The Princess of the Moon furiously scribbles in her journal -

"Sister says it is foalish to give it the ability to adapt itself. I say, it is genius. What more useful tool is there than one which can make itself suited for any task What greater warrior than one who can increase its own strength? What greater spy than one who can change not only shape, but species? I see the truth of it, though, she knows it is ingenious. And she is afraid. She knows I would never allow my own creation to surpass me, and I will imbue it with the same spirit! And in this manner, on and on, we will push the boundaries of the Elements farther than ever before! And in time, we will surpass even her.

Soul sat in that alley for quite a while, staring off into nothing, not thinking or moving. Just wallowing in his retched existence. Occasionally he would burp, and it made him sick that he actually was a little wistful as the taste came back to him.

After about an hour or two, just watching the sun as it trailed its slow path through the sky, Soul finally forced himself to stand. It was a laborous process, he had to brace himself against the grimy stone wall of the building next to him to keep from falling over into his own sick.

Oh yes, he realized, I must have thrown up at some point, luckily none of it had onto on his fur, he didn't want to pay for a hotel room just to clean himself off.

Stumbling out of the alley, Soul was forced to face the facts. He had a job to do in coming to this city, the only distraction from it being that he was hungry, and well... that wasn't a problem anymore. So it was without further delay, that Soul struck out for the Royal Palace, haunted by the thought that the blood of fellow ponies was on his hooves. They were not quite innocent, nor were they pure, but that did not change their murder. Still, he should be able to control incidents like that, he'd just panicked and it had taken control. He just needed to remain calm, cool, collected. The only problem with that was that it would be hard to tell whether he was the one being calm, or it was.

The castle, as one might imagine, was not hard to locate. The gleaming white gem of the city, resting high in its mountain perch, banners of the Sun and Moon streaming majestically in an iridescent wind, oooh, it was all just so bucking twee, wasn't it?

Despite his full belly, and the day remaining sunny and bright, Soul was in a fowl mood. He felt the day should have darkened, ponies should be wary, or even scared of him, guards should ready their weapons on sight. But no, the light was warm on his coat, the ponies he passed greeted him, one and all, with friendly smiles and salutations, and there was hardly a guard in sight. He tried to cheer himself up, tried to forget the killings, the murders, just as he'd done all the others. It took a while, but eventually he was... content. Not happy, not angry or sick, just there. Able to continue. From there, he could begin to enjoy himself again.

He passed much more wonderful architecture on his ascent to the great mountain keep. Stuff from centuries ago, all still holding up beautifully, despite their immense age. He loved buildings like that, buildings so old that they inspired awe just by looking at them, like they were demanding your respect. Perhaps in another life, he could have been an architect.

Don't start down that road, Soul, he thought to himself as he waved to a couple that passed him by, this is the life you have, like it or not, its your job to make something of it anyway. Besides, I might get be an architect eventually anyway, if the stories are true about... what I am.

Soul could tell a marked difference when he entered the higher-up portion of the city, both literally and figuratively. Real estate around the Castle must have been at a premium, but perplexingly had the largest and most sprawling estates. He was surprised that most of these didn't feel old. Of course, many of them probably would have had multiple renovations to keep up with current trends and the like, so perhaps the facades hid a greater beauty underneath.

The most ostentatious house he saw made his jaw drop at the audacity. Whoever it was that owned this place, firstly made their entire fence out of solid gold, which was not only a terrible idea, but also a very expensive one! Each individual bar in the fence was emblazoned with the symbol of an eight-pointed star, this symbol also covered the ridiculously over-ornamented golden gate, and the house. Oh the house, the house! It was a slap in the face not only to the Princesses, but also to any pedestrians on the streets below. It was an exact, brick for brick scale model of the actual Royal Palace, with the same eight-pointed star absolutely everywhere on the gaudy monstrosity of an eyesore. Not only that, but it was positioned in such a way that, no matter where you stood, it would always block the view of the real castle! And the grounds were huge, just the front yard alone could have held two of the other houses on the street!

At the gates and patrolling at intervals through the front gardens, which seemed to be perfectly manicured to draw attention, were what looked to be royal guards, though about a third wore the eight-pointed star, which Soul could now see had four light purple points, and four points, including the middle, of solid gold, same color as the fencing.

Soul, like many other ponies on the street, gave the building one look and then turned away in disgust. Even the guards of the place didn't look happy to be there.

Finally, after an hour of walking, Soul came to it. The queue. Wrapping around the block was a long line of many varied ponies, and one or two of different species, all of whom were going for advice or jurisdiction to the palace that day. Soul could see that, evenly spaced along this line, were guards wearing the uniform of the Day Guard. Unfortunately it was going to take him a while to get to the nearest one and ask if he might be able to skip due to the nature of his visit to the castle, and so he stood in line. He was behind what looked like an old orange unicorn with a grey scarf wrapped around his neck, a salt-and-pepper afro, complete with comb, and eyebrows so bushy they covered his actual eyes. He smelled like old leather and coconuts, and had quite the annoying habit of smaking his lips often.

It took a while, but the line moved reasonably quickly, sometimes stopping as there was apparently a case that needed deliberation about a mile ahead of them in the room most of these ponies were trying to get to. Finally, Soul came to a green earth pony guard leaning against a spear with a bored expression on his face. His armor was quite standard, from what Soul had seen, iron over the neck and barrel, iron hoof shoes extending over the ankle, and a helmet with a blue mohawk extending down the nose. Soul couldn't see the stallion's mane under the helmet and neck guard.

"Um... excuse me, sir?" Soul tentatively asked the guard.

"Yes?" the old orange stallion who'd been standing in front of him asked, "And before you say anything, no, I am not Farely!"

Soul and the guard both blinked in confused silence for a bit before the guard said, "Sir, I believe he was talking to me, please return to your place in line."

The old man harrumph'd away and retook his spot. Sou's had been quickly filled by a cross blue pegassus as soon as he'd stepped out of line.

"Crazy old Farely," the green guard muttered, shaking his head, before asking Soul, "What can I do for you?"

"I was actually going up to the castle to apply for the guard, should I return to the line or-"

"Oh, no no no, uh, you should follow me, actually!" The green stallion seemed very eager to get Soul to the castle, "My name is Half Camp, by the way," he stuck out an armored hoof for Soul to shake.

Soul took it gladly, and said with a smile, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Camp, I'm Soul Keeper. I guess I'll follow you then."

Camp led Soul up past the waiting throng of ponies, most of whom glared angrily as Soul got to skip the line, and those that didn't glare yelled at him to wait his turn. He managed to ignore all of them and keep his cool as he followed Camp.

"Sorry if I seemed a little excited back there," Camp said as the Castle's gate approached, "I'd been standing there for hours, let me tell you, queue duty is no fun. But, if you're really joining up, you'll see that soon enough,"

"Really?" Soul asked half-interested, he didn't notice that Camp didn't respond. Soul was too busy looking at the entrance to the palace.

The main gate was bucking tall, at least fifty, maybe even sixty, feet of smooth, solid stone. Towers lined the massive wall, which must have been another twenty feet thick, at regular distances, massive squares of nothing but archery posts, or "murder holes" as they were colloquially known. The massive grey wall ran in a smooth curve until it collided directly with the mountain, which formed the back half of the palace's formidable defense. Under the wall was the main gate, an imposing archway with three enormous wrought iron gates, each gate having a five-guard checkpoint into the castle itself. Up above, countless others patrolled the walls, watching down on the line and, no doubt, the sprawling city beyond with a careful eyes. Truly, it was a sight to behold, and, for Soul, a sight for sore eyes. Here at last, he might have found somewhere safe. Somewhere he could belong again, a place to forget his past, present, and future. A place that, might, hold the cure to his curse.

Camp led him under the first gate checkpoint, nodding to all of the soldiers on duty and calling out greetings, before making a sharp right, and entering through a small wooden side door into the wall itself.

"This way's a little faster," he explained as he let Soul through, "and not so many ponies hiss at you as you pass them in line. The ones at the front are always the worst."

Soul felt slightly suspicious of the green stallion, but only slightly. The man felt genuine, if nothing else, Soul was just unaccustomed to such abrupt friendliness from complete strangers.

The inside of the wall was equally impressive, but in almost the exact opposite way from the outside. There was a network of tunnels running all along it, Camp told him, and Soul marveled at how compact they were. Hundreds of tons of stone pressed down on their heads with almost discernible force, and squeezed around them as they moved up and down in the passages, lit only by the flickering light of a torch every twenty feet or so. They didn't pass many more of Camp's guardmates in the tunnels, save for the odd runner who galloped by with nary a how-do-you-do.

"Ah, don't mind them, runners are a special lot," Half said. It was true, Soul noticed most of them were pegassi with a very slim build, but strong wings. In fact, that made him wonder...

"Um, Camp?" he asked, poking the stallion in the side to get his attention.

"Oh thank Celestia you talked! I'm sorry, I was getting so nervous that I was boring you, or that you were mute and I heard someone else talking outside, but no, we're good. Anyway, what was the question?"

Soul blinked back his bewilderment, "Um, I haven't seen any unicorns so far? What's that about?"

Camp looked at him, as if just now noticing Soul had a horn, "Oh! You're uh, you're joining the guard you said, right?"

Soul nodded, perplexed at the sudden shift in tone.

"Oh, well, uh, you see most unicorns, in fact, nearly all of them with any talent really, they join the Battlemages, if they want a military position, not the guard."

Soul nodded, that made sense to him, "Do the Battlemages do the same stuff as guards?"

Soul immediately regretted asking that question, as they then had to stop in the nondescript grey slab of corridor for five minutes while Camp laughed his flank off, "Ahaha, aha, ha ha! You- you really mean that, don't you?"

Soul nodded, giving Camp a level stare. It was a simple question, really, he didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Half clapped an armored hoof onto Soul's shoulder, which caused Soul to panic a little because he didn't flinch in the slightest, it didn't even really hurt, and for a moment he was concerned his new friend had noticed, but no, he was still just giggling up a storm, "Battlemages don't do anything. Nothing except study. Not until there's an actual military engagement. They don't even guard the castle! They just stay holed up in their little tower and- oh, we're here."

Soul made an involuntary hurk noise as Half Camp stopped with no warning, before turning around and giving him a wide smile. They'd apparently just come to another small wooden door, this one being more important than the last dozen they'd passed.

"This door leads into the castle itself, just head down the hall, make three lefts, a right, and the recruiter's office is the third door on the left, got it?"

Soul nodded patiently, which Camp seem surprised with for a moment, before the smile returned, "Well alright then," he took up Soul's hoof and gave it a vigorous shake, "My friend it has been a pleasure, good luck now, don't get too nervous!"

"Goodbye Master Camp, good luck at your post," Soul called down to the stallion as he clanked back down the hallway. Camp raised a hoof in acknowledgement. Soul then turned to the door. It really was nothing special, a dark brown wooden door with a simple black handle. Yet for some reason it felt foreboding, or even like... cheating, somehow. Like it wasn't supposed to be this simple. Soul shook the feeling off, grasped the handle, and pulled the door open with force.

On the other side was a broom cupboard. A nice one, sure, but still...

Damn it, I knew he hadn't just memorized the layout of all these tunnels, Soul shook his head and looked down the corridor. There was another door about thirty feet down, Soul trotted open to that one, opened it, and got the view he'd expected. White marble hallways both wide and tall, with large arched windows letting in the beautiful streaming rays of the afternoon sun. The place even smelled as he would expect, that undefinable air of age. This place was old... very old.

Unfortunately this was the un-fun part of the castle. As Soul traversed his way down the lengthy corridors, they seemed to all be the same, save only a few of them had windows. He really hoped Camp's directions were on point this time around, he doubted he'd be able to use that same trick twice.

So boring was this part of the castle, he didn't encounter a single pony on his way to the recruiter's office, not a hint of staff nor pedestrian. It was very strange, and almost made him feel like an intruder, like he wasn't supposed to be spotted. This notion was, of course, ridiculous, but it hung over him like a small weight until he reached the corridor his green cartographer had described.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that this hallway had plaques on the doors to let you know what was inside of them. Hope Director, Thestral Security Counseling, Nature Preserve, and a few others that seemed to have no correlation to each other were crammed in here together, including the Director of Recruitment. A stallion and two mares were waiting outside this door, and muffled voices could be heard from inside. The three waiting were all talking in a murmur amongst themselves, and Soul felt a little awkward sidling up to them, but he wasn't about to just stand five feet away and make a foal of himself.

"Hello, everypony, are you all here to apply as well?" He asked politely.

The stallion, a scrawny earth pony with a pale yellow coat and sky blue mane said, "Yeah! We're all applying for the guard!" his cutie mark was that of a cake hitting a wooden shield.

Three guesses as to how he got that one, Soul thought to himself sarcastically.

The two mares, who appeared to be sisters, both sporting dusky red coats and curly black manes with only slight variations, both just smiled and nodded. The larger sister had a cutie mark of a sword being repelled by a heart while the smaller had... a wedding band? It was some form of golden circlet, but Soul couldn't decipher its meaning. They were also earth ponies. Soul got the feeling that he was going to feel a little out of place, but that was fine, he could integrate with the best of them.

Wait... I can? Damn it! Get out of my head... uh... me!

He kept up a smiling facade as he had his little internal frustration and said, "My name's Soul Keeper, what are yours?"

The enthusiastic young buck answered first, "I'm Chuck Timber!"

The smaller sister answered with a clear and quite pleasing voice, "My name's Ring Bells."

The older sister actually seemed a little shy, "Uh, just call me Cath. Cath Bells."

Soul quirked an eyebrow, but didn't question it. The small, overeager stallion on the other hand...

"Cath?" He said, cocking his entire head, "Why not Cathy?"

The mare's coal black eyes lit up with poorly contained fury, and she opened her mouth to go off on the poor lad, when Soul intervened, "Timber, perhaps she merely wishes to be unique! After all, Cathy being such a common abbreviation, it surely doesn't fit such an exquisite personage as herself, don't you think?"

Cath looked at him in surprise, and Timber with confusion, "Uh, yeah, Cath's way cooler and original-"

"I think so too, sis," Ring chimed in, seeing where Soul was going with this and stopping Timber from bungling his only somewhat inept save.

"I'm curious, Timber," Soul said, turning the young stallion ever so slightly away from the sisters, and speaking to a more open forum, "how did you get your cutie mark, I've never seen anything like it!"

The little stallion's face lit up and he happily launched into the story of how he found his calling of defending the pony at large in the middle of a rogue bakery incident.

Throughout the story, Ring whispered to Cath a little, who gradually made her way over to Soul, "Thanks for that. I guess I've got a bit of a temper to work on. It was nice of you to put yourself in front of the kid like that, he didn't deserve it. Me being an ass, I mean, he didn't deserve that."

Without giving away that they were having a conversation, Soul replied soothingly, "Not at all, Cath. And I meant what I said, even if I also saved him from the harsh reality of questioning a mare's decisions for another day. That was just a happy coincidence on my way to complimenting you."

She looked at him strangely, then shook her head with a smile and punched him lightly in the shoulder, before scooting back over to her sister. Soul was confused for a moment, but he shrugged it off as another strange local custom.

Timber was not even half done with his tale, truly an epic ballad worthy of the ancient Atheneighans, when the door to the recruitment office opened and a blue unicorn stallion stepped out. He quickly shut the door behind him, and trotted off down the hall without saying a word to any of them, though Soul noticed he held a piece of flapping paper tightly in one hoof.

"Next!" a gruff voice called from inside the office.

"Oh! I guess that's me!" Timber said, near vibrating with excitement.

"Go get 'em tiger," Ring said as he hopped merrily into the room, the door shutting behind him with the faint orange glow of a unicorn's magic. Leaving Soul alone in the hallway with two fiery mares. Sisters, at that. He suddenly felt dramatically less confident. However, he wasn't one to make things awkward just because he was! He had to think of others first, and that meant not making them uncomfortable.

"So what about you?" Cath asked, brushing her mane behind an ear, "We all could guess how Timber got his mark, you could probably even take a stab at mine and Ring's, but you are the real mystery."

Almost as if they'd planned this, the two sisters walked forward at the same, the younger on his left older on his right, each of them eyeing up much more than just his strange cutie mark. He felt incredibly exposed, and had a moment of outraged pride where he felt very tempted to turn the tables on them, but he swallowed that down and instead did the same to Ring, looking her over like a prize at a fair. Not that he'd ever been to a fair, but she was probably far more beautiful than anything that could be made by hoof.

She and her sister both had eyes and and manes as black as coal, and coats as red as a dying sunset, but where they varied was in the curves. Ring's physical topography was by far the most varied of the two, sleek shoulders led into a tight, athletic barrel, that gave way to very pleasingly wide hips and one of the smoothest flanks he'd seen yet. Her tail was a mixture of red and black, even some smoky gray mingled in for variety.

"Yes how did you get that?" Ring asked him with a sultry tinge to her voice, blinking her long lashes at him, "A crescent moon and... three black drops? Very ambiguous, it could mean anything!"

"I have a theory," Cath said with a smirk, "I've been studying hoof signs lately-" she was interrupted by a groan and as her sister smacked a hoof over her face, "Shut up, Ring, it's a valid science! Anyway, red and back are very uncommon colors for a cutie mark, did you know that? Even things that should naturally be red, like a rose for instance, will often take on another iteration of that flower rather than be red. Say a pink, or white rose. But no, yours is very distinctly red. Black too, the rarest color! So, what that means, is that the event that caused you to receive your cutie mark was life-changing, and we're talking even more than usual, and it may even have been slightly traumatic!" She was really getting into this.

Oh, darling, you have absolutely no idea, Soul thought with a strange feeling of sick glee, like he was happy to have a past so dim nopony could guess it. That, in turn, just made him feel plain old sick.

"Cath!" Ring scolded her sister, "Firstly, hoof signs have been proven many times to be a load of horsefeathers, secondly that's really rude to say his cutie mark is a bad thing, and third- sweet Celestia!"

Soul realized that, while he'd been listening to Cath, Ring had worked her way around behind him. He whipped around, making sure to point his rear towards the end of the hall so neither of them could get a closer look at it, and saw that Ring's jaw had dropped, and she was looking at him with a mixture of awe, surprise, curiosity, and even a little bit of fear.

"What? What is it Ring?" Cath asked, poking her unresponsive sister in the shoulder. Ring glanced at her, and then looked back to Soul, who just slowly shook his head in a "don't tell" gesture.

And then the door they were all waiting in front of slammed open, and out marched a glowing Chuck Timber, paper firmly in hoof, "I made it! I made it, I made it, I made it! Oh, I thought I would be too small, but he says I've got growing still left in me, and that my energy potential levels were more that satisfactory! I didn't know what any of that meant, but it got me in!"

The little pony bounced up and down with a huge smile on his face that got everyone to laughing.

"Next!" The same gruff voice called again.

"Oh, see you guys later, I hope!" Timber said, before dashing down the hallway at striking speeds.

Ring glared at Soul, "I am not done talking with you," she then turned her nose up and walked proudly into the office, again the door shut itself behind her. And then there were two.

"So, you arrived here later than she did?" Soul asked to Cath, who seemed to be watching him curiously.

"Oh, yeah, a little. She has, uh, less to take care of." she gave him a cute nervous smile. She wasn't bad looking either. More uniform than her sister, and slightly larger. Shoulders a little broader, barrel more straight and uniform, still a flank with some heft, though, and it looked firmer than her sister's.

Soul could almost smell the lie on her breath, when she said that. He wondered what she was hiding, "So, have you two always planned on going into the guard together? With your cutie mark I can understand, but hers doesn't seem suited to this line of work."

Cath rubbed her neck, "Well, not really. I was going to be a dentist until I got mine, and she... uh... well, it's probably best that she tell you. Anyway, this was a recent plan, yeah. Hey, you didn't answer my question!"

"And you didn't answer mine," Soul said with a smirk, moving back towards the red mare, "I think that makes us even."

Cath snorted, and eyed him as he approached, no doubt she was suspicious of whatever had alarmed her sister, "Alright, new question. What the buck was up with Ring?"

Well, he hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it, Soul smiled anyway, turning to the side, "Well, while you two were skewering me with your eyes," Cath blushed a little at being called out, her cheeks turning a slightly darker red, "she caught a glimpse of something she didn't expect. Naughty girls, the both of you, looking over a stallion like that, I almost think I deserve some form of... repayment."

Now it was his turn to make her feel on display, exposed. He began to circle her like a shark, his eyes mostly on hers, but occasionally they would drift towards her tight rear, emblazoned with the heart and sword, before trailing their way back up.

Cath visibly shivered under his gaze, as if she could feel where his eyes were landing on her, "R-repayment? W-what do you mean?"

He bumped his flank against hers in a friendly gesture, and found it to be just as pleasingly taught as he thought it would be, "Well, I just mean that I let you look me over like a piece of meat in a stall, I deserve something for the harassment."

At the word harassment it appeared to occur to Cath that she could get in trouble for doing that, and she worriedly glanced at Soul's easy, calming smile, "Um, yeah, that sounds about right."

"How about a kiss then?" Soul gently placed his foreleg over her back, drawing the flustered red mare closer to him.

"A what?" She said, shocked.

His other hoof went up to trace the smooth lines of her cheek and jaw, "You are undeniably beautiful, Cath, I said as much to everypony before, and your lips look to be as smooth and full as the juiciest Red Delicious on Equis, and I would very much like to take a bite of your apple,"

Soul leaned in closer, stopping just shy of contact, his breath flowing over her face, his eyes searching hers, demanding an answer. He saw the struggle in her, she'd just met him, he could be anyone. But at the same time, she found him attractive, she was flattered by his, frankly quite hastily improvised and a little cheesy, words, and there wasn't really any harm in a kiss, right?

"Alright," she said tentatively, "One kiss, to make up for not taking your feelings into account,"

Soul slid his hoof up her back the wrong way, making her shudder as it lightly gripped the back of her mane, "One kiss on the lips, that is,"

She looked at him with confusion, "Of course?"

Soul gently pushed her head out of the way, and planted an long and lavish kiss on her neck. She groaned as he smoothed her coat back into place, and began to pet and massage her with both hooves.

"Hey..." she said, but it didn't really sound like she was too keen to stop him, he planted another loving kiss on a nerve cluster under her jaw, and delighted as her body trembled, "I-I-I g-guess t-this doesn't t-technically qualify, you c-can k-keep going..." she breathed, huskily, her own hooves moving to his back, pressing their chests together.

Soul relished at the soft feeling of her neck on his lips, and took undeniable pleasure in making her squirm with every one of them. This time he took command, and shifted them up against the wall of the stone corridor in which the door they were waiting on was set. His hooves ran greedily over her smooth stomach and back, daring to dart down and give her flank a squeeze once or twice. He was right, it was incredibly tight, with just enough give to be a pleasure to roll around in a hoof. She groaned and pressed his head closer as he continued his rain of kisses and gropes, targeting sensitive areas of her body that even he wasn't quite sure how he knew.

Soon she was panting hard breathes into the cool palace air, her fur all disheveled, her lips parted and watering, her eyes far away. The best part was her smell, like thick honeysuckle, and it hug in the air as a pungent perfume, serving only to drive her wilder. Soul knew he had her enough to try something risky, he gave a long lick up her exposed neck, which twitched and rippled with straining muscle, and behind her splayed ears.

Cath's eyes snapped open and she moaned aloud, her hips shaking as she refrained from humping the air, "K-kiss me, before they finish!"

Soul locked eyes with her and gave a seductive smile, "Before they finish?" her whispered into her ear, giving it a flick of the tongue and delighting in her startled gasp of pleasure, "I think you might wan to be a little more worried about yourself," he almost drooled as her eyes squeezed shut and she bit her lip, her face screwing into the cutest, dirtiest look a mare could give, with such an adorable little slutty smirk plastered over her mouth.

Just a taste, Soul thought, just a nibble, not so much that anyone would notice.

Without warning, Soul's dexterous hooves danced between the mare's legs, and delivered a fatal twist to the mare's warm, soft tits. Her eyelids shot apart, and her mouth opened to scream, but Soul was there to swallow it.

Her lips were indeed a thing of beauty. Moist, luscious, thick, and eager to reciprocate. Soul rammed Cath harder against the wall, bringing their bodies completely together, front hooves locked around each other, and kissed her forcefully. She melted under his intensifying pressure, even going so far as to poke her tongue out from between those red slices of heaven. Soul quickly seized the opportunity, and showed her who was in charge, wrestling with her tongue like it wasn't even there, and moaning as he explored her soft, cavernous mouth. It was then, when he had her completely in his embrace, he began to drain her away. Not much, and only certain things. Her Fear, Worry, Doubt, and her own personal magic stores, which she had an abundance of. It was a bitter, sour meal, but not at all unpleasant. Sort of like a broth only soup, with a hint of smokiness about it. He used some of the food he was getting, and turned it straight into pleasure for her, but he wasn't getting much, and so neither was she.

Even so, the effect was immediate, Cath threw her hooves behind Soul's head and pressed him hard against her, he responded by feeling up her glorious ass again, squeezing it, kneading it like dough, just molding it around made his tongue almost go weak as he continued to ram it into her. He could feel the heat radiating from her snatch, could feel, and smell, the utter wetness of it in the air. He moved his hoof to touch it, to stroke that salivating, beautiful, enrapturing slit. She knew it was coming, her hooves tightened on his mane in anticipation, and she squealed her assent into his hungry maw, willingly submitting-

Several things happened. Soul was not so distracted as to not notice what was going on around him, and so he saw immediately when the door opened. Before it was one tenth done, he had teleported away, only a few feet, then he fired off several spells that straightened out Cath, setting her standing on four hooves, smoothing her coat, fixing her mane, and erasing all traces of her musky scent, either from the air or otherwise. He wondered briefly if she came from his magic surging through and wiping down her insides, he hoped so. He then adjusted himself in a similar manner, he was glad he didn't have to re-hide his cock and balls, he didn't know how the spell had slipped while Ring was examining him.

Oh no, how embarrassing, he thought to himself with a smirk.

By the time the door was fully open, the hallway appeared as if nothing had transpired. Except for the expression on Cath's face of cross-eyed, gaskets-blow, raging horniness. Not much he could do about that one, even if he had wanted to. Fortunately, the mare's expression quickly switched to confusion, then panic, then back to confusion. And so Soul made something up to fit the expression.

"Purple marmosets leaping through rainbows- oh, hello again Ring!" he said cheerfully, attracting the smaller, curvier, mare's attention to him, as the older sibling looked left right up and down, totally bewildered.

Ring eyed him suspiciously, and then turned to talk to her sister, "Cathe-, Cath, it's your turn."

Cath nodded in a daze, and gave Soul a long, lingering look before walking into the office before the unicorn inside could say, "Next!"

The door shut, and then Soul and Ring were the only two in the hallway.

"Do you have to head off?" Soul asked nonchalantly.

Ring nodded slowly, "Yes, I should report to the barracks immediately. But I have questions for you mister, starting with this one: where is it?"

Soul blinked innocently, "Where is what?"

Ring marched up to him and poked him with a hoof, "Don't play dumb with me, mister, I want to see it!"

Soul gave her a devious look, "You sure?"

Ring nodded without hesitation, and so Soul dispelled the enchantment that hid his endowments.

It was nearly a good foot... in diameter, the actual length? He didn't know. He'd only ever seen the medial ring a few times when he'd really goten worked up masturbating. The shaft was solid black, and already went past his stomach without showing the ring. His balls were, luckily for him, set a little forward, so they didn't interfere with movement as much as crushing them between his hind legs would. Each of them were the size of a fist at least, maybe a little bigger, and they were positively bulging with cum.

Ring's mouth dropped open at the sight of it, and Soul settled back against the wall to give her the full view, his balls almost scraping the floor when he sat, "Yeah, I've been traveling a while, didn't really have any time to "relieve myself" as it were."

"Sweet Celestia," the voluptuous little vixen whispered, "It's even bigger than I thought..." Soul saw her nostrils twitch, and her eyes were firmly locked onto the impossible shaft, looking up at the flare, which was definitely a foot across... how could any mare think of fitting this thing inside them?

But even as that thought crossed her mind, her hoof stretched out, and hovered an inch away from the practically steaming pillar of flesh.

"Go ahead," Soul said, putting his hooves behind his head, "you can touch it."

Slowly, almost without believing she was doing it, Ring's hoof brushed softly against Soul's cock. He hissed and his dick twitched at the cool contact of the mare's hoof, and he smiled as he saw her nostrils flare more, and her look seem to grow farther and farther away. Slowly the mare bent down onto her hind knees, making the gargantuan shaft almost as tall as her, and nowhere near thin enough for her to reach just one hoof around. Licking her lips, Ring slowly tilted forward, slowly rubbing the massive cock up and down with a cute little red hoof, before hugging it with both of her front legs, and pressing her nose straight up against it.

There was an audible intake of air as the mare sniffed in the air, and her eyes rolled up a little. Her hug moved down the shaft, and down, and down, rubbing her supine body completely down its length, unaware of the dribble of pre-cum making its way towards her. Eventually she reached what she was looking for, and her nose met with Soul's wide scrotum. Instantly she began to snuffle and inhale into it like a bunny, her hooves drooping from the cock and moving purely to fondle the two softball sized gonads in front of her. Soul grew harder watching the cute mare love playing with his balls, and his dick grew a few more inches out of the massive sleeve that housed it.

Eventually, Ring's tongue began to loll from her mouth, and she was gasping for breath as her lungs consumed more musk than air, but that only made her want it more. She moaned at the salty taste, and eventually, as though she were moving mechanically rather than of her own free will, a ball suckled up to her velvety open lips, and she happily popped it into her mouth. Her hooves had long since stopped supporting her, they lay under her as her ass stuck straight up it the air, tail fully flagged and lifted, moaning and slurping alternately on Soul's balls, her own liquids drooling in a steady stream from in between her toned legs. The sight made him smile, especially when his pre-cum soaked into her mane and down around her face, and she simply moaned and lapped at some of that too as her pupils dilated seemingly at random. But there's only so much teasing a stallion could handle before he felt compelled to take action.

Soul felt the tug in his hips as his shaft juddered and an extra thick wave of pre gushed from his tip, and his smile turned to a scowl. He held the mare's head down, and she whined pitifully as he moved his balls from her mouth.

"What happened to all your wit, Ring?" He asked playfully, "Don't you want to say something?"

"Cock..." she groaned huskily, "Rut... cum... full..."

"I think I see what you mean," he said with a smile, and placed his throbbing head to her lips. Immediately she began to guzzle down the pre leaving it, and soon she also began to work the thick black shaft with her hooves to encourage more of it to flow onto her face, mouth, and nose, seeming to revel in it's smell as well as its taste. Soul stretched luxuriously over the captive mare, grabbing ample hoofulls over her soft rump. He especially liked to massage the downy fur that made up her golden cutie mark, watching the way it distorted as he played with it. They stayed like that for a very small amount of time, Soul making no real efforts to further the situation, he knew they didn't have long enough for a full dressing down, it just comforted him to know that the old magnetism was working just as it used to. He very quickly took a taste from her as well, and found it much sweeter than her sister. Having consumed some of his magic-amplification, she had much more to give than Cath had after just a kiss. The process was quite similar to making coffee with one's own spit rather than water, except, for that analogy to be accurate, Soul had such an abundance of spit that he could fill a medium sized lake.

"Alright, that's enough Ring," he said soothingly, pulling his shaft away from her slobbering mouth, much to her dismay.

She complained quite heavily with grunts and snorts until he responded, "I know you want more, but your sister will be out soon, and you need to report to your new superior officer. We'll "talk" more about this later, now go," with as much of Soul's magic that Ring had flowing through her veins as she did, she was powerless to deny his request, and so slowly stood and shuffled off down the corridor, almost looking dejected. Hopefully the clouded mind and submissive nature aspects of his magical fluids would wear off before she reached her destination. If they didn't... well, she probably wouldn't be fired for trying to give a superior officer lip service, as it were, right?

He very hastily shot off several more cleaning spells that hit her as she walked away, and sighed a little with relief. He was getting a little sloppy if he was letting things like basic hygiene slip under his radar. Or maybe he just wanted her to walk into the guards' barracks absolutely drenched and read to buck anything in sight.

Soul then stood alone in the hallway for several seconds until his personality returned to him. He then shut his eyes, breathed deeply, conjured a pillow, and screamed mightily into it as loud as he could, before dismissing that in favor of pacing around.

Okay... okay, no, it's fine. It's absolutely fine, I totally did not just have a near hour long personality lapse in which it almost ate two mares I'd just met. Obviously that wasn't entirely not me, but the kissing and then the... the... oh my.

Soul's cheeks were afire as he hastily recast the illusion on his more private areas, attempting to retain some of his dignity in his own eyes, I can't believe I slipped that much. Next time, I have to control myself! What if I'd killed one of them? Or, possibly worse, just... used them...

Soul felt himself growing nauseous thinking about it, and so trotted over to a small window at the end of the hallway, and opened it to catch a breath of fresh air. The view was beautiful from here, catching the edge of the sprawling white city on his right hand side, gazing out over the rolling verdant hills and the crystal blue sky, with white fluffy clouds, and the ominous majesty of Canterlot Mountain to his left. The fresh air did help him calm his nerves, until he felt a tap on his flank.

He turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Cath, smiling with just a hint of devilishness at him, "Hey there Soul, so where did we leave off?"

The mare pressed forward quickly up against Soul's chest, but he stopped her with a hoof, "Cath, please, stop. We barely even know each other, it was a mistake to ask for a kiss, a-and then to take it so far..." he trailed off, struggling to find words to explain away actions that weren't his.

She looked at him confused, "But... I liked it, and you liked it, so what's the big deal?"

"I.." I could have killed you, drained you of everything you are and consumed your soul like a ravenous beast, "I just... don't feel comfortable that I pressured you into it, I'm sorry for that."

She looked at him, seemingly debating something with herself, before nodding, "Yeah, I guess it was a little rushed, but, like I said, I didn't... hate it..." she blushed and scratched at her foreleg with a hoof, averting her eyes, "I think that-"

"Cath," Soul interrupted, turning her head back to him, "We're both going into the Guard."

She looked confused, "Sooo?"

He blinked at her, "They don't allow any form of relationship between members," or, at least, he hadn't thought they did.

Cath made a little "o" with her mouth and then laughed, "Oh, Soul, you don't have to worry about that! I'm not really into the whole... "commitment" thing, not like my sister is."

Soul gulped involuntarily, "Right, but, well, you see, uh-"

She put a hoof up to quiet him and giggled, "Look, if you don't want to that's fine, I'm not going to pressure you into anything."

He nodded, "Exactly. Thank you, Cath, I would have loved for us to... well, I would have been lucky to-"

"I have to report to my commander for basic," she interrupted, turning away, "I'll see you around Soul."

He waved, though she could not see as she walked away, "Right! Bye Cath, I hope to meet you again someday!"

He let her slowly walk down the hall, praying that Ring definitely wouldn't give her commander a blowjob, before walking over to the open door of the recruiter's office to see what all the fuss was about.

Inside was not what he expected from a military recruiter. He'd expected spartan, simplistic, rugged, even perhaps a trophy or two. No, what he received was much different. Firstly the recruiter himself was, as Soul had guessed, an aging unicorn with a graying coat and expanding bald spot on the crown of his head, above his horn. His green eyes were still sharp, though, and piercing, holding a wiry intelligence in them. The office was mostly decorated in a pastel blue color scheme, very calming, if not for the enormous mess of cluttered papers, charts, maps, and various nick-knacks piled far above head height on the edges of the room. These stacks receded as one became closer to the center, forming a very definite hallway of trash and bureaucracy to the unicorn's large wooden desk. It was beautiful, decorated extensively with vine imagery. The stallion had to have had it custom built inside the room, there was no way it would have fit through the door, and it was incredibly cumbersome for teleportation, unless the stallion was much more adept than he appeared.

"Ah! Another unicorn, first time in a while that I've had more than one in a day!" the old man's voice was scratchy, but strong, and simmering with the mirth of someone who knew better than the pony they were looking at what they were about to get themselves into, "So, how can I help you, boy? You're here to apply, I assume?"

Soul nodded to the old stallion, who smiled and closed his eyes. His horn lit with a dull orange glow, which swept out in a wave across the hoard of papers, until it gripped one and pulled it gently out of the monstrous stack it had been buried under. The stallion floated it over to him and wrote several notes, glancing up at Soul occasionally.

"Name, son?" he barked.

"Soul Keeper, sir," Soul replied hastily. This office was making him feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable. He wondered if that was one of its purposes.

"Uh huh," the old unicorn said, scribbling a little more and licking his lips, before finishing with a flourish, "there you go, welcome to the Battlemages!"

Soul blinked, "I beg your pardon, sir?"

The old man looked up from the paper at him, "I said welcome," he looked at Soul strangely.

Soul quickly corrected him, "Oh, no sir. I'm here to join the Guard."

The old man blinked, "Oh!" he looked down at the already filled out piece of paper, and then back at Soul, "You sure about that?"

Soul nodded apologetically, "Yes sir, I apologize for not making that clear,"

The stallion shrugged, "Doesn't really make much more of a difference to me," he lit the paper on fire and tossed it out into the room, much to Soul's dismay, "just means you'll have to answer a few more questions."

The man grabbed a new piece of paper as Soul snuffed out the growing embers of the last one, "So, Mister Soul, you seen combat before?"

"Yes sir, I have. Twenty-two skirmishes in all, no more than fifty ponies in each of them,"

The stallion wrote it down nodding his head, "You've been trained before, then?"

Soul looked down, "Never formally, my father and the harshness of the Dragon Lands were my teachers."

The old unicorn still nodded, "And, why do you want to join the guard?" He looked up, and stared Soul straight in the eye.

Soul took a deep breath, "I just... want to help ponies. Its what I've always wanted to do, protect, and I'm good at it. And if you want to do something, and are good at something, then you ought to be doing it."

The old man smiled wide, revealing a few missing teeth, "Good answer, son, so here's the rip. I've gone ahead and put you in an advanced training unit, meaning that you get to skip the two weeks of push-ups in basic, though I would'a done that anyway, even without the combat, you look strong enough that a little more work wasn't gonna hurt ya. You'll be assigned to Sergeant Thins, sub-commander Corporal Larus. Bunk room is E-5, just head to the north wing of the Castle and you'll see what I'm talking about. Look, I even drew you a little map!"

The aged stallion handed Soul the scrawled instructions, which had been signed off on, and underneath was a little doodle that amounted to little more than some arrows and a smiley face. He got the feeling the old stallion was just messing with him.

"Thank you, sir, I look forward to seeing you around sometime," he smiled to the unicorn and turned to leave.

"Oop, wait, forgot something, get your tail over here!" the old man called to him, "Have to measure your magic levels, for the records, although since your going into the Guard I don't know why they make me bother..." he grumbled.

Soul carefully picked his way over the smaller piles of papers and semi-decomposed food to the man. Funny, the room didn't smell bad at all. In fact, it didn't really smell like anything, good or bad.

Reaching the unicorn, they briefly touched horns, and Soul felt a pulse scootch down his body, it took a few seconds for it to work from his nose to the tip of his tail, and it tingled all the way down.

"Sweet creamy Celestia, boy!" the older stallion cried in alarm.

Soul stepped away from him, "What, what is it? Is there something wrong?"

The stallion took a breath, and then squinted at him, turning his head a little to the side, "And... you're sure you're going into the Guard?"

Soul nodded, getting a little frustrated, and the unicorn tentatively waved it off, "Oh, it's... it's nothing then. Forget about it. Hurry, or you'll be late!"

Soul gave a worried look, and hurried out of the room, though the old stallion gave no indication of what he might actually be late for, nopony would even be expecting his arrival.

As he left the cluttered room, the old stallion sat back in his nice cushiony cloth chair, helpfully donated by the Battlemage Academy, and put his hooves to his chin.

"Yeah," he drawled, "I'd better report this."

Author's Note

Soul Keeper is now a member of the esteemed Royal Guard, and is now on track to become a member of the revered Honor Guard, but it appears that there is friction between two branches of Equestria's military. How will this effect Soul? What will his commanders and comrades think of his inherent abilities? Will any of them see through his facade? Find out, next time!

P.S. - Those little scenes weren't really planned, but I hope you all enjoyed the taste of things to come. (Any and all puns intended.)

P.P.S. - Surgery delayed the release of this slightly, so I apologize for any spelling errors and the like that I may have missed.