The Most Precious Gift Of All

Far outside of Ponyville sat a large, verdant forest, the flora and fauna sheltered from the external environment by the thick trunks below and the sheets of foliage above. Spring was in full swing across Equestria, and the flurry of activity inside that sprawling maze was a prime example of the energy that the season brought.

Birds of all sizes and hues flitted from branch to branch, belting out cheerful sonatas dripping with wild innocence and virility.

The grass and wildflowers rocked back and forth in silent respect to the avian chanting, even though there was no more than the slightest breeze sneaking in between the columns of rich bark.

And the trees themselves were no strangers to the spritely time of year. Their leaf-laden arms reached for Celestia’s eternal sphere, soaking up all the rays while leaving all but a few patches of the forest floor bathed in the golden light.

Happiness pervaded every creature that dwelled in that community, ranging from the elderly cardinals to the peeping woodpecker chicks crowding the nests. Every single animal was enjoying the splendor that the journey known as life offered, and negativity was prevented from entering in any fashion.

The earliest scaly observers of the once-in-a-generation Dragon Migration had been passing over in scant numbers, but the residents of that self-contained ecosystem paid no notice. The sparse roars cascading down from the kings of the sky far above were converted into the faintest murmurs by the time they reached the forest, becoming simply another layer of audio as they mixed with the pleasant cacophony already present.

There was a fair amount of traffic present as birds swooped and dashed between the trees and chatted with one another. One rather imposing figure, however, had his mind set on a much more important goal than idle conversation with neighbors.

The bird in question was a male phoenix, and he had his mocha-tinted eyes set on an appealing apple tree. Alighting on a low bough, he looked up and scanned the red globes dangling inches over him for quality.

Hmm, these sure look rich and tasty. Lily will love them!

Reaching up with one tangerine foot, he plucked a choice apple, clenched it in his beak, and plucked a second. He was tempted to bite down and consume the fruit then and there, but he abstained. It would be more fitting and special for him to dine on it in the presence of Lily, his long-time companion, or in another sense, his “girlfriend.”

Lifting off, he easily charted a path from his current location to their co-built nest in the upper limbs of a cherry tree.

Shortly after his trek began, a flash of light burned the corner of his eye.

He slowed his speed and turned his head towards the source, which was hidden somewhat deep in the woodlands to his right. The flash was gone in an instant, but the glow it left behind persisted for twenty seconds or so.

The lemon yellow wash of color, complete with a collection of red rays, burned away the shadows and stained the trunks like weightless paint.

The striking gold sea then darkened steadily in intensity until it melded with the light gray shadows themselves. It was as if a miniature sun had spawned in the grove and fizzled out peacefully.

While flapping his wings to gain speed, the phoenix divined at once the source of the display.

Would you look at that? I guess Tycho and Alexandra finally decided to cross the lake of love and reach the shore of parenthood. I wonder how many chicks they’ll get. Maybe I should stop by in a week or so and see how things are going.

As his train of thought steamed on, it decelerated and pulled into a more personal station.

Should I ask Lily about having chicks too? We’ve been together for over a year now, and I still haven’t found out if she wants them! We’re all settled down, and our love is stronger than ever. On top of that, our neighbors are pulling ahead of us in the race for children, and they’re half as old as us!

From the moment spring set in three weeks past, thoughts of having children had surely entered his mind, but had lain dormant until now.

His hormones had flooded his bloodstream concurrently, and his affection for Lily had increased tenfold. He craved not only to be near her, but also cater to her as often as she would allow, at which point he would rush back and root himself by her side once again.

He had observed a marked change in her as well, as she tended to give him many more tender hugs and kisses over the course of a day than she usually did. Her utterances of “I love you” also increased in frequency.

In spite of their dual personality changes, neither had acted truly intimate or mentioned trying for chicks.

The rather attention-grabbing display he had just witnessed – the crowning moment of interaction and pleasure between the two phoenixes – sent his mind aflutter and brought the idea of little ones back in full force.

But his curious optimism was met with wisps of worry and unpreparedness.

Am I ready for children and all the work it will take to raise them properly? Is Lily ready? And what if she isn’t up for mating with me, despite it being the season of offspring? Oh, there’s so many questions, and not enough answers! I’ll have to think heavily about this today… and maybe talk with Lily too, if I can find the courage…

His mind reeling, he sped off for his nest and his waiting lover, his hormones running through his fiery bloodstream like a magnetic river that attracted him to her. Dashing through the refreshing airspace nimbly, he arrived at his roomy cherry tree home in four minutes flat.

The tiny lobed fruit had not arrived yet, and so he had was required to venture away from his nest to find food. The numerous clusters of pinkish-white flowers assured that the cherries would emerge in the near future.

No sooner had he landed and set the apples down did she cloak him with her sultry, plushy wings.

“Hello, my handsome Mercury. I see you brought lunch for us. Did anything happen while you were gone?”

As his infatuation level crept up, he leaned forwards and planted a quick peck on the orange base of her beak.

“Not much, Lily. I left unharmed and came back unharmed. But, I did see something kind of… amazing.”

“And what was that, Mercury?” she asked, resting her head on his slowly pulsing chest.

“Our friends Tycho and Alexandra lit up part of the forest after I collected the apples. They must be willing to take on a nest-ful of bouncy hatchlings.”

She pulled back and fixed him with a knowing, surprised gaze.

“Really? Well, they were always quicker to make decisions than us. I think we should drop by next week and see if she’s laid her eggs yet.”

Mercury chuckled, but his mental turmoil remained.

“That they were, my pretty Lily. I had also planned on visiting them in the near future. Now, why don’t we fill our stomachs with these?”

He weaseled away a few paces and seized one of the fruits, holding it out for her. She clenched it in her foot and went for a bite, but stopped short.

“Hatchlings… they sound so… attractive. Waking up every morning to see their sweet little eyes staring at us, their tiny voices saying ‘We’re hungry!’ or 'We love you, Mommy and Daddy!’ ”

She peeked at him over the apple and asked, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have some this year? Our first clutch of little ones?”

There it was, the fateful question that he was reluctant to answer. He hated to seem nonchalant about the issue, but he lacked the confidence at the moment to provide a solid answer.

“I guess it would. But maybe it’s best that we talk about them later. For now, let’s enjoy our midday meal.”

He was concerned that his direct postponement wouldn’t work, but he gave a little sigh of relief as she smiled at him.

“That’s fine with me, Mercury. Let’s eat.”

He smiled back even wider and removed a hearty chunk of the apple with his strong beak. Lily imitated him moments later, closing her amber eyes in bliss as she munched away.

Man, that was a close one! I think a sunset talk should help us decide to try for chicks or not. If she says yes, then I will honor her and agree. If not, well, there’s always next year. I want them… but then again, I’m not sure I’m up for them. I have all day to weigh the benefits and drawbacks. But for now, I need to stop stressing myself and be grateful for all I do have…

Stashing the troubling thoughts in a mental safe, Mercury fixed his bright eyes on Lily’s striking face and ate in content silence.

They consumed the apples in their entirety, core and seeds included, since their bodily makeup was in myriad ways more complex and sturdy than a regular bird’s was. Hardened lava rock was also a treat their species was fond of, but due to the lack of any close volcanoes, their particular diets now revolved around all the nutrition the copse had to offer.

That being said, it was sacrifice they made without remorse. They had met and subsequently fallen in love in that stretch of wooded seclusion, and they hadn’t thought of relocating ever since.

“Is there any place you’d like to go, my dear Lily? If you’re bored, we could always take a trip to Ponyville and meet up with that animal-loving pony… um… what’s his name?”

“Her name is Fluttershy, dear.”

She paused as he blinked in embarrassment, and then resumed speaking.

“I appreciate the offer, but there’s another place I would like to be much more.”

“And where’s that, Lily?”

She tilted her head affectionately and replied, “Right here, next to you.”

The touching statement incited a warm geyser inside him, and his eyes widened in response.

“I concur, my beautiful Lily,” he murmured in an even tone, and pulled her close for a needy kiss.

Their sharp tongues wrestled with each other for a full minute, sending jolts of pleasure down their spines.

Lily unknowingly leaned back too far as Mercury kissed her harder, and they collided with the floor of the nest as one feathery lump, Mercury poised above her.

Tufts of flame sprung up on their skulls at the same time, a part-physiological, part-mystical response to their excited states.

They broke their oral contact to let their bodies recover, both grinning haughtily.

Her cranial flame winked out as she stated, “Someone’s in the mood for a little shameless romance."

“Perhaps a little, dear. But we can’t go too far, remember?”

He willingly snuffed out his own blaze after speaking.

Lily said pointedly, “Ah yes. About that…”

A weak pang of anxiety clenched his emotions, just strong enough to be detectable.

“We will sort that out later,” he said with emphasis. “What do you say we take a nap and snooze the day away?” he added.

She rolled over onto her left side, Mercury rolling with her and ending up on his right.

“How can I refuse, when it’ll allow me to snooze with a phoenix as handsome as you?”

“Mmm, I like the sound of that. Come here, my precious feathered rose...”

He pulled her close with his free wing, nuzzling her pillow-soft breast.

She gave him a rapid peck on his forehead and whispered, “I love you, Mercury.”

“I love you too, Lily,” he replied in kind.

Their stomachs full and their minds relaxed, they began to snore lightly – which masqueraded as a pair of mellow whistles. Sleep embraced them within a minute, and they vacated the waking world to roam in their dreams.

The sun drowsily traversed the azure sky like a syrup-coated marble on a hill, the angle of the woodland shadows tilting at an imperceptible rate.

The hours were used up very slowly in the conscious realm, but they departed on pumping wings to the betrothed phoenixes.

The boisterous atmosphere and its accompanying melodies had dwindled as the day aged, the various crowds of birds quieting down and plopping into their nests as sundown approached. The ground creatures copied them in full, driven into their burrows as the light level diminished.

A tepid coolness lingered all around, comfortably mild and not much of a change from the forest’s earlier state. It was this subdued timberland that the phoenixes greeted when they roused from their slumber.

They blinked the fog from their eyes and shook their heads languidly to dissolve the last threads of tiredness from their systems. Lily squirmed to her feet and released a drawn-out yawn, unfurling her wings and giving the muscles a rejuvenating stretch.

From his vantage point at her feet, Mercury witnessed the entire procedure. The rose and tangerine medley of her wings was mesmerizing, and Mercury was ever grateful that he belonged to such an attractive female.

Wow, she’s so beautiful… it makes me want to pounce on her and smother her with as much love as possible. But we haven’t sorted out the offspring issue yet. By Celestia, I’m going to bring it up within the hour, when the moment is right! I can’t stay undecided like this any longer!

Maintaining an enamored face despite his mental swearing, he collected himself and hopped to his feet.

“Good evening, beautiful. Did you sleep well?”

Blushing invisibly, she replied, “Very well, handsome. You?”

“The same, Lily. It was probably because I dreamed about you.”

“Is that so? Well, reality is always superior to a dream.”

With that, she skipped closer to him, extended her neck, and pressed her beak against his.

The apple’s sour residue had long since been washed away from their oral cavities, making room for their own natural flavors.

Mercury’s husky saliva, reminiscent of the spicy aroma of rain-dampened bark, sent shudders down her spine.

To him, she tasted like a blend of ripe cherries and crisp oranges, a sugary tang that goaded him to continue bathing his tongue in it.

As their heads caught fire – warming the nearby air and creating a small beacon of light in the semi-thick darkness – Mercury edged her to the rim of the nest and laid her down. She gave a small grunt of pleasure and caged him by intertwining her wings over his back.

As she slid her tongue even deeper inside and skimmed the roof of his beak, he gave a small start and threw his eyes open.

He swiftly broke their union and stared down at her with a reproachful expression, his flame vanishing.

“You can’t go tempting me like that, dear,” he said in-between pants. “I won’t be able to hold back next time, and you know what that will lead us to do…”

“But that’s what makes it fun. And besides, I would have stopped in time.”

She made her flame die out right then to augment her point.

“It would be nicer if we could actually be intimate without worrying about the outcome too much. I can’t put off our serious talk any longer. We need to get it off our chests.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Could you help me up?”

He nodded and backed off, hauling her to her feet with his wings.

“I’ll tell you what, dear. Let me bring us back a light snack, and we’ll settle our dispute. Would you rather have raspberries or blueberries?”

“Neither. I’m not that hungry, Lily. You can go out and eat whatever you choose.”

“Suit yourself, dear. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. Stay safe, you hear?”

He stroked her face with his wingtip, almost losing himself in the glory of the amber portals that were her eyes.

“When have I ever failed to return?” she quipped boldly.

The question lingering in the still air, she spread her wings and drifted off to the west, a spray of rippling color in the blue-black twilight.

Mercury watched her recede until the trunks screened her from view, and then took to preening himself.

I hope she says yes. This is the last trial we have to overcome, and then we’ll be mates for life. And of course, we might be parents too. It’s so much to take in right now, but maybe it won’t be so bad if it actually happens. It’s all up to her…

Mercury tossed a fleeting glance at the spot where she had slipped away, then resumed preening, more unnerved than before.

***

In another sector of the forest, Lily was plagued by her own disconcerting thoughts as she sought out a blueberry bush.

She hadn’t traveled far when one such shrub buzzed below her. She banked around in a half circle and descended, landing gently on the firm earth.

She stole the plumpest blue orbs from the shrub and flicked them into her beak one by one. She reveled in the squishiness of the berries and the succulent liquid that squirted out, but her brain was equally focused on the situation at hand.

I am not so sure I would be a great first-time mother, but then again, who is? The only way I will ever learn is to become one, and I’ll have to convince him to agree. We may be a couple, but unless we take our relationship to the level of mate-hood, there will always be something missing between us, something unfulfilled. And children are a bonus to the sealing of our love, not a drawback…

She chewed and swallowed a trio of berries – which turned out to be sourer than the others she had eaten – and the acidic kick jarred her senses.

I want him to drown me in his love, both physically and emotionally. I want to be his mate and the mother of his children, whatever the cost. And I want him. Oh, I want him so badly…

Her mind made up, she gulped down ten more berries and shot into the air like a rocket.

Even from where she was, she could feel herself being drawn to him, as if they were linked by invisible cords stretched tight by their separation. Yearning to relieve the unseen tension and announce her decision, she streaked home at an impressive pace.

Some of the night birds were startled by her furious passage, hooting and shrieking as she blew past.

Coming upon her shared home faster than she thought possible, she braked hard, lest she plow into him and send him tumbling out of the nest.

She still barreled into him with enough force to knock him flat on his back.

“Ahh! Get it off! Get it off! Someone help!”

His eyes were shut tight, and he wriggled like a trapped worm, threatening to throw her off harshly.

“Shhh, it’s only me! Everything’s alright, dear. Please calm down!” she said in a hot whisper.

Ruefully, he stopped bucking and blinked one eye open, which he used to scrupulously survey his attacker.

“By Celestia, Liliana! I thought I was the victim of an unforeseen evening assault! Do you care to explain yourself?”

His other eye creaked open skeptically as she pecked him on the cheek. She helped him to his feet and waited while he straightened out his ruffled feathers, his set of head plumes bobbing as he did so.

When he was finished, he slowly raised his head to stare at her. She affected a serious expression as he bored into her with narrowed eyes.

“You see, dear, while I was out eating berries, I came to a decision about our… predicament.”

His gaze lessened in its severity noticeably.

“I see. So, what do you think we should do?”

She drew in a momentous breath and said, “I want to be your mate, Mercury. And if we end up with children, then so be it. We’ll take care of them together as a mated couple, and also as parents. I’ll be happy either way, and I hope… I hope that you’ll be happy too. I love you, and I want to feel your love for me in return. Will you please accept?”

Mercury put on a blank face and planted his eyes on her, never looking away. It was as if he had been entranced by her words and all they meant.

She caught on after a few seconds and drew closer to him, and he tracked her with his eyes like a robot.

“Mercury? Are you alright? Please ans-”

The instant her extended wing landed upon his shoulder, he swaddled her with his wings and lifted her off her feet. He pressed his beak against hers while she was suspended, and her eyes closed in sheer bliss.

His actions proved that he had accepted her offer, and that he was quite jovial as well. He broke the kiss and set her back down carefully, his heart throbbing with love and gratitude.

He smiled down at his companion and repeatedly stroked her head plumes with his right wing.

“Oh Lily, you gave me all the courage I needed to say what I’ve wanted to say since this morning! I accept the offer, my dear, without a doubt.”

“You do? Thank you so much, Mercury! I... I had feared you would reject it. I thought my desire for children was stronger than yours.”

He clicked the front of his beak against hers and held it there, bringing himself that much closer to her sparkling irises. He dropped his wing and stowed it away.

“My desire was strong indeed, but I felt so unprepared… so stupid when it came to how to raise them. But if we work together, I know we’ll do fine.”

“Of course we will, handsome. And we can always ask our neighbors for assistance, if need be.”

“That’s true,” Mercury affirmed.

She raised her flying appendages and slapped them on his cheeks, framing his face.

“What could be better than unrestrained romance at sunset, Mercury?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“Shall I make the first move?”

“Go right ahead, my precious rose…”

She titillated his senses with a trademark kiss, but she started off slow, keeping her tongue separate from his.

“Playing the meek one, are we?” Mercury teased.

“Possibly,” she retorted during a brief pause.

“How’s this for meek?” he asked, and increased the force behind his osculation.

He maneuvered his tongue through the gap in his beak, and then steered it into hers. He found that fleshy organ of hers and toyed with it, their oral fluids fusing into a broad spectrum of enticing flavor.

“Mmm... I like the way… you taste,” she muttered.

“As do I…” he whispered.

As their slick tongues battled, with neither willing to submit, Mercury forced it past hers and scoured the back of her beak.

He walked her backwards a few paces and then laid her down, the leaf-padded rim serving as a support for her head. Her tail pointed straight away from her, directly beneath Mercury’s.

He twisted his beak to the side to more thoroughly explore her beak, and she giggled mutely as his drooling tongue continued exploring.

As the passion increased, those all-too-familiar flames manifested on their heads, with Mercury’s igniting first. She imitated his maneuver for half a minute, causing him to emit a short burst of tenor chuckles.

In one gradual movement, Mercury scooted down and began nibbling at her neck.

Her giggles returned with more frequency, interspersed with strident grunts of felicity. In between his light nips, he protruded his tongue and licked her feathers, dampening them and depositing thin films of saliva.

He pseudo-devoured her neck – with his eyes reflexively closed – like it was a fuzzy dessert, and she changed her snickers into muffled moans of ecstatic adoration.

The blazes on their heads expanded and shrouded their necks, but the near-crimson flames posed no harm to each other. A pocket of very warm air formed around the nest and morphed into a thermal, bubbling up through the boughs.

He traversed down the length of her silken neck, stopping to stimulate the area where her neck met her breast fervently.

“Oh Mercury… that feels… lovely…” she announced heavily.

She craned her head to one side and began to fondle his neck with her fleshy snake, and he was unable to hold back his own exclamations of enlightenment.

“Lily… mmm… keep going…”

She complied for thirty more seconds, the flames twitching and rippling as if they were alive.

Her heart and lungs were operating at an elevated pace, and she could detect Mercury’s thrumming pulse via the arteries buried in his neck.

But for her, it was not enough.

She craved more physical contact, and the best way to do that was to up the ante. She partially peeled open her right wing and tucked it under his body, massaging his chest with her spear-like primaries.

He ceased his licking and hung his head over her breast, panting, but she allowed him little time for recuperation.

She inched her primaries down his body, transitioning to his belly and then to his feet. She revolved her wing in a tight circle, and very shortly did she realize she hit her mark.

His back arched inwards as his eyes exploded open, and then he sunk down onto her as if he had been deflated.

“Lily… what was that?” he asked raggedly.

“A little trick… I just thought of trying. Did you enjoy it?” she asked tentatively.

“I want you to… do it again. It felt… oh Lily… it felt wonderful.”

“Relax then, and I will,” she stated succinctly.

He cast a pleading look full of lust at her, and she waggled her wing.

He tensed up and inhaled desperately, then used that breath to moan, “Unh… oh Lily… please… don’t stop!”

“As you wish, my handsome Mercury.”

She pivoted her wing in an endless string of vitalizing circles, burnishing his nerve-saturated cloaca in a toxic rhythm. Several grating squawks of sheer erotic quality erupted from his beak, resounding greatly between the solid trunks.

Her neck flames neither grew nor shrank in size, but due to her arousing tactics, Mercury’s were a different story.

They expanded their reign laterally, slinking down his shoulders and molding perfectly to the shape of his wings.

The warm air seemed to double in temperature and could now be classified as hot.

More than half of his frame was alight, and the spectacle amazed and intrigued the female.

On her eighth stroke, Mercury bit down on her breast, but she shook the pain away without protesting. On her fifteenth, he jerked his head free and paralyzed her wing with his foot.

Panting harder than ever, he waited over twenty seconds before he could speak.

Noting her confused expression, he mumbled, “Lily… I was close to going over the edge. I had to stop you… or… I would have lost control.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know! I-”

“No, don’t apologize. It’s quite alright. But now it’s my turn... to satisfy you. Just… let me… take a break.”

She nodded her head twice in succession, and then passed the time by listening to his wheezy breathing pattern.

When my skin meets hers, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it. It must be so heavenly… like being kissed by the pony princess herself. How sensuous it must feel… I can’t wait to lose myself in it…

He willed his overworked system to simmer down, using her breast as a place to recline.

He repressed the urge to fall asleep as her chest rose and fell beneath him, and after a minute of waiting, he was ready to kick-start the most intimate phase of their exchange.

He rose up and positioned his feet on either side of the base of her tail, and she decoded the hint.

“Is it time, my dear?” she queried expectantly.

“Yes. Are you ready to experience heaven on Equestria?”

“I’ve never been more so, Mercury. Take me away, once and for all.”

He folded his legs and crouched down until he could detect the warmth radiating from her most secret plot of skin.

Then, without any regrets whatsoever, he plunged down onto it.

The concentrated wave of erotic majesty they both felt was so sudden, neither was able to respond vocally.

His bodily blaze, which had retreated to his head while he rested, burst into life and coated him all the way down to his wings. Hers had faded all the way, but ignited instantly and reached to her neck/breast junction.

He slid his cloaca off of hers and let it linger above her puffy flower for all but a second, and then hungrily thrust downwards.

This time, audible responses were coaxed from both parties.

“Ohhh Mercury… you feel… so marvelous,” she belted out.

“Liliana… I never… I can’t stop…”

He merged his skin with hers a third and fourth time, and she gave a drawn-out shriek of ecstasy as he grunted.

“Mercury… oh Mercury… touch me again…”

When he thrust the fifth time, she clenched her beak and wrapped her wings around him, rendering him a captive.

He ravished her nonstop, wholly unwilling to break free or deprive himself of the sexual gratification her cloaca bestowed upon him.

The internal luxury they were enraptured by magically fueled the twin fires and gave them the power to spread over every inch of the phoenixes' plumage.

By the time the tenth gravity-assisted plunge was completed, they were covered from head to tail in penetrating scarlet sheets of pure heat.

The local atmosphere was so stifling and filled with flickering red light that all the nearby birds fled to more hospitable areas – unbeknownst to the copulating phoenixes.

Mercury’s blood was boiling and shooting through his blood vessels, and he needed to triple his breathing rate to compensate for his thirst for oxygen.

Below him, Lily’s body was scalding as well, for he registered her overheated temperature every time he graced her hidden flower with his own.

On the fifteenth amorous union, he felt a rise in the pressure between his legs.

Part of him was in combat with the growing knot of sexual advancement, but the other yearned for it to be released. The latter need won over, and Mercury surrendered his soul to it.

Two hits later, their combined fires brightened to a shade of thick carrot orange.

“Ohhh yes… Lily... I’m getting close…” he grated through a clenched beak.

Three more sensual hits, and the fire transformed into the color of raw sunshine.

“Mercury… unh… stop! Please… urgh…”

Though he clearly heard her command, he didn’t want to obey. He really didn’t want to, but he somehow did.

She let her wings fan out on either side of her, singing the array of twigs and leaves that composed their bed.

It was clear that the upper layer of twigs beneath her had caught fire and turned to ash, since Mercury found himself standing in a small pit of hot black dust.

He was worried that the entire aerie would burn when he lost control, but he truly didn’t care at that moment. They could always build another nest in that same exact spot later.

She fixed her drunken gaze on him and whispered, “Do it, handsome. Blow my mind. I beg you…”

He gave a fleeting nod and drew in one final breath, and then slammed down upon her.

As one, they tumbled into the sea of ecstasy and climaxed simultaneously.

“Oh dear… it feels… Mercury! Mercury! MERCURY!” she yelled for all the land to hear. Her back arched and squeezed her opening against his even tighter, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Liliana… I… I LOVE YOU!” he squawked, a raucous din that vibrated the superheated air.

And then it happened.

A blinding flash of lemon-yellow radiance illuminated the woodland from canopy to ground.

In the aftermath of the flash, a solar sphere of scorching, blinding light encapsulated the nest, the phoenixes, and the branches of the tree. Blood red, goldenrod yellow, and apricot orange rays of incandescence emerged from the core and penetrated all manner of depths and directions into the darkness.

The exposed twigs of the nest became one with the conflagration, and the flowers wilted into nothingness as the limbs’ bark was charred.

Mercury’s sun analogy was a fantastic representation of the event, and now he was living it, in all its divine power.

The sphere’s formation coincided with a physiological occurrence in Mercury, one that was responsible for filling her inner cavity with the seeds of life.

As his loins convulsed in a mind-numbing rhythm, a glittery fluid slithered out of him and clung to the walls of Liliana’s receptive tissue tube.

The glare of the hovering sphere was astounding, vaporizing the shadows and turning night into day. After fifteen impossibly-thrilling seconds, the sphere relinquished its hold, and the shadows flooded back in haste.

A delirious Mercury collapsed onto an exhausted Liliana, and the phoenixes reverted to their innocuous forms.

The point of his beak flirted with her throat as he spoke in a clipped string of words: “Oh Liliana… we did it. I never imagined… you could make me feel so… loved. I’m glad to call you… my mate.”

“As am I… Mercury. I can feel… something tingly inside me. We might be having little ones after all…”

He tapped the underside of her beak with his, for he was too tired to kiss her.

“I wouldn’t want it… any other way. I’ll be looking forward to the day… when you lay your eggs.”

“It will be one of the happiest days… of my life,” she mumbled, and clacked her beak with his in return. “But the happiest of all… is the one we’re in right now…”

Mercury shed a tiny tear, which was actually a drop of flame that puffed out shortly after dancing on her breast.

“I love you, Liliana. I love you more than myself and Equestria combined. I will never leave your side, even after the sun ceases to burn.”

“Oh Mercury, neither will I. We shall never part from here on out, even after our life cycles are complete and we become chicks again.”

She yawned widely and shed an elated tear of her own.

“You seem tired, my precious mate.”

“Indeed I am. I would like nothing better than to sleep. Could you, perhaps, climb off of me, so I can readjust?”

He staggered to his talons and helped her shift onto her right side, which sapped the scant amount of stamina he had.

He drooped awkwardly over her at an angle, and she pulled him the rest of the way over. He settled on his left side, tucking his wing under his body and embedding it into the ash pile.

Lily’s frail-but-gleeful face sat in the center of his field of view.

Much to his surprise, she dragged him over to her and rested her left wing on top of him like a blanket. He did the same with his right, even if it was a struggle to perch it where he wanted it.

“Good night, my satisfying mate,” she said, accenting the word “mate.”

“Good night, my goddess of a phoenix,” he replied groggily.

They leaned their heads down until their beaks touched, forming a heart-shaped space between them.

Comforted by waves of pride and fulfillment, they closed their eyes in unison. The sound of their varied, reserved breathing served to lull them to sleep, and they were spirited away to the land of dreams before very long.

They felt like the most euphoric and dignified creatures in Equestria – or rather, that was what their dream-selves felt. But those same feelings were inevitably channeled to their tangible embodiments in the real world.

The charred twigs gave off tendrils of smoke that served as a ring of rich incense, occasionally distorted by the somnolent creatures’ exhalations.

As the owls hooted and the crickets chirped, providing a two-tone lullaby for the sublime couple, unconscious smiles cracked on their faces.

***

The very next day for Mercury and Lily was an honorary one, and the couple felt compelled to spread word of their newly-acquired status to their friends.

They whiled away the morning remodeling their shabby bed – after stuffing themselves full of tart oranges – and then journeyed to Tycho and Alexandra’s abode and spilled their secret. They withheld the sensitive details, of course, but told the younger phoenix couple all they wanted to hear.

After receiving many congratulations and wing-shakes, Mercury and Lily returned the favor – the former telling him of his yesterday morning encounter with the “mini-sun.”

After the customary thanks were exchanged, Mercury and Lily were urged to stay and chat, and possibly share meals later on in the day.

Having no ideas as to how to better utilize their time, the recently-mated couple agreed.

They caught up on each other’s pasts and then each other’s plans for the future, keeping them occupied until the late afternoon hours.

As payment for them being given permission to stay, the senior duo went on a foray for a scrumptious dinner. Mercury and his mate each carried a pile of cherries in one talon, an orange in the other, and a peach in their beaks.

Loaded with their stash of delectable fruit, they returned to their friends and commenced a pre-sundown feast.

Tycho and his mate chose the oranges, leaving the other couple with the peaches. The cherries were shared between the four members as they saw fit, though the young pair ate more than the old.

When their heightened senses judged that the sun had set, the guests stayed and interacted until the moon rose. They then bid their goodbyes and poured another round of verbal appreciation on their neighbors before heading home.

Needless to say, that day had drained their energy like a leech, and so they were all too primed to hit the proverbial hay – or in their case, the nest.

Lily showed no signs that their union had been a success, but they dismissed it on the grounds that it was too early to tell.

Nevertheless, the first inklings of anxiety and curiosity threaded into them that evening, making their descent into their dreams more difficult than usual. How long those threads would fester in their psyches was something only time could provide the answer to.

The next day was rather uneventful and tranquil, but the first developments in their lives came to pass on the third and fourth days.

Lily found herself hungry more often, eating five and six times a day – though the amount she ate wavered little. There was a reason her appetite had grown, and they equated it to the belief that eggs were being fabricated inside her.

On the sixth day, their assumptions were undeniably verified.

Lily’s midsection bulged out as if she had swallowed one too many bananas, and their former anxiety was eradicated. They were going to be parents, a lifelong fantasy made real, and they altered their lifestyle to condition themselves for what was to come.

Lily was unable to fly by the time the first week was completed, for the eggs bogged her down. Mercury provided for her hand and foot from that day on, supplying her all the nutrition she asked for and comforting her as often as he could.

Ten days in, discomfort usurped her pride and became the dominant emotion.

Mercury felt a sort of deep-seated pain when she did, and he prayed on numerous occasions for the eggs to be laid soon, so that her suffering would end.

The pose she used to alleviate the pressure in her belly was to recline her back on the rim and flop her feet and tail out in front of her.

Aside from the anguish of seeing her so subjugated, the pose captivated him every time he returned with foodstuffs, and he couldn’t help but press his ear to her belly and listen for any noises from within.

He swore he heard at least three tiny hearts in there, but he believed there were more. What else could explain the mildly-disturbing bulge that ballooned out above her feet?

Lily eased her throbbing distress by sleeping the days away, and for her, at least, the end stage of her bloated pregnancy ran its course fairly quickly.

Two weeks and a day after they had established their mate-hood, Lily slept deeper than ever. Her mate assumed that that was how she was bracing for the rigors of egg-laying, and his anticipation turned maddening.

He himself could not get more than a few winks at a time, tossing and turning incessantly as the phobia-inducing night swamped the land.

Nature itself beckoned to the ailing female phoenix, and its ethereal voice whispered to her this ancient phrase: “Your trial is over, and you have done well. Release your children, so that they may have the chance to escape their prisons and see the world through newborn eyes.”

Roughly an hour after the full moon reached its highest point in the star-studded canvas above, the male was roused by a nearby gasp and whimper.

“Wha-what the? L-Lily? Is that y-you?”

He rubbed his eyes with his wings where he lay, too drowsy to stand.

What he heard next zapped his brain with a bolt of recognition: “Mercury, I need you! The eggs… they’re coming! Oh Celestia… it hurts!”

He was at her side in no time flat.

Why would they come now, at such a rare hour? Hold on... what am I thinking? It doesn’t matter! What matters is that she’s about to lay them, and she’ll need all the help I can give her!

Being as the moonlight – or the sunlight, for that matter – hardly ever illuminated their abode, he spread his left wing and set it minutely aflame, casting a gentle reddish glow upon the entire space.

He frowned as he saw the agonized look she was giving him, her eyes drooped in fear.

“Thanks for t-the light, Mer-Mercury.”

“No problem, my dear. Is there anything you need me to do?”

She rocked her head from side to side.

“I don’t think there’s a-anything you c-can do. This pain is m-mine alone to endure, s-sadly.”

“Nonsense, Lily. My heart is aching right now.”

She silently grabbed hold of his right wing and guided it onto her stomach.

“Can you f-feel them m-moving?”

Sure enough, a number of dense shapes were shifting around and receding hurriedly from his wing. She hunched over all of a sudden – startling him into jerking his wing away – and folded hers over her midsection.

“Unh… mmm… oh dear oh dear…”

“Lily? Are you okay? Should I-”

She cut him off abruptly: “No… I’m not o-okay!”

“Do you want me to re-position you?”

When she didn’t reply, he worked his wings behind her head, and started to raise her up.

“No no no, leave me here!”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

He apologized despite her tardiness, in the hopes that it would assuage her rampant spasms.

When it did not, he crouched down near her head and massaged her cheek. She soon clenched her eyes shut, mashing her wings against her belly once more.

“Oh Mercury, it h-hurts so much! Why w-won’t they come out a-already?”

“I have no clue, but you’ll make it through this. You’re a tough female. You’ve-”

“Ahhh! M-Mercury… you have t-to make the p-pain… go away. I can’t take it a-anymore!”

Her traumatized requests sent him into panic mode, since he knew not a way to accomplish what she so desperately wanted him to.

“I… I can’t, Lily! I’m just an ordinary phoenix!”

She curled inwards once more, letting out a wheeze of effort, and then her head flopped back to its former spot. When she looked at him again, a series of flaming tears were streaming from her eyes and sticking to her coat.

“Help me! Just do something! Anything!”

At a loss for words at this point, he executed the first thing that came to his mind.

He shoved his free wing behind her head, hid behind his eyelids, and brought her beak close enough to where he could kiss it.

I hope this is enough, Lily, he thought solemnly.

He trapped her in the paradise of the kiss for some time, sensing her give an “mmmph” and a tremor about every five seconds.

When the ordeal terminated, Lily severed the contact as her neck went limp.

“Mercury… they’re so… beautiful…”

Sure enough, when he opened his eyes and searched around, he saw them arranged on top of her tail. Packed between him and his woozy Lily were six glassy, oval eggs tilted at various angles, as still as stones.

He brightened his wing some more, and was able to see the delicate artwork on their shells. The lower half of each was a light red sea of flames, while the upper half was a creamy yellow.

The longer he looked them over, the more he loved them and was empowered by them.

He scooted over to his mate’s bobbing side as she panted, “Six children… six wonderful children. Not bad… for our first time, right?”

He feebly hugged her and replied valiantly, “Not bad at all, my dear. Are you hurting anymore?”

She fixed him with a prostrate gaze.

“No. I’m just… so very tired. We need to… sleep on top of the eggs… and keep them warm.”

He helped her up, and she moved over to the closest egg and crouched down, then spread her wings over three of them. Mercury did the same on the opposite side, shielding the remaining three from the unforgiving night.

He set fire to his other wing and used it as a mat for his head.

Out of his right eye, he watched as Lily emulated his head maneuver and began to enter the throes of sleep.

“I’m so proud of you, Lily. I love you, and good night.”

“I’m quite proud of myself just the same. Good night, and I love you more.”

Mercury cackled quietly and made his vision go dark.

Once our chicks hatch, everything will turn out perfect. I’ll have her, she’ll have me, and we’ll have them. And together, that’s all our family will ever need…

The night’s haunting orchestra resumed playing after its ungainly interruption, and the exultant parents-to-be succumbed to sleep’s clutches.

A new and brighter beginning lay on the horizon, its upcoming herald being the moment the eggs would begin to split.

***

Mercury never faltered in his steadfast role as egg-watcher and delivery service in the sunrises and sunsets following the laying of the life capsules.

They learned quickly that only one of them was needed to incubate, and so they rotated the duty every other day.

To assist in the incubation, they used their fiery abilities and a past memory to come up with an effective method. They buried the eggs under a pile of jagged sticks and set them on fire, which was transformed into a deep bed of ash that encircled all six capsules snugly.

It held its heat remarkably well, and when it colder-than-average nights robbed that heat, the old ash was emptied and a new pile made.

So effortless and mundane was the job of incubation that Mercury and Lily became very lazy and unwilling to exert themselves, spending their waking hours lounging around, cooing to the eggs, and chatting.

In truth, it was a very boring escapade, and waiting for the unresponsive ovals to hatch was making them petulant.

The other phoenix couple never visited them, and Mercury believed it was because they were dealing with the exact same situation he and Lily were. It would have been nice to relate to them and learn how they were managing their unborn chicks, but they did not think any less of the other phoenixes for it.

In the milky twilight before sunrise ten days after the laying, Lily was awoken by a murmur in her skull: “They are yearning to see their mother and father. They kick and struggle in their battle against the shells, and they are winning. Behold them, and rejoice.”

What was that about? she asked herself, glancing around until her eyes fell on her mate – whose wings had gone out during the night.

Wait a minute… that voice! I remember it! It’s telling me the eggs are about to hatch!

She felt two of them quake and tickle her belly in silent confirmation, and her heart bounded with elation. She weaved her way out of the center of the mass and nudged his shoulder enticingly.

“Wake up, dear! Our chicks are about to be born!”

He whimpered a few unintelligible phrases, and then looked at her like she was an alien.

“What are you… talking about?”

She rolled her eyes and uncouthly yanked him to his feet.

“Six little miracles are about to be born! And they’re ours! Come with me!”

She jostled him over to the cluster and pointed at the two ovals which had recently twitched, since their apexes now bore visible cracks.

“Oh my! You were right!” he exclaimed.

“Did you think I would lie to you?” she said in a half-serious tone.

“Well… no, dear,” he replied sheepishly, and regarded the eggs cheerily.

Three of the four that were lagging behind now rocked back and forth in their own disjointed rhythms.

Fissures grew on the bicolor eggs in different spots, and misshapen pieces of the shells peeled away as time marched on.

“Just a little longer, Mercury! I’m so excited I can hardly sit still! I can’t wait to cradle them!”

He spun his head to the right and administered a short-but-rich butterfly to her beak.

“We’ll need to think of names for them before long.”

“I can’t believe we forgot! Oh well, thinking up adorable names shouldn’t be too hard between us.”

“I’d say were bound to have a mix of boys and girls. There’s too many for them to be all the same-”

A wave of crackling noises sheared off Mercury’s statement, and the parents riveted their eyes to their creations.

As if the hatchlings sequestered in the eggs had rehearsed a grand entrance, five shells fragmented and collapsed to reveal the bundles within. The sixth seemed wont to be left in the dust, and began wiggling minutely.

As the alto peeping of the cherubs wound up, the male and female simultaneously poured out balmy tears of mirth.