he pauses to catch the yellow filly futily trying to tackle him, “are all within a couple years of each other. Summer?” he calls the yellow filly. “I have some playground equipment I put together out back last night. How about you be in charge of the younger foals?”

Fall Thunder thrashes in Cure’s grip, shouting, “Let me go, Fart Wave! I should be the one in charge!”

The colt looks between Drift and the girl in his grip and asks, “Are you two freakin related or something?”

“Hey!” both simultaneously shout. The nearly identical reaction gets some thoughtful, curious looks from the other foals.

“That’s tribalist!” Sapphire teasingly shouts. “Not every pegasus is related, Cure!”

The colt scoffs and rolls his eyes, completely dismissing the accusation. “Whatever. I’ll make you a deal, Fall,” he calmly says. She pauses and looks up at him with a scowl. He sets her down and continues, “If you play nice, and this includes the rest of you,” he pans his gaze over the other young fillies, “I have a very special treat for everypony tonight. I was going to share this one with my family first, but I can’t think of a better way to entertain a bunch of foals than a show.”

Murmurs of confusion sound out throughout the room. “What kind of show?” Rising asks. More excitedly she adds, “Are you going to sing or something?”

“Not exactly, but there are a few songs involved. That’s for later though. How’s this sound? I set up a volleyball net for us older foals. We’ll play a few short games four on four. I’ll also set up a little pen, and whoever is sitting out can entertain the yutes -”

“The what?” Drift interrupts. A few of the other foals slowly repeat the word as if tasting it.

“The yutes,” he says, motioning to the infants.

“Are you saying… ‘yutes’ like… youths?” Dawn asks with a pinched face.

“Fine! The YOUTHS. The odd pony out watches the YOUTHS, friggin Joe Pesci ova hea, while we go a few rounds, then I need a couple volunteers to make a snack run to the store down the road,” he points a hoof back to the door, “to get some popcorn, drinks, and whatever other treats, then I’ll put on a show for everypony.”

Dawn gives him an up-down look and, with narrowed eyes, asks, “What kind of show, exactly?”

Cure reaches into his mane and holds a couple crystals out, offering them to the girl. She levitates them over and inspects them. “Greater Illusion?”

“Yep!”

Lotus and Cherry gasp as one then eagerly shout, “MOVIE NIGHT!” and begin bouncing around excitedly.

The curious stares shift from the fillies to Cure and he continues his explanation, “Think of it like a play. We call ‘em ‘movies’ ‘cause I use the Illusion crystals to make pictures like drawings, ‘cept they’re moving, ya know?

“Anyhow, I’ve got a good one I think you’ll all like, even if there are some parts that don’t really make a lot of sense if ya think on it too much. I thought of it when I met the doctor over the ICU in Baltimare. She shares a name with one of the characters.”

She passes the crystals back and asks, “Why do you need two of them?”

“It’s just easier. I can have my plant charging one while I focus on maintaining the Illusion with the other, and having the spell in a crystal means I don’t need to pay attention to the casting itself, just the illusion. I’ll just have to swap ‘em out every ten minutes or so.”

“Your plant can charge crystals?”

“It’s a living thing,” he answers with a shrug. “Why couldn’t it? I do have to be connected, but that’s not much of a distraction.”

“Can it use them too?”

“Not by itself. Again, if I’m connected to it, then yes, but then I’m the one using them, not it. Sort of.”

“Cow manure,” Drift grouses.

“Yep,” he easily agrees. “Just wait till I get some farmland to really grow it. Right now I’m limiting its growth to our property, but it’s still huge. The playground and volleyball net are all parts of it that I grew overnight.”

Several of the foals look out the window on the front of the house in wonder. “Exactly how big is it?” Rising slowly asks.

Plenty of inappropriate responses flit through his mind before he finally answers, “Umm. Big. Let’s just say my parents don’t need to mow the lawn anymore.”

“The whole yard?!”

“Minus the garden,” he answers with a nod. “And it’s only on the surface level, so trees, bushes, anything underground... those are still their own thing.”

“Why?” Drift asks. “I mean, why not the garden too? I would think that would be where you’d start.”

“I did start there, actually, but I ended up having to stop right away. Since the plant is, metaphysically, an extension of myself, it was messing with my dam’s ability to use her magic on the stuff she was growing there. She prefers to be able to grow stuff normally, then sell it at the market. Besides, compared to the rest of the yard the garden itself is only a small fraction of our property.”

“Oh. That makes sense…”

“Won’t your neighbors notice?” Ferric asks. “They may wonder how a bunch of playground stuff suddenly showed up.”

“How often do you pay attention to your neighbor’s backyard?”

“Not often, I guess.”

“Me neither,” he agrees. “They’ll probably notice it and assume they just weren’t paying attention for a few days while we put it together.”

“I didn’t see you bring any milk over,” Glacial points out with a glance to Heavy.

“Mrs. Vines told my dam she had it taken care of.”

She turns to Cure and asks, “Did your moms put extra in the refrigerator?”

“Nope, just like everything else, feeding is Drift’s duty -”

“WHAT?!” she shouts, shooting up from the couch. Swirling had settled against her side for a nap and was looking none too pleased with her sister’s exuberant response.

“ - so I planned on gettin them mammaries fired up first thing so that they can be ready when the time comes. C’mere, Drift!”

All heads whip to the filly’s direction as she backs off the couch and falls on her rump. Giggles sound out from the other foals while Cure slowly approaches with one hoof outstretched and a manic smile on his face. Frigid and Swirling run away squealing as Drift backs further from the colt. “C’mon Drift, you wanted to be in charge. What’s wrong with you feeding the babies, hmm?”

Frowning deeply, the dark filly’s eyes dart back and forth between Cure’s outstretched hoof and the infants looking her way because of the commotion. As the colt comes closer her wings sag, ears droop, and tail tucks in reluctant acceptance. “If… if I have to,” she agrees, bottom lip quivering.

“Cure,” Ferric gently calls in an admonishing tone.

He stops his advance and aims a pout in her direction. “Aww, geez, Red, ya know I’m just joking.”

“You’re not being a very good friend,” she softly points out.

He sighs, nods in acceptance, and puts his hoof down.

Rising leans over and quietly whispers to Dawn, “Maybe she should be in charge.” The orange filly reluctantly nods in agreement.

Cure looks Drift’s way, and rolls his eyes as he explains, “I can make milk from the plant, ya goof. Besides, I would never do anything to somepony without their permission, and you oughta know that by now.”

Glacial gives the other pegasus a curious look and asks, “Were you really going to let him make you…” she pauses and scrunches her snout in thought. “I don’t know what the right word is.”

“Lactate,” Cure helpfully supplies. “Lactation is when dams make milk.”

The aside doesn’t even seem to register with the exasperated filly. “I thought somepony had to!” she defensively screeches.

“Aww, Drift,” the colt coos, approaching the girl and wrapping her in a hug. “It’s sweet you’d actually allow that, but never let anypony force you to do something you don’t wanna, okay? Even me. Especially me.”

“What do you mean by ‘especially’ you?” Coast questions.

Cure takes a deep breath and blows out a sigh. “It’s… a power thing, basically,” he explains, releasing Drift. “If some random pony tells you to do something that you don’t want to do, how do you respond?”

“Say no?” the girl hesitantly answers, looking to the others for support. A round of nods bolsters her confidence and she turns back to the colt more sure of her answer.

“And if they’re rich? If they’re powerful? Not just physically, but magically or politically?”

“They will probably get angry…” she guesses, snout scrunched in frustration.

“Right. They’ve gotten used to getting their way, so tellin ‘em no will tick ‘em off. I can’t end up like those ponies. I’ll have enough ponies that’ll never, ever say no to me. I need somepony I can rely on to say no when I’m acting like a butt.”

“You smell like a butt,” Fall quietly giggles.

“Says Thunder Farts over there,” he grouses. “Enough boring talk. Let’s do something fun. How about we get stinky over there,” he points to Berry, “cleaned up and go outside to play. Sound good?”

There are a number of sports that exist on Equus that are very similar to Earth equivalents. Tennis, bowling, soccer (even if it is called hoofball), and, oddly, lacrosse (a mostly pegasi sport), all exist, even if none of them have the enormous presence that professional sports had on Earth.

Volleyball is another sport that, for the most part, is unchanged between worlds. There are a few adjustments due to the quadrupedal players and some minor changes because of the different tribes’ abilities, but overall the game is mostly the same.

Winged players can’t stay in the air, but they are allowed a single downward flap motion when jumping to gain height. They can also use their wings to hit the ball, which gives them some decent extra reach, but robs them of power due to the softness of their feathers or membranes. They do need to be careful about actually hitting the ball instead of carrying it, however. Even with its advantages most pegasi avoid using their wings like that because it tends to mess their feathers up a fair amount.

Unicorns can use shield panels to bump the ball in lieu of a foreleg but may not directly control the ball at all. Shield panels also cannot be more than three hooves to a side, nor can they be more than a body length away from the unicorn projecting it. That gives them some flexibility that the others lack, but it’s a reasonable tradeoff given that, unlike other tribes, they aren’t allowed to head the ball for obvious reasons.

Earth ponies don’t have any tribe-specific rules they have to be mindful of. Because of the limitations placed on other tribes’ abilities, they tend to have the upper hoof. With greater land speed and acceleration than the others, they can get under an incoming hit faster and aren’t the least bit bothered when the ball is coming in fast.

Cure volunteers to sit out the first game so he can watch over the little ones. It only takes a few minutes for him to realize that, due to them never really playing the game before, everypony kind of sucks.

Instead of the customary twenty-one they decided to only play to eleven. Even then it took nearly half an hour for the first game to end, at which point Summer, Fall, Frigid, Swirling, Cherry, and Lotus lost all interest in the jungle gym he put together and insisted they be allowed to join in with the older foals. It went exactly as well as everypony expected.

Playing around the smaller foals was the challenge; the bigger, stronger foals had to take care not to bowl over the younger fillies. That was doubly true with the four pegasi who didn’t hesitate to throw themselves at a ball, no matter who was already trying to get to it.

Glacial did pull off one good spike and, in the play of the game, Heavy took a swing to save it, whiffed the ball, and was promptly uppercut when it bounced off the ground into his chin. It rattled his brain a bit and he fell on his rear, but aside from his pride nothing was actually injured.

After three long, incredibly pathetic games, Celestia’s sun started making its way closer to the western horizon. A quick round of Cleanings vanished away the sweat and dust, allowing Ferric, Drift, Heavy, Coast, and Sapphire to take the six fillies to the store to stock up on sweets and drinks. Cure could make fruit drinks and a variety of treats easily enough with his plant, but didn’t want to end up being a snack dispenser all night, especially while watching over the little ones and projecting his movie.

Once the small expedition returned, everypony gathered in the rear living room and pulled two couches together.

Coast and Heavy snuggle together on the far left side with a sister camping out on each of their backs. Sapphire is happy to wedge herself between the gray colt and her sister. Rising and Dawn are on the other couch with Cherry and Lotus, respectively, looking on from atop their withers, leaving Glacial and Drift to provide warm cushions for their siblings.

Standing off to the side with his staff in hoof, Cure calls down a stalk of his plant through the ceiling and sets one crystal inside it. Savvy and Berry are snuggled together in one crib by his side while the twins are in another, the four surrounded by a Sound Bubble crystal being fed magic to let sound out but not in.

The colt uses Prestidigitation to make the windows opaque, then lowers a cloth divider behind everypony to block light out from the kitchen. Unsure what to expect, the foals all watch in wonder as the young alicorn activates the other crystal and casts the room in near total darkness.

Greater Illusion is an extremely versatile spell. It allows the user to project almost anything they can think of as long as it isn’t larger than ten meters on a side. It has several advantages over television, most notable amongst them is that it is a fully three-dimensional experience. It’s also not only a visual effect. Sounds, smells, and even temperature can be conveyed, though like the lower tiered version - simply “Illusion” - physical objects will pass through the projected images as if they’re not there.

It meshes extremely well with Cure’s talent when depicting living things. Typically casters have to focus to make creature movement fluid, but with perfect replication of joints, hair, and every other biological system, Cure is able to completely bypass that limitation. The only real challenge in recreating the movie he’d chosen was remembering the lines, especially the lyrics to a few of the songs. Fortunately he had a few weeks to fill in as many blanks as possible.

With no exposure to anything resembling human media, the foals are caught unprepared when the air changes, gaining a slight chill, a mild breeze, and the scent of open grasslands. On the opposite side of the room a fake horizon begins to glow yellow. The sun slowly rises to the shouted chants of tribal song, bringing warmth and a stronger breeze to the room. Rhinos, gazelles, cheetahs, and other animals of the Zebrican plains look to the east as the music fades to the background.

“What the fuck?” Drift quietly mumbles only to immediately be shushed by everypony. The Circle of Life begins playing, Rising’s ears perking at the completely unfamiliar and original, to her, melody.

Unlike the original, zebras are completely removed from Cure’s rendition of the cartoon version of The Lion King; a necessity if he wants to avoid explaining why an intelligent species is bleating like a common animal. Gazelles, wildebeests, and impalas made suitable replacements throughout the story, so nothing significant is lost. Some minor changes in dialogue are necessary too; any reference to Africa had to be changed, for example, as did a few instances where “kids” was said instead of foals or cubs. A few cultural references also had to be adjusted to make more sense.

Regardless, all of the foals, minus the four snoozing infants, were completely captivated throughout the story. Everypony was gushing at Simba as a cub, laughing during I Just Can’t Wait to Be King and, crying when Mufasa died, cursing Scar, covering their eyes and shouting in alarm when Simba was nearly crushed, laughing even more during Hakuna Matata, blushing during Can You Feel the Love Tonight, then cheering as the hyenas turned on their former master at the end.

The entire experience was a rollercoaster of emotional excitement far more intense than Cure had anticipated. By the time it was over everypony was about ready to crash from the repeated spikes of adrenaline and a glut of burned-off sugar.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Fall excitedly cheers as she bounces off the walls and flies in circles overhead. The less vocal fillies all nod eagerly in agreement and start listing off the parts they liked the most. Timon and Pumbaa are, unsurprisingly, the favorite characters amongst the younger crowd.

“You absolutely have to show me those songs again!” Rising gushes. “I’ve never even heard music like that before! How in the hay did you come up with all that?!”

Cure waves his hooves in the air, answering, “Mysterious top secret stuff!” At her flat stare he explains, “Really, I can’t tell you yet. Next time we’re all in Canterlot together, maybe.”

“Why does it have to wait until we’re in Canterlot?”

“I wasn’t joking about the ‘mysterious top secret stuff.’ It’s info I’m not supposed to discuss without the princess around.” Several muzzles scrunch in thought and the colt is the subject of many a disbelieving look. “I’m serious. I think it’s my last big secret.”

Ferric gives the colt a hurt look and asks, “You’re still keeping secrets from us?”

“Well first off, everypony keeps some secrets. I mean, nopony is a completely open book. That aside, I only have one big one left,” he explains. “Or maybe two, depending on how you look at it. They’re kinda one in the same. It’s a really big deal and I really can’t talk about it without her approval. Not to mention a privacy spell I would only trust her to cast.”

Fall huffs in annoyance and says, “If it’s about you bein Prince Fartpoopface then everypony already knows!”

Cure winces slightly at the filly’s barb. He figured they weren’t quite ignorant enough that they didn’t figure it out when they were staying at the castle in Canterlot, but having her just blurt it out like that was not something he expected. “According to Princess Celestia, Prince Serpentus’ identity is a crown secret… so if you go around telling ponies who you think he is you may get in a lot of trouble.”

Her face scrunches in confusion and she says, “If it’s supposed to be a secret then how come everypony knows?!”

“Only a few ponies know, Fall,” he corrects.

“Nuh-uh. Bunches of ponies know, Fart Wave! I heard ‘em talking ‘bout you at the playground!”

Cure feels like a boulder was dropped into his gut. He would normally dismiss the filly’s claims, but when her sister slowly nods in agreement the fight completely leaves him.

“Everypony knows not to say anything,” Rising softly says, trying to head off the incoming question.

All the other foals look distinctly unformable at Cure’s probing stare. “What exactly did they say?”

The colt’s tone causes the filly’s wings to instinctively hug her sides as she shrinks down. “Just that you seem super busy working so much!” she rushes to explain.

“Dude! Calm down!” Heavy shouts, stepping between Cure and his sister.

“Sorry!” he replies with a wince. He holds his hooves up placatingly and explains, “I was just worried! I’m sorry, Fall, I didn’t mean to frighten you or anything. Or accuse anypony, for that matter.”

“A few ponies may have, possibly, kinda figured it out on their own,” Dawn speculates.

Shoulders sagging in defeat, he looks at all of his friends and almost pleadingly asks, “And none of you told me?”

“I had no idea,” Glacial quickly assures him.

Drift nods along, saying, “Me neither.”

“I don’t think any of us did,” Coast half-asks as she looks from foal to foal. One by one everypony shakes their head no.

“I don’t know that for sure!” Dawn insists. “I just wouldn’t be surprised.”

Heavy nudges his sister and asks, “Who did you hear it from, Fall?”

The yellow filly shrugs her wings and says, “I’unno. Just some mares talking at the park. They said it’ll make the town famous one day. Me ‘n Summer were playin while dam went for a quick flight when we heard ‘em.”

“Mmhmm!” her twin hums in confirmation. “We didn’t tell ‘em we know you, though!” she insists.

Sapphire trots over and wraps Cure in a hug. “Don’t worry, Wavey-poo! All the ponies in town know to keep their mouths shut! Besides, only a few hundred, give or take, actually think they know! I bet none of ‘em really know for sure!”

Ferric sighs and softly says, “That’s probably not very reassuring, Saph…”

“But… how?!” Cure asks the crowd, dismissing the crazy girl embracing him.

As if they’d planned it beforehoof, every filly save Sapphire gives him a flat look and, at the same time, asks, “Seriously?!” Heavy looks around in stunned, and slightly impressed, silence at their synchronized exclamation.

“Your business,” Glacial says. “Think of how many ponies’ eyesight and teeth you’ve fixed there.”

“Yeah! You make a fortune changing ponies’ wings. Healing wings is something only Prince Serpentus can do,” Drift adds. “There’s also your new cutie mark. It’s almost identical to your old one.”

“Your disguises all look the same,” Ferric timidly suggests. “And, like Glacial said, you’ve healed a lot of ponies. That’s how Master Angle figured it out.” She quickly adds, “Not that he would ever say anything! He really appreciates all you’ve done.”

“That’s probably it!” Dawn shouts, waving a hoof between the three that mentioned healing. “I think it was your work at the clinic. All the workers there have to have figured it out, plus however many patients you helped while you were working there, all without a disguise, too!”

“Yep! Cure Wave and Prince Serpentus both have the same talent, obviously,” Heavy quickly agrees. “Plus their schedules are opposite. You only work afternoons three days that he works at the hospital, then all day when he’s off.”

Sapphire shakes her head no and argues, “It was the trips to the capital, I bet! He goes, meets the princess, comes back, then goes again and, BOOM!” she shouts, “New alicorn,” she says, prodding at his flattened wings then going cross eyed staring at his blank forehead.

Coast adds her two bits, explaining, “I bet a lot of ponies also suspected something when they saw a group of foals running around and getting in great shape super quick. We went from average to really trim in only a couple months, then the same thing happened to a bunch of the guards in town, all right before ‘Prince Serpentus’ showed up. Then a brown unicorn helped with the births here. The princess made a really big deal about you doing that in Canterlot too.”

Rising nods in agreement and adds, “Don’t forget anypony at the restaurant could have overheard your speech about your trees. We probably should have closed those doors,” she admits with a cringe.

“Oh yeah!” Heavy exclaims, “Everypony in the neighborhood that was watchin for nobles probably figured it out too!”

“But… not everypony can know!” he whines. “Nopony’s said a word to me! Or my parents!”

Sapphire leans back and gives him the most sympathetic, disappointed look she can. “Oh bluey, I don’t think anypony is dumb enough to actually say something to any of us.”

“Yeah,” Lotus eagerly nods in agreement, “big brother would probably turn ‘em inside out!”

“No I wouldn’t!”

She shrugs indifferently and says, “That’s what you said you’d do if anypony hurt us.”

“That’s different!”

“And feed ‘em to his plant,” Cherry helpfully adds. “Slowly.”

A round of very judgmental looks all turn his direction. Sapphire releases him and slowly backs away, keeping her eyes on him until she’s far enough to scramble behind her sister.

“I would do the same for any of you, too!” he declares. The looks don’t abate by any significant margin. “I may be a smidge overprotective,” he admits with a pout.

“A smidge?” Drift scoffs.

He holds his hooves up mere centimeters apart, barely enough for him to peek between with one eye. “Maybe a tiny bit.”

“Either way, it doesn’t change anything,” Dawn firmly insists.

Cure’s jaw almost hits the floor. He throws his hooves up in the air and shouts, “Of course it does!”

“Anypony that knows must not be saying anything,” Ferric points out. “Just keep pretending you don’t know they know. They’ll never know for sure unless you start acting weird or tell them.”

The colt scrunches his snout in thought and, after a moment of deliberation, sags and nods in acceptance. “I guess I don’t really have much of a choice.”

“He’s going to be even more paranoid now,” Drift sighs. Coast, Glacial, Rising, and Heavy all slowly nod in agreement.

“Y’all sure do like to talk bad about me,” he pouts. “Makin me sound like some kinda paranoid nutjob.”

“Welllllll…” Dawn starts.

Huffing and looking away, the colt grouses, “See if I ever show you another movie. I had a good one based on a story from ancient Saddle Arabia too. There was a genie and a princess and an evil wizard and everything!”

Rising’s ears perk up as she asks, “Is there singing in it too?!”

“There could be,” he indignantly replies, turning away from the herd and folding his forelegs across his chest. “Maybe my sisters will tell you about it after I show them.”

Despite sensing her approach, Cure doesn’t react when the yellow filly nuzzles into his side. She turns, rearing up and rubbing her cheek up his neck and nips at the base of his ear. “Please, Cure,” she begs, eliciting a single wag from his tail. “I would REALLY like to see it someday!”

The colt only holds out a moment before sagging in defeat.

“Total pushover,” Heavy quietly snickers.

“We all know he woulda given in anyhow,” Coast whispers back.

“Quiet, all’a ya,” he weakly grumbles. Despite his grouchy tone the colt doesn’t hesitate to lean against Rising’s warmth. “I think it’s about time for us to get ready for bed. Why don’t you all go on upstairs and get ready,” he says, motioning to the younger foals, “while I get the babies all fed and changed.”

Heavy nudges his sisters with his snout and tilts his head to the stairs.

Most of the younger fillies start making their way up under the supervision of the colt and their older sisters. Sapphire and Coast both tag along too, uninterested in sticking around to help clean up the little foals.

Dawn, Ferric, and Rising stay to help, each taking a foal and following Cure to the kitchen. The colt’s horn slides into place on the way, which he then uses to open the refrigerator and float out two bottles, each with a rubber nipple on them. Dawn casts a Warming cantrip to slowly heat the pair, stopping to press them against her cheek every moment or two to check the temperature.

While she’s heating up the milk for Golden and Blazer, Cure holds a bowl underneath his plant stalk and has it dispense some yogurt with tiny chunks of granola and fruit, then passes each, along with a spoon, to Rising and Ferric once they get Savvy and Berry situated at the table.

“What is this?” the dark filly asks as she scoops up a spoonful and gives it a sniff.

“Vanilla yogurt with granola and fresh fruit. It’s a little sweet, but that’s kinda what happens when everything has a million kilos of sugar in it. Here,” he says, floating over a third, larger bowl with a pair of spoons.

They each take turns sampling the bowl between hoofing over spoonfuls to their respective charges. “It’s pretty good,” she comments. She looks and follows the stalk as it disappears into the ceiling and asks, “How the hay are you making it?”

“The same as anypony else would. I can just skip several steps. All of the steps, really. I don’t have to do all the stuff involved in growing the fruit or oats, and I don’t need to worry about spoilage or pests or whatever. I can chemically change everything so it’s just like what you’d buy in the store, so… yeah, I just have my plant grow the end product in the portions I want, then pump it down into a bowl.”

“So… couldn’t you just make food plants like your plant and feed everypony?”

“Definitely. Know anypony that’s going hungry, though?”

“No, but I know some foods are expensive.”

“They are, but, at least according to what my parents and the princess have said, there’s not really groups of ponies that simply aren’t getting enough food. There’s crown-run programs specifically to help with that. Imagine instead of a grocery store I had a massive version of this,” he motions up, “in the middle of town where everypony could come, get whatever food item they want for free, and go about their day.”

Recognizing the problem, Rising chimes in saying, “Farmers would go bankrupt.”

“Not just farmers, but also anypony that owns a supermarket, their suppliers, transport companies, the ponies that supply their hardware like Ferric, unicorns that recharge their enchantments… you get the point. The list goes on and on. I’ve already made crops that are easier for farmers to grow, but if I start makin things that completely cut them out of the supply chain then… Well, honestly, I’m not sure what all would happen.

“Making big, sudden moves that impact huge swathes of society can end up causing a whole mess of short term problems and, I’m sure, quite a few long term ones too. So… yeah, it’s a good idea, in a way, but before I do anything like that I would definitely run it by the princess first. That’s why I left all the super crop seeds with her. I trust Celestia to be better at figuring out how to introduce changes like that more than I trust myself. She’s lived through enough big changes. She definitely knows better than me how to do it without messing everything up.”

“Plus you don’t want to get blamed if something goes wrong,” Dawn teasingly remarks.

Cure shrugs and bobs his head in agreement. “You’re not wrong. Especially when the impact can be so catastrophic. I definitely don’t want one of Prince Serpentus’ first acts, or even his hundredth act, to bankrupt tens of thousands of farmers and food supply workers like I probably have for half the pharmaceutical companies out there. It would be different if ponies were starving, but nopony is, as far as I know, so there’s no need to cram my snout in there and mess it all up.”

The room falls into silence for a moment while everypony feeds their foal. Cure can’t help but smile fondly when Blazer, still slurping away, rotates his body so he’s leaning against his stomach while feeding. He once again finds himself comparing his siblings to Earth animals; at their age the analogy isn’t completely inaccurate. Savvy, on the other hoof, has been growing more and more vocal over the last few weeks. She still doesn’t converse by any stretch of the imagination, but she does talk or point at things and say their name.

He watches Rising’s heart almost melt every time she gets a spoonful of the yogurt near his sister’s mouth. The pink filly opens wide, saying “AHH!” before she closes her mouth around the spoon, then gives an appreciative “MMMM!” and a little tail wag with each bite. Every time Rising pauses for too long to take a bite herself the pink filly is quick to demand more with a shout of “ME!”

Berry, on the other hoof, is somewhat less vocal. She still hums in contentment and has started mimicking Savvy’s “AAH!” when she’s taking a bite, but she’s yet to say an actual word as far as Cure knows.

“She is sooooooooo adorable!” Rising coos, unable to resist the temptation to lean over and give her a nuzzle. The affection is returned with a giggle, but the impatient filly doesn’t wait long before staring at the still empty spoon and opening her mouth to demand her next bite. “Isn’t she a little young to be talking, though? I know you wouldn’t do anything bad, but did you like… I dunno…” she drifts off, looking to Cure in question.

“Make her smarter?”

She nods.

“Not consciously. She’s the literal definition of a healthy infant, though. She gets every need met immediately, has never been cold or hungry or messy for more than a few fleeting seconds, and gets lots of stimulation from the toys I’ve made her. Plus we talk to her normally instead of like she’s got some kinda developmental delay. Isn’t that right, Savvy Venture?”

The question draws the filly’s attention away and she turns to look even though there’s still a spoon in her mouth.

“Who’s the smartest little filly in the house? Are you a smart filly, cutie pie?!” he excitedly asks.

“Me!” she answers, nodding energetically.

“That’s right! Savvy’s the smartest girl ever!”

Just like an excited puppy, the filly hops down and, wings flapping wildly, bolts over to nuzzle-bash into her brother’s side.

“So cute!” all three witnesses squeal as one.

With one foreleg petting down Blazer and the other holding the bottle, Cure lifts his hidden wing and wraps it around his sister, squeezing the filly against his side. “Yep, Savvy’s a smart girl! She’s gonna be super rich and really famous and she’ll have a million colts all wantin to have her hoof and big brother Cure is gonna make ‘em disappear if they break her adorable little heart, isn’t he?!”

The three fillies all share a worried look.

“Uhh… Cure?” Rising calls. “You… are joking, right?”

“Hmm? Oh! Yeah, definitely. Hey, are they all done eating?” he asks, conveniently changing the subject. “We should probably get them cleaned up and ready for bed.”

The girls don’t miss the attempt in the least, but assume he’s just teasing them.

With a few flashes of his horn he has all the dishes and utensils cleaned and put back into the cabinet, then leads everypony upstairs to join the others in bed.

Saturday, August 8th, 909 AB (shortly after midnight)

Cure had been awake enough to notice when all of the parents were approaching the house, but didn’t bother actually getting up to greet them. Instead, he stayed comfortably snuggled on his left side using Heavy’s back as a pillow with Glacial spooned between his legs, Dawn resting her head on his shoulder, and Sapphire snoring away draped over his right hip. A length of vine is snaked through the pile of bodies and plugged into his back.

Glacial had suggested she and Drift tear off a piece of cloud for the younger pegasi so they didn’t get accidentally rolled over on in the night, so Frigid, Swirling, Cherry, Lotus, Fall, and Summer all spent the night sleeping on a cloud floating over by the window. The other fillies were more than a little confused when two earth ponies were able to join them, but a warm body is a warm body, so no objections were raised.

He was tempted to speak up when adult after adult poked their head in and cooed at the pile, but he figured that would just encourage them to be more disruptive.

Ultimately everypony elected to spend the night rather than walk or fly home while sloshed. The two pregnant mares didn’t drink, thankfully. Just like their daughters, the pair shot up into the sky to drag a piece of cloud down and into the house.

Four adult pegasi snuggled together on it in the back living room floating above Onyx, his wife, and the three single mares on one couch and Heavy’s parents piled up on the other. Emerald and Gleaming cozy up on one in the nursery, laying side by side with their cheeks pressed together and horns gently touching.

Cure can only assume Solar found a nice, warm, cozy place to spend the night. Maybe even two of them.

Despite being in a sleep-like state the colt doesn’t miss when the earth pony pile in the living room moves more than he would expect. Ferric’s dam rolls to her hooves and stands, carefully climbing down to sneak over to Midnight Gem, then whispers something in her ear. The purple mare snorts, gives her a nod, then rolls over to go back to sleep, snuggling closer to Coast’s dam on her other side.

With so many sources of alcohol-laden sweat and breath blasting about the room it is difficult to tell exactly how inebriated everypony is without scanning them, so he isn’t sure how harshly he should judge the situation.

Nonetheless, it strikes him as exceedingly tacky and somewhat disgusting when Diamond Pick, after seemingly securing Midnight’s questionably valid consent, climbs back on the couch and begins fellating Onyx right there on the spot. The stallion is laying on his right side and automatically lifts his left leg when his sheath starts getting probed by a warm, wet tongue.

The shocking behavior leaves the colt stunned. Not only are two other single mares on the same couch, but Heavy’s parents are sleeping on another less than a meter away and the pegasi are just overhead.

It only takes a moment until the stallion wakes and, with a few whispered words, follows the mare towards the front of the house, down the hall, and into the bathroom. The movement wakes Crisp Script who, as stealthily as she can, rolls off the couch to sneak a peek at the pair.

Cure is aware that ponies are a lot more liberal with sex than humans, but watching Rising’s dam walk straight into the bathroom and start making out with both the rail-er and rail-ee mid-thrust is still a shocker. As far as the colt is aware there wasn’t any significant prior relation between her and the other two before their foals started hanging out, but neither participant hesitates to reciprocate and welcome her into the event despite the interruption.

The colt has always gone to great lengths to avoid watching his parents screw; a near-impossibility when his “body” essentially spans the entirety of their property. He typically disconnects from his plant and, or retracts his horn when they seem to be getting started, so being able to observe a stallion pound out one mare while making out with another is a new experience, even if his viewing capability is limited to only the unicorn aura from the massive horn located in the attic.

Though nopony else fully awakens during their tryst, the colt can only assume the two unicorns’ auras are also perceiving the act and have adjusted whatever dreams they were having to something more amorous. He’s almost never seen Emerald do anything he would truly consider affectionate, but watching the blue mare lean over and start grooming her husband’s cheek fur tells him there’s plenty of love between the two.

He has a moment of worry when the mare’s tail starts to swish about, then begins to flag. Fortunately, Haze finally wakes when she nips a little too aggressively at his cheek and, after a moment of looking around in confusion, zeroes in on the closed bathroom door with the light creeping out from underneath. The red stallion groans and briefly rubs at his eyes, then notices the obvious signs of excitement coming from his wife.

Briefly worried they’re going to have a mini-orgy downstairs, Cure blows out a sigh of relief when, instead of mounting the mare and turning her dream into reality, he climbs half on her withers, and drapes his neck down beside hers and recrosses their horns before going back to sleep.

His focus no longer on the unicorns, Cure watches as Onyx finishes inside a happily glowing Diamond, dismounts her, turns the faucet on, and starts chugging away while she catches her breath. With his face under in the sink, Script saunters over and fluffs the stallion until he’s ready for round two, then turns and flips her tail up in invitation.

Ready to go again, the stallion shuts off the water and climbs on the cream mare’s rump, thrusting blindly until she reaches back and gives him a guiding hoof. The whole situation strikes the colt as incredibly unsanitary, but he knows for a fact that both mares are in perfect health and free of any of the few STI’s ponies occasionally come down with, so, yuck factor aside, he can’t really come up with any cause for legitimate concern.

With the dark stallion’s forehooves wrapped around her barrel, Script humps back in time to meet his much more powerful thrusts. Diamond steps up to the plate next, nuzzling against their sides, planting kisses on the other mare’s cheek, nipping at Onyx’s rump, and even leaning down to lick his swinging balls from behind.

The colt has to briefly wonder how these mares are single. The whole episode would firmly land both of them in “keeper” territory as far as he can figure. Objectively, Cure can’t deny that the whole situation is kind of hot. He’s still a bit peeved that they are boning in his parents, and his, house, but at the same time his inner voyeur has to admit that there’s something incredibly exciting about the spontaneity of everything.

Annoyance, disgust, and any other negative reaction aside, Cure has to give props to a dude who, with his wife’s blessing, nets himself a Pompeii Wake-Up Call, then gets literally led by the nose to a surprise threesome.

The situation doesn’t garner any kind of physical reaction from the colt; he simply hasn’t matured enough for his libido to scream for release, but he can’t bring himself to be angry since he has a very hard time denying that he would probably do the exact same thing Onyx had, given the circumstances. Stallions may not be exactly like men, and they certainly have a lot more opportunities to get themselves a warm piece of pie, but even on Equus it is damn near impossible for a male to turn down sex.

The furious pumping continues for several minutes until, finally, the dark stallion slams forward with all his might and stays there, unleashing inside the delighted mare who is stifling a moan as best she can. Diamond steps to the side and leans gently against the pair for a moment until their climaxes abate. As she begins to gather hooffuls of toilet paper, Onyx slowly eases himself off of Script’s back, trailing his chin down her spine and breathing heavily as he does.

Cure decides to be a gracious host and, while fighting down a snicker, has his plant in the attic extrude a piece of paper with a note. He Teleports the note, a pencil from his desk, a charged Cleaning crystal, and three empty cups to the bathroom sink counter. The small flashes of light from the teleportation startles the group, causing Script to jump and Onyx to lose his balance and fall on his rump. Diamond looks around the room in panic before slowly approaching the note; the panic morphing to horrified shame when she reads it.

Good morning!

Here’s a fully charged Cleaning crystal for your convenience. Use it as much as is needed, please. Also, good call on the water, Mr. Mark. I suggest you each drink a few cups to rehydrate before going back to bed.

I have to head over to Baltimare in a few hours for Junior Guard Training. In case you’re asleep when I get up, if you want me to give you a shot of healing to help with the after-effects of the booze just sign your name below.

-Cure

PS: Unicorn (and alicorn) horn auras penetrate thin surfaces like plaster and drywall pretty easily. The more you know!

The colt knows he should probably feel bad calling them out like that, but just can’t force himself to care. He isn’t exactly sure what the societal expectation for guests banging away in somepony else’s house is in Equestria, but as far as he’s concerned a subtle warning and a little shame accompanying legitimately helpful advice and cleaning supplies seems like a pretty light punishment.

The three sit and heatedly whisper amongst themselves for a few minutes, presumably trying to figure out what they should do. Onyx ultimately shrugs and, more loudly, points out that the young alicorn can’t be too angry; there’s nothing that would have prevented him from incapacitating any or all of them and throwing them out of the house, after all.

Instead, the dark stallion straddles the toilet channel, releases a mighty stream, uses the Cleaning crystal on everything from his tail to his chest, brushes his coat back into place, drinks six cups of water in quick succession, signs the note, and heads back to the couch to cuddle with his wife.

The mares watch in stunned silence at his casual response before, ultimately, deciding they might as well do the same. It’s slightly amusing that Diamond seems to struggle going potty with another pony present. She keeps pausing and looking around, then insists Script turn away before she’s finally able to go.

Once the final signature is made on the form, Cure teleports it back up to his plant right out of Script’s hooves and, otherwise, doesn’t do anything else with them when they return to the couch. He does, however, blast the bathroom with Sanitize on every surface. It’s a more potent version of Cleaning designed to address magically infused bacteria; complete overkill given he can tell the room is clean with his talent, but it still makes him feel better.

Once finished, he teleports the crystal back up to his plant, the pencil into his drawer, and the three cups back to the kitchen after Cleaning them, then closes his eyes to get another couple hours of sleep.

When three o’clock finally rolls around it takes a truly titanic effort for the colt to force himself to wakefulness. Climbing out of bed without waking anypony is even more difficult, and not just from a physical challenge standpoint; the pile of soft, furry bodies is entirely too comforting to easily walk away from.

He knows the other foals, not to mention their parents, are always appreciative of his attendance even though he has little left to learn, and he would feel a little guilty causing his awaiting guardians worry if he were to fail to show up when he is supposed to. The “lucky” bats that volunteer to be his night guard consider it an enormous honor to watch over him for the few hours per week that he’s attending class.

He briefly stops in his parents’ room to make sure they’re in good shape. Once he scans everypony he calls down stalks of his plant and hooks them each up, rehydrating them while purging any undesirable results from the night’s indulgences. He’d told them he was going to the class today, but he still leaves a note so they don’t have to wonder where he is upon waking.

He returns to his room and does the same to ensure the infants are dry, fed, and thoroughly emptied before heading down the stairs and similarly purging the three earth ponies of any remaining alcohol. Not completely comfortable treating anypony else without express permission, he silently creeps through the house, erects a Sound Bubble around the front door, and slips out into the night.

Shortly before dawn

Only a few ponies are out and about at six thirty in the morning, especially on a Saturday. Celestia’s sun hasn’t yet crested the horizon when the colt makes his way back to Golden Hills, but that doesn’t stop the bakery near Town Hall from being open and ready for business. Still invisible in his Serpentus disguise, Cure swoops down to land in a nearby greenspace.

He knows everypony will be starving when they wake up, and with about thirty-five ponies to feed (aside from the three still on milk only) there’s more empty stomachs that need filled than he would prefer to use his plant for. That and he figures it may weird out some, as it originally had his parents, if they realize they’re, in a way, eating part of the colt.

Figuring it will be easier to carry everything in unicorn mode, he tucks his wings tight, absorbs the longer feathers, and covers them in a layer of fur. A quick glance around shows he’s in the clear, so he dispels the Invisibility and trots into the store. The young unicorn walking in by himself at such an early hour draws a few looks and, despite his attempts to rein in his paranoia, Cure can’t stop himself from wondering if some of them may know who he truly is.

Now that he’s paying attention he notices a few ponies’ eyes stay on him longer than he feels like they should. Not to the point of flat-out gawking like they do in his Serpentus guise, but definitely more than most ponies would pay attention to a random light brown unicorn colt.

He tries not to think on it too much as he steps up to the counter and rears up to be closer to eye level with the mare behind it. If he wasn’t watching for it he may never have noticed the slight widening of her eyes that’s immediately quashed when he begins to speak.

“I need a whole mess ‘a stuff, ma’am. The folks hit the town last night and I got twenty adults and another fifteen foals that’ll all be comin to ready ta eat me outta house and home. I’d like at least ten dozen doughnuts, another couple dozen muffins, two dozen croissants…” he pauses and tilts his head in wonder. “Wait, is croissant plural just by itself?”

“I… I don’t think so?”

“It sounds like one of those words that stays the same, ya know? Like fish or sheep.”

The mare frowns and inclines her head in thought, sounding out “croissant” and “croissants” a few times quietly to herself. “I think it’s supposed to be croissants with an S on the end of it.”

“No, yu fewl!” an accented unicorn shouts from his table. All heads whip his direction as he heatedly marches to the counter. “I em tiyerd uv yu boareesh Eh-qwes-tree-ahns bootcherang our werds! Et es CWESON! CWEESS SON! Et es PRENCH, jus like boutique! Say et co-rect-ly!” he finishes with a firm nod, then turns and stomps back to his table with his snout in the air, tosses his waste in a trashcan, and stomps out the door.

Everypony just stares in open-mouthed confusion at the spectacle.

“That was really freaking weird.” A shake of his head refocuses his attention. “Whatever… as far as I’m concerned it’s cress-sants from now on,” the colt loudly muses, earning a few snickers. “So I’ll take two dozen cress-sants and a couple to-go liters each of coffee, tea, and milk. That oughta be enough for everypony to survive, maker willing.” He slides a six-tall stack of twenty bit coins on the table and says, “Keep the change.”

It doesn’t escape the colt’s notice that, despite the absolutely ludicrous amount of food he’s ordering, not a single pony in the store bats an eye. The mares behind the counter rush to fulfill his order, smiling broadly as they gather everything into box after box. Only the drinks have any substantial weight, so he sets them on his back and holds them with his TK field while levitating all of the confections overhead.

He draws more than a few curious stares on the way back home. The sight of a unicorn colt in Golden Hills is fairly unusual; one merrily skipping down the road whistling Won’t You Be My Neighbor to himself with half of a bakery floating in a chocolatey brown aura is completely unique. He gets some comments about feeding an entire herd or asking him where the party is, but with so few ponies out already it doesn’t take long to get home.

Celestia’s sun just starts to illuminate the world as he makes his way up to the house. As fun as it would be to burst through the door and cause a commotion, Ed’s memories place messing with someone that’s hung over staunchly in the ”dick move” column. Instead he casts another Sound Bubble on the door and quietly sneaks back in.

The move proves unnecessary; his dam, Amethyst, and Lemon are up and seem to have just started working on preparing food for everypony. Amethyst is spreading butter on all of the bread they have with the sugar and cinnamon sitting nearby. Lemon is stirring a huge pot of oats while his dam is cutting up and laying out all the fruit they had in the refrigerator on a platter. Title is in the nursery with the infants, joined by Thunder, Snowstorm, Ferric, Drift, and Glacial.

A quick glance through the house with his aura shows most everypony else is still asleep, though slight movements here or there tell him they’re beginning to stir, either from the day’s first light or the sounds and smells of breakfast being prepared.

“Hot damn! He takes you out, he buys you jewelry, and he even brings you breakfast!” Thunder excitedly cheers. She nudges her middle foal with a wingtip and tells her, “If you don’t marry him I just might snatch ‘em up myself.” The tease gets a revolted look and a “Gross!” from the filly that morphs into a wretch when Cure gives the mare a considering look.

“Fooooood!” Title drawls out, flopping on her barrel and dragging herself across the floor towards him. “Need. Doughnuts. Can’t. Go. On. Much. Longer!” She melodramatically collapses and rolls on her back with her mouth hanging open and tongue lolled out the side. Savvy comes over, gives her a quick sniff, then immediately goes back to playing with Berry Blitz.

He rolls his eyes but still can’t hold back a faint smile at the pink mare. Like the dutiful son he strives to be, he ignites his horn and Teleports a glazed doughnut directly into her waiting maw. She sputters and her eyes widen for a split second until the sugary flavor registers, then she chomps down on the confection without an inkling of hesitation, murmuring a “Fanks!” around it.

Six quick flashes deposit the beverages and all of the boxes save one on a cleared section of the counter as he, unencumbered, trots over and plants a kiss on the still-chewing mare’s cheek. “Love you, ma. How ya feeling? Nopony has a hangover, right?” The last box is sat on the floor, only to be immediately dug into by everypony in the room.

A few shouted thanks come from the back of the house where his moms start cleaning up and winding down their meal prep since it’s no longer urgently needed. The sound and light from the Teleportation spur a few ponies to drag themselves to their hooves. The ones he didn’t fix up look considerably rougher than his parents and the other three.

Silver and Berry box in Spring on one edge of the table. The pegasus is evidently the lightweight of the family in more ways than one, likely owing to the ridiculous constitution that earth ponies are blessed with. Their stallion fetches drinks for the three of them while they start digging in. Onyx and his four couchmates take a long edge of the table while the unicorns lean against one another on the side opposite Heavy's parents.

He ignores the gushing and mocking snickers from the other moms and Drift respectively and leans into his mom unabashedly when she wraps her forelegs around him and pulls him into a snuggly embrace. “Love you too, honey. We’re all good, but most of the others are still out of it. Your doing?”

“Mmhmm. I caught Mr. Mark, Miss Pick, and Miss Script -” all heads turn to the dining room where said ponies start choking on the bites of food in their mouths, “- on a bathroom trip before I left. Everypony else was asleep.”

“Your… Guard training?” Snowstorm inquiries.

“Yep! Today was lots of fun! Sgt. Song and Lt. Silver asked if I could help out a few fillies that were there for their first time! Oh my stars, you shoulda seen Shaded Glade’s face - she’s like twelve - when I had to really get hooves-on to help her with her stances! Her coat’s almost pitch black but she still blushed crimson when Prince Serpentus had to position her hooves and wings juuuust right!”

“You’re terrible,” Title teasingly comments. She looks to the box and makes a pleading whimper, then hums happily when he levitates another doughnut over her maw to feed her.

“Such a filial son,” Thunder wistfully sighs. “I wish my foals would surprise me with breakfast once in a while.”

Both girls react at once; Glacial with a guilt-ridden wince and Drift by defensively shouting, “You’ve never asked us to!”

“Wouldn’t be much of a surprise if she had to ask,” he quietly points out. The commotion of moving bodies picks up as more and more guests finally wake up and start moving towards the food. The sounds of movement upstairs and the occasional flush of a toilet tells him his friends will be on the way down soon as well. Cure gives his mom one last nuzzle and wiggles free, saying, “I better go check on the rest of the geezers. Can’t have everypony draggin tail all day.”

“I’m going to have to go soon,” Ferric says with a pout. “Have to be at work in about half an hour.”

Cure walks over and hops up on the couch with her, nudging the filly to roll over. He lays on her chest, scooting up between her forelegs and nuzzles into her chin, softly saying, “Send me a message when you get off. Maybe we can all get together and work on some basic casting exercises at the range. The staffs…” he tilts his head in thought, “Staffs? Staves? Yeah, staves - must be irregular word day today - should be ready for you all to try out if you’re interested.”

Her face heats up and tail swishes happily at the affection. Nodding in agreement, she gives him a tight squeeze and brushes her chin against his before letting go. He gives her a departing nuzzle, then makes his way to his dam, now sitting to Emerald’s left by the table. He rears up and wraps her side in a hug, careful not to jab her shoulder with his horn. “‘Mornin dam. Have fun last night?”

“Mmmmostly,” she drawls, wrapping her foreleg around the colt’s back. “At least until somepony,” her eyes briefly flick in Amethyst’s direction, “almost started a fight.”

The purple mare looks not the least bit bothered at the accusation. She shoos Lemon to the side and cracks the oven open to get out the toast, casually stating, “That two-bit whore crossed tha line and everypony knows it. She’s lucky ta still have all’a her teeth.”

Nearly every head at the table nods in agreement, including his dam’s and even Emerald Aura’s. “Do I need to go hide a body, ma?”

The mare snorts out a laugh as she dons an oven mitt, pausing when Cure lights up his horn and floats the tray out of the oven and onto a trivet. “Nah, one good shove and the staff stepped in. Much obliged for speakin up when ya did, sergeant.”

Haze, looking far more haggard than Cure has ever seen, lifts his mug of coffee in acknowledgement. That he’s using his hooves gives Cure an idea of how awesome he feels. His wife isn’t much better, mechanically shoving bite after bite of her croissant into her mouth and washing it down with a sip of tea. Tailwind and Rain are still asleep cuddled together on their cloud, but Midnight Gem and Level Plane are both looking rather worn as well.

“If y’all want, I can wipe out most of your hangover symptoms -”

“Maker above, please do,” Haze pleadingly interrupts.

“- but it’s a smidge more invasive than just hitting you with my talent. You need some electrolytes and water and whatever gunk’s still in yer blood cleaned out.”

“Son, my head hurts so bad I feel like my horn’s pointing the wrong direction. I don’t particularly care how invasive it is so long as it works.”

“Alright, gimme a sec. A vine will pop up under the table, don’t freak out,” he warns, lighting his horn to call up a stalk from under the floorboards. Everypony looks over when the table suddenly sprouts a vine that waves in greeting to the unicorn. “I’m gonna give you an IV and some aspirin. You should be good to go in a few.” The stallion barely manages a shrug and single nod granting permission.

The vine loosely wraps around the stallion’s left foreleg so he doesn’t move and affixes itself to his barrel, merging into his bloodstream to rehydrate him, filter out any leftover toxins, and pump him full of painkillers.

“Feels a little chilly,” Haze idly comments, not even pausing his eating. His wife watches in interest for a moment as he slowly improves and sighs in relief. It couldn’t come at a better time; like a bursting dam, all of Cure’s remaining friends, their siblings, and his two oldest little sisters flood down the stairs and beeline for the kitchen with his sire following in their wake at a more sedate pace.

Emerald winces and rubs her head at the commotion before steeling her resolve. With a pleading look, she meets the colt’s eyes and gives him a small nod. Silver, Berry, Spring, Plane, and Midnight quickly follow suit.

Cure finds it amusing that he’d previously considered the possibility that the adults would be squicked out by “eating” him, even metaphysically, and now he is essentially pumping his fluids directly into their bloodstreams.

Despite the oddity of the situation, he is relieved that Emerald must trust him more than he suspected; she and her husband, of all of his friends’ parents, certainly have the best grasp of what he could actually do to somepony. It may just be that he is the less presently painful headache, but as far as he’s concerned it’s still progress.

“Ponies know who I am.”

Vines freezes in place, coffee mug half way up to the cabinet. His sire’s reaction is less pronounced, but the dark stallion still pauses mid-slurp before setting his coffee down. Lemon, Amethyst, and the girls left to open up her store before all their guests had even departed. After all the chaos and excitement of a house full of ponies, all three of his youngest siblings are fast asleep piled around the pink mare.

His mom cocks a brow and glances between the three. “How do you figure? Did somepony say something to you while you were out?”

“Fall Thunder. She blurted it out last night like it was nothing.”

“Wouldn’t worry ‘bout it too much, colt. She was there fer the coronation and whatnot.”

“No,” he insists, shaking his head, “she said she overheard ponies talking about it at the park. Mares watchin their foals play and whatnot. I’m sad to say, but apparently my secret identity isn’t quite as secret as I’d hoped. But don’t worry!” he shouts, holding his hooves up dramatically. “I have a plan.”

“Maker help us,” his mom sighs.

Body doubles, clones, illusions, misdirections, and every other possibility she can imagine float through his dam’s head as she puts the last few cups away. Hopefully, whatever his idea is, it won’t be too far out there, but something niggling in the back of her mind tells the mare the colt’s solution is nothing quite so mundane.

“Colt…” his sire sighs as well, bonelessly drooping over the table. “What exactly does this plan 'a yers involve?”

Cure waves the concern away with an easy smile. “Nothing so wild, pa. I need to talk to the princess tomorrow and see how feasible it would be to have a body double.” All three parents breathe out a sigh of relief. “I just need a way to have Cure Wave and Prince Serpentus seen publicly at the same time. I mean, the boss lady had the pictures of ‘me’ in the background at the coronation, but it would be easy for anypony even slightly aware of magic to correctly dismiss those as some kinda setup.”

“That’s not a bad idea, honey. I don’t really care for deceiving ponies, but it may be best if you asked her majesty for help before anything ridiculous happens.”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely bring it up first thing tomorrow night. So…” he looks between the three, “What exactly happened that almost caused you to get tossed out last night?”

His mom starts laughing at the same time Vines rolls her eyes and Deed smiles smugly. “Yer pa’s just irresistible to tha ladies, champ. Ain’t no big surprise there; I’ve been tellin ‘em all along.”

“So… some mare came up and propositioned you or something?”

“More or less,” he answers with a nod.

“She licked him,” his mom nonchalantly explains.

“Wait, what?!” The colt gives his sire an up-down look and cringes in disgust. “Seriously? Right there in the bar?!”

“Honey!” Vines exclaims. “Not like THAT!”

“Oh… how then? Like… your face?”

“It was at least partially his fault!” the green mare exclaims. “He went out on the dance floor struttin his stuff like some kind of peacock!” Done putting the mugs away, she walks over and sits beside her son and mildly glares at the stallion. “You should have known better than to prance out there without an escort!”

Deed leans back, putting his hooves up to defend himself from the accusation. “Woah now, hold on there! That ain’t fair!”

“Did he actually do anything to invite that kind of attention directly?”

She frowns at being called out and slowly shakes her head. “No… I suppose he didn’t. Still! A stallion should know better than to hop out on the dance floor alone if he’s not trying to find a mare!” Cure isn’t sure how to react when his sire winces and Title slowly nods her head in agreement.

“Wait, wait, wait! This is some bullcrap right here. Why the hay can’t a dude hop on the stage and shake his money maker?”

“He can,” his mom answers with a shrug, “but that doesn’t mean he won’t get approached. That said, the mare crossed a line when she gave him that lick.”

Cure turns to his sire and asks, “Where did she lick you?”

“Right up his neck,” Title answers, motioning up the left side of her own for emphasis. “When he backed away she pursued. To be fair, she was completely stewed, so Amy kinda overreacted, but the staff threw her out before it could escalate.”

“Stewed?” he asks. “That’s a new one ta me. Still, is finding a willing dude really that hard? I mean… So far it doesn’t seem like y’all - mares in general, I mean, not just you two specifically - mind sharin your dude when another has a need.”

“They have to ask, babe,” Title explains. “A married stallion can’t just run around with whoever unless his wives are okay with it. That would be cheating… You know, adultery. She knew he was there with a group of mares. Lemon was already on her way up there to join him.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, at least. What do you do… vote?”

“Sort of. We come to a consensus. In some marriages the first wife gets veto power, but…”

“Marriages where that happens a lot don’t usually last,” his dam interjects. “Most stallions will eventually seek better options,” she adds, her lip curled in distaste.

His sire shrugs and bobs his head in agreement. “Ain’t no shortage of lonely ladies out there if’n it becomes a stickin point.”

“Huh. Well, just so you’re aware, Onyx, Diamond, and Script had a midnight rendezvousin the bathroom shower stall.” That bit of news garners more than a little disgust from the three. “Don’t worry. I teleported a Cleaning crystal into the room for them and hit all the surfaces with Sanitize afterwards. I’ll do the same with the couch just in case. Gotta be honest. I had a hard time refraining from making some seriously inappropriate doughnut choices on the way home.”

“Oh?” his mom sounds in inquiry. “Were you going to bring them a couple chocolate eclairs?”

“Title Search!”

“Actually, yes. Or a glazed red velvet one and a cream filled one with some kind of strawberry or raspberry jam on top. I thought it may be kinda amusing putting them on a plate and inconspicuously sliding it in front of the dude.”

“Cure!”

It’s difficult for him to feel properly chastised when two of our three parents in attendance are laughing.

“What? I didn’t do it, obviously! To be honest it felt a little too over the top and forced. Plus I didn’t think shaming them in front of everypony like that would be worth the hassle.”

“It’s also kinda like what you did with the apples for the princess,” Title adds. “Seems kinda squicky with that context.”

“Yeah, I considered that too. Anyhow, Diamond asked and Midnight gave her okay, at least for her, but Script decided she wanted in on the action and neither seemed to mind at all. I wouldn’t normally narc on somepony, but that strikes me at kinda disrespectful to do at somepony else’s house without their approval.”

“Not something I’d do. Not unless I was three sheets to tha wind.”

“He was pretty hammered. Diamond may have been a little tipsy, but Script barely had any alcohol in her system at all.”

“At… least they used the bathroom?” his dam hesitantly voices.

“That’s low class,” his mom counters. “His house is like a two minute walk. Why couldn’t they just wait until morning?”

“Because they were drunk, horny, and had the opportunity?” Cure rhetorically answers. “Either way, I totally called them out on it,” he says, reaching into his mane and sliding the note over.

It gets a chuckle from his mom and sire and even an amused snort from his dam.

“Very passive aggressive, Cure. Well done.”

“Thanks, ma! I think I’m gonna go take a nap before heading out in a bit.” He nuzzles against his dam’s side before hopping down and calling out, “I’m going to meet everypony at the range later, so I’ll probably head out in a couple hours.”

“Sounds good champ. We’ll keep the little’uns quiet for ya. Hope ya get some good rest.”

A couple hours later

Under the cloak of Invisibility, a large alicorn stallion lands just a few meters to the north of the railroad tracks between Baltimare and Golden Hills. He lays down on his barrel in the grass and concentrates. Like a fly trap opening after a meal, his barrel splits down the middle and a thick tendril drills down, deep into the ground. A large seed is pushed through and planted in the hole.

The tendril retracts. His barrel closes. Grass grows over the disturbed earth. He looks around to ensure he has not been detected, then, with a leap and a flap of his wings, he moves a hundred meters to the east, following the tracks and repeating the process again and again until he’s just barely outside of the Baltimare city limits.

Task complete, he takes to the air with nopony the wiser.