Today's Horoscope (Virgo): The wise bird knows that when it rains, the worms come to you.
Early Morning
When I wake up, Pinkie is snuggled between me and Twilight, who have our arms wrapped around her. Everything that happened yesterday comes back to me, and I stroke Pinkie's hair, leaning in to gently kiss her.
The lights are still on. I look up at Pinkie's sparkly pink wall clock. It's two thirty in the morning...
Thinking back on it, we all went to bed pretty early last night.
There's a sticky, empty ice cream carton with three spoons encrusted to it sitting on the edge of the bed. I carefully remove it to the bedside table, then gently extract myself from the group cuddle. I desperately need to pee.
When I return, I look at Pinkie. She's wearing a flimsy nightgown and no underwear. A sudden, mischievous thought crosses my mind. I crawl onto the end of the bed and push Pinkie's gown up to expose her sex. Teasing apart her thighs, I bury my head in her crotch and slowly lick her slit. Using my fingers, I gently pry her open, then rub her clit with my tongue.
"YIIIIII!" Pinkie shoots straight up in bed, sending Twilight crashing to the floor.
Twilight's head pops up over the edge of the bed, her hair rumpled and her eyes bleary. "I'M PANCAKE!" she exclaims. She then blinks and looks at me and Pinkie. Her cheeks turn pink. "Umm...did I interrupt something? Something I should've been invited to?"
I grin. "Nah, I just wanted to get Pinkie's attention."
"You got it," Pinkie says, a hand on her chest. I laugh and slip a finger inside her pussy. She moans, a sleepy smile on her face, and lies back down. "Mmm..."
"Hey, I'm here too," Twilight pouts. She sheds her pajamas and underwear and slides back onto the bed next to Pinkie. I tend to her with my other hand. Both girls moan, kissing each other and fondling each other's breasts as I finger and lick them. After several long minutes of this, I ditch my boxers and kneel on the foot of the bed. The girls shift around, crouching in front of me, and take turns stroking and sucking my dick until I come all over both of them.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?" Pinkie asks as she wipes jizz off her face.
"Just wanted to have a little fun with my two favorite girls," I say.
Twilight finishes wiping herself off with a wet wipe, then tosses it in Pinkie's wastepaper basket. "I really need to pee," she complains. Her stomach growls. "And I'm hungry."
"When are you NOT hungry?" Pinkie asks with a teasing grin.
Twilight opens her mouth to retort, but stops short when she lets out a massive fart. Her eyes widen and she blushes furiously.
"Ugh!" Pinkie waves her hand in front of her face. "Nasty, Twi-Twi!"
"Spike did it!" Twilight exclaims.
"Spike's upstairs," I point out.
Twilight hangs her head. "I'm gonna go pee," she pouts. As she trudges out of the room, I glance up at the clock. It's three in the morning...
"I'm pretty hungry too," Pinkie says. Actually, so am I...
"I think I'm gonna go upstairs and get cleaned up," I say. "Meet me in the kitchen after you get cleaned up?"
"You bet!"
A little while later, I meet a freshly cleaned, dressed Pinkie and Twilight on the second floor landing. As we head downstairs, we hear voices from the lounge. Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Sonata, and Cadance are all there talking; everyone's eating breakfast.
"Hey y'all," Applejack says roughly. "There's plenty o' breakfast in th' kitchen. Make yourselves up a plate an' come on in."
"We're discussing what happened yesterday," Rarity says. "None of us could really sleep very well, so..."
The three of us quickly assemble breakfast plates in the kitchen, pour glasses of orange juice, and join the others in the lounge.
Everyone looks to Cadance. She clears her throat. "Flash, Twilight...we couldn't help but notice that the two of you seemed to be expecting...that."
Twilight sighs and looks down at her plate. I grimace. "Yeah," I admit. "We were talking about it yesterday morning."
"And you didn't think to tell us why?" Fluttershy demands.
"There was still a chance we were wrong," I say. "Just because the first two Shadows followed a pattern, that didn't necessarily mean the pattern was there."
"But now we know the pattern is there," Twilight says.
"Screw this pattern shit," Rainbow says. "What we wanna know is why you didn't tell us we'd be fighting each other."
"Or, more to the point, our own inner demons," Rarity says.
Sonata blinks. She writes something on her tablet.
Wasn't it obvious? I mean, the rhyming lady said we'd be fighting the Shadows of all Flash's friends. And, well, WE'RE his friends!
Everyone stares at her.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Rainbow cries, throwing her hands up in the air.
Sonata giggles sheepishly.
I was busy eating and my throat hurts too bad to talk this morning. I can't eat and write at the same time.
Rainbow facepalms.
I clear my throat. "Sonata's right," I say. I glance at Pinkie. "What happened yesterday...I know it was hard on all of us, especially Pinkie. But..." I look around the room. "If we keep doing this thing Zecora has us doing...all of you are going to have to go through what Pinkie went through yesterday."
The others look at each other nervously.
Fluttershy shudders. "I...I don't know if I want to face what'll come out of me." She toys with her fork. She looks around at us. "Let's face it, we've all seen what my inner demons look like."
Pinkie leans forward. "Guys?" She takes a deep breath, looking down at her orange juice. "I know none of us want to do what...what I had to do yesterday. But we have to." She looks at me, then at Twilight, then at all the others. "If...if we're afraid to face ourselves, if we're afraid of the truth...how can we ever stand up to Sunset Shimmer?" She idly cuts up a hash brown with her fork. "I think that's what this whole thing is about. It isn't about training. It's about overcoming our fear."
"Hey, I ain't afraid of that bacon bitch!" Rainbow says hotly.
"Rainbow," Applejack says softly, shaking her head. She frowns. "Okay, Ah can kinda see how facin' our own fears and seein' each other at our worst can make us stronger, because Ah know that's how mah whole family's gotten through some rough patches lately, but whut about them first two fights? That shit didn't have nuthin' t' do with any of us!"
It did give Flash some pretty sweet attacks.
"Look," Twilight says, "sooner or later, we're going to have to face Sunset Shimmer and her Persona. If this Zecora woman says the hell she's putting us through will help us be ready for that...I say we keep doing it."
Everyone takes a moment to think about that...
"Twiley's right," Cadance says. "Even if destroying Cancer, Leo, and Aquarius gets rid of Zodiac for good—and we can't assume that's the case—as long as Sunset Shimmer has that much power, she's dangerous."
"Especially since none of us can figure out what her game is," Fluttershy adds. "I seriously have no idea what she's up to or why she's been acting the way she has lately."
"And until the other shoe drops, we need to stay on our toes," Twilight says. "So this thing we've been doing...it's going to be hard on all of us, but I don't think that woman would be doing this just for her own amusement."
"There's absolutely a purpose to all this," I say. "I can't say for certain what it is, because everyone I've met in the Velvet Room is cryptic and vague most of the time, but I do know there's a reason this is happening."
Rainbow sighs. "So we're just gonna keep fighting freaky evil copies of people we know, and ourselves?"
"Dashie," Pinkie says with a small, sad smile, "we'll get through it. I know we will." She looks at me and Twilight, then adds, "As long as we're together."
"Together," Twilight agrees with a smile.
The Friendship Social Link of the Judgement Arcana has reached rank 4!
Your power to create Personas of the Judgement Arcana has grown!
Twilight and I outline the list we put together yesterday of the battles we'll probably face and what order we'll face them in. After that, Twilight deliberately changes the subject; for Pinkie and Applejack's sakes, we avoid talking about Father's Day, but we do talk about our plans for the rest of the summer.
We've been talking and eating breakfast for about an hour when the dorm's front door opens. We all turn around and watch as Sunset Shimmer walks in. She sees us all gathered in the lounge, blinks, and tilts her head. "You're all up early." She frowns. "Or have you been up all night?" She smirks. "Did I miss a party or something?"
"Orgy," Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all say at the same time. I nearly spittake.
"Yeah, big orgy," Rainbow agrees, nodding rapidly.
"Uh-huh," Sunset says, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Even you, AJ?"
Applejack swallows. "Nope. Ah just sat here in th' background bein' country." She offers a weak grin.
"More importantly, where were you all night?" Cadance counters.
Sunset shrugs. "Met a guy, had some fun, ended up back at his place, you know how it goes. Didn't bother giving him my number." She yawns. "Well, I'm off to bed. Have fun with...whatever." She ambles off to the stairs.
Pinkie cracks a huge yawn. "Ugh...getting sleepy again."
"I think everybody should go back upstairs and get some more rest," Cadance says. "We've got a lot of work to do today to get ready for tomorrow. I'm going to need help fixing up our guest room for Vel and Night Light, and Flash, I need you to get the room next door to yours ready for your parents."
I nod. We all take some time to clean up our breakfast mess, then head back to our own rooms.
Daytime
It's almost ten in the morning when I get up again. After a quick lunch, I get to work setting up the empty room beside mine for my parents. After I'm done, Twilight and I wrap our Father's Day gifts. Once we're done with that, we head downstairs to check and see if anybody needs any help with anything.
We're taking a break in the lounge, watching television, when Cadance comes in looking severely irritated. "Swear to God I'll..." she grumbles.
"Cadance? Is something wrong?" Twilight asks.
Cadance sighs. "That little tramp is practically rubbing herself all over my husband, and he's not even trying to discourage her."
"Ugh!" Twilight throws up her hands in disgust. "I'll...I'll go take care of it. This has to stop once and for all." She shakes her head. "I can't believe he'd have the nerve to act like this after everything that's happened here this last year..." She stands up, head bowed. "I mean, Flash wanting to screw anything with breasts, that I understand, he's a teenage boy. My brother's a married man, he shouldn't even be looking at other women!" She storms out of the lounge, slamming the door behind her.
In the deafening silence that follows, I turn to Cadance. "Are...are you alright?"
She sighs again. "Yeah, just...just a little aggravated."
I nod. "He really shouldn't be acting like this, not with a gorgeous wife who's about to have his child."
Cadance rolls her eyes. "If it were anyone but her, I wouldn't care. After everything I've put him through, he's more than earned a little leeway. He could fuck Celestia or Luna or even Twilight for all I care, and just between you and me, I know for a fact he's had at least one perverted dream about his sister."
Yikes.
"But...it being Sunset Shimmer that's turned his head? After everything she's done to us? It's just...it's the fact that he knows who and what she is and he's still got a hard-on for her...that's what upsets me." She deflates, her hair falling over her face. "I'm hungry. Let's order pizza."
Twilight returns a few minutes later, still looking cross. "Did you let him have it?" I ask.
She flumps down on the couch next to me, folding her arms. "He took off," she says. "He must've left before I went over there."
"He did say he was going to go buy something special for Sunday," Cadance muses. "Anyway, nevermind all that. I'm sorry I got you all worked up. I'm just a little ticked."
"A little ticked?!"
"Twiley," Cadance says sternly. "I mean it. This is between me and my husband. Stay out of it. Please."
Twilight scowls, but nods. "Alright."
"We're just about to order pizza," I say.
Twilight perks up. "Order two for me?"
"Any way you want them."
Sunset Shimmer walks in, wearing cutoff shorts and a loose, thin, revealing tank top. "Hey guys," she says cheerfully.
"No pizza for you," Twilight says with a sour scowl.
Sunset shrugs. "Okay." She heads upstairs.
Cadance sighs. "Why does the biggest monster in Canterlot have to be so sexy?"
I have my phone out and the pizza ordering app open. "Extra large Hawaiian?" I ask Cadance.
She sighs again. "Yeah..."