A Different Brand of Grey
Shining Armor was glad to be back in the Crystal Empire, and it was apparently just as happy to see him return. Not a cloud in the sky dare mar the face of the smiling sun as he lifted his chin and allowed its touch to bathe over him. He couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be back home. Even the ponies he passed seemed just as happy about his arrival.
“Welcome home, Prince Shining Armor!” a mare called from a flower stand, waving a small bouquet of daisies as she did so.
A similar greeting was given by a stallion peddling loaves of bread on a street corner. “Glad to see you made it back safely, your highness!”
“Me too,” Shining Armor responded with a smile, “And thank you!”
For a little over a month now, Shining Armor had acted as ambassador for Equestria during the Sheikh’s grand birthday party in Saddle Arabia. It wasn’t necessarily a pressing job, as relations between the two countries have always been pleasant.
The only times when Shining Armor had to deploy every ounce of caution was when the Sheikh had downed both kegs of Equestrian cider that Shining had brought as a birthday gift. The Sheikh became a completely different pony when he was inebriated, equal parts crude and pushy. There were multiple times during Shining’s stay when the drunken Sheikh had offered to marry one of his daughters to the Equestrian prince.
“I’m terrible sorry,” Shining Armor would answer politely, his cheeks flushing with a hint of color. “But I already have a special somepony.” Well, technically I have two, he would think to himself. However, that thought would only make him blush harder.
Those days had been long without the embrace of his two favourite mares, and the nights had been even longer. The large bed he had been given felt cold and barren without the touch of his lovers’ hooves to warm him or the sounds of their soft breaths to lull him to sleep.
Now, though, he stood in the monolithic shadow cast by the Crystal Palace. Gazing up to the glimmering spires that threatened to pierce the sky itself, his heart fluttered like a skittering butterfly. He was home.
***
“You’d better stop fighting,” Cadence hissed, her scolding hot breath washing along the back of Twilight’s neck. “It took me ten minutes to wrestle these straps around you and I won’t have you messing up my hard work!”
Twilight, an Element of Harmony and savior of Equestria, lay bound and gagged upon her sister-in-law’s bed like a hogtied calf. When she didn’t stop squirming, Cadence kept true to her word and she tightened the black straps. However, it wasn’t the ones that held together Twilight’s hooves that she went for. Cadence horn lit up in a dazzling display of magic, brightened the dimply lit bedchambers a bit more. Around the upper part of Twilight’s back legs were two more straps. She focused on their polished buckles and tightened them up a few notches.
The bitter edge of the strap bit into the soft flesh of Twilight’s thighs like a maw of needles, eliciting a muffled cry from the princess.
“Alright,” Cadence sang, her eyes glowing pink as they reflected the light at the tip of her horn. “Are you going to behave now?” Twilight nodded once and allowed herself to fall still.
Even though she had complied, Cadence couldn’t help but grin wickedly as she notched up each strap once more, just for safe measure. Twilight whimpered at the pain tearing into her thighs, yet the glistening of moisture leaking from her withers couldn’t be overlooked. She was enjoying this just as much as Cadence, if not more.
“Looks like somepony is getting a bit excited.” Heart pounding in her ears, Cadence lowered her head inches from Twilight’s hindquarters and inhaled the deep, musky odor coming from her sopping mound. That scorching breath of her’s now tickled and caressed Twilight’s nethers like invisible fingers, making her eyes rolled up into their sockets as she fought the urge to squirm.
“You have been quite the naughty little filly, Twily. You ate my entire stash of toffee covered peanuts. Then, to make matters worse, you blame it on rats. Rats! I swear, it was as if you were just begging to be discovered.”
Twilight murmured something that was rendered unintelligible by her gag. Nevertheless, Cadence giggled and said, “Oh, don’t try to make excuses, you silly filly. I knew it was you when I tasted it on your breath.”
The lavender alicorn’s eyes went wide. Her silence was as good as a confession to the love goddess hovering just above her sex.
“But don’t you worry, my dear,” Cadence cooed, giving her a taste. Hmm, butterscotch, Cadence thought as she greedily lapped up Twilight’s spilling juices. This time the smaller princes did squirm. She wiggled and writhed like a worm being primed for baiting. Each breath she took felt jagged and labored as it tore its way free from her lungs.
When Cadance finally pulled away from Twilight minutes later, she did so leaving a bigger mess than when she had started. Cadence took a moment to enjoy her handy work, reveling in how cute and vulnerable her sister-in-law looked in that moment. I wonder what Shining would think if he saw her like this, Cadence thought, smacking her lips. Would it rev his engine as much as it does mine?
She suspected it would have. Even so, Cadence had no intention of letting Shining in on this little game of theirs. Just as Shining had a few ‘special’ activities just for him and Twily, this was Cadence’s. Today, Twilight was all hers.
Eager and ready to proceed, Cadence hopped down from her place on the bed and strolled over to the roaring fireplace on long, graceful legs. With the glow of her magic gone, the warm glow of the fire was the only light left in the bedchambers. This was probably a good thing, as the darkness masked the carnage created by Twilight’s spirited resisting. However, the damage done to the regal decor of their room bothered Cadance none. They could have the room refurbished within the evening, and without a single question asked. Besides, it was the chase that really got Cadence’s blood burning.
Cadence cast a long, sinister shadow as she hovered over the fire, a smile snaking across her face. The glow of her magic reappeared as she focused and pulled something from the fire.
“You know what’s coming, don’t you?” Cadence asked as she turned, seeing Twilight quiver in feverish anticipation.
“Hmmm, of course you do. Naughty girls like you always look forward to the lash. Well, who am I to disappoint?”
Levitating next to the princess of love, the glow of the red hot branding iron framed Cadence’s figure in a sinister light. She took her place next to Twilight again, iron floating in tow. The design of it end was that of heart, not too much unlike the one of Cadence’s flank. Though the design of the rod changed each time they played this devilish game, Cadence alway preferred this one. It made her feel as if she was claiming the younger mare, making Twilight her’s. With this in mind, it soon wasn’t just Twilight’s fluids staining the royal bed sheets.
“Are you ready to be punished?” Cadence asked in a sultry tone, bringing the iron inches from Twilight’s flank. It hadn’t even touched her yet and the heat generated from the piece of steel felt as if it was cutting into her tender hide.
Twilight had only enough time to muffle a brief response before her quiet words became a faint scream. Waves of euphoria and agony washed over her like a rising tide as the orgasm shattered her world. That wasn’t the only that came in waves. Someone call the repair pony, because there was a fissure in the Hoover Dam.
Small tendrils of smoke rose from where the steel burned and seared into her flesh. It made Cadence’s marehood quiver as she drank in the pleasure and pain cocktailing in Twilight’s expression. Unfortunately, it was the scream that Cadence had come to relish that masked the sound of her bedroom door swinging open.
***
“Cadence! What in Celestia’s sun are you doing to my sister!”
The princess of love’s blood ran cold as ice and her wingboner died like cat choking on his own hairball as her husband’s cry pierced the air like a siren’s wail. Twilight began to wiggle and scream, no longer in pleasure, but Cadence paid her no mind as she tossed the branding iron across the room and turned to Shining Armor with a disarming smile. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this,’ that smile pleaded.
“Shining! I t-thought you were going to be coming home next week!” Her wide eyes twitched psychotically as she spoke.
Shining looked as if her words had struck him dumb.“W-what? I got an early ship back. What are you doing to Twilight?”
Twilight, scarred butt still propped up and leaking lady bits still on display like a Hearth Warming’s parade float, muffled and sputtered through her gag, every word sounding guttural and unintelligible. Shaking her head, Cadence did her best to weave her words into something more believable than whatever that was.
“Look, Shiny, I know this must seem really bad-”
“You got that right!”
“But I need you to calm down long enough for me to explain.”
“Explain? Explain!? You branded my sister! How in the sister’s names do you explain that!” He motioned with a hoof towards his sister’s ass.
“Oh, I thought my ears were burning.”
Every stomach in the bedchambers took a plummet as another voice called out from the room behind Shining Armor. The stallion spun around and saw none other than his beloved aunt striding towards him, a warm smile brazened on her face.
“Celestia!” Shining shrieked, then realized the desperation etched along his voice. He coughed and spoke in a shaky, but calmer, voice. “I mean, aunt Celestiaaaaa! W-what are you doing here?”
“Well, I heard that you had gotten an early ship home, so I just thought I’d come by in person to see how your trip went. I figured that you’d be so worn out from keeping the Sheikh’s company for a month that maybe it would be easier for you to give your report in person than through a letter.”
Shining Armor’s body had gone rigid, fear rooting him in place like an old oak ready to test the passage of time. It was because of this that he was completely helpless to prevent Celestia from approaching the bedchamber’s threshold.
“Oh, is that Cadence? Hello Cade-” Celestia’s head poked into the room and her words shriveled up like a rotten tomato. She met Cadence’s blinking gaze before looking over at Twilight’s plot.
“What in the name of my sun is going on here? This... looks a lot like my two-hundredth birthday party… Luna hasn’t been telling tales, has she?” A trio of eyebrows arched in unison.
“Um… what?” Cadence said.
“L-look, aunt Celestia,” Shining sputtered, his lips feeling numb. “I c-can explain!”
Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof. “Really? Cause I don’t think you have a whole lot to explain. Everything is… pretty much out there in the open… Twilight, did you always have a heart on your butt?” A groan was elicited from Celestia’s prized pupil.
Cadence jumped in front of Twilight’s exposed behind, trying her best to save face. “We’re really sorry, auntie, but this isn’t a very good time-”
“Sister, are you in there?”
A new voice added itself into the fray, and Luna’s head promptly appeared beside Celestia’s. “There you are! Do none of you see- Whoa! What in the name of Celestia’s bum is going on here! Tia... this looks like your second-hundredth birthday!” The elder sister nodded while the princess and princess of the Crystal Empire face-hoofed in unison.
Shining armor looked to the royal sisters with pleading eyes, his words sounded just as needy and desperate. “Please! This really isn’t a good time!”
Luna shrugged and said, “Okay, I just came by because I thought you would like to know that there is smoke pouring from your window.”
Everyone remained quiet for a moment, before their gazes moved to the roaring fire that had consumed half of the room. Somewhere in that blaze, Cadence’s branding iron lay at its heart.
“Oh...” Shining Armor sounded like a pony who had just learned his kitten had really been a puppy all along. “Well, thank you, princess Luna.”
The crackling and popping of the flames were the only sounds as the ponies watched on in dumbstruck fascination as the blaze crept along the carpet. Everything that fell into its burning grasp quickly turned as black as a changeling's bunghole. Then there was a magnificent chorus of harmonized shrieks that rang out through the kingdom as the royal ponies proceeded to flip their shit.
***
In the royal hall of the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence and the stylist Rarity stood side by side, staring at each other with two completely different expressions. Rarity twisted her locks of lavish mane nervously between her hooves, her gaze falling anywhere that allowed her not to meet Cadence’s eyes.
“That’s a very… interesting story, Princess, but I only inquire as to why you’re remodeling your whole castle on such a short notice.”
Cadence only stared down at the pony with cold, deadpan eyes as she said, “I know, I just told you why…”
