Luna lead Twilight deep into the backstreets of Canterlot, into a district which Twilight had never seen before. The shops either side of them had their windows blacked out with colourful and eye catching posters. And their signs were written in a language Twilight had never seen before. Luna noticed Twilight looking around in wonder and smiled.

"Welcome, Twilight, to little Nyctea," she said. "The largest population of Thestrals anywhere in Equestria outside the Northlands."

"Wow," said Twilight, "I knew Canterlot was home to a Thestral community, after all they comprise the majority of the 'Night Guard'. But I didn't expect anything like this. I also didn't know Thestrals had their own language."

"It's actually an old dialect of 'High Equestrian'," explained Luna. "It mostly died out shortly after Celestia and I ascended into Alicorns and took over controlling the sun and moon."

"So, why do the Thestrals still use it?" asked Twilight.

"Because Thestrals are a proud and stubborn group of ponies who still trace their lineage back to before Hearths Warming," answered Luna. "Ahh, we have arrived at our destination."

Luna walked up to and entered a small discrete shop that seemed intent to hide amongst its neighbors. While Twilight couldn't read the name of the shop, the symbols of a horse shoe and a dragon's claw were both visibly emblazoned on the door as she followed Luna into the storefront.

The room Twilight found herself in was dimly lit by floating candles giving off a watery silver light and the small space was filled with shelves lined with all sorts of objects. The most noticeable of which was a record player that sat on the shops service desk, playing a foreign music that sounded strangely familiar to Twilight's ears. Despite the fact the shop was open, Twilight and Luna appeared to be the only ponies present.

"Lumen must be in the back," said Luna, turning to face Twilight. "It might be best if you wait here while I go get him, he can be a little skittish around new ponies."

Luna stepped carefully through the chaos of the room and disappeared behind a shelf towards the back of the room, leaving Twilight alone with the irresistible urge to inspect the objects around her.

"Wow," Twilight whispered to herself as she inspected something that appeared to be an ancient shield. It was plain in design with a simple gryphon engraved onto the front but as she raised a hoof towards it she could feel a spark of magic.

"I didn't know gryphons could craft magical shields."

"Zere are not zo many ponies zhat do," the sudden voice from behind caused Twilight to jump, turning around to come face to face with Luna and the Thestral she could only assume was the owner of the store. "I am being zorry, Princez, I didn't mean to being scaring you. I am Lumen. Lumen Glow."

Lumen bowed politely before offering her a hoof that was adorned with more bracelets and bangles than she'd ever seen on one pony before.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said, shaking Lumen's hoof. "But you can just call me Twilight."

"Charmed," he flashed her a warm smile, his fangs seeming to sparkle in the room's silvery light. "I am hearing you vish to be zeeing ze little project I've been vorking on for ze Princess?"

"Um..." Twilight looked over his shoulder to see Luna nodding gently. "Yes?"

"Vonderful," Lumen seemed to positively brim with electricity as he let her hoof good and turn towards the back of the shop. "Please be following me, and please be being careful. Zome of these artifacts can become quite dangerous if not handled vith the most extreme of care."

Twilight followed Luman as he weaved his way towards where Luna disappeared previously, pausing for a moment as he stopped to retrieve the disc from the record player. As they turned behind the last row of shelves, Twilight could see there was a second door hidden in the shadows that lead to another dingy, but far less busy room.

In fact, the room was sparsely furnished, with only one chair; a single table; and a lone black board laying claim to the space. On the table were three objects, two of which Twilight recognized and a third which she did not.

"Hey, that's Richard's backpack," she said angrily, pointing to one of the objects she recognized. "Why do you have that?"

"Pardon?" Lumen looked at her confused. "I do not be understanding ze problem?"

"It's okay, Twilight," Luna said, placing a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I gave it to him. Lumen is one of the finest studiers of foreign artifacts in all of Equestria, and I was hoping he could extract any information from this curious device Richard had arrived with."

Luna pointed towards the object Twilight didn't recognize, a small black box with a white cable connected to it.

"Have you made any progress?" she asked, turning towards Lumen.

"Vhy yes," he replied happily. "In fact, perhaps you might have noticed the fruits of my labour as you entered before."

Lumen placed the record he was carrying and placed it on the third object on the table, another record player and started setting it up ready for play.

"You zee, this vonderous contraption appears to be zome zort of device for ze playing of music."

Twilight picked up the small device with her magic and looked at in amazement.

"How can you be so sure?"

"It vas fairly zimple in ze end," he said and pointed towards the cable. "After ze Princess had been giving me a description of zis... human, it was easy to identify these as some sort of listening device zimilar to ze pairs of headphones zat appear to be rising in popularity at ze moment."

Twilight lifted the dangling end of the cable with a hoof and could see what Lumen meant. The shapes on the end did look like they were designed to fit Richard's ears.

"And you've managed to extract the music from it?" asked Luna, pointing towards the record player before Lumen batter her hoof away.

"Yez, I believe I have managed to do zo, but zhere iz one particular problem. Lizen." Lumen set the record playing and the room filled with the same alien sound as before. After he was certain the two of them understood the issue, he turned off the record player. "Unfortunately I lack zhe expertised required to turn it into an audible melody. All zhe information iz zhere, it just requires zomepony more experienced in zhe musical ziences to put it together properly."

Twilight felt a surge of excitement run through her.

"So you're saying, if we can get a pony who knows music enough, we would have a workable disc of human music?" a large smile grew on Twilight's face.

"I beleive zo, yez," nodded Lumen. "Zho I vould like to correct your statment to add a plurality."

Once more Lumen left the room, this time returning with what appeared to be a heavy crate filled with carefully wrapped records.

"Zhere vas a vast quantity of data on zhe device." grunted Luman as he he placed the crate on the table with a thump. "It's actually quite baffling how zo much data fit on a device zo small. Zey may not have any magic, but zhese human's are clearly a remarkable species."

"It would appear so," said Luna as she conjured a reasonably sized pouch. "As are you, Mister Glow. I believe this should more than cover your time and expenses."

Lumen eyed the pouch with awe and gratefully accepted it from Luna with a bow.

"You are most gracious, your highness," Luman flashed her fang filled smile. "It vas a pleasure to be of zervice to ze Mother of Night. Zhould you need any further azzistance from me in future, please do not be hezitating to call."

"I will keep that in mind," Luna nodded as Luman quickly backed out of the room, leaving them alone with the records and Richard's belongings. "So, Twilight, what do you think? Would this be a suitable gift for Richard."

Twilight could barely contain her excitement as she rapidly packed Richards bag and placed it on top of the crate.

"Oh, yes, Princess, I wouldn't have been able to think of anything better myself." Twilight clapped her fore hooves together excitedly. "How much do I owe you?"

Luna waved her hoof dismissively.

"Absolutely nothing. In fact, think of it as my contribution towards the present. Though it might be a bit premature to thank me yet. There is still the matter of finding a pony to turn them into usable records in time for Richard's birthday."

"I might actually have somepony in mind," said Twilight. "I've heard of quite a prolific DJ back in Ponyville. Even if she can't do it herself, she might be able to point me in the right direction."

Richard was in tremendous pain. For the last 2 hours he'd been doing his best to stay focused on the task of copying the records, but two things made it particularly difficult. Firstly; the smell; a cloying sickly sweet scent that stuck to the top of Richard's mouth. He wanted to escape from it but at the same time a part of him wanted to remain within it forever. Secondly; the persistent raging erection. Just when he thought he'd managed to get it under control, he'd return to working and it would pop right up again.

"Fuck..." Richard had several times found one of his hands snaking downwards, wanting nothing more to relieve himself. But each time he managed to resist. The thought of Octavia walking in as he had one hand on himself was not something he wanted to entertain. Though the longer he resisted, the more appealing he started to find that possibility.

Thoughts of Octavia walking in with him sitting there, his trousers down. She'd see him pleasuring himself, but instead of disgust would be intrigue. She'd walk over to her desk, bend over it and her skirt would raise and then she would beg him to take her there and then.

'No!' Richard thought to himself as he forced his mind back to his work. 'Control yourself, it's just the hormones talking.'

Richard was so busy with his internal struggle, he didn't notice as Octavia returned until he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"So, how's it going?" Richard could feel her breath on the side of his head as she leaned over his shoulder to look the work he was doing.

"Fine," Richard squeaked, his face turning bright red. "I mean, everything is going fine."

"Mmmm," Octavia purred, looking his figure over. "I can see that."

"How was your meeting?" Richard asked trying to quickly move the conversation on.

"Oh, so tiring." Octavia moved around to her chair and dropped herself into it. "Though not as tiring as your day, it seems." She pointed to the stack of folders Richard had already finished and smiled at him with a flutter of her eyelashes. Mistakenly, Richard looked caught her gaze and was instantly lost in those pools once more, his heart skipping a beat at the sight.

"Yes..." he whispered. "I guess I managed to get a lot done."

"You guess?" Octavia giggled, leaning forward to place a hoof on his hand. "You've done as much paper work as I can get done in a week. Those fingers really are special."

"Thanks," Richard blushed at the compliment and physical contact. The skin of his hand felt like it was burning under her hoof. "Anyway, didn't you say you were going to show me where to put the documents when I was finished?"

"Hmm?" Octavia hummed questioningly, "Oh, right, of course. Follow me."

As Octavia lead the way, she was careful to mind everything Vinyl had just instructed her on. Periodically, and carefully, look over your should to ensure he's looking at you, and occasionally flag at him. Just enough that it keeps him hot and bothered, but not too much that he can easily start ignoring it.

Slowly leading him the long way around the building, she eventually arrived at a door marked 'Records,' a red faced, sweaty Richard standing behind him.

"Here we are," she smiled at him. "Oh, Richard, are you alright? I hope I haven't been working you too hard?"

Octavia couldn't help but glance quickly down at her last word, biting her lip as she saw the obvious erection highlighted in Richard's trousers.

"No," Richard shook his head, taking a deep breath which he quickly realized was a mistake as more of that clinging smell filled his nostrils, causing him to pulse even harder.

"Well, do let me know if there's 'anything' I can do for you." Octavia said, as she opened the door.

Taking a deep breath, Octavia nervously crossed the threshold of the room. This next stage of Vinyl's plan was the most tricky and had required several attempts of practice to get right. Trotting over to a filing cabinet, she waited till Richard was within hoofs reach before starting to open the drawer.

"You can put the documents in this.... woah," with an exaggerated pull, Octavia pretended that the motion had knocked her off balance and practically threw herself at Richard, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Octavia asked as she checked her positioning, she had to avoid smiling triumphantly as she realized she had landed perfectly on top of him, his erection pressing eagerly into her hip.

'Soon,' she thought to herself. 'You'll be free soon enough.'

"I'm okay," replied Richard, "How about you? That looked like a nasty fall."

'Aww, he cares about me.' she thought

"Yes, it looked far worse than it was." Octavia looked at him with bright eyes. "But are you sure you didn't dislocate or break anything? I can feel something poking me in my side."

Richard gulp, his face getting even redder.

"No," he shook his head fiercely. "I assure you, I'm fine." He quickly tried to extract himself however found himself stopped by a hoof pressing firmly on his crotch.

"Oh," Octavia purred, "Is that because of me?"

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Shh, it's okay." Octavia interrupted. "There's no need to be sorry, Richard. I've told you before that there are mares who prefer a walk on the wild side."

Octavia rubbed her hoof gently up and down the length of Richard's bound erection while he was frozen in indecision. He wanted nothing more than to run and get out of there as fast as he could. He tried to focus on anything that would give him the strength to move, but with the hormones raging through his system his body refused to listen as it yearned for release.

"Oh, you poor thing," Octavia said as she released her touch on Richard and sashayed as sexily as she could towards the nearby filing cabinet. "I bet you've not had any release since you got to Equestria have you?"

Richard wanted to remain silent, but his body betrayed him, letting out a small needful whimper.

"Don't worry, I'll give you what you need." Octavia reached up with her forehooves, bracing herself against the filing cabinet before revealing herself to Richard and shaking her flank enticingly.

Internally Richard was screaming, but he could do nothing to stop himself as his hands tremblingly moved towards his belt, fumbling with the buckled.

"That's it, big boy," Octavia licked her lips as the anticipation of what was about to happen sent a shiver down her spine. "Come and get me."

Come and get me. Those four words flashed through Richards mind and with them the image of Twilight from his vision.

'Twilight,' Richards hands froze. His thoughts drifted back to the day before. Of how he felt sitting in Twilight's lap. Of the warmth and joy felt in her company.

And like that, the siren spell was broken.

Author's Note

I know this chapter is later than I thought it would be, and a little bit shorter than expected. As usual, I'm finding my motivation coming and going and I find it more appropriate to end chapters a scene or two earlier than I'd like in order to start the next one on more of a clean slate.

Hopefully you'll enjoy this.