Mutual silence hung like a thick fog around Lero and Spike as they neared Ponyville on the dusty, tree-lined road. They walked the road side by side, but they dwelled in their own thoughts, oblivious to the world around them as they returned home to a life without their friend.

I choose not to be sad, Lero thought, focusing on the lessons that Lyra had taught him about control. It helped, but it still took effort to convince himself it was true. He stared ahead, mechanically placing one foot in front of the other, and his eyes avoided the color of the sky. I’m happy for her! She’s better off now than she was before. Now she’s safe, and happy, and strong. Strong like... just like—

He quickly brought a hand up, turning his head away from the little dragon walking at his side, and pretended to rub dust from his eyes. His wet fingers moved back to brush against the blue feather hanging from his hair. Control, right. She’s strong, just like... Dash.

The human dropped his hand and turned to look at Spike when he heard a sniffle and a heavy sob.

Twilight Sparkle’s Number One Assistant had grown quieter since Lero had set him down to walk beside him. But Spike didn’t bother trying to hide anything; Rainbow wasn’t coming home with them, ever. The little dragon knew it now, and as far as he was concerned, it was his fault – it was too late to go back and help Dash with her animals like he should have done since the very beginning, and he’d probably never look at another comic book as long as he lived. His guilt and sorrow were etched in his face, and Lero was at a loss how to help him.

“It's gonna be alright, Spike,” Lero said quietly, “What's done is done, and blaming yourself won’t help. All we can do now is move on with our lives, and hope for a cure.”

He didn’t know what else to say, and he felt how underwhelming his statement was when Spike looked up at him with wet, devastated eyes. The little guy wiped his nose on his arm as he looked expectantly at Lero, but he had no more to add. Spike finally gave a quick nod before turning back to shuffle along the road in near-silence. Lero sighed softly, and drew in a steady breath.

One step at a time, he thought. One breath at a time. It will get better; Twilight will find the answer some day, and then...

In a few more minutes the two resident bipeds of Ponyville – the tall human with a pegasus feather in his hair and the baby dragon – emerged from the tree-lined road at the outskirts of Ponyville, and began to cut a soft path across the wide green field of thick grass that was the most direct route to the library.

They slowed in surprise as they approached, and finally stopped a wide distance from the tree that served as their home and stared at the sight right outside.

In the middle of the front yard, Rarity and Scootaloo faced each other, each standing a few feet off the ground atop their own personal clouds.

At that moment, the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ scooter-riding Terror of Ponyville was a complete surprise to Lero. There was no tree sap, no flying paint, no explosions, no panicked ponies diving for cover or sprinting to get out of the way. No movement. The two of them seemed centered perfectly, finding the balance in the clouds beneath them.

He couldn’t overcome the feeling that something was inherently unnatural about this picture... But then Scootaloo was, at that moment, the absolutely most adorable sight Lero had ever seen.

The little orange pegasus stood proudly – legs splayed stiffly and wings at attention – on a puffy little cloud just barely big enough to hold her weight. Her eyes snapped open and she listened with rapt attention to Rarity as she began to speak, but when she saw Lero, her serious look broke and she smiled and waved a shy little hoof at him.

Lero smiled despite his surprise and waved back. He was positive that he was looking at the happiest little filly in Equestria.

Then Rarity – standing beautiful and elegant on her weather pony-sized cloud – tipped off by her protégé, turned and waved at them. She leveled a happy, loving smile at Lero, that, to his surprise, made his breath catch.

But in the next moment, all three of them turned and looked as Spike burst into tears and raced away on his little dragon legs before anyone could react. He was surprisingly fast, and in a few confusing seconds he’d reached the library tree. He flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him, instantly cutting off the sound of his distress.

“Poor little guy,” Lero sighed quietly to himself. He hesitated for a moment, and decided to sit down in the soft uncut grass, too drained to continue inside for the moment. He turned to look at the two ponies; they were looking at him with shock and obvious questions on their faces. Lero hid his own difficult feelings and shrugged.

“He’ll be okay, girls. He’s just... having a rough day.”

Rarity nodded uncertainly and looked at Scootaloo; the filly tilted her head and flapped her wings in a little pegasus shrug.

“Alright, then. Well... so, where were we?” Rarity asked.

“Um... rain clouds,” the pegasus replied, stepping a little nervously on her cottony platform.

“Of course! The clouds we’re standing on are, as you felt, neutral,” Rarity said, clearly moving into a Lecture Mode that made Lero smile for it’s Twilight-like feel. “They’re created and balanced and held together quite easily by pegasus magic — yes?”

“But, um...” Scootaloo put her waving hoof down and shifted a little, embarrassed. “But you’re a unicorn! How, er...?”

Lero shifted uncomfortably at Scootaloo’s question and his eyes darted quickly to Rarity’s cutie mark. He stared at it for a long moment, his hand on his bearded chin, deep in thought.

Rarity smiled and tried not to chuckle. “Well yes, my dear; of course I’m a unicorn, but I also learned my share of weather magic. Believe me, it wasn’t easy! Weather magic is a part of a pegasus, as much as flight! It took me many years to learn how to shape my magic to do some things you will no doubt learn very quickly, and I was a natural, for a unicorn!”

With that, Rarity’s horn lit with a blue corona and, as Lero watched, the air began to change. He felt a gentle wind touch his hair, and soon the air between the weathermaster and student began to coalesce, shifting quickly from a swirling light haze, to a thick fog, and then to a light cloud.

After a few more tense seconds, the glow of Rarity’s spell ended and the wind abated, leaving a large dark gray disk of cloud to fill the space between the two ponies. Random wisps of dark, gauze-like tendrils reached out to touch their white cloud platforms and curl back inward.

Scootaloo and Lero stared at the heavy cloud that Rarity had seemed to conjure literally out of thin air. It was a perfect rain cloud like so many Lero had seen in Equestria and on Earth; ready to empty itself into the sky. Except that this one floated just a few feet above the grassy field.

Lero felt his heart beat faster, but couldn’t fathom why. He had, after all, seen Rarity change the weather countless times before. Why was now any different? He stared at Rarity’s pretty face, framed in her gorgeous trademark mane of amethyst curls, and then his eyes roamed to her cutie mark again, painted brightly on the curve of her white flank. Her long tail swished, her mane shook, and when he looked back to her face, he thought he’d caught a quick glance out of the corner of her eye...

Only a moment had passed before the weather pony continued her lecture. She pointed her hoof at the newly-formed cloud between herself and her astonished student. “Hop over, Scootaloo. Lightly! You, my dear, are going to make it rain,” Rarity announced.

The little pegasus smiled. “Cool!”

Scootaloo leapt over to the center of the darker cloud, her wings flapping almost too fast to see. She landed, surprisingly lithely on her hooves, still sinking into the cloud and bouncing a little in place. Lero smiled briefly at the little filly’s ready-for-action pose.

“Now close your eyes. Stand still for a few moments and listen to what the cloud beneath your hooves is saying to you, as you did the last one,” the teacher ordered. “Then tell me what you feel.”

“It feels...” Scootaloo began, her eyes closed and her hooves stepping pensively in place. “It kinda feels full, not like my other cloud.” She opened her eyes. “Like it wants to rain, and it just needs some help.”

“Very good! This cloud,” she lectured, “is much like the ones we bring from the factory for a scheduled rainfall. It’s ready to rain and simply needs a little more water vapor... or a little compression. Give it some incentive.”

Lero had seen Rainbow Dash perform this task often enough that he felt he could almost do it himself, and he held back a laugh at the thought of himself performing Weather Duty for Ponyville. He was anxious to see how the young pegasus did.

Scootaloo gave Rarity a confused look and stood there for a moment, thinking. She’d been too busy just being a little filly to pay much attention to the weather ponies – until the day Rarity had become her official hero. But she looked up at her teacher, who nodded and smiled with confidence for her new student, and somehow she knew.

She lifted a single little hoof and brought it down with a perfect strike against the cloud, and then nearly fell through as the moisture condensed beneath her, barely managing to recover with a frantic buzz of her tiny wings. The little wave of pressure she caused spread throughout the cloud, forcing fat drops of water to rain briefly to the grass below.

The pegasus squeaked in surprise and hopped over a few steps from the center with a frantic flap of her wings. She looked up and grinned at Rarity.

Rarity clapped her hooves together. “Bravo! Somehow I knew you would learn that quickly, Scootaloo! I’m proud of you.”

Lero clapped his hands quietly for the little weather filly, too, and somehow she became even more adorable as her face colored with embarrassment from all of the unexpected attention.

But being Scootaloo meant recovering quickly from anything! It took only a couple of seconds before she stood waiting – with rosy cheeks and a proud smile – for Rarity to continue the lesson. Her little hooves danced in place with anticipation of the next Really Cool Thing she was going to learn.

Lero, meanwhile, focused back on Rarity once more as she set her hooves down and smiled at her student. This time he spared only a glance at her familiar cutie mark as the thought occurred to him; that even though she held the soul and loyalty of Rainbow Dash, the essence of generosity she’d had before the Swap had never truly left her. It came through in her words, in her actions... in her teaching of a little pegasus filly who had discovered her as a personal hero.

Even with all of the amazing things he’d seen her do, all of the times she’d shown love and affection and shared her protective nature with those around her, Lero only now, finally began to realize how truly extraordinary Rarity was… He’d always admired her, in a distant manner, as a friend and tailor, but now he was finding himself truly appreciating and admiring her as a person.

His thoughts and the lesson were interrupted as the missing two-thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders stampeded up from nowhere and began pummeling Scootaloo and Rarity with questions.

“Scootaloo, are ya learnin’ how to control the weather?” Apple Bloom shouted the obvious question as she ran up to the other filly. The two began an animated conversation as Sweetie Belle walked up to Rarity and rested her forehooves at the edge of her cloud platform.

To Lero’s eyes, there was an instant of time when the two unicorns – who in a less-insane situation than the Swap had devised would absolutely have been seen as sisters – somehow seemed to share a spark of recognition... and then it was gone.

“Um, hello Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said, recovering her composure. “Did you want something, my dear?”

“Hi, Miss Rarity. Well, I um, was wondering if maybe, um...” Sweetie looked over at Scootaloo for a second. “...if maybe you could teach me about the weather, too?”

Rarity looked somewhat nervous before responding, but in the end she could not help smiling at the sudden abundance of new students she was being offered. She held a hoof to her chin and smiled at the pretty white-coated filly.

“You know, Sweetie Belle, I’ve already heard from your sister that you have a beautiful voice and a wonderful singing talent, and I would dearly love to see you develop that talent—” Sweetie’s face fell and her ears drooped a bit, “—and trust me, it is so much harder for a unicorn to learn to manipulate the weather than a pegasus. But I’ll tell you what!”

She leaned down and smiled sincerely at the little filly. “You think about it very hard tonight, and if you decide that you really would love to learn weather-work more than anything else, then I promise that I would love to teach you! Does that sound fair?”

Sweetie’s face lit up like the sun and she nodded happily without a word.

“Good!” the weather pony said with cheerful smile. “Now in the mean time, I think Scootaloo and I should get back to her lesson. You and Apple Bloom are quite welcome to watch, but it would be very polite of you to watch quietly from over there—” she pointed towards Lero with a hoof, “—so your friend can concentrate. Okay?”

“Okay! Thanks, Rarity!” the white-coated Crusader said. In an instant she was gone and quickly dragging a confused Apple Bloom off to a safe spot next to Lero.

* * *

Rarity called Scootaloo to attention and continued her lessons. With a quick glow of magic, she enlarged the filly’s cloud platform and then stepped over to instruct her – haltingly – in maneuvering the cloud with just the power of her immature wings.

Normally, Lero might have left at this point – there was always something these days that required his attention – but today he found himself content simply to lay in the grass and watch.

He had to admit it to himself; he had a fascination with the show, a desire to stay and watch her. To watch the sweet-natured white unicorn who held the soul of Rainbow Dash, and who unquestioningly loved him.

The connection between Rarity and Dash no longer seemed a like contradiction, no longer a bizarre amalgamation of things familiar and things alien, no longer like something to fear anymore. At least, nowhere near as much as it once had been.

As he watched the unicorn teach her student the finer points of pegasus flight – a unicorn, expertly teaching a pegasus how to use her wings! – memories of his times spent with her came back to him: the first time she fell asleep against him, holding him close and breathing softly against him; lifting her spirits as they sang together in the rain; his arm curled around her soft body as she sat on his lap, purring with delight while he brushed out her long, colorful mane; being naked in the shower together for the first time, rubbing his hands through her fur, then being pinned against the floor as she pressed herself, hot and wet, against him…

“Ahem!” Rarity coughed.

Lero’s reverie was broken, and he looked up from her cutie mark — ah, well not so much her cutie mark—

Rarity frowned and then rolled her eyes with a barely concealed smile. She’d somehow placed herself directly in line with Scootaloo, so he could no longer see the filly, and he realized the angle put the rest of the Crusaders behind him. The unicorn brought her hoof up from the direction of her cutie mark to her eyes and gestured a clear message; You’re staring at me in that way, and there are little foals watching!

The man blushed and mouthed Sorry! and shrugged, red with embarrassment. Rarity winked forgiveness at him and whipped her tail aside once for him, unseen by anypony else, just to show that she meant it. Then she returned to her lesson, slowly rotating the cloud by 90 degrees as she did.

Lero continued to watch the white unicorn with increasing interest, smiling at her every time her eyes turned his way. She smiled back occasionally, and she blushed and her tail twitched and swung in an unconscious response to his gaze, but she allowed nothing to get in the way of her training of her young student.

* * *

By the time Rarity announced that there would only be one more brief lesson that day, all but one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were clearly bored and nearing sleep in the grassy field, leaning up against Lero as he pet them idly. Scootaloo was still excited, but was surprised to find that maybe she was a bit tired.

Lero lay reclining on the grass, one hand holding his head up, still watching with half-hearted interest. He’d spent most of Scootaloo’s previous lesson thinking about Rarity, and what she meant to him. In his heart he knew the answer to that question, but he was still having trouble with it. He let it rest for a time, and instead watched her.

Rarity stepped back to her own cloud and began to weave another spell into the air. Another cloud appeared swirling between the two ponies, this one darker, more dense and somehow more threatening than the rain cloud had been. It roiled and seethed at the edges, but held itself together with Rarity’s magic and will.

“Last lesson of the day, my dear!” Rarity called cheerily, as though an ominous thundercloud hadn’t in fact devoured a large part of the general area for itself. Scootaloo actually looked pensive as she looked down at the dark mass.

“Do you... um, want me to—” she stammered.

“Step across to the center, and walk softly,” Rarity said in a calm, confident voice. “You’re quite safe, Scootaloo. Despite how it looks, this cloud will take a bit more encouragement than your rain cloud did.”

The pegasus gave her an alarmed look – I’m supposed to encourage THAT? – but she visibly swallowed and nodded, walking across the storm cloud and standing pensively at its center.

“Excellent!” Rarity practically chirped. “Now tell me once again what you sense.”

The little pegasus closed her eyes and stepped gingerly atop the cloud, in uncomfortable territory and embarrassed to let Rarity see her being cautious.

“It feels kind of... angry? Well, not angry... like, really, really tense.” She stood up straight and tall, feigning a confidence she didn’t feel. “So, uh, what do I do now?”

Rarity surprised Scootaloo by hopping over to her, to land – to Lero’s eyes – with amazing grace and soft caution next to the filly.

“Let’s do this together, shall we? I want you to stomp on it exactly like so!” Rarity lifted her forehooves high and brought them down to strike the thundercloud with a perfect practiced motion. The space beneath the cloud sizzled with acute forks of blinding brightness, and an instant later the air was filled with crisp cracks of thunder.

The master weatherpony grinned widely at her stunned student while everypony else quickly recovered from the sharp shock of light and sound.

“Whoooooooooaaaaa!” Echoed the two other Crusaders in awe, before breaking out into loud cheers of “Woohoo!” and “Yay!” like a CMC Cheerleading Squad, and Scootaloo turned to shout nervously at her friends.

“Hey, pipe down! I’m trying to learn, here!”

Rarity frowned at the little filly, who cringed with a guilty look.

“Um, sorry!” She turned and shouted to her friends again. “I mean please be quiet, I’m having a lesson!” Lero could scarcely believe it; Scootaloo had actually achieved a small measure of ladylike dignity. Briefly.

Rarity smiled in pride and forgiveness and nodded. “Better. I know you can do this, Scootaloo. Give your friends something to really cheer for you about. Now.”

The nervous filly lifted her hooves up and pushed them down hard into the cloud. Her legs sank deep into the dark spongy material, and a fizzle of light sparked weakly beneath the two ponies. Scootaloo looked up at Rarity with red-faced embarrassment at her failure, and her eyes practically pleaded with her teacher to let the lesson end.

No such luck.

“Good!” Rarity cheered at her, instead. “Now do it again! Harder!”

But it was no use. The little pegasus tried several more times to eke anything at all out of the waiting thundercloud, but she seemed to have lost her nerve and replaced it with pure stage fright – something Rarity completely empathized with.

Scootaloo hung her head down a little, looking away. “I wish I was a unicorn! Maybe I could do it, then...” she muttered.

“Oh my dear little pony,” Rarity cooed softly. She sat down next to the dejected filly and nuzzled her head up until their eyes met. “Scootaloo, I have lived among and befriended and trained with so many wonderful pegasi in this world, and there have been many times in my life when I wished to be a pegasus,” she said, nodding affirmation at the filly’s surprised look. “It’s true! But now I know in my heart that I would never choose be anything other than what I am, just as I would never, ever want you to yearn to be anyone other than exactly who you are.

“I have no doubt that had you been a unicorn, you would be just as daring and brave as you are now.” Scootaloo smiled as Rarity touched a white hoof to her orange chest. “But somepony saw fit to put this wonderfully brave heart inside a pegasus body! And when your heart finally realizes what it truly wants and loves—”

She unexpectedly looked over at Lero and caught his surprised eyes with a sweet, tender smile that cause a pleasant sensation of warmth to spread through his chest.

“—it will show you that it doesn’t matter at all who you are on the outside. It is your heart that will do the greatest things of all.

“Now stand tall and let’s try this again,” she finished firmly, standing up and pointing sharply to the cloud. “I have no doubt whatsoever that you can do this.”

Scootaloo smiled pensively, and after a nervous grin, she lifted her forehooves up – a little higher than the last time – and brought them down hard.

Fzzzzt! A spark of light struck the ground and a small bang went off beneath them.

“Excellent! But you can do much better!” Rarity thought for a moment, framing her words to reach the filly. When her eyes fell to a small familiar object lying in the grass nearby, she smiled in triumph.

“Scootaloo, I want you to pretend that you’re coming in for a landing on your scooter. Don’t think about it, just do it! NOW!”

Scootaloo, startled, leapt into the air as commanded. Her hind hooves came down first, striking the cloud hard, and in that instant she felt it give beneath her with a satisfying thump that she knew was going to drain the cloud of water. In the next instant she slammed her little forehooves down, slapping the cloud with all her might.

All at once, a dozen arcs lightning lit the cloud to a white glow and flashed brightly on the others sitting around them. The cloud condensed in the next instant, and as the BANG! of thunder erupted from beneath them, the cloud disappeared into a brief thundershower against the grass and two ponies dropped in surprise to the ground.

A moment later Rarity’s peals of laughter filled the air, and she sat up and pulled the little pegasus into a tight hug.

Lero and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had all jumped up in alarm, but now that they knew everything was okay, they quickly began to clap and yell for Scootaloo. The two weather ponies stood in the scorched, wet grass, smelling the sharp tang of ozone and smiling happily at each other.

“You see, my dear? I knew you could do it. You even snuck another lesson in there on me!” Rarity brushed wet grass from her coat and grinned.

The filly smiled gloriously. “That... was totally awesome!”

“That was awesome, Scootaloo! I’m very proud of you.” She nuzzled her student. “And I think that’s about enough for today. Why don’t you find me tomorrow, and we’ll talk about your next lesson. In the mean time—” she walked a few steps and tapped her platform cloud, which swiftly disappeared, “—you still have a cloud left over. You can do whatever you like with it.”

Scootaloo nodded and walked a few steps away, then turned around and ran to Rarity, leaping into her and giving her a surprise hug.

“Thank you so much, Rarity!” she said warmly. She release the stunned unicorn and then ran away before she could reply. Rarity giggled as Scootaloo raced back to her platform cloud and leapt on to it, soon to be surrounded by her friends.

“You’re very welcome, my dear,” Rarity said quietly.

* * *

Rarity turned and breathed the content yet tired sigh of countless teachers and parents at the end of a long day. She looked at her Lero, lying there on the grass, and seeing the warmth of his expression lifted all the weariness from her and made her smile. She walked the short distance to him and sat on her haunches for a moment, leaning hard into him.

Lero caressed Rarity’s side and ran his fingers up over her withers and through her mane. She purred happily and pushed herself harder into him, then lay down on all fours, cuddled up to him.

“Rarity, you would make a truly amazing, incredible mother.”

The white unicorn blushed and watched for another moment as the young trio played in and around the cloud Scootaloo stood proudly upon. The little pegasus held herself like a tiny Princess of Weather standing before her royal subjects, and Rarity giggled at the sight.

“That is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me, my prince,” she said, giving him an affectionate nuzzle and kissing his cheek. She looked back over at the girls. “And it is something I have given more serious thought to, lately.”

Apple Bloom’s tail peeked up through the cloud like a fin through water as she circled around beneath Scootaloo. “Ah’m a sky shark! Ah’m gonna eat’cha!” she exclaimed over and over, while Sweetie Belle hopped along behind her, yelling “I’m a pony-eating seapony! Rawr!” at Scootaloo every time her head emerged from the cloud surface.

“Although,” Rarity continued, some doubt creeping into her voice, “those three do in fact frighten me as to the possible horrific outcomes, despite my best intentions.”

Lero laughed and kissed her on the side of her face. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s their job. At least they haven’t set the cloud on fire yet.”

“I am a Princess of the Skies!” Scootaloo proclaimed dramatically, hoof to orange chest. “Nopony — um, I mean nothing shall hurt me!” She lifted her leg high above her head—

“Uh oh,” Lero said.

“Oh dear,” Rarity echoed.

—and brought it down with a perfect, sharp shock against the cloud. With a loud poof! the cloud platform instantly dissolved into fog, and Scootaloo fell flat to the ground with a girlish squeal. A whoosh of air blew the fog outward in a billowing torus, disappearing into the air and knocking the other two fillies to the ground.

“She certainly is a natural,” Rarity said ironically, shaking her head.

“Well, don’t let that discourage you,” Lero replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh my love, it’s far, far too late for that,” Rarity responded, giggling as two of the fillies picked themselves up and ran away laughing and screaming. Scootaloo raced over to her scooter. She quickly waved to Rarity and Lero and with a determined grin, chased after her friends. Her wings beat the air like a hummingbird’s as she disappeared from view.

The two adults lay on the grass together for a few peaceful minutes, enjoying the calm and quiet together, unwilling to disturb their closeness by moving in even the slightest.

Lero thought heavily as he lay there idly stroking Rarity’s coat, he relaxed the control he’d carefully put on himself, and just let himself feel for a moment. When Twilight first raised the possibility of Rainbow Dash’s feelings towards them being affected by how they treated Rarity, he’d been horrified about the idea of hurting Dash; Rarity almost didn’t enter into it. That’s why he’d done things with her, cheered her up when she was sad, spent time with her, cuddled her, everything he’d do with Dash, short of one thing that felt like betrayal, Rainbow’s soul or no.

But now…

Rarity had been relentless in her love and care, taking almost every spare second he’d spent with her showing him affection, tenderness, and more than a little sensuality, doing everything she could to be worthy of his love. Partly because of the guilt of what she wrongly blamed herself for…

But mostly because she really and truly did love him, with all her heart, be it borrowed or not.

Now, the thought of hurting her stung twice as bad, not just because of the fear of hurting Dash, but because of the thought of hurting her, the wonderful mare who’d shared his life for more than a month. As much as she painfully reminded him of Dash in many ways, she showed other aspects of herself- elements of Rarity, an odd mixture of class without arrogance, generosity without self-neglect, dignity without diffidence, all traits uniquely Rarity.

He let his feelings take rein over his usual caution. Rarity loved him, and...

and…

...the thought of hurting her hurt him so much because...

...He loved her.

He knew that now, and he was happy simply to be so close to her. The rational side of him, ever dominant, gave him convincing reasons to just let him have what he wanted, what he needed; It didn’t matter whether he loved her more for her qualities as ‘Rainbow,’ or for those things that he knew were unique to Rarity. The warm glow of his affection at the touch of her warm coat was proof enough of more than just his desire for her.

He stroked Rarity’s body lazily, running his hand through her mane and over her back, down to caress her flank. She leaned her warm weight against him in response as he brought his arm back up and wrapped it around to hold her tightly. His fingers ran through the soft fur of her chest as he pulled her in to kiss just beneath her ear. He sighed as he took in the wonderful scent he’d denied himself the real pleasure of until now, and the unicorn responded with a pleased purr at his touches.

She pulled back just enough to gaze happily into Lero’s eyes for a moment, and then she leaned in and kissed him. To her intense surprise and delight, Lero returned her kiss passionately, quickly pulling her harder to him. She squeaked just a little, a breathy, happy sound that was followed by her climbing part way atop him, pressing her chest into his and kissing him even harder.

When she finally broke the kiss and spoke, there was a huskiness in her voice that took control of him. “Oh, Lero! Should we... can we continue this inside, my love?” The hope in her voice was almost overwhelming.

Lero smiled and nodded. “Let’s go inside,” he said softly.

Rarity drew back and looked at Lero with a surprise that brought a touch of guilt to him. But her surprise turned to excitement an instant later.

“You mean it?” Rarity whispered.

“I really, really do, Rarity,” he replied. He leaned up and pulled her down into a brief, tender kiss. “I’m not changing my mind no matter how many times you ask me.”

Rarity smiled and leaned hard into him, kissing him back. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Lero reached down to stroke Rarity’s withers as they walked briskly toward the library. She looked up at him and slowed just a little to keep his hand in place, though it occurred to her that perhaps his hand might be better placed... She sped up for a moment, and smiled at Lero’s quick laugh as he suddenly found his hand caressing her flanks and tail, which he patted affectionately. They shared the smile briefly, but Lero’s expression became more neutral as soon as the unicorn looked away again.

If there’d been anypony else around to see them together, they might not have recognized the human’s state of mind simply by looking at him. But the little white unicorn beside him was ears-up and tail-up, trotting close beside him with a wide smile on her face. She was clearly very happy. And excited.

Lero was happy and excited, too, but he was also nervous as hell – and for her sake he did his best to hide it. His conscience nagged at him for the consequences that would result from what he was about to do… while another part of his conscience warned him of the consequences of chickening out.

As they drew near the door, Rarity stepped forward from beneath her lover’s hand and opened it with a soft blue glow of magic. She turned and paused at the open entrance, smiling as Lero walked up and stood by.

“My Lady,” Lero said grandly, bending into a small bow. He gave a little smile and held out a hand, motioning for the white unicorn mare to step through before him.

“My Gentlestallion,” Rarity answered. She nodded with a pleased look as she walked through the open door.

Lero stepped across the threshold and turned to pull the door shut. But after a moment’s thought, he opened the door again, flipped the sign to Closed, and then shut and locked it. When he turned back, he saw that Rarity was sitting cutely on her haunches a few feet away in the foyer, waiting for him.

How lovely Rarity looked, with her long curled tresses hanging down and her body shifting with happy, nervous energy! Her white ears stood tall through her dark mane, and her tail twitched. Her front legs and hooves moved the tiniest bit in a little unconscious dance.

“Rarity?”

“I must demand a kiss before we proceed into our chambers, my Prince,” she announced without preamble. “There are, after all, proprieties to observe.”

She smiled playfully; her hooves shuffled on the rug. Lero laughed quietly. “Proprieties? I see...” he responded seriously. His eyebrows furrowed a little. “My Lady is demanding a kiss as a toll, then, is that it?”

“Quite,” Rarity said with a firm nod. “And I’m afraid that this is non-negotiable, my very sweet prince.”

“Ah. Well, my lovely Lady, I suppose in that case—” Lero stepped forward, and the unicorn’s eyes shined as he dropped to one knee before her. His hands reached down to lift her pale hoof.

Rarity locked eyes with Lero and her leg trembled in his hands as his lips pressed against her hoof, and then moved up and brushed tenderly against the white fur of her slender leg. When he at last released her, he lifted his hands and brushed his smooth fingers against her cheeks. And in another moment he was holding her face and pulling her into a slow, sweet kiss. Rarity leaned forward into his lips and made a little urgent sound in her throat.

For a quiet little arc of time, her prince pressed back and – softly at first, and then forcefully – gave her the assurance she had been playing for; that he truly wanted her. Lero pulled away a little as their kiss ended, and combed his fingers through Rarity’s thick mane. He kissed her nose softly.

“Does this satisfy my Lady’s requirements for entry?” Lero said with a smirk.

Rarity giggled at first, but then forced her face to look more serious. “Oh my, yes, quite. For now,” she said, smiling at his raised eyebrow. “I believe that is a good start.” Before he could respond, Rarity stood up and turned without a look behind her. Her tail swept back in a soft arc, flowing over his right shoulder and neck like wind-blown silk, caressing up beneath his chin and then over the opposite cheek to finally sweep softly across his lips. The familiar scent of aroused mare filled his next breath, and he inhaled another deep, musky lungful before he stood to follow his white unicorn.

* * *

Lero walked behind Rarity’s curvy white form as she bounced up the stairs with a happy, springy trot. He came to a stop about halfway up and simply watched her long equine tail sway like an enthusiastic pendulum, deliberately revealing herself to him as she led the way up. She slowed and turned to give him an excited look as she headed up the stairs, and he couldn’t help but smile when he caught her happy expression; her smile was something he’d become addicted to, reluctant as he’d been to admit it to himself at first.

Every time she smiled at him, it brought back happy memories of their short time together, as he could see her love for him. But even though each time it caused a pang of guilt to rise up, every smile Rarity sent his way had worked a slow magic on him.

Lero tried not to think of Rainbow as he stood there, but it wasn’t in him to avoid the inevitable for long. The thought of truly losing Rainbow Dash to satisfy his desires for Rarity was what had held him back before, and what had stopped him on the stairway now. It almost made him turn around and run out the front door.

But the rainbow-maned mare with Fluttershy’s cutie mark and soul had rejected him. It had hurt terribly, told himself that it had set him free. There was no telling if Rainbow Dash would ever be herself again, but the person she was now didn’t need him, and she obviously didn’t love him. He was free to love the mare with her soul until the cure was found… or forever, whichever came first.

And... here was Rarity, sweet and sexy and undeniably in love with him, leading him up the stairs into what she believed was their bedroom. Actually was their bedroom, now. Even though he knew that she was a different person, she still held the soul of his beloved Rainbow as a part of her own.

As he stood there, Lero began to understand Twilight, to realize why it had seemed so easy for her to succumb to Rarity’s charms. We were already in love with her, really; we just didn’t realize it.

He looked up and noticed that Rarity had stopped near the top of the stairs, watching him curiously at first, and then with a little concern in her blue eyes. She tilted her head and smiled, sweet and sincere and loving—

I’m in love with Rarity.

The reaffirmation didn’t make it easier for him. His emotions swayed back and forth from guilt to love, from denial to desire. He wasn’t sure which way it would end, now — but he knew where he wanted it to go. In the end it, was easier to simply let Rarity lead the way.

She turned and slowly stepped down toward him as he watched. Her hooves clopped softly on the worn wooden steps, and when she reached him, she leaned her head toward him in an undeniable request for another kiss.

Lero’s heart thumped hard, and he couldn’t refuse that smile. With a shaking hand he cupped Rarity’s soft cheek and leaned in to kiss her lips. Rarity pushed in and savored the touch of his lips. Then without a word, she opened her eyes and pulled away. She lifted her eyebrows knowingly, gave him another smile, and nodded her head toward the bedroom. Then she gently gripped his hand in her mouth and tugged him forward, and he began to step with her up the stairs again.

It’s okay, he thought over and over. Rarity pulled at him, more insistent, and he knew she wouldn’t be denied. It’s okay.

It’s really okay.

Twilight had seen Dash, had felt her soul alive and loving inside Rarity. He used that knowledge to take the steps upward and follow a soft white pony with Rainbow’s cutie mark.

It’s okay, damn it!

This was going to happen, and yeah, he was nervous as hell. His heart hammered in his chest, and he felt guilty because he wanted it to happen. He wanted Rarity, maybe even more because she wanted him, truly loved him, and Lero needed to feel that right now. Dash’s rejection hurt, but... Rarity was Rainbow, and nothing could be wrong as long as she loved him. He hoped.

* * *

Was it like this for Twilight?

He stood next to the bed; aroused, nervous, guilty, unsure... Frozen in place.

Rarity watched him from the center of the bed, and her look surprised him; it had become a reflection of his own.

Rarity gave him a small, sad smile. “You remind me of how Twilight was recently, my love,” Rarity said with a quiet voice, ironically echoing his own thought. She sighed, a small sound that carried a heavy weight. Her eyes reflected the sadness now that he knew the source of. “Perhaps it’s simply the nature of our recent past. All of the ordeals we’ve been through, of late, have placed barriers between us.”

She paused, watching in silence for a few moments as Lero took a slow deep breath and finally overcame his hesitance. He removed his shoes and socks and carefully climbed up onto the bed with her. Rarity smiled a little as he moved in close to lay beside her on his side, propping up his head in one hand. She snuggled up close to him and sighed with obvious relief as he laid his hand against her side and stroked her coat.

“I love you, Lero,” she said. It was stated quite simply, with the certainty of a law of nature, and the sincerity of a true believer. “I... risked my life to save you. I even killed for you. For us. And I would do it all again, if necessary, for any of my herd.” She looked away from him and he could see tears begin to form in her eyes. “But it was my carelessness that put your life in danger in the first place, and I am so terribly sorry for that, Lero. When I see your hesitation – almost every day, nearly every time we are close – it feels like... like a knife in my heart. Oh, I’m sorry to be so melodramatic,” she said, laughing at herself a little as she wiped at her tears with a hoof.

Rarity turned her eyes back to him and gave him a crushing, haunted look. “I have tried to accept it all, and you have been so sweet, but it clearly hasn’t been enough. I simply don’t know if you can ever truly forgive me for hurting you.” Lero felt lost. He knew the answer rested with him; Rarity was completely innocent, but it would be impossible for him to explain why without hurting her. But not explaining was worse, it was hurting her and Dash.

I would forgive you, but you’re not yourself; you have the wrong cutie mark, the wrong profession, the wrong memories, and Rainbow Dash’s soul is inside you… And more to the point, you’re not guilty of what you think you did, or of doing anything wrong. I love who you are now, Rarity, and I want you to be happy. I want to be with you. But I have no idea how to fix this. Or if there is a way.

She laid very still, lost in her thoughts while Lero stroked the back of his fingers against her face. His fingers brushed against her horn, so lightly, and Rarity seemed at once to come to a decision. She moved closer and pressed her nose against his shoulder with another little sad smile and the softest nudge: Lie down, Love. He nodded and turned to lay on his back, and the white unicorn followed him, climbing up, soft and warm, to lay stretched out along Lero’s chest and between his legs.

Rarity nuzzled Lero’s neck and kissed his cheek. She pulled back and spoke hesitantly. “If it will help you... I need you to see me, to feel my love for you, Lero. And perhaps... maybe it will help me to accept what you’ve told me. I love you and I want to be with you, but it simply will not work if these walls remain between us.” She blinked slowly, and her horn glowed with a faint aura of pale blue. “Touch my horn, love. Let us see each other together.”

He broke his extended silence. “Of course, Rarity.” He nodded to her, and Rarity laid down close, resting her head on his shoulder. His brought one arm over the pony’s back and held her tightly. Then his other hand came up, and hesitated for a moment before he rested it against Rarity’s glowing horn.

It began with a simple sensation as the connection was made. His fingers tingled with magic, and it was the oddest feeling because now they were her fingers, her feet, her utterly weird toes, and... oh my, that, too.

He had hooves. And a soft coat and pointed ears that could swivel or flatten, and a tail, and a horn and magic! And... other things. They felt each other blush, which was a pleasant surprise since this wasn’t the first time either of them had experienced this... well, technically, not with each other, not that Rarity would realize that. But it was intimate beyond any experience most ponies might share, and the longer they remained connected, the closer they became. Emotions began to surface and resolve; love and guilt, and desire and hope. Lero felt Rarity’s pain, experienced her terrible guilt, and he answered her with the only emotions could; I love you, and I forgive you.

And with that, Lero felt himself almost... divide. A part of him experienced the connection, the shared touches, and responded to them. But this new part – something he had never experienced with Twilight or Lyra – was quickly wrapped in a glow of emotions; it enveloped him and drew him into Rarity, a sensuous, glorious embrace...

He gasped, and a warm darkness took hold of him.

* * *

Lero fell.

It was a weird sensation, and too damned familiar! This time he fell with no wind or sound; the only evidence of any motion through the darkness was a vast slow-spinning whirlpool of color beneath him. He raced down toward it with incredible speed, almost feeling like he was being pulled toward it, rather than falling. Panic shot through him as the maelstrom quickly spread out and took up his whole field of vision. It was vast and powerful terrifying as he silently fell into the bright, blinding center of it.

He opened his mouth to shout with fear and realized there was no air... and then he was through it, falling feet first from a blue sky toward the ground far below, fast enough that he should have burst into flames from the air friction alone. Lero screamed in terror as he realized he was about to die. An instant later he hit the ground, and a last loud shout drove out of his chest.

For ages of seconds he stood bent over and curled into himself, breathing in gasps with his eyes closed and arms held tight against his chest. Horrible words that would have curled his lovers’ manes formed at his lips, but he held them back as he finally started to grasp that he was still alive and unhurt.

Of course. Fuck!

He breathed deeply and calmed himself for a few more long moments, and then stood up straight and finally opened his eyes to look at the world. And just as quickly all of his senses returned.

The smell of the sea and the light tang of salt in the air filled his breaths. A cool breeze blew softly against his long hair. The comforting warmth of sand encased his bare feet and slid between his toes. He turned his head and saw the Mediterranean blue of a vast sea lapping with gentle white breakers at the shore behind him. Thin white clouds curled high above in a cyan sky, pointing inland toward a high, grass-covered rise that bordered the beach and completely blocked the horizon beyond.

Twilight never said anything about this, he thought. I think she would have mentioned the trip down. Where the hell am I?

It felt like Dash, just being here, felt like she was wrapped around him...

(At a great distance in his consciousness far above, he still felt himself holding onto a sweet white mare, felt her clutching him tightly and listening to the emotions that stirred in him. He felt guilt rise up along with the new feelings of love he had for Rarity, especially in this place, and he hoped that they would both forgive him.)

Lero cast aside his emotions for a moment and looked around, blowing a heavy sigh from his pursed lips, and wondered what to do. The wind blew lightly at his shirt and pants, and gave him no answers, except maybe a direction.

Beach for miles... Inland, maybe?

He strode purposefully up the high slope toward the grassy line of the hill, slipping a bit in the cooler sand near the edge. Grabbing a thick handful of long grass at the top, he pulled himself up over the ledge... and stood looking down into an improbable green valley of brilliant fields of tall grass, dotted with large oak trees and surrounded by low hills and mountains.

The long wisps of cloud caught his eyes as they drifted inland from high above, whipped at the ends into soft curls of mist. He watched in surprise as dozens of them floated in from the shoreline and drew overhead, changing dramatically; they shimmered in the sun and lit up, glowing with brilliant prismatic swathes of color.

A grin spread across Lero’s face, and he shook his head. “Rainbow mare’s tails!” he breathed joyfully. “Well, I’m definitely in the right place.”

“Lero!”

The shout reverberated powerfully behind him, and he turned just in time to smile at the pegasus streaking down across the sky toward him, high over the sea. Surprisingly she sped up, moving impossibly fast, until a long contrail of rainbow light glowed behind her.

A few instants later a horizontal disk of light shattered the air around her and drove out in colorful waves to fill the sky. Its leading edge roiled and condensed into bright pinpoints of white that glittered like diamonds in the sun.

Rainbow Dash streaked down toward Lero at supersonic speed, and he realized that she was going to hit him.

“Oh no,” he muttered, and an instant later she plowed into him.

Lero’s world spun chaotically as the cyan pegasus wrapped herself tightly around him, wings and all. Her awesome momentum carried them with incredible speed far down into the valley, tumbling and skipping together through the long field of grass, drawing a long flattened line across it for hundreds of yards.

Finally they came to an abrupt rolling stop with Rainbow Dash standing above him, her wings unfolded and flapping sharply. The pressure wave and sonic boom caught up and pounded over them, sending the yard-high grass and Dash’s colorful mane and tail fluttering and whipping in the wind around them.

Lero was so excited to see her that, this time, he didn’t even give a spare thought to wonder that he was still alive. But he was surprised to see anger burning in her face.

“Well it’s about damn time!” Rainbow Dash growled. The angry pegasus thumped him hard in the chest with a cyan hoof, driving the air from his lungs. “I thought you were gonna keep us waiting forever!”

Lero gasped and tried to draw a breath to respond, but lost it again when Dash’s hoof pounded into his chest a second time and drove it out of him.

“Where the heck have you been, big guy? Probably agonizing over doing the right thing, huh?” she said roughly. She snorted as she watched Lero struggling to regain his breath. Even as he lay struggling for breath beneath her, he lifted up his hand and laid it tenderly against Rainbow’s cheek.

She gasped at his touch and her eyes softened and lost all trace of anger. She leaned hard into his hand and sighed, and her sudden, sad smile couldn’t hide her reluctant admiration for his loving faithfulness. Tears began to fall onto him.

“I’m so sorry, Lero! I mean, we’ve seen Twilight a million times – not that I’m complaining! – but you...!” She leaned down and nuzzled into his neck. Lero caressed her with both hands, then pulled her body down into him and held her tightly. The cyan pegasus moved her lips up and pressed them hard into his cheek. “...I’ve needed you so much!”

Lero reached up, wrapping his hands firmly around his mare’s neck and pulling her back down into a tight embrace. He squeezed her hard and kissed her softly beneath her ear. He felt the wetness of her tears against his neck, and smiled as he held her and stroked a hand through her rainbow mane. “I’m with you now, and that’s all that matters.”

They both startled as a peal of thunder crackled and boomed above them and echoed across the landscape. Rainbow turned her head and looked up sharply as the wind picked up in an instant and the sky began to darken, deepening by the second. Nearby trees rustled and started to sway and groan heavily, and the tall grass bent over in the wind and began to whip around them.

“We don’t have much time! I don’t think you were supposed to be able to get here!” Dash said. She stood up and looked down at Lero, and her bright magenta eyes began to change color. Then she tenderly touched her hoof to his chest, and Lero’s breath stalled when he felt her love envelop him and pierce his heart like a lightning bolt, a parting gift to carry him through all that she knew he faced ahead.

The spinning vortex of colors broke through the darkened sky above and glowed brightly, and Rainbow began to fade a little before him. Her voice took on a hollow, ethereal quality, almost as if two ponies were speaking.

“I’m so proud of you, my sweet love.” She blinked and swallowed hard. “You don’t have to wait anymore, big guy. Whatever happens, you’ve gotta know it’s okay. Everything.”

The swirling maelstrom above caught Lero’s gaze for an instant, and then he stared back into Rainbow’s eyes, now shining down at him with a brilliant blue. Her winged body shimmered and glowed sharply around the edges, and he felt tears begin to run down his face as he realized that their time was over. Too soon!

Words caught in his grief-constricted throat, and all he could force from his lips was what felt like a last goodbye. “I miss you! I love you!”

Rainbow nodded, and her own sadness almost seemed to disappear. She smiled confidently, as though his admission was a given constant of the universe that would never fail her. “We love you too, big guy. Our sweet prince.” She smiled a little harder at that and winked at him. “Take care of us, huh? Both of us.”

With that, Rainbow Dash glared up at the sky, and all at once the brewing storm of colors froze solid above them. The tension of it crackled with snaps of lightning while, with aching slowness, she leaned in again and pressed her body down into him and brought her lips to his. Lero closed his eyes and tossed his arms up behind the pegasus, reaching up and holding her painfully tight between her unfurled wings. Those beautiful, strong wings wrapped around him and pushed beneath him. He quickly rolled Rainbow over and pinned her to the long grass, losing himself in her heat and kiss and tight embrace.

The threatening sky broke again and boomed deafeningly overhead; the wind howled even harder and returned to batter at them, and still they clung to each other. Even as he felt them lifted together and flung back through the maelstrom of Rainbow Dash’s soul, Lero held on desperately and kissed his mare, refusing to let her go.

* * *

Wind and sound fell away. Light began to shine through his closed eyes, but the softness against his lips and the tender warmth beneath him remained – a soft, warm pony wrapped tightly in his arms, pleasant and sweet. The scent of Rarity filled his breaths as he pressed his lips hard into her, and she mewled into his mouth and passionately returned his kiss.

He slowly pressed himself between her legs, pushing her body down into the bed, and then groaned in frustration as he realized that the fabric of his clothes were in the way. He was desperate, for once, to be naked with Rarity.

Lero opened his eyes a little and watched Rarity for a moment. He pulled a hand from beneath her and stroked it up along the soft fur of her barrel and neck and cheek, until finally he was caressing her ear and the soft fur beneath her mane and around her horn.

Rarity slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Lero as he reluctantly pulled his lips from hers. Her large blue eyes sparkled intensely with happiness as she watched him and stroked a hoof at the back of his neck.

“Oh my dear, sweet prince...” she breathed. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Lero caught his breath in surprise for a second, but... she would feel those emotions from him.

He felt... free. Happy. He’d thought the real Dash rejecting him had freed him, but seeing her inside Rarity was what truly did it. An unbearable weight had been lifted, the pressure had been released, and it had left pure desire to take its place.

“I want to make love to you, Rarity,” he said quietly, and he smiled at her. “And I’m not going to let anything stop that from happening.”

“Oh?” Her eyes widened a little in surprise at the intensity of resolve in his voice.

“Oh, yeah. Something’s stopped us at every opportunity, and I’m not going to let anything do that again. Not paralysis...” He kissed her throat softly, nipping gently as he moved up. Rarity purred happily, and he continued to trail trailing kisses up along her cheek and muzzle.

“Mmmmm, yes that was quite frustrating,” Rarity said. “Ahhhh...” She shivered at the memory, or maybe it was the feel of his hand sliding slowly up along the fur of her belly. Both. “I wanted you so badly at that moment, I would probably have mounted you right there in the hospital bed!”

Lero laughed softly as he kissed the side of her mouth. “And we definitely won’t be letting young dragons interrupt us in the foyer...” He kissed her nose and she furrowed her eyebrows.

“That was very embarrassing.”

Lero nodded and sat back for a moment, stroking both hands over her white chest and reveling in the feel of her soft fur sliding between his fingers. He leaned down and Rarity gasped a little as he kissed and gently nipped at the skin beneath her fur coat.

A smirk played at his lips. “Yeah, the nerve of someone walking in on us like that!” he teased. Nip. “I mean, it was such a private location.”

“My dear sweet Lero, you can’t hide it from me,” Rarity admonished. She lifted her arms and pulled him up into a kiss. When it ended, her voice and the look in her eyes had become dangerously sultry. “You wanted me more than anything at that moment. I saw it in your eyes.”

Lero swallowed and bit back his nervousness at the memory of that, but it surprised him how easily that feeling evaporated under that look. “True,” he answered simply. He kissed her cheek sweetly and stroked his hand through her thick mane.

“And definitely not mother-in-laws...” he continued, nibbling on her ear.

Rarity turned her head and stared into Lero’s eyes with a sudden fire, one he would probably aim only at his worst enemies, and only in the most dire of circumstances: Lawyers. Late-night telemarketing callers. Hay fries. Maybe even Honeydew.

“You’re overdoing it, my love,” Rarity stated, but there was a little smile at the corner of her eyes that she couldn’t hide. “But yes, I will never allow her to keep you from me like that again.”

He stroked her cheek and kissed her lips again until the fire had melted back into desire.

“And if a meteor comes crashing down on us through the roof? We’ll just continue making love under it! Hey wait,” Lero said, “Do meteors fall under the category of weather? I mean, you know, meteorology...”

Rarity blew a raspberry at him and poked his chest with a hoof.

“You’re teasing me, of course!” she said with a reluctant giggle. “My sweet prince, there is nothing here to interrupt us, not now. In any case, I believe I am quite capable of dealing with all of those things, but if the very worst should happen to us, well... Then I shall be forced to tie up Twilight’s mother and throw her into the basement until we’re both quite well satisfied. I’m sure that she will forgive me for it some day.”

Lero raised an eyebrow, looking extremely dubious. “You think Star would forgive you?”

Rarity threw a casual hoof to the air with a roll of her eyes. “Star? Oh, of course not! Star has yet to forgive me for existing! You know I meant Twilight!” She bit her tongue at him, and Lero laughed.

He stared at Rarity in wonder. She lay on her back, watching him expectantly, looking happy and sweet and... adorably cute with her forelegs pulled up and folded near her chest like that. Her dark mane lay in a random shroud of wide curls beneath her, and...

He’d thought she was beautiful long before the Swap happened, and he’d always considered Rarity to be his friend even while she remained aloof. But he’d never imagined what it might be like to be with her, to make love to her, to be in love with her.

But here he was – here they were – alone together. And now there was nothing to stop them except for his own conscience.

We love you... Take care of us. Both of us. Whatever happens, it’s okay.

“I love you, Rarity,” Lero whispered. “My loyal and generous princess... Just— just say the word, and I’m yours.”

Rarity’s eyes shined as she realized that the strange and painful wall that had stood between them for so long had finally been unmade. Before this moment she’d still had lingering doubts, even with his presence here, even with all of his kisses and his playful banter. But even more than with the empathy connection they’d shared, somehow she knew now that they would be okay. The answer was bright and alive in his eyes.

She reached up and caressed Lero’s arm, finally taking his hand firmly in her hooves, and she gave him the happiest smile she’d had since their very first kiss.

“Make love to me, Lero.”

~ * ~

Lero leaned down and brought Rarity’s white hoof to his lips, kissing softly, and she giggled as his lips moved up over her soft-furred fetlock. He smiled at the sound of her laugh, and released her hoof.

He slowly lowered himself down, pushing his arms beneath her neck and head as she sighed and wrapped her arms around him. The two lovers breathed in each other’s intoxicating warm scent as they entwined tightly together. He pressed his lips to hers in a sweet kiss, soft and tender at first... but in a few moments they were lost in that kiss. Rarity gripped him tighter in her hooves and mewled sweetly as Lero’s tongue pushed between her lips. She bit down just enough to hold him in place as her tongue danced around his for a moment. Then she opened her mouth and pushed her longer tongue into him, moaning as he accepted her into his mouth and played his tongue and teeth against her.

In only a few moments of uninhibited passion with her stallion, Rarity was hot and wet, and ready for him. She wanted him to mount her right then and there.

Oh, sweet Celestia, I have SO needed this!

She loved the feel of Lero’s heavy weight pressing her down into the bed, but when he thrust his hips down into her and ground himself down between her legs, she moaned in desire and frustration as she realized that he still had those damnable clothes on!

Rarity pulled her mouth from his and panted.

“Lero, please love, your clothes... aahhh!—” She lost the thought and moaned when he brought his lips to her neck and passionately kissed and bit her soft skin, writing a wet trail of nips and kisses up to her ear.

She groaned as he bit lightly at her ear and she felt the hardness of his cock through those frustrating, damned pants, felt the pressure of it driving against her sex. She was already so wet that she could feel him spreading the evidence of it around her thighs and stomach as his hips pressed the hard thickness of him into her.

As much as Rarity wanted him, needed him inside her right now, it was all going too fast.

“Lero, please... slower...” Rarity whined softly, and the man instantly released her tender ear with a soft kiss. She panted heavily and smiled as she saw the lust in his eyes, and she almost tore his clothes off right then. “Oh my beautiful stallion,” she said, with an ache of lust in her voice. She almost couldn’t finish the thought. “Lie down here. Let’s trade places.”

Lero grinned and sat up, reaching his fingers for the buttons of his shirt.

“No!” Rarity gasped, and he stopped, breathing hard and looking confused. But there was no mistaking the desire in her wide blue eyes. “Let me, love. Lie down!”

“Okay,” he said. He moved aside to let her up, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, I just...”

“No apologies!” Rarity replied, clearly brooking no argument. He shrugged as Rarity rolled and stood up, and she instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Lero gripped her hard at first as they traded the touch of lips and tongues, then he stroked his hands down the mink softness of her white coat and her glorious long mane. He groaned softly into her mouth, until finally Rarity withdrew her lips from his. She pulled back, panting hard, and held a hoof to his cheek and stared into his eyes.

“Don’t you ever dare apologize for making me feel this way!” she breathed hotly, emphasising her sentiment as their kiss broke. Her eyes burned for him, and a small, lusty smile curled at her lips. “Now lie down, my sweet prince. I so want to unwrap you.”

Lero laughed and turned to lie down in the still-warm curve of the bed where Rarity had been moments ago. As he lay down, the scent of her – a perfect fragrance of sweet flowers and soft enticing musk – rose up around him and filled his senses.

“Rarity,” he said. He closed his eyes and slowly inhaled a deep breath through his nose, then reluctantly released it again in a warm ahhhh! of exhaled breath. “Your scent is amazing!”

“You always say that, sweetheart,” she said. “And the feeling is so very mutual.” She stood over him now and nuzzled into his chest, and then his neck, breathing deeply and exhaling tickling breaths into his skin. “I absolutely adore the scent of my stallion.”

Rarity’s voice purred in her throat as she brought her lips to the bare skin of his chest, exposed in the V above the last button. She kissed him tenderly there and heard him moan a little. He brought his hands up to touch her face and hair with soft fingertips, and she decided right then to forego her magic and unwrap her lover with her lips and teeth, instead.

For the first few buttons, she had to turn her head to the side to avoid hurting him with her horn, but that actually helped her along, as she knew it would. She held her upper lip and teeth beneath the cloth fold, and pressed the button through the hole with her tongue. With each release of a button, she nuzzled the flaps of his shirt further aside, and with intense slowness she painted tender kisses and licks against his amazing, smooth skin.

He held her head lightly in his hands, afraid to hurry her with his touch, but his fingers scratched gently and anxiously through her hair and at the parts in her mane. Her soft purrs of delight echoed his low gasps of pleasure while she tasted him and breathed in his exciting salty muskiness.

Her long tail twitched and swung with sharp little whips that flung the scent of her arousal through the air, and she felt her wetness leaking in slow lines down the inside of her thighs. She wanted to rip Lero’s pants from him and leap onto his stallionhood, but it was so much more... erotic this way, so much more intense. It had been so very long since she’d been with him, and she wanted to savor this time.

Lero’s eyes were closed and he thrust his hips up in hopeful expectation. Rarity smiled and ran her hoof lightly over the hard, wet bulge beneath the zipper she wanted to rip open. He groaned at her touch.

“Are you enjoying this?” Rarity cooed softly.

Lero opened his eyes and laughed between gasps, looking up at the mare. “You’re driving me insane, Rarity!”

“Oh, good!” she said lightly. Then she placed her lips against the base of his cloth-covered cock and nibbled her way upward, drawing a frustrated groan from Lero’s throat. With the same technique she’d used on his shirt, she easily unbuttoned his pants, and Lero’s breaths grew more shallow with anticipation. She pressed her lips down into the top of the fold, feeling the tip of his cock beneath her lips, and gripped the tab of the zipper in her teeth. Lero gave a breathy gasp as she carefully drew the zipper all the way down.

Rarity was reaching the end of her own endurance. She wanted Lero inside her... But first...

She drew the V of his pants apart, then without any warning she pulled the top of Lero’s boxers down, and he gasped aloud as his cock swung free and stood up before Rarity’s face.

“Oh my,” Rarity breathed hotly, and her eyes turned glassy with desire again. Unable to control herself anymore, she stuck out her tongue and lashed out and caressed his cock with her soft touch all the way from base to crown. Lero’s groan grew louder as her tongue reached the tip, and he cried out sharply as Rarity took his hard member between her lips and slowly engulfed his length deep into her mouth.

His hips thrust up and his hands gripped her head tightly, one at her cheek and the other pulling her head down until she quite willingly swallowed his entire length deep into her throat. She hummed happily against his thickness and played her tongue against the underside of him while her lips caressed the base of his cock.

“Oh, my God, Rarity! Oh fuck!” Lero shouted. “Rarity! I’m gonna come if you don’t stop! Please stop!”

Rarity halted her enthusiastic caress of her lover’s cock, and slowly pulled her mouth and lips away from him with a wet smack!

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Lero chanted in halting gasps. Man, Twilight hadn’t been kidding about her… skill. Rarity KNEW his body! His small white pony lover smiled brightly to see him so incredibly turned on.

“I want you inside me, Lero. Right. Now,” Rarity husked at him. “Take me any way you want, but—”

“I want us to see each other,” Lero said emphatically, still gasping as he lay before her.

Rarity smiled happily and then nudged his thigh to get him to move. He quickly sat up and threw off his shirt, laughing as she tugged ineffectually at his pants leg and almost dragged him across the bed with her excited effort.

Finally, Lero was completely naked, and Rarity trembled seeing her love this way. It had been so long!

He quickly moved out of the warm concavity they’d both shared on the bed, and now it was her turn to bask in Lero’s warm scent alighting the air.

She knew from experience what he’d want, but she tried to cut him off as he quickly moved between her spread thighs. He eagerly pushed her thighs over and pressed his lips against her dripping sex.

“Lero, please! I want you inside me, you don’t have to... Ahhh!” she cried out sharply as Lero’s tongue caressed her wet folds. He circled over her clit, and then dove into her, lapping eagerly at her winking sex and swirling his tongue deeper inside her sensitive entrance. His lips caressed her as his tongue dived deep and curled upward. At first Rarity’s lips couldn’t form any words to object, as she very nearly came on his tongue in her excitement. But she did try.

“Lero! Lero, please! I... ahhh! need you inside me, right now! Oh ahhhh! Oh please! I need to feel you...”

Lero gently pushed aside the insistent hooves that had automatically held his head so hard to her sopping maresex, and laughing happily at the evidence of his new lover’s excitement. He pulled away from Rarity’s drenched pink folds, and slowly pulled himself up along her slender, mink-soft body. His love for her was undeniable, now, as was his desire to please her.

He rested at last against her, his weight pressing her petite form down into the bed again, but this time he was as naked with this wonderful, gorgeous, loving mare. Without a word he kissed Rarity sweetly for a moment, and then groaned as he watched her face change as he finally took her; his cock pressed forward against her sex, spreading her pink wet lips apart, and at last she gasped and gripped him tighter as he finally slid inside her.

Rarity cried softly into Lero’s mouth as he sank his thick length into her warm depths, and soon he was grinding himself against her as he bottomed out inside her. She held him in a death grip of hooves around his neck as he slowly began to thrust deep into her. Her hind legs gripped his sides and her tail began to whip up unconsciously between his legs, lightly caressing his balls and thrusting up and over his ass to brush against his lower back.

The white mare opened her eyes as she pushed her hips up against him, smiling with ecstasy and obviously pleasing herself as much as she wanted to please him. Lero smiled back as they rocked against each other forever, each drawing the other out with more passionate cries.

The two lovers couldn't have fit together more perfectly; their bodies melded together, his smooth skin sliding against her soft white fur, their hands and arms and hooves surrounding each other and wrapping them tightly together. Their bodies were made for one another; nothing felt more right, more natural, than doing this.

“Oh stars, I’m going to come, Lero!” Rarity mewled, and Lero began to thrust into her even harder. He quickly reached a hand down beneath her head and pulled her up until her horn was level with his lips. He thrust himself harder into her, and as her sharp cries filled the air and her sex began to tighten and pulse around his cock, he took the top half of her horn between his lips and sucked on her while he hammered her into the bed.

Rarity came, lost in the dazzling bliss of her stallion taking her. Her horn blasted a stream of unseen colors and smoke into his mouth, and the pleasure of his lips surrounding her horn met deep within her as her sex took his pulsing cock, drawing every last bit of him inside her, squeezing and milking him for all he was worth. He groaned deeply as he came thunderously inside the mare with hard, slow, grinding thrusts.

Lero released Rarity’s horn from his lips and collapsed atop her, groaning into her furred shoulder as he felt her beautiful warm sex still clutching at him. She held him tightly in her hooves and continued to gasp brightly over his shoulder, thoroughly wet with sweat and sex and completely spent beneath her human stallion.

Rarity closed her eyes and shook and sobbed as she let irrational tears of intense emotion flow through her for a few moments. Feeling him still deep and hard inside her, she gripped his neck and body impossibly tight until those overwhelming feelings had passed, and she could finally begin to smile.

“Oh, welcome home, my sweet, wonderful Prince,” Rarity breathed, stroking his back softly and smiling.

Lero nodded and smiled over her shoulder, holding back tears that threatened to spill from his own eyes. “My gorgeous, loving Princess... I love you, Rarity.” He paused for a moment, drawing a ragged breath. “We’re both home, now.”

Lero held Rarity tightly in his arms, for a little while longer as her inner muscles cradled him like a precious treasure.

* * *

The two lovers soon lay on their sides and facing one another, the afterglow still a strong compulsion for them to simply lay and bask in each others closeness; the distance between them was barely wide enough to shed their body heat. The sheets weren’t just in disarray; they’d been yanked out completely and lay in a crumpled mass beneath Rarity and pressed up against her back. Her lover lay naked on the bare mattress; he was a gentleman, after all...

After several long moments, she finally broke the silence. “I... I must tell you something, Lero.” Rarity’s voice sounded concerned through the pulse of her heavy breaths. Troubled, even.

At odds with the tension in her voice, Rarity’s hoof drew playful circles around the human’s nipple with the absolute, lightest touch possible. His smooth, naked skin twitched around it in the most fascinating way.

Twitch.

“That tickles,” he grumbled.

“Your toes are... odd.”

Lero opened one eye and somehow managed to furrow his brow severely at her.

“What? They are.” Rarity’s sweet pony face was a mask of perfect innocence. Clearly she’d practiced that look. Probably in a mirror.

“You just made love to the only human being on this entire planet – a fact which I am uniquely qualified to appreciate,” he said, kissing her nose in appreciation, “and you think my toes are odd.”

Rarity nodded and smiled cutely. “Mmhmm!”

The human reached a finger into the space between them, and with the absolute lightest touch possible, retaliated. His finger poked softly into her fur-covered belly-button and then followed her as she squeaked and frantically tried to pull her tummy away from him.

“Eek! Hey!” She slapped a hoof at his hand, carefully.

“Well, I felt like I had hooves for a few seconds, there! And you think my toes are weird...” He poked Rarity in the tummy again and got the desired squeak before she rolled onto her back and brought up a threatening hoof to fend him off. “And how did that happen, anyway?”

The white unicorn gasped and her face became a mask of dire warning, something he knew she didn’t really need to practice. “And what precisely is wrong with my hooves, my dear?”

Lero ignored his white mare’s heated look. Instead, he reached in and took her forehoof into his hand.

“And what exactly is wrong with my toes, my dear, sweet little pony?” He kissed her hoof and began to draw slow, soft lines down the smooth surface with the tip of his finger.

“Well... nothing, really. They simply felt strange for the brief few seconds that I had them. I’ve always wondered; what exactly are toes for? Especially since you mostly keep them hidden in shoes.”

“Well, I suppose we could explore the whole physiology of why I have toes—” and Rarity shook her head emphatically no, “—right, but basically they help humans run and walk and climb, and especially to keep balance. We walk on two legs, so we need that extra help. They probably felt strange because I wasn’t using them at the time you, um, felt them.”

Rarity looked thoughtful for a moment, and he could almost see an idea silently forming. It was the kind of look he’d often seen in Twilight when she got a flash of inspiration at some new piece of world-changing knowledge; Could we do that again? But for the moment she apparently chose not to follow it.

“Alright, then. What was so odd about my hooves?”

Lero smiled, and began to feel his face warm. “You probably noticed that I have a particular... fondness for mares.”

“Yes, I had rather noticed that, actually,” she said, smirking. “A few of us have a very definite fondness for human males. Well, for one at least.”

Lero cleared his throat nervously, and gave her a little smile. “What I mean is that there’s nothing wrong with your hooves, Rarity. I love them. I love every part of you,” he said. He brought her fetlock to his lips for another kiss. “Your question is easy enough to answer, though.”

He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers.

“No fingers. Just try to imagine having no ability to grasp things with your magic or your hooves – which I still haven’t figured out, by the way – and you’ll start to get the picture.” He shrugged. “Humans don’t have magic, so we’ve relied on our hands to shape the world around us. Having hooves would almost be like super-gluing our hands into fists.”

Rarity nodded in understanding. She curled her hoof around his wrist and pulled his hand close. “I do love every part of you as well, my prince. A few things in particular at this moment, such as your hands,” she kissed the top of his hand, “and your fingers,” she added.

Slowly, sensuously, she brushed her lips against two of his fingers. She looked up and, with a touch of her tongue beneath them, slid her lips over his fingers and began to suck lightly at them. She hummed with satisfaction to see the surprise in his eyes and to hear the breathy ahhh! that escaped his lips.

There were times in her lovemaking when Rarity simply allowed herself be in the moment, to experience and react and enjoy her lovers, without making a conscious effort at subtlety and finesse and direction. But this wasn’t really one of those moments.

Rarity was happy, and she so wanted to please her Lero with every touch of skill and experience she could offer.

So what began as light caresses of her tongue and lips to his uniquely human hand – something she had gained a great deal of practice at – became an intense seduction of her lover. She turned him on: This is only your hand, my love; just imagine what I’ll be doing to you two, or five, or ten minutes from now. An hour from now, if you’re patient. Or if I am.

She slowly pulled her lips from his hand, and Lero opened his eyes and exhaled a heavy, ragged breath. Before he could move or react, she pulled him down insistently and drew him into an intense kiss. Their lips met and crushed together, and they had to keep pulling apart just the slightest bit simply to breath, only to grip each other tightly again a second later and crush moaning into each other.

His cock was hard and insistent and pressing against her side as he leaned over her, and finally she gently and insistently pushed his head away a little, and pulled his ear to her lips. She kissed his ear softly and drew her tongue in a warm line behind his ear, and shivered as she heard and felt him groan. Then she whispered into his ear, and smiled as he groaned again and nodded.

They traded places, Lero eager and energetic, and Rarity smiling and restrained. As he lay down beneath her, she swung over him and her body sang with the desire to push back and impale herself on that beautiful smooth phallus, thick and hard and hers right now; but she resisted the intense temptation. Her husky whisper in his ear was as good as a promise, and she intended to keep her word, and much more besides.

Lie down, Lero. Right now. I want to feel the crown of that gorgeous cock sliding down my throat, love.

She lay down on top of him and let herself slide her soft body against his amazing smooth skin as she drew up to kiss and bite his neck and shoulder. It was something she’d fantasized about as she first courted him: What would that smooth skin feel like against me? And the truth had been everything she’d imagined. And even more than that, he’d absolutely loved the feel of her soft fur against his bare skin. They complemented each other, fit each other so well in size and shape and it didn’t matter that they were a different species because they were in love and he had felt so amazing inside her that first time and Oh Celestia he’s sexy and oh my those are my moans and I’m really getting carried away, aren’t I?

Rarity found herself wrapped tightly in Lero’s arms, adding her own voice to his groans of lust as she nipped passionately at his neck, and even better, pressing and sliding her wet sex slowly along the length of that lovely cock she’d made such lewd promises about. With an effort of will and a loud groan of complaint from her lover, she pushed herself away and began to slide down his body. She felt his manhood press hard against her stomach as she made her way down, nibbling, kissing, teasing his sensitive skin with the feather touch of her lips and gentle nibbles against his nipples and chest and stomach.

And then she was sliding down between his legs, feeling his hardness spring up enthusiastically against her chest. She realized at that moment that she wanted more than anything to lay atop his body, facing away from him, to feel his lips and tongue lashing against her sex, but it would have proved too much of a distraction from what she’d planned.

In another moment her lips sucked in the salty wet crown of his stallionhood. Manhood, stallionhood. I don’t give a damn, either one is sexy. Lero moaned and brought his hands to her cheeks and pushed them past her ears to hold the back of her head as Rarity suckled eagerly at him. Tiny exciting whines of eagerness escaped her throat as she sucked hard at his glans, and Lero gasped at the intensity as she swirled her tongue around him and began to suck his cock deeper into her mouth.

I’m still losing control, aren’t I? she thought as she began to swallow him deeper. But it had been so long and she had yet to lose that sense of urgency she’d felt so much at the beginning, but it was all so right because they were both enjoying this anyway so what the hell am I worried about? Her thick tongue swept down the underside of Lero’s cock as Rarity swallowed him deeper.

She could tell that Lero was trying hard not to pull her down onto him, trying not to lose control, himself, and force her mouth down over his length to swallow him whole. But the white pony was ready for him, and far from stopping him, she encouraged him, keeping ahead of the light pressure of his fingertips against her head and ears.

His intense groans of pleasure filled the room and echoed in her ears as at long last Rarity felt Lero’s cock slowly pass that final barrier and slide down into her throat. Her lips and nose soon pressed into him and her tongue danced and swayed against his cock. Lero began to thrust his hips up against her, but his hands released her as Rarity pulled back slowly. She pulled her lips away from the throbbing head of his shining member for a moment and drew a deep breath, then heard his sharp cry as she plunged her mouth back down the length of him again.

Lero’s legs were pressed up against her sides, and his body hunched up almost uncontrollably as Rarity expertly swallowed and caressed him over and over with her mouth and tongue and throat. She’d already kept the promise she’d made to him, but not the one she’d made to herself.

This time...

Her pace sped up, and Lero’s cries suddenly became louder, almost panicked.

“Rarity!” Lero shouted. “Don’t... ahhh! I’m going to — please don’t! Oh GOD!”

Rarity looked up and locked eyes with her lover. Her lips would have smiled if they weren’t already engaged in something that made her so happy, but her eyes told him exactly what she was going to do for him; they shined.

And he knew. “Oh god! No, Rarity, it’s not... right!”

She lifted her head, nuzzling his erection with her lips. Never losing contact with him, she said a single word.

"Please."

Lero shuddered at the feel of her breath washing over his cock. "Rarity, you know I don't..."

She pressed her face forward, brushing the soft fur of her muzzle against him. "Please, Lero. I've always wanted to..."

Lero took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He couldn't remember Rainbow Dash ever having such an interest in finishing him that way. But this wasn't Rainbow Dash in bed with him. This was Rarity. He couldn't refuse her. Not now.

"Just this once," he softly said.

Rarity swallowed him again, humming happily as she watched her lover’s eyes widen, as his hands held tighter to the back of her head and drew her down harder, as she felt Lero’s lovely stallionhood thicken and grow in her mouth and throat as he thrust up relentlessly against her.

“Rarity! Oh god oh god oh Oh fuck!”

Lero thrust up and pulled Rarity’s head down against him, and she eagerly took his length down again as he finally came in her. She heard his shouts and felt the throbbing pulses of his cock shooting thick seed down her throat. Before the next pulse, she pulled her head up forcefully and took that next burst into her mouth, and then another, before she quickly swallowed it all and rammed her throat down again over his pulsing cock to feel another thick stream force its way down her throat.

* * *

Rarity sucked at Lero’s spent cock, and he groaned again and thrust at her almost in agony. She lifted her mouth up a little and pushed her long equine tongue out along the base of his cock and down to caress against his balls, giving a hum of satisfaction as she did. Lero groaned even louder, and she slowly pulled upward, drawing her lips up around the smooth, hard surface of his cock, dragging her strong tongue against his underside. He gasped with a sharp ahhh! as her lips sucked at his sensitive crown, and he pushed her head away gently as she swirled her tongue around his cock head once with an excited, final flourish.

“Yes!” Rarity exclaimed. “Finally!” She licked her lips and smiled proudly at Lero.

She drew back a little as Lero’s head fell heavily to the bed and his eyes closed tightly. His hands fell open at his sides and he lay there panting, his chest heaving up and down.

“Oh my God! I can’t... Oh God, I can’t believe it,” Lero gasped out.

“You can’t believe it?” Rarity said, giggling playfully as she looked down at his throbbing, saliva-slick stallionhood. She drew in heavy, happy long breaths. “Really, dear? Because I certainly believe it right now.” She leaned back in and ran her thick tongue up from the base of his still-hard cock, and Lero twitched against her and moaned again.

Rarity reluctantly released her human lover and slowly crawled her way back up to the head of the bed, planting gentle kisses on Lero’s stomach and chest along the way. The mare snuggled her soft body tight up against him, laid a white arm across his bare chest, and nuzzled affectionately against his neck. Lero almost smiled, but it fell away as he turned an eye toward her with obvious reluctance.

“I’m so... so sorry, Rarity,” Lero said abruptly, turning his eyes away again with a look of shame. “It was incredibly disrespectful of me to do — that.”

“To do what, my sweet prince?” Rarity teased.

“I — I came in your mouth, of course,” he said, covering his face with his hands. “I couldn’t help it! You wouldn’t let me go!” Rarity looked on her lover with a little smile he couldn’t see, but she wasn’t about to let him off the hook.

“Hmmhmm, yes you did come in my mouth. Quite a lot, actually,” Rarity began, sounding very serious. She licked her lips and swallowed. “Well... you certainly don’t taste disrespectful.”

A hand folded away from Lero’s face. He groaned quietly and he looked... miffed. “I’m serious, Rarity.”

“So am I, Lero! I am quite serious.” She placed a hoof tenderly against his chest. “I love you, and you have some idea of how much that truly means.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Do you think that there is anything which you and I could do together in love that must be forgiven? I wanted it – you know I did, just as I know that you did as well. How is that ‘disrespectful,’ my love? I would do it again in a heartbeat.” Her eyes looked down his length briefly, and her eye crinkled impishly. “Well, perhaps in 10 minutes or so.”

Lero snorted, trying not to laugh as he held on to the fading fragments of his shame and anger. “You might be overestimating my ability, Rarity.”

“Or perhaps you’re underestimating mine?” Rarity said. Lero laughed at that, and Rarity smiled and hugged him tightly. “However, if you need more time – or perhaps you feel the need to make penance for this terrible transgression – there is certainly a way for you to make it up to me.” She batted her eyes innocently. You know what I want.

Lero shook his head and rolled his eyes a little in mock-disbelief. He rolled over toward Rarity, holding on to her slender body and turning them both until she lay beneath him, smiling up at him. Without a word he kissed her, pressing his tongue against her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hummed happily as Lero’s tongue slipped in to meet hers. They kissed tenderly for a little while, before he finally pulled back and looked into her eyes.

“I don’t need a reason to do that for you, Rarity.”

He kissed her again, stronger this time, and she held him tighter and danced her tongue against his while her hooves ran through his hair. Finally he began to pull away, and she pushed herself up to follow him, trying to hold that kiss until the last possible moment. Her eyes sparkled as she fell back to the bed, watching him.

“You make me so happy, Lero,” Rarity said softly.

“I’m going to do my best to make you happier in a minute, sweetheart,” Lero responded, kissing her nose. “I’m pretty sure I owe you one.” He still looked a little guilty, but he smiled.

“Ohhhh, good,” Rarity said brightly, but her expression suddenly turned serious and her voice slightly urgent. “Do hurry, though, my Prince! Your Princess requires another very special kiss.”

Lero arched an amused brow at her as he ran his hand slowly along her smooth belly. Then he leaned down and kissed her there, softly. “As you wish.”

* * *

Rarity purred as Lero slowly laid between her legs. He kissed her stomach and caressed her sides, and after a few quiet moments, she giggled a little. Lero looked up.

“What?” He pressed his face into her, reveling in the softness of her against his face and taking in her flowery scent.

“It’s just that I know you, and that sounded like a movie quote.”

Lero chuckled into her fur, and nibbled at her until she squirmed at the tickling. He looked up again. “It was. A good one, too! Remind me to tell you about it, but now—” and he slid further down and planted a slow, sliding kiss against the thinner coat between her thighs, “—is probably not the best time.”

“Hmmmm... perhaps you’re right,” Rarity hummed quietly. “That feels lovely.”

While he continued to lavish soft kisses against her, Lero brought his arms down one at a time, caressing her chest and stomach, then – resting them on his elbows – pushed them outside her hind legs and slid them back up and across her barrel. He lay now with Rarity’s thighs resting comfortably against his shoulders, and he lifted his lips from her stomach and laid them down with a tender touch... mere inches away from her soft pink lips. Rarity moaned a little in anticipation, and then in slight dismay as his lips moved up between her teats instead of downward.

“Ohhhh,” Rarity whispered, her head back and eyes closed, “you’re teasing me.”

Her forehooves began inching down toward Lero’s head and shoulders, but he carefully took them into his hands and held them away to her sides for a moment, before patting and releasing them. Uh-uh, Love, not yet!

Careful to not touch her darkening nipple, he soon brought his tongue into play against her thin skin, sliding his lips with aching slowness along the seam of her thigh. The pony began to breath harder, in little forced breaths as his tongue moved downward and her anticipation grew. Her arms laid over his and her breath caught in a little restrained squeak as his tongue glided down just a hair’s-breadth from her lips.

Lero drew in a musky breath as his tongue circled just beneath the wet folds of his mare’s sex, and the two lovers moaned together as he tasted her dripping arousal... and then moved to trace small kisses and soft warm, licks up along the other side. His tongue passed through her wet trail and slid up so close along the seam of her pink lips. He let the tip touch briefly against the edge of her sex, tasting her briefly again.

His excitement grew as he heard Rarity’s moan and felt her back arch a little and her hooves pull hard against his arms. But he resisted the temptation to push his tongue into her, and instead painted a light brush stroke with lips and tongue, releasing only just above the soft top of her cleft. Rarity mewled softly as he patiently drew sweet wet circles above her clitoris.

“Lero... Lero, I...” she gasped as he began to kiss the inside of her other thigh. The fingers of one hand caressed small circles around one of her swollen nipples. He sucked one nipple between his lips and rubbed his thumb across the other. “Ahhh!”

Rarity began to cry a little more loudly and she bucked slightly beneath him, thrusting her hips up, and Lero worked quickly to give Rarity what he knew she wanted at that moment. He brought his arm down from her stomach and began caressing the back of her thigh. With the fingers of the other hand pleasing her nipple, he quickly began pulling her other swollen nipple between his lips and circling it with his tongue.

Rarity’s gasps and moans brightened and quickened... and then her hooves were holding the back of his head down to her body. He could feel her arching and thrusting and her tail reached around his neck and laid soft and shaking against his back, and when he finally brought his thumb up along the wet seam of her maresex and suckled hard on her nipple, she thrust hard up against him and shivered and moaned and came.

Lero let his pony lover lay back for a few moments, careful not to touch her too lightly, but he tested that, kissing her nipples, running his thumb up between the wet lips of her sex, and was rewarded with a very pleased purr from his little white mare.

“My dear sweet prince, that was a lovely start,” she said with a sigh. “Do we—”

“No, love, we’re not finished, yet,” Lero said firmly. She lifted her head and saw the saw the love in his eyes, and felt it in his touch. Rarity smiled at him and laid her head back; she was happy to have her sweet Lero back, at last. A happy, mischievous thought came to her as he lightly kissed her mare lips again.

“Oh dear me,” she pined softly, holding a lazy, melodramatic hoof to her chest. “I think that perhaps I should stop you now, my prince!” Her eyes teased him and a little smirk snuck past her lips. “I feel I would be dishonoring you if I were to allow myself to come—” she gasped “—into your noble mouth!”

Lero grinned and tried not to laugh. Instead he deliberately drew his lips in a slow teasing circle around Rarity’s sex, ignoring her moan of frustration when he stopped.

“Funny, but you don’t taste like you’re dishonoring me.” His eyes watched her closely as he dipped his tongue deep between her beautiful pink lips again and moved to circle hard, once, around the mare’s clitoris. He pulled his head up and made a show of licking his lips and enjoying himself. “No, I’m pretty damned sure this is a real honor.”

Rarity shook with quiet laughter, then she reached up and pulled at his head, giving a slow thrust of her hips up at her lover. She looked up at him with desire and need, and her soft tail caressed and pulled at his back. “Make me come again, my prince,” she pleaded.

He met her eyes and softly kissed her again. “It will be my honor, princess,” he said.

Lero pulled back slightly and looked on his new love’s sex with... lust. The tender fold of her pink lips glistened, and his eyes moved down it to the soft, inviting white tuft at the underside of her tail. It was wet and begged to be kissed, just as much as the rest of her did. He lay himself flatter on the bed, and when he at last slid his lips along that smooth wet fur, he was surprised to find that he’d chosen well. Rarity groaned as he kissed her there, and her tail held him tighter and tighter as he nipped at the sensitive area enthusiastically. Soon her groans sharpened and he pulled back.

“Kiss me, Lero...” he heard her breath urgently. “Kiss me!”

He lifted up a little in response and then teasingly kissed along the soft edge of her sex, following the movement of her equine body as she tried to bring herself into the path of his lips. Instead of giving in to her desire, he lifted his lips from her, breathed slowly and softly across her wet folds, and pressed them down again on the other side of her sex.

While Rarity’s delicious moan filled the air, he released her soft belly and moved his left hand down across her side. As he slowed to caress her cutie mark, she moved her tail and quickly wrapped it around his wrist and arm. He felt his arm being pulled downward with surprising strength.

“Hmmm, want something, sweetheart?” Lero teased.

Rarity licked her lips and whispered harshly. “You know!” She groaned and humped her hips upward while her tail tried to drag his hand closer. “Touch me!”

Lero slid his head over a fraction of an inch, and felt the intense wetness of the white pony’s sex against his lips. Before she could react, he pressed his tongue into her folds. She rewarded him with a sharp gasp and a little whine that grew louder and louder as he slowly... slowly licked up the length of her slit. Rarity cried out as her lover’s tongue lashed over her clit. She tried to thrust her hips up at him, but he’d already begun moving back down again.

Her anxious forehooves couldn’t quite reach him, so she laid them over the arm he’d draped across her stomach, and touched the top of his head.

Rarity moaned in hot little breaths, now, as she anticipated her human lover. Lero loved the taste of his little white mare, and gave up all efforts to tease her any longer. Once his tongue reached the bottom of her wet maresex, he slowly pushed his tongue into her, pressing his face against her and groaning and reveling in her sweet intense taste, the exciting shaking of her body, in the little groans she panted into the air.

Urged on by the grip of Rarity’s violet tail, Lero brought his hand up to her sex and began to softly stroke his fingers over her dripping wetness. He let his thumb press into her while his fingers played little circles around her clit, and Rarity squeaked a little pleasured gasp as he slowly pushed deep into her. She thrust her hips up in little excited circles and her gasp turned into a long quiet, pulsing moan as his hand massaged her.

Her tail had wrapped its way up his forearm and the long violet length of it lay swishing wildly against his shoulders and back, pulling harder against him with every little gasp and mewl of pleasure that escaped her lips.

He smiled and ignored Rarity’s sudden whine of complaint as he moved to the side a little and pulled his hand away. After a moment spent caressing her lips with the tips of his fingers, teasing her until the grip of her tail almost became a painful pressure, he turned his hand over and slowly slid two dripping-wet fingers into the hot little mare. He leaned over her and his lips surrounded Rarity’s sensitive clit.

“Oh yes, Lero, oh my yes, just like that—” she breathed. He slid his fingers deeper into her, then curled them upward and began massaging the upper wall of her sex with small circles of pressure. “—Oh stars, yes! Just like that... Yes!”

He sucked her clit in between his lips, and his tongue began to dance in small circles and soft brush strokes across the swollen little nub. A deep moan resonated from the little mare, and her hooves reached frantically between her widespread legs to pull at the back of his head, trying to force his lips and tongue harder against her.

He held tightly to the unicorn with his other hand and arm, feeling the soft white fur between his fingers and her hard muscles tightening beneath him as she tried to thrust her hips up at him. He held her down, barely, and lapped and sucked at her, touched her, responded to every movement of her body as if he’d always known her body like this. Every breath she exhaled filled the air with intense sounds, and soon her moans and thrusts became tiny squeaks of pleasure punctuated by little shivers of her equine body.

Lero intensified his touch. His fingers thrust in and out of her sex and massaged harder against her insides, his tongue lashed across the hard nub of her clitoris sucked in between his lips and teeth. Rarity’s sexy sounds fell away as her body and hind legs trembled, and she held him in a death grip that told him she was going to come any second.

“Lero! Lero...” she squeaked harshly. Her back arched and her wet maresex began to clench hard at his fingers. He pressed and rubbed harder into her, moaned and sucked harder at her clit, following that growing intensity of her climax and driving it upward with his touch.

Rarity’s body shook and spasmed violently, and she screamed and came. Hard. Her hooves clutched his head and her tail gripped him tightly, and her body suddenly thrust up so hard that Lero’s hand was pulled from her. In that second he felt a flood of her wetness drenching him while her wails of intense orgasm filled the musk-thick air of the room. Lero released her clit and eagerly ran his lips down her soft, drenched mare lips and sucked at her, driving his tongue into her and greedily lapping at her come. Rarity shook and screamed Lero’s name and bucked hard again, splashing him a second time.

And then all at once, Rarity collapsed into a twitching puddle of soft white unicorn pony on the bed. She lay with her eyes closed, trembling and gasping as her human lover slowly lapped at her warm, wet sex, and softly stroked her belly and chest. Without a word the man reached his right hand high up her body to stroke her slender neck, moved it upward and caressed her face tenderly. Rarity wrapped her forearms lazily around Lero’s arm, holding him in place and nuzzling against his hand. Her tail had finally released its grip on his left arm, and she soon found it stroking her heaving chest.

She purred a little at his touch, but the sound almost came out as a low growl as her breathing struggled to return to normal.

Lero chuckled softly, and with a little regret, pulled his arms back and held himself up on his elbows before her. He wiped the musky moisture from his eyes and heard Rarity gasp. He opened his eyes, blinking away the residue of wetness from them. Rarity was staring at him with a look of surprise.

“Oh my sweet, loving prince, I am SO sorry!” she said, shaking her head. Then long giggle came from her and she covered her mouth with a hoof. “Oh Lero I really am very sorry! But—” uncontrolled laughter burst from behind her hoof as she closed her eyes, “—but I did warn you, love!” Her body shook a little and she coughed through her laughter. Lero simply stared at her, his face practically drenched and dripping, and smiled with a little roll of his eyes.

“That’s quite alright, my sweet princess,” he said grandly, as though there was nothing at all amiss. “I know exactly how to take care of this.”

With that, Lero began to slowly crawl his way up between Rarity’s white equine legs. He dipped his head down with great care and kissed her tenderly... at first. Rarity giggled some more. Then she squawked and laughed in surprise as Lero began firmly rubbing his face into her belly, dragging first the left side and then the right along the dryer swathes of her lush white coat. She pushed down at his shoulders, trying to stop him, but she was weak from the climax she’d just been gifted by her prince. Soon he dropped beside her with a shake of the bed and wrapped his arm over her. He pulled her close and smiled innocently at her pouting glare as his hand caressed her slightly damp fur.

“What?” I am the picture of perfect innocence, his eyes lied unconvincingly.

“That was most un-princely of you, my love.” Don’t even! You are SO in deep trouble, her own eyes replied.

Lero leaned in and with the greatest tenderness, kissed Rarity’s nose. Twice. “I know, sweetheart, but you love me anyway.”

Rarity’s pout softened and she sighed, then smiled. She turned onto her side and cuddled up to her lover, glowing softly with the warmth of their exertions, and a little damp with them.

He gave her a silly grin and stroked his hand down her side. It came to rest on her thigh, and he idly caressed her soft rainbow cutie mark, waiting patiently for the generous gift of forgiveness he knew would come.

“I do love you, Lero,” the white mare said softly, and she kissed his nose.

Lero looked into Rarity’s dazzling blue eyes, and for an instant he could have sworn that they flashed magenta. They did, didn’t they? His throat constricted and he blinked at her, trying to make sense of it.

Before she could react to his surprised expression, he pulled Rarity close and quickly kissed her lips, holding her in that kiss until any doubt he’d given her had been erased. He pulled his lips back and kissed her cheek once.

“There’s something I need to do, Rarity,” he said quietly, and without giving her time to respond, he moved from her embrace and sat up. He looked down across her lithe pony body, and his eyes rested on her cutie mark; a puffy white cloud and rainbow lightning bolt painted in bright colors on her beautiful white flank. His hand caressed the mark lovingly before he leaned down slowly and kissed her there, tenderly, and then again. He laid his hand against her once more, feeling the warmth of her beneath his hand.

“I love it when you kiss my cutie mark, Lero,” Rarity spoke quietly, her voice intense. “I know I’ve told you this, but... it feels so much like you’re kissing my soul.”

Lero moved to lay beside the white mare. He pulled her into his embrace again and held her tightly. The fingers of one hand played through her mane, stroking them past her horn, caressing her ear. He brought his hand back to hold her cheek in his hand.

“I know it does. And I love that soul, Rarity, and I love you very much. I can’t really explain it, but it... took me a little while to realize how much they’re the same person in one truly beautiful mare. I’m so happy that you’re a part of my life.”

Rarity lay there for a moment beside Lero with a stunned look in her eyes... a look that turned to happiness, and then to joy, and finally to desire. She quickly moved to climb atop her lover, and wrapped her arms around him as they rolled together. Lero ran his hands through Rarity’s silky long mane, down her withers, and on to her flanks, where each hand rested to caress her cutie mark.

Rarity smiled, and at that moment she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

“Make love to me again, my sweet prince,” she said, and she kissed him. “Right now,” she husked in his ear.

Lero’s heart beat a fast cadence in his chest, and there wasn’t anyplace in any world he’d rather be than where he was at that moment. He smiled at Rarity, and kissed her back.

“Oh, I will.”

* * *

All throughout the day, Twilight Sparkle and Lyra had pointedly not mentioned the fact that Lero had not joined them for today’s meditation, exercises, and discussion about Twilight’s research. Both unicorns were well aware that Rainbow Dash had moved back into her new cottage very recently, and that Lero would want to be with her. Nonetheless, the two of them did their best on their own. They had been quite productive for many hours, but now they were returning home.

“Well, I have to say, Twilight, I never would have suspected a stallion like Starswirl the Bearded would’ve been written off as a hopeless failure by so many of his teachers,” Lyra commented, as they both neared the door. “Or that he’d once been apprenticed as a barrel-maker.”

“Different day and age.” Twilight expounded. “Most of his teachers didn’t bother to give him a real chance; a stallion doing something as dangerous as magical research? To them, absurd.” She looked up, or rather down at her precarious-yet stable-position. “And speaking of, I’ve never even heard of shoulder-stands before today... who knew any pony could maintain such a position for over an hour? Let alone me?”

“Mind over matter,” Lyra replied, nuzzling her herd-sister. “I’m proud of you for sticking with it! But now we’ll want to think about what you eat...”

“What I eat?!” Twilight cried, starting to worry.

“Yeah,” said Lyra, opening the door of their home. “Healthy body, healthy mind. You’ll want to fill your body with premium fuel so...”

Both mares stopped as they entered inside, ears pivoting all around, nostrils drawing in air.

“Say, Twilight... do you smell something... unusual?”

“Several unusual things, I’d say. Roses, for one.” Both mares’ eyes fell upon a vase of fresh white roses. It sat on an end table by one of the couches. Through every other room they could see into from this part of the house, Twilight and Lyra spotted more such vases, each holding more white roses.

Twilight sniffed the air again. “But there’s also some other things I smell! Some kind of baked fish, for one. And...”

“Musk,” said Lyra, suppressing the urge to gulp.

“Very thick.” Twilight agreed. “Human... and Pony.”

Lyra and Twilight’s ears flicked in the direction of the upstairs. Listening to Rarity and Lero’s laughter. Smelling hot food. Hearing a movie being played. They might’ve mistaken this movie for several strange ponies having a conversation, except that the ‘conversation‘ was accompanied by a soundtrack and a film projector spinning. Venturing upstairs, they magicked their bedroom door open. The room had been darkened for the movie playing on the far wall, but Lyra and Twilight could still see everything.

Their human stallion wore only two things: an open bathrobe, and underwear. Actually, this wasn’t quite accurate: a wreath circled the crown of his head, and around his neck hung a fragrant lei, both made entirely of white rose heads. He lay atop their bed, with Rarity snuggled up adoringly beside him. A fierce, almost involuntary shudder passed through the other two mares‘ bodies: both at the sight of their body-shy stallion nearly completely undressed and the way the smell of their bodies permeated the room.

A small table had been brought into the room for most of the food to sit upon. Two bottles of champagne, (one already opened and mostly-full), a pair of champagne glasses and even a buttercream cake! Though several slices had been cut out of the cake, it was still possible to determine what it said: HAPPY EARLY ANNIVERSARY, MY SWEET PRINCESS. More food sat on the actual bed. The was a bowl of popcorn next to the lovers, but upon a plate balanced on Lero’s lap, was a fancy piece of salmon cuisine.

As Lyra and Twilight watched, Lero separated a piece of the fish with a fork and knife, and brought it into Rarity’s mouth. She chewed, swallowed, kissed Lero, levitated the silverware from Lero’s hands, and cut a bit of salmon to feed him in turn. She looked up at her herd-sisters at the door.

“Welcome back, my loves!” she greeted, pausing the film. “How’s the day been treating you both?”

“O-okay,” answered Lyra, shutting the door behind her. “What’s that you’re eating?”

“Salmon en croute.” Lero told her. The human had remembered Rarity mentioning that particular dish to Star Sparkle, and had needed to stealthily peek into a cookbook to learn how it was made. While he had whipped up plenty of tasty fish recipes for Rainbow Dash, her tastes had never been quite as... French as Rarity’s were. It’d been his very first time cooking with crème fraîche, and he’d been worried it’d come out tasting wrong. But so far, Rarity was loving every bite of her salmon en croute! She ever levitated a forkful of it to Lyra, but the aqua unicorn shook her head.

“Honestly, Lyra, you’re missing out! It’s always been such a tragedy that two-thirds of ponykind should be so close-minded about seafood! Omnivores like us have the best of both worlds!” And Rarity ate the bite herself. “Isn’t that right, my prince?”

“Couldn’t be righter!” He said, and they both nuzzled noses. “Does this mean you’ll try coming with me to that griffon place, next time we’re in Canterlot?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Near-omnivorism, my snarky prince.”

“Aw, and I was so looking forward to treating my girl to a nice dish of pork tenderloins, drenched in rich garlic sauce…”

“What this movie you’re watching?” Lyra asked, stunned to see this scene playing out before her.

“And what’s all THIS about an ‘early anniversary?’” asked Twilight, reading the cake.

Rarity turned to her beloved human. “You tell them, darling! You were the one who came up with it!”

“Well,” said Lero. “When I came home from helping Rainbow Dash today, I found myself so THANKFUL having Rarity as my girl, that I wanted to go all-out and celebrate us getting together in the first place! But since our anniversary is still a few months away, I said, ‘To heck with it, let’s have an early anniversary, instead!”

“White roses...” Twilight whispered. “And that movie you’re watching... it’s Pony Chicks In Manehatten, isn’t it?”

“Mmm-hmm!” said Lero, “Nostalgia’s the theme of this early anniversary!”

“Why don’t you girls join us? Hop on the bed with us! Help yourselves to some cake and champagne and popcorn, and let’s watch the rest of this movie together! It might ruin the film if we keep it paused any longer!”

So they did. For about a quarter of an hour, the four of them watched Gertie, Jill, and Genevieve Goldclaws befriend Kumquat Gelato and Tofu Barbecue, hit on Godric, and surprise a bunch of random ponies who expected the three of them to act like mares instead of griffins.

Then Lyra, who had seated herself by Lero’s other side, whispered in his ear: “I’m going to go step out and use the bathroom. The one downstairs. Two minutes after I leave, YOU’RE going to need to go downstairs and use the same bathroom I’m in. Get my drift?”

Lero nodded.

* * *

When he had joined Lyra in the downstairs bathroom, she greeted him with her gravest look.

“Just what happened with Rainbow Dash today?” She had an edge to her he’d never seen before; almost the barest hint of a threat if he dared refuse to answer, though he had no intention of withholding the truth. It gave him no joy, but he quickly told the whole story of his last visit to Rainbow Dash’s cottage. Her gaze turned from sharp and accusing to brokenhearted.

“...And you can ask Spike if you think I’m making any of it up,” he finished. “He was there and saw the whole thing!”

“I will ask Spike... but I don’t think you’re lying.”

She levitated a washcloth over by her eyes. Although she wasn’t crying, he suspected it was just a matter of time, and she wanted to have it ready if the moment came. “I don’t know what to say!” she told him. “It cuts right to the heart.” Her voice wavered. He leaned down, putting a hand on her side. “I think... the only possible way I could feel any worse about all this is if I’d been there with you, and heard it from her lips myself.”

And now she brought the washcloth to her eyes. “Oh, Lero, I never thought ANYTHING could make YOU give up on Rainbow Dash and... and...”

Lero knew Lyra’s body language, and he could hear the unspoken words: ...I never thought anything could make ME give up on Rainbow Dash, either.

“I haven’t given up, though,” he said, hugging and kissing her. “Rainbow Dash... the part of her that LOVES us all... is here. She loves us every bit as much as she always did. She’s never left us; she’s just moved into Rarity. I actually spoke to this part of her, in person...”

“Huh?”

And Lero went on, telling her about the strange and wonderful vision that Rarity had granted him, seeing the old Rainbow Dash on the beach, her telling him to ‘take care of us.’

“And you swear every word of this story is true?” Lyra asked, wide-eyed.

“On my life,” Lero vowed.

“The empathy spell’s not supposed to be able to do that…” Lyra muttered, confused.

“The Dash I met on the beach seemed a bit confused, too. Maybe it was a pure fluke, like when you swallow your food and it goes down the wrong pipe." He shrugged. "Regardless... and as much as it pains me to admit... that girl living in that animal cottage? Now that her critter problem’s solved, all she wants to do is be left alone and live Fluttershy’s life. She’s a friend, and a good one… That and nothing more. Until and unless Twilight finds a cure, Rainbow Dash is no longer part of our family.”

Immediately afterwards, Lero regretted not finding a gentler way of saying this.

“It’s just a mark of how unconditionally screwed-over this whole situation is!” Lyra spat. “The only way for us to be faithful to Rainbow Dash is to turn our backs on her and love this other girl!”

“Lyra...”

But she shook her head, shrugging him off. “No. We’ll talk later. Let’s go back into the bedroom before Rarity thinks we’ve fallen into the toilet.” Lyra cracked a weak smile as they left the bathroom. “Still, it’s incredible, isn’t it? You got to see Rainbow... her old self... I’m more than a little jealous! Maybe If I get Rarity to cast that spell on me, I’ll get to see her, too!”

Neither Rarity nor Twilight said anything as Lero and Lyra returned into the bedroom to watch the rest of the movie. As Lero snuggled back up by Rarity, Lyra got up against Twilight, though not to cuddle. For the next several minutes, Lyra whispered nonstop into Twilight’s ear; Lero knew that she had to be retelling his story to her. Twilight only gave a single hushed outburst: “A beach?!” But otherwise, she remained silent, even after Lyra had finished the story.

Around the point where they were at the the movie’s third act, Lyra levitated a champagne bottle over to herself and poured herself a glass. And then another. And then another. By the time the credits started rolling, there was just a thin film of champagne at the bottom of the bottle. When Twilight shone her horn and light was restored to the room, they could all see that Lyra had been crying silently the whole while.

“Lyra? What’s wrong?” Rarity asked.

The Still Way grandmaster hiccuped and sobbed. “I’m sorry, Rarity! I’m getting way too over-emotional about this, but it’s just... it’s just...!”

Lero was about to jump over, think up some excuse, and shepherd her out of the room before she could blurt out the truth in her alcoholic haze, but Lyra was far too quick.

“I got to thinking about that word, ‘anniversary.’ I know this isn’t any sort of REAL anniversary... but just think about what that word means! Another year, where we’re all still together! Still loving each other! So many other friends of mine come from broken herds... I guess I’m just projecting, you know? I mean, imagine if one of us were to simply up and leave the herd one day, just out of the blue, with no warning! Imagine if one of us suddenly declared she just wants to live her life alone from now on! I’d be... I’d be... heartbroken!”

Lyra lay by the very base of the bed, facing the wall, her underbelly pressed against the covers, weeping. Rarity came right up next to her.

“What a compassionate soul you have, Lyra,” the white unicorn said. “I feel so sorry for your other friends. But the bonds we have between each other are special. Always have been! So take heart; all of us are going to have celebrate many, many more happy anniversaries together. Never forget how much Lero loves you, how much Twilight loves you, and how much I love you too.”

Wearily, Lyra drew out a long sigh. “What do you love about me, Rarity?”

Concern shone in Rarity’s eyes, but she tilted her head, giving the question good thought. “Well, since it’s hard to pin down your most lovable quality, I’ll tell you the first random thing that popped into my head.”

“What?” asked Lyra.

“I warn you, it IS random!”

“Tell me!” Lyra insisted.

“It’s that next sabbatical you’re planning for us all.”

“Huh?” To Lyra’s surprise, Rarity brought her front hooves against her back and proceeded to massage her muscles.

“You know what I’m talking about, right? The trip you have planned about a year from now, where we’ll be bringing Lero to Mt. Longhorn.” And Rarity pressed her front hooves into the aqua unicorn’s lower spine, rolling them around the sinewy muscles of her back in soothing circles, heading upwards.

“First, let’s talk about this sabbatical you just came from. It goes without saying that we all missed you terribly, Lyra. The difference between you being gone and your being here is as stark as night and day. It hasn’t even been that long since your return, and already Twilight and Lero both have been able to unwind so tremendously, they’re not HALF as stressed as before with you here! You’re good medicine, Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Ohhhh...” Lyra sighed appreciatively, as her pent-up tension slowly melted under the white unicorn’s attentions. Having so much champagne in her system probably didn’t hurt as a muscle relaxer, either.

“But now let’s review the details of next year’s sabbatical!” Rarity said, gently pulling Lyra’s hind legs out from beneath her. With her arms, she was working her way along Lyra’s left hind leg... with magic, she was massaging Lyra’s right hind leg. “This time, instead of you alone, all five of us will be journeying together as a family! We’ll be traveling to high, faraway Mt. Longhorn, in order for that minotaur grandmaster friend of yours... what was his name?”

“Brass Knuckles,” the aqua unicorn breathed, almost sleepily. Behind her back, Twilight and Lero grinned at one another.

“Yes... in order for Brass Knuckles to develop a unique martial arts, tailored for our stallion’s one-of-a-kind body.” Rarity thought a moment. “What’s more, this style is intended NOT for him to defend himself against other humans, but strictly for beings shaped nothing like himself!”

Lyra levitated the champagne bottle over to her lips.

“Just consider all the sentiments behind this trip you’re planning! It perfectly encapsulates just about everything lovable about you, Lyra!”

“How so?” Lyra asked, sipping the last splash of champagne in the bottle... not in sadness, this time, but contentment.

“Well, for one thing, the fact that you’ve gotten all us to agree to set aside several months out of our busy, busy lives... in order to share an exciting experience, broaden our horizons, and bond together as a family!”

Rarity shifted her body upward, focusing her ministrations on the back of Lyra’s neck, along her crest and withers.

“But even so, we won’t simply be gallivanting to this other country as some frivolous pack of vacationing tourists, either! We’ve set a mission for ourselves! We’re seeking to solve a unique problem: can two of the finest minds in martial arts devise a working unarmed combat style for an alien being? Even if you WEREN’T in love with him, Lyra, that requires confidence, creativity, brains, and skill!”

Lero and Twilight watched Rarity’s relaxing strokes of magic spiral along Lyra’s horn, and knead the base of skin, muscle, and fur where the horn was rooted into the rest of Lyra’s head.

“But you DO love Lero. In doing this, you’re looking out for his best interests, as every mare ought to be looking out for her stallion’s! By teaching him unarmed self-defense, you’re seeking to give Lero a skill he can save himself with in case the very worst should happen: him being attacked when he’s all alone, without us! No, there’s more to it than even that! Lero is the lynchpin of our herd; by keeping him alive, you help keep ALL of us united as a family!”

Rarity finished by pressing the whole of her body against Lyra’s back side, treating her to a lovely hug from behind. Her smile spread at Lyra’s lovely sighing beneath her.

“I’m so glad you fell in love with Lero! I’m so happy Lero fell in love with you! And I’m even happier I fell in love with you, too, my sweet songbird.”

Rarity rose off Lyra’s back. The aqua unicorn spun herself around, with her back against the bedcovers. So much like a cat in need of a belly rub, except her expression was yearning and almost heartbreakingly vulnerable. Especially with her tear-streaked eyes.

“Rarity... would you kiss me?”

Rarity dipped her head downward. The kiss she gave her lasted for several seconds; Twilight and Lero watched Lyra’s tail whisk back and forth underneath the white unicorn.

“Wow...” Lyra exhaled, as her Swapped herd-sister broke the kiss. “Would you kiss me again?”

“Only if you actually kiss me back this time,” Rarity answered.

Lyra grinned. “Rare... that won’t be a problem.”

Hotter and heavier, the two mares kissed, Lyra wrapping a foreleg around Rarity’s neck, pulling her closer. In half a minute, the two of them were fighting for control, fighting to set the pace for the steamy lovemaking that was to come. And then Twilight joined in, approaching from the side to kiss Lyra’s cheek, then she and Lyra joined lips, then Rarity kissed Twilight, and Lero sat back and watched three unicorn mares get it on, realizing that he was, in true fact, the luckiest man in the world.

Then he joined the fun as well.

* * *

Among his many, many other powers, Discord possessed the ability to make himself imperceptible. Not simply invisible, but also un-hearable, un-smellable, un-tasteable, and untouchable. It was entirely possible for Discord to give a person a great bear hug in the middle of town square, and that fellow wouldn’t feel it. When imperceptible, Discord gave off no heat signature, either; not even psychics with sixth, seventh, and eighth senses could detect him when Discord wished not to be detected. (Though he still wasn’t entirely certain about Pinkie Pie… well, when she was herself, instead of an Apple Farmer.)

Within the dining room of Rainbow Dash’s cottage, Discord revealed himself to Rainbow Dash. ‘BLARG!’ he shouted to the rainbow-maned pegasus, while stretching both his cheeks out like rubber, and waggling his tongue childishly.

“Ahhh!” Dash started at the sudden appearance, before recovering when she recognized her caller. “D... Discord?” exclaimed the startled lady of the house. “What’re you doing here?”

Discord struck a pose. “Well, I just bought this AMAZING outfit from Applejack, not too long ago, and I wanted a good friend’s opinion on it!”

“Bought it?” Rainbow Dash saw that he was clutching two full shopping bags in one hand; each bag bore the logo of the Carousel Boutique. “With actual money?”

“Of course! I have an bank account here in Equestria! Be honest, what do you think?” The draconequus spun around slowly on his tiptoes, displaying all of his outfit.

Dash decided to avoid the obvious question of how he got money to put in the account; odds are she’d not care to know. Rather, she focused her attention on the outfit. If Lero’s outfit had been an clash of coloration, then Discord’s outfit was an argument of grays. He wore a grey wrestler’s singlet, leggings that had been made of of a burlap potato sack, (the picture of a potato could still be seen through the silver spray paint,) slate-colored knickerbockers, ashen clogs on his feet, and a teakettle helmet. Literally; this piece of headwear had started life as a teakettle, but Applejack had carved the metallic bottom out, so it could be worn as a hat.

“I like it!” said Rainbow Dash, sitting up and smiling for the first time in hours. “It really suits you!”

“Thanks!” said the draconequus. Several flash bulbs from nonexistent cameras shone in Discord’s smiling face as he went over to her table. “I have to say, I love how your own dress complements your cutie mark, Rainbow Dash! It looks absolutely radiant on you.”

Rainbow Dash turned towards the Grand Galloping Gala gown which Applejack had made her all those years ago... and gave it her coldest look. “Does it? I ought to burn it.”

“Why?” asked Discord, the curly spout on his teakettle helmet giving a concerned toot.

“I was a giant jerk in it the last time I wore it, and I was a giant jerk this time, too!”

And she slumped her head down against the tabletop, and squeezed her eyes shut to try and stop further tears, as she’d been crying for all the hours since Lero and Spike had left her house. To Discord, it was like watching some four-legged Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, mere hours after her ruined wedding. Especially in that gown of hers.

But Rainbow Dash looked up at the sensation of some icy cold object pressing against the side of her head, and looked up to see Discord’s holding out a large ice cream sundae towards her.

“If you don’t eat it quickly, it’ll melt!” he warned her kindly.

The sundae had two ice cream scoops, each a different flavor. Having taken food from her draconequus friend before, Dash sniffed at the sundae uncertainly, as though it were an unfamiliar vegetable from a faraway land. She gave it a quick taste.

“I don’t believe it!” she said, brightening. “The whipped cream tastes like whipped cream! The chocolate sauce tastes like chocolate sauce! The sprinkles don’t taste like nacho cheese!”

“I don’t do this for just ANYONE.” Discord stated, giving her an indulgent smile.

She ate from the first scoop of ice cream. “Mmmm! This one’s rose petal sorbet! THANK you! But what’s THIS one?” And she gave an uncertain look to the other scoop of ice cream, next to the sorbet scoop.

“The flavor’s called Pretzel Caramel Crunch.”

Her expression curdled a bit. “Pretzels in ice cream? Dude, that sounds more up YOUR alley.”

“Give it a try!” he encouraged her.

Reluctantly, she did. Her face lit up. “Hey, wow! You know, I would never have gotten this on my own, but it tastes terrific! I’ll remember this one!”

In the days before the Swap, rose petal sorbet had been Fluttershy’s all-time favorite ice cream flavor. Rainbow Dash’s had been Pretzel Caramel Crunch. Discord had gone back in time, just to check, and was delighted to see the swapped version of Dash enjoy them both equally.

“Now what’s wrong?” he asked, patting her.

She stopped eating. “It’s just... it’s just...!”

“It’s Lero, isn’t it?” he said, coldly. “He’s the reason you’re crying, right?”

Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Why, the NERVE of him! I’ll tell you what... I can bring him back here with a snap of my fingers! We’ll teach that uncouth cad a hard lesson about making girls cry!”

When he snapped his fingers, there appeared a startled-looking Lero. Suddenly, Discord was wearing boxing gloves, gym shorts and had a mouthguard in his jaws. Jab! Jab! Hook! Uppercut! The howls and groans of pain Lero gave with each blow put Dash vividly in mind of all the times her animals had attacked him whenever he came over.

“NO! STOP! Don’t hurt him anymore!” Pulling Discord away by the arm, she put herself between him and Lero. “Please! He’s already been hurt so badly because of me.”

And she hugged him in a tender, consoling way.

“That’s not really Lero, you know.” Discord’s tone was quiet and apologetic.

“It’s not?”

“Yeah, it’s just a stupid fake magic prop of mine. I promise.” Another finger-snap from him, and ‘Lero' collapsed into a punching bag with his facial features drawn on it. Startled, Dash released it, and it fell to the floor.

She stared at it for several seconds before sighing. “I guess I should explain what happened.” Rainbow Dash said, seating herself again.

And she did. Discord listened to her entire tale, sympathetically, nodding when it was appropriate and adding occasional prompts to show he was listening. As though he hadn’t witnessed the scene himself, firsthand, from right next to them all as it happened. As though he hadn’t been keeping close tabs on her, on Lero, and all her dearest friends this entire month.

“...This wasn’t what I wanted! I never meant to hurt him! There’s so much that I still want to tell him!”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like... Like.... I don’t know... I just...” Once again, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“Dash, let’s do something therapeutic for you.”

He snapped his fingers. A knock came at the door. Dash automatically got up, opened the door, and it was LERO. Lero, wearing a normal set of jeans, and a button-down shirt. Lero alone, without Spike.

“Hi, Dash. May I come in?”

“L... Lero!” was all Dash could say as he stepped into her house, sitting next to Discord.

“Actually, Dash, I should warn you; this isn’t REALLY Lero Michealides, either. Well, he’ll answer to that name, certainly, but he’s not the one who’s been helping you out. This is an imitation I made, a puppet of mine, formed of magic. Just like the punching bag.”

A glassy, vacuous look slipped into the Fake Lero’s eyes as he sat. To Rainbow Dash, it looked as though the Fake had just eaten some psychotropic mushroom, and was enjoying some blissful light show of a hallucination.

“Well, your magic’s impressive as ever, Discord, but what am I supposed to do with a Fake Lero?”

He shrugged, pouring himself a cup of tea from the spout on his hat. “Same thing you do with any fictional creation: suspend your disbelief. Treat it as if it’s really him. I’m hoping this’ll help.”

“Discord, I don’t...”

“Hey, Dash? The Fake Lero rose from his stupor as easily as a movie star switching emotions, regarding Rainbow Dash with focused, friendly interest. “A friend of mine told me that you were upset over something, and that you wanted to talk to me. What is it? Whatever this new problem is, you know I’m here for you, Dash.”

It was this last sentence that REALLY got to her. With a shuddery breath, she spoke to the imitation. “Lero... when I said the things I said, the last time you were here, all I wanted to do was impress you. I NEVER meant for you to go home feeling like garbage.”

The Fake Lero’s lips set in a hard line. “Well, I won’t pretend that I wasn’t hurt by the things you said.”

“Please understand me... I’m no speechwriter!” she pleaded. “Usually, I’m too shy to even TALK to pon... others. Everything just came out wrong.”

“I see.”

“I’m just amazed at how much you’ve come to mean to me in just one month! Back when my animals were still out of control, each day pretty much began with you stepping inside my door. When you came by, that’s when I knew things wouldn’t hurt as much. In my head, I can still hear the strange little songs that you’d whistle to yourself as you helped me chase the animals around, and tried to get them to behave.”

“Oh? You mean like...” And the Lero whistled a certain tune. Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded along to the familiar melody. “Yeah! Yeah, that’s one of them! Been meaning to ask, does that song you’re whistling have a name?”

“Separate Ways, by an old rock band from Earth called Journey.”

She pointed at his grin. “That’s another thing I love about you: your smiles. You always found a reason to smile when you came over. Even those worried little frowns were nice, in a way... because you only seemed to get upset when I was hurt. You never delighted in my pain, not like my animals. When I was sad, you’d be there to hold me and console me. When the animals hurt me, you always had your first aid kit ready. You were a true buddy, Lero, someone always there for all my ups and downs. Only a month... and you and me... US together, practically feels like second nature to me now. Like breathing in and breathing out.”

“Maybe you SHOULD have been a speechwriter.” Lero laughed.

She would’ve shrugged, but was too busy gazing into his gentle, kind eyes. “When I said what I said, I wanted to show you that I was strong again, strong like I used to be! I could manage all these animals all on my own, I could manage myself on my own again! I wanted to show I could be strong like YOU always are! I just... wanted you to be PROUD of me!”

“But I am proud of you, Rainbow Dash!”

With a lifted heart, she drew forward, settling herself closer against him than she ever had with any boy. “I’ll tell you one thing... that night where you offered to take to take me to live with you for a while at your house... I realize now I should’ve said yes!”

And then she kissed Lero as she might’ve kissed him on that night, if the other mares of his herd hadn’t been present. Longer. Sweeter.

“You’re right, Discord,” she said, calmly pulling away. “This isn’t the real Lero at all.”

“Not that I was ever pretending it WAS to begin with, but what makes you say that?” asked the Chaos God.

“That one time we kissed? It was brief, but Lero KISSED BACK.” Seeing how his conjuration wouldn’t be needed anymore, Discord snapped his fingers and the Fake Lero transformed into a lifeless human marionette on Rainbow Dash’s chair.

“Kissing Lero’s kind of like taking a nibble of some new fruit for the first time: you’re surprised by its deliciousness!” she informed him with a dreamy sigh. “I wanted more! It was like... feeling his lips against mine awoke something within me! Some part of me deeper than my cutie mark!”

“‘Deeper than your cutie mark?’” the draconequus repeated, lifting a shaggy white eyebrow, which levitated up off his head by a few inches. “What an odd way of phrasing it!”

“Well, that’s what it felt like! And this part of me hasn’t really stopped crying since he walked out that...” Rainbow Dash went abruptly silent.

“...Door?” said Discord, never the world’s biggest fan of unfinished sentences, though, admittedly, that was a much more rational way to end than he would normally be tempted.

“I’m in love with him, aren’t I?” She held a hoof to her head. “Celestia help me, but... I think I am.”

“It certainly sounds like it.” She would’ve sat on the floor if Discord hadn’t slid a giant can of tomato paste under her rump; the great tin cylinder somehow soft as a pillow and a suitable substitute for a chair.

“I thought I’d never fall in love like this in my life,” she confessed. “I thought I’d die an old gray mare with just my animals. Probably that’s what my friends thought too, huh?”

“Actually, many of them were betting you’d ultimately end up with Big Macintosh.”

“Big Mac?”

He smirked at her. “I hear tell that he was ready to pursue a certain shy filly doggedly, before he got well hung… up in the hospital!”

She thought it over: her and the stalwart draft pony.

Shortly after she’d taken up temporary residence in that barn at Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie’s older brother had shown up at her door... and apologized to her. Mac explained that he’d heard of how much trouble Dash had been having, of late. If not for being laid up, he'd have been there to help her, just like Lero had! But now that his injuries had been treated, he was ready to offer his assistance with anything she needed. It had struck her as odd: Mac apologizing to her for being hurt. While she’d insisted that she be left entirely in charge of her animals, she had accepted Big Macintosh’s help in getting needed feed and equipment into the barn. His quiet, strong presence had been a huge comfort that whole day, especially in Lero’s absence…

And the following night, when she’d accepted Pinkie’s offer to share some hard cider (though it took the Apple siblings a bit of convincing to get her to drink), Big Macintosh had even gotten a bit snuggly with Rainbow afterwards, (but then again, so had Pinkie. That cider was strong stuff!) and it made her feel… safe. Comfortable. Relaxed. In retrospect, she realized that she could have easily settled for that once, maybe even let it grow into more given the right circumstances…

...But not anymore. Her time with Lero had ignited something more, more intense, more passionate, something that made her feel like she was burning from the inside out with need… Something she couldn’t pass on. Of course, then another part of Rainbow Dash reminded her what good friends Mac and Lero both were. The two of them were rather cute together whenever they were out and about town, having fun with one another...

She shook her head violently to dispel the sudden lurid mental images that assailed her. No, Bad Dash, she really shouldn’t be thinking about the two of them like that!

...One thing at a time, at least.

“Y’know... I could actually see it working out between me and Mac... in some other lifetime. Or maybe if I could convince him to be a second stallion... But right now, all I can think about is Lero.”

“What a difference a month makes, eh?” grinned Discord.

“But Lero’s not even a stallion himself, though!” she protested.

Discord waggled a finger at Dash. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, my dear friend, what good is THAT kind of attitude?”

“Huh?”

“Perhaps it comes as a natural part of being a Chaos God, or being a patchwork conglomeration of a variety of species, but I’ve ALWAYS had a soft spot for ‘odd couples.’ Why, once I even officiated over a wedding between a gyrfalcon and a killer whale! Oh, how PASSIONATELY in love the two of them were... and STILL are! You should see the house they built for themselves!”

“...How did THAT happen?”

“Well, it... MIGHT’VE been helped along with a little bit of brainwashing by me. Bear in mind, this happened back in that shameful part of my life, not too long after I’d discorded you and your friends... but that’s beside the point! Besides, afterwards I went back and removed my magic, and they decided to stay together after all! True love! Or something. Maybe the sex was good.”

Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement, but nodded; they wouldn’t even be talking today if she hadn’t been able to forgive all the past sins Discord had committed against her and her friends.

“RARITY certainly sees nothing objectionable about her human stallion.”

“But that’s another thing!” Dash objected. “Lero belongs to RARITY, not me!”

“BELONGS to her?” For all of ten seconds, ghostly, holographic images of Lero and Rarity appeared before Rainbow Dash. “Funny, I don’t remember seeing wedding rings on either of them. Or leashes, for that matter.”

Rainbow Dash stared through them at the draconequus. “You know, I’m almost beginning to think you WANT me to go after Lero!”

“The question is not what I want,” the embodiment of chaos told her. “What matters is what YOU want.”

Rainbow went very quiet. Suddenly, Discord was startled to find himself being hugged tight by a cyan pegasus.

“Thank you.” She said.

Discord hid his hand behind his back, pressing the thumb and forefinger together tightly.

* * *

Fluttershy's Replica was tired.

Back in that mad pocket of existence between realities, Discord’s realm, her, plus her other Replica friends, all in a giant daycare-center-for-adults. Five mares... adult in body, but foals in spirit, all causing a great ruckus. Lately, she’d noticed the girls had started talking more, and able to think more clearly. Apparently, his near-constant surveillance of the swapped ponies had slowly started to entrench a bit more respect and affection into Discord for the girls, but they were like young children, which meant they tended to make messes and get into trouble with their antics… causing her care for them to be nearly a full-time job and she could use some help.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie had brought in mud from outside to make mud pies with, Pinkie rattling off stupid jokes, and Applejack laughing uproariously.

“Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine! What’s brown and sticky? A stick! What’s red and smells like blue paint? Red paint! What did one snowman say to the other? ‘Hey, what smells like carrots?’ What did zero say to eight? Nice belt! Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom? Because the ‘P’ is silent! What does a nosy pepper do? Get jalapeño business! What’s red and bad for your teeth? A brick! Where do alien otters come from? Otter Space! What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh! What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta!”

It was hard for Fluttershy to think.

Twilight was pretending she was some valiant unicorn knight she’d read about in a book: smacking a wooden sword against anything that crossed her path: couches, giant teddy bears, even the TV!

“Ha! Take that, Evil Lord Grogar! You too, Evil Vizier Lavan! You too, Evil… Guy Tirek!” SMACK SMACK SMACK!

Rarity was drawing pictures on the wall with crayons, and Rainbow Dash kept bouncing on a trampoline, trying to launch herself high in the sky.

It was all the Replica of Fluttershy could do to chase after them, trying to get them to behave themselves, all by herself.

Suddenly, a great sound reverberated through the daycare; the snap of Discord’s fingers. Five of the mares looked about in confusion, but Rainbow Dash went quite still. For her, it was like a switch had been flicked. Then, coming back to her senses, Dash landed on the ground next to Fluttershy.

“You heard Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash told all her childish friends. “Come over here, and behave yourselves, all of you!”

As they others came over, the Twilight Sparkle Replica suddenly started crying. “I hit my head with my Blazitron Blade! And it HUUUUUURRTTS!”

“Awww... let’s take a look at it...” Rainbow Dash said, flying over to her unicorn friend. “Ooooh, yeah,” she said, examining the spot Twilight had knocked herself. “This is a VERY SERIOUS injury.”

She looked at Fluttershy. “Blazitron Blades are capable of slicing through mountains made of solid diamond. Did you know that, Fluttershy?”

“No,” said the yellow pegasus. “I didn’t!”

“Well, they do. So it’s only natural that Twilight, here, gave herself a serious owie when she hit herself with it. So now let’s have a look.”

And the Fluttershy Replica was very happy that in the Rainbow Dash Replica, she finally had a fellow adult to talk to and help care for her less-mature friends.

* * *

Lero and Twilight lay asleep against each other on the bed, disheveled and sweaty, held tightly together by Lero's arm curled over her barrel and up between her forelegs. Their soft snoring broke for a moment as Lero held Twilight tighter and curled himself around her, and a little sleepy smile played across Twilight's lips.

Though Lyra also had her eyes shut, she was not asleep, no more than Rarity was. Her songbird was playing her clàrsach, eyes closed, as deep into the life of her music as can be. The instrument floated by Lyra’s shoulder in a haze of the aqua unicorn’s magic, the strings almost seeming to pluck themselves. The tune was serene enough that their other two herdmates would not be awoken by it.

Rarity lay herself down near enough to hear better, but not so close as to disturb Lyra. But as soon as Rarity did so, however, Lyra’s music subtly shifted and the passion of it grew and breathed.

Closing her own eyes, Rarity was soon surprised to hear Lyra adding her sweet voice to the music in a language Rarity didn’t know herself.

"Un Arcobaleno a metà, una Rarità a metà,

Sei nata dal caos di un disastro imprevisto.

La metà di due anime separate fuse insieme.

Un Arcobaleno a metà, una Rarità a metà,

Sei una principessa anche per me!"

The foreign words filled the air with their soft, romantic sound, the lyrics sung without rhyme or even a consistent meter. And yet they worked. The sensuality playing at her thoughts through words she couldn’t understand was almost magical.

"Il tuo principe t'ama!

La tua maga t'adora!

Il tuo piccolo drago t'ammira!

Ed anche il tuo usignolo t'ama.

Il mio prezioso vecchio e nuovo amore."

Rarity could feel her pulse race with the increasing tempo, and her hooves curled inward with a sublime tension at the sweetness of Lyra’s voice at tonal odds with that of the clàrsach. Her mouth opened and her deep breaths sighed out, miraculously timed with the ebb and flow of the music of the strings.

"Niuno di noi pensava te potessi esser così forte in 'ste miriadi di modi!

Niuno di noi pensava te potessi essere così affettuosa!

Ma anch'il tuo usignolo è forte, ed anch'ei t'ama.

Sarà lì per sostenerti, a prescinder da tutto.

Quindi benvenuta a casa nostra!"

The music built and Lyra’s voice lifted and carried a high, clear, sweet note, finally fading under a waterfall cascade of notes plucked softly from the strings.

"Finché ci amerai, noi ameremo te."

As the last deeper notes of the clàrsach faded, Rarity felt soft touch of a pony’s lips on hers, and she felt her body demanding to leap forward and wrap her arms around the pastel green pony.

The light pressure of a hoof brushing down her neck and held against her chest convinced her to stay, to accept that kiss, just as a sweet note plucked from the clàrsach should resonate on its own. Her voice caught in her throat as Lyra began ever so slowly to pull back; a high, sweet sound that grew to slowly fill with desire and pleading as Rarity stretched her neck to keep her lips pressed to Lyra’s.

She opened her eyes as the kiss ended to see Lyra gazing at her with those astounding golden eyes; playful and serene and passionate all at once.

“Oh my dear, sweet songbird,” Rarity breathed, “that was beautiful. What... may I ask what it was?”

Lyra smiled softly and kissed Rarity again before finally answering. “It's how I see you, Rarity.”

Rarity was speechless.

Author's Note

Special thanks goes to WolfeTrax, for writing about 60-70% of this chapter. Wolfe... I could not be more grateful.

Also, Rikmach and SpinelStride. It was FUN editing this chapter together with you guys; all four of us, all at once!

And now, the translation of Lyra's song to Rarity in proper English. Much thanks to Devas for providing a better Italian translation than what I'd originally written!

Divided Rainbow, Divided Rarity,
You were born from the chaos of an unforeseen disaster.
Half of two separate souls fused together.
Divided Rarity, Divided Rainbow,
You are a princess to me too!

Your prince loves you!
Your enchantress reveres you!
Your little dragon idolizes you!
And your songbird loves you, too.
My precious new old love.

None of us thought you could be so strong in so many ways!
None of us thought you could be so affectionate as you are!
But your songbird is also strong, and she loves you, too.
She'll be there for you to rely on, no matter what.
So welcome to our home!

For as long as you all love us, we shall love you.

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