The Canterlot Files

Chapters

File 1: The Spirit of the Everfree
File 2: The Curse of Sweet Apple Acres
File 3: The Secret Grove
File 4: The Department of Monsters
File 5: Orphans
File 6: Life and Death

File 1: The Spirit of the Everfree

"Come on!" Sunset called upstairs to Sonata, "We don't want to be late for our first day!"

"Sorry," the door slammed as Sonata emerged, "this outfit took way longer than I thought."

"What the fuck even is it?" Sonata was wearing impressively long black heels, a tight black skirt of significantly less than knee-length, and the strangest jacket/blouse combo Sunset had ever seen. Despite being two pieces, both were cut egregiously low: the jacket ended below the swell of her breasts, perfectly positioned to push them up, and the blouse ranged from barely higher in the middle of each breast, to not at all higher in the middle. Even to Sunset, who had a real weakness for Sonata's breasts, the effect was so tasteless it was less sexy than a normal shirt.

Of course, she could stare at Sonata's breasts for some time in a normal shirt, but that was neither here nor there.

Sonata shot her a look.

"I wasn't going to be a not-sexy secretary, silly."

"Okay, the position is administrative assistant. And it's been decades since--wait, is that an actual Halloween costume?"

"I know, right? I couldn't find this stuff anywhere else!"

Sunset just rolled her eyes.

"Well, we don't have time to fix it now. But we're going right to Rarity's at the end of the day, if you really want to be a 'sexy secretary', she'll at least keep it a classy sexy. But come on, we gotta go!" Sonata nodded, and the pair rushed to Sunset's motorcycle, buckling on helmets as they went.

It was a short ride downtown to the new office. Sunset's hair emerged from the helmet indistinguishably wild. Sonata's hair, and indeed her entire outfit, despite being completely unsuited to a motorcycle ride, remained pristine. Sunset couldn't claim she had sex with Sonata daily in order to help her regain such minor magics, but it was certainly a nice bonus.

Their new office was on the third floor of one of the nondescript office buildings, in a suite labeled "Sunheart Associates" on the building directory. Sunset and Redheart both planned to put out word, discreetly, among their supernaturally-aware friends that this was the place to go to report strange activity, but it hardly seemed wise to advertise too overtly beyond that. The rest of the directory was sparse - the building seemed nowhere near occupancy.

Neither woman had yet seen the finished suite, so they paused on entry to look around. Sonata's desk, of course, guarded the entrance, though they didn't plan to open the office to the public until next week, so where the computer would soon sit was just a mess of wires. Beyond it, a half-plexiglass wall and wooden door separated it from Sunset and Redheart's desks, and the conference room. The door was unlocked, but Sunset tested her key in it just to be sure, nodding in satisfaction when it worked. Then they hurried to the conference room. It was 8:59am. Sunset grinned. Redheart was waiting for them, fiddling with a large map of the city on one wall.

"Hey partner," Sunset said.

"Hi boss!" Sonata echoed.

"Hey Sunset. Hey Sona-what in the world are you wearing?"

"I'm a sexy secretary, duh."

"It's...it's just a Halloween costume, isn't it?"

"Don't worry," Sunset sighed, "we're going to go see Rarity tonight."

Redheart nodded. "Well, good enthusiasm anyway, Sonata." The siren had started to look downcast, but perked up and grinned. "I'm glad you're serious about your role, even if your priorities are, uh, interesting."

Since the office wasn't open, Redheart wasn't wearing any concealing clothing like she'd been when she originally approached Sunset about teaming up. Even having seen her new appearance several times in the lead-in to opening the office, Sunset still found it striking. Two deep red horns now sprouted from Redheart's hairline, above each of her eyes, and curled over her hair, tapering to fine points most of the way along her head. She wore her red leathery wings, partway between a bat's and a dragon's, folded over her shoulders like a cape. Sunset thought her thin tail, ending in a broad heart-shaped tip, would likely trail below her knees if she let it, but she wasn't sure, as she'd never seen it still; it seemed to have a mind of its own, sometimes lashing like a cat's, others upturned in a way that seemed almost inquisitive.

"Are your horns longer?" Sonata asked.

"A bit," Redheart said, "since you last saw them. I think they've stopped, though, it's been a few weeks since they've grown out any more."

"That's good," Sunset said. "And still no idea if there's any change other than cosmetic? Like, can you fly or anything?"

Redheart sighed.

"I've been too afraid to try. And even if they can hold me up, it's not like I know how to use them. I mean, who's going to teach me something like that?"

"Oh yeah. I guess when Princess Twilight got hers, she at least had pegasus friends to help."

"Oooh," Sonata said, "maybe you'll get lucky and find another person with wings while you look!"

Redheart shrugged. "Maybe so. Or maybe I'll be able to get the Bureau to swing me some time at a high-clearance wind tunnel or something. But until then, they're just something I have to keep hidden most of the time."

"At least you get that private eye thing," Sonata said. "You look so cool!"

Redheart laughed. "I'm glad you think so."

"Anyway, what have you got there?" Sunset gestured to the map, which was covered in green and yellow pins, some large and some small. Many more, plus red and black ones of both sizes, were set aside in a hanging plastic tray below the map.

"Our first data points," Redheart said. "The pin color indicates disposition. Green is friendly, yellow is neutral, red would be hostile, black unknown. Big pins are for things with some kind of magic that's significantly different from normal human ability. Little pins for things without."

"Oh! There's us!" Sonata grabbed Sunset's hand in her own left, and pointed with her right to their house, where a large and a small green pin were stuck.

"Right," Redheart said. "You get a big one, Sonata, since you're getting some of your powers back, and I expect you'll get them all pretty soon."

"Mmmm-hm! Sunny takes good care of me!"

Redheart flushed. "Yes, well. Sunset, you get a little one, since your minor transformations don't really offer any unusual capabilities."

"What about when we defeated the sirens with the power of rock?"

Redheart shrugged. "There's only so much you can do with two types of pins, obviously we'll also have to keep files with details. That was a team effort, involved Princess Twilight, and seemed more like a counterspell than anything active. But yeah, it maybe could have gone either way. Since it's you, it barely matters in practical terms anyway."

"Fair enough," Sunset said. "I see the others too. You gave them pins since they can pony up?"

Redheart nodded. Sunset looked at two large green pins right next to each other, relatively close to the school.

"I don't recognize that street, who are those?"

"Celestia and Luna," Redheart said, blushing harder. "They claim they don't know why their semen changed me, but I don't believe it. It's just too weird, and too many other people have used the potion without it happening. But they seemed genuinely concerned about it, so I don't think they'll use it again. And they've been running the school for ages, and if anything it's safer than you'd expect compared to similar schools, so I'm okay with calling them friendly."

"Yeah," Sunset said. "They're so powerful in Equestria I always thought it was weird they were just humans here. But I think you're right, they're probably just used to hiding it. Maybe someday they'll want to talk."

Only two other pins remained, two small yellow ones right next to each other in the seedier part of town. Sonata fingered them with a downcast look.

"Aria and Adagio."

Sunset stroked her hand.

"Yeah," Redheart said. "It seems like everyone knows better than to give them any more magic, and they don't seem to be doing anything serious, so I left them yellow. I maybe should have gone red."

"I think you should," Sonata said. Wordlessly, Redheart replaced them. For a while all of them were silent.

"What about the river?" Sonata said finally.

"What about it?" Redheart said. It was Sunset's turn to blush.

"Uh, I knocked Sonata up last year by accident. Sirens are kinda like fish, they're not much for parenting, just lay a bunch of eggs in the water and wander off. Aria and Adagio had some too."

"Wait, a bunch of your kids might be in the river and you aren't like, checking all the time?" Redheart stared at them.

"Maybe I'd feel different if I carried a kid around for a year like you mammals," Sonata said, "but most of them die anyway, you can't get attached. Until they grow up and wake up, it's not like they're people."

"I don't really like thinking about it," Sunset admitted.

"That's what I get for hiring teenagers," Redheart sighed.

"I'm somewhere in my mid twenties," Sunset said.

"I'll be one thousand, three hundred and seven next month," Sonata said.

Redheart just shook her head. She reached for a pin, then stopped. "So what are they like?"

"Probably still tadpoles," Sonata said. "If they can hatch somewhere without ambient magic at all. It wouldn't even be worth looking for a year or so."

"Okay then, what will they be?"

Sonata shrugged. "They'd be seaponies in Equestria, but so would I. Maybe mermaids?"

Redheart pulled out a large black pin and a post-it note, wrote a large question mark on the note, and stuck it over the widest part of the river with the pin. "It'll do for now," she said. "Anyone else I'm forgetting?"

"Not unless I am too," Sunset said.

"All right," Redheart said. "We'll have to see what we can come up with for leads, but first we should make files for these." She gestured to the table, where a pile of office supplies awaited their attention. "Shall we?"

"Darlings!" Rarity grinned as Sunset and Sonata walked into her boutique. "What a pleasant surprise! What can I do for...oh dear, Sonata. Is that a 'sexy secretary' costume?"

Sonata nodded.

"Well, I see why you've come, then. That simply won't do! You've far too much natural sexiness to need something so crass. Let me take care of you. How many outfits would you like?"

Sonata looked at Sunset and shrugged.

"I've got three pairs of work pants and jackets, so I have some choice, and a dozen or so tops, so I don't get in trouble if I can't do laundry for a week," Sunset said. "That'd probably be fine. We haven't gotten paid yet, though, so if you get it done before next week, we might not be able to cover all of it."

"Nonsense," Rarity said, "I'm doing quite well for myself. I wouldn't dream of charging Sonata for her very first work outfits. Especially for such important work!"

Sunset knew Rarity would allow no argument now, but resolved herself to at least cover her friend's materials, if she could think of any way to make Rarity accept. Perhaps if she came and picked up the outfit alone...

Before she could finish her plotting, Rarity strode over swapped the boutique's sign to 'Closed', as it had just hit 6:00.

"Oh, do we need to come back?" Sonata asked. "I didn't realize how late it was."

"Of course not," Rarity said, "I always have to make appointments to do measurements outside open hours. It wouldn't do to have you in your unmentionables when just anyone could wander in off the street. Besides, getting my hands on you is always a pleasure."

Sonata darkened, and Rarity herded her off into the back, out of sight of the boutique's windows. Without anything else obvious to do, Sunset followed.

"Don't be shy dear," Rarity was saying, "I can't do my measurements with that costume pushing your poor breasts all around, never mind what the heels are doing. Off with it!"

Sonata giggled and nodded, and pulled down her skirt. She was between Rarity and Sunset, and facing the seamstress, so Sunset was treated to the exquisite rear view of the action. As the tight skirt fell, Sonata's full rear bounced free, followed by the tops of her shapely legs. Sunset saw no sign of panties; either Sonata was rocking a very narrow thong, or she'd gone commando to their first day. If Rarity's suddenly deep crimson cheeks suggested the latter, Sonata herself confirmed it moments later when she bent to remove her heels, revealing her familiar but no less enticing sex. Before Sunset could announce her presence, Sonata rose again, unbuttoned and tossed aside her jacket, and yanked off her undershirt. She was braless as well, and now stood fully exposed. Rarity's mouth was slack. Sonata let out a giggle. Sunset's pants felt suddenly tight, her mind hazy, as her pony cock made itself ready for its usual duty.

"Oh my," Rarity said. "You know, I never quite got a good look at you in Twilight's basement, dear. I confess I had other things on my mind. You have quite the figure. I can certainly work with this." She glanced past Sonata at Sunset. "And I believe so can Sunset," she giggled.

Sonata followed her gaze and grinned at the obvious bulge in Sunset's pants.

"Oops, sorry," she said, though she did not sound fully sincere.

"It's okay," Sunset said. "We'll have plenty of time to take care of it once you're done here."

"Mmmm," Rarity nodded, and began her measuring work.

Though Sunset had downplayed her alchemically induced arousal, she knew it was important Rarity get her measurements right. She suffered in silence, head swimming. Despite her admittedly biased emotional state, though, she suspected Rarity was more hands-on with Sonata's naked body than she would have been in a purely professional context. Of course, within the last year the two women had spent an entire night in Twilight's basement being inseminated by Twilight and Sunset, first for science and then just for fun. So Sunset supposed some familiarity was warranted, and she knew Sonata did not object, and would not hesitate to tell Rarity if she did. Still, it was hard to miss that her hands lingered on Sonata's legs and back as she placed her tape, or that she pressed the ends harder than she might otherwise need to, no doubt causing the tape to leave a line of pressure across Sonata's flesh.

Sonata certainly noticed - by the time Rarity was finishing up her measurements, the siren's nipples were rock-hard atop her generous breasts, and Sunset could smell her arousal in the air. She was nearly frantic to rut her lover, but suspected Rarity might have something slightly different in mind.

"Thank you for your patience, darling," Rarity said. "I know it's tiresome. But I cannot bear to see beauty such as yours divorced from class for even one more day! I shall be sure to have your first outfit ready first thing tomorrow."

"Oh thank you Rarity!" Sonata's eyes were wide, and her voice held the timbre Sunset usually heard when she was begging for cum. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to show you how much I appreciate your generosity?" She leaned forward in a transparently seductive stance.

Rarity grinned. "Sonata, I would never dream of taking advantage of--"

"Take advantage," Sonata said, voice deep. "Please."

"Oh very well," Rarity said, "if you insist," though Sunset was now even more sure she'd been teasing Sonata mercilessly. "I must say, Sonata, I don't know what it is, but your magnificent figure makes even a dedicated cock lover such as myself yearn to penetrate you. It is surely a gift. Sunset, do you have any potion on you?"

"Of course," Sunset fished one out of her bag. "You want the safe one, I assume?"

"Ah, yes please," Rarity said, "the river already seems in danger of overpopulation."

As Rarity walked over to Sunset and took the bottle, Sonata, giggling, put her heels back on. With her already stunning legs further toned, and now with the added height to make the geometry work, she walked over to Rarity's work bench and bent over it, now at the perfect height for this to spread her thighs and reveal her treasure.

Rarity's lip quavered. "Oh my," she said, reaching under her skirt, deftly removing her panties and staring at the potion. "I never thought I'd want to take one of these. But I say darling, you do look inviting. I can hardly wait to be inside you." She uncorked the bottle and downed it in a single long pull, tossing it aside heedlessly. Brief moments later, the front of her skirt ruffled with displaced air, the only sign of her new member.

"Goodness," she said, "no wonder men get so eager sometimes. This is so urgent! It makes me want to behave quite ungently."

"Oh don't be gentle," Sonata said, "you got me so wet, teasing me like you did, just come fuck me deep and hard!"

Rarity seemed to need no further encouragement. She hurried over, eyes never leaving Sonata's luscious rear and ready pussy. As she approached, she flipped up the front of her skirt, and Sunset caught a glimpse of her pristine ivory shaft, long and elegant, before she plunged it, firmly but not hastily, into Sonata's sex to the hilt.

"Oh no darling," Rarity said, "I intend to savor your lovely body. This is my first time with a cock, after all." She slid in and out, again firmly but deliberately. Sonata moaned. So did Sunset.

"Oh! Sunset darling," Rarity said, "No need to feel left out just because I'm fucking your lovely girlfriend! Take out that wonderful cock of yours. I don't speak for Sonata, but you're certainly welcome to enjoy me howsoever you like."

"Oh, you know I'm yours," Sonata moaned. "But we're trying to thank Rarity." She reached behind herself with some difficulty and unbuttoned and opened Rarity's skirt, which fell to the ground. "I think she has a killer ass," Sonata continued.

Sunset had to agree. Rarity was slightly hunched over as she thrust into Sonata - even with the heels, the fashionista was slightly taller. As a result, her cheeks opened invitingly when she pulled out, revealing her pink pucker.

"You're right," she said, and dropped her pants, revealing her rampant pony cock.

"Come on," Sonata said, "I want some of me in there too, so I'll get you nice and wet."

Sunset didn't need encouragement. She hurried to the far side of the work bench, where Sonata eagerly took the entire shaft into her mouth. Sunset felt her working her cheeks, coating it with as much saliva as possible. She moaned at the feeling of the warm liquid oozing around her shaft. Sonata winked at her and opened her mouth, deliberately not removing it, leaving Sunset's dick dripping.

"Go help me thank her," she panted.

Sunset didn't need to be told twice. She hurried behind Rarity, but wanted to make sure her friend's rear entrance was as ready for her as possible. She reached under her coupling friends, whetting her first two fingers in Sonata's dripping fluids, then fully coating them by running them teasingly over Rarity's well-coated shaft as it emerged. Both girls moaned. Finally she dipped them, ever so briefly, into Rarity's also-dripping sex. Now they were totally covered. She moved them to her friend's inviting looking pucker, rubbing it gently before pressing both fingers in. They slid in easily.

"Oh yes, darling," Rarity panted, "I'm ready for you."

Carefully, Sunset waited until Rarity buried herself fully in Sonata, then positioned her ready prick just behind Rarity's clenched ass. Rarity pulled back for her next thrust, her own movement parting her gorgeous cheeks to reveal Sunset's target, and the strength of her thrust impaling her fully.

"Oh...oh my," she said weakly, suddenly stuffed with cock.

Sunset could only moan in response, still processing the feeling of Rarity's tight rosebud grasping her shaft, top to bottom. Before she quite had, Rarity began fucking in earnest, powerful, fast mating strokes in and out of Sonata, making it clear she wanted only for all of them to climax as rapidly and forcefully as possible. It seemed unlikely to take long.

Sunset was on the verge when she heard Sonata's characteristic increasing moans, signalling that the siren had passed the point of no return. She knew from long experience that her pussy was now clenching all over Rarity's shaft, and suspected that the first-timer could not endure for long. The thought, compared with the sight and delirious tightness of Rarity's gorgeous ass, brought her too to the brink, and she felt her flare deploying in her friend's bowels.

Rarity started pumping first. She plunged into Sonata and stopped her thrusting, leaving only Sunset's flare inside her, but as she did so, either intentionally or due to orgasmic collapse, she fell across Sonata's squirming back, leaving her asscheeks spread wide. Sunset needed no further invitation. She hilted herself in Rarity as her own orgasm washed over her, and she pumped Rarity's warm ass full of warmer seed.

As she felt herself cresting, she thought about how much she loved the sight of Sonata swollen with two full loads, how much hotter it would be to know both were the result of claiming Rarity's phallic virginity. She reached between her friend's legs, caressing her still heaving balls, and running her hand lightly over her slit, pinching her clit. She was rewarded with the telltale clenching that indicated Rarity was going to unload the remainder of her seed into Sonata's eager womb.

"Ooooh," Sonata moaned, pressing her ass back into Rarity in a vain attempt to get the other woman's cock deeper.

Sunset didn't expect Rarity to return the favor. When her delicate fingers traced teasing patterns over Sunset's balls and pussy, that was nearly enough alone to drive her to fully unloading. When she took those then-soaked fingers and used them to gently massage Sunset's virgin asshole, it was too much. Rarity's hand fell away in shock as Sunset bore down on her in wild delight, nearly howling with the unexpected sensation, and emptied the last of her seed as deep inside her as she could manage.

Both magical cocks vanished, and for a moment the only sounds to be heard were three sets of breathless pants and a plop as Sonata's overloaded pussy spilled on to Rarity's workroom floor. No drop of Sunset's seed escaped Rarity's ass.

"My," the seamstress managed, "your load will keep me nice and warm while I burn the midnight oil on tomorrow's outfit." She winked at Sunset. "A pity my poor pussy is so neglected, but if I don't start now, I shall never finish it, so must accept an IOU. Sonata dear, I refuse to see that lovely body in less than the best for even one more day. You simply must come back first thing tomorrow to get the first outfit."

"But Rarity," Sonata said, "what if we just don't leave? That solves both your problems at once!"

"As I said, darling, I have inspiration now. If I let myself delay, no matter how pleasant, I may lose it!"

"No, she's right," Sunset said, "or I mean, she could be, if you're willing. We could go wait in your room. That way we won't have to come back tomorrow, and we can finish rewarding you when you're done."

"Oh," Rarity's eyes widened, "oh my. Sonata, you are as brilliant as you are beautiful!" Sonata, who Sunset was ashamed to realize had probably never been complimented on her mind before, blinked but smiled, adorably shyly. "I shall treat it as a rush order," Rarity continued, "and will join you in my chambers as soon as I can. Please enjoy the bed for whatever you'd like to do until then." She winked, and set about working furiously, without even bothering to put her skirt or panties back on.

As it turned out, 'whatever they'd like to do' was kiss chastely, then take a nap. Both lovers were exhausted after their first session with Rarity, and eager though they were for the continuation, they knew it would take several hours before Sonata's body absorbed the magical seed that was overflowing her womb and distending her stomach and made room for more. Besides which, they suspected they'd need to get their sleep while they could.

They both awoke as Rarity opened the door, gloriously naked, and it proved right. She was nearly insatiable, and encouraged Sonata to match. While Sunset pounded one girl, the other teased the rest of Sunset's body with hands and mouth, ensuring she dumped the full double load into her current lover. Then they handed Sunset another potion and swapped. All told, Sunset unloaded full double loads in ass and pussy of both, and one more into their mouths. Somehow they timed it perfectly so that they replaced each other with each jet of sperm, wasting none, until both felt full and, grinning, pressed their breasts together and let the rest coat their heaving chests.

Sunset thought Rarity's usual fastidiousness would make herd them all into the shower, but instead, finally, she fell, giggling, to the bed, bloated belly up.

"Good thing I can sleep on my back," she laughed. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm so tired I could barely move."

Sunset nodded. "I doubt any of you have room left for my cock in you, what with all the cum."

Sonata giggled. "I bet I could find a bit. But yeah, I'm tired."

"Oh, I needed that," Rarity sighed. "Of course I am, as always, inundated with suitors, but it just isn't the same. They always want things. Another date, promises. They get jealous. It's so nice to know that when I'm tired of it all, you girls are there for me. Now, before we all drop off, do tell me about your day."

They did, and Rarity listened intently.

"Why, I may have a lead for you right now," she said, after they finished. "Have you never heard of the Spirit of the Everfree?"

Sunset shook her head.

"I didn't even know there was an Everfree on this side," she said. "Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Oh yes," Rarity said, "it's quite a large forest, southeast of the city. I used to go to day camp there for many years as a child and teenager. The interesting thing is there's a whole ring of camps around the edges, as you might expect, but all the nature trails and lakes and things are between them, around the edges. No one ever goes to the center of the woods.

"Now, I didn't think too much of it at first. After all, all the interesting things seemed to be between them anyway. But every year, campers claimed they'd seen strange things from the deep woods. And this was at different camps, as well, from different people, who as far as I could tell had never met. They were remarkably consistent, as well: a beautiful lady, roaming the woods, looking sad. But they said she was a spirit, because she looked not unreal, but too real.

"In my last year there, and this was only a few years ago, at the end of my sophomore year, there was a week at the end of camp where we could stay overnight. I chose to, and on the second to last day, I finally got up my courage, and determined I'd solve the mystery. So I stole out of the cabin in the dead of night with a flashlight and a compass. Once I was clear, I made for the middle of the woods. And Sunset, I swear I saw her! And they were right, she was like the only real thing there, like the woods were green-screened, and she was the actress. But when I tried to follow, I found no matter how hard I tried, I always kept getting turned around. I'd try to follow the compass, but suddenly it would have turned at a right angle, and I wasn't sure how it had happened. Before long, I got spooked. I ran back to the cabin. I swore I'd try again the next day." Rarity blushed, and rubbed her swollen belly.

"But the boy I'd been flirting with managed to make his way into my cabin that night, and we spent the whole time making out, instead. Oh I was young and innocent then! I didn't solve the mystery and I only got a few awkward kisses. Such is the folly of youth."

"Interesting," Sunset said with a yawn. On her other side, Sonata was already snoring lightly. "Thanks, Rarity. I'll tell Redheart and we'll check it out. But I'm beat, you girls really wore me out."

Rarity grinned. "Likewise. Let's retire. If any more scary stories of my youth come to me, I'll save them for the light of day." Sunset had almost drifted off, when something else seemed to come to Rarity.

"Oh, and darling, should you happen to wake up before me and wonder, I do enjoy coming to with a cock inside me, and you should feel free to arrange it. Goodnight."

The office wasn't finished until the end of the week, which was just as well, because they didn't finish the files until then, either. While there was precious little information about the few known supernaturals, they did their best. They interviewed students about the sirens and, in fairness, Sunset's brief time as a strange demonic creature, and recorded the accounts. They researched Celestia and Luna to see if they could figure out when they became the principals of Canterlot High. It ultimately proved inconclusive, because while they were able to find records of the transfer of power in 1983, which given the apparent age of the duo was suspicious enough, they also found, quite by accident, a photo of the ribbon cutting of the new library in 1956, featuring an apparently unchanged Celestia. They even went down, on the last day before the office opened, and spent a few fruitless hours at the river with strainers, buckets, and Twilight's magic-detection gear, seeing if they could find any unusual tadpoles.

Each day of that week, Rarity made at least one more outfit for Sonata, and each night she invited them to stay over, because "I have one more almost done darling, you might as well collect it in the morning." That she invariably went to bed those nights stuffed with cum, and woke up on those mornings with Sunset's cock nestled inside her, or Sonata lapping at her sex, clearly was an added bonus.

But then the outfit was done, and the office finished.

"Darlings, I have so loved having you here," Rarity said as Sonata put on the last new outfit and they got ready to head out. "But I hope you'll understand I'm not quite ready for us to move in together. I think I shall need my space for a while, and perhaps need to attend to my more promising suitors. May I call on you if I find myself lonely again? And will you be all right carrying on without me?"

They assured her that both were fine, and spent a pleasant weekend on their own. They even had dinner and a movie as a real date, something they'd decided they wanted to try, and both seemed to be finding, thus far, to their liking, though neither had any expectation of exclusivity, and they'd discussed as much.

On Monday, the office was complete, and open for real. Sonata was ready to hold the fort in case anyone should call or wander in unannounced, and Redheart and Sunset were ready to take to the field. In the absence of any other good leads, they'd decided to check out Rarity's.

"It does sound like a campfire story," Redheart admitted, "but we don't have anything better, and the sirens were myths too."

"Yeah," Sunset said, "not like we have any better leads. Besides, this isn't exactly friend-of-a-friend stuff. I trust Rarity, and it was only a few years ago she had her weird experience. She might have gotten herself scared or bought in too much, sure, but at least the compass thing is pretty weird."

Redheart nodded in agreement. She took her hat and long coat and put them on, and for the first time the partners went out to the lot, where their new car waited. It was nothing extremely special, Sunset had to admit. Just a black SUV of the type that screamed "feds", despite the mismatch with their assignment, and had a siren in the glove, in case of need. Still, getting in felt momentous. She'd never expected to have a real job in the human world. One reason she'd tried to take over the school, indeed, other than bull-headed stupidity, was that she had no other exit strategy.

"Kind of wish I had a bottle of champagne to break on it or something," Redheart said.

"I was thinking something similar."

"We could at least give it a name. Something out of a story about magic, maybe."

"I was never a big reader here," Sunset admitted, "but Shakespeare had some of those. What kind of name do we want?"

"Ships are always ladies," Redheart said, "but I feel like maybe we should restore the balance, and it's an SUV. Everyone knows they're phallic symbols."

"How about Prospero, then?"

"I don't know that one."

"It's Shakespeare. I don't remember the play name, but he's a wizard who just wants to help his daughter, and gives up his power. I had to memorize some of his lines. 'And deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book.'"

Redheart nodded. "Having magic but not using it. It works." She patted the hood of the car. It didn't respond. "Godspeed then, Prospero! To the Everfree!"

Sunset laughed, and they were off.

They stopped briefly on the way to get gear: compass, map, chalk, and generous amount of rope. They also decided on tents and supplies to spend a night, just in case. They didn't expect to need to - the woods were small enough that it looked more likely they'd walk across them before dusk - but Sunset felt it couldn't hurt to be prepared. Besides, Redheart figured, they might need them later. And in any case, the Bureau was paying.

The woods were pleasant, but unremarkable. Several campers, many with RV's, were already at the site, some cooking lunch, others enjoying the summer sun. None seemed put off by their arrival, though Redheart's outfit drew a few idle glances.

For the first few miles of the journey, the map apps on their phones got a clear signal, and they had no trouble navigating towards the center of the woods, though as Rarity had noted, no trails went that way, and under an hour after leaving the camp, they had to start trailblazing. Fortunately the tree cover was thick, and so while it was dim on the forest floor, there was little enough undergrowth that they could pass relatively easily.

Then, around two in the afternoon, things started to become more difficult. First, the phones lost service, though this at least was neither unexpected nor obviously supernatural. They took to marking trees with chalk, and using the compasses to make sure they kept heading southeast towards the center of the woods. But soon the flat ground and lack of undergrowth gave way to deep ravines filled with thick brambles. Some they were able to avoid, but not without going too far south or north, and it seemed always difficult to correct once they'd gone a little off course. After a few of these, Sunset grabbed a stout branch from the ground and scrambled down the ravine, hacking a path through the brambles before clambering up the other side. This kept them on course, but slowed them considerably.

Then, right around 4:00, they found Rarity's wall. They were walking along, steadily southeast, through what looked like open ground, and then found themselves facing northeast, with what seemed like five minutes or so of missing time, or an equivalent amount of missed distance. They were able to find their chalk mark again, thankfully, and so avoided becoming completely lost, but each time they moved beyond it, the same thing happened.

"All right," Sunset said. "Any ideas?"

"I've got one," Redheart said, "inspired by the mythical sirens. I'm wondering if this is a visual problem. Let's try this: one of us stays here, holding the rope. The other puts on a blindfold and walks forward. The one holding the rope navigates. If the blindfolded person needs to turn, they pull the rope taut, then pull once for left, twice for right. Once she's facing the right direction, the watcher lets it go slack again. Once the walker's out of sight of the watcher, she'll pull it tight and pull three times. Then the walker takes off the blindfold and tugs once if things look okay, twice if they look bad. Then she keeps going, and once she gets to the end of the rope, she pulls it tight, then lets go with no tugs if she feels safe going on. If there's ever a double tug, the watcher does her best to pull the rope back."

Sunset nodded. "Nice. I like it. Who should be blindfolded?"

Redheart thought. "If they do get through, they'll be the one to meet the spirit. Neither of us are really prepared if it's hostile, so we'll just have to run, but I think you might be better at talking to it. You look human, but know about magical things, so you don't seem threatening, but might have some common ground. It's more dangerous though, so if you don't want to go, I will."

Sunset shook her head. "No, that makes sense. Let's do it."

Though she put on a brave face, being blindfolded was the thing that scared her the most. The terrain looked open, and she'd have Redheart guiding her, but still, it was hard to avoid thinking of all the mundane things that could happen in the woods while blind, even aside from anything supernatural. Still, what kind of supernatural agent was she if she couldn't face this? Taking a deep breath, she put the cloth over her eyes tight, making sure no light got in.

"Okay," she said, "I can't see shit."

Redheart laughed. "Good, I guess." She handed Sunset the rope, then spun her in the right direction. "Have you got the compass?"

"Yep, all set." So saying, Sunset started walking.

It felt like it took forever. Each step she expected to trip and fall, or just find the ground fall out from under her in another bramble-filled ravine. As she'd heard, her hearing seemed stronger, but even the crack of a twig she felt snapping under her own foot startled her slightly. It felt like she must have been walking an hour before the rope first went taut and Redheart tugged it twice. Turn right.

It made sense, Sunset thought, if she had indeed hit Rarity's wall and begun facing northeast. She turned what she felt was ninety degrees, and felt the rope go slack again.

There were two more eternities, each followed by a direction, first left again, then right, then one more, before the rope went taught and Redheart pulled three times. She'd lost total sight of Sunset.

Sunset took off her blindfold and looked around. The rope stretched back behind her, over a low hill, explaining why Redheart had lost sight. It would be easy to walk back over and wave to her, but she dared not, in case she wandered back into the wall. Then she looked ahead, and saw what was unmistakably a figure, gliding off through a leafy wall directly ahead.

Her throat went dry, but she tugged once on the rope before letting it go slack again, and kept it loose in her hands as she went on. It felt like there was at least enough slack left looped around her hands to get her to the concealing vegetation the figure had vanished through. She took a deep breath and went on.

Part of her training had been in firearms, of course, and she did have a pistol. She thought about reaching for it. But neither Rarity nor any of her stories had said the woman was hostile, and she'd certainly have been able to get the jump on Sunset while she was blindfolded, had that been her plan. So she decided not to risk escalating, and walked through with only the rope in her hands. She nearly let it drop at what she saw.

She emerged into a large glade. Though there was no tree cover above her, it was no brighter than the woods. Indeed, instead of the late-afternoon blue she knew she should find, the sky above her was black and studded with stars - far more than she'd ever seen from Canterlot's polluted nights, or even on Equestria, and far brighter. They filled the glade with light brighter than moonlight, letting her see just as well as she had in the deep woods.

And what she saw was no less remarkable. The glade was dominated by a crumbled building that appeared made entirely of marble. Though pillars and stones littered the ground around it, indicating it was once much larger, only one room still stood, though it appeared intact, including door. In front of it was what could only be a tomb, though if the figure carved on it were life-sized, the inhabitant was a tall man, and handsome even to Sunset, who of course preferred her humanoids female. He was carved in plate armor, intricately wrought, and wore a tall crown engraved with stars. To the side, a placid pond covered much of the rest of the glade.

But remarkable though this ruin was, it was all an afterthought, compared to the woman.

She was tall, nearly as tall as the carved figure on the tomb, which she stood in front of, but later, whenever Sunset tried to guess her height, no number seemed right. Similarly, though her skin was smooth and flawless as if airbrushed, and her hair was dark as night with no hint of fading, Sunset could not think of her as young, because she seemed somehow timeless. She wore a gown of deep blue like the dusk, finely filigreed with a metal that shone brighter than silver. Indeed, her whole body seemed not to shine, but rather to just stand out, as if, as Rarity had said, she was simply far more real and present than anything around her. Sunset met her eyes. They were as dark as her hair, not black, because she could see some tone in the irises, distinguish them from the pupils, but not any color she could name. And they were the saddest eyes Sunset had ever seen.

"Who are you?" Though Sunset understood the words, she was confident they were not English nor Equish, and each syllable hummed in her mind like the notes of a song.

"Sunset Shimmer," she said, feeling like a dog, trying to speak human while only able to bark.

"A curious name. I am Arwen Undomiel, last of my people. How have you come to my living tomb? I saw you and your companion overcome the maze. It was cleverly done, but the final curse laid on me stops all of the race of men."

"I'm not really human," Sunset said. "I just look like one. I'm not even from this world."

"Ah! Another from the Undying Lands, before the world was broken?"

"I don't know what that means."

Arwen shook her head. "Forgive me. I am here long beyond my time, and speak of a world which long ago ceased ever to have been true, much as I should have. What brings you to my house of sorrow, Light of Evening?"

"One of my friends told me she'd seen you, or someone like you, here. I work for the humans, along with my partner, who's outside holding the rope. We're supposed to track down other creatures like us, and make sure they're okay. Make sure they're safe from the humans, and the humans are safe from them."

Arwen laughed, a sound that made Sunset think of wind chimes, and rain on a wooden roof.

"Humans have nothing to fear from me. Once they called me Queen, and I was mother to heroes. But many ages now have passed since then, and you look now on all that remains of our kingdom, and the father of my worthy children." She glanced at the tomb. "But no, Light of Evening, I am no threat to anyone. And no one may aid me. I will linger here, in twilight, like my namesake, until the world is broken, and all the other stars gone out. For I chose mortality, to leave the world in truth once my time was gone, and so join my beloved. But I learned too late that one can be mortal and yet still ageless, and now no power is left in this world that can end me, save the end of all things. Even I am too drained by the curse to depart, though once it would have been as easy to cease breath as to take it."

"Wait," Sunset said, "you want to die but can't? How is that possible?"

"That is a weapon on your belt, yes?" Arwen looked at Sunset's gun. "Use it. End my vigil. I promise, dearly do I wish it."

Sunset pulled out the gun and aimed it. She told her finger to pull the trigger.

She told her finger to pull the trigger.

No, really, pull the trigger.

"You see," said Arwen, "the great Enemy is defeated, and I am still the Queen. None left in the world can wish me harm. Nor, it seems, those from outside it. Could you pull the trigger on your strange crossbow, the bolt would not find me, much as you, while yourself aware of doing so, could not pass the maze. The world itself wishes to remember me, though it has forgotten all my kin. Only I could choose to leave, had I the power. But those who made the maze stole it from me, to do so."

"You need power? Like, magic?"

"Some have called it that, though to my mind it is strange. Is your heartbeat magic? The quickness of your breath? All life is a wonder."

Sunset blushed. Arwen was beautiful, there was no doubt. So beautiful, in fact, she ached to look at her. But it was a beauty that, until now, seemed completely divorced from the physical. Sunset wasn't sure she could even touch the Queen; whether she'd pass through or burn up as if touching a star, she wasn't sure. But, if there was a chance...

"You look troubled, Light of Evening," she said. "Do not mourn for me. I made my peace long ago. I remember my people and my lord, and sing their memory to the stars. Already ages and ages have passed thus, and someday even my vigil will end. And it was pleasant to talk to you. I am grateful you found your way in, where so many others have failed."

"It's not that," Sunset said, though she did pity Arwen, in fact. "I just...I might have a way to give you more power. But it's really awkward, and I don't know if it's even possible." She realized belatedly she was still holding the rope. Clearly in no danger, she pulled it taut and let it fall untugged, giving the all-clear.

"Speak, then," she laughed again, just as enchantingly. "With all the ages I have longed to break this prison, I cannot imagine a method I would find awkward, though if it be dark sorcery or the arts of blood, I will refuse, and lose my good opinion of you."

"No, no, nothing like that! My girlfriend lost her magic too, she's a siren, anyway, that detail's not important, and I'm rambling. Anyway I'm a girl, err, a woman, but I like to uh, have sex like a man, so I have this potion," every word felt more awkward, like she was talking to a nun. "It gives me a penis. And when I, uh, get off in her, she gets some of her magic back."

Arwen was silent for what felt like it must be another of those ages of the earth she kept talking about.

"Would my lord understand, I wonder," she spoke softly, clearly to herself. "For all the long years we could not be together he was true, though his road led through countless taverns, and many a maid he saved would gladly have shown her gratitude. But never was there need, no purpose to it." She looked at the tomb, then finally turned sharply and looked at Sunset, her eyes intense.

"You have given me no reason to distrust you, Light of Evening, and all my senses say that you are true. And it is clear the world has changed more than I know, when woman lies with woman but as man, and can offer same to stranger seeking solace, without fear her love desert her as faithless. Yet to me this bond is most precious, and I would not give it with any risk of deception. Also, I still do not know that your 'magic' is the power I need. I must be sure, if I am to share with you that which in endless years I have withheld in my lord's absence. May I touch your mind?"

"You can read my mind?"

"Only if you allow it."

Sunset thought a long moment.

"I can't think of anything you could find out that would make me more embarrassed than this conversation has," she finally said, laughing.

"You have a strange humor, man-that-is-not-man," Arwen said. She strode over. Though she stood taller than Sunset, she did not loom, but rather all the world seemed to fall away, she was so close. She reached out a hand, pale fingers more delicate than any mortal's, and laid it gently on Sunset's head. She felt like her mind were setting a toe into an ocean. A sense of vast, serene weight impended upon it, but she knew she could pull out her toe, or lower herself in.

She'd said it was okay, so she chose the latter. Emotions swirled around her with a sound of leaves. Love, loss, frustration, remembered joy. A welcoming house in a deep ravine. A father's kind eyes. The king on the coffin, full of life and joy, wise and powerful. And, buried deep, long years of frustrated desire.

Her mind surfaced, shook itself off. Arwen had broken the bond.

"You are a remarkable person, Light of Evening," she said at last. "So young to have faced so much. To have let love triumph in your heart, even if you name it merely friendship, over such opposition would have shamed many who lived a thousand of your lives. But ever is the way of mortals. They fight battles in a heartbeat we elves can win only as the trees break through the rock. Still, I see much in you that reminds me of him. And you do tell true." She sighed. "Of course, this makes my choice the harder. But I will take this hope you offer, if you still wish to give it.

"For I must warn you, though it seems you shall be the one who leaves your seed in me, no mortal can love an elf unchanged. And love it would and must be, for now I know you well, Light of Evening, and would call you friend. And well enough I know myself and my people to know that were we to share this, I should count you kin. I know not what change this would bring in you, but like the Men of Numenor before, my noble husband's line, you would grow great among your kind. But do not view this as easy, for greatness carries with it many burdens, though they are ones you already choose to bear. Are you willing to bear the memory of the elves, merely out of compassion towards me?"

"Sure." Sunset said. She wasn't sure she really understood what it meant, but it seemed Arwen didn't either, and she certainly wasn't going to leave the poor woman alone until the end of the universe just because she might get yet another weird power she didn't really understand. That seemed to happen all on its own.

"Then come with me," Arwen said, and swept off towards the ruin.

Sunset followed, and Arwen opened the door. Inside, the room contained very little. A loom and washbin - both things Sunset was surprised Arwen even needed - lay in one corner. In the second, a chest of drawers and footlocker. Finally, in the other half of the room, a large bed. It was to this, unsurprisingly, that Arwen moved.

"Forgive me," she said, "it has been so long. I have lost the art of seduction. May we just begin?"

Sunset's swallowed hard. She wondered what she had been thinking. She barely felt real when faced with Arwen. She was way, way over her head.

"Do not be afraid," Arwen was suddenly in front of her. She'd been so lost in thought, she hadn't noticed her approach. "I will not judge you. You come in compassion, and this is something we will share, if still you are willing. If I am an elder to you, so too I was to him, and found no cause for complaint. In truth it has been so many years, I fear you may find me a disappointing lover. If nothing else, there is but one of me."

Her own hesitation broke the spell. Sunset couldn't help but laugh.

"You're right."

Arwen turned with a smile, and moved again towards the bed. With a flick of her hand, she slid her gossamer robe off her shoulder, and it fell silently to the floor, a pool of midnight. She wore nothing beneath it. Sunset's breath caught in her throat.

All of Arwen's skin was like her face: flawless, unmarked by life or age, pure white like starlight. She was willowy in figure, but still the gentle sway of her hips and pleasing roundness of her rear made it easy for Sunset to believe she'd mothered heroes. She turned to beckon, and her breast in profile was a flawless handful, topped by a nipple hard and red as a cranberry. Sunset reached for her pants even as her cock sprung forth. By the time she was naked, Arwen lay face-up on the bed, crotch modestly covered by her thin sheet, though Sunset could see the dark triangle of well-kept hair through the translucent fabric.

Sunset approached, herself feeling modest as a virgin, despite being anything but. Arwen looked at her shaft.

"Why have you given it such form?"

"You saw, I'm not really human. For some reason the magic gives me my pony dick. I didn't choose it."

"Have you tried?" Arwen asked.

"I-" Sunset was going to argue, but thought better of it, and tried. She looked at her dick, and thought about changing it to a human one.

Unceremoniously, it did.

"What the-?" She thought again, and it changed back. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. We have not yet coupled, so no influence of mine is upon you. You stand between two worlds, my friend, but live in this one by your choice. It is a choice you can change, and this can reflect it."

"You prefer the human one?"

"It is familiar."

Sunset shrugged, and thought her cock back to human. She picked up her pack and sat on the edge of the bed, downing a potion. Then she turned to Arwen, looking again at her splendor. She felt nervous.

Arwen reached out a hand and gently stroked her cock.

"You are beautiful, my friend. For all my hesitation, it has been far too long, and dearly have I missed this, though I buried it so deep I had myself forgotten. Even were it to fail to save me, you will be doing me a great kindness if you lie with me now."

Then she shook off the blankets, and spread her legs, and revealed her slender slit, opening like a flower. The scent of honey and fresh water filled the room. Her dark eyes blazed with fire.

Sunset's fear vanished. She crawled quickly over Arwen, and pressed the tip of her cock between the elf's legs. She was dripping wet, her fluids warm yet soothing. Sunset prepared to sink gently in, feeling it would be unkind to be rough with such a lady, and that she risked failing to satisfy her lover as well, so attractive was Arwen in that moment.

Arwen locked her legs around Sunset, pulling her to hilt in one strong motion.

As soon as her balls pressed against Arwen's delicate lips, she was gone. Her orgasm broke over her like a storm, and she began pouring her seed into the delicate elf's body, not even in spurts, but in the continuous, ball-emptying stream that normally took a second orgasm to achieve.

But she had no time to feel guilty, because Arwen herself was lost to pleasure as well. Having decided to welcome Sunset in, her body simply saw no reason to waste time, and broke over both of them shattering orgasms. As when they touched before, she felt Arwen's mind rolling over her, only now it was all sensation: fulfillment after so long, joy in intimacy, and an irresistible tide of inhuman pleasure, swamping everything else, leaving only the desire to make the very most of the opportunity to be with such a wonderful creature, to do her best to ensure that this union bore fruit.

Without even thinking, as she felt her orgasm fading, and knew her magical dick would soon vanish, she reached into her bag and downed another potion. Arwen writhed beneath her, perfect mouth half-open, deep eyes closed, flawless breasts heaving. Still Sunset pumped seed into her, and still a yearning for more rolled off of her and into Sunset's mind. She took a third potion, and a forth. She looked in awe at Arwen's slender belly, completely unchanged midway through the fourth load that would have bloated Sonata or Rarity and left seed spilling out. She drank her fifth and last potion, dimly realizing that this meant she'd taken two red ones.

What does it matter, she thought sadly, the whole point is to let her die.

But another thought filled her, and she realized with a start it was Arwen's. Yes, breed me, breed me! Pour fertile seed into me. If it be the will of the Valar that life again is kindled in my womb, I welcome it. Valar, will I welcome one last child to carry my legacy?

It was too much. Even without the potion, the magic that made her cock appear full-formed in times of need kept it present, poured more and more into Arwen's eager body as her orgasm rolled over them both, filled the room, brought Sunset to endless heights of pleasure. She gazed again at Arwen's unchanged form and saw with a start her belly bulged, very slightly, as if she were just beginning to show a pregnancy. She quaked in pleasure, and grabbed the sheets with one hand, and Arwen's hand with the other. The elf looked down and saw her belly, and rose into Sunset's arms. Their breasts pressed together. Their lips met hungrily. The kiss was fire and water and life. Sunset forgot herself for a moment, forgot everything, saw endless days outside of time, in the light shed not by sun and moon but massive trees. She heard the roar of waves and the cry of gulls, and the ocean was the sea of Arwen's thoughts and feelings around her, and it was the flow of life-giving liquid pumping between their bodies still.

Arwen broke the kiss, gasping.

"Enough," she said, though still her body quaked and waves of pleasure rolled off her, and still Sunset spurted cum into her eager body. Then the cock at last disappeared. Arwen scooted back, breaking their contact, and her thoughts fell to a dull roar. Sunset came down from orgasm, though her whole body ached, and the sheets were drenched. Arwen still looked slightly pregnant. She smiled, then frowned.

"I do not know if this is a blessing or a taunt," she pressed her hand against her belly. "We have made new life together. I thought the last light of evening had faded, leaving only my star, but perhaps the sun has not fully set." She smiled again at Sunset. "Still, I must end this curse, or else you cannot leave, and there is not enough here for you to survive, even were it fair of me to ask you to stay with me until I could bring our child to term, which it is not. Your Redheart needs you, and your lovers and friends among your own kind."

She kissed Sunset again, and it was a kiss of bittersweet wine, nights well but truly spent, and slight regret. She rose, still naked and radiant, and moved to her footlocker. From it she pulled a green stone set in silver.

"I name you elf-friend, Light of Evening. Truly you have been that to me, a last ray of hope long after all was thought lost. Carry this with you, though none now know its meaning, and remember that you helped me." She smiled again, though her eyes were sad. "Though I think my touch on you may serve as reminder enough, in any case. As I said, none leave an elf's bed quite the same as they entered." She sighed.

"But I have dallied long enough. That was a fine note to end the song of a long life, and it is foolish, after all the ages I longed to end this, that I should fear it now, and so delay. You have given me power enough. I will break the curse on this place, and let you leave. And when I do, I think that time in all its mercy will be upon me, and I shall join my lord at last. I know not why the Valar opened my gates of life for your seed, when I will see my end before it bears fruit, but I do find it some comfort. Perhaps in Their mercy that was enough."

She looked at her robe, still pooled on the floor, then shrugged. "I came into this world naked, what does it matter if I leave it so? Enough."

She gestured to the sky, and the bright stars began, one by one, to go out. Slowly the glade fell into darkness, until at last only one bright star on the horizon remained. Sunset could see nothing else, but Arwen's pale perfect skin still shone but cast no light, so only she was visible. She leaned down, and pressed her lips again to Sunset's, and it was pure spring water and a warm blanket on a cold day.

"Goodbye elf-friend," she said, breaking the kiss, and waved her hand. The evening star went out. The pitch black sky faded, revealing in its place the darker stars of the earthly sky, the moon, and the lights of Canterlot, away in the northwest.

Sunset looked around. She was alone in a clearing barely bigger than her bed at home. A small still pool lay on one side. She was naked and drenched in sweat and another sticky liquid around her crotch. She scooped some up on her finger and brought it to her mouth and tasted honey and spring water. Sadness washed over her. She put on her clothes. Beneath them was a dark dress traced in silver, and on top of it, a green stone set, also, in silver. There was no ruin and no tomb.

The world forgot, but Sunset Shimmer remembered.

As she followed the rope back, she found tears streaming down her face.

Sunset waved and yelled as soon as she crested the small hill and saw Redheart in the light of the portable lamp. Her partner turned, ran to her, and grabbed her arm. As soon as they touched, she felt Redheart's fear and relief wash over her.

"Oh," Sunset said. "Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"When you leave an elf's bed," Sunset said slowly, "you're never quite the same." The fear and relief turned to confusion. "I'll explain on the way. You might want to take your hand off me until I do."

Sonata was still at the desk when they returned near midnight, but she was fast asleep. Sunset couldn't blame her. She called out to her, careful not to touch her to try to wake her. Finally Sonata stirred.

"Oh! Thank goodness. Are you okay? Why didn't you shake me awake? You know that works better."

"I'm fine," Sunset said. "But something did happen. If I touch you now...I can feel what you're feeling. I didn't want to intrude."

"Oh!" Sonata sprang to her feet, kicking the desk chair back, and jumped over her thankfully empty desk, and without hesitation into Sunset's arms, where she planted a kiss on her lips.

It wasn't honey or water or wine or sadness, or anything like that. It was Sonata, just as she always was. And when they touched, Sunset knew something about Sonata, and something about herself.

She let herself savor the kiss. It might not be once in a lifetime, but then, she didn't want it to be. She broke it with a smile.

"You're right," she said, "I love you too."

Sonata grinned and took her hand. "Come on," she said, "let's go home. I want to hear the whole story, and if telling it makes you hot, so much the better."

In the conference room, Redheart looked at the map. The edge of the Everfree was barely on the map of the city they had. Sunset had told her, of course, that Arwen had vanished. Still, she'd told her about the elf's confusion, too: her conviction that she was pregnant, and that some higher power had allowed her to become so.

I always have been too much of a romantic, Redheart thought to herself, and put a big green pin on the Everfree, just in case.

Author's Note

Since I expect a lot of "guest stars" in this story, I'll credit them in the author's notes for each chapter.

Prospero is from The Tempest, despite Sunset failing to pay attention to literature class while plotting a coup.

Arwen and Aragorn, are, of course, from The Lord of the Rings.

File 2: The Curse of Sweet Apple Acres

Chapter-specific sex warning: This chapter features a human/animal hybrid not unlike a traditional werewolf. Like that monster, the hybrid form is physically midway between human and animal, and behaves more like an animal. Obviously it has sex with someone, because I wrote this story. The person consents; it is up to you if you think the creature is capable of it, but if it is, it does. Be warned in any case.

Sonata's nap seemed to have revitalized her. She rode, as always, with her arms tight around Sunset to stay on the motorcycle, and even through their clothes the contact let her emotions waft over Sunset. Partway home her deep affection became tinged with warm arousal. By the time they stopped and parked the bike, it was keen and hungry, and Sunset found herself echoing it.

Before they even got into the house, Sonata stopped abruptly, causing Sunset to bounce off her pleasantly yielding rear, then turned and kissed her lips. The closer contact brought the link, lost when they got off the bike, back with even greater force, and Sunset's cock sprang out at Sonata's desire for her.

"This is great," Sonata whispered to her, "I don't even have to say anything to let you know how much I want you." Wiggling her ass far more than necessary, she sauntered into the house.

Sunset, in turn, didn't even let her get to the bed. As Sonata kicked her shoes off, Sunset grabbed her from behind to a delighted eek, and bore her down on the sofa. Sonata fell giggling, her ass hugged flatteringly by one of her new Rarity-label skirts. Confident her lover appreciated her haste, Sunset didn't bother removing much. She lifted her own skirt and yanked off her panties, then pressed Sonata's up as little as necessary to reveal the Siren's traditional thong. She pressed it heedlessly aside and buried herself to the hilt.

"Oooooh," Sonata let out a little sigh. Then, "oh! You feel different!" She wiggled her hips for emphasis, something Sunset very much appreciated.

Sunset thought a minute, puzzled, and withdrew a little, looking down at herself. Her shaft did look a bit different. It was only when she pulled it far enough out to notice her lack of medial ring that she remembered.

"Oh yeah," she said, "Arwen told me I could do something I didn't know I could." She concentrated, and Sonata's passage felt a little tighter as her larger equine cock returned. Sonata moaned, then giggled, and a fresh wave of heat washed over Sunset's mind.

"Oh wow," she breathed, "that felt neat. But I like this one better. The flare is just too much fun!"

After that, they didn't have much more use for words. Sunset drove herself back into Sonata, and while she couldn't feel exactly what her lover did, she saw her delicious ass, skirt driven up fully off it by their fervor, quiver with the impact. She felt the deep full satisfaction wash off of her. It was intoxicating. She pulled out and drove in again and again, and each time she felt Sonata's joy at their coupling. Her flare deployed, and she felt Sonata's orgasm like waves of sunlight. She broke like she had in Arwen, pumping steadily, emptying her balls in one massive orgasm. She felt Sonata's drunken joy as her belly swelled even as she came, and the siren had to reach down and unbutton her blouse to let it free. Her dick faded, and she fell on Sonata. The siren twisted below her until Sunset was balanced on her swollen belly, and kissed her.

Then Sunset felt something she'd also felt from Arwen: Sonata's mind, reaching out to hers. Though it was not the great ocean the elf Queen's had been, it felt familiar and welcome, and she thought of herself embracing her lover with her mind, as well as her arms.

"Oh," Sonata broke the kiss, "you gave me enough magic to get my empathy back. Do you mind?"

Sunset laughed. "I'd be silly if I did. Besides, I let you in."

"You could tell? That's not how it usually is."

Sunset shrugged.

, she said.

Sonata was looking up at her, confused.

"What did you say?"

"I said the gifts of the elves are mysterious."

"Not in English you didn't."

Sunset shook her head. "Uh, sorry."

Sonata laughed. "At least when I get magic, I get it back. You just seem to keep getting new weird stuff." She stretched like a cat, pressing herself up into Sunset even closer. Sunset felt her satisfied fullness, her affection. She held her close.

"This is gonna hurt my back," Sonata said, though Sunset felt the tenderness she didn't put in her words, "let's go to bed."

They shed their clothes as they rose, scattering them on the couch for later. Sonata kept Sunset's hand in hers as she led her back towards the bedroom, again wiggling her wonderful, newly exposed, rear. Sunset couldn't help but notice it, and felt the beginnings of desire stirring again.

"Oh good," Sonata said, and Sunset felt it returned.

The arousal seemed to bounce back and forth between them, growing each time it did, until Sunset wasn't sure how much of what she was feeling was her, and how much was Sonata, but her cock didn't seem to care, and was once again ready for action.

"Oh hey," Sonata said, wrapping her hand around it. Then, "oh! You should turn it back! I bet that weird tip on the human one will make it slide into my ass real easy if you get it wet in my pussy first."

Sunset concentrated, changing it, but before she could say anything, they'd reached the bed, and Sonata fell face-first onto it. The impact on her swollen belly caused a generous dollop of cum to ooze to her entrance, looking ready to spill out.

"No you don't," Sunset said, "nothing's getting out of you today," and she pressed it back inside with her cock.

Both lovers gasped as the mental connection returned, each feeling double the pounding hot arousal. It was all Sunset could do not to fuck Sonata's pussy then and there; only the knowledge that her womb was so full she'd have to cum on her, and her intense desire to also leave her second load completely in Sonata's body, made her withdraw. Her cock glistened with their juices. She pressed it against Sonata's tight pucker, and her lover raised her ass to meet her, spreading her cheeks. Sunset's tip sunk in, easily, as Sonata predicted. The shared feeling was too much, and her knees wavered, sinking her to the hilt before she recovered. Sonata gasped, and a feeling Sunset couldn't identify overcame her.

"What's up?" Sunset asked.

"I just realized," Sonata said, "you wanted me so much on the couch, you didn't take a potion. If I'm in season, we'll have more eggs."

It was too much for both of them. Sunset wasn't able to talk, but instead began spurting in Sonata's ass. Her lover quaked and pressed and clenched against her, and she felt Sonata's orgasm grow and break, and then it was inside her too, and her dripping pussy, unused though it was, was cumming too, along with her dick, and the sensation was too much, too much.

As Sunset finished unloading herself and her cock vanished, she fell, utterly spent, into Sonata's arms, and they passed out, entwined.

Sunset woke what felt like not much later. Though she'd not seen the time when they got to bed, the clock read 2:12, and the room was dark. Sonata slumbered peacefully in her arms, still bloated with her seed, and Sunset smiled, but somehow she felt wide awake. Carefully she freed herself and went downstairs to get a drink. When she got to the fridge, though, she found herself craving mead, something she'd never tasted before and that they certainly didn't have in the house. She stood for a moment in confusion, looking around the kitchen, before she glanced out the window, then stood enraptured.

What she was seeing was, of course, just their small back yard by night, but it looked utterly transformed, nonetheless. The starlight, which she'd thought of as dim, looked at that moment utterly perfect, revealing the low shrubs and trees in light as revealing as the day, but far more beautiful. With as little conscious control as if it were a dream, she walked on to the back step, not caring a bit for her nakedness.

The starlight washed over her. The night breeze played in her hair and on her naked skin. She felt like a pony again - completely aware of her nudity, but neither aroused nor ashamed, just aware of the play of air and light across her whole body. Images sprang to her mind of more nights than she'd ever seen, of fields under strange stars, of the songs that rose to the light-strewn heavens in times that never were. She found her own voice rising.

, she sang, not understanding the words. She was crying. She sang more, verse after verse. She knew none of the words, and remembered none save for an instant after they left her lips, but she felt them, and they wove in her mind an image of a lady's face spread across the stars, vast and wise. She felt that this lady knew her, perfectly, and loved her all the same.

The song faded. For a moment, far away (even though the backyard ended in a fence not twenty feet from her), she saw a pale woman in a dark robe, and thought it was the Queen. She cried out and ran towards her, but the figure was gone.

She felt herself wake up, tried to open her eyes, but they were open, and she was in her back yard, grass twined in her feet, and it was dark, so dark she couldn't see the fence, and the porch light wasn't on, and she was very naked.

She stumbled back into the house. She remembered everything except the words of the song. She thought she should go back to bed, but she was wide awake. She got a glass of water and sat on the sofa to think, but she couldn't pin anything down. She thought about the song and felt a vast part of her mind around it she couldn't quite grasp. She thought this should terrify her, but it didn't. She sipped her water. She thought things, she was sure, for hours, but they failed to come into her memory or even perhaps her conscious mind. Eventually the sun rose. Finally Sonata came out, confused, and asked if she was okay. She didn't know quite what to say, but she was okay - she was herself, and she was more awake than she ever was when their alarm went off.

So she told Sonata what had happened.

"You weren't kidding about the elves," Sonata said.

Sunset laughed, and they showered, and got ready for work.

Sunset and Redheart spent the first half of the day writing up a file for Sunset's adventure in the Everfree. Though there we some minor issues to settle - chief among them whether to name the file for Arwen when she'd apparently vanished forever - they managed to complete it by lunch time. Sunset wasn't entirely pleased with her account. For one, she couldn't get it not to sound weird and mystical, even though unlike her experience the night before, the whole thing had felt concrete at the time. For another, she was slightly irked that her first official action hadn't involved solving a problem through intelligence, friendship, or even gunplay, but rather by having sex with someone, which didn't seem very heroic. Finally, she was irked by the lack of hard evidence to back up her account. Outside the newest addition to her stable of weird powers, the only surviving items were Arwen's robe and the green jewel. While both were undoubtedly unusual, neither was really a smoking gun. She planned to have Twilight investigate the robe in her lab, though she wasn't sure she wanted to part with the jewel.

"There's an idea," Redheart said when the subject of Twilight came up, "we should see if she's able to make us any magic-detecting equipment we can install here. She's got to be starting college soon, and probably won't have time to help us out once she does."

Sunset nodded. She'd been avoiding thinking about her friends starting college, but it was less than a month away now. Though none of them were going too far away for a weekend visit, only Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity were staying in the city proper - the latter two for the sake of their businesses, the former for her own incomprehensible reasons. Though Sunset had known the whole time that human high school friends rarely stuck together after graduation, she still hoped they'd prove the exception, and that the distance wouldn't make them grow emotionally too far apart.

Once they finished the file, they encountered the first unexpected hurdle in their project: it wasn't quite clear what they should do. While Redheart was confident that once they'd been going a little longer they'd have mountains of the federal government's legendary paperwork to do, as of yet there wasn't even any of that: their regular reports were monthly, so filing expense reports or the like wouldn't make any sense for at least another week or two.

Just when they'd nearly resolved to go to the library and start looking over local news stories - a project both felt was barely better than browsing social media on their desk computers and waiting for someone with a supernatural problem to walk in the door - they heard a familiar voice coming through the open door from the reception area.

"Howdy Sonata," the drawl identified Applejack clearly even if her voice hadn't, "Sunset said I should come on down here if I ever had a supernatural problem."

"Do you?" Sunset emerged just as Sonata was getting ready to pick up her phone to call her office.

"Well, I don't rightly know," Applejack said, "but something fishy's been going on out in my neck of the woods."

They went to the conference room, where Redheart joined them.

"Okay," Sunset said, "so what's up?"

"Well," Applejack said, "I don't rightly know if this one's really for you or not. But it's like this. We mostly do apples and dairy at Sweet Apple Acres, but we've got a few farm horses too, and lots of folks around us are ranchers more than farmers. Anyhow, horse breeding season's spring and summer, but this one's been right strange, 'least out near us. First of all, most of the mares came into season late. Almost none of 'em were ready in the spring, and most're only coming into season now. But the odd thing's this: something's getting in and covering them in secret."

"A...horse rapist?" Redheart said. "I can see how that'd be a problem for animal husbandry, but it doesn't exactly seem like our department."

"Lemme finish," Applejack went on. "First, it ain't rape, the mares get covered, just like a stallion did it. Even the horse doctors can't tell the difference. And it happens at night, no sign of anyone forcing their way in."

"So the idea is like, a horny stallion that can walk through walls?"

"Got me," Applejack said, "I'm just reporting it."

"Why don't you think it's a human? Horse breeding's big business," Redheart asked. "Ruin a competitor's chance at a prize foal, you do some damage."

"Of course I ain't sure it ain't," Applejack shrugged. "But if you can get at the rival's stables, you can do a lot more mischief than getting a mare with a bad foal. 'Sides, it's not been what you call careful. I'd never have come to you if I'd heard about one or two cases, folks tell tall tales all the time. But near as I can tell every mare's gone into heat in the last month's been hit, not just the breeding stock. Farm horses, hay, there's even a leisure stable's been hit. Two dozen or so mares all told, within a few miles of the Acres. And it ain't no human pervert either, they're pregnant."

Redheart nodded.

"Okay, I see where you're coming from. That does seem like a lot of extra risk if you're just trying to sabotage a rival."

Applejack shrugged. "Y'all are the experts, your call if it's worth your time. But I was in town for the farmer's market and thought I'd let you know. We've got some guest room at the Acres if you wanna check it out."

"Give us a minute to talk it over," Redheart said, "if you don't mind."

"Take your time, but I gotta get back and help Mac pack up the stall. Sunset's got my number, just give a call if you're coming."

They nodded, and she took her leave.

"What do you think?" Redheart said.

"I was mostly wondering why we keep getting cases about weird sex," Sunset sighed. "Also, I have to admit I still find terrestrial horses kind of creepy. But it does sound mildly weird."

"I dunno," Redheart said. "It's not a lot to go on."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "You think it's less than 'maybe there's some vague report of creepy shit in the local newspaper archives'?"

"Point taken."

"Also, even if we're wasting our time, at least we'll get some good food out of it. Applejack refuses to have guests for dinner without making something up special, and she's a dynamite cook."

Redheart chuckled. "I was going to microwave leftovers tonight, so sold."

"Want to come, Sonata?" Redheart asked on the way out. "From what Applejack said, there are lots of possible targets out her way, and we might be able to use more eyes for a stakeout."

Sonata looked more conflicted than Sunset expected, and she made a mental note to ask her about it later. But it lasted only a moment before her cheerful smile was back, and she nodded.

"Okay," Redheart said, "but none of us are really dressed for a stakeout or a farm. Especially you, Sonata. Let's go change. I'll meet you two at your place in an hour. Let Applejack know we're coming, Sunset?"

Between getting changed and the distance between the city and the farm, it was nearing dinnertime when Redheart drove Prospero down the dirt road towards the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. She'd done her best, but her large wings were nearly impossible to work with, and all she'd been able to do was swap over to jeans and a tank top, covered with a hat and coat that were at least more rancher than private eye, though both seemed more appropriate for a southwestern ranch than Canterlot's temperate hills. She figured she could pass as eccentric, or poorly undercover if she revealed her badge, to other farmers if need be, but she'd probably have to reveal her secret to Applejack, since wearing coat and hat at the dinner table would be bizarre.

Sunset had just swapped to jeans and boots, while Sonata was surprisingly conservative in jean shorts and not-too-tight tee. Redheart envied her partner and assistant their more subtle weirdnesses.

She turned Prospero around the bend and the farmhouse came into view - along with another sight that made her jaw drop. A man was carrying several large baskets of summer squash in from the fields. The man was also large, and shirtless. His skin was light red, his hair a vibrant orange. All his exposed flesh bulged. Still, he didn't seem to be struggling with the baskets much - his skin was covered only in a light sweat, likely more from the sun, than the labor, in her medical opinion. Her non-medical opinion tried not to stare, or drool.

Sunset laughed. "I didn't realize you were into the strong silent types."

Redheart blushed. "I thought you had to be touching me to use that new magic."

"I didn't need to, I'm surprised you weren't drooling."

Redheart punched her, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Is that Applejack's beau?"

"You're in luck," Sunset laughed again, "she's gay. Or maybe just Rainbow-sexual. That's her brother, Macintosh. I'm sure you can see why they used to call him 'Big Mac'. I'm surprised you don't know him from the school. Or, right, he graduated the year before you got there."

"He looks older than that," Redheart mused.

"He is, you won't be robbing the cradle too much. He had to miss a few years of school when their parents died, getting the farm in order. I think he's closer to your age than he is to Applejack's."

"Besides," Sonata said, "Sunset's centuries younger than I am. And Arwen probably had thousands of years on her!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves, girls," Redheart rolled her eyes. "I was just looking."

As they got close, Macintosh turned and climbed the stairs to the porch. His back rippled. His jeans did completely unreasonable things to his ass. Redheart continued just looking. He dropped off one of the baskets on the porch and brought the other inside with him before they'd parked the car and gotten out.

By the time they did and went into the farmhouse, he'd put on a flannel shirt. Though it was of course the polite thing to do, Redheart wouldn't have minded rudeness. His light sweat made it cling to him slightly, though, which had its own appeal. Applejack introduced everyone, and Mac excused himself to freshen up before dinner. Redheart took her aside.

"I don't want to wear my hat and coat for dinner," she said, "but, well, did Sunset tell you about my little incident?"

"The wings and such? Yep."

"Does Mac know?"

"Nope. But he knows most of the rest, I just didn't tell him that bit, since he'd never met you and all. He won't make a fuss if you take 'em off."

Redheart nodded, still reluctant, but took off her coat and hat and hung them. Macintosh paused for a bit after he got back, then went about his business, face unchanged.

"Ms. Redheart had a bit of a mishap, Mac," Applejack said, "I told you she works with Sunset."

Mac paused then, and, apparently deciding it was no longer rude to stare, looked Redheart up and down thoughtfully.

"They suit you, Ms. Redheart," he said, then went into the kitchen, leaving Redheart blushing. She managed to stammer out a thanks at least ten seconds into the 'awkwardly late' stage, though he was kind enough not to bring it up.

The dinner was as delicious as Sunset had promised, and Redheart found it easy to say little other than appreciative words, since she was busy enjoying it otherwise. Mac likewise said little except the "pass"es and "please"es. Sunset and Applejack, old friends, and Sonata, willing to chatter at anyone, filled the empty air well enough, and Redheart found their idle chatter pleasant. Once or twice she thought Mac stared at her out of the corner of an eye, but of course, with her freakish magical additions, it was easy to see why.

After the meal, he excused himself again for chores, leaving the girls to talk strategy.

It turned out they had good numbers - three farms around the area had mares in heat: Caramel's farm had a riding horse, Dr. Hooves' clinic next door to Caramel's contained several that were recovered, but hadn't yet been picked up by their owners, and Applejack's own riding horse had just gone into season.

"All right," Sunset said. "I propose Sonata and I go and stake out Caramel's and the Doctor's. Applejack can come along to introduce us. Redheart, I think you should watch Sweet Apple Acres."

"Why?" Redheart couldn't deny she'd be happy to stake out wherever Mac might wander into the line of sight, but she hoped that wasn't Sunset's reasoning.

"Well, Sonata should be one of the two that goes further afield, because she's not really a trained agent. Sure, we both know she can handle herself, but those two locations are close enough we can back her up if she needs one of us to flash a badge. I'm the better choice there, because her empathy's coming back, and I'm more attuned to her, and have my own, so if something goes wrong, I might feel it. Finally, everyone on this farm knows your secret, so you won't need to worry about wearing the coat and hat, or about them falling off if you do."

Redheart was impressed. "Okay, those are good points. Sold."

"All right then," Applejack said, "I'll go get my things. Redheart, I'll show you to the barn on our way out."

"You're welcome," Sunset said, and winked at her, as soon as Applejack was out of earshot. "Just remember, you're watching the mare, not the stud."

Redheart sighed.

Applejack showed her in, and she ended up hiding in the hay loft. It was a warm night, so she'd left her coat and hat in the farmhouse. She'd wriggled under the loose hay in the loft, concealing herself as best she could. Her wings proved surprisingly useful, letting her scoop hay around to cover herself once she'd found a good vantage point, lying face-down on the edge of the loft, with an excellent view to both the barn door, and the mare's stall.

For a long time, nothing happened. The hay was itchy, and her exposed wings didn't help, but at least the slight irritation made it unlikely she would fall asleep as the night wore on. Just as she began to feel how interminable the waiting was, the door creaked and opened.

Instantly her eyes snapped to it, trying to focus in the dark, but then the lights snapped on. It was just Mac. He was quiet as ever, but began doing the rounds of the stalls, feeding the animals and occasionally cleaning out some spoiled hay. Redheart thought about announcing herself, but they'd not told Mac about their purpose in being here, and while she didn't want to think he might be responsible, she had no actual evidence he wasn't. Besides, it remained a joy to watch him work. He'd rolled up his sleeves, and his arms alone were a wonderful example of anatomy.

By the time he finished, she was definitely well into the turned-on stage, and she hoped she'd be able to calm down enough to focus again on the stakeout. He didn't leave immediately as she'd expected, though. Instead he looked around in what seemed like a distinctly suspicious manner. Redheart forced herself to focus again. Shit, she thought, I really hope it's not him... After seemingly satisfying himself that no one was around, he turned off the overhead lights. It took Redheart's eyes a moment to readjust, but the moon was full and bright, and the light streaming in the barn windows made it reasonably easy to see things in the barn's main spaces, if not the stalls.

Mac still hadn't left. Instead he moved a stool over to the entrance area, in easy view of Redheart's perch, but not within line of sight of any of the stalls. He brought an empty bucket over and placed it next to the stool, to Redheart's confusion. Then her eyes widened as he slid off his jeans and dropped them to the floor, along with his boxers. The moonlight didn't give her as good a view as her rapidly moistening slit wished it did, but she could tell he was both aroused and generously endowed.

What the hell, she thought I hope he doesn't have some sort of cross-fertility spell or some shit too. But instead Mac sat on the stool, and began gently stroking his own hard cock, and she realized he'd just stolen off for some alone time, upon which she was now spying.

Some part of her told her she should let him know she was there. But she felt it had gone too far already, and now would be more awkward to tell him than to simply never do so. And there was still a chance this was somehow related to her investigation. She almost believed that.

She couldn't deny, though, that the way his arm moved in the moonlight as he touched himself, the sight of his ready cock, and even more so the sight of his hand caressing it, was driving her wild. She couldn't resist. She reached down, unbuttoned her jeans, and reached her hand inside her panties to stroke her already sopping pussy. She had to stifle her moan. Mac didn't bother. He was still going slowly, apparently intent on taking his time, but he was grunting and moaning already. He spat, the saliva falling to land on his hand and cock, making the indistinct but deliciously implied shape glisten in the moonlight.

Redheart's legs twitched involuntarily as her pleasure grew. She slid off her boots, not quite silently, but Mac's growing sounds of pleasure hid them. She kicked off her jeans, leaving her in panties and her tank top. She inserted two fingers into herself, imagining they were his.

Below her, Mac spat again, and upped the tempo of his strokes.

"Mmmm, Ms. Redheart," he moaned.

If she'd been less paranoid about the investigation, or felt less guilty about spying on him, she'd likely have realized immediately he was fantasizing about her, and cum, hard. Instead, for just a split second before her brain processed the context and tone, she was convinced he'd noticed her. It was a split second too long. In shock and shame she twitched, rising up on her hands and knees and pulling her hand guiltily free of her panties. The sudden movement overbalanced her, and she toppled forward out of the hay loft.

Instinctively she spread her wings. Everything seemed to slow. She felt the still air catch in them, felt herself wobbling but not falling. Mac turned to the source of the noise, equally guilty, pulling up his pants lightning-quick to hide his wonderful cock. It seemed he couldn't see her well in the dark, or was confused by her silhouette, because he didn't move immediately towards her or cry out, but looked up in confusion.

Ahead of her, one of the support beams loomed. She wasn't falling quickly, but her clumsy glide was swift enough she knew hitting it would not be pleasant. She angled her wings, trying to turn, but she had no idea what she was doing. She tilted the bottom one too far, and felt herself tip. Her wings no longer filled with air, and again on instinct she drew them tight around herself as she began to fall.

She landed hard on a hay bale, which was nowhere near as yielding as television had led her to believe. There wasn't much pain, but the air was knocked out of her. As she was gathering herself, she felt Mac's thick, wonderful arms picking her up, apparently effortlessly. She tried to reassure him, but her breath was still too short.

"Ms. Redheart, are you okay?"

He hurried toward the barn door as she gathered herself to try to respond. The feeling of being in his arms, not significantly blocked from touching her own flesh by the tank top and panties, was not helping her gather herself. Just as she was about to manage her reply, he wandered into one of the shafts of strong moonlight.

"I'm alr-" she began, then cut off in confusion.

Mac's already mighty arms felt like they were growing larger against her naked flesh. She gasped, and felt herself lifted even higher, though he didn't seem to move. She looked back, and his clothes were bulging as he very obviously grew. His mouth was open in a silent howl. She felt a tickling where his bare arms touched her, and she looked down to find them sprouting thick red hair. No, it was fur. His upper arms were already covered.

There was a tearing noise, and she turned to see the knotted muscles of his chest bursting forth from his ruined shirt. They were inhumanly thick and looked like steel and she was dripping again in her panties. The same thick red fur burst from his sternum and spread in spirals around his chest. Inexorably her eyes went downward. His jeans were ripping from the bottom. His shoes had simply fallen off, his feet now hooves, which no longer fit in them. His legs twisted and reshaped themselves to fit, looking increasingly equine. Then, finally, the jeans gave out entirely. Shreds of cloth fell from his body. He hunched over in pleasure or pain or confusion, and dropped Redheart, who managed the short fall gracefully, unlike the earlier, longer one. Her eyes were drawn irresistibly to his crotch, but it was shrouded by his hunched stance. His face, mouth still wide, elongated. It was beyond doubt - he was now half-horse, half-man, like a were-stallion.

He rose, muscles even more toned than before, visible below his short fur. As he stood he revealed a firm, flared shaft, just enough smaller than a horse's that she thought she could take it, and massive full balls.

Nevermind, she thought, he's still all man.

Wordlessly, he sniffed the air. Redheart was hornier than she'd ever been while not actually having sex, but some part of her was terrified too - Mac was over seven feet tall now, and his massive muscles left little doubt about the danger he posed if he attacked.

Instead, though, he sniffed again, and turned towards the pen holding the mare.

Of course,, Redheart though. Well, big boy, why don't we give you someone to fuck that's capable of informed consent? Not like I haven't been thinking about jumping you all night. What's a weird magical transformation between friends?

As quickly as she could, she shed her tank top and ripped off her panties. Naked and dripping, she ran in front of him and fell to all fours, thrusting her rear into the air.

He leaned and sniffed her with a snort. Warm breath surged from his nostrils and washed over her dripping sex. She moaned. He sniffed again, and pressed his muzzle between her legs as he did. Involuntarily she pressed back, grinding her dripping slit against him. He huffed. She braced herself to take his cock, savoring and dreading the thought of the massive member sinking into her.

But instead he turned away. Moving unsteadily on his hooves, he moved past her deeper into the barn. He seemed not to have caught the full scent of the mare yet, and didn't move directly towards her stall, but he had clearly rejected Redheart.

She shook her head in several kinds of frustration. As she did, she caught sight of her boots, pants, and bag lying on the ground near her, and realized she was now below the hayloft, having followed Mac back along the course she'd covered in her clumsy glide. In desperation, she dug through her possessions.

Her pistol was no good. She certainly didn't want to hurt Mac, and with his size, she risked making him angry besides. She similarly doubted he'd respect her badge or be swayed by a bribe. At the bottom of her bag, her hand brushed the two Equestrian potions she always carried, both in case Sunset wanted one, but also because she felt any portable magic she had access to was worth having, just in case.

For a moment, she thought none of it would help. Then she had a thought. He sniffed me for a long time. And based on the timing, I don't think I'm fertile right now. What if that's the problem, not that I'm not equine? Her hand closed on the red potion. Still, if she took it, that wouldn't help - it would give her a dick, and make any female creature she used it on fertile. But if she could get Mac to drink it...

In retrospect, of course, this plan was absurd. It seemed clear just from what she'd seen so far that Macintosh was, probably unintentionally, the cause of the mysterious horse pregnancies. And while it would no doubt be an inconvenience for Applejack to have her riding mare impregnated, it would hardly be a catastrophe. The alternative, getting him to drink a potion that not only magically brought his mates into fertility, but also was designed to facilitate cross-breeding, then mating with him, was clearly insane by comparison.

Even in the moment, some corner of her mind realized this. But another part of her didn't want to let even one horse get knocked up once she'd been called in. And a very loud part of her, located between her legs, had just been stroked nearly to orgasm watching Mac jerk himself off, and really wanted to mate with him.

So she ran over, and jumped up on his back.

Without her wings she couldn't have made it, he was so tall, and moved so strangely. But even with her clumsy inexperience, they gave her the boost she needed, and she landed, light as a feather, on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around his broad chest and washboard stomach. Her breasts and dripping pussy rubbed against his marble-firm (and apparently marble-sculpted) back, the light fur doing nothing to conceal his mighty anatomy.

He snorted and shook his head, but apparently had so little trouble carrying her, he didn't seem to care, and walked on. She opened the vial and waved it under his nose. He snorted, and sent out his tongue to lick at it. She poured a drop onto it. He withdrew and seemed to taste it, then snorted happily and sent out his tongue again. She dumped the whole potion onto it, and he lapped it up obligingly.

She wondered how close her contact had to be with him to cause the fertility effect. Did she have to somehow get his cock inside her? That would make the whole exercise pointless. Even as she wondered this, though, she felt him shudder under her, then felt a wave of warmth radiate off him and sink into her body. She shivered, and her pussy oozed with new moisture. She felt different, and while she couldn't identify the feeling, she had a pretty good idea what it was.

She let go of Mac and dropped to the floor, nearly shuddering in anticipation. She turned and presented herself on all fours. She heard him sniffing the air behind her. The floor of the barn shook slightly as he turned to face her. She realized just how heavy he must be, and suddenly was afraid as she thought of trying to support his weight pressing down on her. She looked up, and saw not far in front of her another bale of hay, just about the right height.

Still on all fours, she scampered forward, and draped herself over the bale. It was indeed the right height - her legs and arms still reached the floor, but the bale supported her midsection. She spread her legs, felt the warm night air on her dripping slit. She heard and felt his heavy footsteps follow her. She was aware of her tail, still outside her conscious control, flicking back and forth invitingly.

His footsteps stopped. Again she shuddered at the warm burst of air as he sniffed her eager sex. She thought she was ready for the next step, but when he pressed his muzzle against her, she still moaned and rubbed wantonly against him. Again his muzzle drew back, but now he lifted his head and let out a mighty neigh. She shivered.

His arms landed heavily next to hers, the furred marble pressing against her delicate limbs. His stomach and chest pressed into her back. She felt covered completely, protected but also dominated. Her lashing tail brushed his massive cock, very close now to her entrance, and wrapped around it, guiding it to its target. She felt the flared head at her entrance.

Her tail withdrew just in time. He too must have felt her wetness on him, because he sunk in in a single stroke. His medial ring made her quiver as she felt its process deeper and deeper into her body. She felt replete, stuffed, fuller than should be possible. But there was no pain. She dimly wondered if this was part of the gift of the principals.

Finally his balls slapped against her. They felt nearly as large and heavy as her breasts. She imagined what it would feel like, oh so soon, to have them emptying inside her.

Mac began mating with her. There was no other word she could use - this was not any pace set by deliberate human lover, not even a desperate, needy one. Mac's were the firm, sure, comfortable strokes of an animal covering a willing mate, about to bring forth new life.

At the thought, the implications of her actions finally hit her. She'd made herself fertile, and now was pinned - by her own consent, and quite happily - beneath a man she'd been lusting after, but who was in several ways not currently himself. She doubted anything could now stop him from filling her fertile womb with seed it was enchanted to successfully receive, even across species.

Rather than fear or regret, this realization only drove her deeper into pleasure. In the moment, she craved it. She could barely move, so thoroughly pinned by Mac's massive form, but she managed to move her ass slightly, driving herself back and up, impaling herself on his thick cock.

That was enough for him. He pressed down on her, now immobilizing her completely, burying his cock completely inside her. She felt plugged as his flare hardened and sealed her passage. She gasped and began cumming, knowing what was about to happen. She shuddered on his shaft, pressing as tightly up into his firm body as she possibly could.

He released his seed. Though she knew human wombs had no nerves, she felt the first spurt surging past her cervix and draining into her womb. If she'd loved the warmth of a cock inside her, it was nothing on this. Burst after burst of wonderful heat surged into her, each surge of liquid seeping into her, and she was aware of it. Every burst that breached her walls, she felt a surge of orgasmic pleasure. She groaned into Mac's thick arm. Her belly swelled, pressing tighter against the hay bale. Still he showed no signs of slowing, pumping cum into her stuffed body.

Her tail slithered back and stroked the bottom of his still-heavy balls. He threw back his head and whinnied, letting Redheart's body rise as her belly swelled further. She spread her wings as her delicious tension grew and broke again. Still his feral seed surged into her ready body.

Then something changed. Instead of warmth she felt electricity entering her, and in her mind's eye saw a storm growing inside her, a dark swirl of crackling energy, like lightning run through a negative. Mac's weight on her eased. He let out a confused whinny, and she turned to look at him. She saw veins of the dark lightning crackling in his body, but they were surging down to his mighty cock and into her, and where they withdrew, his transformation faded. His hooves returned to feet. The fur faded from his arms, and his face returned. A maelstrom grew inside of her. Finally his cock shrank to human size and fell from her, no longer erect. Now fully human again, Mac staggered backward. Though he fell into a pool of moonlight, he did not change.

But her vision was fading as the energy crackled over her. She felt it surging into her skin, into her mind. Light fur began sprouting on her forearms. She felt her feet begin to fuse, her mind clouded with animal scents and instincts. Desperately she pushed at the energy with her mind. She felt as if her wings were growing. She spread them, and they crackled with the power. She felt compelled to move them, as if they were full of nervous energy. They beat heavily, feeling far larger than they'd been, and she rose into the air. Her tail lashed wildly. It struck a beam, and a spark of energy singed the wood. Still she felt the power trying to transform her. She pulled up all the will she could muster, looking for anything that could help.

Her mind landed on the seed she could still feel swelling her womb, and discovered there a deep well of vital power. Imagining it like water on a fire, she wished the two together with her mind, the incipient life of the cum within her stacked against the wild abandon of the jagged energy. Slowly her belly deflated and she fell to the ground. Her wings returned to normal. The energy faded. Her feet touched down, and sparks surged out among the hay. Several looked likely to catch, but she stomped on them before they could. Trailing remnants of dark lightning spluttered from her fingers and horns, then vanished. She collapsed. An acrid smoke rose from her.

She staggered to her feet, unsteady but rapidly rallying. Her stomach was flat again, all or almost all of Mac's seed apparently burned in whatever struggle she'd somehow employed it. She found her clothes and pulled them back on. Her phone told her it was 3 am, though none of the events seemed they should have taken that long. She tried, without much hope, to pick up Mac's fallen form, and found that either she was stronger than she realized, or he'd been so drained he was disturbingly light. He was breathing easily, so she hoped for the former. Still staggering slightly, she carried him into the farmhouse and put him in his bed.

She managed to drag herself down to the couch in the farmhouse living room, and fell on it, utterly drained after her burst of adrenaline. Her head swirled. Though it seemed Mac had to be the culprit, she had more questions than before. How had Mac become that creature, and when? Was he cured? Had her mad plan somehow worked to remove the curse, or whatever it was? Did it even burn all the semen out of her womb, preventing the otherwise certain pregnancy? On the last, she resolved to take Plan B the next day regardless, but none of the rest seemed to make any sense.

Giving up, she let her mind go, and passed out on the couch.

File 3: The Secret Grove

Chapter-specific content tag: sex with plants and plant-like nature spirits. Actual impregnation. Even more cum inflation than usual.

Redheart was still confused and worried when she woke up. Not to mention short on sleep - sleeping on the farm couch wasn't really possible once the farm started waking up.

One worry, though, that Mac might be afraid he'd violated her, proved groundless: he'd forgotten everything that happened once he turned into the were-stallion. Still, he blushed and couldn't meet her eyes, and excused himself quickly once they'd made sure he was okay. So she thought he must remember being caught masturbating, making a repeat performance unlikely. She had to admit to herself that way too much was going on in her life for a mundane farmer boyfriend to be a realistically good idea in any case, though the experience had only increased her physical attraction.

Once he'd shuffled off and Applejack had checked in and headed off for chores, Redheart told her crew the whole story.

"I wish we could make sure he's cured," Sonata said.

"Let's go see Twilight," Sunset said. "If we're lucky, she'll have some detection gear we can bring out here. And we can try to get her to make us some gear for the office."

Redheart nodded. "Good call. Maybe we can even use it to figure out how he ended up like that in the first place. Can you two go? I want to head home and get cleaned up a bit."

"The office is supposed to be open soon," Sonata said, "I should go and greet people if they show up."

"I think I can handle dropping in on my friend," Sunset chuckled. "I imagine it'd cost something for supplies, though. Do we have a budget?"

Redheart shrugged. "Yes, but we're in the darling phase where they've just decided to fund us and think our work is important, so even with setting up the office I haven't made much of a dent. And I hear how much of it we use this year determines how much we get next year. So tell her to make sure it stands up to an audit, but as long as it doesn't hit six figures, we'll be fine." She considered that she had no idea either how rich Twilight was, nor how expensive building her weird science could get. "I guess if it does hit six figures, just call me and we'll see what we can do."

"Right," Sunset said. "I don't think it will, she can't have much of a budget herself. But I guess I don't really know if she's compromising a lot on costs."

So resolved, they gave their regards to Applejack, told her they planned to return soon, and drove off into the early morning light.

A brief change and much-needed shower later - just because she'd once been a horse didn't mean she liked smelling like a barn - Sunset walked up the road towards Twilight's house. She halfheartedly wondered if, now that school was out, she'd finally meet Twilight's parents. But the driveway remained empty, the top of the house dark. Sunset had to admit that she didn't have a vast familiarity with human parenting, but it seemed odd to her that Twilight's always seemed to be elsewhere. Certainly in the books she'd read about human adolescents, parents had been a significant feature. Upon reflection, though, she realized none of her friends seemed to have much in the way of active parents. While Applejack and Mac had an obvious reason, she'd never met any of her friends' parents save Pinkie's. She shrugged, supposing that it must just be yet another way human literature idealized rather than representing life. She called Twilight's phone, and her friend directed her to her usual entrance at the back.

The sight of Twilight in her lab never failed to arouse Sunset, at least a little. It was nearly Pavlovian, and not particularly surprising - she'd spent two very nice nights in here fucking her friend silly, either alone or with Sonata and Rarity, after all. And she felt all of her friends were very attractive, though she had to admit it was unlikely she had normal human aesthetic standards.

Twilight grinned at her as she entered, and eagerly moved to hug her.

"Hold up," Sunset said, and explained her newfound power.

"Oh!" Twilight gaped at her. Then, more subdued, "oh. That's...a lot to take in. Rain check on the hug?"

"Sure thing," Sunset said.

Twilight brightened again, and gestured around, where her lab did seem to be in shambles. "Sorry about the mess. I know it's a few weeks yet, but I need to decide what I'm bringing to college, and what to do with the rest. It's," she paused for an instant, "I don't want my parents to have to deal without having the basement for four years, and it's going to be hard to figure out how to store it all. But anyway, you said you were here on business. What's up?"

Sunset filled her in on the situation at Sweet Apple Acres, and their hopes that she'd be able to help with some magic-detecting equipment.

"Well, it sounds like my newest Ethyl, which is four," Twilight held up a foot-long, slender rod with a whirling light on one end, "should be just fine for checking out Mac and whatever other local stuff you need. But I don't have any software written for it that has any kind of UI anyone else will be able to understand, or any documentation on how to use it. So unless you can take me with you, I don't know how I can make it useful."

"We can take you with us."

"Oh," Twilight said, "I thought I might need a security check or something."

"Nah, our reports aren't classified unless the bosses decide we learn something so important it's a danger to national security. Or probably if we find some kind of magical drug or something. But part of our mandate is to take tips and respond to reports from the public. It'd be hard to do that if we had to do background checks on all of them first."

"Well," Twilight smiled, "let's get going then. I can tell you more about the rest when I see your office, but at the very least I can make a few more of these and make a control app you'll be able to use."

Twilight got started on the office right away, but Redheart and Sunset wanted to be sure Mac was cured as soon as possible, and follow any trail they could before it got cold. So they left Sonata to hold down the office and supervise Twilight's work, and headed back to the farm, arriving not much after noon.

With a sigh, Redheart realized there was nothing for it, and they'd have to fill Mac in on what had happened. On Applejack's advice, they just gave it to him straight up, and while it looked like he wanted to sink into his chair, he finally nodded. He apologized to Redheart, despite her saying it wasn't necessary, which she privately appreciated. Even if she was sad it was now even more clear there wouldn't be an encore.

Despite the awkwardness, though, he let them run Ethyl over him, which verified no magic lingered over him, except a tiny bit of Redheart's own. They interviewed him to try to find out what happened to cause his transformation, but between Mac's natural reticence and intense embarrassment, it was slow going. Finally Redheart made the excuse of going outside to scan the barn and farm, and left Applejack and Sunset to finish, hoping that absenting herself would cut back on the embarrassment at least a bit.

Sunset joined her a bit later outside the barn. Though some magic lingered inside, none of it seemed unexpected, and tracing the perimeter of the building had revealed nothing else.

"Sorry, that must have been uncomfortable."

"I mostly felt sorry for Mac," Redheart shrugged, then lowered her voice. "And a bit sad it's ruined my chances at an encore. Well, a fully human one. Fully human for him," she sighed. "You know what I mean."

Sunset nodded. Her eyes said understanding, but she couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Yeah. I don't mean to make fun, you just said it funny."

Redheart shook it off. "Yeah, I did. Anyway, any leads?"

"Even without you distracting him, he didn't know much. We figured out what day it probably started. It seems like he transforms every night, and there have been mares in heat every night even before it started, so we got a likely day, and he remembered what he did during it, or thought he did. Mostly normal farm chores, no big surprises, no strangers. He did take Winona on a walk in the woods, though, and said he was surprised how long it took."

Redheart nodded. "You're thinking lost time?"

"Seems like the best lead. He told me about his route, I figure we can walk it with Ethyl and see what we turn up."

The two set off into the woods on the far side of the farmhouse.

The first few miles were classic farm woods, open and bright, with no old-growth trees that could lead to the deep, dark glades removed from civilization. They were undeniably rural, and soon the sounds even of the farm had faded, but low stone walls, fading to buried ruins off and on, and rusty wire fencing were everywhere along the trail, making it impossible to forget that this was still a human landscape.

Then they reached the stream that marked the border between Sweet Apple Acres and the trust lands beyond, one of the many nature preserves in the Canterlot hills. A sturdy bridge made of split logs between boards lay over the stream, and then the trail passed off into deeper, greener woods. Mac had said he'd gone as far as the pond, a few miles beyond this, before turning around, so they pressed on.

The change in the woods was striking. They deepened even further not far in, and the warm summer day cooled in the emerald shade. Redheart's tail proved useful for once: its incessant flicking had deadly accuracy against biting flies. But it couldn't deter the occasional mosquito, emboldened by the shade. Nor could it chase away a feeling of watchfulness that Sunset felt was, if not hostile, certainly not friendly. Ethyl continued to register nothing, though, so she told herself it was just her imagination. Still, the pair quieted, muted by the age of the place and the sense of suspicion in the air, and Sunset saw Redheart glancing tensely at the sensor readout as well.

Just as it felt like it was becoming unbearable, they caught sight of shimmering water through the trees, and the tension evaporated. They came into a clearing around a small pond, a few dozen feet across, lined with cattails and peopled by some very vocal frogs. Sunset blinked in the light, mildly surprised, despite knowing better, to find it was still only early afternoon.

The sensor showed nothing. She looked around. It was a nice, if modest, pond. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. The trail did continue on beyond it, but Mac had been confident he'd turned around here. She scanned the bank and wooded verge, first with her eyes, then with Ethyl. As she ran the device over a nondescript part of ground, there was a faint ping of unknown magic.

"Got something," she said. She ran it back over the same ground, to no result. "Oh wait," she shook her head as Redheart joined her, "maybe not."

She lifted the sensor to examine it, and it pinged again, with the same unknown magic. She turned around, getting two more pings, but she couldn't get them to repeat. Then the same magic returned as a steady line, and she heard the singing.

It was low, barely audible, and just one voice, which sounded feminine. There were clearly words, but none Sunset knew. And buried in it, like in the songs of the sirens, she could feel a compulsion. Come to me. As with the sirens, though, she was aware of it, but not bound by it, and found she could refuse. She turned to look at Redheart.

You feel it? She mouthed silently, not wanting to tip off the singer.

Redheart nodded.

You can resist?

She nodded again.

Sunset considered. She felt that, as a rule of thumb, if someone was magically compelling her to do something, it was because they did not have her best interests at heart. On the other hand, if this had happened to Mac, he'd certainly have followed the voice. And they weren't going to solve the mystery if they didn't.

She felt her phone vibrate, and pulled it out on instinct. She saw a text from Redheart - in her musing, she'd failed to notice her partner getting out her phone.

Play along, the text said, use your empathy. Sunset nodded, and both women set off, following the song.

Though it was so faint they'd missed it, Sunset found they were following a trail of sorts. While the ground wasn't worn bare like the one they'd taken to get this far, there was no undergrowth, only fallen leaves and bracken, interspersed with stones. All around thorns, poison ivy, bushes, and fallen trees blocked the route, but always an easy way opened, leading them on towards the voice. As they approached, Sunset gradually became aware that the voice was not just trying to call her to it, it was trying to turn her on.

Why is everything supernatural also sexy? She wondered. But I guess if all you have is a magical pony dick, everything looks like a pussy.

The further they went, the more insistent the tones of arousal became. Sunset found she could resist them, too. Still, she didn't want to tip her hand, and by this point, she suspected the song should have made her desperate. She let enough wash over her to conjure her dick, hard and ready.

Right after it appeared, they came to a glade. Not a clearing - if anything, the canopy here was thicker than anywhere else. But the trees were massive, and the dark canopy seemed to have choked almost all the undergrowth. Thick ferns lined the edges, but the middle featured what looked like a soft bed of grass. It twisted left, around a massive trunk, and from this direction the singing came. As they moved to follow it, though, a rustle from the ferns behind them drew her attention.

Five vines, about as thick as the member now waiting in her pants, moved above the grassy bed towards them. They were dark green, veiny, and glistened with some kind of fluid. And the spade-shaped heads each featured a small opening in the tip. All-in-all, Sunset would have recognized their purpose even without the song's increasing attempts to make her out of her mind with arousal.

Redheart turned to her. I got this, she mouthed, and gestured towards the singer.

Sunset wasn't sure if she wanted to see her partner in flagrante or not, but she did worry that if she didn't take this chance, more vines might come to detain her. She hurried on, around the tree.

Redheart thought she was fighting off the song's aphrodisiac effects pretty well, but she wouldn't have said she was sad about facing down the vines. She wasn't sure if it was an effect of her transformation, the result of sharing an office with two sexpots, or just that she no longer had to balance out teenagers as a voice of reason, but she'd been horny far more often recently than before the summer. Just noticing that the song wanted to turn her on had been enough to get her a bit damp, and now the prospect of distracting these vines from Sunset had her more than lubricated enough to do so. Not, she had to admit, that that seemed likely to have been a problem either way. The vines practically dripped with their own secretions.

Still, while everything about this glade and the vines approaching her screamed sex, she knew that they could as easily capture or strangle her, and she shared Sunset's skepticism of magical compulsions. So in the brief time she had, she decided to make sure her knife stayed on her.

Quickly she unbuttoned her blouse and undid her bra. After getting her wings, she'd gone strapless, so it was easy to remove without taking of her top. Her breasts tumbled free, nipples erect. Then she reached under her skirt and pulled off her panties. She hoped leaving this easy access would prevent the vines from trying to tear off the belt that held her knife.

They certainly seemed to appreciate it. While they had no visible sense organs of any kind, as soon has her panties left her dripping sex exposed to air, even before she'd managed to get them clear of her legs, the vines, which had been undulating in her general direction, stopped still and all five heads turned to face directly towards her. Then, a moment later, they rushed towards her.

Her panties were still around her ankles when the first twisted around her left leg. It pulled it up and forward, and she folded open her wings and nearly cried out as she felt herself falling backwards, but before she went any distance at all, she felt several others catch her, twining gently around her waist and shoulders. She kicked her panties off her right leg, letting her spread them as the left lifted, but then another wrapped around her right, and she found herself rising a few feet above the grass.

In the guise of flailing, she made sure she could still move her arms enough to reach her knife if necessary. Satisfied she could, she let herself fall into the sensations. The vines were incredibly strong, despite being only thick enough to make her pleased at their progress towards her crotch. They held her steady in the air, and the three interlaced ones behind her back felt as secure as a hammock. Their whole lengths were coated in oily dampness, but it was warm and not unpleasant, merely letting them slide easily over her flesh.

And slide they did. The two on her legs swirled up, making her shiver at the sensation of the warm, damp tendrils on the bare flesh of her legs, rising inexorably towards her crotch. The two on her shoulders sunk lower, wrapping gently around her breasts. And the final one caressed her cheek, gently. She knew that if she were truly in the thrall of the song, she would be utterly wanton, but still, she appreciated that the vines didn't seem to be forcing themselves on her. She wondered if they were related to the singer or not. Still, she didn't want to blow her cover, and besides, she was horny enough on her own. She turned her head and took the tip of the vine stroking her face into her mouth.

It tasted of summer fruits, some mix of strawberries and black raspberries and others she couldn't identify. It paused for a moment, then gently began dancing with her tongue. She couldn't help but smile.

Then she moaned, as the two beneath her finally reached the top of her legs. One ran itself gently but firmly over her pussy lips, not entering, but stroking her, teasing her labia, occasionally and barely touching her clit. She realized with a start that somehow these vines knew human anatomy quite well - and were interested in some basic foreplay.

The second one between her legs seemed similarly inclined. It dipped low, slithering across the cheeks of her ass, leaving its warm, damp trails on her as it lightly touched her. Then, with a pause, it dropped away for a bit, then returned, striking just hard enough a blow to sting slightly.

She hadn't realized she liked that, but found she really did. She squeaked, and spread her legs wider. She was sopping. She hoped the vine working her sex would realize this was an invitation.

It seemed to. It pulled back, running its whole length, slippery and warm, across her clit as it did so. She squirmed. The one below spanked her again, and she pulled her legs as wide as she could, the vines easily yielding. She was spread wantonly to the forest air. The taste of fruit filled her mouth.

The vine that had been teasing her slid home. She felt the delicious pleasure as her folds parted for the spade-shaped head. It sunk into her slowly but steadily, filling her insides as she squirmed. She felt its tip just reach her cervix, then it stopped, warm and filling. She let out a long moan.

The vines on her breasts moved, sliding over her erect nipples as they rose to gently slide across her neck and collarbone. Then the final one pressed between her ass cheeks and against her tight hole. It stopped. She nodded and tried to press her rear down towards it. She couldn't move much in her suspension, but it parted a little, and she felt the well-lubricated tip begin to part it. It slid the rest of the way in and just kept going. Where a human cock could only go so deep, rigid as it was, the vine twisted and turned within her. She felt fuller than she ever had. She shuddered, and her wings and tail twitched.

The vine deep in her ass remained still, as did the one she was sucking, but the other three went to work. The one in her sex pounded her enthusiastically, always pulling out so that only the spade remained inside, before sinking back in to exactly her capacity. The other two caressed her entire upper body, at varying pressures, but always running over her nipples. They kept her shuddering and moaning. And the one in her mouth just moved slightly, playing with her tongue, reminding her more of a kiss than fellatio.

Her pleasure rose so quickly she feared the song might be taking her, but at the thought she realized it wasn't - the vines were just so skilled, she was rapidly approaching her climax. She writhed in pleasure, bucking into the steady pace of the vine fucking her, each move making her deliciously aware of the one deep in her ass.

One of the two on her upper body pulled back, until only the tip remained, and it began teasing her hard nipple only, running the edge of the spade along it before slithering across, alternating pinpoint pressure with broad. The other turned low. Keeping its base against her other nipple, it ran its tip down her side, tickling her ribs deliciously, then across her hips and belly. Lower and lower it went, and she squirmed, until finally it grazed her clit.

She broke. The vine in her pussy bottomed out again, and orgasm came to her. She screamed, but just as she started cumming, all the vines inside her began to empty. The fluid in her mouth was delicious, and eagerly she gulped it down. In her bowels and womb, she felt heavy loads seeping into her. She was drowning in pleasure, near-delirious. She quaked in the vines. Her belly swelled slightly.

The vines pulled out, still spraying. Her ass and crotch and face were soaked. The vine on her clit dove in to take the place of the one that had just left. As soon as it bottomed out, it too began pumping into her. Still she writhed in pleasure. It withdrew. Finally the last vine left her breast and plunged into her pussy. She was coming down now, and her eyes widened at the feeling of yet more fluids filling her already brimming womb. She looked ready to give birth, and felt that it should hurt, but instead she was still in the grip of some half-orgasm, not as intense, but her whole body tingled.

She realized with a start that she was feeling the magic of the vines' cum inside her. Her head swam. She knew, somehow, that it was not semen, but actual seeds, unfertilized, that she'd been filled with. A vision came to her of returning next Spring. She saw herself stripping and lying in the glade. She saw a large creature she couldn't quite make out come to her. She felt it penetrate her, massive and warm and very male, knew it would fertilize the seeds still in her. She saw herself stealing back on a midsummer night, and knew it was to give birth to something.

The vines withdrew, placing her gently on the grass. The vision faded, but still she felt the power within her, and as with Mac's cum, she felt she couldn't contain it. She moaned and writhed, burning with pleasure and discomfort at once. She thought of Mac, felt his rough fur on her again, his massive horse cock inside her again. She felt her skin ripple, felt fur begin to sprout.

No! She lay back on the grass, and struggled to control the power. She focused on the grass beneath her, cool on her warm back. She spread her wings against it. She willed the magic out of her, anywhere, into the grass, into the ground.

Her belly subsided. The cum dripping from her asshole dried up. She felt the power draining, running along her wings and back and her arms, flat against the grass. The fire faded. With a gasp, she sat up.

All around her for a good fifteen feet, except for the outline where her body had lain, the grass was now waist high, covered in pink flowers. The few trees within the radius had sprouted new branches, bearing similar ones. Even more than normal flowers, they looked very much like her pussy.

She shook her head, staggered to her feet, and went off to find Sunset.

As that was happening...

Sunset rounded the tree, and the song hit her full-force. She could tell that this close, it would be overwhelming to someone without her resistance. And she saw the source.

Directly ahead of her, a woman stood. But not a human woman, nor even a near-human one like Arwen. She was unmistakably a creature of the woods. Her skin was dark brown, and textured like bark, nearly identical to the trees around her. Her eyes were emerald, her pupils slanted like a cat's, and she had no whites, only endless dazzling irises that shone even in the dim light of the glade. And her hair was a cascade of leaves like a willow's, but covered in flowers red as blood. She was naked. Her full breasts were topped with nipples like acorns, and while Sunset couldn't see what lay beneath her legs, tiny closed buds of flowers adorned her pubis. She grinned as she sang, showing teeth white as wood under bark, but all sharp.

Her eyes widened a bit when she saw Sunset, and the song changed. Sunset felt it was suggesting that, as a woman, she'd rather be with the vines. Sunset grinned and pulled her panties off under her skirt, revealing her stallion cock. The song faltered for a moment, then returned full-force, and as before, pounding insistent arousal against Sunset.

The plant woman fell back, and Sunset saw that behind her was a grassy rise, the height of a bed. As she fell upon it she spread her legs, revealing a pussy edged with flower petals instead of fleshy lips, dripping a green nectar.

Sunset played the part of someone drowning in a song of lust eagerly. After all, her empathy required contact. She charged forward and hilted herself eagerly.

Her cock sunk all the way in snugly. Despite some reservations she'd quelled to play her part, the woman's bark-like skin wasn't uncomfortably rough to the touch. It was as warm as a human would be, and just rough enough to be pleasingly so, like fingernails lightly run over sensitive skin. Her pussy felt exactly as Sunset expected, and she didn't have to fake a moan.

The woman shuddered as she was filled, but Sunset could tell at once it was mostly an act. She read some slight pleasure, most of it at the novelty - both Sunset's gender and her pony equipment seemed a turn-on to her partner. But most of the creature's emotions were alien to Sunset entirely. She felt no malice, which she might have expected, nor a desire to breed, also a possibility. Emotions swirled in the being, no doubt, but Sunset got an impression of earth and the smell of grass, and little else, save the tight pearl of pleasure.

Hoping to understand more, and increasingly horny herself, Sunset began thrusting into her partner. The other woman's pleasure grew, but only slowly. Certainly far more slowly than Sunset's own. Still playing the part of the beguiled lover, she pounded hard, trying to detach herself as much as possible to keep in control. She bent down and kissed the other woman, partly out of acting, partly in the hopes it would help her empathy. The lips parted, the warm tongue met her own, stopping the song, but it's magic still filled the air. The kiss mimicked passion passably, but Sunset could tell it still wasn't genuine. This knowledge helped keep her detached. Then she felt a change in her lover's state, a roil of emotion, not quite hostile, but deliberate, like a trap being sprung. The creature's hand darted into a hidden part of the grassy bed and emerged holding something which she tried to slam down on Sunset's back with her hand.

She was very fast. Even not caught up in the spell, if Sunset hadn't had the empathic warning that something had changed, she doubted she'd have been able to react in time. As it was, though, she caught the woman's wrist, stopping the...attack?

She turned to look. In her hand was what looked like a burr. She clearly needed to get it to Redheart for a closer look. She pulled back, getting ready to wrestle it away.

Before she could move, though, the other woman's legs wrapped tight around her, locking her fully inside. She felt the blossom of confusion as her partner realized she was not a slave to her song. Curiously, this seemed to excite her as well, as the pearl of pleasure grew slightly. But it still remained so minor Sunset was confused - why was the other woman maintaining their coupling now that the charade was done? She struggled, but the grip was far too tight, and despite the other woman's small stature, she seemed to be rooted to the bed, and wouldn't move at all.

Then she had to stifle a moan as the plant woman's entire sex began undulating and dripping moisture all around her. It was more intense than a blowjob, because it covered the entire length of her shaft, balls to tip. Her lover continued to feel detached, and she realized her plan - if Sunset were to cum, hard, she'd lose control of herself, releasing the other woman's hand to do whatever it had wanted to do in the first place.

She struggled, trying to pry apart the fingers that had closed over the strange burr. But she made no headway - they were as strong as the wood they resembled. She felt herself getting closer and closer. Desperately she looked down, still keeping the hand pinned in her own. The buds on her lover's pubis had opened, revealing delicate pink blossoms. She tilted her head in confusion.

The other woman followed her gaze. Her uncanny eyes widened, and Sunset felt her fill with confusion, and a bit more arousal. She made a wild guess.

"Does it copy the red potion now if I don't drink one?" She mused to herself. The other woman's eyes flickered in a way that made Sunset think she understood the words, and her confusion grew to match. "Can you understand me? Does this," she gestured at the open blossoms, "mean you're fertile now?"

The other woman said nothing, but the arousal grew more.

"It does, doesn't it? Well you probably want to let me go, unless you want to be a mommy." More arousal, more confusion. "That's right, this cock is magic. It made you fertile, but it's got crossbreeding spells on it too. If I get off in you, you'll get pregnant."

She felt the hesitation, but then the resolve. The massage continued, and the woman shook her head.

Sunset nearly panicked. Her hope had backfired - now she knew her lover was fertile, and it only made her more aroused. She was closer now, and if she did get off, she felt sure she'd empty her whole balls, leaving herself helpless with pleasure. At the very least the woman would be able to hide the burr again, and she might even be able to escape. She definitely felt the tide of pleasure rising in the other woman, but not near as quickly as her own.

Not near as quickly as her own...

She realized she had one chance left. She still couldn't move her legs to thrust, but she had a mouth, and one hand free. She kissed the other woman's neck and chin and chest, feeling little twinges of pleasure each time. She kissed down her full firm breast to her nipple, and spikes of pleasure greeted her as she took it in her mouth, teasing it. Her lover was enjoying this, despite her detachment. Still, Sunset was close. She needed more.

In desperation, she moved her hand down to her lover's crotch. She hadn't seen a clit at all, but maybe, just maybe...

She ran her hand gently over the bed of blossoms now open on the plant woman's pubis.

Sunset was nearly bowled over with the blast of emotion as her lover exploded into orgasm. Fluids drenched her cock. The woman rose eagerly, pushing Sunset's face up and pressing their breasts together. She kissed her, passion no longer feigned. Her hand opened, nerveless, and Sunset caught the burr that fell from it.

Now, though, she needed not to drop it herself, as her own orgasm swelled all the faster in response to the unleashed passion of her lover. She fumbled with it, her brain only grudgingly giving up the resources to control her hand. She managed to drop it into her shirt pocket, and then she gave in. She fell heavily on the plant woman, pressing her into the grass bed, and fertile seed pumped out of her. They kissed and pressed close as her full equine balls emptied, and the shaft vanished. Still the being held her tight. She felt her seed running down her legs as it spilled out of her lover. She saw her belly half swelled. She moaned as she found herself somehow still cumming, her own pussy continuing where her cock left off. She tried again to pull free, and looked down in confusion to see the woman shaking her head.

She expected she would try to demand the burr back, but instead felt only lust still rising. She reached her brown hands up and placed them over her half-swollen belly, then raised them higher. The message was clear, she wanted more.

Sunset's eyes widened and her knees quaked as the thought intensified her continuing orgasm. But her magic was game. Her cock sprung back into being, already fully hilted.

And, presumably because she was already cumming, it was already ejaculating. Her eyes were already on the other woman's belly, and she could see it swelling with each massive shot. It was too much. She felt herself falling, felt her mind following the streams of seed swelling this mysterious woman, impregnating her. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out, still pumping her lover fuller and fuller.

Sunset came to with Redheart shaking her and calling her name. Her partner looked frazzled. She'd clearly tried to clean off, but some kind of green goo streaked her hair and her top.

"Oh thank goodness," Redheart said, "I thought you were injured."

"Just fucked out," Sunset managed. "How long was I out?"

"I just got here, so can't have been long. Any luck?"

"Yeah, she..." Sunset looked around. The woman was gone without a trace. She reached for her pocket, and felt the burr.

"I'll tell you about it on the way back," Sunset said. "But I think I found a clue." She pulled the burr out of the pocket.

"It looks like just a burr," Redheart stared at it.

Sunset dug Ethyl out of her bag and ran it over the burr. It squeaked with intense unknown magic.

"Oh." Redheart said. "What does that mean?"

"No idea," Sunset sighed. "But I think it might be what happened to Mac. Anyway, we won't figure it out here. Let's head back and compare notes."

So they staggered off down the trail, back towards the car, and the office, and civilization.

File 4: The Department of Monsters

Chapter-specific warning: This chapter has some fucked up breeding horror stuff in it - think X-Files or (some) Lovecraft style. Might deserve a mild "horror" tag, though it's not too much for me and I'm pretty skittish about horror, so if so, it's the mildest one possible. All sex between intelligent characters remains consensual.

As a life choice, Redheart cultivated her composure, and it rose to all challenges and made her proud. As a nurse she'd learned to keep her head in a medical crisis, and her FBI training had only grown these skills. Before agreeing to take the job in the first place, she'd thought long and hard about just what seeking out magical weirdness would mean. She thought she could handle it.

By and large, she was. Her composure remained strong. She felt she and Sunset had both done well so far. Still, while she'd made the choice to accept the weird into her life with eyes open, she'd not expected it to respond so enthusiastically. Beginning with her fateful choice to offer herself to Luna, she'd faced a potent mix of magic and sex she'd never bargained for. Before her transformation, she'd thought of herself as relatively conservative sexually - a few boyfriends in college, nothing more. She wasn't sad this seemed to have changed, but it was testing her composure not to show how hard so much change, so quickly, was hitting her.

For all she mastered it during the day, it caught up to her that night. She'd showered thoroughly, clearing off the last of the slime, but still had trouble falling asleep. When she did, she woke frequently, head filled with images that left her both aroused and unsettled.

Then, in one of her innumerable bouts of wakefulness, her phone blared the ringtone indicating a call from Sunset.

Sunset had found herself barely sleeping.

Not in some kind of stressed way, like Redheart. She'd long since developed the kind of equanimity that can only come from leaving not only the world, but even the species you were born in. Rather, she'd found ever since her experience with Arwen, she'd just been not sleeping much. She'd grab a few hours when Sonata went to sleep, usually after tiring each other out. Then she'd wake up, filled with a wistfulness she couldn't begin to describe, and a desire to see the stars. Sometimes, like that first night, she'd sing to them under her breath, either making up rhymes on the spot, or speaking words she couldn't understand but that brought her nearly to tears with a sense of loss.

Then she'd sit on the couch, and think, and time would fade away, before she returned to bed to sleep, or at least spend the last few hours snuggled up to Sonata.

That night, though, she stirred early. Usually she returned to the bedroom at or shortly before dawn, but she could tell it was still a few hours yet. Nothing obvious had roused her, but she was worried. She rose and went to the bedroom. Feeling foolish, she cracked open the door, looking for the comfort of Sonata's prone form in the moonlight from the window.

The window was open, and a dark figure loomed over the bed.

Sunset stopped for a moment, but only a moment. She couldn't make out much of anything, either about the intruder or about Sonata's state, as the scene was backlit by the bright moon. But she knew her gun was in the holster sitting by the bed, so she let out a yell and sprang at the shadowy figure.

It leaped back in apparent alarm, though it remained silent, and Sunset landed on the bed on her knees. Something whipped back around the intruder - a dark cloak? Sonata moved next to her, and Sunset prepared herself to spring again. Before she could move, though, faster than she would have thought possible, the figure leaped backwards out the window, and vanished into the night.

Beside her Sonata sat up in confusion, and Sunset held her close while her lover confusedly murmured she was okay. Then Sunset realized that Sonata might not have been the target, and might not have been the only one. She grabbed for her phone. She held her breath for the three rings before Redheart picked up.

"Sunset? What in the--"

"Don't say anything," Sunset said, "there might already be someone in your house."

Redheart was grabbing for her gun before Sunset even finished telling her what had happened. She pulled on her bathrobe, and a hoodie over it, hiding her supernatural features. Sunset finished and hung up, promising she was on her way. Redheart slept on the second floor of her modest house, and no sound came from below. She tried to breathe quietly, looking from her window to her door. She slid out of bed on to the floor, trying to keep out of sight of the window, and slid to where she could see both it and the door.

A heavy splintering thud came from below, and she froze. Normally she enjoyed the privacy of her small house on the rural outskirts of Canterlot. She'd only purchased it after getting her FBI job and her wings, and appreciated that the lack of nearby neighbors let her avoid wearing a disguise around the house. Now, though, it was unlikely anyone would hear even so brazen an intrusion. And Sunset was likely at least half an hour away.

She cursed herself silently and double checked her magazine. She had to assume they'd know about the layout of her house, and would be heading for the bedroom. She opened the door as silently as she could, thinking about the best place to try to take them by surprise. The outlook wasn't great; it was a house, after all, not a fortress. Still, she thought there was a chance: there wasn't much cover before the foot of the stairs, and there was a banister on one side she could look around. If they thought she was still asleep, she might take them by surprise. It seemed the best chance, so she hurried, hoping the carpet would keep her bare feet silent, to her position. She heard a clattering noise as she did, from the kitchen below, making her think they'd come in the back door. She peered slightly around the banister, trusting the dark hoodie to hide her pale hair.

Two figures moved in the open space beneath the stairs. They looked strangely hulking; she wasn't confident they were human. They didn't seem to be making for upstairs, though; she was momentarily confused to see them heading towards the front door, away from the kitchen where she'd seen them before. She raised the gun, but as she was about pull the trigger, she smelled gas, and her eyes widened as she realized they must have been in the kitchen. Frantically she turned on the safety and holstered the gun. They clearly wanted to make what was coming look like an accident, so they weren't going to come for her - but they were probably moments away from setting the house ablaze.

Quickly she went over her options. The front door seemed out. The two hulking figures had her outnumbered and beaten on size, and using her gun as an equalizer was clearly a bad idea. They'd come in through the kitchen, so she couldn't trust that exit wasn't guarded, and was likely to be the place they started the blaze regardless. They had her well trapped.

So she had to hope they didn't realize what she'd learned in the barn: her wings (sort of) worked. Giving up on stealth, she threw off the hoodie and bathrobe, leaving only her bra and panties. Fortunately the summer night was warm. She ran for the small balcony above the kitchen. She heard a small commotion below her. Where before she'd cursed her lack of security-mindedness, she was now thankful she never bothered to latch the sliding door. She opened it, barely looking outside before spreading her wings and leaping off the balcony.

Even in the heat of terror, the feeling of the warm summer air filling her wings was exultant, and she nearly yelled for joy as she felt herself not falling but rising a bit in the small updraft created by the edge of the house, before beginning to glide leisurely down. Still, she stayed silent, and looked at the yard spread out below her.

The moonlight illuminated the broad lawn leading to the woods behind the house, but shadows clung around the eves and along the walls, and she couldn't see anything suspicious below. Then she saw two things, one right after the other. First, something emerged on to the balcony, directly into the moonlight, and she could see the hulking form was indeed not human, at all. It was a writhing mass of grass and soil in roughly human shape, like the contents of someone's very large planter box had woken up and been angry. It raised it's head-like mass, and while it had no face, she saw two pinpricks of glowing green light like eyes. Which seemed somehow to see her, because it jumped easily off the balcony and began shambling towards the ground beneath her at a disturbing speed.

Then, just as it landed, she saw a bloom of fire from the kitchen window, and saw a second, similar figure launched away from the window by the blast. A wave of sound and heat hit her, and the kitchen was up in flames - flames that rapidly rose towards her bedroom above it. To her distress, she saw the second figure stand up, apparently not disabled by the blast.

She was clear of the house, but obviously not out of danger. Sunset wouldn't arrive for at least fifteen minutes, and it wasn't clear what she could do anyway. Meanwhile two angry mountains of soil were running around below. She didn't want to think about what it would feel like to get hit by one - heck, she'd probably suffocate if it just fell on her and stopped moving. And while her wings were keeping her from falling from her now nearly three story height, she didn't think she could actually fly with the things. She thought about taking a shot at the figure now almost directly below her, but she wasn't steady enough in the air to fancy her chances against a strong breeze, let alone the recoil of her firearm, and it wasn't clear what a pistol bullet might do to a pile of undifferentiated soil.

She was pretty sure she could turn, though, and the updraft had left her a good fifteen feet above the roof of her house, and said roof wasn't yet on fire. While she was far from an aeronautical engineer, she'd done enough general science to know the growing blaze was generating a heck of an updraft. If she angled above it, she'd likely get enough lift to glide clear to town, or at least intercept Sunset. She wished she'd had time to grab her phone!

Of course, that updraft would also make the recoil she'd just be worrying about look trivial. And if she fell, she'd fall further, on to a literal house on fire.

It seemed like her only chance, though. Inexperienced as she was with the wings, it seemed like a better chance than fighting two massive monsters made out of soil. Still, she didn't relish the idea. Desperately, she looked around for any other options. Then she saw, barely visible under the trees on the edge of the wood, a small figure.

She almost missed it in the dark among the trees. Would have, except that its hands glowed with a green light, just like she'd seen in the eyes of the monster when it looked at her. She looked closer, and it looked distinctly like a woman. It was hard to tell from here, but in the flickering green light she thought its skin looked like bark, much like Sunset had described the woman in the woods.

"Hey," she called out, figuring she had nothing to lose, "help!" The figure didn't stir.

"You in the trees," she tried again, "help me!"

The woman did move, and looked at her. She grinned, silently. She moved one hand, and a lump of soil flew into the air, falling short of hitting Redheart.

That clinched it, then. She had two choices. The fire had nearly reached the roof - if she were going to try that plan, now was the time. But she suspected the woman was controlling the monsters. She was a ways away, and in cover, but the glow did make her an easier target, and it wasn't an impossible shot. Or, it might be just as easy to try to swoop as to survive that updraft, and less dangerous to get wrong...

With a sigh, Redheart committed herself. She angled her wings slightly, in a way she hoped would cause her to descend faster, and leaned towards the woman, who was again looking at her monsters. She began to speed up. Her heart pounded. She was not steady in the air. She brought out her gun, but as she gained speed, she only became more unstable. She reconsidered. She kept the safety on but clutched the gun close, just trying not to drop it, as she plummeted towards the woman, hoping to avoid the low-hanging branches.

She was nearly there, and moving nearly as fast as if she'd been true falling. She snapped out her wings, planning to slow herself at the last moment and plant her feet firmly on the woman with most of the force of her descent.

It would have been awesome, and a more experienced flyer could have pulled it off - soaring birds of prey do something similar regularly. But Redheart was no bird of prey, and this was her second flight. Her wings caught the air, but at the wrong angle, and she jerked back as well as up. Her kick turned into a flail, which did catch the woman full in the chest, but as she fell back her wings lost the air, and she landed heavily on her back on the soft soil, winded. She struggled to her feet, as well as with her breath and her gun.

The plant woman wasn't grinning now. She got to her feet just about the same time as Redheart. They'd twisted all around as the fell, and now the burning house lit her from behind with an angry light. The glow was gone from her hands, and there was no sign of the monsters, but she seemed angry, and ready to tear into Redheart with her own bare hands.

Out here, there was no gas, though, so Redheart raised the gun and shot her in the chest.

The bullet tore through and she let out an unearthly scream and a burst of something that smelled piney. It was a powerful sidearm, but even after her training Redheart was astonished at how far it threw the plant woman; she suspected she was much lighter than a human. She tumbled halfway across the lawn, to lie only a dozen or so feet from the blazing kitchen window. Unsteadily, Redheart moved closer, on the lookout for any movement, though the growing heat made her suspect she wouldn't be able to get all the way to where her foe lay.

Before she could, though, the woman stirred and rose to her feet. Redheart lined up the gun for another shot, only for a tree branch to lash out from above her and strike her hand, sending a jolt of pain up her arm and her gun away into the night. The woman moved to a crouch, and looked ready to spring. In the flickering light Redheart could see thorns sprouting from her once-smooth skin and sprouting from her fingers like claws.

Then both women turned as the sound of a motorcycle rose over the crackle of the fire, and Redheart heard Sunset calling her name faintly.

"Behind the house! I've got company!" Redheart yelled, keeping her eyes on the other woman.

Just as she spoke, her foe jumped at her. Redheart had been ready, and rolled frantically to the side. She had no idea how she'd beat the plant woman on her own, but if Sunset had her gun, she just had to last until then. But it seemed her enemy had come to the same conclusion. Rather than angle herself to try to collide with Redheart, she ran past, to the woods, where she ran directly into the trunk of a tree, vanishing into it as if it were a pool of water.

"Whoa," Sunset said, having just caught the unconventional exit. "Seems like we got off lucky," she gestured to Sonata, who was standing next to her, eyes wide.

"They wanted to make it look like an accident," Redheart gestured to the burning house. "They trapped me upstairs when they realized I was awake. I didn't think they knew I could glide."

"I didn't know that," Sonata said.

"I didn't really either," Redheart admitted. "But I did a bit in the barn, and it seemed like I'd better learn quick. I thought about trying to use the heat from the fire to get enough height to just glide away, but it seemed riskier than just fighting. Now that I saw what she turned into, I'm not so sure."

Sonata hugged her.

"Come on" Sunset said, the sound of sirens rising in the distance, "Sonata called 911 as soon as we saw the light. I brought a big hoodie, just in case. Didn't think to bring pants, sadly, but I think they'll understand."

The firefighters did indeed understand, and did an admirable job on the blaze. The house would need extensive repairs, or maybe even to be entirely rebuilt, of course, but Redheart didn't want to live in it until they'd figured out who attacked them regardless. And while the kitchen and her bedroom were a near-total loss, they'd saved most of the rest of the house, which contained her computer, photos, and other things that would be most difficult to replace. They got a hotel on their budget for the rest of the night, and Sunset left Rarity a text to come ASAP for a fashion emergency.

As a result, all three arrived at the office on time, tired (except Sunset), but determined to survey the situation - all thought it was likely that whoever attacked them would have tried to destroy their work at the office as well, though Sunset hadn't gotten any calls from the alarm company or police.

Instead, the situation they found there just confused them. In the parking lot, a length of chain was wrapped around one of the light poles, loose, as if it had been used to tie something to the post, but nothing was there but a scattering of strange, foul-smelling ash scattered around the base. In the lobby, there were clear signs of a struggle of some sort, but the entryway to the office was undisturbed, save a piece of paper stuck to the door. At first it looked like trash, and indeed was an obviously discarded, if unused, paper napkin. But it had been stuck to the door with several pieces of gum, and someone had written on it, crudely, in what looked like charcoal:

"I protect this place. Two more got away. Do not look for me."

"What the hell," Sunset sighed, "even our friends are problems. Who writes in charcoal on a napkin? And why do they think we wouldn't look for them? It's literally our job!"

"What does it mean, two more?" Sonata said.

"Yeah," Redheart nodded, "good point. I didn't see any. I guess they tried to tie someone up and they got away. Maybe some kind of disappearing powder, like Trixie's smoke but actually magical?"

"Maybe," Sunset said. "We need to examine that burr thing that lady tried to plant on me, probably should do the same with that dust. I'll go try to bag some."

"All right," Redheart sighed. "I'll try to figure out where we're going to live. Or at least where I am."

"Us too," Sunset said, "if we're going to be attacked, we should be somewhere safer."

It turned out there were a million things to do, which helped them stave off the full horror of being attacked in their homes, though Sunset was pretty sure they'd have to pay for it eventually. Redheart compiled a list of residential options for them to look over. Sunset got in touch with Twilight to come and show them how to use their new magic detecting gear, and look at the strange objects they had. Redheart went and got a new microscope, since the fire department wasn't done safely getting things out of her house yet. Sunset got in touch with a moving company to go and put her stuff in storage.

And then, the boss arrived.

As the junior partner, Sunset had never met Captain Shining Armor before. She knew he was in charge of Special Operations for the whole region, which encompassed not only Canterlot City and its metro region, but the entire state and four surrounding ones. He didn't even work or live in Canterlot, she thought. His name had seemed kind of familiar when she heard it, but she'd not been able to figure out why, so she'd pushed it out of her mind.

In fact, the whole office was so new, and it was seen as urgent enough to get started on it, that she'd gotten around to very little of the formal training in procedures and agency structures that new agents normally had. They weren't even sure which parts of the standard course should apply to her (and, privately, she thought they might not be comfortable with training her with normal humans at all), so while they figured it out, she was mostly content to let Redheart deal with their superiors and fellow agents.

So, when Redheart mentioned calling him as one of the many things she had to do, Sunset didn't think much of it. She continued not thinking much of it as she went on with the many important tasks that were allowing her to not think about the fact that she and Redheart, who until now had solved job-related problems with orgasms, had just been attacked in their homes. She also didn't think about the fact that both of them had agreed to work in the conference room, with all doors between them and Sonata open.

She continued not thinking about it until she heard Sonata say, "yes, sir, they're right in the conference room," from the entryway. Both women turned and rose as the Captain entered.

Shining Armor was a tall, solid man, surprisingly young. Sunset thought he wasn't more than ten years older than Redheart. His skin was as snowy as Redheart's, and his shock of dark blue hair had a light streak in it that resembled Twilight's. He wore his suit well, and Sunset noticed a wedding band on his hand.

"Captain Armor!" Redheart rose to her feet, and Sunset, upon realizing who this was, hurried to follow. "I hadn't expected you to come yourself, sir," Redheart finished.

"Agents Redheart, Shimmer," he nodded at both of them, "of course I did. We expected you might get into danger, but a concerted attack is more than I expected. Whoever did this is organized."

"Are you afraid we can't handle it, sir?" Redheart held his gaze.

"Of course," Captain Armor laughed. "You should be too. I'm worried I can't handle it every time I go in the field. But I trust you're the best we've got and doing the best you can. I'm not going to personally assume command, or anything." Sunset let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "But you're both new agents, and this kind of thing rattles you, no matter how strong you think you are. I know first-hand. You need to take care of yourselves, first. Have you eaten anything today?"

Sunset and Redheart shared a guilty look.

"Thought not. Stress and fear keep you from realizing you're hungry. Come on. We're going out to lunch. My wife's along, and she's a great listener. She's an agency psychologist, in fact. I'm not saying you need sessions with her or anything, but you do need to relax, and you need to talk about it. I brought some of my people with me. They'll make sure this office is secure, and figure out how to keep you safe."

His tone was friendly, but Sunset got the distinct feeling argument wasn't a good idea. Besides, she realized she should be hungry.

"Oh," she said, "but Twilight's already on her way. When should I tell her we'll be back?"

A strange expression flickered on the Captain's face, then was gone before Sunset was even sure she'd seen it. "Twilight?"

"Twilight Sparkle, sir," Redheart said. There was a definite, if very brief, reaction. "She was in my report. She's doing some civilian contract work for us. She's one of Sunset's friends, in the portal group, and she makes technology that can detect magic."

"I'm a bit behind on reports," Captain Armor blushed slightly, "always so much paperwork, you know. But that sounds useful. Agent Shimmer, let her know my people will meet her here instead of you. She can explain how this technology can help them keep you secure, and we'll meet them here when we're done. Please assure her the agency will compensate her for the extra time."

"She'd jump at the chance to have a captive audience for her technobabble," Sunset grinned, "but I'm sure she'll appreciate it." She sent the text. They collected Sonata on their way out.

Sunset had expected that Captain Armor meant to take them to a restaurant, but instead he led them to a nearby hotel, where he and his wife had a room. She met them at the door, boxes of takeout Thai in hand. Sunset noticed and appreciated that it was all vegetarian. She also noticed the other woman was breathtakingly beautiful in an overwhelmingly pink way. It was like Pinkie Pie, except where Sunset sometimes suspected Pinkie was the work of a trickster god like Loki, this woman would be all Aphrodite.

"Ladies," Captain Armor said, "meet my lovely wife, who is far too good for me, Dr. Mi Am--"

"Oh be quiet you," her voice was rich, gentle, and warm. "He just does that to annoy me. Call me Cadance. My parents had far to much of a flair for the dramatic."

Sunset knew she didn't quite perfectly cover her own reaction, as she suddenly remembered where she'd heard Captain Armor's name before. She hoped Cadance would put it down to her recent trauma. Certainly the other woman didn't say anything, or even seem to notice.

"Nice to meet you," Redheart said. "You work for the department too?"

"Yes, as a counselor," she said, "but I'm not here in my official capacity, unless you'd like me to be. I'm just hear to listen to a couple of good people who have had a hard time of it. I am bound by confidentiality, and approved to hear whatever you need to tell me in the course of taking care of your metal health, so you can tell me whatever you think it'd be good to talk about."

Sunset felt calmer just hearing the gentle voice, and her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food. But she found herself second guessing it. Even as the knots of stress she hadn't know had been lurking in her began unraveling and she realized how much she wanted to talk about it, her memories raised a tiny flag. In Equestria she's an alicorn, she thought. Look what happened to Redheart when she slept with Luna and Celestia...

She tucked in to the food at first, using hunger as an excuse for her silence. Redheart and Sonata seemed similarly interested in it as a priority, and neither of the other two objected. As she ate, though, Sunset thought about her options, and realized she basically didn't have any. She could lie, of course, but now that she was aware of her own suppressed stress, she knew she did need to talk to someone, and trying to conceal it would just make it worse. Besides which, she had no way to signal her compatriots about her concerns, so they were likely to tell the whole story in any case.

And come to that, why shouldn't they? In Equestria, the alicorns were forces for good, even if her younger self hadn't realized that. And Celestia and Luna seemed to be here, too. There was something strange, no doubt - how did Captain Armor not know what was up with Twilight, who should be his sister? - but that didn't mean sinister. And he got Redheart's detailed reports, and was allowed and encouraged to talk about them with his wife. What could she possibly reveal that wasn't in those? Only her own feelings, which seemed least likely to do harm.

So, finally, she let herself relax, and they started talking.

Eventually, they covered it all. She'd planned to only talk about the changes since she'd started working for the FBI, but it seemed all linked, and eventually she'd relayed almost her whole story since coming to Earth, though admittedly in very abbreviated form. She couldn't remember exactly what Cadance said, though it was all supportive, and Captain Armor remained silent throughout, but at the end, she did feel a lot better.

As they were winding down, Captain Armor looked up from his phone.

"Good timing," he said, "looks like they finished up. Feeling better?"

Everyone said they were. Sunset touched Sonata's hand, and her empathic magic didn't detect any stress, not that it ever had. Even with her new magic, Sunset rarely understood how Sonata thought. But then, it was constantly hard for her to remember how long her lover had really been alive. On balance, she supposed it was surprising she could find common ground at all. She supposed if she made it thousands of years, she'd probably get pretty even-keeled herself.

In any case, Sunset was surprised to find how true her "yes" was. It didn't feel like magic; she still worried about the new powers she and Redheart had acquired, about their safety in the face of apparently organized opposition, about what they might find as they investigated. But the feeling of running away, of stress and fear lurking where her mind wouldn't look, like a shadowy form in deep water, was gone. She knew they faced trials, that they'd not be able to solve everything with a quick fuck and mysterious magic, even if it had a pretty good track record so far. But she'd always known that, and she'd faced trials before. Now she'd named the dark shape, and felt much better for it.

"Here," Cadance gave them each a card. They were simple and professional: Mi Amore Cadenza, Psy.D., followed by her contact info. "Give me a call whenever you like. The Special Operations division sees a lot of screwed up stuff, but you three stand out even so. I'm amazed how together you are after all this, and I know now it's because you're all old hands at it, even if most of you aren't old. But even so, sometimes it's easy to trip over from experienced to jaded to repressing without even noticing. I won't do you the disrespect of demanding anything, but I hope you'll let me help. If you want to set up a weekly or monthly phone meeting, or even an in-person one, think it over and give me a call."

"I will be!" Sonata said, to Sunset's surprise.

Cadance grinned. "I'll talk to you soon, then. But for now, it seems like your castle awaits."

Cadance's phrasing ended up prescient, in a way that didn't reassure Sunset that she wasn't more than she seemed.

"It turned out your building was pretty low occupancy anyway," Captain Armor told them on the drive back. "So we just bought it."

"That's way more space than we need, though," Redheart said.

"We're refurbishing some of it into apartments. You'll each get one."

"But I want to stay with Sunset," Sonata said.

"You can do whatever you like, of course," he said, "but just in case. Use it for storage if you want."

"That's still not the whole building, though," Redheart said.

"No," Captain Armor admitted. "But you're accumulating data, and even found a few items to analyze, right? So we're going to get some lab equipment in for you. And a few handy bits of gear. Various camo outfits, some basic surveillance equipment, things like that. I know none of you are specialists, but you never know when it could be handy. Annual budget requests are coming up too, and it's looking like you're going to be busier than we expected. I don't want to grow you too fast and mess things up, but I'll be putting in a request for more funding for you, which might include more staff - lab staff and so forth, if nothing else. Though I wouldn't be shocked if you found some more people who would be a good fit all on your own.

"So I think in the next few years we'll need a real facility if this keeps up. Besides, you've got at least one mystery right there, whoever left that note. And whatever happens with that, seems like that building is safer than others. It didn't say the protection was for you, but for the place. Might as well use it. Unless you object to living at your workplace, of course."

Redheart shrugged. "I lived close to the school when I worked there, in case of emergencies on a weekend event. I don't mind."

"Ponies usually live where they work," Sunset said.

"I've never had a job before," Sonata seemed to consider. "Or a home all to myself. So it's all good with me!"

Captain Armor shook his head. "You ladies sure stand out as special, even in Special Operations. But good. We'll put you up in the hotel for the next few days while we get the renovations done, I'll stick around with my people to make sure you stay safe. Then we'll let you have your space back. You've been doing well, you don't need the boss hovering over you. But do keep me up to date. We won't be using most of the building yet, but we'll put some cameras in for you, and make sure you have all the keys. Never know when you might find some giant magic statue you have to store or whatever."

They used the intervening time to get their briefing from Twilight, and do as much of the lab work as they could. While the construction transforming the nearby sections into new apartments for them was loud enough to be a bit distracting, it wasn't too much to let them work in their office.

Twilight ended up getting a good set of spending money, too - instead of installing her magic sensors just in the office and near the portal from Equestria, she ended up working with the construction crews to set them up all around the building. They even put them in the areas they intended not to use yet, figuring it was better security in any case, and that they'd rather do it all now, before Twilight left for school.

Twilight remained strangely guarded, and Sunset wondered if it were related to Captain Armor's strange reaction to her name - and apparent ignorance of the person that, based on everything Sunset knew about the link between the two worlds, was his sister. She'd mentioned it to Redheart and Sonata, but neither of them had any idea what it might mean, and Sunset herself couldn't come up with a good way to broach the topic. She promised herself she'd just ask straight-up before her friend left for college if it came to that, but she was hoping not to have to.

Their studies turned out inconclusive on both counts, though interesting on one. The dust was a dead end. It was magical, certainly, but only at a background level, and it faded even in the few hours between measurements. That seemed consistent with some kind of one-time magic, but of course it was consistent with other things, too.

What Sunset had been thinking of as a "burr", on the other hand, was significantly more interesting. Under the microscope, they could make out that the densely woven spines that made up the body of the object didn't surround a seed pod like in a burr, but rather some kind of organic crystal containing a mysterious liquid. Similarly, the spines weren't hooked, but rather hollow spines. Taken as a whole, they concluded it was an injection system. Had the woman managed to hit Sunset with it, it would have injected her with the contents of the crystal.

There, though, they hit a dead end. The contents were magical, and probably some kind of potion. It seemed reasonable to assume that it was the same thing that happened to Mac, and so would have turned her into a were-horse, though why anyone would want to do that was still unclear. And there seemed to be no way to be sure, short of actually injecting someone with it. Even Princess Twilight and Equestria-side Apple Bloom, both experienced alchemists, maintained that there was no good way to reverse engineer a potion. Even leaving aside the question of whether a potion made on Earth would follow the same principles as one made in Equestria. And while based on Mac's example they were reasonably confident Redheart could cure at least any man so afflicted, doing it to someone intentionally, even a volunteer, still seemed too much.

So they filed away the dust and the burr, and finished up their reports, both of the Sweet Apple Acres incidents, and of the attacks on their houses. They placed a large red pin in the woods near Sweet Apple Acres. They debated what to place for the attacks, and ultimately decided on nothing. Between the plant woman at Redheart's and the timing of the attacks, it seemed at least a safe working theory that the pin in the woods was at least related.

And then, they were done with work, and the work was done too, and Captain Armor and his people showed them around their new living spaces, and headed out with well wishes. Privately, Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. While he'd seemed as good a boss she could have hoped for, it was hard for her not to feel like a slacker. Intellectually she knew she was doing the work he wanted her to, but it was the same basic things she'd been doing recently outside of class time out of responsibility, or in the case of some of the sex, just for fun. And, she had to admit, she'd always been better with friends than with superiors. Something about having a boss still reminded her of her juvenile resentment of Celestia, in ways that made her feel both guilty and judged.

It was nearly the end of the day when they'd finished their tour, and they had no obvious work in any case. So Redheart promised to be right back, and hurried to her new home. She returned with a bottle of champagne.

"Come on," she said, "we need to welcome the place properly."

"We were gonna do that tonight, I didn't think you wanted in," Sonata said.

Redheart flushed. "Not that way. I'll show you. Come on."

She led the way to the emergency stairs, then up. Sunset had thought the third floor was the top, so was briefly confused, then realized she was taking them out to the roof.

It was, to be fair, a normal, flat roof. But the building's landscaping included plenty of trees, and they'd grown tall enough that their canopies filled most of the view, and the late summer air was warm with the anticipation of dusk, despite it being a few hours off, and playful breezes played over the large open roof. It was quiet, with no one else in the building and the trees and suburban location cutting off the sounds of downtown traffic. Sunset imagined she'd come up here more often, now she knew, to clear her head.

"Nice, isn't it?" Redheart spread her arms and wings, letting the breeze play over her and lift her restless tail. Sunset leaned back and closed her eyes and just took in the sensation, and agreed.

"Yeah," Sonata said. "Cool statue, too."

"Huh?" Redheart turned to follow her gaze. "Wow. That's a weird choice."

Sunset turned to look. On the edge of the roof behind them, seeming to survey the parking lot, though the trees and edge of the roof hid it well enough they'd never noticed it from the ground, was a statue of a monstrous humanoid, apparently life-sized. It looked something like Redheart, Sunset thought, in that it had wings, horns, and tail, but none of it looked all that human. The tail was thick and strong-looking, and the horns intimidating where Redheart's were, she thought, pretty cute. It squatted on the edge of the roof, but was large enough that were it depicted standing, Sunset thought it would be over seven feet tall. Intrigued, they walked over to examine it. Despite its fearsome appearance, it was posed peacefully, not lunging or in any kind of combat stance, and looked over the parking lot in a way Sunset thought looked contemplative or even loving.

"Huh," she said. "It is kind of weird. I like it, though. A monster statue for the Department of Monsters."

"We're not --" Redheart cut herself off, and self-consciously flexed her wings.

"We're the nice kind," Sonata said, then patted the statue. "But it seems like he is too."

Slowly Redheart smiled. "Yeah, you're right." She pulled out three champagne flutes, filled them, and handed one to each of them. "Cheers! To our own place. The Department of Monsters."

They clinked glasses and drank down. The bubbly made Sunset giggle, and feel a new beginning more strongly. She looked up at the statue. "I wonder what other surprises this place has in store."

"Good question," Redheart said. "I filed the floor plans away, along with a few notes from the previous owner. Let's check them out tomorrow."

Sunset nodded. They finished their champagne.

"Well," Redheart said, "I'm ready to cook my first dinner in my new place. Want me to make enough to share?"

"Don't worry," Sonata said, winking at her completely unnecessarily, "Sunny's gonna keep me full, and I've got plenty she can eat if she likes. You sure you don't want us to share?"

Redheart thought about it longer than Sunset expected, but that wasn't saying much.

"No thanks," she smiled at Sonata. "I know it's silly, and there's nothing wrong with how you sleep with all your friends for fun. But I'm...not there yet, if I ever will be. Even with what's happened recently. I'm happier being without the benefits for now. I hope you aren't hurt."

Sonata approached Redheart and opened her arms, offering the hug. Sunset was mildly impressed she hadn't hugged without considering it might be unwelcome. Redheart smiled, though, and accepted the hug.

"Don't be silly," Sunset said, "it's no problem."

Sonata nodded. "Yep, you're great anyway."

Redheart stepped back. "Thanks. Anyway, see you tomorrow then." She took Sunset's champagne flute back.

"Okay," Sonata said, and skipped back to take Sunset's hand. "'Night Redheart! C'mon Sunny, even if we wait until tomorrow to break my place in, there are like five rooms in yours. No time to waste!" She pulled Sunset behind her, waggling her ass in a way that was completely unnecessary, but that Sunset wasn't going to complain about.

After they left, Redheart lingered on the roof a moment, enjoying the breeze and the long light of the summer afternoon filtering through the trees. As she got ready to leave, she had a silly thought that somehow, after all that had happened, she couldn't help but indulge. She filled her flute again, and put it at the feet of the statue.

"There you go." She grinned and patted the statue's arm. "You're a member of the team now, you need a drink too." She blinked and shook her head as she walked back to the stairs. "Just one hug from Sonata and I'm already going off the rails. She must be contagious." She considered, and laughed, "I wonder how Sunset is even coherent, then."

On the roof, the shadows lengthened, and the champagne bubbled.

The next day, they started by checking all the magic sensor logs. Though they were programmed to send notifications to their cell phones in the case of detecting major magic, all of them were privately hoping they'd missed something that would give them a lead on their recent attackers other than returning to the woods.

Unfortunately, they were all devoid of any readings save their own. They thought about looking over the building plans, like they'd discussed, but Redheart couldn't escape the feeling that they were stalling. Their best lead on their attackers was the woman they'd met in the woods near Sweet Apple Acres, woods they'd nowhere near fully explored, even in the immediate area. While retreating to clean up and check out the burr had been sensible, it was hard for her to escape the conclusion that returning was probably the best shot they had.

"So," Sunset said, avoiding her gaze, "about the woods..."

"Yeah," Redheart sighed. "There's probably no avoiding going back. I wish we had some idea where to start."

"What about the computer pictures?" Sonata's voice echoed from the receptionist desk.

"Why do we even make her sit out there," Redheart muttered.

"In case someone actually comes in?"

Redheart sighed and nodded. "What do you mean, Sonata?"

"Like, when I want to figure out how to get to the taco place, and all the lines don't make sense, so I press the button that makes it show me the picture. I think it's the 'Earth' button. Never made much sense, it's Earth either way."

"Oh," Redheart thought it over a bit. "That's worth a try. If it's just a bunch of magical creatures wandering around in the woods, we won't find anything, but if they have a base of some sort, it might show up on satellite images. And we have access to better ones than Google Maps though the government database..."

"Wait, we do? It'll be so much easier to find the taco places around here!"

"You know you can just ask for walking directions, right? You don't have to use the map to figure it out," Sunset called back.

"Wait, really?"

Redheart barely stifled her giggle.

"Okay then, let's split up the map and look it over."

As it turned out, because the forest was a state park, the official trails, like the one they'd joined up with after leaving Sweet Apple Acres, were marked in their system, which was a tremendous help in locating the spot where they'd had their previous encounter. They figured it was unlikely any base was closer to the edge of the woods than they'd been, so they disregarded searching to the south. That left four other directions, and each took one to scan in. It wasn't massively scientific, but Redheart figured that if they didn't see anything that way, they could look into something more complicated.

It was slow, painstaking work. Even with the higher fidelity of the internal images, the canopy blended together, and if no marked trails were on the screen, it was difficult not to lose track; they had to constantly zoom in and out to keep themselves oriented. Compounding this was their lack of real idea what they were even looking for. Redheart had to force herself to focus on the near-indistinguishable treetops. And at least once on each scan she had to look again because some tree was just different enough she worried she was missing something. After all, it was unlikely that there would be some massive, highly visible abnormality. All in all it reminded her of her least favorite parts of school.

Then, what felt like an eternity in, she saw a wisp of cloud, just the size of a few treetops, on one of the images. She nearly passed over it, because it was so small, but paused. None of the other photos had visible clouds. And she didn't think that if one had caught a cloud, it would look that small. She called Sunset over.

"Does that look like smoke to you?"

Sunset considered. "Maybe. Zoom it out, are you near anything?"

Redheart zoomed out. The slight swell of one of the park's hillsides was on the eastern edge of the image, but nothing else disturbed the canopy.

"Hold up," Sunset pointed to the canopy near the smoke. "Look, something's weird. Look a this group of trees here," she gestured at a trio of light-colored crowns north of the smoke. "It looks identical to these three," she moved her hand west a few inches. Redheart saw it too. In fact...

"Yeah," she said, "you're right. The trees right near the smoke look identical to the section to the left. It's like someone used a clone brush. Wait, do you think someone doctored our internal images? Shit."

"Maybe," Sunset said, "but maybe not. Look, the light's a bit different on a few of the trees. If someone faked it, they went to the trouble of recoloring a few of the trees, but not of taking images of different individual ones and shuffling them around or anything like that. I think it's more likely it's a magical illusion. In Equestria, anyway, if you wanted to make an illusion, it was much easier to create and sustain if you just transposed an image than if you build up anything detailed. My guess is that someone did that."

"And we noticed because whatever's under there made a bit of smoke that drifted out from under the illusion."

"Exactly."

"Well," Redheart said, "I certainly prefer it to the idea that someone in the Bureau is fucking with our images. Let's hope that's it. Either way, we should check it out."

"If the illusion's still up, we'll be able to tell when we're there, too. It might be one-way, but the magic detector should find it even so."

Redheart took a deep breath. Even though she wanted to solve the mystery and track down the source of the attacks, this wasn't like their other missions. They were going into obviously hostile territory, unsure what they'd find. And just getting there was hours from civilization. They'd likely need to stay at least one night. She checked the weather. It was supposed to be clear for the next week.

She turned to Sunset. "You okay doing this? We could call Captain Armor for backup."

Sunset shook her head. "No, it should be us. But we should let him know where we're going and set a check-in schedule."

Redheart nodded. "Sunset, you'll text Sonata every six hours. I'll do the same to Captain Armor. Sonata, if you don't hear from Sunset on schedule, call him immediately." Sonata nodded, looking less cheerful than usual. Sunset gave her a squeeze.

"We'll use the new stuff," Redheart continued. "Camo, binoculars, camo hammocks. We'll go in along the hill to try for a good vantage point, if we can see through the illusion. The goal is to scout out what's there and determine the extent and nature of the threat. If it looks like it was a misunderstanding, we'll try to negotiate. If not...well, we'll play it by ear."

"Don't attack them," Sonata said, "please. You don't have to be alone. You have friends, and the Captain will send backup if you need it. I don't..." she paused, "if you fight, I want to be there."

Sunset hugged her. "We'll be careful. We don't know what we'll find, or what will find us, but I promise we'll get out and bring back help if we can." Redheart nodded.

Nothing else seemed to need staying. They gathered their supplies, loaded Prospero, and returned to Sweet Apple Acres.

A confused Applejack met them as they parked.

"Right odd y'all'd show up now," she said, "I was gonna come see you later this afternoon."

"Why?" Redheart took the lead.

"Well, we're right pleased you solved the case with the horses," she said, "but I don't reckon it's all solved. No more mares've been covered, but the ones that were disappeared last night."

"Disappeared?"

"Stolen, really. Someone let 'em all out last night and they ran off. We tracked 'em as far as we could, but we lost the trails when they went into that woods you checked out last time."

Redheart and Sunset shared a glance.

"We were just going to ask if you minded if we parked here for a while, maybe up to a week," Sunset said. "We think there's more going on in those woods, and your story seems to confirm it. We might find those mares, though I can't make any promises."

"Well of course," Applejack said, "plenty of room on the farm. But look, whoever took those mares, there must have been at least a few of 'em to spring them all in one night. You want me to come along?"

"It's a long way," Sunset said, "I don't want to take you away from the farm. It might take us two days just to hike out there. But we'll call you if we need anything. And call Sonata if anything seems odd, she knows where we're going and who to contact. And...thanks for offering." Sunset gave her a hug.

"All righty then," Applejack shook her head. "But take care of yourself out there, Sunset. Seems like this one's got you a bit shook up, and that gets me a bit shook up."

Sunset nodded. They got descriptions of the horses from Applejack, then unloaded their gear and were off.

They'd decided to avoid the path entirely, in case it was watched. They walked well beyond the path before leaving the fields and entering the woods, and followed the GPS to keep their way. As before, the woods outside the official park were clear and open, but now they felt exposed and vulnerable, and every minor sound made them freeze and look around before moving carefully on. Their green fatigues weren't unreasonably thick, but on the hot day they were making both women sweat. Redheart especially, who'd had to wear a second large jacket in order to fit her wings.

Fording the cool stream gave welcome relief from the heat, and again the canopy thickened and the vegetation deepened rapidly after they crossed it. Their path would take them well west of the grove they'd visited last time, but much as the dense undergrowth gave cover, it reminded them both uncomfortably of their last experience. Redheart dreaded seeing a grassy glade for what it would mean for their chances of detection, even as she couldn't help getting slightly wet remembering her experiences there. Thorns too plagued them. Unfamiliar as they were with the vegetation, they couldn't tell if a patch of undergrowth was ideal cover or a prickly trap until they were very close, and several times they misread the situation and had to wrest their way free of tendrils that had hooked to their clothes. Still, they dared not cut or break any branches if they could avoid it; they had no idea how well their foes patrolled the woods, and any sign could give them away.

Though they'd arrived at the farm not long after noon, progress off the trail was agonizingly slow. By the time the sun was sinking below the hills rising on both sides of them, they were still several miles from the base of the one they wanted to climb, and Redheart decided they should stop for the night. She was confident that if they got up at dawn - and outside with no tents, it seemed impossible to avoid, even had they wanted to - they could make the rest of the trip before noon the next day.

The hammocks were made to be stretched between trees, to stay clear of the forest floor and the attendant dangers. Neither woman was an expert climber, so they didn't hang them as high as they could have, but they were still a good ten feet from the forest floor, in the denser part of the canopy. They hoped the foliage and height would prevent them from being easily seen should a patrol happen on them, though their major hope was still that they were far enough away to avoid any, or that the obviously supernatural plant women would trust in their isolation, rather than risk being seen by wandering far from their homes. Before they retired, they texted Sonata and Captain Armor with the details of their camp site.

Neither slept well. Between going to bed early and the myriad of mysterious sounds of a forest at night, they were forever waking up. Redheart spent several tense, wakeful hours huddling silently, as still as possible, inside her hammock as some creature snuffled below her. It sounded large, but then, in the pitch black of the forest, inhabited by your enemies, any unknown creature would sound large. Eventually it departed, and even more eventually, she fell back to her fitful sleep. When morning found her, bleary-eyed but alert with adrenaline, there was no sign of the animal, though Sunset said she'd heard strange things as well.

They continued on, and soon the land began rising beneath them. Though the slope started so gradual that their eyes barely registered it, their legs, already tired after their day of walking, certainly noticed. Before long it was steep enough to see, and while their pace slowed, they were glad at the obvious progress. Finally they reached the first promising area they'd noted on their map. As the photo had suggested, there was a clearing here, and it looked like it might be close enough to give a view of the mysteriously covered area.

Unfortunately, even once they'd moved cautiously into the clearing, nothing was visible over the canopy or through the dense trees, and they moved on to the next likely spot, which was both higher up and a bit closer. Redheart thought this one was a loss too, until Sunset pulled her sleeve silently and pointed into the trees.

At first Redheart didn't see it, then she did, and had to hold in a gasp. Through a narrow gap in the trees, she saw a trunk that just...stopped. It looked like a totally normal tree, but what had to be at least thirty feet above the ground, it simply ceased to exist. She couldn't see what was beyond it, but it seemed they'd found their illusion.

Sunset pulled her sleeve again, and gestured to the hammock rolled on her back. At first Redheart was confused, but then she nodded. If the forest wouldn't provide a good vantage point, maybe they could make their own. They retreated back into the woods, and climbed to the highest point they could find on the ridge that still featured a dense canopy. Redheart climbed as high as she dared and suspended the hammock before signaling Sunset up to sit beside her. They looked down and could indeed see under the illusion through the trees, though at this distance it was hard to make anything out. Redheart pulled out the binoculars and leaned around to get as clear a line of sight as possible.

The zoom on the binoculars let her see only a bit of the clearing at once, and she'd probably have to shift around several times in the hammock to get views of all of it. The first thing she saw was a horse, grazing in a pasture. It fit the description of one of the escaped mares, and as she panned the binoculars, she saw several more fitting the descriptions of others. Then a fence came into view, and it was already obvious this wasn't a normal pasture. Each "post" of the fence was a small but stout tree, with thick branches regularly spaced and tied to the branches of the next tree in line with some kind of vine, forming the planks of the fence. She panned further, and saw a track running down the side of the pasture. She saw another horse walking along it, and was briefly confused by why it was outside the fence. Then it turned to walk towards her, and she nearly dropped the binoculars and had to cover her mouth to avoid letting out a gasp or scream. Where a horse would have had the long face and large dark eyes, this creature had a grotesquely human-like face beneath its thin fur, and large green eyes, identical to a human's save for size. While it had a four-legged gait like a horse, she noticed that instead of forehooves it had primitive hands. It wore nothing, and was undeniably male, but it's large member was not flared like a horse's, but instead much more human in shape. Wordlessly she handed the binoculars to Sunset.

"What the fuck," Sunset whispered.

Redheart nodded.

"Wait," Sunset said. "When Mac got turned into the were-stallion, he bred all those mares. But he didn't turn into a horse, he still looked kind of like a human..."

Redheart felt her stomach twist. "You think they were using him to breed those things? But what are they doing with them?"

"Maybe we can figure that out."

It took most of the day, and they had to move several times, but they got a good idea of the layout of the farm. Three buildings were clustered at the middle of the farm. Two looked like barns, the third some kind of granary - there was no sign of a farmhouse. All were constructed out of apparently living wood woven together with vines, like the fence, with walls made of thick mats of vines. On one side was the pasture field, on the other some kind of field of plants. The strange almost-horses seemed to be beasts of burden in that field. They dragged large carts full of some kind of mud or fertilizer, spreading it across the field before vanishing between the buildings with empty wagons. Redheart couldn't help but notice that they were all stallions, and when one entered the field, it was flaccid, but when it returned with the empty cart, its impressive member was invariably full mast.

Clearly something important was happening in the space between the buildings.

Finally, as the sun was getting low, they found the perfect vantage point to see the heart of the operation. It was even stranger than Redheart had expected.

The first thing Redheart saw, dominating the scene, was a long horizontal bar. Hitched to it were a dozen of the horse-like creatures, but these were just as undeniably mares. Ponderous breasts hung from their chests, where a human's would be, rather than where a horse's would. Six faced towards their hiding spot, six away. Their tails were pulled aside and their rears thrust up, clearly presenting, and their bellies were swollen as if pregnant, but thick streams of cum dripped from their wide pussies. As Redheart watched, one of the stallions returned with an empty wagon from working the field. One of the plant women, similar to the ones they'd seen before, unhitched the wagon and led the stallion to the bar, where he mounted a mare and began enthusiastically coupling with her. They showed no sign of human-like intelligence, rutting like horses. Before long he shuddered and his balls twitched, and cum spurted out on both sides of his cock, with a large rope dripping out as he withdrew. Redheart noticed there were large wooden bowls set beneath the mares, collecting whatever cum dripped out. After the stallion trotted off to a food trough, another plant woman picked up the bowl and dumped the thick liquid into a vat that another stirred. Not long after, they upended the vat into one of the waiting wagons, sending it out with another stallion.

"They're using the cum on the fields," Redheart whispered. Sunset, who had her own binoculars, nodded.

"I wonder what they're growing," Sunset breathed.

"It's almost dark," Redheart whispered, "maybe they'll leave and we can look around."

Indeed, the stallion they'd seen sent out looked to be the last of the day. The plant women started rounding up the others and herding them into the barn. The final stallion returned. Redheart wondered if he knew this was his last chance of the day - after frantically mating with one of the mares, he emerged still rock-hard, and mounted the next in the line immediately. She too seemed more spirited, bucking back at him enthusiastically as they mated. Once he was done, though, he shrunk down, and followed a plant woman docilely into the barn.

Once all the stallions were contained, they took the mares into the other barn, including the stolen, actual mares, and emptied the cum bowls into more vats, which they stored in the granary. Finally, as the sun was setting, they vanished into the trees.

Sunset and Redheart updated Sonata and the Captain on their new location, then had a brief conference in hushed voices. Though it looked like the farm was now deserted, they decided to watch it overnight to make sure there were no patrols or, if there were, that they knew the pattern. Then they could observe the farm for a whole day, and make sure they knew the routines when they tried to investigate tomorrow night.

In theory they took turns staying up and watching through the binoculars, though in fact neither slept much even when it wasn't their watch. There were no strange noises from below - perhaps other animals knew to avoid this part of the forest - but both were on edge, fearing the plant women would return to the farm or, even worse, had become aware of them and would spring a trap.

But the night passed uneventfully. Dawn broke over the hill behind them, and as the first rays hit the farm, they heard a chorus of neighing. Six of the plant women appeared out of the trees. They brought the actual horses out first, setting them to graze in the pasture, the the strange horse-like mares. Redheart noticed to her shock that they weren't, in fact, pregnant. Their bellies must have simply been overflowing with cum, because they emerged without any sign of the swelling from last night. Indeed, the plant women brought out more large wooden bowls, brimming with cum, that must have collected it overnight as it spilled out of the overflowing mares. They brought the vats out of the granary, and two began stirring it in.

The other four went to the other barn and began bringing out the stallions, two at a time. At first Redheart wasn't sure why only half of them were leading one of their beasts, but then she realized how much the stallions must be controlled by sexual conditioning. Far from the tame creatures they'd seemed being led into the barn the previous night, they came out of the barn rock-hard and willful, thrashing their heads and weird limbs in a struggle to escape. The first plant woman handled hers well, but the second seemed taken by surprise by the fury, and lost her grip. The stallion moved like a flash, and she'd been knocked to the ground and the tip of his member was almost inside her in the few moments it took the two backup women to grab the thrashing rope and pull him off.

Weirdly, Sunset realized, while the stallions were very vocal about their desires, the plant women were completely silent. Even the one nearly penetrated by the rampaging stallion remained silent despite her obvious panic followed by equally obvious relief.

The women led the two stallions to the post where the mares waited, presenting again. They let go the ropes, and with sight and presumably scent of the mares, the stallions didn't seem at all interested in the plant women. They enthusiastically mounted the mares, inseminating three or four each before falling, flaccid, to trot to the wagons.

So it went throughout the day. The plant women released the stallions two at a time until all twelve were in the rotation, and the mares were nearly continuously in use as the shifts rotated. Before long their bellies were again swollen with seed, with the massive overflow dripping into the pans for collection. It was all disturbingly industrial. The plant women showed no sign at all of reaction to the continual orgy surrounding them.

Still, at the end of the day, it seemed all the plant women departed, and Sunset and Redheart held another hushed conference.

"We should go tonight," Redheart said, "we don't want to wait any longer and risk discovery. We should be ready to leave as soon as we're done there, daylight be damned."

Sunset nodded. "What's our goal, though?"

Redheart thought.

"First, figure out anything we might have missed. What those plants are, primarily, they're clearly important. Second, free the horses if possible, the real ones. Can you ride?"

"I've done it a few times," Sunset said hesitantly.

"It might help us escape if we can, but we'll see what we can do. Just letting them go might be fine, they might go back to their stables. Anything else we'll figure out as we go. If it makes sense to try to destroy the plants or the farm we will, but I'd rather escape than do damage. Especially if it looks like they're just growing food or something. This place is creepy and they attacked us, but I don't want to try to outright kill them until we've at least tried to communicate."

Sunset nodded. "Sounds good."

They slipped down into the quiet farm. Having the illusion overhead was disconcerting. The half-trees looked like strange stalactites, but due to some quirk of the magic, maybe related to the needs of the crop, they didn't block sun or moonlight, leaving the farm uncannily brightly lit despite the apparent canopy overhead.

The whole place was quiet. Occasionally a horse noise filled the air, but no other sounds could be heard, in contrast with their night in the open forest. They crept into the field, on edge the whole way despite the silent stillness of the farm.

Finally they came to the first of the plants. It was large, larger than they'd expected, and Redheart realized the horse-creatures were also larger than she'd thought, and shuddered. Though it hadn't occurred to her before, if the stallions were somehow to get out, they'd likely view Redheart and Sunset much as they had the plant woman earlier...

This unfortunate train of thought was cut off as Sunset gasped at the plant in front of them, and Redheart turned to look. The bulk of the plant was a giant pod, like a pea pod, taller than Redheart or Sunset. It had a thick, opaque skin that made her think it was just a giant pea, but as she looked closer, she realized a distinctly humanoid shape was suggested by the bulges in it. Sunset was looking at the other side of it, eyes wide, and slowly, a bit fearful of what she might see, Redheart turned to look. The far side of the pod was translucent, and inside, suspended in some kind of green fluid, was one of the plant women, looking to be nearly full grown.

"They're growing themselves?" Redheart whispered.

"Maybe that's why she was so surprised when she got fertile," Sunset murmured, though Redheart didn't understand what she meant. Still, now wasn't the time.

"Well, I don't want to destroy the field now," Redheart said. "Even if these are the ones that attacked us. Come on, let's go free the horses."

They hurried off towards the barn, but as they turned the corner towards the side with the door, they nearly collided with a plant woman coming the other way. She fell back, green eyes wide. Redheart's hand went for her gun, but Sunset's stopped her.

As she took a quick and confused look, she saw this one looked different. Whereas the others had smooth brown skin unbroken by anything like pubic hair, this one's crotch was adorned by a riotous tangle of pink blossoms. Her belly was also slightly swollen. Her eyes met Sunset's, and she leaned forward and gave Redheart's partner a quick but passionate kiss on the lips. Then she pulled back and raised a finger to her lips. She pointed to a large hay pile next to the stable door, and Sunset dragged on Redheart's hand before jumping into it to take cover. Redheart followed.

From their hopeful concealment, they watched the strange plant woman walk towards the trees, where two of her unadorned cohort emerged. They each raised their left hands, and touched them together for a long moment. Then the two newcomers nodded, and all three disappeared again into the trees.

Redheart held her breath for a long time. Then, when it seemed they were truly gone, she let it out. "What was that?" She whispered to Sunset.

"I think she was the one I met last time," Sunset whispered back. "I uh, kinda knocked her up. I guess she appreciated it."

"I guess that's one way to keep yourself employed," Redheart whispered, "we'll never run out of weird creatures to catalog if you make a new hybrid with every one we meet."

Sunset punched her.

They freed the horses.

Since the actual horses were in the same barn as the creepy mares, they had to free them all, but while the full horses were happy to trot out of the barn into the moonlight, the others showed no sign of moving unless led. As they had no way to keep them hidden, and they seemed neither intelligent nor unhappy, they decided to just leave them.

Most of the horses broke for the woods, and Redheart hoped they'd make their way back to their proper owners. But one, who seemed like a riding horse, stuck around. Redheart approached cautiously, but she seemed well-tempered and willing to take riders. She'd been an avid rider as a kid and teenager, and was pretty sure she could still handle a bareback ride on a good horse like this one. And she was even more sure she didn't want to spend any longer in this wood than necessary.

"Okay," Redheart said, "she'll take us back, but it'll be easier if you ride behind me. Keep your hands around my waist."

Sunset looked nervous, but nodded. Redheart clambered on to the horse, then gave Sunset a hand up, and they rode off into the woods.

They emerged early the next day. The aid of the horse, plus their ability to take the more direct route since they didn't want to get on to the hill to observe the farm, got them out far faster, to Redheart's relief. Several of the other horses also followed them, either following a herd instinct, or just recognizing humans as something to follow. Still, while she was confident that returning the horses was the right thing to do, she was aware that they'd really only added more questions, and given the plant women more reason to attack them. Unless their one apparent ally was intending to do more, of course.

"Why did she help us?" She asked Sunset.

"No idea," Sunset said. "I didn't mean to be hiding that I'd knocked her up, I thought I put all the relevant info in my report. I just remembered we'd agreed not to make them uh, steamy. Knowing the potion's magic had made her fertile was all that let me get her off, but I just sorta subsumed it in the 'race to orgasm' thing. I wonder, though."

She lapsed into thought, so Redheart prompted her. "Wonder what?"

"Well," Sunset said, "it's just a thought, but it's possible they have to get fertilized to make those pods, I guess. But we've never seen a male one, and they were working cum from their weird horse hybrids into the stuff they put on them which, sure, it's probably high in nutrients, but there are way easier ways to get good fertilizer if you don't care about it being semen. And when she started seducing me, it was obviously just to get me off guard so she could tag me with the burr. She only started enjoying it when we realized she'd become fertile, and she seemed surprised. I didn't think much of it at the time since, well, turned fertile by a magic potion, who wouldn't be surprised, right? But maybe they just flat out don't normally reproduce like this. If I'd given her some idea of how she could avoid that whole pod rigamarole..."

Redheart nodded. "It's a stretch in some ways, though. Like, if that's really how they have to reproduce, how in the world did that happen? It's really convoluted. And why would they even have reproductive organs such that you could fertilize one, even with magic, if they never used them? You couldn't knock up a man, right?"

Sunset shook her head. "Not without more powerful magic."

"Right," Redheart said. "So if your theory's right, why do they have gender at all?"

"I dunno," Sunset said. "I said it was just a thought. But I gave her my card."

"What?"

"When she kissed me, I gave her my business card. Maybe she'll come tell us, if she can read."

"Are you sure that was smart?"

"Are you saying I shouldn't have?"

"No, no," Redheart sighed. The stress of the last few days was clearly weighing on them. "Sorry. I trust you. And you're right, she let us go, and if they did attack us, they know where we live anyway. I'm just tired."

"Yeah. It's okay."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

They returned the horses who had followed them to their owners. Redheart knew they'd have to deal with the fact that in eleven-odd months they'd have a crop of fucked up foals, but that was a problem for tomorrow's Redheart. They texted their updates, drove back, slowly, due to the fatigue, and then took the rest of the day off.

Sunset hadn't expected to see Redheart again that day. She hadn't been tired, really; she'd barely slept less than usual. But the stress of sneaking around for several days was something she'd not noticed until it was gone. And she'd missed Sonata more than she'd expected. When her girlfriend replied to her "safe and on the way home" text with a host of heart emoji, she'd been shockingly happy.

So they'd spent the whole day together. Having some sex, of course, since it was them, but mostly just holding each other. it had been a balm for the stress she'd not realized she'd carried. And they'd napped as well; Sonata had barely slept more than they had with worry. Sunset slept clear through the nap herself, and conceded she might have been more tired than she thought.

So when Redheart came to their door that evening after dinner (they'd ordered Mexican), Sunset was refreshed, and glad to see her, despite her earlier irritation.

"Can I come in?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course."

"Sorry," Redheart said, "I'm a bit nervous. I...I need to tell you something."

Sunset ushered her in. Sonata emerged, half-dressed, from their room.

"Should I go to my place?"

"Not unless you want to," Redheart said. Sonata sat.

"I...realized I wasn't telling you everything, either," Redheart said. "Not even Cadance. I think...maybe I'm not using my power to the fullest."

Taking a deep breath, she explained the feeling she'd had when the vines had filled her with sperm - the feeling of barely-contained power, of something that wanted to be channeled.

"And when I got rid of Mac's curse," she finished. "it wasn't that it just vanished. I felt like there was a different power in his sperm, and they cancelled out. And when those vines gave me their sperm, the same thing. I felt like I could have transformed, or created some vines like them. That time, I struggled not to, and ended up just growing a bunch of random plants, but it still did something." She hung her head. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

Sunset was confused, and didn't bother to hid it on her face.

"Why? I can see why that's scary, and anyway, it doesn't seem very useful to know. I mean, it is if you happen to have sex with something and want to turn into a horse or grow some plants or something, I guess."

Redheart threw up her hands. "You're an endless source of cum whenever we want it! Because of my stupid...issues, I've been denying the team a valuable tool!"

Sunset sighed.

"I know it seems like sex and magic are all tangled up here," she said finally, "and I don't know why. But even though I like having sex with my friends, I don't think it works if it's about...utility. It'd be hard for me to even get off, knowing you don't want to be having sex with me, that you're doing it out of some obligation to the team. And you said just last night you weren't ready. It wouldn't be right."

Redheart looked away.

"I wasn't...it's not like that." She paused for a long time. Sonata reached a hand out and put it near Redheart's. The other woman squeezed it and managed a smile.

"I think I told you I hadn't had much sex before this summer," she said slowly, "just a few college boyfriends." Sunset nodded. "Well, really it was just two. And it...didn't work. I mean the sex did, I kind of liked the sex. But the relationships. They were fine guys, good guys even. I liked them just fine. And they were attractive. Like I said, the sex worked, mostly. But I dunno, there wasn't a spark, really. I dated them because it seemed like something I should do in college, and because they asked me. But I never thought about whether I cared about them all that much, let alone loved them."

"So now you want the same thing with me? Because it's useful?"

Redheart shook her head and reached out her hand. Sunset took it, and felt Redheart's feelings surge through her.

"Oh. Oh."

"Yeah," Redheart said. "That's the problem. I like you. Both of you. Not love like I'd heard it from the stories, or whatever, not the whole murder-rival-in-a-jealous-rage, or the whole will-pine-away-without-you. But you're my friends. And right now, if I spent the rest of my life doing this job with you, well, it'd be a good life. I haven't had a lot of friends at all, let alone friends like that. And I know it's ridiculous, but thinking about having sex with you, or you Sonata, or both of you, and how it'd feel, made me feel all guilty about my exes again. And I was already feeling guilty about not using this power. So I was kind of hoping the guilt would...cancel out."

Sunset laughed, and squeezed her hand.

"Well, I don't feel like guilt sex is going to be all that enjoyable, even if it's a mix of guilt. I hope talking to me got rid of the guilt, instead. For what it's worth, though, I don't think it's any more ridiculous than, say, fleeing your homeworld and trying to take over a high school in a fit of pique."

Redheart smiled. "I do feel better." She paused. "Does that mean you're going to have sex with me?"

"Not tonight," Sunset said. "I'm glad you told me all that. I think you're a great friend, too. And I hope we keep doing this forever. But you're raw now. We're still tired. Think it over. You said having sex with me or us would mean a lot to you, so make sure it means the right things. I'm not going anywhere. If you still want it tomorrow night, come back. If you want it in a week, come back. If you never want it, come back and watch a movie." They shared a long hug.

"You're right," Redheart said, "I'm going to go get some sleep. Thanks, Sunset."

As she turned to go, Sonata spoke up.

"Don't come back and say yes if you still think you need to do it for the team, silly," she said. "That's no way to enjoy sex with someone you care about for the first time. Trust me, I know." She kissed Sunset's cheek, and Sunset blushed. "Besides, how would that even work if you were really in trouble? You're hiding in a gunfight. Backed into a corner. Only one hope. Sunset chugs a potion and takes off her pants and...what? She just slots you on and points you at the enemy? Pump-action Redheart cannon?" Redheart and Sunset were both laughing now. "Two hands," she gestured obscenely, "every stroke she cums in you and you like, barf out a rainbow at them? Then she puts you down with a spiffy one-liner?"

"I should never have introduced you to action movies," Sunset choked out through the laughter.

"Ooh, good call," Sonata grinned, "hey Redheart, want to stay and watch Die Hard?"

As it turned out, she found she did.

The next day was Saturday, and Sonata and Sunset spent it in as well. They had plenty of groceries, and were marathoning some of Sonata's favorite action movies.

After dinner, they heard a knock again. Sunset knew Redheart might be coming by on business, or to watch a movie, or just to say hi. But she did hope she'd decided she did want to join them in the bedroom, after all. Since hearing the possibility, she'd been letting herself realize more and more just how hot her partner was.

Before Redheart even said anything, it seemed clear her hopes were going to be fulfilled. Redheart was wearing basically nothing - a diaphanous nightgown that concealed nothing, a black strapless bra, and a pair of black panties. Sonata whistled from further in the apartment.

"Before I went to bed last night," Redheart said, "I got myself off thinking of you. Then when I went to bed, I realized how silly it was to be falling asleep alone when I could still be cuddled up to my friends. Then when I woke up, I also thought that, but also thought that I still really wanted to have sex with you. Then all day, I kept thinking that. So I've been thinking it for basically twenty-four hours, which I think is enough. Can I come in?"

Sunset gestured her in, biting her lip.

"Sorry," Redheart said, "was that too strong? I should have just come up and asked dressed normally, right?"

Sunset shook her head. "I was thinking basically the same thing all day," she said. "It's fine."

Redheart let out a sigh. "Oh good. I spent forever thinking about how to come up."

Sunset hugged her. "We're your friends. That means you don't have to worry about that sort of thing. If you mess up, I'll tell you, and you can fix it."

Redheart shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm so new at this. You're way ahead of me."

"It's not a race," Sonata said from the couch. "And if it is, I'm so far ahead."

Redheart laughed. "You're right. Look, I'm incredibly horny and have been all day. Can you just throw me on the bed and ravish me already?"

Sunset's cock was already filling out her casual lounging pants, and her cheeks were flushed with arousal. Before she could gather herself and reply, though, Sonata bounced to Redheart's side and whispered something in her ear. Redheart blushed, but nodded.

"Okay! Look Sunny," Sonata took Redheart's hand and led her to the bed. Her panties and nightgown hid nothing. Her cute tail twitched as always, and her ass, which Sunset had courteously avoided looking at much before, was tight and pert, muscular but still with a slight curve. The tail seemed to gesture towards it as if it were on display.

"I'm gonna unwrap her for you," Sonata said.

She reached around in front of Redheart where Sunset couldn't see well, then pulled off the now-open nightgown. Redheart's wing sprung free and snapped out. The sheer fabric slid down over Redheart's flesh in a way that made the now-exposed woman shiver, and would have made Sunset jealous if she hadn't known she was about to have the same opportunity.

Sonata turned her partner around to face Sunset. Redheart was flushing furiously, but her eyes met Sunset's and she grinned. Sonata unhooked Redheart's bra and let it fall to the ground. Her alabaster breasts were smaller than Rarity's but her stiff nipples slightly larger. She had a pink dimple, like her hair, on her left breast. It was adorable.

Sonata touched Redheart far more than necessary as she moved her hands down across the other woman's belly towards her black panties. Redheart shivered again, but her eyes remained locked on Sunset's. She licked her lips. Sonata's hands reached the band of Redheart's panties, and Sunset's eyes were drawn down. Slowly Sonata lowered the panties. The top of Redheart's pink pubic hair peeked out, well-trimmed. Finally Sonata let them drop. Before they even hit the floor, Sunset was in front of her, kissing her. Redheart's eyes widened, then she closed them and kissed back. Her affection and arousal washed over Sunset. As their tongues danced, Sunset ran her hands over Redheart's back and wings, shivering at the opportunity to touch her friend's unusual anatomy in an intimate circumstance, and at the reflected feeling of pleasure as she did so.

"Hey now," Sonata reached in and pushed her back. "I'm the M.C. here!"

Sunset sighed, but ruined it with a grin. She stepped back. Sonata pressed her back a few more steps. "I need to unwrap you for her, too!"

Sonata repeated the same process with Sunset, beginning with her top and bra. Redheart's hungry eyes followed Sonata's hands then snapped to Sunset's hard nipples as her full breasts tumbled free. Watching her obvious excitement made Sunset even hotter. Then Sonata pulled down her pants. She never bothered with underwear while lounging, so her cock sprang free; she'd turned it from pony to human in anticipation, and Redheart's jaw slackened.

"I want that inside me," she breathed.

Sonata spun Redheart around to face the bed, placing herself on it in front of her. The siren scooted her butt back, keeping a hold on Redheart's shoulders as she did so, pulling their friend down with her until she was bent over the bed, legs slightly spread. Her pert rear parted slightly in the way Sunset loved, her flicking tail only enhancing the appeal. Her pussy, pink as her hair, was spread and glistened with moisture.

Sonata pulled one of the sterile potions off the bedside table and balanced it in Redheart's back.

"Well come on," she said, "you heard her," and she began kissing Redheart.

That was enough for Sunset. She chugged the potion and took her cock in one hand and stepped forward, ready to guide it into Redheart's pussy. Before she could, though, her partner's tail snapped up and brushed insistently at her hand. She removed it, and the tail wrapped around the base of her cock. It was a delicious sensation, and it seemed intent on guiding her in as well.

She pressed forward, taking the implicit offer. Sure enough, the tip of her cock lined up perfectly with Redheart's inviting pussy. She pressed it in and paused, relishing the pleasure she felt washing over her from her new lover. Redheart broke her kiss with Sonata.

"Don't tease me," she panted, "I've been doing that to myself all day." The tail pulled insistently for emphasis.

Sunset relented, and hilted herself in one long thrust. She'd been doing the same, and wasn't upset at the request. At the last moment, the tail pulled away, allowing her to sink fully into Redheart, who moaned and shuddered, and fell limp to the bed. Sonata giggled and leaned back against the headboard, spreading her legs to reveal her own naked pussy, which she began to slowly stroke.

Sunset looked from Redheart's tight ass, heaving in pleasure, to Sonata stroking herself. She felt the surge of emotion from her prone lover, keener and sweeter because this was, in some sense, her first time: emotional sex with someone you cared about, after all, was barely the same beast as the purely physical act. Sunset knew she wouldn't last long, but she knew Redheart wouldn't either. And she'd be glad to take another potion if the situation seemed to warrant it. So she began fucking in earnest.

Below her, Redheart squeaked and bounced with every thrust, a wave of pleasure and joy washing out of her every time Sunset's full balls impacted her wet lips. Sonata was stroking hard now, and Sunset felt the wave of surprised additional arousal as Redheart noticed and drunk in the sight. Her partner was incredibly tight and warm around her. Then, as she was finding her rhythm and felt she was confident she could go until Redheart's growing pleasure broke, the tail slid up between her legs. It stroked twice across her neglected but dripping pussy from base to clit, then slid, just the heart-shaped tip, inside.

"Oh shiiiit," was all Sunset could manage as the unexpected sensation broke her, and her balls clenched and started unloading in Redheart, pump after long pump of warm seed.

Redheart groaned, then Sunset felt an emotion she couldn't identify.

"Sonata," Redheart groaned, "can I...vines..."

Sonata grinned. "Oh! Yes please!" She leaned back and spread her legs wide. Redheart stretched out her arms and wings again, and then, conjured from midair on all sides of Sonata, a host of green vines with phallic tips sprang into existence. They lifted the delighted Sonata from the bed and wrapped all around her, stripping her clothing and binding her tight as they pulled her into the air. Sonata squealed and squirmed, but no one could mistake it for an attempt to escape. The vines bent her over, spreading her ass and pussy towards the coupling Sunset and Redheart, before plunging into her ass, pussy, and mouth and beginning to fuck her enthusiastically.

The show seemed to be too much for Redheart. Sunset felt her orgasm break, and it only fed her own, pumping ball-emptying amounts of seed into her spasming lover. But even as her own orgasm faded, Redheart's didn't, and Sonata's was only beginning. So even as her magic cock vanished, it reappeared again, the waves of pleasure filling the room too much to let her come down.

"Potion," she gasped, feeling it come back, but Redheart either didn't hear her or ignored her, and Sonata was unable to move, bound as she was by the vines that were plunging in and out of her every oriface. Not wanting to impregnate her partner (well, except that little bit of her that found it unbelievably hot), she tried to pull out, but more vines sprang from nowhere, holding her in.

"Redheart, this one's fertile," she said, louder.

"It doesn't matter," Redheart moaned back. Sunset was confident it had already been the thirty seconds or so the magic would have taken to bring her partner to full fertility.

But, of course, that knowledge was a double-edged sword, and she didn't seem to be able to move anyway. So instead, she started pumping her sperm into Redheart's willing body again.

Despite the rate at which her partner was burning it, this load was massive. Slower than usual, but inevitably, Redheart's belly swelled, brimming with Sunset's fertile seed. Then, even as Sunset kept pumping it in, shivering and shuddering in orgasm, it began to recede. The tiny part of her not consumed in her mating frenzy was confused, until she saw the vines inside Sonata pulsing, and saw Sonata's own belly swell with seed as she quaked in orgasm in her impromptu bondage.

It was all far, far too much for poor Sunset. She unloaded everything, nearly passing out in the waves of pleasure: hers, Redheart's, and somehow Sonata's, which she could feel even without contact, rushing through the air. Finally she felt herself coming down, felt Redheart doing the same, and then, with a mighty clap of light that ruffled the sheets on the bed and knocked several books off the bookshelf, the tentacles vanished, leaving Sonata, too, to fall to the bed.

She giggled, and they all lay stunned for quite some time.

Finally, Sonata stirred.

"See," she said, "I knew Sunny wouldn't be able to manage a one-liner after something like that."

Author's Note

Whew! Welcome to the first plot chapter, folks. I know it's a long one - hopefully it's worth it.

Like the X-Files, Deep Space 9, or the like, I expect these plot chapters to be interwoven with the more standard monster/lover-of-the-week fare, so if that's more your style, don't worry, we'll still have plenty of that.

File 5: Orphans

Chapter-specific content warning: Anthropomorphic bear lady, with fur. Bondage, spanking, nail/claw play, prisoner/guard role-play (all fully consensual). Animated objects. DISCLAIMER: Because this is a fantasy, and both characters involved are newbies at it, this chapter does not portray ideal BDSM procedures. Always set safe words and communicate extensively about power play in advance, unless you are on an unfamiliar world full of kinky sex magic.

Every Friday night, Sonata went out.

It wasn't that she didn't love Sunset. It kind of scared her, really, how much she did. She'd been around a long time, after all, and had become, in her own peculiar way, jaded. But to her, this was something new. She wondered if, before being hit with that rainbow beam, she'd been capable of it. But then, it seemed Adagio and Aria still weren't, so maybe she'd never been the problem. Stockholm Syndrome, she'd learned the humans called it, and presumably a few millennia could give one a hell of a case. Sunset had been more than willing to share her library, which had a lot of books about psychology. She claimed it was because she'd been worried about being obviously alien, at the beginning, but Sonata suspected it was also because she was a giant nerd.

But then, Sonata loved that about her. And the reading was interesting, except when it wasn't. Like being in love, reflecting on her life wasn't something she had a lot of experience with. But, again, until recently, she wouldn't have liked what she'd seen. Repression was another one the human authors were big on, and another one she felt that she'd practiced over an inhuman span of time.

Solitude was another, though. She'd always been with Adagio and Aria, of course, first as a pack of predators in Equestria, then as fugitives in a world that left them near famine. But no matter how much she'd repressed, or had Stockholm Syndrome, or been desperate, or whatever she wanted to call it, she'd been, they'd never been friends. She'd always had to retreat into her mind, sometimes.

So, she adored Sunset. But sometimes, she wanted to be alone, just for a bit. Even if she was with people. It comforted her. So, Fridays.

The first few, she'd just walked. Maybe thought, if she felt like it, but often not. Canterlot in late spring and early summer, which it had been then, was a great place to walk and be a nearly contentless observer. There were countless strange scenes, interesting plants, lovely back-streets, and small neighborhoods to discover.

Recently, though, she'd been dipping her toe into her new society as an active member. Not too active, mind. She was easing in. So she'd been stopping at coffee shops and restaurants, ordering a drink and snack and just people watching. With perhaps a side of eavesdropping, if said people were speaking too loudly.

This Friday, though, more people than usual seemed to be speaking too loudly. It took Sonata a while to notice; she was comfortably reading at her table, nursing her coffee and bagel. But gradually she noticed the unusual volume, and unusually worried tone, of the conversations around her.

She listened in and caught snatches of the conversation. One couple was worried about getting home safe. One woman was on the phone, asking for a pickup. She focused more, curious and slightly alarmed. She still couldn't tell what was up exactly, but the overall mood was clearly tense. She sighed and put away her book. She got ready to leave, paused, frowned, and turned around. She supposed it wasn't shocking some of Sunset was rubbing off, but life had certainly been simpler when she could be flagrantly irresponsible without guilt.

But she was technically a federal employee now, in something somewhat adjacent to law enforcement. And her girlfriend was a big hero. So she went to the barista, who was staring at his phone, also looking worried, and asked if he knew what was up.

"Another robbery," he said, paused, then seemed to note her confused look, and went on. "We've had a string of muggings around here. Kind of strange ones. No one's gotten a good look at the perp, but they sound like a woman, and there's just one. That's not what's weird, though. They don't take any money or credit cards or anything, just food, and they always ask about jade."

"Jade? Who's Jade?"

"Not a person, the stone. Like old Chinese statues." Sonata still couldn't picture the stone, but she figured out enough to go on from what she'd recently learned was called context.

"So she's robbing people for food and asking about a weird stone? Has anyone been hurt?"

"I don't think so. But one guy tried to fight, and he says he got tied up by some rope, all on its own! She left him right in plain sight, but it was still a few hours before anyone found him. And that's just freaky!"

"Thanks," Sonata said, and turned to go. The she remembered herself and went back and pulled out her wallet. "I work in an FBI office downtown that looks into weird stuff like this. Here's our card. If you hear anything more about it, give us a call."

As she got ready to go home, though, and tell Sunset about the lead, she started to reconsider. Sure, she wasn't technically an agent. But she wasn't any less qualified than Sunset. Only Redheart had any formal training yet, after all. And if Sunset's claim was that she was a magical creature from another world, well, so was Sonata. She started walking faster as she thought, grinning. She'd heard that Captain Armor was talking about expanding the department. And she didn't mind being the sexy administrative assistant, and having wild sex with Sunset hearing about her adventures, but if she were a full agent, she could have the sex and then have more sex remembering it! She'd handle this one herself, and impress everyone!

She went by a corner store and bought some food she thought might be tempting to the robber, putting it obtrusively in a translucent plastic bag. Then she looked on her phone to find out where the robberies had happened, exactly. It took a while to find a listing on a local news site, but eventually she had a good route. It seemed the robber preferred the classic "emerge from an alleyway, lure the mark in" plan, so she made sure to walk slowly past alleys.

She didn't want the robber to suspect Sonata was hunting her, so she tried to act distracted and unconcerned - in other words, as she usually was while walking. Unfortunately, between developed habit and her general lightness of being, by about ten minutes in, she'd moved from pretending to be distracted and unconcerned to just being distracted and unconcerned. By the time she'd passed the fourth side alley, she noticed her bag felt significantly lighter. With a sinking feeling, she looked down and saw the bottom had been expertly cut out, and her food taken right out from under her nose.

She retraced her steps, but there was no sign of anyone in any of the dark spaces between buildings, nor on the street. Sonata's shoulders slumped, and she sighed. I guess I will leave this one to Sunset, after all.

As it turned out, Sunset was amused by her attempt, and hugged her and kissed her when she said she'd wanted to be a real agent. So at least there was that. Sonata had, after all, plenty of time.

Redheart had a scheduled call with Captain Armor, and needed to prepare. Sonata seemed to have fed her urge for adventure for the time being. So it was Sunset alone who found herself investigating the case the next day. She started by interviewing the victims, at least those who'd filed police reports. She discovered some of them had been robbed during the day, and most hadn't been obviously carrying food, though all of them had some. None of them had seen the perpetrator's features - she was covered head to toe in garments all agreed were somewhat exotic, including a heavy hood. And all of them agreed she'd been asking about where she could find jade.

Sunset researched the question a bit, just in case, and then began immediately. She considered actually walking through the alleys, but there was no reason anyone would, so she thought it'd scream "police". So instead she just walked the block Sonata had the last night, but in the other direction. As she was passing the third alley, with no one else in sight in the middle of the work day, she felt a slight pressure on her back, and a low voice whispered in her ear.

"Don't say anything or scream. I just want your food, and I have a question. Come on."

Though the woman behind her didn't seem particularly slight, her voice was girlish, not unlike Pinkie Pie's. Sunset briefly considered if this could be Pinkie Pie, before dismissing it as the wrong kind of weird. The woman nudged her towards the alley, and she let herself be herded in. She tried to get a glimpse of what weapon, if any, the woman was holding in her hand, but couldn't get a good look.

In addition to training Redheart to better use cum to feed her powers, Sunset had been using their regular recent sessions to learn to suppress her empathy as much as possible. She felt it was invasive to get intense emotional information from casual contact, and in the last week of practice she'd learned to dull it to where she felt only the most powerful emotions, and only with direct contact. She thought about letting down her guard and trying to read the robber, but she didn't feel they'd reached a desperate point yet, and wasn't confident she'd get anything through the other woman's concealing outfit in any case.

"Do you know where I can find jade?"

Sunset had considered her response. She did know, of course. In fact, she'd sourced some online, she could get a pretty big chunk of the cheap stuff without much impact on their budget. But she intended to use it only in a bargain.

"Who's Jade?" She said instead.

"Who names their kid 'Jade'? Why do you all ask that?" The robber sounded distinctly frustrated. "The stone! The stone of spirit!"

"Oh," Sunset shrugged. "They have a bunch in China, I guess." Now that she thought of it, the robber's heavy robes looked...not exactly Chinese, but perhaps Chinese-adjacent. "Here, I don't think there is any."

The woman growled, sounding disconcertingly bestial. "Fine. Food, then."

Sunset opened up her empathy, just to make sure she didn't feel anything violent. She got almost no impression at all, but hints of frustration and confusion hit her before she raised them again. She was pretty confident this woman, criminal or no, wouldn't hurt her, and she wanted to see her reputed rope tricks.

She stepped forward and took off her backpack, and moved as if to kneel and open it. Instead, though, she turned the knee-bending into a run and took off down the alley.

She didn't make it far. As the man who'd tried to run had reported, ropes sprang up from the ground and began wrapping around her arms and legs. She found her back pressed to the brick wall, arms and legs spread, backpack dangling from one immobile hand. She looked at the ropes, trying to see the telltale aura of unicorn-style telekinesis. There was no glow, but at the end of each rope was a small carved piece of green stone - certainly jade.

Another growl drew Sunset's attention to the robber, and she was able to get a better look at the woman now, at least.

She looked to be a full head shorter than Sunset, though it was a bit hard to tell while suspended slightly in the air. She wore a long robe-like dress with a heavy hood. Either it was thick or she was solidly built - it was hard to tell. Beyond that Sunset could tell almost nothing, every inch of her was covered. She did notice, though, that her left hand was moving in small but complex patterns. Like the rest of her, either her gloves were thick, or her hands weren't shaped like human ones.

She gestured with her left hand and the tip of the rope binding Sunset's arm reached under her backpack strap and tossed it off. It landed behind the woman, who turned and bent over to retrieve it. As she did so, her dress bulged in a way that made it clear it was not particularly thick, she was just possessed of a full and, to Sunset, very appealing ass. The way it moved as she fiddled with the backpack was highly distracting.

Oh no, not now, Sunset though, but she'd been training her sex magic to bad habits, and indeed her cock sprang forth at the ready, very obvious under her tight skirt.

It seemed that the woman's gloves were making it impossible to work the zipper of the backpack. With another growl, she sliced it open with some kind of green-tipped knife and emptied the contents into her own pouch, which she carried on her side.

She turned back to Sunset and seemed ready to say something else, when she stopped. It was impossible to trace the line of her eyes under the hood, but it seemed impossible they were on anything other than Sunset's prominent bulge. She walked slowly forward.

"But aren't you a so -- a female?" She moved her hands above her own chest, miming breasts.

"Sure am," Sunset said, "but I like having a cock to use on other women. So when I see someone sexy, like you, it shows up. It doesn't know I'm your prisoner."

"You can't even see me," the robber scoffed.

"I got a great view when you bent over to pick up my pack."

The robber had been walking slowly forward, and now was quite close. Even through her guard, Sunset could feel a bit of her arousal leaking off.

"Go ahead," she grinned, without any real plan, other than hoping to get the woman to show what kind of creature she was, or stay and talk, "take a look."

"I don't need you permission. You're my prisoner." Still, Sunset noted, she'd made no move before being given the permission.

She reached her gloved hand forward and gingerly lifted Sunset's skirt. She'd long since stopped wearing panties, as even Rarity's special ones couldn't reliably survive the magical appearance of her cock. She'd last used it in pony form, so it sprang forth in its flared, ringed glory as soon as her skirt cleared it. The woman let out a low rumble. Sunset could feel her breath on it, and shivered.

"It's been too long since I had a bo -- a male," the woman breathed, seeming to talk to herself, though she still stopped before using the term Sunset was sure would have revealed more about her.

"You can show me what's under there," Sunset said, "I promise I can handle it."

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. The woman drew back, dropping the skirt again, though it was now absurdly tented.

"You talk too much," she said, "it's a real turn-off." Sunset could tell this was a lie, her arousal was a strong as ever. But it seemed the moment had passed. The woman stalked off, saying nothing else. Once she'd gone from sight entirely, the jade cuffs flew off the ends of the rope, letting Sunset drop to the ground, and flew rapidly after her. Sunset ran down the alley, but there was no sight of the robber.

Well, she thought, at least she didn't leave me tied up like that other guy. She searched the ruins of her backpack. It was completely empty. And she didn't notice the tracker in the box of granola bars.

Sunset followed the tracker at a safe distance, but tried to figure out how the robber could have taken this route during broad daylight. It was a convoluted path through alleys, over fences, and up and down fire escapes, but it was workable, and now Sunset found herself surveilling a vacant basement featuring a sign reading "for lease - commercial." It had a side door on to the alley - and the lock had obviously been picked from the pattern of wear on it.

She stared at the door, wondering what the best approach was. She could just go in, of course, but she wasn't confident she had a good answer to the magically animated ropes, short of incapacitating the woman, which was a level of violence she didn't think was warranted. She was pretty sure, though, that her left hand's motions controlled the jade, so if she could sneak up and take it out of the picture, she could cuff her. But she wasn't sure if she was better off waiting for the thief to leave and then sneak in and lie in wait, or trying to sneak in now.

Before she could decide, the thief emerged from the door and glanced around. Sunset didn't move, despite the temptation to hunker down even more - she was pretty sure her hiding place was good enough that movement would only risk giving her away. It seemed she went unnoticed, as the robber seemed satisfied and set off, climbing a fire escape and heading off in the other direction. She was far more nimble than her frame would suggest, or than Sunset herself was, and easily climbed the few feet of brick between the top of the fire escape and the roof, which Sunset hadn't expected.

She glanced at her phone. It seemed she'd taken the granola bars with her for energy, as the tracker was moving off again. While Sunset thought it was possible she was going to a new base just to foil pursuit, she decided she'd go in here anyway. If the tracker went too far, she could always catch up on her motorcycle - it didn't seem the mysterious woman had any kind of vehicle.

Before she went in, though, she used her magic scanning app to check out the area around the door. There wasn't much, but at the back of the alley, it detected nearly-faded residue. Twilight's app couldn't match the signature with anything it'd seen before exactly, but the closest match was with the portal from Equestria.

Interesting, Sunset thought as she eased the door open and entered, I'll have to find out how she got here.

The space inside was rough, and it seemed the mystery woman had few possessions, but it was clearly a true hideout, not a decoy. The space was clean but mostly empty. The floor was concrete, with several pillars supporting the ceiling. It seemed whatever business had once been here A bedroll lay on the floor, open. Next to it a crate was set up, as if for a table, and a single candle was on it, along with some boxes of stolen food. A large pack lay against the crate. Sunset glanced at her phone, satisfying herself that the woman was still several blocks away, and began rummaging through it.

Sadly, it yielded little that would help her identify the woman. A pair of sandals. A much lighter dress, this one off the shoulder with a slit side, in a deep red. Several pairs of chopsticks and assorted hairpieces. A dozen or so small pieces of carved jade in dragon or warrior motifs. An assortment of daggers with jade blades. A few more ropes.

She glanced at her phone again. The tracker was getting closer. She looked around for a good hiding place. Nothing presented itself. She settled for the old standby, pressing her back against the wall next to the door. This woman seemed alert, but Sunset knew even alert people rarely looked around immediately on entering their own homes, and the door opened inward, so it'd hide her for a bit. She hoped she'd have enough time to take the woman by surprise and immobilize her left hand. She took a rope out of the pack, just in case.

After a nerve-wracking wait that seemed eternal, though it really wasn't, the tracker was nearly on top of her. Sunset put away the phone and tensed herself. The door creaked open, then began to close. She sprang forward and slammed into the robber.

Sunset had to give her credit, she responded very quickly. She nearly pulled forward out of Sunset's grasp, despite being smaller, staggering forward. Sunset bore down on her, scrabbling for her hand, but the other woman reached it out. Sunset was forced to press closer and both stumbled forward, in danger of tumbling to the ground. The robber growled and reached her gloved hand for the pole. Sunset saw the opportunity and lunged forward herself, bearing the other woman to her knees. Sunset slammed her hand forward, holding the other woman's hand pressed to the pole and useless. The robber squirmed, thrusting up with her powerful legs and trying to throw Sunset off. Sunset grabbed her cuffs with her other hand, then reached around to try to grab the robber's right hand and wrestle them to where she could cuff both together around the pole.

As they struggled, the robber's luscious, writhing ass pressed against Sunset, and while her conscious mind barely noticed, whatever deep primal part of her controlled her magic cock certainly did and, appropriateness of the situation be damned, it sprang forth, hard and ready.

Sunset nearly cursed as arousal flooded her and threatened to distract her, but at least she was used to this happening. The other woman was taken completely by surprise, and faltered with a squeak. It was all the opening Sunset needed. She grabbed her other hand and wrestled it to the pole, cuffing both together around it before the robber had fully recovered. She stood clear and the other woman struggled to her feet, growling. She pulled at the cuffs, but they didn't give.

"Now," Sunset approached, "let's have a civilized..." she trailed off. Even through her practiced guard, the arousal was rolling off the other woman.

"Well, aren't you quite the switch," Sunset grinned. "Seems like you enjoy being tied up just as much as you liked tying me up."

"Ugh, as if."

Sunset shrugged. "I don't need your permission, you're my prisoner." The arousal washed over her. "But I won't do it without it." She stepped back. "I'll let myself out. I can tell the cuffs aren't going to hold up forever, but I can't have you using your jade magic on me. I put my card in your bag. Come see me when you get out. I'll help you. If you keep robbing people, though, we're gonna have a problem, and next time, it won't be just me, and you won't get to choose to come in."

She turned to leave. She wasn't sure what she'd do if the other woman called her bluff. But she was also pretty sure she wouldn't. The only question was whether she'd volunteer to come in peacefully now, or give in to her obvious lust and answer questions here. Hopefully while moaning.

"I'm not human," she said before Sunset got far, "you wouldn't want me." Sunset grinned. She'd been hoping for the second one.

"I'm not human either."

"More than I am. I'm sure you wouldn't want me."

"I already do."

There was a long pause.

"Come lift up my hood."

Sunset came back and stood on the far side of the pole. The other woman was pressed up to it, even though the cuffs didn't force her to be. Sunset read the pose as surprisingly vulnerable. The robber raised her head. The shadows under the hood were deep, but Sunset saw large eyes with deep purple irises looking out at her.

"Your eyes are lovely," she said. She felt the embarrassed arousal spilling over her.

She reached forward to the hood and paused. Underneath, she could feel the other woman nod. She lifted it off.

The robber hadn't been lying about her humanity, certainly. Her face was much more like a pony's than a human's, covered in fur with a short muzzle topped with a prominent black nose like a dog's. The fur of her face was white, but with rings of black around her large eyes, Her lips were thin and black, and upturned towards her nose. Her two large round ears rose above her carefully coifed black hair, which featured a dark purple streak above her right eye, and was up in a tight ponytail.

"See?" She showed elongated canines as she spoke.

Something about seeing a face so much like a pony's went right to Sunset's crotch. She stiffened. Wordlessly, she stepped back and unhooked her skirt, letting it fall around her rampant member. She saw the woman's already wide eyes open further and stare at it.

"You still want me?"

Sunset nodded.

"Well, I am your prisoner."

"Do you want me?"

She swallowed. "Yes. But...you were right, I like being the prisoner."

Right, Sunset thought. She didn't have any experience with this, really, but she was willing to give it a go.

"Okay," she took on a tone of authority and stood up straight, despite the incongruity of both with her raging, exposed erection. "Prisoner, I'm Agent Sunset Shimmer. What's your name?"

The robber glared at her defiantly, and Sunset was confused for a moment until she realized her prisoner planned to enjoy making her work for it.

Well, she had questions to ask anyway. Might as well make them part of the game. She circled around the pole until she was looking at the other woman's full rear. She was excited to see how it moved.

"I said," she gave the generous rump a hard slap, "what's your name?" The prisoner's ass jiggled enticingly, and she gasped.

"Aya Blackpaw," she growled.

"I am a federal agent," Sunset said, and spanked her again, "you will refer to me as 'agent' or 'sir'."

"Aya Blackpaw, Agent."

Sunset nodded. She paced a bit more.

"How did you get here?"

Silence, again. Sunset grinned, but only because Aya couldn't see her. She studied the dress. It was heavy, but bound at the back. It looked like if she opened it, she could push the top forward...

Slowly, she untied the lace and began pulling it out. The back of the dress opened. Aya's fur was black on the back. As soon as enough was exposed, Sunset dug her nails through it into the flesh beneath and began dragging them down her back. Aya shivered and growled.

"I didn't want to, Agent. I was minding my own business and the portal just swallowed me up. About a week ago, Agent." Sunset let up her nails, but kept working on the laces, stroking the fur lightly instead. It was longer than a pony's, but only just, and still felt wonderfully silky and familiar. Aya obviously kept herself well groomed.

"Where are you from, Ms. Blackpaw?"

As expected, silence.

Sunset had finished with the laces, and pushed the now-open top of the dress forward. She couldn't remove it entirely - it was intended to come off the arms, then Aya could just step out of it, but with her hands cuffed around the pole, the arms couldn't come off. Still, she was able to push it far enough clear to reveal everything. Aya's shoulders were broad and her arms powerful, and Sunset was glad she didn't seem to be inclined to violence in the course of her robberies.

She walked around to get a better view. Aya's breasts were moderately sized, but firm, with hard pink nipples poking out from the fur that seemed to cover her entire body. Her belly and the front of her neck were white like her face, and despite her powerful build her belly was flat, her figure swelling considerably at her generous hips and, from all appearances, rear.

She remained silent as Sunset exposed and appraised her, her eyes averted. She didn't seem able to blush her fur like ponies, but her body language said if she could, she likely would be. Sunset reached under her muzzle and raised it to look her in the eyes, and repeated the question firmly. There was still no reply.

She reached slowly to Aya's breasts and took one of her firm nipples, brushing it threateningly with her nails before gripping it tightly. Aya moaned.

"Gadgetzan. On Kalimdor, in Azeroth." Sunset gripped harder. "Agent!" She let go.

Of course, none of this meant anything to her, and she'd have to get the full story later. But Aya did seem to be enjoying the game.

"Now. Tell me why you were stealing. Do you have some evil plan here?" Sunset thought this last was basically impossible at this point, but it seemed in character. As expected, Aya remained silent.

"You are proving an uncooperative subject, Ms. Blackpaw."

Sunset moved around behind her again. Aya had pressed herself back from the pole, displaying again just how her full ass filled her dress. Sunset was now quite interested to see what it would look like outside of it.

"You know, I will get these answers from you. But now you've frustrated me, and I'll have to relieve it somehow."

Slowly, teasing herself as well as Aya, she lifted the prisoner's dress. Her feet were concealed by heavy boots, but her legs were athlete's legs, the powerful muscles visible even beneath the fur, which was entirely black. Sunset teased her hands on them as she slowly raised the dress higher, revealing thick, powerful thighs. Finally her pussy lips came into view, dark like those on her face, and damp, teasingly visible between her spread legs. Then the bottom of her luscious ass, then her tight black pucker, then finally a cute little tail, not even as long as a pony's, but just a bob of fur above the spread crack of her ass. Sunset nodded in appreciation.

"Luckily," she said, "you look like you'll be excellent relief. Now answer the question."

Sunset slapped her naked ass again, watching it jiggle deliciously. Aya moaned.

"Oh, this had better be the last one before you fuck me senseless. I just had to eat! And I wanted jade for my magic. I don't know how things work here. I didn't have any money on me when the portal took me. And the first human I approached freaked out, I guess they've never seen a pandaren before. I don't have any evil plans, I'm just a poor rich orphan, only here, I'm not even rich!"

Something about this struck Sunset as an act, even without much prompting from her empathy. Also, Aya hadn't said 'agent' or 'sir'. Also, her ass was glorious. Sunset smacked it again, gratified by the sound and motion her hand produced.

"Agent. That's all, Agent!"

"We'll talk about this more later," Sunset growled, "when you're feeling more cooperative. Maybe after I show you what happens when you frustrate me, you'll be more eager."

"Celestials yes," Aya murmured, "put that thing inside me, I want to know what that ring feels like."

Sunset nearly forgot her potion, but at the last minute she realized she probably shouldn't bring any more weird hybrids into the world, and chugged one. Aya was wiggling her ass obscenely, and had spread her legs wide. Sunset could smell her musk, just alien enough to be enticing. She moved close behind her, pressing her cock against Aya's generous ass. Aya lowered her bound hands on the pole, spreading herself and pressing back into Sunset so far that she felt the dripping lips parting around her head. Both women moaned. Sunset pressed forward.

Just as Aya gasped at the flared head and anticipated Sunset's medial ring, Sunset found her new lover's pussy delightfully different. Aya's sex had waves on the inside, and as she slid deeper in, they massaged her cock. She let out a long moan. Then her medial ring sunk in, and Aya shouted.

"Oh, it's as good as I hoped," she panted, wriggling her hips and ass, delighting Sunset's eyes as well as her cock. "Take me Agent, I'm nearly there."

Sunset was too. She began fucking hard, relishing the feel of Aya's rippling pussy on her shaft. She felt her flare inexorably hardening. Inspired, she slapped Aya's delicious ass again.

It was too much for her "prisoner". Aya thrust herself back hard, burying Sunset again, as her pussy began twitching all over her.

"I'm cumming, Agent Sunset Shimmer. Give me yours. Please give me your cum."

Sunset's flare deployed, and she complied, great ropes filling Aya's writhing, begging body.

"Oh," she said, as Sunset unloaded more and more, swelling her, "oh Agent, there's so much. So much." She twitched more, her orgasm seeming to deepen. "Give me all of it."

"I'm glad you're finally cooperating, prisoner" Sunset managed, interrupted by moans.

She smacked Aya's ass again, the jiggle and Aya's moaning, thrashing reaction proving enough to grant the other woman's request: Sunset's second orgasm took her, immediately on the heels of the first, and she began emptying the second load of her magically full pony balls into Aya, bulging her already swelling belly with her seed.

Both women fell to the floor, panting. Sunset's cock had vanished, and as she came to herself she saw Aya staring at her crotch.

"It just went away. Is that why you said you weren't human?"

"No," Sunset said. "Physically I am, but I came from another world, like you. The portal that brought me here changed me into a human, though. I got the cock later, through a magic potion. Though some of the magic rubbed off, so now it just shows up on its own sometimes."

Sunset went over and unlocked the cuffs, then started dressing herself again.

"What are you really, then?"

"A pony."

"Like, a horse person? Kind of like I'm a bear person, or a human is an ape person?"

Sunset laughed. "No, just a person who's a pony. Well, our faces are more like yours than like the ponies here. But we're quadrupeds, no hands or anything. I moved things around with my magic."

Sunset hitched up her skirt and turned to face Aya again. The self-proclaimed bear person was also bare, save for her boots and gloves. It seemed she'd had an easier time stripping off her dress than recovering it from the state Sunset had put it in. Now she was standing closer to the bedroll, rummaging through her bag. Her belly was flat again, a large puddle of Sunset's cum on the floor next to the pole where she'd been kept. Her bare ass was facing Sunset, slightly spread as she bent over, revealing just the hint of her pussy. A drip of cum emerged and slid down her leg, white on the black fur.

Sunset rolled her eyes as her cock returned. It really was getting out of hand.

"Are you really some kind of cop?" Aya said.

"I'm a federal agent, yeah. Though I guess you don't know what that means. But my department looks after people like us."

"What, perverts who'll fuck someone right after they meet?"

Sunset laughed. "Seems like it. But no, non-human people, people with magic, visitors from other worlds. The weirdos."

Aya turned and looked at her. Sunset suspected she couldn't really miss that the cock was back, but she seemed to be ignoring it for now.

"Non-human people are weirdos?"

Sunset laughed again. "In this world they are. They're the only common intelligent species. They might be the only one native to this world, we're not really sure. Most of them think all people are humans."

"Okay, that's weird. Are all the humans here as colorful as you?"

"Why wouldn't they be?"

"Mine aren't. Nevermind, it's another world. Weird they both have humans at all, really." Aya pulled her other dress out of the bag and turned to lay it on the bedroll. While Sunset was sad to lose sight of her ass, she'd not appreciated her breasts enough. Now free from the dress and clearly visible, they were firm and full, and their large, stiff nipples were just begging to be nibbled on. Sunset saw her white belly fur extended all the way to her crotch, her black pussy lips, slick with cum and her fluids, a stark contrast. This wasn't helping. She tried to look only at her eyes.

"So, what now?" Aya said, with obtrusive casualness. "You gonna bring me in to magic person jail or something?"

Sunset shook her head. "You didn't do anything seriously wrong. None of the food you took was expensive. But I'm going to ask if you want to come with me. You're right, it'd be hard for you to do any shopping around here. We'll do our best to get you home, but we have no idea how portals work, and neither does anyone we've met. It might be a while. I'd like to talk about your options back at our office. But if you want to just leave, I won't stop you. I will have to come stop you if you keep stealing food and scaring people, though."

Aya nodded. "I'll come with you." She laughed. "Again." Sunset blushed. "But no promises I'll like what you have to say."

Sunset nodded. "You'll probably want to get disguised again. It's a ways away."

"In a minute," Aya nodded. She held up her spare dress, as if she was inspecting it.

"Yeah, it'd do," she muttered. "Might be a little short on you."

"Why are you--" Sunset cut off as ropes twined around her wrists, ankles, and waist, lifting her immobile into the air. She'd been looking at Aya intently, of course, but she'd been looking at her striking eyes, her large nipples, her swelling breasts and hips, her dark pussy on her light fur, dripping Sunset's white seed. She'd been paying no attention at all to her left hand. Before Sunset could recover from her surprise enough to speak, Aya did.

"I'm going to go to your office," she said, "but I really want to play more first." She looked at Sunset's crotch. "I think you do too. I want revenge. Is that okay?"

Sunset nodded.

"What's the second question?"

Aya grinned wide, showing for the first time just how sharp her teeth were, and how long her canines. Sunset hadn't internalized how predatory her new lover was. Deep inside her, the pony shivered, but the feeling of safety made the slight fear only harden her ready cock.

"How much do you care about your clothes?"

Sunset considered. The skirt was nice, but imminently replaceable. None of them were Rarity originals or anything, just mass-produced clothing. And thinking about why Aya might have asked made her shiver. Their potential loss seemed a fair price to pay to find out.

"I don't, assuming you were thinking about loaning me that dress. Humans in this world frown on public nudity."

Aya licked her lips. "I was hoping you'd say that." She tossed the dress back on the bed, and moved towards Sunset.

"Before you do anything, though," Sunset managed, "get the bottle out of my bag and give it to me."

Aya pulled it out, looking puzzled. "What's this for? You said you got your cock from a potion, but I can tell you already have it."

"This one makes it sterile. You seem a good sort, but I'm not ready to see what a hybrid of a pony and a bear person looks like just yet."

"Oh," Aya said. "Good idea, but you don't need to worry, I'm not in season."

"Unless I take the potion, after about ten seconds of contact, you will be. It's um, very magical, and very fertile."

Aya nodded, eyes wide. She uncorked the bottle and tipped it into Sunset's mouth. Sunset chugged it down.

"Right," she said. "All set. Go on." She couldn't help thinking how well child-bearing hips described Aya's figure, but she knew it was for the best.

In front of her, Aya straightened up. She pulled off her gloves. Sunset's own eyes widened. Aya's hands were halfway to paws. While they had the jointed, independent fingers of most humanoids, they were shorter than Sunset's own, and padded between fur, like paws would be. And instead of a nail, each was tipped with a sharp-looking claw. She pulled off her boots, revealing similar feet, and leaving herself entirely naked.

"Now the tables have turned, Agent," Aya stepped forward, nearly purring the words.

The delicious sense of being trapped by a predator rose further in Sunset. The animated ropes held her just above the ground, immobile and helpless. Aya stalked around her, looking her over with hungry eyes. Sunset felt her gaze on her restrained breasts, down across her belly to where her cock was straining her skirt. Then Aya padded behind her, her strange feet sounding heavy and bestial on the concrete floor. Sunset felt her breath on the back of her neck, felt her pawlike hand run over her back to her rear. She shivered.

"Oh, Agent," Aya breathed in her ear as she moved back around in front of her, "I never expected such a delicious morsel to come right into my lair. I'm going to enjoy getting even with you."

She pressed her lips to Sunset's neck and kissed it. Sunset shivered. Then Aya opened her mouth slightly, and pressed the tips of her sharp teeth lightly into Sunset's neck. Sunset moaned and thrust forward against her bonds.

"Patience," Aya murmured into her throat. "I do hope you aren't already desperate." She brushed Sunset's neck again with her teeth as she pulled back.

"Now," the pandaren said, "let's get a better look at you." She reached out, index finger extended, and settled the clawed tip lightly on Sunset's collarbone, nowhere near enough to hurt, but impossible to forget. Slowly she dragged it along the bone, leaving a trail of sensation that took Sunset's breath away, until she reached the fabric of her shirt. She paused, then hooked her claw under it and, in one deft and shockingly strong pull, neatly parted the fabric of the whole front of the shirt, letting it fall open. She saw Sunset's bra underneath and frowned.

"What a strange garment," she muttered then, with a shrug, cut the bra between both cups. Sunset's breasts spilled free, larger than Aya's, if slightly less perky. Her nipples, smaller but no less hard, felt the cool air of the basement, and she shivered.

"Oh my," Aya ran her hands over the newly exposed flesh, her pads and fur making a delicious alternating sensation on Sunset's nipples and skin. "I almost wish I had a cock like yours to bury between these."

She gestured with her left hand and the ropes lowered Sunset's feet to the ground, then pulled her hands forward, bending her over. She felt her ass thrust back, and tried to press it back more teasingly, as much as she could in the bonds. Aya moved around behind her.

"What are you going to do to me, you villain?" Sunset belatedly decided to play up her role a bit, though if she were honest with herself, it was in part in hopes of speeding up the teasing.

She felt Aya's paw land heavily on her ass, and she squeaked in surprise and the mix of slight pain and intense pleasure.

"Now now," Aya growled, "this is my home you invaded. Here, I am the mistress, and you will address me as such." Another spank. Sunset shuddered in her bonds. "Is that clear?"

Sunset thought about staying silent, but decided she'd accomplished what she could for now.

"Yes, mistress," she panted. "What do you want with me, mistress villain?"

Aya laughed. "Why, you are my guest. I just want to get a good look at you. It's rare I have such an unusual visitor." she ran her paw lightly over Sunset's bulge for emphasis. "I think I'll extend my hospitality, properly welcome you in. You might not even have to beg, much."

Sunset shivered.

"But I haven't gotten a good look yet," Aya said. Sunset couldn't see exactly what she did, but with a few loud tears from her claws, the ruins of her shirt and bra fell to the floor. Aya rested one padded palm on her back, and casually lifted her skirt with the other.

"Oh," she ran a finger lightly over Sunset's wet pussy lips. "You have both. Interesting."

Sunset felt herself part, and gasped. Slowly but firmly, Aya inserted a finger fully inside her. She tensed, expecting to feel the sharp claw, but somehow she felt only pleasant fullness. Perhaps it was retractable? She shivered.

"You're very tight, Agent. I take it you give far more than you receive?"

"Yes," Sunset moaned, only barely remembering to add, "mistress."

Aya pulled out the finger, and Sunset found herself slightly missing it.

"My mistake," she said, "shall I not do that, then?"

Even though the idea of being fucked didn't do much for Sunset, she never minded a bit of pussy play in addition to the use of her dick. But she thought she might as well play it up.

"As you see fit, mistress," she moaned.

"How obliging you are, Agent," Aya purred. "Let's see just how far that goes." The ropes pulled Sunset's limbs until she was kneeling, hands on the floor. Aya moved in front of her. The scent of her musk filled Sunset's nose. Her crotch was just in front of Sunset's face. From this close, Sunset could tell her sex was close, the lips short, mostly keeping its secrets, but the barest hint of her clit protruded from the front. And another drop of Sunset's own seed fell from inside her. Sunset watched it fall, and looked faux-meekly at the floor.

"You left quite a mess inside me, Agent."

Sunset felt the prickle of claws lightly on her scalp as Aya put both paws on her head, then she gasped as her mistress grabbed her hair and used it to pull her face up. Aya had parted her legs, and that had parted her pussy lips as well. Sunset could see drops of cum on her thighs and just outside her sex, could see another drop of the remaining cum preparing to fall.

"Now, make amends," Aya said coldly. "Start with my legs, end with my pussy. Clean up after yourself."

Because she tended to leave all of it deep inside the wombs of her lovers, Sunset hadn't tasted her own cum on its own. The idea of being forced to do so was intensely erotic. But she felt she should keep up appearances, and was curious how Aya would punish her from this position. So she said and did nothing. After a moment, Aya sighed.

"I thought you'd be more willing to take responsibility, Agent."

Sunset gasped as a heavy blow landed on her still-exposed ass, the impact pressing her forward, filling her nose with Aya's heady scent. Apparently her mistress had some kind of jade paddle.

"Y-yes mistress," she managed.

Still, if Aya was going to set her so gradual a task, there was no reason she couldn't tease back. She mixed her licks with kisses and bites, hoping Aya's thighs were as tender under her fur as her own hairless ones were. Judging from the sounds her lover produced, they were, and Sunset gloated in her mind. Her cum was salty, and each taste made her harder, though she wouldn't have enjoyed it in less charged circumstances.

Slowly, she made her way up Aya's powerful thighs. The smell of her musk grew, and Sunset's head spun. The pandaren's paw still rested idly on Sunset's head, and the occasional prick of claws provided just enough sense of danger to remind her she was at the mercy of a predator.

As she approached Aya's sex, her lover's breathing became louder, nearly panting. It seemed Sunset's teasing was working.

Still, she would consider it a personal victory if Aya became so eager she forgot to make her beg.

Finally, she let her lips settle over Aya's musky, dripping sex. She tasted the pandaren for the first time, an earthy, deep musk, less acidic than her limited experience with human women. And she tasted her own cum, too, still dripping out after their first coupling.

"Clean up," Aya murmured.

"Yes, mistress," Sunset murmured back, making sure to keep her lips in contact, so Aya felt them move as she spoke. She was rewarded with a shudder.

She began eating Aya out, more literally than often. She pressed her tongue deep inside, both trying to scoop out her own cum, as ordered, and hoping to remind Aya of how nice it was to be filled. She relished the tastes, and moved her lips on Aya's pussy lips, but carefully avoided extensive contact with her clit, trying to tease as hard as possible.

The heady mix of their fluids gushed into her mouth with each tongue movement, and Sunset drank it down. Aya's hand still ran through her hair, but she was muttering distractedly. Sunset could feel she was close, but every time she felt too close, she eased up just slightly, keeping her mistress on edge.

Finally, Aya moaned and stepped back. Sunset felt herself lifted into the air, spread-eagle, facing down, her rock-hard dick perpendicular to the floor. The ropes dragged her over to above the bedroll, where Aya lay, legs splayed obscenely. Sunset saw her dripping sex spread and exposed, her breasts heaving.

"I hope you're ready to enjoy my hospitality, Agent." Aya was panting, previous feigned aloofness gone. Sunset just nodded eagerly.

The ropes lowered her perfectly on target, slowly hilting her in Aya's body. Then she fell heavily the last few inches as the ropes withdrew, leaving her free and fully engulfed in Aya's wonderfully textured pussy.

Of course, even now that she could, she wouldn't have dreamed of leaving. All she did with her new mobility was start pounding, and Aya didn't seem to mind. To the contrary, she rose into Sunset's arms, pressing her full furred breasts against Sunset's, her large, firm nipples rubbing Sunset's deliciously. And she pushed her muzzle against Sunset's lips.

The feeling of the muzzle, so much like a pony's, after all these years, nearly brought Sunset over the edge alone. She felt her flare stiffening, and Aya moaned as she did too. Then she parted her lips and darted her tongue into Sunset's mouth. Short, broad, and textured, it was very little like a pony's. Sunset's tongue danced with it, and grazed her lover's predatory, sharp teeth.

The renewed shiver of danger was too much for Sunset. She shivered with it, and the first rope of cum blasted out of her into Aya's waiting body. The pandaren locked her legs around Sunset's ass, making sure she couldn't leave.

Not that she wanted to. She shuddered with the intensity of her orgasm, feeling her balls already on full empty mode, surging all the cum she'd just eaten out of Aya back in. Aya moaned and kissed her harder, her chest heaving against Sunset.

Sunset felt her own orgasm deepen as Aya twitched around her in the throes of her own, and as she felt Aya's belly swelling against her with her always-massive load. She began to rise to give it room, but Aya grabbed her with her powerful arms, holding her close, letting her feel the gradual swelling of her seed inside her lover's belly.

She nearly passed out. But finally, finally, she came down, her cock vanished, and they began to pull themselves together to head to the office.

Sunset, having not gone to college, wasn't familiar with the concept of the "walk of shame". But riding back wearing Aya's spare dress was certainly a novel, if slightly awkward, experience.

It wasn't easy to talk on the motorcycle, but Sunset did her best to brief Aya on who else to expect at the office.

As it turned out, though, there was someone there she wasn't planning for. Sonata and Redheart were in the conference room talking to Twilight.

"Oh," Sonata said, "hi thief lady! I guess Sunset caught you!"

"Sort of," Aya said, but Sunset was distracted by Twilight, who was obviously in distress.

"Sorry Aya," she said, "give us a sec. Twilight, what's up?"

Twilight took a deep breath.

"I haven't been totally honest with you," she started, then paused, apparently to gather herself. "It's why I didn't want you to touch me when you got your powers. I've been meaning to tell you, but it's so hard. But now..." She paused again. Sunset put out her hand, and Twilight took it.

"I ran away," she went on after another long few breaths. "A long time ago, before I met you. I live alone. They were my adoptive parents, I never knew my real ones. But they were...wrong. Bad. I repressed a lot, I didn't really remember how they were bad, just that I had to go. But it was okay, I'd been there for years, on my own. It was fine." Her breath was ragged.

"Then...?" Sunset said, gently.

"I just saw him! Just now, here in town! And he saw me!"

"Your adopted dad?"

"Yes! But Sunset, it's not just that. I remembered! It came back! They weren't just normal bad, they were magic bad! You've got to find him, and stop him!"

Author's Note

Aya Blackpaw is from Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. (Name is a clickable link to the card art.)

File 6: Life and Death

Chapter-specific warnings: Evil adoptive parents (but not in a sexual sense). Fucked up mind magic. So much cum.
Transformative sex.

"I remembered I'd run away, of course."

Twilight dried her eyes. She'd collapsed into Sunset's arms, despite her warning about her empathy. The shame and guilt had nearly bowled Sunset over, and it'd taken several minutes of reassurance before Twilight had been able to carry on her story.

"It wasn't like I wanted to hide, exactly, just...it was never the right time. Early on, it was hard enough being new to a group where you all knew another me. And then, well, if you've been friends with someone for months, how do you tell them you've been holding back? I never..."

"It's okay," Sunset stroked her hair. "I told you, it's okay."

Twilight clung to Sunset's shirt and took a few deep breaths.

"Okay. Thanks. Sorry." She gathered herself and sat up straighter.

"I still don't remember it all," she went on, "not really. Feelings and the shape of things, but not sharp details. Which for me is pretty weird."

"I was going to say," Sunset said.

"We used to do that," Sonata said.

"That's right, you weren't around when we faced the sirens at full power," Sunset nodded. "It does sound kind of like what their songs did."

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"I'll get to that! But it probably was. I didn't think about it too much after leaving. I knew I wanted to forget all about them, so I just accepted it when I did. But that's not the point!

"They lived in a big house out in the country. At first, I liked it a lot. They had a huge library, and the school was good. And they were so supportive of my studies!

"But they were weird, too. I remember they never seemed to approve of any of the other kids at school. And they scheduled me all the time, which wasn't that weird for parents out there, but never for play dates or anything else with other kids. For a while I thought they were just protective, or had high standards, but it never changed. I got close to a few people from school, but not for long. Not being able to do anything outside school just made it too hard. It hurt too much, so I just started reading all the time instead."

Sunset hugged her tight. The analytical part of her mind couldn't help but be curious about how this Twilight had such a different path to friendless bookishness than Princess Twilight had, even while her heart went out to the lonely kid that still clearly formed a core part of Twilight's identity.

"I got more and more suspicious of their motives. They weren't around often when I was at home, mostly just at meals. As I got older they stopped scheduling private lessons or study times, and at first I loved being able to be on my own in the library, but then I felt more and more isolated, and it started to worry me. I don't know why I didn't resent it, maybe it was whatever magic clouded everything. But instead I worried I was letting them down, or that they were hiding something from me. They'd never told me where not to go, or really not to do anything. When I'd been scheduled, there just hadn't been time. And then later it was somehow just...unthinkable.

"But then I started worrying more and more. I wanted to know what they were doing in their rooms on the third floor, what they were saying about me. So I trained myself to it. Every day for weeks I'd get closer and closer to the stairway before some terror of discovery came over me and I ran away back to my room to cry. I felt awful! I was thirteen and I was afraid of part of my own house.

"Then finally, right after the end of my seventh grade year, I finally broke it. I remember that part very clearly. As soon as I crossed the first stair, it was like the whole thing snapped. I felt incredibly silly, and incredibly clear. I somehow knew, just as clearly as before, that they didn't want me up there, but the fear was gone. I was a teenager breaking a minor rule, most natural thing in the world. So I tried to hide, but I didn't turn back.

"It wasn't hard, they clearly didn't expect me to be up there. But until I saw him yesterday, I didn't remember anything beyond the stairs either, until I was all the way out of the house and down into town, almost at the bus station." She went quiet.

Sunset stroked her back, letter her go at her own pace.

"I remember now, though," she said quietly. "The whole room was wrong. It didn't have any windows, but it had these rich red curtains over the blank walls. And there was a big fancy table, like for a banquet, and they were sitting at it, but there was no food on it, just a big pitcher, like for punch. But it wasn't punch. I don't know how, but I know, I'm just sure, it was blood. And what jogged is he didn't look a day older now, never looked a day older the whole time I was there. Neither did she. They're vampires Sunset, I'm sure of it.

"And that's not all. They were talking about me. They said I was almost ready. That within a few years it would be time. That only the final ritual was left. It was so detached. They were talking about me like a piece of meat. I couldn't wait to hear more, so I don't know if they were planning to sacrifice me...or, worse, if..."

She trailed off, seemingly unable to continue.

"Or if they wanted to turn you," Redheart said quietly.

Twilight nodded, and shuddered in Sunset's arms.

"All right," Sunset said. "This does sound like a job for, well, us. We'll need all the information you have, especially names, though I guess they might have changed them. Where did you see him?"

"Not far from my house," Twilight said, "but closer to town. I was going in on the bus, so I don't think he saw me. He was leaving the strip mall on Sixth and Maple, that's the one with the UPS store and that Mexican place Pinkie isn't allowed back in. It was probably about eight at night. I only even noticed because the lamps on the strip are so bright."

"It's not much to go on," Redheart said.

"He was going by Midnight Star," Twilight said, "and he looked, well, like a pretty classic vampire. Black hair slicked back, sharp features, tall, liked formal wear. No cloak but wore suits even around the house, and always wore a hat outside. Looked middle-aged, no wrinkles or anything but those distinguished gray streaks above his ears. Maybe that'll help you look?"

"You might not need to," Aya said. Sunset had forgotten she was around. Everyone stared at her.

"I don't think we have vampires on Azeroth," she went on, "but the humans have stories about them. They're some kind of undead, right?"

"Yeah," Sunset said, "at least, according to the stories. I didn't know they were real here either, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"I tracked an undead my first night here," Aya said, "though I could only tell by the smell. Can't mistake the smell of death. He was the first non-human I'd seen. Reminded me of home, and I hoped he could tell me something. But I got closer and he looked just like a human. Like she described, even. It weirded me out. He went into a house before I could figure out what to do, a big one down near where you found me."

"That's not too far from Sixth and Maple," Redheart said.

"Worth a shot, anyway," Sunset said. "If he's here after all this time, we probably don't want to give him any more time than we have to. I think we should go now."

Redheart nodded slowly. "We should get some stakes and garlic on the way, I guess. Vampires are supposed to be pretty fierce. But you're right. Don't worry, Twilight, we'll take care of it."

"I'm coming too," Twilight said.

Sunset was about to argue, then she felt the determination and anger through Twilight's hand, which she was still holding. They were far more intense than anything she'd ever heard the introverted girl express in words.

Redheart looked about to speak, but Sunset glanced at her.

"All right," she said.

"I'm coming too," Sonata said.

"What?" This time Sunset was prepared to argue.

"If there's mind control involved, you might need me. No one else knows it like I do."

"We've all faced it down," she said. "Besides, someone has to answer the phone and greet people."

"No one has ever come in or called, ever. Besides, Aya can do it."

Sunset looked at Aya. "Do you even know what a phone is?"

Aya shook her head.

"We have a machine," Sonata said. "And she can take tell people you aren't here and take messages in person as well as I can." She met Sunset's gaze, eyes wide. "Please, Sunset. All the stories say vampires are scary. You've gone without me too much."

Sunset sighed. She was finding it difficult to resist those eyes. She looked to Redheart for help.

"Are you okay with that, Aya?" Redheart said instead.

"I'll show you my secret snack stash! And how to use The Internet," Sonata said.

Aya shrugged. "You had me at secret snack stash."

Sunset wanted to argue. This seemed insane even for them. Aya somehow had fewer qualifications than either Sonata or a random human picked off the street, having under a week's experience with this world and apparently none with modern communications technology. Unfortunately before she voiced her objections, she made the mistake of looking back at Sonata, and caught her eyes, which looked near tears. So instead she shrugged, and decided that if Redheart wasn't going to make a fuss out of it, she wouldn't.

They showed Aya the basics of the web browser in the process of having her show them the house in question. She'd been right about the size. It was a little ways out into the less dense outskirts of the city, and in addition to a large building proper, it had significant grounds as well. Unlike the other houses in the area, though, instead of broad lawns, the house itself was hidden from the road by landscaped trees and vegetation. They all agreed it looked like a good hiding spot.

Sunset still felt absurd leaving Aya of all people alone in the office, but it couldn't be helped, not without paying a price she wasn't willing to pay. So the four of them arrived in Prospero at the large house.

Their suspicions were confirmed as soon as they pulled into the driveway. Redheart opened her door first, but instead of stepping out, she let out a whimper. Everyone else froze and looked at her. She stared at the open door, obviously frozen in terror. Sunset felt waves of it washing over her. Reaching for her gun, she followed Redheart's line of sight and saw...nothing. The afternoon sun wafted through the tree cover, laying subtle patterns on the grass, in need of a mow. She touched Redheart's arm, hoping to reassure her, and had to pull back at the searing fear that flooded her empathy.

"It's like what they had at the stairs," Twilight whispered. She pushed open her own door, and her face colored. Sunset felt the fear redouble, and Twilight looked like she might be sick. But slowly she moved a leg, then the other. She leaned forward. She more fell out than stepped, tumbling on to the grass in a heap, but then she rose, apparently none the worse for wear.

"It's just on the driveway," she said, "you can do it! Just don't let it get to you."

Sonata opened her own door. To Sunset's surprise, she felt nothing.

"I guess it's not made for me," Sonata said, and easily stepped down on to the grass.

"Maybe it knows we aren't really humans," Sunset said, hopefully, and opened her own door. It seemed not - a blast of fear rose in her, paralyzing, unreal. She felt the desire to run, but there was nowhere to go!

And then, she was almost floating, just above herself. She heard a voice, and it was her own, uttering a song in words she was growing to recognize. She could even choose to say them now, and did

A Elbereth Gilthoniel
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!

In her mind's eye she saw the lady in the sky, and the Queen beyond time, beyond hope, and somehow beyond fear. And it lifted from her. The sun faded, then the sky grew dark, but like that night in her yard, unearthly stars shone above, brighter than the moon. From the driveway motes of shadow rose, twisting in the silver light, then shattered with a discordant note. Sunset ended her song, but the stars remained a moment. She looked to Sonata, wondering if she was dreaming, but her love's eyes were wide, her mouth turned up in a wistful smile.

The sun returned, but the fear didn't. Redheart shook her head, and stepped out of Prospero on to the driveway.

"What was that?" Twilight whispered.

"Gift of the elves," Sunset said, and shook her head. "I'll tell you later, it's a weird one. Let's hurry, in case someone noticed."

Initially, though, it seemed quite the opposite. No one responded to their knock. Redheart tried again, this time calling out, "FBI, please open up." There was still no response. She went for the door handle.

"Don't you need a warrant?" Twilight asked.

"I think an enchanted driveway is probable cause," Redheart said.

Twilight looked like she wanted to object on constitutional grounds, and Sunset thought she might have a case, but it seemed her desire to solve her own mysteries won out, and she just nodded.

The door was unlocked. It seemed like either they trusted the fear spell to protect them, or whatever had broken it also overcame the other security spells. Regardless, they walked right in...

...to what appeared to be a normal house, if obviously uninhabited. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust, and all the furniture looked generic, like someone had just picked items from the furniture catalog for maximum blandness. They searched it, but it seemed abandoned. Finally in desperation, Sunset looked more closely at the single bookshelf. They were all recent bestsellers, but maybe something about the order would help?

"Hey," Sonata said, coming up next to her, "how come How To Get Rich With Just a Trust Fund isn't dusty?"

Sunset frowned, then pulled on the volume. She was greeted with a click, and the whole bookshelf slid away, revealing an unlit staircase.

"Nice catch." She squeezed Sonata's hand and was rewarded with a burst of flattered affection. Redheart and Twilight came up, the former pulling a flashlight from her long coat. She led them down into what, other than being hidden, initially looked like a normal basement. Sunset fumbled along the wall as Redheart swept the beam around, and found a switch. As light flooded the room, everyone stopped and gasped.

They'd been difficult to pick out with just the flashlight, as they were large, and looked similar in the dim light to the work bench in the middle of the room, but along the walls, now clearly visible in the light, were two large coffins. A heavy door stood on the wall between them.

"Of course," Twilight breathed, "they're asleep during the day." She moved to the lid, then hesitated. Redheart came up beside her. She'd placed a wreath of garlic around her neck, and wielded a stake.

"Want us to do it?"

Twilight nodded silently and stepped aside. Redheart gestured to Sunset, who understood. While her partner stood with stake poised, Sunset stood on the hinged side of the coffin and pulled the lid open. The hinges let forth a suitable horror movie squeal, and Redheart lunged forward, then stopped. Sunset peered over the lid and saw the coffin was empty.

"Huh," Redheart said.

"Maybe they have more than one safe house," Twilight said.

They checked the other coffin, just to be sure, but it was similarly empty.

"Damn," Sunset said, though privately she felt relief, as well. Then she looked to the door. "Might as well check that out too, right?"

Within, they found what looked like a lab. Two shelves of tomes covered the far wall, and a large wood table sat to the right. Twilight gasped and fixed her eyes on the contents of the table: a heavy-looking book bound in black leather, and a small vial full of a dark liquid.

"All right," Redheart said, "that's what I was hoping for. And they're not even in to stop us. I'm sure there's something good in all this. Let's drag it all back to the Department."

"Um," Twilight said, eyes still locked on the two objects, "I know these. They were there, in the room they were hiding from me. Can I check them out first?"

Redheart looked at Sunset, who shrugged.

"We won't get to it all for a while."

Redheart nodded slowly.

"All right," she said. "You've done work for us before, after all. But check it out at the Department, all right? You're deep in this now, and I want you as protected as we are. We'll give you a room for it, we've got plenty."

Twilight looked like she was going to object, but thought better of it, and nodded.

"I'll need some stuff."

"We'll get it on the way back."

It was nearly dark by the time they got the contents of the lab and all of Twilight's equipment back to the Department, and they agreed to leave the heavy research for the next day. Twilight couldn't wait, of course, and absented herself to her new lab, but the rest decided to start winding down and approach it fresh. They started filling Aya in on what seemed like a good two hundred years or so of technological progress. By some apparent law of the universe, this turned in to drinking beer and watching a movie. By a pretty clear law of what happens when four people who sometimes have sex with each other drink and watch a movie, that turned into heavy makeouts on the couch, which proceeded to the bedroom, which proceeded to everyone passed out on the bed, the three other women leaking Sunset's cum.

Sunset awoke some time after midnight, as was increasingly becoming her way. She thought she was covered in a heavy duvet, and wondered why they'd broken it out in late summer, only to find she was in fact sleeping under Aya. She managed to free herself without disturbing anyone, and pulled on a robe. She was planning to go to the roof to see the stars, when she saw the light coming from under Twilight's door. Surprised, she knocked.

"Who is it?" Twilight's voice sounded slightly strange.

"Sunset."

"Oh good!" That sounded better. "I was just thinking about you! Come in!"

She did. Twilight was sitting at her desk, surrounded by complicated lab glassware, all empty, save the vial from the lab. To Sunset's mild alarm, the liquid within now glowed like liquid sunshine.

"They were so stupid," Twilight laughed. "No wonder they couldn't keep me. I can't believe it took me so long!"

Mild alarm bells came back to Sunset's mind.

"What's that?"

"It's all there," Twilight said. "They weren't going to bite me. They didn't want another vampire. They wanted me to be a better vampire. That was what it was all for. The endless lessons were to make me smarter, better, sure. But the isolation - they wanted the isolation. They needed it. They wanted to make sure I'd be like them, contemptuous of humanity. Okay with using us as food." She chuckled, and turned to face Sunset. Her eyes were wide, dancing.

"But they didn't even understand! They were going to mix it with blood. I mean, of course they were, they're vampires. It's all they know. But they taught me to think, when they should have taught themselves! They could have figured it out! They thought I wasn't learning anything they didn't know, but I did. And then you gave me the rest. Life, connection, magic...they really are the worst kind of arrogant. They found one answer, and thought they had them all!"

"Twilight, you're, uh...I don't understand."

Twilight took the vial, held it up.

"They made a base," she said. "Like a delivery system. I don't think they can do it again, at least not easily. And I wouldn't want to. Some of the things in there..." she shuddered. "But it's too bad, because it's a really clever base. It was ready to take something and draw out its magic. Even here, where there's so little native. So they made a base, and they were going to put my blood in it. Refine it, basically, then give it back to me. Make me the perfect vampire, or so they thought. Actually, they were probably right." She stared at the glowing vial.

"Twilight," Sunset said slowly, "why does it look different? Did you tamper with the irreplaceable magical concoction? Did...did you put your blood in it?"

Twilight snorted. "Of course not! Weren't you listening? They were stupid. It's all blood with vampires. But look at you and Redheart. And Sonata, for that matter. It's not blood that did it for you. It's sex. She takes loads from the principals and suddenly she's a succubus or something. You pump magic back into Sonata. Just sticking your dick in some elf gives you words of power. Blood's great, we all need it, but it's about death. It delivers life, sure, but it runs out, and you need more. Always more! Thump, thump, thump, cells to heart to lungs to heart to cells, it never ends. And it doesn't for the stupid vampires either - they're dependent, they need new blood like we need oxygen.

"But sex, well, that's real magic. Anti-entropic, like you said, right? You get a sperm and an egg together and entropy's fucked." She giggled. "Just like you are. It doesn't need more and more. It grows, becomes its own thing. That's magic." She shook the vial.

"So no, I didn't put in my blood. I put in one of my eggs. This base was made for me. That's why they still had it, why they didn't have another poor kid they were raising for it. They needed to find me. It's made to give me power." She fixed her eyes on Sunset. Despite her near-manic pace of speech, her eyes were focused, as keen as always.

"A war's started. You need all the help you can get. And I've never wanted to be just Twilight the Human. I'm meant for more. The Princess showed me that. Now I'll have it."

"Wait!" Sunset lunged, but as everything seemed to slow down, she knew she'd be too late. Casually, seemingly unconcerned by Sunset's desperate move, Twilight raised the beaker to her lips and swallowed the contents.

Sunset's hand grabbed her wrist, far too late. Nothing else appeared to have happened. Twilight blinked twice, then closed her eyes and let out a sigh. When she opened them again, they glowed - literally. Her always striking eyes were now sheets of sunlight, each with a glowing purple ring where the iris should be.

"Wow," she said.

Sunset stepped back.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I knew I would," she said. "It's why I'm glad you're here. Well, one reason. I do love talking to you about magical theory! But also, I'm really thirsty."

Sunset gulped. "Uh, you want to suck my blood?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. It was disconcerting, such a human gesture with her inhuman glowing eyes

"I know you were listening better than that. I guess it's late."

Suddenly Twilight was right in front of her. She couldn't tell if she'd straight-up teleported or just moved way too fast, but either way, her face loomed right in front of Sunset's.

"Blood needs more and more blood, but an egg just needs one thing. I want to suck your dick."

She moved in for the kiss. Sunset thought about stopping her. She felt like she should be angry - Twilight had, after all, just consumed what could be important evidence. And she was clearly going a mile a minute.

But, well, she'd also apparently been right. If there was one thing you could count on Twilight for, it was to do the work, and she'd done hours figuring out what to do with the base. And it did seem to be, if not her birthright, then at least intended for her. Perhaps some small compensation for her stolen childhood. And it was done, in any case. If she was convinced this was an important last step, it probably was.

Besides, she was just as hot as she'd ever been, her hands were on Sunset's ass, and her lips looked so inviting.

Sunset sunk into the kiss. She tasted spice and fire, and it rushed through her veins. Her cock appeared immediately, surprisingly in human form. Twilight kept up the kiss, letting it press against her tight belly, and stroked Sunset's ass appreciatively. She slid the robe from Sunset's shoulders. Then she moved her lips down, leaving a trail of lingering warmth along Sunset's neck and collar as she moved her head down. It left Sunset reeling, nearly overcome with the sensation. Quickly Twilight moved down, across her breasts, kissing both nipples, and somehow the ghosts of her kisses lingered, so even as she twirled her hungry tongue on the head of Sunset's cock, she could still feel the echoes lingering from her lips to her hips, insistent like an insect bite, but with pleasure over pain. She gasped and reeled.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Don't stop," Sunset gasped.

Twilight ran her tongue briefly on Sunset's pussy, dripping behind her balls, just enough to leave that lingering pleasure on it, then took both balls in her mouth, one by one. As she did, Sunset could swear they swelled.

"It's going to be too big to swallow," Sunset managed.

"I'm counting on it," Twilight said, then plunged her mouth back on to the dick proper, engulfing Sunset in otherworldly warmth.

Between the lingering fireworks across her body and even her pussy, and the sensation of Twilight working her cock like a pro, tongue first flicking across the head, then gently stroking the shaft, Sunset could barely hold on. She felt her seed rising, felt herself losing control.

"I'm cumming," she managed, only to feel Twilight take the whole shaft into her mouth. The smaller girl opened her eyes, now solid sheets of violet fire, and met Sunset's own gaze.

It was too much. Her cum surged into Twilight's throat, blast after blast, a load of size and intensity she hadn't felt since Arwen. And Twilight somehow swallowed every drop. Each rope made her eyes glow brighter, until it seemed even her skin was slightly luminous. Her hair flew up, buoyed by an unseen wind.

Finally Sunset's shaft vanished entirely, balls drained, and Twilight lifted her head...and her entire body rose, hovering a few inches off the ground, her hair and clothes billowing in what now felt like it should be a gale, though Sunset was totally untouched.

"Wow," Twilight said. "Okay, that's one of three."

She gestured with her hand, and the fading motes of pleasure on Sunset's body flared back into life. Sunset gasped, and once again her cock sprang into existence.

"You know," Twilight said, "you could be so much more creative with this. Now that you know you can change it, I mean."

"What?" The ethereal sextoys all over Sunset's skin weren't helping her focus on Twilight's rapidly shifting thoughts.

"I mean, it doesn't have to be a horse or a human, you can do more. Can I show you? It'll make this much more efficient. And fun!"

Sunset nodded, liking the sound of at least the latter. Twilight reached a hand down, and traced her delicious fiery fingers over Sunset's cock - and suddenly, there were two of them, stacked on top of each other, fed by four balls.

"What the -- " Sunset started.

"You could have done that yourself," Twilight said. "Might come in handy again." She giggled. "It's certainly about to. Lie down."

Sunset obeyed, and Twilight reached under her skirt, casually discarding her panties.

"You're going to take both at once?" Sunset couldn't keep the hope out of her voice.

"I need your cum everywhere. Might as well make it efficient." She considered. "And enjoyable."

She ran her hand between her legs. Even concealed by her skirt, Sunset was pretty sure she was coating her fingers in her juices. Her suspicions were confirmed when she ran them back, lubricating her ass with her pussy juice. Then, almost as an afterthought, she shed her skirt, leaving her lightly furred bush exposed.

Feet still inches off the ground, Twilight hovered over Sunset's prone body, then turned in the air, her tight, round rear now deliciously filling Sunset's view. She raised and spread her legs, descending over Sunset's dual cocks. The motes of pleasure all over Sunset flared again, leaving the prone girl gasping at the sensation of warm lips all over her at once. Then she moaned outright as two of Twilight's holes parted for her simultaneously, ass and pussy sinking on to her shafts.

The feeling was indescribable. Sunset felt as if she nearly passed out. But she didn't, instead feeling mired in pleasure as Twilight began pumping herself hard, fucking Sunset two ways.

Even as she threatened to be overcome, though, a spark of defiance rose in Sunset. She wasn't going to go quietly into massive body-flooding orgasm. Not without taking Twilight with her, in any case. In a supreme effort of will, she sat up, grabbing Twilight around her tiny waist and pulling her into Sunset's arms.

It was Twilight's turn to gasp as she found herself held, hilted, her pussy dripping over Sunset's swollen balls. Taking advantage of her momentary upper hand, Sunset pressed her lips to Twilight's neck, half-kissing half-biting. As Twilight arched her body into her, Sunset moved one hand to her friend's large, hard nipple, and the other to her clit, stroking both. Twilight squirmed deliciously, massaging both cocks, and Sunset moved her own hips in response, to Twilight's delight.

Then, Sunset stood. Floating as she already was above the ground, Twilight seemed nearly weightless, and Sunset had no trouble pushing her on to the desk, still playing with her nipples, to Twilight's squeals. At this angle, Sunset was ideally positioned to mate, and she intended to take advantage. She began pounding Twilight in earnest.

It didn't take long. Twilight's orgasm broke over her, and Sunset knew three ways - her friend's squealing moans, the flood of orgasmic pleasure through her empathic link, and the wind that suddenly swept through the room, scattering Twilight's notes.

But even as she noticed that, it was too late. Sunset's own orgasm took her, and both her cocks began surging seed into Twilight's hungry body.

The wind rose. The room filled with light, and the points of pleasure on Sunset's skin swelled from echoes of Twilight's lips to patches of heat to a full body warmth like sunbathing. More and more she pumped into her friend, and more and more Twilight's pussy and ass gripped her, seemingly dedicated to milking her dry. She buried herself as deep as she could, feeling the cum blasting out.

The light grew to painful intensity, violet and warm, and Sunset closed her eyes. The pleasure and heat grew too much, and she blacked out for a moment.

When she came to, her dicks had vanished. Twilight's glow had also vanished, replaced by the harsher room lighting. She looked down at her friend. Twilight had rolled on to her back, and her chest now rose and fell gently, apparently in a deep sleep. But Sunset barely noticed that, because what caught her attention was the pair of large, white, feathery wings spread out behind Twilight, and the ethereal glowing horn protruding from her forehead.

Author's Note

Well, been a while, fimfiction. I didn't mean it to be really, but a lot of shit went down in my own life.

Can't promise I'll have anything like my previous schedule, but I'm glad to get something else out there. Hopefully it'll motivate me to get back on some kind of writing schedule for this stuff.