Decoy

Decoy paused at the door to its case worker’s office. It looked like she was busy with another client.

“No, I don’t know where she is. She was seen getting on to the train, but by the time it arrived she must have taken another form.”

“We are extremely disappointed by your incompetence,” said the dark blue alicorn standing in front of her desk. She looked angry – her star-strewn mane and tail were agitated despite the lack of wind indoors, and she was wielding a giant, jet-black spear. “We thought the alarm we set around the perimeter was mere paranoia, but if we hadn’t done so, when exactly would you have noticed they were missing?”

“She’s kept on a tight leash. I meet with her every day to give her her assignment. It’s just not a physical leash, because we don’t have the authority to restrain ponies like that. This isn’t a prison.”

“That doesn’t mean the prisoner you agreed to monitor is here on the honor system!” the alicorn replied. “We will find them for you, and bring them back, and –” she’d turned, and seen Decoy waiting at the door. Her anger faded a bit, replaced with confusion.

“Oh!” Decoy said, finally figuring it out. “You were talking about me, weren’t you.”

The pegasus pushed past the alicorn to shout in its face, “Where have you been!”

“In… my room?”

That didn’t end her shouting. “No! We checked your room! It was the first place we looked when Princess Luna appeared in front of me and told me you’d escaped!”

Decoy was not happy with this situation. Their anger was completely unjustified, but nearly anything it did would just make them angrier. Cowering might work, but it wasn’t sure that would set the right precedent. Did it want to have to knuckle under to this sort of emotional manipulation for the next hundred years?

Apparently, saying silent while pondering the proper response was not, in fact, the correct response. The pegasus placed her hoof on its nose. “Where.” Boop. “Were.” Boop. “You?” Boop.

Decoy recoiled a step, and answered simply. “San Palomino. Didn’t you already know that? You knew I was on the train, and that’s the only place the train goes.”

“You might have gotten off mid-trip,” Luna pointed out. “What were you doing there?”

“Shopping,” Decoy said. “Dinner at a fancy restaurant. I was paid for the extra shift I worked, and there isn’t anywhere to spend money on-site.”

“There’s a company store,” the pegasus said, a little more calm now that the alicorn looming over her was calming down.

Decoy smiled. “Oh, I’ll have to find that then. I didn’t know.”

“You aren’t supposed to leave the site without an escort,” the pegasus said.

Decoy considered mentioning his roommate but wanted to make sure before exposing her to trouble. “If I’d had an escort, it would have been okay?”

“If you’d had an escort, and the two of you had come to me and asked for permission to go off-site, and given me a written itinerary so that when Princess Luna teleported into my office, I could tell her with confidence that you had not escaped and were instead on a supervised excursion…” she took a deep breath. “Then it would have been okay.”

Decoy nodded. “I’ll be sure to pay more attention to the technicalities next time.”

The pegasus twitched, her wings spreading halfway. “Technicalities? You think –”

“Stop,” the alicorn said, in a normal tone of voice, that nevertheless instantly silenced the pegasus. “They’re a changeling. This is how they think. If they came back of their own accord, then this was most likely naivete or, at worst, mischief, rather than malice.” She focused her gaze on Decoy. “I am a bit surprised that you came back.”

Decoy lowered its head. “We all agreed to stand trial and suffer your judgment, to appease the ponies. I may not like my sentence, but I haven’t been mistreated; why would you expect me to flee, and ruin everything?”

“I expected you to fake your death,” the alicorn replied. “That was your job, wasn’t it?”

“That was my job a long time ago,” Decoy said. “Now my job is mostly digging trenches and lifting heavy things. It’s a lot less dangerous.” It paused, then added, “Everypony saw me stand up in front of your court and explain that my job was to impersonate missing ponies and fake their death. What would possibly make them believe that this time it was real?”

The alicorn frowned. “Nothing, most likely, which could be a problem if you were to actually perish. So try not to die.” She sighed, and shook her head. “Or if you do, make sure to leave some sort of gruesome trophy we can throw to the crowd.”

“Nopony’s going to die!” the pegasus said, frantically. “We have a very good safety record, and unicorn medics on staff with a full supply of magical healing potions. Our worker attrition is far below the average for the industry –”

The alicorn merely nodded, then her horn glowed, and she turned into a swirling cloud of black mist which quickly spiraled in on itself and vanished.

The pegasus collapsed against the wall, slumping into a pile with her hooves held over her face. “Why do you do this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?”

Decoy frowned. “Would it help if I licked you for a bit? I always relax after a few orgasms.”

“No sex. I’m your caseworker.”

“Right,” Decoy said. “Technicalities.” It paused. “Would you like a hug? Hugs aren’t sex. Technically.”

“Just… take the day off. You’re suspended without pay until we decide how to punish you for leaving the site.”

Decoy tilted its head. “But you don’t pay me.”

“I don’t make the rules,” the pegasus said. “Just try not to get into any more trouble.”

===

Decoy tried not to get into any more trouble. It searched for the company store, a hunt made trivial by the many signs that pointed the way, now that it was looking. The selection was rather sparse – some luxury snacking food, some nonessential toiletries, a small selection of books and records, and various doodads like scarves (scarves? In the desert?) and playing cards with the company’s logo prominently displayed. Nothing that it actually wanted to spend money on, especially at the somewhat inflated prices the store charged.

Its second thought was to find somepony to have fun with, but it took a while before it could find anypony who wasn’t working. Eventually it spotted a pair of earth ponies who were just standing around chatting, while the other ponies in their group worked on something delicate-looking. There was a third who was supervising, but she was obviously actually paying attention and watching for something to go wrong.

“You don’t look very busy,” Decoy said, settling to the ground in front of them.

“Heh,” said the mare. “We’ll be busy in a little while, once they’re ready for our part.”

“Five minutes out of every hour,” said the stallion, with a sigh.

“That doesn’t sound very efficient,” Decoy said. “Maybe you need multiple teams working on the slow part?”

“Please don’t give them ideas,” the mare smirked.

The stallion chuckled. “We actually tried that on one site, you would not believe how many problems it caused! We weren’t bored, though.”

“If you’re bored, do you want to –”

“Have sex?” the mare interrupted.

Decoy nodded eagerly. Apparently, it was getting a reputation. Convenient! At least for the moment, while it was still interested in sex.

“Sure,” she said. “Lay it on me.”

Decoy looked around. “Is there a room where we could have privacy?”

“Now you’re modest?” she asked, turning and lifting her tail, exposing herself to it. She waggled her hips. “Come on, dig in.”

“I’m not allowed to have sex in public,” it explained. “It’s against the rules.”

“Well, horseapples,” the mare said. “We can’t leave the job site or we don’t get paid.”

“Ever,” the stallion added. “We’d be fired.”

“You could go on break,” the supervisor offered.

“Breaks are only fifteen minutes,” the mare complained.

“That’s enough time, if we’re quick,” Decoy said.

“Technically,” the mare said, frowning. “Oh, just forget it. Logistics really kills the mood.”

Decoy sincerely wished that that were true.

===

It came back and found her at lunchtime and stole her away to a quiet room it had scouted out in one of the finished buildings near enough to the cafeteria not to waste much time. It was sure that it was technically off-limits, but it also wasn’t technically marked ‘keep out’ – instead the sign on the door said ‘construction workers only’, but that described both of them.

It had never had sex as a manticore before, but the mare had a magazine with plenty of pictures of all the relevant bits.

===

About an hour after lunch, a runner approached it and brought it to the administration building, where it was led into an air-conditioned meeting room where the pegasus who gave it its tasks sat with six other ponies, all positioned around the outer edge of an arc-shaped series of tables, with a single chair in the middle. It had participated in a trial before, and knew that it was meant to sit in the lone chair, but hesitated – the last trial had not been a pleasant experience.

“Sit,” said the unicorn in the middle of the arrangement.

Decoy sat.

“Miss Dee,” she said, glancing down at her notes, “do you know why you’re here?”

“I left the work site without following procedure, and the blue alicorn was nervous enough to come down here and bother you.”

“By ‘the blue alicorn’ she refers to Princess Luna,” its caseworker qualified.

“I’m sorry, I’m not good with names,” Decoy said.

“You’re here because we need to decide on your punishment,” said a unicorn stallion two seats to the left. “Why did you leave the site?”

“I heard that there was a train to San Palomino and back, that was free for employees,” it replied. “I saw many ponies taking advantage of that opportunity. It didn’t occur to me that I would be an exception.”

“Heard from who?” the stallion pressed.

“Is that important?” Decoy asked.

“Stop it,” the pegasus said. “We know she got on the train with Tsunami. She obviously doesn’t want to get her friend in trouble.”

“Honesty is a virtue,” said the stallion. “It’s one of the elements of harmony.”

“So is loyalty,” the pegasus replied.

“Discretion is not an element, but it’s crucial nevertheless,” said the unicorn in the middle. “This also covers her use of a disguise while in San Palomino.”

“Yes,” Decoy said, clamping down its elytron to keep its wings from buzzing. “We were… discreet.”

The earth pony seated immediately the unicorn mare’s right yawned, struggling to stay awake.

“I really think we should let her off with a warning this time,” its case worker said. “I informed her of the proper procedure if she wants to go on another excursion.”

“It would be easier to simply ban such trips,” suggested a unicorn mare, this one to the pegasus’ immediate left.

“We have her for a hundred years,” the pegasus replied. “She’ll go stir-crazy if we try to keep her on site the whole time.”

“This job-site isn’t scheduled to last a hundred years,” the unicorn stallion on the left said. “Sooner or later we’ll be selling her contract.”

“You all have good points,” said the unicorn in the middle. “Why don’t we confine her to the work site for… let’s say… one moon? After which we can restore the privilege of properly supervised excursions, assuming she hasn’t caused any trouble in the meantime.”

Another unicorn, this one on the far left, objected. “I wanted to take her with us on the trip to Kludgetown. That’s in three weeks.”

“That’s fine,” the middle unicorn said. “The restriction would only apply to trips taken of her own volition, not work assignments.”

“Alright then, I’m on board.”

“Any objections?”

There were none.

Decoy accompanied its pegasus caseworker to her office, after the meeting. “That seemed like a lot of trouble just for that one mare to declare that she’d do what she was planning to do all along.”

“You picked up on that, huh,” the pegasus said. “It’s all about procedure. Procedure is what separates us from the ponies who actually get work done.”

Decoy blinked, trying to figure out what she meant by that.

“Alright,” the pegasus said, when they got to her desk. “I’ll need you to sign this form acknowledging that you were given a hearing, and that the decision of the panel was to restrict your off-base privileges for a persiod of one moon.”

“That seems like an odd requirement,” it said, looking over the form, which seemed to say exactly that. “I don’t understand this procedure. I would prefer not to participate.”

“I can’t let you leave this room unless you sign it,” the pegasus said. “Please don’t make this difficult.”

Decoy sat back in its chair. “I don’t know, it’s nice in here. Much cooler air than outside.”

“Sign the feathering form, or I’ll open a window.”

===

“And that’s why you missed dinner?” asked the earth pony who bunked above it.

“Eventually she grabbed my hoof and moved it around like a puppet,” it confirmed. “I’m pretty sure that was a gross violation of the rules. It also didn’t look anything like my signature.”

“You must be really hungry.”

“Yes,” it replied. “I would love to devour you in one of several mutually satisfactory ways.”

The other two glanced at them expectantly, from across the room.

The mare above it gave a heavy sigh. “Grounder’s still giving me the run around, you know.”

“Still?” the pegasus across the room asked. “What is wrong with that pony?”

“Didn’t you spend the night with him?” asked the pony above her.

“Yes. We spent the night cuddling,” she wrinkled her nose. “It’s not nearly as fun to try to sleep cuddled up to somepony who can’t shapeshift away the extra legs.” She paused. “Or the boner.”

The pegasus was angry enough to fluff up her wings. “So first he turns down a threesome with the changeling, and tells you you have to be faithful, but, what, is he saving himself for marriage?”

The flirty mare winced. “Oh, Celestia, I hope not,” she said. “He knows I’m not a virgin.”

“Maybe your entire relationship with him should wait until marriage,” Decoy suggested.

She laughed. “I’ve been doing nothing but complaining, haven’t I? I really do like him. I’ve liked him for months now. We have fun together when we’re not failing to have sex.”

“You could have fun with him without being his romantic partner, couldn’t you?” Decoy asked. “Or is that something he wants to control as well.”

After a few seconds, she flowed down out of her bed and into its, standing over it, the thin blanket a barrier between them. “So. These ‘mutually satisfactory’ ways of devouring me. Are there any that aren’t a euphemism for sex?”

“Maybe,” Decoy replied. “If cuddling counts as sex, then no.”

“Cuddling isn’t sex,” said the quiet mare from across the room. “You need orgasms for sex.”

“Or at least attempted orgasms,” the pegasus said. “He’ll still be jealous, though.”

“Let him be jealous then,” the mare standing over Decoy said. She looked down at him, bumping noses. “What did you have in mind?”

“It starts with cuddling…”

It actually started with her standing to the side so that it could remove the blanket, then lying in bed together, with the mare as the little spoon. Her back pressed against its chitinous belly, and she wiggled a bit as if to scratch an itch. Decoy took a few seconds to alter its internal structure, then clung to her tightly as it split open its chest and belly, pressing the slimy contents against and around her.

She yelped, and squirmed, but it held her firmly in place, its mucous-coated tentacles slipping around the sides of her barrel now, jet-black and glistening.

“Why do they have to be slimy?” she asked, squirming in its embrace as she started to sink into the clamshell-like opening that clamped around her, the tentacles ‘licking’ her all over her body as they pulled her into place.

“To prevent chafing,” Decoy said, as its legs, one by one, opened in a similar fashion and molded themselves around hers. “Also, it’s more fun.” It wrapped its tail around hers, spiraling it tighter and tighter until the tail hair was compressed into a thin, wiry strand, coated in a tube made out of its tail.

“It’s so squirmy!” she whimpered.

Decoy didn’t answer, pressing its chin firmly against the top of her head, until it cracked open lengthwise and tentacles poured out around her face and mane, slicking the latter down as it finished absorbing her into itself.

It lay on the bed, its appearance returning to normal, aside from being quite a bit larger, and its limbs and torso twitching and squirming unnaturally. “Calm down,” it whispered into her ears, which were slicked down flat against her skull.

“I can’t see!” she whined, squirming.

Decoy formed two holes in its now-hollow skull, covering them with semitransparent membranes – mirrored from the outside, but only slightly darkened for its occupant. It had already left a hole for her mouth, since otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to breathe. It placed a soft padded surface against her nethers, sticking it in place over them for minimum stimulation, since this was specifically not supposed to be sex.

“If you stay calm,” it whispered, “I can try to adjust things so that you can control our movement.”

The pegasus across the room was still watching, her eyes wide and her expression uncertain. “Is this some changeling combat maneuver? Protective battle armor?”

“This is completely impractical,” Decoy replied. “Hollowing out my insides doesn’t make me magically tougher. I just thought it would be fun.”

The mare inside it had calmed down, so it started rethreading tendons through its limbs as a sort of harness around her legs, and let the tentacles holding her in place dissolve into a mass of cushioning goo. “Alright,” it whispered, “give it a try.”

She leapt out of the bed and scrambled to her hooves, prancing a bit to get her balance. “It’s like walking on stilts,” she said. “And I can’t feel anything.”

Decoy considered the second problem, and shifted the goo to let her hooves rest directly on the top of its own.

“Yeah, that’s better,” she said, tapping a hoof a few times. “Tsunami, come and pet me.”

She didn’t even argue, joining her in the aisle between their bunks and stroking her wing over their back. Decoy felt the feathery touch and wanted to arch into it, but it was letting the mare inside it control everything.

“Yeah, I can’t feel that at all,” she said, disappointed.

“I can,” Decoy whispered, as the pegasus continued to stroke it.

The mare inside it giggled. “Then grow a penis for me.”

“What?” the pegasus asked, taking a step back.

“Come on, you know you want to,” the mare said, her attempts to move seductively a bit muted by the changeling surrounding her.

“I think that would definitely be crossing the line with your coltfriend,” the pegasus said, continuing to back up.

“No, crossing the line will be when I get another shift to go screw the Saddle Arabians or whoever,” the mare said, following along and not giving her any distance. “This is just watching, basically. I won’t feel a thing.”

The pegasus ran out of room to retreat, rolled her eyes, and turned to brace herself against the wall, flipping her tail to the side to expose herself. “It’s your funeral.”

Decoy shifted a penis, as asked. The mare had it lift its front hooves to brace against the wall to either side of the pegasus, pressing its belly against her back and wings. She thrust her hips, and its penis painfully jolted against the joint between the pegasus’ thigh and crotch, eliciting a yelp from her and a pained hiss from it.

“Sorry, I’ll get it, just…” she shifted, sliding its tip across the pegasus’ rear end but failing to catch it on anything. “Huh, this is really hard.”

“Wait,” Decoy said. It shifted itself a horn and used magic to adjust itself until it was resting against the pegasus’ opening.
As soon as it had lined it up, the mare thrust firmly, jamming the penis into the still-dry crotch of their roommate.

“Easy!” she squealed, “Not so hard!”

Decoy exuded a layer of slime from its cock to ease its passage. The mare slowed down, and with lubrication was able to slide inside more gently. Decoy moaned in her ears as it felt the warmth of the pegasus slip around it, and the pegasus stopped complaining and caught her breath.

What followed was not an epic adventure in sexual pleasure. It was only slightly more pleasurable than the quickie it had had in the outhouse, despite it being the one that got to orgasm this time. The mare inside it didn’t notice that it had popped, and kept thrusting, quickly and firmly but a bit arrhythmically, and it braced itself and endured as the pleasure turned to slight discomfort. After an interminable five minutes, she got tired and had it step back.

The pegasus shivered a bit as they pulled out. “Satisfied?” she asked.

“I’m satisfied that I’m not getting anything out of this,” the mare replied. “I think Dee liked it at least.”

The pegasus was still in position, presenting herself. “Can you finish me off with your tongue? I was close, but I couldn’t quite get there.”

“Um… it would be my tongue,” the mare said. “So no. That would be cheating.”

“I can help,” said the quiet mare from the top bunk, who’d been watching in silence the whole time.

The mare took Decoy back to their bunkbed, and leapt into the top bunk, wiggling their limbs until they were under the covers. The soft noises from the bunk across the room didn’t keep them awake for long.