Serving His Empress
~or~
How Shining Armor Avoided a Crushed Pelvis by the Empress Daybreaker

Part the Second

Shining had expected the savannah to be hot. A bit sunnier than Canterlot due to its location south of his native country, but that was it.

What he had NOT expected was that the savannah wasn’t hot. It was HOT. A dry, sweltering heat that seemed to sap the strength from his limbs as he trudged on closer to his new home for the next six months. A small outpost in the middle of seemingly nowhere, the wood and dried mud fortification was able to house a full company of ponies, plus support ponies, servants, and a few griffin auxiliaries. All told, the fort could hold about a hundred and thirty, a hundred forty-five souls within its walls.

And this was going to be where Shining would first test his skills… if the stallion next to him didn’t annoy him to the point he would buck him in the face.

“So, Armor, ye think we’ll get all the sweet striped pussy we want out here?” the stallion asked with a spring in his step.

“That’s Lieutenant Armor to you Corporal,” Shining reprimanded, giving the stallion a flat look of disapproval. “And what you do while on liberty is not my business. Not until what you do affects your duty to the crown, myself, and your squad. Am I understood?” The corporal groaned.

“Yes sir,” he muttered, the ponies reaching the entrance to the outpost. The doors opened, letting them inside as Shining took stock of some of the soldiers he would soon be in command of.

I got this, the unicorn thought.

~~~

I don’t have this under ANY sort of control! Shining though angrily to himself as he and a scant hoof-full of ponies holed up inside what was left of their hospital. Shining had been at the post for little more than five damn days before the Corporal he had arrived with killed a zebra while on patrol. And not just any zebra, no, that would have been too easy. No, it had to be the local tribal lord’s son, and that had led to them being attacked by at least a legion of zebras.

The Corporal was dead; he had died early on from getting a zebra hunting spear lodged in his throat, left to bleed out on the ground outside as Shining had directed what few pegasi aerial skirmishers to pepper the zebra shamans with whatever weather magic they could use. Of course, that was before those shamans called down a tornado.

That was also on fucking fire.

Shining had saved what skirmishers had survived their insane attempts to stop that tornado, his shield spells holding until they crashed themselves in front of the hospital with severe burns. After that, it had turned into a two day, and counting long brawl between the company and the attacking legion. What had started as a garrison of one hundred twenty led by a Centurion was now down to Shining, a pair of sergeants, about a dozen other ponies of varying race and combat skill, and a half dead griffin mercenary.

“Oh buck, they’re coming through the walls!” one of the surviving ponies shouted, pointing to a section of wall falling apart, the wild shouts of furious, blood thirsty zebras clogging their ears.

One of the sergeants smacked the pony upside the head. “Getta hol’ a’yerself!” she shouted, shoving a lance and shield into the poor pony’s hooves. “Ye ain’ dead yet, so shuddup and keep fighten’! Tha’s a fuckin’ order!”

“Sergeant, let him be!” Shining ordered, stabbing his own lance out of a hole in the wall, a zebra spear glancing off the side of his armor. “Get up here and help me!”

The mare galloped over to him, her lance going through a hole a zebra made and impaled the enemy warrior, the zebra gurgling his last breath before the fur on Shining’s neck stood.

“GET DOWN!” Shining shouted, diving to the hard, dirt ground. The survivors followed suit, and not a moment too soon as light flashed through the walls, a titanic thunderclap nearly deafening them as the world seemingly shook around them. Shining looked up, even as his ears continued to ring. Right outside, visible through one of several holes at his current eye level, he saw the zebra’s looking off into the distance, many of them looking suddenly terrified. Shining got to his hooves, wrapping up his lance in what was left of his magic reserves.

“Zebra’s are on the run!” he shouted, pointing to the door. “Now we can wait and see what just sent them runnin’, or we get out there, and make them REALLY run!”

The Sergeant hefted her lance, one of the pegasi sliding a pair of metal claws over his forehooves. “Well, don’ fancy much dyin’ like a rat ‘ere!” she snorted, glaring at the door that was only just hanging on. “On yer orders sir!”

Shining nodded, his magic flaring just enough to hold onto the door and loosen it up. “Right then! Let’s go! Chaaarrrge!” He, the Sergeant, the pegasus, and five other ponies rushed the door, crashing through it in a shower of splinters. The zebras by the door didn’t have a warning as Shining thrust and slashed his lance forward, tearing their throats out as his Sergeant charged, impaling a zebra with a full force shoulder check and keeping the charge going, trampling over any pony unlucky enough to get in her way.

Stabbing into another zebra fighter, Shining looked around, and was amazed at what he was seeing. In the sky, hundreds of pegasi fighters strafed the zebra lines, lightning lancing down from their hooves to strike any zebra unlucky enough to be in their sights, or plucked off the ground to simply be dropped from cloud height. Off in the distance, maybe a quarter mile away from the wall, Shining saw a mixed mass of earth ponies and unicorn battle mages cutting off the zebra retreat, many of the striped warriors getting felled by warhammer and spellfire. Shining stood still, slack jawed at the revelation that an entire legion had apparently come to his garrison’s rescue.

“Don’t fuckin’ stand there sir, git yer flank movin’!” his Sergeant shouted, kicking a zebra in the face. The shout shook Shining out of his stupor, just in time for him to avoid getting impaled by a spear. Blocking the spear, Shining reflexively slammed the zebra with a simple push spell, sending the other equine flying tumbling to the ground as the last remnants of the invading force lost their will, spears dropping to the ground.

“Ser-Sergeant,” Shining panted, pointing his lance at the fallen zebra, “Please… please fucking tell me that the zebras are surrendering.” The Sergeant looked around, watching as zebra surrendered to legionnaires as fast as possible.

“Well, I’d say it looks like it sir,” she answered, hefting her weapon onto her shoulder as what could only be the legion commander approached, flanked by an honor guard. “Aaaan’ that we might be in horse apples.”

Shining nodded, stepping back from the zebra as the legion commander approached, the burly looking earth pony looking down at him from under the brow of the ornately decorated helm. The commander looked around, taking note of the garrison’s burning and perforated walls, the number of bodies on the ground; it seemed as if the stallion WANTED to try and make Shining uncomfortable.

“Where is that idiot Centurion, Yellow Heart?” the commander asked, looking at Shining. “He is going to pay dear for this.”

“Dead General,” Shining reported. “Died two days ago trying to flee. The zebras… took their time sir.” The General scoffed, looking at the zebra at Shining’s hooves.

“Well, I suppose I must commend you then,” the stallion said begrudgingly. “You’ve kept this garrison from completely dying, and you held a zebra advance long enough for us to come and break them.” He pointed to the zebra. “She shall be yours Lieutenant. Do as you please.”

“S-sir?”

The General huffed. “That mare there is yours, do as you wish,” he said. Shining looked at the zebra mare at his hooves, and nodded.

“I… understand General. I’ll round up what few I have left, and I’ll… I get our… our…” Shining paused as the adrenaline of the past couple days seemed to simply vanish from his being. The General shook his head.

“Don’t bother with the paperwork Lieutenant,” he ordered. “You and your forces have more than earned a rest.”

“I… thank you General,” Shining said, nodding. “By your leave sir?”

“Carry on Lieutenant,” the General looked around the blood soaked battlefield. “If anything… I’ll ensure you and yours get the recognition you deserve. Now go on, rest easy son.” Shining saluted, wincing as his sore muscles protested. The General saluted him back, leaving Shining alone with his Sergeant and the zebra mare.

“Sergeant?”

“Yessir?”

Shining pointed to the mare. “Help me get her up please, I feel like I’m about to fall over dead right now.” The Sergeant chuckled wearily as she trotted over.

“Sure thing sir,” she said. Together, they hoisted the black and white mare up to her hooves. “Y’know, you don’t have to just call me ‘Sergeant’ y’know.” Shining chuckled.

“Sorry, it’s just that, I didn’t catch your name in all this,” Shining commented.

“Eh, it’s all right. Sergeant Blueberry Frost, at yer service sir,” the Sergeant said, properly introducing herself.

“Well Sergeant Frost, rest assured, after your performance these past two days, if I can convince the General, and a few other pencil pushers, I would love to have you stay in my command,” Shining told her, leading them over to a hastily erected medical tent.

“Pfft, Tartarus sir, after the horseapples you pulled off? Ain’t no one who’s still alive gonna want to leave your command now,” Blueberry commented. “So, why are we getting into the tent?”

“We’re covered in blood and guts, we’ve had no sleep in two days, and you just ran through a dozen zebras in a raging charge,” Shining deadpanned. “That, and this mare might need medical attention too.” Blueberry looked at him in bewilderment.

“Not to question your command decisions sir, but… why her too?”

Shining took a deep breath as they arrived at the tent. “Because, it’s the right thing to do.”

~~~

It was nighttime over the savannah, and Mahiri was absolutely terrified. Being bound by an enchanted rope wasn’t much of an issue in and of itself. No, it was the implications of being bound that kept her up. Outside, she could hear the many groups of Equestrian legionnaires having their way with her tribe sisters, the agonized screams of the mares being defiled drowned out by the drunken jeers and catcalls of their oppressors. Mahiri looked around the large tent she was in, searching for a way out however she could. And, as she had seen many times before, there was little, if not nothing, she could do to escape.

The tent flap opened up behind her, and Mahiri quickly turned to face the unicorn she had been ‘gifted’ to. The stallion sighed, walking inside the tent, seemingly oblivious to Mahiri bound near the center of the tent. He stopped by the bed (well, it was a fancy cot, but a bed was a bed) and began taking his armor off.

Mahiri looked at him with a mix of fear and loathing as she waited for him to get on with the inevitable. After all, with a coat like his? Surely, he had to be one the Flaming One’s personal guard, sent to quash any rebellion out in the savannah. The silence in the tent remained for minutes on end as the stallion took his armor off piece by piece, wincing when he over-extended and aggravated his wounds.

Finally, the stallion sighed. “Look, if you’re worried about… well, um, me taking advantage of you, don’t worry, I won’t,” he told her. He set his helmet down, a rich sky blue mane starting to grow back in. “I… I know I don’t have your trust, at all, but…” He looked at the entrance to the tent, ears folded back as he overheard the rowdy cries of wanton debauchery. “My name is Shining Armor. What’s your name?”

“Tamaa wafu, ninyi mchumba mweupe,” Mahiri ordered, glaring pure venom from her narrowed eyes. Shining sighed, rubbing his horn with a hoof.

“Look, you and your tribe have already tried,” he told her irritably. “And with far worse. Admittedly, the flaming vortex of death was… not something the Academy warned me about, but I’ll admit it was inspired.”

“Pata simba na ujilishe mwenyewe.” Shining groaned.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you Faust-dammit!” he swore, waving his hoof at her. “I swear, okay!” Mahiri scowled, crossing her forelimbs. Shining pointed to the tent entrance. “Look, I promise, all that out there? I guarantee that it won’t happen in here, ever.”

“Lies,” Mahiri said finally, slipping into Ponish for Shining’s benefit. “Lies of a stallion from Her personal guard.”

Shining blinked, confused before he looked at his coat and barking out a disbelieving laugh. “You think? You think I’m actually a member of Her Radiance’s own Royal Guard? Oh Faust, that’s a good one!” Shining continued to laugh for a good solid thirty seconds before collecting himself. “But seriously, I’m not a Royal Guard, and I am not going to touch you without your consent!”

“You… no touch?” Her captor shook his head.

“Not in anyway like outside, no,” he answered. “Honestly, the thought of doing… that to you is pretty sickening. I just… I just want you to know that so long as I’m, uh, I mean you, uh, are, well, umm…” Mahiri let out a deep breath.

“Many, many thanks,” Mahiri huffed out with scathing sarcasm, her gaze looking at anywhere but him.

Shining nodded, chuckling weakly. “Well, lemme get some things from the quartermaster real quick, and then we can try and get some sleep, okay?” Shining stood up, heading to the tent’s entrance. “Don’t worry, I won’t be long, I promise.” He exited, leaving Mahiri alone. The zebra mare’s breathing picked up as her ears fell flat on her head, eyes looking over the shadows playing about the outside of the tent.

Her fears began to take hold. Mahiri thought of Shining, how he must assuredly hadn’t stepped out to get a cot, but was going to get a small platoon of stallions, lead them inside, watch as they-

“Okay, I’m - hey, what’s wrong?”

Mahiri looked around fearfully, her eyes wide as she noted that Shining was the only pony to come into the tent, a cot on his back. “You… you keep word?”

Shining looked around and saw the shadows playing about, grimacing. “...oh. I… see,” he drawled, slowly moving over close to her and setting up the cot. “Look, I… I’m sorry, I really am, I just…”

“Do not be,” Mahiri stammered angrily, shrinking away closer to the pole she was leashed to. “We know many season. Know what… what happen. Know to prepare. Harder when see.”

Shining went and finished making the cot. “All the same, for what it’s worth from me… I’m sorry.” He slowly advanced towards her, not wanting to frighten her. “I’m going to drag the cot closer to you, and you grab it, okay?” Mahiri looked at him, seeing his honest eyes, and nodded. Shining slid the cot over slowly to her, and the mare quickly took the frame in hoof and dragged it the rest of the way closer to her.

“You… will not come to me?”

Shining shook his head. “No. You have suffered enough the past couple of days as it is, I don’t want to… to make it any worse than it already is for you,” he answered, moving to his own cot.

Mahiri scoffed. “My tribe ruined. Bred by soldiers. Would prefer death.”

Shining’s face fell. “Look, I’m sorry, but none of this would have happened had your tribe not tried to kill my entire garrison because of one retard’s idiotic decision!” he snapped, making Mahiri flinch. “Make no mistake, as much as I love my empire, I know damn well how utterly stupid and vile some of its ponies are! Unfortunately, I’m not an Alicorn, and I’m not high enough in the food chain to make any kind of difference!” Shining stepped back, shaking his head sadly. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t… I…”

“Shining grief,” Mahiri muttered, getting under the covers of the cot. “All do. You will weep, and then when anger, you take me.”

“And I already told you, I’m not that kind of pony,” Shining retorted tiredly. “I’m not going to force myself onto you just to prove a point or to get some ‘stress relief.’ I wasn’t raised like that.”

Mahiri waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “Shining say much. I not see much to believe.”

Shining huffed as he got into his own cot. “Tomorrow, I’ll make it so that you’re on my staff. With the way the General is feeling now, and how… exuberant the Legion is? I don’t think it’ll be much of a problem. General would think I’m being a go-getter, keeping… keeping you. You know…”

Mahiri chuckled humorlessly. “As pet? Oh yes, noble.”

Shining looked over, almost glaring daggers at her. “Look, it’s either you’re on my staff as a mareservant, or you get passed along outside with a bunch of drunk and stupid soldiers. Right now, you’re best option is staying with me.”

“Shining say this like I can choose.”

“Look, I-,” Shining huffed, shaking his head. “Look, let’s just… start over again tomorrow, please? We need sleep… well, whatever sleep we can get anyway.” Mahiri scoffed, turning in her cot to face away from him. She tried to fall asleep, but the sounds outside kept her awake.

As for Shining, he didn’t get much sleep that night either.

~~~

“Mahiri, are you okay? You seem a little distracted.”

Four months had gone by, and the fort that Mahiri’s tribe had assaulted was now almost entirely rebuilt. Wooden walls replaced with stone from the northern quarries, enchantments carved into their faces inside to help reinforce the stone from attack. The survivors of the garrison had been reinforced with new blood, but already word had spread of how Shining had led a scant dozen to victory. In reward for his service, Shining found himself a newly promoted Centurion, with a hundred and fifty ponies and auxiliaries under his immediate command. And through it all, Mahiri stayed with him.

The two of them had… not started on the right hoof that first official day together. Or the second. In fact, Shining and Mahiri had all but strangled each on multiple occasions for the better part of a month before the zebra mare had finally relented and began to treat him with some degree of grudging respect.

After an entire week of she and Shining getting each other’s nerves, she had finally disclosed her name to him, expecting him to quickly replace it with a ‘proper’ pony name. Instead, she had been surprised when Shining had continued to use her name, and not once even attempting to force her to adopt pony habits, save those that would help her in her duties as a servant. Mahiri had always heard stories of how ponies like Shining would not hesitate to force a mare to bend to their whims, and yet…

Shining watched as the mare shook her head. Clad in a simple, yet modest worker’s shift, the zebra smiled at him. “No, nothing is wrong Centurion,” she answered, tucking a feather duster into a pocket. “Just a little under the weather.”

Shining gave her a subtle look of concern as he set the quill and reports he was writing up down on his desk. “Mahiri, please. We’re alone, you don’t have to call me that,” he told her. “Like I’ve told you the past… many times over the last four months.”

“Yes… but perhaps I like to,” Mahiri retorted, flicking her tail his way. Shining rolled his eyes, bemused as he attempted to get back to his reports when his nose picked up a heady, almost spicy smell in the air.

“...is that a new perfume?” Shining asked. “I didn’t know you went to the market recently.”

Mahiri froze. Shining watched as the mare quivered on the spot, shaking in shame as she slowly turned to face at him. “It… it is not perfume,” Mahiri said softly, almost whispering it out. Shining leaned in closer over his desk.

“Say that again?” he asked.

Mahiri turned to him with a blush under her fur. “I’m in heat!” she snapped, her face contorted in worry as her tail flicked once more, spreading more of that alluring scent into the air. Shining’s Eyes widened, realization hitting him fast.

“Oh. Faust… umm, have you seen a nurse about umm, hiding the scent? Or anything like that?” he asked her. “I’m sure if you went now, they could-“

“No, I went this morning,” she told him. “There are no potions for me, nor does she know the spell to keep seed from taking root.” She blushed, looking away from him. “I am sorry…”

“No, no I should be the one to apologize,” Shining said, “I should have… I should have made sure we were fully stocked from that last supply run, and…” It was getting harder to concentrate as Mahiri’s scent filled his senses. “I… I’ll give you however long you need to… to relieve yourself.” Shining stood up to stiffly walk out of the office when Mahiri cleared her throat.

“No, please, stay,” she pleaded. Shining froze. Mahiri took a deep breath as she walked slowly over to him. “...Centurion… Shining,” she said. “I… would trust no one else with my body this season than you.” With every little tap of her hooves, she came closer and closer to him, and Shining became away that the air was charged with a sort of… energy he hadn’t felt before.

“...I… I know that… you… I…,” Shining stammered as she came closer to him. “Mahiri, please. If we do this, you… you know what will happen, right?”

“It will be nothing the Earth Mother would not approve of,” the zebra stated. “Better I have a foal with you, a stallion that cares, than with some nameless legionnaire who stays only a night. Please.” She was standing in front of him now, putting herself between him and relative freedom. “For me?”

Shining gulped. He took a step over to Mahiri, his expression softening as he approached her. “I… would be honored to, at the least, help you through this.” The stallion bent down, nuzzling her neck as Mahiri leaned into the touch. “Shall we go to your quarters?” Shining was referring to the small room beside his that he had built soon after the garrison had begun reconstruction. Mahiri huffed.

“No,” she answered. “I would… prefer yours. If you… do not mind?” she added, looking up at him, a soft smile on her face. Shining took a moment to think it over before nodding.

“Alright. Go on ahead, I’ll be in there soon,” he told her. Mahiri looked at him in confusion before understanding flashed across her face. Turning in place, Mahiri coyly smacked Shining in the face with her tail, leaving Shining even more flustered as his body stiffened. The moment she left, the unicorn let out a deep breath. “Empress, save my spirit,” he muttered as he straightened himself out. Tidying up the office, Shining walked out and spotted newly made First Sergeant Frost at her own desk. “First Sergeant Frost.”

Frost jumped to her hooves to salute. “Sir!” she cried out. “Sorry I’m in here, just needed to git out of th’ heat, I-!”

Shining returned her salute, beckoning for her to calm down. “As you were,” he told her. Frost relaxed, looking at him as the white furred unicorn pointed to the direction of his quarters. “Though, I do have just one order for the rest of the day.”

“Sir?”

Shining took a deep breath. “First Sergeant, until I say otherwise, I am not to be disturbed for the rest of the day and night. Something has come up, and I need to attend to it. The only exception is if the Empress Herself is coming here. Understood?”

Frost nodded, before her eyes lit up in realization. “Sir, she in heat?” she asked. Shining’s jaw dropping gave her the answer. “Well Faust sir, why didn’ ya just say so in the first place? I’ll make sure no one gives ya shit for the day, count on it.” She waved Shining away, giggling. “Now go on sir, I got yer shit for the day. Just make tha’ mare happy, please sir?”

Shining nodded stiffly, turning about face and heading back to his quarters as fast as he could. Was it really that obvious? Shining thought to himself. I mean, I know Mahiri and I are… somewhat close, but this is, well… I don’t want to force myself on her, I mean, she’s had enough happen to her as it is, I don’t want to add to it! Shining rounded the corner to his quarters and walked through the door. Stepping inside, he locked it and sighed. “Okay, I’m ba-,” he said, turning and freezing in place as he spotted Mahiri.

He had expected the mare to want to get straight to, well, to business as it were. But a part of Shining was glad that the zebra mare had gone what was basically far and above the call of duty in trying to seduce his sorry flank. Mahiri was on his bed, but instead of just sitting there, waiting, she had decided to lay down on it lengthwise, her stripes seeming to rise from and fall towards in tantalizing monochrome waterfalls to his bedsheets. Along the walls, Shining could see a few bowls of herbs smoking. Whatever show Mahiri wanted to use to seduce him… it was working. “How… I was gone for all of five minutes, how did you-?”

Mahiri chuckled as she shifted on the bed. Shining caught a glimpse of dark skin between her legs before it was hidden from view. “I have been doing house work here for months, my Centurion,” she answered, voice low and seductive. “I would like to think I know how to use my time well, yes?”

Shining slowly stepped over to the bed, his eyes locked onto hers. “I guess so, I mean, I uhh, well,” he stammered, “I mean, I… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear that rank come from your mouth the same way ever again, and I am really, really, really not sure if I’m for-”

“Shining Armor.”

Shining froze as Mahiri’s gaze hardened, the mare’s expression annoyed. “Shining, you are right to think this is the heat talking,” she told him. “But I want this. You are the best stallion here to turn to, and I know you are honorable for a servant of that flaming whorse of an Empress. But right now, I am going to be VERY unhappy if you do not get over here, and try to rut my heat away!”

Shining took a deep breath, and before he could convince himself to try and argue his way out of this, took the last couple of steps towards the mare. Mahiri was about to ask for him to get on with it when Shining took her chin in a hoof. “Mahiri, I…,” he whispered to her. “I… If we have a foal together… I’ll make sure he or she is free. I promise she’ll have more to look forward to in life.”

Mahiri’s mouth opened just a smidge, her eyes widening as the edges watered. “Thank you…” She reached around his neck with her own forelimb, and Shining closed his eyes as the pair locked themselves in a slow kiss. A moment later, and they broke the kiss. Stallion and mare looked at each other for a moment before Mahiri lunged, pressing her lips against his hungrily.

Shining was no slouch either, pushing back against the horny mare as their kissing became less chaste, and far more heated. Shining felt her hooves move across his body, pulling and throwing off parts of his uniform off around the room as his own limbs went up and down her body, feeling the muscles flex under her fur. Mahiri pulled away, panting as her body begged for more. “I am ready, my Centurion,” she whispered, wrapping her limbs around his shoulders.

Shining smiled. “Well, ready or not, I’m not going to just stick it in,” he told her. Mahiri watched as he lowered himself down her body, and she obligingly let her lower legs drift apart. She watched as Shining eyed the pair of petite teats before moving down to her lower lips. Shining, for his part, was admiring the raindrop shaped lips of his companion, the normally dark skin plump and wet as her clit winked at him.

Shining chuckled to himself, looking up between Mahiri’s legs before he lightly breathed on her clit. The zebra moaned, head whipping itself back as the cool air from his breath sent an electric jolt up her back. She swore something in that odd, melodic language of hers as Shining went to kiss her clit. “Shiniiiiiing…!” she whined.

“I did say I wasn’t just going to stick it in,” he commented. Mahiri had to simply brace herself as Shining went down on her, kissing her clit and rubbing it tenderly with his hoof. The zebra quickly found herself about to burst as he worked, the mare digging her hooves into the sheets as she moaned. But, just as she thought it couldn’t get any better, or worse, Shining opened his mouth wide and took her clit into his mouth and sucked.

Mahiri screamed, bucking her hips into his face as she came, her juices splattering across Shining’s snout as he stuck his tongue in and lapped away at the deluge of fluids. The extra stimulation made her squirm more as the agile muscle explored he moist caverns, probing and discovering all the spots that set her off, and in no time at all, Mahiri was shaking and laying in the aftermath of a second orgasm.

The unicorn stood up, wiping his face off a fresh coat of the sticky mare fluids. This, unfortunately for Shining, meant that he could smell her heat, and that primitive, primal part of his brain, the one that lived in the far back under lock and key, was kicking down the door and demanding that Shining get to work on breeding the mare already. Instead, the unicorn took a deep breath to focus himself. “That uh… that take some of the edge off?” he asked her. Mahiri looked down at him, her chest heaving.

“Yes, a little,” she panted. “But we both know I need something… bigger.” Shining nodded, slowly getting atop Mahiri. The mare shuddered in anticipation as the unicorn climbed over her, and she felt something stiff and warm graze the skin of her teats. Mahiri looked up to Shining’s face as he smiled shyly at her.

“Umm… you uh, you want to be on top?” he asked her. Mahiri blinked before she understood what he meant.

“You jest.”

Shining shook his head. “Nope. I want this to be special for you.” Mahiri leaned up and kissed the stallion once more, dragging him down and to the side, the pair rolling on the bed to where the zebra was now atop the unicorn, nearly straddling him. Mahiri giggled as she scooted back to take a peek at what Shining had. And then gawked.

“How… how do you hide this?!” she blurted, a hoof caressing the side of Shining’s cock. The shaft twitched, a dollop of pre leaking from the top as Shining let out a strained chuckle.

“Practice,” he commented. “And uh, well, I’m usually not under a sexy mare in heat, so, uh, there’s that.” Mahiri couldn’t get her eyes off the dick before her as her tunnel clenched, reminding her of what she needed at this current moment in time.

“You… are a very gifted stallion, Shining Armor.” She gave him a few pumps up and down with her hoof before holding herself up, angling him down and ready to enter her heated depths. “I know I will enjoy this.”

Shining waited patiently for Mahiri to make her move, watching as the mare psyched herself up before slowly going down, his earlier ministrations having at least made her sufficiently wet enough that his tip slipped in without too much issue. Shining bit the inside of his cheek, the feeling of a warm, wet, and welcoming vice holding him for the first time in months almost making the inexperienced stallion blow then and there.

Mahiri though felt like she was about to enter the next world with her ancestors. The way Shining’s tip spread her open, the way that he filled her as she slowly rocked her hips up and down, drawing more and more of him into her… as far as sheer, physical pleasures went, Shining had managed the impossible and had ruined her for any other stallion, up to and including the few zebra stallions she had been with a few times before this. She uttered a heated string of words in her native tongue, smiling wildly.

Shining was barely keeping it together himself as he continued to push himself into Mahiri slowly, quickly stopping as his tip was firmly inside of her. Other than… that particular night in his Empress’ chambers all those months ago, Mahiri was the first mare he had actually been with, and willingly to hoof. He brought his head up, lightly nipping along the side of her neck as he left a trail of hickeys up to her jawline. “I’m ready when you are,” he whispered to her. “Just… take it slow.”

Mahiri smiled, pulling Shining’s lips to hers for a kiss. “We will see how gentle I go,” she told him. “For now, we must simply follow the flow.” She lifted her hips up, biting her lip as she felt what little of his length retreat from her before she eased herself back down, taking more of him bit by bit. The pair remained like that for a few minutes, Mahiri easing herself onto her lover while Shining enjoyed simply being intimate with her.

They looked at each other, and by some primal, unspoken agreement, Mahiri began to speed up, bracing her hooves against Shining’s chest as she rose and fell at the pace of her breaths. “You… are an amazing mare Mahiri,” Shining huffed out, his body shaking. He could feel his breaking point approach. “I… I’m… you know…” Mahiri smirked softly at him. Without any warning, or preamble, she started to drive herself deep onto Shining, impaling herself on his swollen spire, her breathes coming out in heated pants of want.

Shining moaned, forehooves reaching to wrap around her thighs as she slammed down, the stallion feeling his tip hit something deep inside. “Worry not, my loving knight,” she told him, holding onto him, “Just lay back, and hold me tight!” Shining could only hold on for the ride as Mahiri finally came, her pussy clenching down on him as she sang her pleasure out for him to hear. And it was too much for the stallion himself, the unicorn neighing in relief as he came deep inside of the mare on top of him.

The two of them came together for several moments before Mahiri slumped down atop of him, clearly contented as she nuzzled the side of his head with hers. Shining kissed her neck, a hoof reaching up to brush a few strands of loose mane out of her face. “That was… most needed,” Mahiri whispered to him. Shining chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah, I… you were…” Shining paused, trying to find the words. Mahiri smiled, putting a hoof on his lips.

“Shining, I am content,” she told him. “You are one of the better stallions I have had the privilege of laying with. You have taken care of me these past months, and with more honor and kindness than most. I-” Mahiri stopped, suddenly aware of something. “...Shining?”

Shining gave her a sheepish, meek expression. “Yes?”

“...why is your penis not… well…?”

“Umm, well, I uh, I have a beautiful mare still on me?” Shining looked at her. “Plus, well, you are in heat. I uh… can’t help it?” Mahiri blushed.

“Oh, well, I…,” the zebra trailed off as she felt her lover grow stiffer inside of her. “Well, this is…”

Shining smiled, leaning up to kiss her as he rolled their bodies over, Mahiri now laying on her back as Shining rested between her hind legs. “This… is going to be one of the better days and night of your life,” he promised softly to her, gently rocking his hips forward and pushing a light moan from Mahiri’s mouth.

“Then please, my Centurion,” Mahiri pleaded, “Take me as you will.” Shining nodded, kissing her nose before shifting in place, pulling himself in and out of her. Mahiri closed her eyes, keeping them barely open just enough to keep Shining in sight as they made love.

~~~
“So… Centurion Armor. Has a rather… respectable ring to it, don’t you think?”

Shining was back in Canterlot, Mahiri resting in his new officer’s quarters as he had reported back in to his superiors. Only, not even an hour after he had given his paperwork over to the clerks did a hoofmaiden come looking for him.

“Her Radiance requests your presence in her chambers,” the cyan and violet mare told him, and Shining knew better than to make his Empress wait. So, he went to her quarters, the Royal Guards stationed at the doors stepping aside to let him in.

She had been resting on her bed, gold hued alabaster coat gleaming under her sun as she looked up and spotted him. Setting an aging tome to the side with her magic, she adjusted herself and beckoned him closer. Which lead to Shining’s current position of laying beside her, his Empress having a conversation with him.

“I will be honest, it is a bit… amusing to hear,” Shining told her. “But I’m sure that General Bulwark Smasher had his reasons for promoting me.” He sighed, getting Daybreaker’s attention.

“Shining Armor, I’ve read the reports over the past six months,” the alicorn stated, smirking at Shining’s suddenly panicked look. “You arrive in the savannah, and not even five days later, a small army of Zebra attacks you and your garrison. A two thousand zebra force against a mere hundred and twenty. And you, my little pony… showed me just how devoted you are to your Empress.”

Shining blinked. “P-Pardon, Your Radiance?”

Daybreaker laughed. “My pony, do you know how rare it is to have a unicorn from Canterlot actually think like a proper soldier? You showed more skill in battle and keeping your garrison alive in two days than I’ve seen generals during sieges. Keep that mind, and I may well decide to promote you personally the next time.”

Shining felt a stir of pride in his chest at her words. “I… thank you, my Empress! I don’t know what to say!”

“Well, you did just say ‘thank you,’” Daybreaker pointed out, stretching herself out and pulling Shining in closer to her with a wing. “Now, to more… enjoyable topics. Like your mare. How was she? Did you ravish her then and there on the field as you received her? Tell me ALL the details!”

Shining blushed. “Actually, Your Grace, I didn’t… that first night,” he admitted. “Or the second. In matter of fact, she and I didn’t share a bed together until close to four months later, when her heat came in.” Daybreaker’s expression was… perhaps not confused, but certainly befuddled.

“It took you… four months to finally bed a mare? Where was that raging spitfire I had laid with six months ago, hmm?” she asked, eyes narrowing. Shining felt the air in the room grow slightly hotter.

“...I believe your standing order for me was to ‘enjoy the locals. Show them why your empire has lasted this long,’” Shining countered politely. Considering that he was sitting next to the most powerful entity in Equestria, if not the world, he needed to tread carefully. “With respect, Your Radiance, you didn’t specify when I needed to enjoy the locals. I took the time to get to know her, and we both agreed to… share my bed, as it were, when her heat struck. She has told me repeatedly, that after discussions with other zebra mares, that many of them envy her relationship with me. Her… associates all bemoan how their masters beat and rape them, hoping to force them into subservience through brute force. A few of them…,” Shining’s face fell as he paused, organizing his thoughts before continuing. “A few of them tried to escape, or worse yet, rebel. None succeeded, and in all cases, lives were lost and wasted. But, my Empress, by treating her as a citizen of your empire, Mahiri has placed her trust and loyalty to me, and by extension, to you as well. And all without a single drop of continued bloodshed between myself and her.”

Silence reigned in the room before Daybreaker’s body shook. Shining braced himself for a flash of heat, but was unprepared for Daybreaker to burst out laughing, her head throwing itself back as her musical chortles filled the air. “HAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, by my Sun and Moon, you are quite lucky I favor you, Centurion Armor!” Daybreaker laughed out. Shining slowly started letting out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding in. “You conquered a zebra bitch, and instead of just fucking her in the ground then and there, you wooed her into willingly letting you rut her! Oh, I am most impressed!”

“I… aim to please, my Empress?” Shining said as the alicorn looked over to an ornately decorated chest. Her golden aura surrounded it, the chest clicking open. Shining watched, and then gasped as he saw a single, small, nearly ruby-red feather float over to them. “My Empress, is… is that what I think it is?!” Shining exclaimed in shock.

“Oh, this?” Daybreaker looked at the feather in her grasp. “Only a mere tail feather,” she commented. Shining gulped. Phoenix feathers were national treasures. To his knowledge, only thirty or so feathers remained in Equestria to this day, and the feathers not in the possession of his Empress’ greatest minds were all locked away, apparently in that chest. “Now, Shining Armor.”

“Y-Yes, Your Radiance?”

Daybreaker smirked, twisting about in the bed until she had him tucked between her legs, the feather drifting closer to them all the while. “I think, and I know, you deserve this little feather,” she told him. “But… while I can read reports on how well you fight…” A pregnant pause hung in the air as Shining looked down. Daybreaker’s loins were leaking, her inner thighs shining with a light coat of her juices as her clit winked at him.

Shining took a deep breath, lowering his mouth down to start sucking up his Empress’ mess. Daybreaker gazed down at him for a moment before she cooed. “Oh my, this is new!” she called out to him, feeling her subject’s lips moving up her leg to her leaking slit. “I take it your zebra taught you thi-IIIAAAAAYEEEeeeesss!” The alicorn trailed off as Shining’s horn it up, his magic gently grasping her clit and tweaking it, the stallion focusing on drinking up the spicy sweet nectar his Empress produced.

Shining could feel the heat of his Empress, even from a couple of hooves away. Still, as much as Shining was averse to getting his tongue at the least burned off by licking her, he was far more interested in living than in saving his tongue. So, with closed eyes, he cast a shield spell on himself, or rather, a variant of it. A scant second later, and Shining was attacking her directly with his tongue, the tip dancing and twirling about her clit as Daybreaker let out a passionate, shuddering moan.

“Oh yes, keep that up Centurion!” she ordered, putting a hoof on the top of the unicorn’s head. Shining cracked an eye open, looking at the bliss stricken face of his monarch. He supposed he should be glad that she wasn’t burning him to a crisp right now, but there was something about the way her face twitched…

Shining’s fears were confirmed when Daybreaker pulled his head closer, burying his muzzle deep within her folds. “Deeper!” she ordered.

Not like I have a choice! Shining shouted in his head as he took a deep breath. He shifted the focus of his magic, Daybeaker giving out an unexpected yelp at his magic fondling her teats as he buried his tongue deep in her near-scaldingly hot tunnel. He probed and prodded her depths, seeking those spots that he remembered driving her insane all those months ago. Shining’s tongue was surrounded by heat, heat that by all rights should have broken through his shield by now, judging by how much Daybreaker was pushing him in and by how her silken walls were clamping down on the poor muscle. And yet… why was his tongue not burnt to Tartarus and back?

Shining was jolted out of his musings as Daybreaker’s insides twitched. Oh Faust…

Daybreaker came with a yell, the room exploding in heat and fire as her powers flared, the Solar Empress and her current lover the epicenter of the firestorm. And as Daybreaker let herself fall into oblivious climax, Shining did his best to drink down the deluge of nectar flowing out of her in a torrent, the unicorn not letting up in his ministrations as he, in a manner of speaking, was fighting for his life. Daybreaker came down from her high several moments later. As soon as her thighs dropped to the sides, Shining pulled out, quietly gasping for air.

“Centurion.”

Shining gulped, wondering if he had somehow displeased his Empress. “Y-Yes, your Radiance?”

Daybreaker smiled, pulling him down and draping him over her with her magic. “Centurion Armor… you will keep me company tonight,” she whispered to him. “The feather is yours. You’ll find it quite… invaluable in keeping up with me.” Shining looked around and saw the feather close by, somehow having survived his Empress’ explosive climax.

“Oh, so… I won’t be… incinerated?” he asked, trying not to flinch. Daybreaker nodded.

“Well, it won’t do to have my current favorite cooked to less than ash just because he slipped up with his ‘protection,’” Daybreaker chided. Shining winced. “It will keep you safe from fire, and most forms of death. Though, I suppose if you end up drowning, or having your body completely destroyed, well, there is nothing I can do for THAT.” Shining nodded in understanding. “And I expect you back in here next week. With your zebra.” Daybreaker giggled at his expression. “Please. I read medical reports as well, for those that interest me. And I am… quite interested in you, your zebra, and… the foal she’s carrying.”

“I… of course, Your Majesty,” Shining answered her. Daybreaker leaned her head up brushed her head against his neck. “Your will be done.”

“Indeed, it will be.” Her wings folded over Shining’s back, blanketing him in warmth. The unicorn took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he laid atop the Empress. Daybreaker watched as he went to sleep in moments, the soldier clearly still operating on a field soldier’s sleep schedule. Daybreaker sighed, content with herself. Plans were forming in her mind, pieces moving across a grand board. And, if she played her pieces right, when the Usurper returned…

Daybreaker smirked. She would have the power to finish her sister off, once and for all.

Author's Note

Thanks to LanceOmnikron for his invaluable help in proof-reading and making sure that this chapter actually got finished.