The Dance of the Seven Veils

The next day, Keibu was at his desk. All he did was stare at the list, trying to make sense of it all. "There has to be more to this list, like there is something I am not seeing." he said to himself. He took another sip of his lemonade. Suddenly, he heard someone pound on the front door, this startled the stallion enough to cause him to spill his drink all over the desk and on the list. "Shit!" he exclaimed with annoyance. He quickly grabbed a towel and placed it over the document in an attempt to dry it somewhat before he rushed to the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he yelled back as he good himself straightened out and opened the door. "Hello?"

To his surprise, he saw the mare he met briefly yesterday morning, Coco Pommel, at his door. "Oh, sorry, did I bother you?" she asked nervously with concern, she did not want to be a bother to anyone.

"Oh hey, and no you are no bother at all." he reassured. "What brings you here?" he asked with curiosity.

She was so nervous that she momentarily forgot how to speak, but she quickly focused herself. "Oh...just that you left your business card behind in my apartment and I came over to give it back to you." she said sheepishly before she gave the card over to the detective.

"Oh, why thank you so ma'am." he accepted the card. He found the mare kind of cute and endearing with her timidness, but he was reluctant to start a relationship so soon with a mare he barely knows.

"Uh...hey..." Coco began suddenly. "if you don't mind and all...but would you like to grab some coffee with me?" she asked.

Keibu was briefly taken aback from the unexpected proposal. "Really?"

"If you're not busy of course." she nervously clarified.

The stallion gave a smile. "Make it milkshakes instead and you have yourself a date." he gladly accepted it. It has been over a year since he dated a mare outside of sex, but it was not in his nature to turn down a mare's proposal.

"Oh, cool." she smiled confidently that her proposal was accepted.

After getting some milkshakes at the diner across the street from the detective's apartment building, they both returned back to the apartment and walked inside. "So that's how I ended up with my own boutique." she said as she finished her story. "It's a lot of hard work, but at least I can finally say I have some financial stability." they both sat down on the couch.

"That was a very nice story, good for you." he complimented. He gave her a warm smile, only to be met by a nervous blush from the mare. "Are you always this timid?" he asked.

"N-not all the time, just when around new ponies...or in crowded public spaces..." she trailed off a bit, finding difficult to make a coherent sentence around a very handsome stallion. She needed to move the spotlight over to the stallion and fast before she blurts out something embarrassing. "Uh...why did you decide to be a detective?"

The stallion just looked on, not expecting such a question. "Well...uh..." he tried his best to explain, he nervously tried to string some words together that would make his reasons for being a detective coherent, but he just could not bring himself to do so. "...it's a long...story..."

"Look...don't bother asking..." Coco interrupted. "...I just need you to do something for me." she placed her hoof on the detective's hoof. A blush emanated from both their faces as they looked into each other's eyes. "I want you to run some background checks on some new employees I am planning on hiring...can you do that for me?"

Keibu just looked on, lost in her eyes. "I will get to that as soon as my work load decreases."

The mare just smiled. "How much do you charge for your services?" she asked, eager to have the job done for her.

"254 bits per day..." Keibu answered matter-of-factually, both their eyes still locked to each other.

"That's a little steep for me right now...especially since my boutique has not turned a profit yet..." she was stunned by the price but she really hopped there was a way to lower the price. "Is there any way you can lower the price, like, I would do anything..." she suddenly rubbed her hoof along the stallion's inner thigh, dangerously close to his sheath. The stallion immediately jumped off the couch in complete shock in response.

"Woah there ma'am...I barely know you..." he warned.

"That didn't stop you from having sex with my roommate!" she blurted out. She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment. Awkward silence befell on both of them. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have risen my voice...I didn't mean to sexually harass you..." she sighed with shame.

"No it's okay," began the stallion. "I have a bad habit of lowering prices for female clients who do me sexual favors..." he also sighed with shame. "It's kind of a weakness for me...along with my insomnia..." he explained. "If you want to have sex with me you are perfectly within your rights to do so...I don't mind...just tell me what you're into to and I'll do my best."

Coco just blushed. "You stallions are all the same," she began. "easily manipulated by the thought of sex." she joked and rolled her eyes. "I'm into anal." she admitted, playing along.

"Great." he smiled. "Uh...let me go to the bathroom to wash myself and grab some lube." he nervously trotted away to the bathroom. He walked in and locked the door. "Come on Keibu, no need to be nervous, you've done this many times before..." he talked to himself. He grabbed a bottle of lube and a box of condoms from the medicine cabinet. "Besides, it's usually the shy ones that are the most kinky in the bedroom, I bet she can give her roommate a run for her money." he assured himself.

After a quick a through wash of his privates, he walked back out to the living room to see Coco about to leave out the door. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this..." she said with shame, she looked like she was in a nervous rush. "...it's not right...I promised myself long ago I wouldn't stoop this low ever again...I'm sorry..." she just turned around and walked out the door.

"I will half the price!" he yelled after her.

"Don't be such stallion-whore." she responded with shame for the stallion. "I've been down that road before...trust me..." with that, she walked out and slammed the door shut.

Keibu just sighed. "I guess I'll use this lube for later." he just placed the bottle next to a stack of tissue boxes before he sat down at his desk to re-focus himself on his work. He removed the soaked towel to reveal the document only to see something completely different; an old subway map. "What the...?" he looked at the spilled glass of lemonade and a thought came into his head. "Invisible ink?"

He looked to see a row of numbers along the side of the map. "Twenty-three, Fifty-three, Eighty-three..." he read the list. "Intervals of around thirty...why thirty?" he thought to himself. He then realized something. "Phases of the moon!" he ran off to his bookshelf and took out an almanac. He flipped to the page on moon phases. He saw that the first full moon took place on the twenty-third day of the year and the second on the fifty-third. "So I assume they meet during the full moon at the old subway lines...and the next full moon is..." he saw the date listed on the almanac. "Tomorrow night."

At a small one-room apartment during the night, Wink sat on the edge of the pull out bed looking into the fire. Next to him, Fib snored softly. He grabbed a stick so he could poke the embers only for the flames to suddenly flare up into a flaming wall of blue flame. "Mr. Wink! Mr. Fib! You have some explaining to do!" boomed a voice from flames.

Both stallions quickly stand before the wall of flames at attention, intimidated at the sight. "Uh...hey boss..." nervously began Wink.

"I thought I told you ZERO BODY COUNT!" boomed the voice. "But next thing I hear, a paper making magnate and his bodyguard have been found dead!"

"Technically," began Fib. "we did not kill Mr. Folio, he just had a heart attack on us."

"Although we will fully accept responsibility for the bodyguard." apologized Wink.

"Oh for the love of me!" the voice exclaimed with annoyance. "I hired you two coltcuddlers to find me the list! I need that list to take care of this foalophile scourge once and for all! WHERE IS THE LIST!"

"Uh...his daughter has them boss..." admitted Fib. "...she's using it as a hit list." he theorized.

"Great, now I have a vigilante to deal with, along with the prospect of digging more holes than planned!" complained the voice behind the flames.

"We're thinking of visiting the biggest financier of the magazine, maybe he knows where Male Lupe is, and if we find Lupe, we find the vigilante." explained Fib.

The voice just gave an annoyed sigh. "You better be right, because if you fail me again, I will not hesitate in making you part of my statue collection in my garden." the voice warned. "You have 48 hours to get me the list!" before the two stallion could voice their opinion, the wall of flames suddenly disappeared. The fireplace now producing embers again as if nothing happened.

"What now Mr. Fib?" asked Wink to his partner.

"Why, we pay an unlucky rich pony an unexpected visited Mr. Wink." smirked Fib to his partner. Both just chuckled menacingly.

Keibu calmly walked out of his apartment building. In about twelve hours, he was going to infiltrate a meeting that was going to be held during the night, he had no idea what to expect, but also had nothing else to do until then. He calmly took the subway uptown to pay a visit to one of his only friends he had.

He reached his friend's house in Inwood and knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a griffin female in a white nurses outfit. "Can I help you?" she asked with annoyance, thinking that he's a salespony.

"The name is Keibu, G's best friend." the detective answered.

The griffin looked at him suspiciously before she yelled at the inside of the house. "Granum! There's a pony named Keibu at the door, says you are his friend!" she yelled.

"Let him inside!" G yelled from his study.

The nurse lead Keibu inside to the study. There the detective saw his friend sitting in his armchair reading the latest medical journal. "Hey G." said Keibu as he entered the room and sat on a chair across from his friend.

G put away his journal. "Hey Keibu, what brings you here?" he was pleasantly surprised since Keibu rarely ever visits. "You want some tea? Galatea, serve my friend here some of your famous sage tea." he told the nurse, he had looked forward to the day his friend showed up to his home willingly for over a year.

"Thanks G." answered Keibu. Galatea walked in with a trolley of hot tea, she carefully poured both their drinks, at the same time, Keibu noticed his friend staring at the nurse's butt with hunger in his eyes, ever so slightly licking his lips. The nurse's outfit drew even more attention to her backside. Keibu just smirked.

"There you go boys, I'll be dusting the upstairs if you need me." she offered with a smile before she walked away. G continued to stare at her backside as she left the room.

"So, I see you have a vested interest in that griffin." Keibu joked. "Hello nurse, I need twenty CC's of your love juice, stat!" he chuckled. G just blushed in response.

"It's been years okay, I just wish that accident never happened." explained G. "That's why next year I'll be participating in an experimental spinal surgery to hopefully fix this so I can be normal again." he then realized what he wanted to ask of his friend. "So why are you here again?"

Keibu sighed. "I came here because tonight I'm going to do something dangerous and risky, and I wanted to at least mend some bridges should anything happen to me." he explained.

"Did you do that with Aisha already?"

"I've actually been trying to avoid her." he confessed. "Afraid of giving her another reason to hate me more." he related as he drank some tea. "I've always had a small crush on her since I moved in to that apartment three years ago, seen her grow up from an adorable filly to an amazing mare." he thought back to the times they hung-out together, the times he had dinner with her family during their holidays. "I blew it sky high." he sighed with regret.

G looked at his friend and smiled. "Is my friend actually admitting to actually having romantic non-sexual feelings for a mare?" he teased, pretending to be shocked. "I would have never thought I'd see the day."

Keibu rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, just don't get used to it." he got off his seat. "So you want me to talk to her I'm guessing?" he asked, he was reluctant to do that.

His friend nodded in response. "Even if she moves on without you, at least you brought some closure so you can move on with your life." he said.

Keibu nodded, fully accepting what he needed to do. "She's probably in school by now, if I leave now I should get there just as class gets out." he said as he walked to the front door. "Thank you for being the only pony who has put up with me for all these years." he smiled.

G chuckled, "Someone has to, I'm just the unlucky one that got stuck with the job." he joked. Keibu laughed before he walked out the door.

Aisha attended a private, all-mare school about 10 blocks away from home. Her parents forced her to attend mares-only schools since the start of middle school. She happily walked out of the school relieved to finally be free, she was the only Saddle Arabian, and the tack she wore caused her to stick out among the group, it did not help matters any further that Aisha saw all of her classmates as airheaded bimbos.

She just sighed and calmly left the school groups, walking down the city streets back to her home, saddle bags in tow. "Hey Aisha!" yelled a familiar voice. The teenaged mare turned to see Keibu trotting up next to her. She looked at him with a mix of regret and suspicion.

"What do you want?" she asked, she assumed he was there to pester her more about not going through the arranged marriage.

"I just wanted to apologize for acting like an entitled fool." he humbly stated. "I should've been happy or at least supportive of you in this difficult time for you."

Aisha was surprised by what he said. Normally, he would act an immature and smug plot hole, so this was a nice surprise for her. "I could use all the support I need." she said with worry. "I'll be spending the rest of my adulthood stuck him, although he does remind me a lot of you...personality wise anyways." she explained as they both walked.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, just like you, he's self-centered, constantly goes on ego trips, is crass, thinks he's the hottest stallion in world." she stated. Keibu looked on with slight offense. "The only difference is that at least you mean well, and have the right intentions in mind, always willing to do the right thing." she smiled. "And plus you're cute when you think you're hot stuff, Ibrahim just makes me cringe when he does it."

Keibu could not help but blush in response. "Aisha I do indeed lov-" before he could complete the sentence a passing carriage sped boy, the passenger inside carelessly threw his smoothie out the window aiming for the trash can that Keibu inadvertently stood next to, only for it to hit the detective square on the face. "FUCK!" he yelled as the sticky liquid covered him. Some of the smoothie got in his mouth. "AND IT'S COCONUT! I HATE COCONUT!" he complained.

Aisha quickly lead Keibu to the apartment building just two blocks away. She took him to her apartment since they have a washing machine and dryer, unlike the other rooms in the building, one perk of being a landlord. She took Keibu inside, and swiftly took the stallion's coat and hat off, placing them in a garbage bag. "You should know where the shower is located, it's basically the same layout just inverted." she explained.

"What about your parents?" he asked before being pushed to the direction of the shower by the mare who wanted him clean before the liquid dried to become sugary glue.

"Dad is on a yacht outing with Ibrahim and mom is working the night shift at the hospital, both won't come back until morning, now get in that shower." she quickly explained before Keibu got the hint and trotted to the bathroom.

Aisha breathed a sigh of relief as she took the stallion's dirty coat and hat and threw them into the washing machine. She walked over to her room to unpack her school saddle bags. Her room was locked right next to the bathroom, she noticed steam emanating from the room along with the stallion's singing. It was slightly off pitch at a few places but she assumed it was because he had a narrow range, but she also noticed that the bathroom door was slightly opened, completely unlocked. Temptation set in inside Aisha but she quickly shook away the thought. She trotted into her room and unloaded her bags.

She laid down on her bed, Keibu's faint singing could be heard, that just made the mare think about him. Could this her last chance to show how she felt about him? But she was afraid of going against her father's wishes, but then she thought about Ibrahim... "Fuck it..." she said to herself as she got off the bed and with determination walked into the bathroom.

Keibu heard someone trot in and looked over to see through the steamy glass of the shower door Aisha standing before him. The room was full of steam from the hot water. "Can I help you?" he asked with confusion, shampoo dripping down his wet mane. Aisha said nothing but take off all of her tack, her bridal, saddle and bit unceremoniously dropped to the bathroom floor. She stood truly naked before she walked up to the shower and opened the door. Keibu did nothing to stop her as she let herself inside. "But what about-?" he was swiftly silenced by a passionate kiss on the lips, the hot water fall on both of them.

She broke the kiss and looked into his eyes with determination "Shut up and fuck me." she said before she dove in for another kiss on the lips, this one more passionate and heavy than the first. The stallion happily obliged.

Normally, Keibu would define skill, thrill and performance of the act to be important, but not this time, for the first time in such a long time, he actually did not care about those things, sure it was amateur and awkward in the physical sense, but he did not care, for the first time he finally experienced that sex is much more than just getting one's rocks off, it was also an opportunity to make an emotional connection to another soul, and to him, that feeling was all he cared about now.

As he laid down on her back on her bed, her hind legs spread apart, showing her awaiting marehood to the stallion, he looked at her and saw nothing but beauty, he never experienced such intense love before. He gave her a look of assurance, to quell her apprehension and seconds thoughts, telling her that she can fully trust him.

She tasted divine... her gentle and soothing coos and moans served as an excellent backdrop to a magical performance, to the stallion she tasted like the sweetest honey in the world, lapping her up, tongue focused and determined to find the special spots that drove her wild, knowing he found them every time she grew louder or squirmed around more. "Keibu..." she would gasp occasionally.

Both their eyes locked to each other as the stallion slowly entered her for the first time, the mare gasped loudly, the world suddenly looked brighter. The stallion gave a romantic smile to her as he went in full hilt. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head in response, moaning. His ministrations where soft and gentle, afraid of harming such a beautiful and delicate creature such as her but gradually picked up the pace.

Every thrust only deepened the connection between them, the stallion continued, even as she tightened her grip around him. He grunted loudly as her inner walls instinctually and slowly began to squeeze, her way of saying to keep going, she wanted everything he could provide. He tried to make it last as long as he could, but it was a matter of time before the inevitable climax arrived. Both souls kissed each other passionately, holding each other, her forelegs holding on to him, and her hindlegs wrapped around his torso, she did not want him to let her go. "I love you..." she gasped between kisses. The stallion naturally responded in kind.

The world turned pure white as both screamed out each other's names.

Reich walked out to his private carriage. "Okay Randolph, I am off to my monthly meeting, please take care of our 'guest' while I am away." he smirked as he climbed in.

"You want me to dispose of him in the usual location I am assuming?" responded the butler. He knew that he was referring to their mentally indisposed guest Male.

"Of course." nodded Reich as the carriage drove away. The butler just silently waved his boss goodbye. "Better get the feeding tube so I can give Mr. Lupe his dinner before I dispose him." he mumbled to himself as he walked back inside before it got too cold.

In the carriage Reich calmly sat as he was taken into the city of Manehatten, he ordered the driver earlier to take him through the alphabet city neighborhood to meet a contact. He soon spotted him standing in the corner, a minotaur, patiently waiting. The carriage pulled up beside him and the minotaur walked up to the carriage window. "So how are things going Palladium?" asked Reich to the minotaur.

"The city water pump is secure, we have successfully infiltrated the entire nightshift." he explained.

"And the evaporator?"

"It arrived here this morning, express delivered from Saddle Arabia, it's being loaded into a truck and is on it's way to the water pump." he reported.

"Good, then you need these." Reich gave the minotaur several viles of liquid. "The light ones are the serum, so you wouldn't get affected, the dark ones are the agent itself." he explained. "Quite harmless in its liquid state...as long as you don't smell them."

"We will do our best, and should this plan succeed, this entire city will see the world in the way we see it." Palladium smirked.

"They will...no longer will we be forced underground like rodents." calmly said Reich as he put on his bird mask with a prominent beak and cloak. The carriage soon drove away into the setting sun.

The sound of the washing machine buzzing loudly, to signify that its load is done, broke the silence of the apartment. In Aisha's room, Keibu tried his best to follow along with the mare's afternoon prayers. "So, it's stand, bow, stand, prostrate, sit, prostrate and sit?" he asked once the prayer ended.

Aisha smiled and nodded. "And since this is the afternoon prayer, you do all of that four times." she explained.

"Ugh, that's too much work and commitment for me." he joked as he sat down on the mare's bed and looked around the room. It was like a stereotypical teenaged mare's room, but not as overly decorated. He looked at Aisha, she looked stunning in front of the sun's rays coming threw her window, especially without her tack on. "So what now?" the stallion asked.

Aisha was unsure about that question as well, what they did was something spur of the moment, but felt like the right thing to do. But it was time for the mare to accept reality. "Pretend that this never happened and stay friends, go about our lives like normal." she looked down in sadness. The stallion walked over to her and lifted up her face so they can be face to face.

"You don't have to go through with this." he urged to her. "You don't have to end up married to him-"

"My father is adamant about this!" she exclaimed as tears flowed down her cheeks. "Father told me I should remain a virgin and marry a good Saddle Arabian stallion...I just broke one of orders...he must never know this happened." she explained with shame.

"Then why did you do it?" he asked.

"Because it fell so right..." she said before she grabbed the stallion into a hug and cried into his shoulder. "...I'm so torn...I want YOU!" she wept. "But I want to make my family proud..." she explained. Keibu said nothing, he just rubbed her back while providing her a shoulder to cry on.

The stallion noticed the sun begin to set from out the window. It was time for him to go. He sadly had to end the hug. "Look, I have to go now, I have a case to do." he explained before gently kissing her one last time. Aisha sadly agreed to let him go, she did not want to him to miss a case.

"Will you at least promise me that you'll come back home safe?" she yearned. Keibu looked at her, he did not want to make such a promise, but he also did not want to worry her.

"I promise I'll come back home safe." he assured as he walked out of the bedroom and grabbed his coat and hat from the washing machine. "But if I fail to keep up that promise, then please move on without me." he stated. He put on his clothes and walked out the door without saying another word.

Aisha looked on as Keibu walked down the stairs. "I love you..." she murmured under her breath before sadly closing the door.

It was night at a mansion just outside of Manehatten, inside a butler calmly went up to the front door to answer the doorbell. He opened the door to reveal to stallions, one tall and skinny, the other short and fat. "Are you Celestia's Witnesses?" the butler inquired with suspicion. He carefully grabbed a nine iron golf club just in case they answered in the affirmative.

"Oh no, no, no, we're just old high school buddies trying to reconnect with him is all." began Fib.

"Yes, next month is our 30th anniversary class reunion and we are wondering if we can talk to him." said Wink.

The butler looked at them suspiciously. "Master Reich graduated high school 40 years ago." he corrected as he suddenly showed the pair his nine iron. "Get out." he warned.

Both Fib and Wink looked at each other and shrugged. "It was worth a try." said Fib before his partner pulled out a knife and stabbed the butler on the chest. He gasped out in pain and fell to the floor, clutching the knife.

"I suggest you keep pressure on that, because it's the only thing keeping you from bleeding to death." explained Wink.

"Now tell us where Mr. Reich goes once every four weeks, and we'll consider dumping you at a nearby hospital." said Fib in a creepily calm manner.

The butler looked up at them with fear and confusion. "What do you want from Mr. Reich?!" he gasped, laboring to breathe.

"More like what CELESTIA wants from Mr. Reich." answered Wink with a chuckle. "Mr. Reich knows something that Celestia desperately wants to know, and she has sent us to get that information."

"So we'll ask this one last time, where does Mr. Reich and his foalophile friends hang out once every four months?" Fib grabbed the knife handle, threatening to pull it out swiftly.

The butler breathed heavily, completely conflicted about what to do...