Space + Bugs

Chapters

6 - Love me
1 - Something Wrong
2 - Dinner Date
3 - Unconfortably Warm
4 - Fire and Darkness
5 - Love me not

6 - Love me

Epilogue

Love Bite stood on the memorial graveyard, looking up the anonymous grave for those that had perished during the battle for Sarizia. If she just closed her eyes, she could remember being a filly in this very same place. It once had been a beautiful park, her parents used to bring her here on sunny days for picnics, her father would teach her how to fly and her mother would teach her magic.

All around, flashing high-rises towered over her and the neon lights from nearby shops drowned the light of the stars. In the years since the battle, Sarizia had been recovered from the Changelings, it was growing once again.

After the confrontation on the command bridge, they had been taken in by the Tarkus defense forces, luckily the Equestrian Defense was more than happy to settle everything quickly and bury any notion that one of his officers had been using dark magic.

They had spent a couple of weeks of resting and recovering from their ordeal while they waited for the Errant Venture to finish repairs.

It had been on their last day on Tarkus that Love Bite told Josh that she now knew where she wanted to go. She wanted to go to Sarizia, she needed to see the planet so she finally say goodbye, so she could be free to move on with her own life.

She deposited the flowers in front of the memorial.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” she whispered. “It took me a while, but I’m finally free. Things have been getting better for me, my wounds are healing and I even got a job as a security officer on a spaceship.”

Love Bite glanced back at Sinclair and Velvet, they were waiting for her a few steps back.

“I found love too, in a way I didn’t expected,” she chuckled. “I’ll try to visit again, but it’ll be a while, the Society already has a new mission to us.”

Love Bite raised herself, said a last goodbye and turned away. Josh and Velvet followed her, she looked from one to the other with a silent smile.

Her future looked just right.

1 - Something Wrong

Something is wrong. Something is very wrong, Love Bite thought wildly, casting her eyes around her cramped cell, as a high-pitched siren pierced the air, the constant hum of the generators kicked it a notch as the changeling ship changed from its stealth configuration into combat mode.

After days of slow drift amidst the outer rim of the Tarkus’ system, it had found prey.

Deep in the ship’s entrails, inside her small cell, Love Bite could picture exactly what was happening all over the ship as the changelings rushed to their battle stations and the ship’s plasma casters were primed for fire. The lights on the entire ship dimmed as energy was being transferred to their weapons and defenses.

She apprehensively looked around to the empty holds, knowing that Salicidae intended to fill them with prisoners from raiding the commerce routes.

Love Bite sighed heavily, after the battle the captain would call for her for a celebration feast. She shivered with the memory of being almost completely drained after the last battle, her emotions so utterly drained that for a while she couldn’t muster the energy to care if she lived or died, she laid in her cell, unmoving and uncaring for days. She had witnessed ponies die like that in the past, those that had been drained so completely they simply wasted away.

Love Bite was tall for a pony, had a long, wild pastel pink mane and tail that were in dire need of proper care, her hide was black, but not the chitinous, sickly black of changelings. She had large wings, black feathers with rosy main feathers, a slightly crooked horn, and holes like the ones from a changeling in her hooves. Her cutie mark was hard to see against her flank, a black heart with a bite taken out.

She was a hybrid, her mother had been a changedling living in colony of Sarizia, her group followed the teachings of Thorax, studying the precepts of friendship and trying to make a living for themselves. Her father had been a pegasus officer, sent to their colony to help set-up their defenses.

She had thought things were bad when the war had started, for the little filly it had been an excruciating, unending agony as the Changelings moved closer and closer to the Sarizia colony. Fleets were annihilated, defense stations crumpled, and one by one the space habitats were devoured.

There always had been the hope the united Fleet would come for them. Somehow, they would break the Changeling’s blockade; Somehow, they would defeat the more advanced Changeling’s battleships, and somehow Sarizia would be safe.

She had believed in that until she found herself in a cage, stripped of clothing, dignity, and hope. She had wanted to believe that was nothing but a bad dream, but as the days wore on, she had to accept the fact that this horrific world wasn’t a bad dream or magical illusion —it was her new reality.

She was caged like an animal. Water and food were dispensed automatically by bottles bolted to the walls. Water had a brackish, recycled taste and food was a crunchy bar of something tasteless that was delivered twice a day. There were other ponies in the cages at first, she could swear she recognized a few of them from Sarizia, but it was hard to tell with their wasted bodies and minds.

It got worse. The Changelings would come regularly and take ponies from their cages, take them one by one, using their perverted magics to feed on the prisoner’s love. She had been chosen by the captain Salticidae. The feel of the Hive lord’s talons inside her mind still made her shiver, made her scream at night as she remembered it.

Love Bite pushed herself against the bars, trying to see what was happening, a pair of changelings in battle armor came running down the corridor.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Love Bite asked.

“Silence, prisoner,” one of the changelings snapped without even looking at her.

For a moment, there was nothing but the steady hum of the generator. An oppressive, ominous silence...

“What the hell is happening?” She murmured peering down the corridor.

Screeching, garbled static filled the comms system and all of the sudden the doors opened. The lights flickered rapidly, the screens flickering with glitched images, and the communication system blared to life, spewing corrupted static mixed with strange snippets of music.

Love Bite took tentative steps onto the corridor, fear clogging her throat, adrenaline pumping through her heart.

Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.

The lights went out, confusion became terror.

Her eyes dilated, quickly adjusting to the sudden darkness. She had to escape, she had to get to the escape pods, get as far away from this cursed ship as she could, or she would never forgive herself for losing this opportunity.

She heard him approaching, the chitinous hooves hitting the ground, coming closer with each step.

“Back to your cage, prisoner!” He roared.

Love Bite hesitated for a moment, the compulsion to follow orders so ingrained in her mind that it was almost automatic.

“I said, back to your cage!” His horn glowed amidst the darkness, a sickly green.

Love Bite head began to pound, the tendrils of dark magic drilling into her brain, blasting her with pain and fear. She wiped blood from under her nose. Everything happened in slow motion as a terrible pain wormed its way across her skull.

“leave me alone,” she cried out, trying to run away from him in the dark. The nullifier ring on her horn made it impossible to defend against his magic.

The changeling laughed and kept coming for her, savoring her fear and desperation. Her head felt as if it was going to explode. His dark magic drilled in her head, it’s corrupt essence so strong she could feel it touching her soul, its foul smell making her retch and cough violently.

Love Bite grappled forward until her hoof hit the distinct shape of the emergency release panel. She crawled through the airlock. Hard, fast, with tensed muscles, she closed it. The entire ship shook with horrible shrieks, the changeling was thrown out of his hooves and hit the side of the ship with a loud crack.

The changeling still clawed at the airlock as the entire ship shook and twisted.

The last thing she remembered was her head hitting the wall, the death screams of the ship as it broke down filling her ears before her body curled up and the darkness took over.

***

Some jobs were a pain in the ass.

Josh Sinclair stretched his arms out and cracked his knuckles, watching the stars fly by through a broken piece of the hull as the Errant Venture floated in a lazy orbit around the Gas Giant, a list of defects and systems in critical condition slowly scrolling in front of him. The Tarkus defense fleet was coming, but he needed to keep his ship in one piece until they arrived.

Sinclair checked the estimated arrival time once again: 73 hours, 34 minutes, and 26 seconds. Until them, he would need to make sure nothing else would go wrong. His ship hissed and creaked in protest before it fell back into its state of anxious silence.

He floated freely through the engineering deck, checking for any new irregularities.

He rubbed his hands; this was, to put it mildly, not good. Once in the Tarkus’ spaceport, the ship would need at least a couple weeks of intensive repair before it was ready for another trip, even longer before it was fully functional. The good news was that since Velvet had put all his paperwork in order he was fully insured.

He left the engineering deck behind and floated toward the bridge, his weight progressively increasing as he approached the areas where artificial gravity was still working.

Sinclair was greeted by snores, the bat pony was comfortably sleeping upside down, her tail attached to a metal bar, her wings closed around her body, a trickle of drool slipped out of Velvet’s mouth.

“Sleeping on duty?” He poked her playfully.

Velvet twitched awake and opened her eyes, meeting his crotch.

“I smell you,” she purred. “It seems you need to relax a bit, boss.”

Sinclair tried to force himself to focus, he really did try. Her nuzzle pressing against his bulge was not helping.

His fingers tangled in her hair, holding her in place as her hooves lowered his pants and her lips slanted over his cock, her long tongue took slow, deliberate licks. She pulled it into her mouth, it was hot, blistering with lustful demand. Her hooves wrapped around his waist and dragged him closer. He pressed her into the wall, her tongue was heating his cock, sending shards of lust through his spine as her tongue caressed his heavy balls.

Sweet heaven, he loved her tongue.

One hand moved to tangle in her hair, pulling at it, causing her scalp to sting erotically as he pulled her head back. A whispering moan fell from her lips as she finally managed to take all ten inches of his cock inside her mouth.

“I’ve been dying to shove my dick inside you,” he didn’t mince words.

“You’re such a romantic,” she gasped, in no way turned off.

He shoved his hard cock inside her mouth and a tight, muffled scream left her lips. Then she purred, her vibrating throat massaging his long shaft, teasing him like nothing else could.

Sinclair felt it ripple through their bodies, felt her breath catch and smelled the excitement and shock that poured from every pore of her body. Velvet’s throat tightened, a scream escaping her throat, vibrating around his cock as she orgasmed, at the same moment, Sinclair came into her mouth.

His thick seed spurted from his cock to her rapidly swallowing throat as he groaned and held her tighter. When she had sucked the last drop of seed from his throbbing flesh, he pulled back, staring down at her heatedly

“Naughty, boss,” she said with a wicked smile, licking her lips clean.

She jumped with a beat of her wings, landing at his side, still licking her lips. “I fixed the lights, but we still don’t have enough power to keep life support on the whole ship. The good news is that the batteries are almost intact. On the other hoof, the generator’s containment was cracked during the fight, so unless you want to glow in the dark we have to rely only on the batteries.”

“Transfer all non-essential power to the engines and life support,” Sinclair said absently as he paced around the command bridge. “We need to keep our orbit stable.”

“Already have.”

“What about the essential systems?”

“I can try, but then we run the risk of the life-support system breaking down before we get to Tarkus,” Velvet walked to her working station and began to type in a few commands.

Sinclair sat in his cushy captain chair, surrounded by dead consoles and screens, fingers laced together as he mentally calculated their energy consumption rates.

He stared at the gas giant and for a moment, it was as if the planet was watching them back. It was a beast of a super-Jupiter; its atmosphere incredibly caustic and constantly assaulted by furious storms that could tear even a battleship apart.

They had burned fuel at an astounding rate during the battle, between powering the engines and their weapons; there was precious little fuel to keep their orbit stable.

The planet watched them with the promise of death.

Velvet jumped to his lap. “What is it, boss? You are thinking too hard; everything is stable for now, so why don’t you relax for a moment?”

Sinclair had to give it to her, none of the problems was exactly urgent; taking a couple hours to relax wouldn’t be so bad.

“We are both reeking,” he said. “What do you think of going for a bath?”

“Aww, you’re gonna make me blush,” Velvet snickered.

Transmission incoming! The ship’s computer announced through a barely functional speaker, Josh groaned, the bath would have to wait.

“It must be the Defense Fleet,” Josh grumbled heavily. “I’ll see what they want. Just see what you can do to keep us stable for now, meet me at the showers after that.”

Velvet slumped back into her seat. “Will do, boss! Ask if they have some of that Kirin beer, I really need a good drink when all this is over.”

He initiated communication, for the past few days he had gotten to know very well their communication’s officer, her name was Serene Melody, a tall Kirin with a non-nonsense attitude and a sarcastic vein.

“This is TDF Eternal Harmony,” Her husky voice crackled through the comm. “How is your situation, IM Errant Venture?”

“Still holding the same orbit. We stabilized the life support system, but we are draining our batteries, the reactor’s containment is cracked,” Sinclair reported concisely and awaited while the transmission reached the approaching fleet and made it back, the interval was, thankfully, getting shorter by the moment.

The audio fizzled, disrupting what Serene was saying as another message bled into the channel. He adjusted a few sliders to check on it.

“Please, oh goddess, please. Is anybody out there? This is Love Bite, I was a captive on the Changeling ship. I… I’m on an escape pod. Please, save my soul.”

It took only a few buttons taps to detect the source of the transmission, an escape pod on a quickly decaying orbit, the computer estimated little more than a day before it plunged into the Gas Giant’s atmosphere and then only a matter of moments before it was destroyed.

Who in the hell would be out here? Changelings were known to use fake distress signals to lure in potential victims. Sinclair had heard his fair share of stories about escape pods filled with explosives or even drone soldiers. The Changelings weren’t content with simply fighting the war, they seemed intent on engendering callousness on their enemies.

It’s probably a trap, he reassured himself.

“Please, oh goddess, please. Is anybody out there? This is Love Bite, I was a captive on the Changeling ship. I… I’m on an escape pod. Please, save my soul.”

Or a distress call.

The auditory static blared back to life, cutting into his feed, the words resonating inside his head. “Fucking hell,” he cursed and adjusted the frequency. “Hold for a moment, Serene”

“Please, oh goddess, please. Is anybody out there? This is Love Bite, I was a captive on the Changeling ship. I… I’m on an escape pod. Please, save my soul.”

“Something wrong?” Serene’s voice was deadened, buried under the automated transmission.

2 - Dinner Date

Love Bite woke up with a migraine so terrible that it was painful to think.

She heard the quiet hum of electrical equipment and the constant beep of a machine before she opened her eyes to find…nothing. Pitch black darkness.

The dark room shuddered and groaned, shaking the silence away. Somewhere beyond her immediate perception, a terrible shriek arose. After so long aboard ships she could immediately recognize the signs of a damaged vessel creaking and still settling down after a costly battle, but the design eluded her. It was definitely not made by ponies or Changelings.

So, had she been taken in by some sort of alien? Was this a recent conquest, still not completely assimilated by the Hive? Or maybe some other sort of space pirates looking for a ransom?

Love Bite scurried to her hooves, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see the outline of a door on the opposite wall, she thought about opening it and to her surprise an aura of pink glow enveloped the door handle.

She jumped in surprise, fearful some high-ranking changeling was coming in, so used to the magic nullifier that she took some time to realize that it was her own magic manifesting.

She tentatively reached for her horn with a hoof, feeling for the odious nullifier ring that had been tightly fit at the base of her horn, but to her surprise and relief there was nothing there anymore. She found the small ring next to her bed, it was in the middle of a surgical tray, surrounded by the tools that had been used to remove it.

She took it in one hand and felt its almost insignificant weight, it’s almost inoffensive appearance, but she could still smell the dark magic coursing through it. After so long with the changelings that was something she wouldn’t forget so soon.

She quickly hid the ring inside one of the medical cabinets, not wishing to leave it where whoever had captured her could decide to put it back on her.

How long since I have used any of my magic? Do I even remember any spells?

She pressed her magic against the door and pushed. It shifted, but barely a crack that let in a beam of flickering light.

“Love Bite?”

The voice came from beyond the door and almost shattered her last nerve.

She looked up into a pair of strong, hazel eyes, the large biped alien creature walked into the room. She jerked away from him, falling back into the darkness and stopping her magic at once.

“I have a gun!” She screamed from her hiding place. “I know how to use it!

“I’m just here to check on you,” Sinclair knew there was no way the mare could be armed, but for now it would be better if he played along. “The ship’s autodoc told me you had woken up and I came here to see if you needed something.”

Her entire body shook. “That’s impossible,” her voice wavered. “How?” Was he the one responsible for defeating the Changeling’s ship? “Who are you?”

“My name is Sinclair, Josh Sinclair,” he answered with a confident smile.

Love Bite peaked out of her hiding place.

“I intercepted your distress call,” he added. “You are safe here.”

“You got my distress call?” she whispered, anxious, tears coming to her eyes.

“Yeah, lucky you we were so close. I’m going to come in there now, don’t shoot.”

Love Bite hiccupped, “Okay.”

She heard a heavy thump as he forced the door to open more. He pressed himself through the door, a silver plate in his hands. The light coming in through the door haloed him.

A human! She could choke on her surprise.

“Don’t mind the mess, those changelings chewed us pretty bad,” he took a step towards her, a gentle smile on his lips. “My androids are busy doing emergency repairs, so I’m on room service for now.”

Can I trust him? Love Bite felt alone, standing on uncertain ground. He could send her back to the changelings, sell her to slavers, and no one would know.

His eyes found her immediately and he lowered the silver plate in front of her, pulling out the cover to reveal fried hash hay, apple juice, diced carrots, cupcakes, and black coffee. “I hope you are hungry, the ship’s synthesizer is still offline, but my first-mate cooked it for you with her own hooves.”

“Why did you save me?” Love Bite hated that her voice shook.

“I intercepted your distress call.”

“No... Why did you save me?” she asked again. Why would he care for a stranger?

Sinclair took a bite out of one of the cupcakes and thought about it for a moment. “It sounded like you could use some help.”

She still eyed him with some suspicion, but the temptation of food was greater than her distrust. He had had plenty of time to poison her if he had wanted it, besides the pleasant smell was more tempting than her growling stomach could endure.

Sinclair pulled the data from the autodoc to see how the strange half-changeling was doing and he almost choked when he scrolled through the data.

Love Bite was on the edge of malnourishment, infection, fatigue, and fever.

“I have something to help you,” he reached around her and found a medical box, pulling a couple of bottles of pills from inside. “Take this, it’ll help you.” He handed her the meds.

Love Bite wrapped her magic around the pills. “What is this?”

“Pain killers, antibiotics, and cell-regen to help you heal,” he pulled out another vial and nodded toward it. “This is a booster, it’ll keep you going, but be careful, it has a nasty kick.”

She took a sip of the apple juice and chucked the medicine in her mouth. Love Bite tried not to wince as the booster kicked in, it was a hard, hot mixture that banished all the cold and stiffness from her body. After so long on the changeling’s ship her body seemed unused to warmth.

Sinclair closed the packs and put them back into his medkit.

“The Society?” Love Bite almost sighed in relief as she saw the logo on the medkit. Her mother had once worked for the Equestrian Space Exploration Society, before… “I know them,” she whispered.

“I work transportation for them,” Josh explained as he took some new scans of her body, looking for additional complications. “Me and the Errant Venture have been doing their dangerous work for a couple of years now.”

Love Bite hadn’t been so close to anyone in a long time, it felt comforting somehow, as though she could feel herself whole again.

The human continued to look at her. “We are being towed back to Tarkus right now, my ship will need some time on their dockyards.” He turned toward her. “Where do you want to go?”

She caught herself sneaking glances at his chest as he examined her. He was amazingly cut and in incredible shape.

Is he really offering me that? “Where?” Where could she go? She didn’t belong in Tarkus, with Sarizia destroyed she didn’t belong anywhere anymore. Love Bite lifted her head and waited for a reprimand, but Josh remained waiting. “I’ll think about it.”

“The passenger’s area is depressurized, but I had some of my crew prepare you a room on the crew’s quarter for now. I’ll have Velvet show you around when you are ready to move,” Sinclair turned around to store the medical scanner and when he turned around, he caught Love Bite staring at him.

“Sorry!” She blurted out. “I just haven’t seen one of your kind before!”

“One of my kind?” He smiled up at her, exaggeratedly flexing his muscles. “A daring and seductive space captain with the manners of a gentleman, but the heart of a rake?”

Love Bite chuckled as he helped her out of the bed, her hooves a bit shaken still, but she was excited to be able to walk around freely.

“I need to go check out on the repairs, but Velvet will show you to your quarters,” Josh guided her out of the clinic and into the corridors.

“That would be me,” a bat pony pranced inside the room, her voice sweet and alluring. “I’m Sweet Velvet, but you can call me Velvet, nice to meet you!”

Sweet Velvet walked towards her as Josh walked away, leaving the two ponies alone. As she approached, Love Bite could see the curves and dips of her body under the skintight zero-G work uniform, her hair tied back with a big red bow.

Velvet took Love Bites in a tight embrace; the warmth of her body radiated through the skintight suit, and warmed her chilled skin. Love Bite took in her scent, strong and sweet, fresh fruits mixed with sweat from a hard day of work.

“We were so worried about you, when we finally caught your escape pod you were unconscious,” Velvet spoke as she tightened their embrace.

“Thanks,” Love Bite croaked awkwardly.

“Come, let me show you your room,” Velvet pulled her through the door and into the darkened corridors. “I decorated it for you as best as I could with the synthesizers still offline.”

Love Bite let the bat pony take the lead and guide her through the darkened corridors.

At the end of the hallway, they came to another sliding door, stuck open with the help of a metal bar. Velvet dodged under the bar and Love Bite came just after her, looking around, taking in the room. It had been decorated in a simple, but elegant manner. There was a single bed to the back, an empty wardrobe against the left wall, an acceleration smoothly hidden against the wall. To the right, a screen covered most of the wall, mimicking a window, its display set to a pleasant summer morning, and there were even drapes she could use to cover it.

“Wow,” Love Bite gasped. “I never seen anything like that inside of a spaceship!”

She stepped further into her room, examining the luxurious pillows and blankets that covered her bed. She went to the window and it flickered shortly, the computer immediately offering her new options of scenery and environmental controls.

“We are running on battery power for now, so things will get hot for a while, ” Velvet explained as she selected a couple of options on the screen, it changed to display their current orbit away from the Gas Giant and towards Tarkus’ main Spaceport, there was a pair of cruisers and six destroyers running escort for them. “We have about two weeks still until we are back at the spaceport if nothing else goes wrong. The synthesizers are turned off, but you have access to what remains of the main database, so you shouldn’t be too bored, and if you need anything, just call for me or the captain and we will see what we can do.”

Love bite was still shocked by the size and comfort of her accommodations, after the changeling’s ship, she would have considered a closet to be an improvement, but this? This was so far out of her frame of reference that she lacked words to describe it.

And still, she was less impressed by her room than by Sweet Velvet. Out of the corner of her eye, she admired the mare’s body, the way she carried herself in the skintight suit with confidence, and the big, red bow with which she tied her hair. She was practical and strong, but uncompromising in her adorable elegance. Her desire surged and she cursed herself for a lecherous pervert for lusting over the mare of the human that had rescued her from certain death, but somehow, she couldn’t drag her eyes away.

Velvet turned and caught Love Bite watching. Love Bite face went bright red, but Velvet smiled wickedly.

“I…it was…” Love Bite stammered, averting her eyes. “Forgive me for looking, I shouldn’t have.”

Velvet darted forward with a beat of her wings and pressed her mouth against Love Bite’s in an unexpected and passionate kiss that took Love Bite’s breath away.

The hybrid hardly knew what to do at first but couldn't help reacting, couldn’t help kissing Velvet back, pulling her closer in a tight embrace as theirs lips pressed against each other, their tongues teased and played. Their bodies pressed against each other so tightly that Love Bite’s magic was sparkling.

Goddess, she feels so perfect… So right!

"Ladies, dinner is ready," Josh Sinclair walked in the room, as two mares were kissing.

For a moment, Love Bite was speechless, her heart thundering in a crescendo of panic. Was he going to be mad at her for kissing Velvet? Was he going to throw her out of the airlock?

“The dinner hall is still busted, so I set up a table in my own quarters,” he added, completely unfazed.

"Hey, boss, why don’t you open up a bottle of that pegasus hard cider? I have a couple stashed away on the back of the cooler,” Velvet smiled and looked at Love Bite. “It looks like you need something to help you relax.”

Love Bite's head bobbed from Velvet to Josh, eyes wide as her heart rate slowly returned to normal.

Velvet pulled her closer in a tight hug, her voice a whisper. "Want to have some fun?"

Love Bite chuckled nervously. “Fun?”

There was a devilish glint in Velvet’s eye when she spoke again, “Sexy and debauched fun.”

Love Bite choked an answer, but Velvet put a hoof over her lips, shushing her.

“This is completely your choice, you don’t need to feel pressured into anything,” She giggled and pulled Love Bite closer, kissing her lips lightly.

The hybrid closed her eyes and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Velvet looked at her with lustful eyes and smiled sultrily. "This is something you'd like?"

Love Bite nodded, timidly at first, but getting more confident into it as Velvet kissed and nibbled on her neck.

"Let’s go have dinner," Velvet's voice was a whisper and before Love Bite had a chance to answer, she had pulled the hybrid into a long and hungry kiss.

The touch of their skins sent jolts of wicked energy trough Love Bite’s body, it stoked a flame inside of her that she thought to be long gone, it flamed her desires and wicked cravings. She wanted more, needed more.

Love Bite could feel her head spinning as Velvet dragged her into her room and in a single, quick movement dropped out of her zero-G work suit and dove into her messy wardrobe. Love Bite could only look as the mare emerged with a couple of lacy dresses.

“Put this on,” Velvet pulled one of the dresses towards Love Bite, together with matching lingerie and stockings.

It was barely a moment before the bat pony was dressed in a light purple dress, with matching lingerie and stockings. The hybrid took some time get in hers, a pastel pink dress of similar cut.

Velvet helped her tame her mane and tail as much as she could with her limited resources and time, later they could find her a proper salon, but for now she looked gorgeous, in a barely civilized way.

The journey to Josh’s room seemed to last forever for Love Bite, her heart thundering in apprehension.

“Come in…” Josh’s voice trailed off when he saw the two mares walking, he dropped the plate of food he had been carrying “Fuck!”

Velvet laughed and launched herself into his arms, muzzling his chest and pulling him into a long kiss.

Love Bite could only watch it all, the arousal flooding her veins, she needed relief, and she needed to sate this hunger inside of her.

“Velvet!” His voice was low as his hand rose to cup her ass, his thumb playing over her panties, caressing her hole as his eyes met hers. “I see the two of you have been busy.”

“Can you blame us?” She bit her lip, muffling a moan. “Maybe you would prefer something more formal?”

His hand pushed her panties aside, two fingers sliding inside her easily, “Not a chance!”

Love Bite watched it with fractured thoughts, her desires rising too heatedly.

She jumped when the two lovers turned their attention to her, their lustful gazes devouring her body, the wetness between her thighs impossible to hide.

Velvet pulled her to Josh’s massive bed, one hoof touching the sensitive flesh of her pussy, causing her to moan and her wings to flare open as she felt the bat pony’s long tongue stroking her swollen clitoris.

“Fuck," she whimpered. “Oh Goddess!”

Josh came over her, his massive cock hard and throbbing, his hand holding her by the hair as he pushed her head towards his cock. She moaned his name as her mouth opened to take in the engorged cock, her tongue stroking the sensitive head.

It was too much pleasure, pressed between the human and the pony, it nearly overwhelmed her senses. Her body was flooded with pure pleasure, jolts of wicked lust tore a strangled, almost feral cry from her throat.

His fingers tightened in her hair as the engorged head of his cock throbbed with spurts of precum. Velvet’s lips came over her clit, tongue caressing and stroking her aching clit, her hooves caressing the inside of her thighs.

Love Bite arched into the pleasure, fiery lust filled her senses, spread through her body and left her gasping for breath. Writhed in wicked ecstasy, her clit was throbbing in an agony of need.

“She looks like she need a good fucking,” Velvet gave another lick to her clitoris before moving up, her thighs pressing to the sides of Love Bite’s head as Josh’s hands caressed down her sides to her hips, holding her in place as his wet cock pressed against her tight ass.

Her heart was racing in anticipation, the tight pressure of Josh’s fingers against her thighs as he pressed his hardened cock against her ass, Velvet’s weight above her as Love Bite licked her pussy and stroked her clit with her tongue.

His hands pressed her thighs apart, his fingers caressing through the tight hole. Velvet moaned aloud, her pleasure driving her higher and higher into needy lust.

“Oh Goddess!” Velvet screamed out a prayer as she felt Love Bite’s tongue press inside her, stretching apart the tight flesh.

The experienced tongue worked inside Velvet’s pussy, caressed and stroked the inner muscles until she writhed and nearly screamed out.

Josh came over Love Bite, fitting the large head of his cock against her needy ass with quick, deliberate thrusts. His hips rocked powerfully against her and the heated length of his cock filled her, overfilled her, until the sensations had her seeing stars with the pleasure detonating in her body.

Love Bite was at a loss to understand it all, each stroke, each caress was too much.

Powerful thrusts filled her, stroked her until she was seeing stars, waves of pleasure crashing inside of her. Sensations overwhelmed and drove her into ecstasy as a orgasms rushed through her.

His thrusts increased as the first wave of a mind-numbing orgasm tore through Love Bite. His cock began to pulse, thicken, a second before she felt the harder thrust, her tongue darting deeper into Velvet, driving the bat pony into a loud orgasm.

Love Bite was burning inside with the combined pleasure of Josh’s thick pulses of semen and Velvet’s screaming orgasm.

The simply stood there for long moments, the waves of afterglow making it hard to move, their bodies resonating in the aftershocks.

Eventually, they moved out of the bed into the bath tub to clean themselves, something that quickly devolved in another ardent session of sex with the two mares bent over the edge of the tube and Josh taking turns between fucking and fingering their asses eagerly.

With their bodies still wet, they dropped on the bed, drinking cider and taking turns kissing each other. Even that simple act was enough to send them racing into lustful, exquisite ecstasy before sinking into a deep and pleasurable sleep.

3 - Unconfortably Warm

Love Bite woke up uncomfortably warm.

She slowly processed the lack of restraints around her, the too comfortable mattress, and, last, the two warm bodies pressed against her. It took her a moment to remember the events of the last few days, her escape from the changelings, her rescue, and the dinner turned into a night of passionate love.

She wiggled herself better between the two of them, closing her eyes and feeling their comfortable warmth. It was heaven.

“Hey,” Velvet kissed the base of her neck, “Slept well?”

Love Bite gasped and murmured an agreement.

Velvet opened a drawer next to the bed and pulled out a small metal flask, taking a long sip and then kissing Love Bite, sharing a drink with her. “Zebra’s special brew, it’s like coffee, but also a full meal.”

Sinclair watched the exchange with a little smile.

Love Bite cringed as she felt the strange concoction spreading its filling energy throughout her body. “Gah, this is disgusting,” she smacked her lips. “Do you have any more?”

“Trust me, you won’t need anymore,” Velvet peered into the bottle with a frown and recapped it; she would need to look for more when they landed.

Sinclair pulled the two mares against his chest.

“I think we’re going to get along just fine,” Velvet laughed and pulled Love Bite for another kiss. Josh enlaced his fingers on the mares’ manes, holding them firmly and pulling Velvet for a kiss and then Love Bite for another.

After a while, Josh had to force himself out of the bed, there was work to be done.

Love Bite stretched herself on the comfortable bed, stretching her wings and hooves. “I like you naked, why do humans wear clothes anyway?”

Velvet snickered. “I told him the same thing!”

Josh tried to stiff a laughter. “Mares”

In the days that followed, a comfortable routine developed. Love Bites had little knowledge about maintenance or mechanics, but she happily took over the “household chores.”

While Josh and Velvet worked on the ship, she took upon herself to make do with their limited supplies. Most of the ship was still depressurized and powered down, but Love Bite made sure to keep the crew’s quarters organized and cleaned as best as she could, given the circumstances.

From the first day she began to produce protein algae, organizing supplies, cleaning, and making sure they had enough of everything to survive. Through the radio she could talk with the defense fleet and have packs of resources delivered, but due to their condition and speed, it was a hazardous procedure that they avoided doing as much as possible.

With only the fragmented database for entertainment, they spent most nights drinking fruit juices and talking, something that more often than not quickly turned to ardent sex.

She took some getting used to Velvet’s and Josh’s intense routine, but she quickly got used to being touched, caressed, kissed, and fucked! Used to being loved. She had begun to crave it, the feel of Josh’s hard cock pressed against her back as they woke up, Velvet’s long tongue kissing her in the morning. The grasp of his strong hands as he pinned her down, his breath on the back of her neck, the feel of Velvet’s soft body pressed against hers, holding her close...

As their trip came close to an end, they settled down to what would be their last dinner aboard the ship for a while. Love Bite had made juicy, hay steaks, baked potatoes, pasta, and the last of their reserve of pegasus hard cider.

“I know this place in Tarkus,” Josh spoke animatedly, taking another chug of cider straight from the bottle. “You two will love it, they make the best apple pie on the whole sector!”

“I can’t wait to stretch my wings and do some proper flying,” Velvet added. “I heard they have some amazing cloud-cities!”

The animation was infecting, after two weeks cupped inside the ship with limited supplies, they were anxious to get out, but for Love Bite it also brought a certain dread. They had shared a comfortable relationship inside the ship, but would they want to have her near when they landed? Maybe it would be for the best if she weren’t around…

Her train of thought and their laughter were interrupted by the crackling voice of the comms system.

Attention, incoming transmission, wide band transmission, maximum urgency.

The three turned their attention to the main screen where a wave of static replaced the idyllic image. Wide bands transmissions were targeted at all ships in or near orbit of the planet; it was usually reserved for emergencies and general warnings.

“…Her name is Sweet Velvet,” the dark-blue unicorns spoke with barely contained anger. “She was kidnapped from Equestria by a barbaric and ruthless human pirate! I’m offering a reward of half a million bits to anyone that brings her back to me. One million bits if they kill the human pirate in the process!”

* * *

“What in Tartarus are you wearing?!” Midnight Spell screamed.

“But…” Velvet looked down at herself, viewing the light purple dress she had loved so much with uncertainty now, it had taken her months to save money from her work on the repair shop until she had enough to buy one.

It was the first time they were going out on a date in months and it had looked like the perfect opportunity to try out her dress.

Midnight Spell’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you even get that? How did you afford it?”

Velvet found herself suddenly tongue-tied. How could she admit that she’d saved back the tips she received? She was supposed to turn her entire paycheck over to him each month.

I can take care of the finances, Midnight used to say, there’s no need for you to worry about those things. He would give her enough for groceries and household expenses, but he couldn’t allow her to spend it on frivolities.

She told herself that he just wanted to help her, that he was just worried, and after all, they always discussed those things before deciding anything.

It had been like that when they decided it was best for her to drop out of college, it just made sense at the time, besides, he had guaranteed she could go back to it later.

When they had to move away from her family and closer to Canterlot, it had made sense. The new assignment would open new paths for a promotion he considered long overdue, and of course he would need his fiancée with him at all times, it would be improper for an officer like him to allow his bride to live far from him.

And then it just made sense for her to spend more time at home, it wouldn’t take long for them to be married and have kids anyway. She should get used to doing the house chores, and they could save some money.

And he was reasonable, he even allowed her to take a part time job on a small repair shop in town, on the condition that she would drop it as soon as she got pregnant. She had been happy to work with the machines, finally getting some use of her certification.

But then, for the last few weeks he had been complaining about the “Farmer studs” that frequented the shop and she could sense that if she didn’t end up pregnant soon, he would say how it made sense for her to go stop working.

Velvet noticed that her fiancée was still staring at her with narrowed eyes and realized that she’d better start defusing the situation quickly.

“It was a gift, from one of the mares on the shop,” she lied on the spot, more used to catering for Midnight’s uncertain temper than she would like to admit. “And I… I thought you would like it.”

“A gift, hmm?” His look of suspicion softened and he smiled at her, his sharp green eyes heavy upon her in a way that made her tremble, she had found his eyes so attractive when they first met. “It’s really sexy.”

Velvet breathed an inward sigh of relief. Maybe everything would be alright after all. Maybe they could just go out and enjoy a nice dinner together the way they used to when they were still dating.

Midnight Spell grabbed her by the neck and kissed her lips, “You look gorgeous, princess, and I guess you have earned a night out. But first, go change into something more modest.”

Velvet bit her lip; it was a small victory at last.

They ended on the same restaurant they frequented almost religiously once a month for the last year, Velvet would have liked a different place, but Midnight disliked change.

She sat in silence as Midnight talked about his day of work, sometimes she tried to interfere or tell something about her day, but he quickly brushed it off. It’s not that he was uninterested in her day, but it was just that his work was so much more interesting.

After half an hour, they were done with their meal. Velvet breathed out a defeated sigh, it hadn’t been just the food or wine Velvet had wanted, she had hoped that she could reignite the flames of their relationship, to make things go back to how they were when they were dating.

“Well, that was nice,” he said at last. “When we are home, I think we need to discuss that job of yours, with our marriage’s date getting closer, I believe it’s been demanding too much of your time, don’t you think?”

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said carefully, getting up. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

There was a wrinkle of rage in his face; nothing he would show in public, but that she had learned to recognize.

She practically barged inside the bathroom before the tears came in; she resisted the urge to cry, holding her gaze in the mirror and forcing herself to hold it.

She was drowning in her own panic, losing her breath in a wave of dread. She wanted to escape.

It wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed her mind but she had always discarded it as some stupid fantasy. Everyone wanted to escape their lives, everyone dreamed of going away, but she had responsibilities, she had Midnight Spell, she soon would have his baby.

And it was not even as if she could actually do it, Midnight Spell was an officer on the Equestrian Defense Forces, he would find her anywhere in Equestria.

She had some money hidden away tough. When she had been accepted into college, her family had given her a small cottage on the town of Night Vale to help her start her life. It was small and old, secluded almost out of town, but it was hers and there were few things she could say were legitimate hers these days.

She washed her face with cold water and dried it with paper towels, taking deep breaths to regain her composure. It was silly, the moment she tried to do anything with the cottage, Midnight would know and then he would want to know why she kept it a secret from him for so long.

Those are silly dreams, time to go back to real life.

She turned to open the door when she noticed the recruiting poster glued to the back of the door, it was water stained and faded.

Come to Space City!

The Equestrian Space Exploration Society needs you!

Go on Adventures. Find Treasures. Deal with Aliens!

Let’s Explore!

4 - Fire and Darkness

Everything should have been on its way to being a peaceful couple of weeks of shore leave, but instead, it seemed the devil himself was out to get him.

“As soon as we land on the spaceport, there will be dozens of bounty hunters ready to jump us. It’s how I would do if I was in their place,” Sinclair pondered. “The whole of the Spaceport is considered interplanetary jurisdiction; any registered bounty hunter will have a free shot at us the moment we step outside.”

“Not all of it,” Velvet offered. “They have a Sphinx embassy on the inner ring, they can’t touch us if we get asylum.”

“That still leave us with the problem of the bounty,” Josh paced nervously around the room. “The sphinxes won’t be able to save us from a direct request of extradition from the Equestrian planetary forces!”

Love Bite stepped back; this had nothing to do with her.

“If we talk with the sphinx’s ambassador, I can explain everything,” Velvet said. “The Society will back us too!”

Love Bite could run away, there was no bounty for her, they didn’t even know she was on the ship.

“That’s not certain, not even the Society likes to go against the Equestrian Defense,” Josh pointed.

Somehow, they would be safe, Love Bite told herself.

“It’s all the chance we have,” Velvet replied.

Josh nodded. “Stay behind me.”

“Don’t you dare to die to save me!”

He turned to Love Bite, a somber look in his eyes. “It would be better if you got away first, we don’t want to drag you into this.”

“That bad?”

He glanced back at her. “Yeah.”

Love Bite shook her head, “Where is your arsenal?”

Josh was shortly stunned by the question. “What? You don’t need to do it…”

“It sounds like you need some help,” Love Bite replied. “Now, where are your guns?”

“Do you even know how to use a gun?” Velvet asked.

“Father was a defense contractor, mother was part of the Planetary Defense Forces, they taught me how to defend myself,” she replied. “Now, about those guns?”

Josh guided the two mares to his personal room, hidden behind one of the walls, locked through a retinal scan there was a reinforced safe of crystallized steel.

Love Bite had expected a couple of handguns and a couple of knives, with some luck a long rifle, but when Josh opened the safe, she gasped.

One-half of the safe contained hard drives and tightly packed bundles of money from several different species, at least two dozen golden coins, and a couple of treasure bounds written in an alien language. The other side contained a collection of magnetic pistols, laser rifles, plasma carbines, shard-guns, and a collection of different tasers, some discreet and elegant, while others seemed fit to tame giant animals. There was body armor stashed to the back, impact resistant jackets and even a couple of magnetic-shield generators.

Love Bite looked from the arsenal to Josh with a silent question in her eyes.

“What?” Josh asked with a smile. “I travel through dangerous places!”

Sinclair and Love Bite quickly donned some of the armor and strapped in their chosen guns to clips and holsters on the armor. Love Bite had to improvise a bit to make the armor fit right, since the suits had been developed for humans, not ponies. For last they helped Velvet put on some armor, since the bat pony had no experience with firearms she would be carrying extra ammo for the two, but Sinclair made sure to give her a couple of tasers.

The Errant Venture approached port with the low growl of its ion engines rattling the entire ship, warning sounding off and almost immediately fizzling out, a small crowd of dock workers and technicians were attracted by the state of disrepair of the ship.

From his position on the bridge, Sinclair inspected the crowd through cameras and sensors, mixed amidst the curious there were a good number of bounty hunters, most of them seemed green, barely more than kids with guns.

“The skimmer is loaded and ready,” Velvet called from the lower cargo bay.

Sinclair turned from the bridge, tapping a few commands on his captain’s chair. “I’ll be there in a moment, continue as planned.”

“Venture, turn off the gravity compensator,” Josh spoke the commands as he walked in a brisk step.

The still frayed communication system replied in garbled binary bursts. The generator pitch deepened and lights flickered all over the ship before Sinclair felt the gravity field fluctuate as they were caught by the Spaceport’s own gravity field.

A jarring shudder ran through the deck plate, felt in the bones more than heard.

“On my signal, divert the residue back into the auxiliary thrusters, and burn port retros at full for fifteen seconds,” Josh took one of the magnetic pistols in his hands as he walked inside the cargo bay.

Velvet and Love Bite were already waiting for him on the Skimmer, the anti-grav vehicle was supposed to help move cargo around, but it didn’t take too much fidgeting to replace its ionic battery with a couple of magical crystals. It had a small cabin for a driver and a passenger, with a large, flat bed on the back that could carry around a single container.

The Errant Venture shuddered violently as the portside retro thrusters ignited, the infusion of residue into the main fuel line caused the thrusters to spill noxious smoke more than flames, covering the dockyard in a thick, choking smoke that drove most people away from the ship in a hurry.

The cargo bay doors were blasted open by its emergency release bolts and the Skimmer fell to the ground with a jarring impact, the anti-grav plates kicking into action to make it float a few meters out of ground, whining anxiously as Sinclair pumped more power into them and stepped down on the accelerator.

The skimmer darted ahead, quickly clearing through the dispersing crowd before any could react and dropping into the traffic lanes that criss-crossed the spaceport. Josh held tight to the controls as the engine roared sickly, pressed harder than it had ever been expected to perform.

Velvet was at his side, clutching tightly to her seat belt as the small skimmer drove around the giant cargo haulers. Love Bite was on the back, she didn’t have any safety belt, but instead she tied a rope around her waist and to the skimmer’s bed, she focused her arcane energies and summoned almost forgotten incantations.

The entire skimmer was enveloped by her spell, a simple illusion that mirrored the giant cargo haulers around them.

“It’s working!” Velvet exclaimed happily. “How are you holding, Love Bite?”

Too focused on her spell, the hybrid replied with only a grunt and a nod.

“I’ll bring us down on the tunnels as fast as I can,” Josh added. “Then you can relax for a while.”

“It’s only half an hour to the embassy,” Velvet consulted their planned route. “We can go…”

There was thunder and Sinclair threw their vehicle as hard as he could to the side. The vehicle jerked, knocking them around at breakneck speed. All around him the road descended into chaos as the giant cargo haulers lost control and crashed into each other and the road.

Love Bite didn’t have it in her to scream, bracing herself against the wall with two hooves as Josh guided their skimmer out of the path of two crashing cargo haulers. Her illusion was disrupted by the disruptive blast of the first explosion, she felt the sting of dark magic in the air, a disruption spell mixed in with the explosive one. She thanked the humans for building their machines with those weird electronics instead of arcane components.

Sinclair barely dodged a second explosion, those weren’t regular explosives, but arcane disruption bombs, wreaking havoc on the spells that guided the automated cargo haulers.

Josh pumped all power into the elevation thrusters, throwing their skimmer high into the sky as one of the giant haulers flopped in front of them. Their skimmer dropped back hard to the ground with a skidding shower of sparks.

Velvet’s eyes widened with a muted scream when she saw the nightmarish creature coming for them, jumping out of one of the overpasses. It looked like a pony, but wrong, distorted by fiery rage, with a crooked horn, a furious mane of blue fire crowned its head.

“What the fuck!?” Josh roared.

Love Bite turned fast, her magic reaching for one of the tasers and striking the creature before it could land on them, the fiery beast was taken mid-air by the impact and thrown to the road.

They were hit again, Sinclair braced the controls as hard as he could, but the skimmer was thrown by the force of the explosion against one of the heavy lifters that surrounded the docking zone. Love Bite took one of the pistols with her magic, cocking it and scanning their surroundings anxiously.

The window next to Sinclair fractured, as another of the fiery beasts jumped them, the creature punched through the glass with its hooves and almost hit Sinclair’s head. With barely a thought, the human took out his pistol and fired two shots against it.

“We need to go!” Velvet screamed, seeing more of the fiery beasts moving towards them. “They are Nirins!”

“What the hell is a Nirin?!” Josh yelled as he blindly shot against the approaching creatures, struggling with the controls of the damaged skimmer.

“They are bad news,” Velvet explained as she kicked open the control panel, pulled out a couple of burned out wires, and connected two of them directly. “Corrupted Kirins, extremely dangerous.”

The skimmer shot up just as nirins came upon them, Love Bite fired wildly towards them to slow their approach. The skimmer darted ahead, leaving them behind with angry growls.

“They are still coming!” Velvet screamed. The nirins had taken over one of the automated haulers, their corrupted magic overwhelming and dominating the spells that once guided the machine.

“Fuck,” Sinclair gritted out, as the nirins breathed hot on their necks, darts of warp fire coming towards them. “I’m as fast as this thing will go!”

Love Bite dropped the pistol and took the shard rifle with her magic, they only three shots with that gun, she would need to make each one count.

“Keep driving,” she took careful aim at the corrupted creatures and, with her magic, squeezed the trigger. The weapon roared and launched a shard of energy crystal at high speed against the nirin, the beast still tried to protect himself with magic, but it cut straight through the magical shield, hard flesh, brittle bones, and splashed its soft brain matter all over its companions.

“Nice Shot!” the human growled.

Love Bite swiped her hair off of her face and loaded another shard in the gun just as one of the nirins jumped towards her, propelling itself with a magic push. She dropped the large gun and caught it with three bullets from her pistol before it even touched the skimmer.

“We have more incoming,” Velvet pointed towards more nirins coming towards them in hijacked haulers.

Love Bite dropped the spent pistol magazine and reached for another one, but more of the nirins were jumping towards them.

“Get down!” Josh screamed and she pressed herself down on the ground when Josh reached over her and took down the closest nirin with two well placed shots.

Love Bite let go of her pistol and took her taser just as the nirin came towards her with its head lowered, the flaming horn pointed to her neck. She caught it in the neck with a full charge, putting all her power behind the strike and launching it out of the skimmer.

She turned to face the other, but too slow, the beast was upon her with two flaming hooves hitting her back with a sickening crack. The hybrid cried out loud, but grasped her pistol back, and even though it had no ammo, she bludgeoned the nirin with it, hitting its eyes with the handle.

Velvet took the controls in her hooves, “Go help her, I’ll drive!”

Sinclair squeezed through the cracked window, pulling himself to the side of the skimmer and graciously jumping onto the back of the bed just in time to punch a nirin before it could hit Love Bite.

Love Bite felt something loose on her chest, probably a cracked rib, she couldn’t be sure, but it would be a problem for later anyway. Sinclair threw her a new pistol and she took it in her magic.

The skimmer dipped into a tunnel, the nirins glowed amidst the darkness and kept coming. Gunfire rang out like music as Love Bite and Josh stood back to back, covering each other against the beasts.

Velvet took a lower route, making a tight turn to the left.

And right into another nirin.

The nirin was in front of them, horn lowered and glowing with sickening magic. Seeing that she couldn’t dodge, Velvet accelerated and crashed into it before the beast could have unleashed whatever spell it had prepared, she ground the creature against the craft’s heavy metal frame.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Love Bite screamed as she brought down another nirin, throwing the empty magazine and punching a full one. Sinclair, at her side, dropped a jammed pistol and unsheathed an old-looking, high-caliber revolver.

There was a crack, another explosion that almost threw them out of the road, but this time there was something different. Josh felt the sting of ozone in his mouth.

Velvet’s hooves dug into the control panel as error reports flooded the console, and the simple computer blared error messages in three different languages. She tried to restart it, screaming and cursing it all the while.

The skimmer skidded to a screeching stop, the nirins coming closer, death in their eyes. A hand gripped her arm.

“Time to go,” Sinclair urged, pulling her out of the seat.

Love Bite turned back around to face Sinclair and Velvet.

Something snaked across her mind. Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong. She could feel it in the air, the sting of dark magic.

“We are not too far,” Sinclair growled as he took the shard rifle in his hands and slotted in a new shard. “Start heading up. I’ll be just behind,” he lied.

Velvet knew he was lying, her mouth slightly open in shock, but she refused to move.

“No,” Love Bite said. “We stick together.”

He looked at the two mares and chuckled. “Fine. I’ll...”

Sinclair felt it moments before it struck him. A lightning bolt, brilliant white and warped greens. His skin smouldered as the jolt of corrupted magic ravaged his body, burned his clothes, charred his skin.

He heard a scream through all his pain. Sweet Velvet.

He saw the hooves of the nirins coming closer, three shots were fired, but then silenced with a disturbing crush.

Then came darkness and the agonizing unconsciousness as he clawed with all his forces to remain awake.

5 - Love me not

“Velvet!” Josh Sinclair yelled as he came awake. His voice drowned by the sirens of emergency vehicles that filled the sky, dozens of them working on recovering the wounded and clearing the lanes from the trail of destruction they had left in their wake. Fortunately, no one had yet located their final stand.

He saw the damaged haulers, the signs of combat all around him, three husks of dead nirins, their blood still warm. This was bad, fucking atrocious.

But he couldn’t find trace of Velvet or Love Bite.

He pulled out the small medikit from the damaged skimmer, he took a pair of light painkillers and some of the boosters to keep him going, he couldn’t stop yet.

He limped out of the road, finding a maintenance door that had been cracked open. He took the stairs and came upon a small commercial boulevard overseeing a pair of docking yards, several ponies gasped as they saw him and got out of his way.

And then he heard it, screams.

He was running towards its source, with barely a care for his own wounds. He still caught a glimpse of Velvet being dragged inside the ship, a large Equestrian Cruiser.

Any rational thought would come to the conclusion that assaulting the ship would be suicide, but Sinclair was sneaking through the supply lines long before the rational side of his mind had time to come with any objection.

Years spent working on ships had taught him about its blind spots, places someone could sneak undetected. Josh used the supply lines to get into the ship, using a taser to bring down the lone guard that had stood watch.

He moved through the maintenance ducts of the ship, realizing that it was, thankfully, operating with a minimal crew at the moment.

He found Love Bite on the lower cargo bay, one of the depots had been hastily converted into a prison for the hybrid, there was a single pony standing guard and he took him down silently with a taser strike to his neck.

Sinclair took Love Bite in a tight embrace, overburdened with relief.

“Love Bite,” he kissed her. “Are you alright?”

His hands fell upon her, searching for her wounds. Her body shook as he touched her.

“I thought you were dead,” she looked at him with tears in her eyes. “They were talking about selling me to the changelings!”

“No... I would never let it happen,” he hugged her tightly.

Her hoof came up and caressed his wounded flesh; Sinclair leaned into her touch.

“You’re hurt,” Love Bite shuffled and moved towards him to inspect his wounds.

“I’ll be fine,” he comforted her. “I’ll just need a few weeks of rest after that.”

We’re not safe yet. He grasped her hooves and moved to stand. “Do you know where they took Velvet?”

She twisted her head and peered down the passageway. “The bridge, I saw them dragging her upstairs.”

“Stay near me,” Josh said. “I’ll go take Velvet and then the three of us will go have a long and deserved rest, right?”

She nodded timidly.

They made quick way through the ship, dodging a couple of guards and easily finding their way to the command bridge. Sinclair braced himself and sucked in a long breath filled with fear and adrenaline.

He checked the ammo on his magnum and sent a silent prayer as he walked into the command bridge. There were only two ponies on the large command room, Velvet cuffed to a chair and Midnight Spell on the captain’s chair readying the ship for launch.

Sinclair trained the gun on the unicorn’s head and walked towards him.

“I have come for Velvet,” he declared firmly.

“You came for the whore?” Midnight chuckled. “She is mine, go find another one for you.”

“Fuck you!” Sinclair squeezed the trigger.

A crash of metal screeched as the bullet was deflected by Midnight’s magical shield, hitting some piece of machinery. Midnight quickly turned his magic towards Josh, pulling the revolver out of his hands.

“Pathetic toys, human,” the unicorn laughed, his magical aura enveloping his whole body. “There’s nothing you can do to hurt a grand sorcerer like me!”

Without a moment of hesitation, Sinclair threw two knives at the unicorn, but with barely any effort he threw them back at the human. Sinclair grunted as the metal pierced his flesh.

“The whore is really worth it?” Midnight laughed it off.

“I’m not leaving her!”

Sinclair felt the magic around his neck, squeezing tightly.

“So be it,” Midnight spoke dispassionately.

Through the pain, Sinclair pounced forward, the taser held firmly in his bloodied hands, reaching for the unicorn’s neck, but was thrown back against the wall with a sickening crunch.

“Let him go,” Love Bite demanded as she walked into the room. “You will let the three of us go. Now!”

Midnight Spell turned to look at the hybrid, keeping his magic tightly wound up around Josh, slowly strangling him with some twisted pleasure.

“Sorry, but I’m not used to receiving orders from aberrations,” he fixed her with his glare.

“I knew you smelled familiar,” Love Bite walked closer. “From the moment Velvet told me about you, I had this gnawing suspicion, but now that we are so close, you reek of it.”

“Get out,” Midnight growled. “I’ll kill this pirate and then you.”

“When did you start?” Love Bite asked, unfazed. “The academy? Studying and training was so hard, so why not make things easier?”

“Shut up, aberration!” Midnight released Josh from his spell and turned all its power against Love Bite, he reached towards the mare with all his rage and… found nothing. Her image vanished into nothing.

Love Bite laughed out loud. “Dark magic made it so easy, didn’t it?”

“Show yourself!” Midnight demanded, in his rage he reached out with his magic, pulling free one of the command chairs and throwing at the source of Love Bite’s voice.

“Did you promise yourself it would be only one time?” The hybrid laughed, images of her flickering all around. “But you kept going back to it, making new excuses…”

Midnight unleashed thunder towards her images, burning out the control stations in his rage.

“You could never admit how much you loved it,” Love Bite whispered in his ear. “How much you loved the power it gives you.”

Midnight turned around focusing his magic towards the hybrid, a cruel spell in his mind… and suddenly there was nothing.

The unicorn fell back as he felt the metal ring around his horn seeping away all of his magic, he screamed in impotent rage and cursed at the three of them.

“I’ll make you pay,” he screamed. “I’ll have you locked away in a laboratory! They will cut you open alive! This filthy pirate will be tried and executed, and when I’m done with Velvet, she will never even remember any of you existed!”

Love Bite raised Josh’s magnum and fired.

“You are not going to hurt anyone,” she wiped the splash of blood from her face.