Garroted Harmony

Chapters

Ch. 1 - Vital Transformation
Ch. 2- Faith Exhumed
Ch. 3 - Cold Blooded Fury

Ch. 1 - Vital Transformation

“Urgh.”

Princess Cadance, Empress of the Crystal Empire, chokes on her husband’s meaty cock as it wedges halfway down her throat. Her muzzle is tantalizingly close to his engorged balls; the only time she’s seen him so full was a year ago - moments before Flurry Heart’s conception - and the heady rush of a repeat performance is impossible to contain. It fills her with excitement, past the point of bliss and into joy, that they might again make their love manifest in the world.

It is no coincidence that they are set up in what will be the new foal’s room, given how… tumultuous their first bundle of joy has been. Fortunately Auntie ‘Tia and Lulu are watching the pack of foals and graciously allowing them the full day to share with each other.

“H-hey, love?” her devoted husband asks from above. Worry drips from his voice as delicious pre-cum drips straight into her stomach. She regrets not getting to taste it, the tantalizing licks she snuck in before devouring him not nearly enough. “Cady?”

“Mmghh,” she gargles happily, his thick cock obstructing any more nuanced speech.

“Okay,” Shining Armor says, understanding her perfectly. It’s not the first time they’ve carried on a full conversation tongue to testicles. “I just didn’t want to hurt you.” He gently strokes an armored hoof along her back, sending tingles down her spine. “Sweet Celestia you’re tight.”

She forces herself forward, eyes rolling to the back of her head as she relaxes her throat and stretches her tongue; no way she’s going to let thoughts of her aunt distract her lover!

“Ugh,” Shining Armor moans in pure ecstasy, hooves losing purchase on her flanks. His flare bulges, begging for release.

She won’t give it to him, not yet, not in this position. No, his seed belongs inside her womb, not her belly!

“Hey, girls!” comes the deep voice of her once foal-sittee, now fellow Princess, from outside the room.

Cadance twists her head from under her husband’s belly, his cock spasming in her throat (she’ll need to remember that motion!), to watch a raspberry aura spring the double doors open. A regal lavender alicorn strides inside. It’s amazing how far the curious unicorn has come, from playing filly games in the gardens of Canterlot to saving Equestria multiple times over.

She can’t help but check if not-so-little Twilight Sparkle is again with foal. But, alas, her sister-in-law is not, and Twily would claim it is ‘due to the intrinsic technical difficulties inherently associated with targeting this sadistic siphon’. The unfortunate reality of twisting dark magic to benevolent ends, and Flurry Heart stands (well, crawls and flies, when she isn’t haphazardly teleporting) testament to their triumph over the previously insurmountable hurdle of alicorn infertility.

Her muzzle spreads to a goofy grin, garbling a cheery, “Hlluh!,” as the other alicorn pauses, a hoof halfway to meeting the floor. It takes Cadance half a second to realize why, and by that time it’s too late to pull away. It can’t be too bad, right? Besides, she reassures herself, Twilight got intimately acquainted with the process they are about to go through when Flurry Heart was conceived a year ago. It’s not like it’s anything she hasn’t seen before!

“When you said you wanted me here early,” Twilight deadpans, “I kind of thought you’d let me get set up in the back before you two started going at it.” She flicks her mane at her saddlebags and the coded tome inside. She carefully steps around the two, about to disappear out of Cadance’s line of sight.

“I-it’s…” Shining Armor strains, and Cadance can feel him throb inside her. The competing scents of two mares in heat must be driving him crazy, and yet he stoically keeps his cool. “Not like that?”

The air shifts in the room from how hard Twilight rolls her eyes.

“Hhay!” Cadance calls, waving at the retreating purple legs. She can barely spot the pink aura around his pristine white coat, his supporting shield blending into her chest. She raises both forehooves invitingly, an innocent (well, as innocent as possible, given the circumstances) smile on her muzzle.

Twilight stops, with an ominously slow clop of her shifting hooves. Shining Armor has the good sense to stay silent, and Cadance wouldn’t give this up for the world.

“You’re serious,” Twilight says, biting back that sarcastic streak.

“Lok-a hrr ahahh,” Cadance grunts out. Shiny chuckles nervously.

Twilight bends down to better look Cadance in the eyes, gaze never straying to her brother’s equipment. “You know how rude it is to talk with your mouth full?” She points a hoof at Cadance’s face. “You taught me that.”

“Hhf!” Cadance shouts, the effect muffled. “Shlp mh, Hwlhh, Ll hrn yor flnhs reh lfew lonh greh meh hrohrly!”

Twilight glances quizzically to her brother. “What did she say?”

“She said she’s serious,” Shining Armor impassively states, staring at anything in the room but his sister. He nervously shifts from hoof to hoof, Cadance’s body swaying underneath him.

Twilight lets out a long, exasperated sigh at how many syllables he didn’t translate. “Fine.” She awkwardly reaches her hooves to meet Cadance’s. She lightly taps, voice devoid of emotion, “Sunshine, sunshine-”

“Hhf!” Cadance would have spat the words out, but she can’t. She crosses her forelegs across her chest. “Hoo ih righh!”

“Wow, I understood you that time.” Twilight glances up at her brother. “How much practice…”

He pointedly stares at a particular section of wall, counting the divots.

“Actually, never mind.” Twilight drops back down to Cadance and takes a brief moment to compose herself. Her voice fills with happiness this time, playfully reaching forward just like when she was a filly. Cadance matches the motions, gleefully meeting hoof to hoof as she sings along. Even Shining Armor can’t keep his stoic persona going, sliding up and down her throat to the catchy beat. It doesn’t bother Cadance in the least.

“Hunhine, hunhine, lawyhng awahh! Hlah yor hoohs n hoo a lihhl shay!”

Cadance beams at Twilight’s nimble spin that sticks her gyrating rump just below her brother’s silly grin, tail tickling his nostrils. She’s once again astonished at how that uncoordinated filly has grown into a graceful and lithe mare, more and more alike her mentor and herdmate every day. And not just in regal stature, or the elegant long lines of her wings, but in her motherly warmth and carefree yet caring attitude.

Shining Armor, to his credit, merely backs up and out, the bulk of his wife’s body blocking Twilight’s view. “Now, we know you’re busy,” he says to Twilight while he beams into his wife’s eyes. She knows that look, how he has eyes only for her, that if they were the only two ponies in the room he would ravish her into oblivion. And, if she isn’t careful, he won’t care that they aren’t alone.

“Aww, I always have time for my BBBFF,” Twilight Sparkle croons as they trade nuzzles. She giggles, growing even louder when he teasingly ruffles her mane just like they were foals.

Then she takes a deep breath as she looks at Cadance, and it’s not so much the moment is over but transformed. She has a job to do, just like Cadance, and nostalgic reminiscing won’t get them any closer.

“Now,” the lavender alicorn continues, adopting that lecturing tone she uses for research proposals or thesis statements on ‘Why My Bedtime Should Be Thirty Minutes Later’, “this spell isn’t just dangerous, it’s downright deadly.” She pulls a parchment from her saddlebag.

“Aww,” Cadance whines with a recalcitrant roll of her twinkling eyes. Yes, the spell sucked magic from anypony and anything in range, unless Twilight took pains to exclude them, which made it take an inordinately long amount of time to cast. Yes, she (Cadance) would have to bolster the newly conceived foal’s magic with her own. Her body tingles at just the mere thought: her new foal. “Didn’t we go over this yesterday?”

“Come on, Cady,” Shining Armor says placatingly, nuzzling his little sister apologetically. “You know how much Twilight loves her lists.” He leans over, stage whispering, “Plus, it’ll give her something else to think about while she’s waiting.”

“I suppose,” Cadance agrees with a satiric smile.

Twilight stops scanning the list to unamusedly stare at her brother. “Well,” she states, rolling the scroll back up, “I understand you both remember this well enough?”

“I could recite it word for word,” Shining Armor says, grinning confidently.

“Ready, stud?” Cadance purrs with a flick of her flowing mane. She spins around, readying her body for her stallion’s weight as her tail slips to the side.

“Aaand that’s my cue to exit,” Twilight draws out, smirking. “Just say my name when you’re… ready.”

“Sure thing, Twily.” Shining Armor says. He waits for her to sequester herself in the bathroom before turning to Cadance. “I’ve been waiting for this.” He takes a solemn step toward her, letting the dull clang of his shoe fade before he lifts his hoof again.

Cadance’s heart beats faster at his reserved approach, the anticipation sending shivers down her spine. She loves the timber of his shoes, the metallic clang of her zealous protector. Tiny flexes of her flanks send ripples along the crystal hearts, enticing him ever closer.

“I thought,” he continues between stoic steps, growing more and more bombastic, “that having a foal with you would be the pinnacle of my life. A crowning achievement. That I might die and be happy.” He solemnly raises a hoof to his chest, bowing contritely as if mourning.

Thought? Cadance’s breath catches in her throat worse than any time his cock lodged itself there. The idea that he, her one and only stallion, had changed his mind threatens to overwhelm her.

Shining Armor leans forward, his muzzle taking a long, heavy draw of her scent. He smacks appreciably at her soaked outer lips. “But having climbed that particular peak?” His forelegs press into both hearts on her flanks, his hard shoes unyielding yet tender. “I find myself disappointed with my shortsightedness. Because, having reached my goal, I can see how many other peaks there are. Peaks that I’m honored to get to climb with you.”

Cadance’s heart soars at his words, at the promised future together, not just of them but of their family, their life. She cranes her neck; their lips meet as his stallionhood meets her marehood, a gentle caress in both places that yearns to be something more.

Something much, much, more.

“Every time I hold her,” Cadance whispers, stalling the inevitable conclusion of their joining, “our foal, our precious Flurry Heart, I’m so happy that it worked. That we made it work, that our love was brought forth into the world in such a beautiful bundle.” She smiles softly as they trade nuzzles, her gaze straying to his mane. The constant state of dishevelment is gone, now brushed just like the day they were married. The day Flurry Heart was conceived. Not what most ponies would get for an anniversary present, but since when were they most ponies?

She can sense his impatience, that building and burning desire, and blows a kiss as she ceases her teasing. Her head slowly pulls away, entreating him to follow, and pursue he does with reckless abandon. Every hooflength she pulls back is a step into her most precious of places. It’s not until his hooves are at her withers does she stop, his entire length engulfed by her, filling her not just with girth but with the promise of things to come.

It feels wonderful, of course, just like it always does, like the two of them were made for each other and only the other. He rests a moment, letting her adjust, but that tell-tale intake of breath comes earlier than she expects.

A brief spurt of worry flashes across Cadance’s face as she stares into her stallion’s eyes. Foaling had… loosened her, in ways unrecoverable. Perhaps there existed potions, or rituals, or dark magics that might reverse the changes no cock or toy could duplicate. But doing so would deny what she had gone through, who she is, and she knows her Shiny would never accept that. And so, while he might love the tight confines of her throat and the cherished memories of the tighter squeeze of her marehood, he would never trade what she, what they, had gone through.

A brief nuzzle from her beloved confirms that fact, leaving her breathless as he pulls away. She wishes they could stay nuzzling together forever. But after a while Twilight would get curious, and she would come into the room and be forced by her very nature to investigate, which would involve all sorts of awkward questions and probes and covert glances. And so she giggles demurely, a coy wink at her lover.

While his slow withdrawal sends shivers down her spine, his return shoots sparks throughout her body and soul. She moans as her head raises, the only thing she desires behind and above. Back she goes, lips again finding his and locking in place.

Then comes the implacable push, the steady rhythm of his cock slipping against her walls, drawing tingles of pure pleasure tinged by her heat.

She loses track of how long they spend in that position. It isn’t days, or Twilight certainly would have come looking. It isn’t hours, either; her neck doesn’t have a cramp in it when she pulls away. But she can’t keep count of the minutes when her entire body seizes up on her, when her mind goes blank and the only thing keeping her from dropping is the seal of his lips around hers. Like the seal that he makes in her and with her, and the other seal he breaks in her as every passionate thrust drives him against that final barrier.

Frantic kisses pepper every spot she can reach as he pierces into her womb, begging him to fill mouth with tongue as he fills womb with seed. And it comes, a torrent filling her to the brink, those engorged balls dumping load after load into her, a million possibilities for the beacon shining inside.

“You didn’t hold back,” she says breathlessly, feeling liable to burst at any moment. She moans happily. “Not afraid we won’t need a second shot?” She winks seductively, shaking her hips while he’s still inside. The tiniest slip sends jolts of pleasure coursing through her, her walls tightening around him yet again.

“There was never a doubt in my mind,” he consoles, taking a deep sniff of her fragrant mane as he takes a half step back.

“Wait,” she says before her Shiny has a chance to escape her clutches. A mischievous smirk crosses her muzzle as she nuzzles him again. “Twilight will be okay.”

“Y-you’re sure?” Shining Armor asks, chancing a peek at the bathroom door.

“I heard my name.” The purple alicorn’s voice comes moments before the door opens. She strides inside, eyes a brilliant white and horn ablaze. If she notices their compromising position she doesn’t show it, mage-sight singularly focusing where flanks meet wings.

Cadance stands tall. She has prepared herself for this moment, ever since they discovered their workaround for alicorn infertility might cease to function. Harmony willing, this won’t be the last foal she and Shiny are able to conceive. But that is the crux of the matter; that the remorseless force of nature they equipomorphize as Harmony has never, until their trickery with Flurry Heart, allowed unicorn and alicorn magic to mix. She smirks as she feels him settle against her back; she will not be satisfied with a mere two foals with him, not when Chryssy might give him that many a year!

Even the brief thought of her… herdmate sends shudders across Cadance’s body. Not that the reformed changeling is evil, per say, not any more, but every time she sees the bloated broodling - which she makes as infrequent as possible - she’s reminded of her week long imprisonment and almost losing her Shiny to the herdwrecker. It was only through Twilight’s subterfuge that they beat Chrysalis at her own game, earning them the changeling’s begrudging respect - and herself a second mare she can barely stand on the best of days.

“You can see it?” Cadance asks, a hint of worry staining her voice as she tries to put those thoughts out of her mind.

“Mhm,” Twilight replies curtly. “I have a bead on the frontrunner. It will be easier if I isolate her.”

“Leave them,” Shining Armor says, a hoof caressing his wife. “I know it’s harder, but we want to give each a chance.”

“Mm,” Twilight replies with a touch of disappointment.

“I love you,” Shining Armor whispers softly into Cadance’s ear, his bulk laying across her back. It’s a comforting weight, one she finds easy to carry, and a weight she wouldn’t trade for any other.

“I love you, too,” Cadance whispers in return. A hoof slinks back to lovingly stroke his side, finding one of those ticklish spots he would very much rather nopony know about, then gently pats her belly. “And I’ll love her just as much.”

“Please try to not move,” Twilight asks tersely. “It’s hard keeping the magnifiers lined up, especially dual focus and moving.”

“Sorry,” Cadance whispers sheepishly, glancing back to her husband with a wink. She wants to waggle her flanks, but that would just draw another reprimand from the pony she does not want to distract. For his part Shining Armor goes still above her, the two content to watch the Element of Magic at work.

After several long minutes Shining Armor idly asks, “How much longer?”

“Judging by the rate?” Twilight’s brows furrow, her horn flaring brighter. A series of equations and graphs spring into view. She reads distractedly, “Twenty seven minutes and six seconds from… mark, with a ninety percent probability and half second error. I’ll have it down to a twentieth of a second window, hopefully, by the time I’m ready to cast, and I’ll scrub it and try again if it has even a one percent chance of failure.”

It’s the same thing they went through with Flurry Heart, and Twilight getting the timing perfectly on the first cast inspires confidence that she won’t need that second try. Not that Cadance minds, and she knows her Shiny won’t object, either. He’ll be here all night if he has to! She smirks to herself, the two ready for the long haul; he probably will anyway.

About two minutes before the projected conception and Twilight begins taking long, measured breaths. Cadance watches with growing excitement as a palpable sense of calm fills the room, an anticipation for things to come. Her husband’s hoof rubs into her withers, and it’s all she can do to not reach up and grab hold of him. She wants to squeeze him tight, to reassure and convey her hope of their coming joy.

With one minute and thirteen seconds to go the light of Twilight’s horn shifts. Starting at the tip her cheerful raspberry morphs into a bubbling black miasma that threatens to drip off at any moment. Yet it merely enlarges, wispy tendrils flicking toward any and all sources of magic. Twilight holds them back through sheer willpower, constricting and binding them toward a singular target.

Cadance knows it is more dangerous by having her Shiny next to her, by not clearing the rest of the sperm assaulting her egg. For this spell is not Tirek’s drain. No, it is an unconscionably more dangerous version that would not leave a pony on the brink of death. It goes past that, leaving a magicless - and thus lifeless - corpse. And it is this dark magic that Twilight wrangles so expertly, so deliberately, to target the single sperm at the very moment it breaks into her egg. Thus leaving alicorn magic to combine with nothing, resulting in a healthy alicorn foal.

And then the spell goes off with an anticlimactic withdrawal of the oppressive atmosphere. Light and color return to the room as the darkness disappears, leaving Twilight panting. She slumps to her side, finally showing the mental and physical exhaustion from denying the dark magics their originally intended purpose.

Cadance barely notices as a new elation fills her very soul. She can sense her! The tiny, miniscule cell that will divide and grow and in some eleven months join the rest of her family!

She wonders what Flurry Heart will think, if the precocious one month old will remember what life was like alone, or if all of her memories will be of the two of them, two sisters joined by a common bond.

With Flurry Heart, there had been an inkling of doubt in her mind. That, despite the success of the other three alicorns - though their circumstance was different - she might be left bereft and bereaved, as she had on her singular attempt before her Shiny came into her life. Never able to cleave hers to her husband’s. Instead forced to rely on a surrogate sire, her Shiny a mere consort and not the title of Prince Consort they so desired. It was only through her Shiny’s stalwart refusal to accede even a seed of doubt that she was able to pour her love for him and their foal, Flurry Heart.

She pours out her love again, unrestricted, a bountiful waterfall of pure joy enveloping the newest addition to their family.

“It worked?” Shining Armor whispers, the barest hint of uncertainty.

His question stirs Twilight, if momentarily. “Yes,” she ekes out between heavy, wheezing breaths.

“That’s my LSBFF,” Shining Armor says with a wink. He steps off his wife, pulling out and joining her. They both slowly lower to the floor, trading soft nuzzles. His hoof massages her side, drawing small circles in the pink coat. “What should we name her?”

“Hmm,” Cadance ponders, resting her head in the crook of her husband’s neck. She adores the closeness, the comfort, the promise they share.

“How about Hurricane?” Shining Armor asks with a twinkle in his eye.

Cadance scoffs playfully. “There’s already a famous Hurricane. Try again.”

“Hurricane Heart?” Shining Armor offers jovially.

“So we can have Hurry Heart and Flurry Heart? I don’t think so.” Cadance smirks, rubbing her head against the rippling muscles. She feels protected just being next to him, invincible. Like the Crystal Heart could shatter, and their love would shelter them and the Empire from the biting cold! “Blizzard?”

“That is a classic,” Shining Armor agrees; a swish of his tail against her cutie mark sends Cadance reeling with passion. “Blizzy Heart?”

“You keep adding Heart to these,” Cadance teases. “You must be trying to tell me something.”

“Only how much I love you.” Shining Armor playfully nips at her ear, drawing a giggle. “What about Storm Heart?”

“Storm Heart.” Cadance tries out the name, and it rolls off her tongue easily. She flexes her jaw, still a little sore. “Stormy Heart. I like it.”

“It’s a lot better than ‘the baby’,” Twilight remarks from behind. She covers her muzzle when the two glance back at her. “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, Twily, it’s quite alright.” Cadance nuzzles her Shiny again. A part of her, swelling like her belly will swell in the coming months, wants to reward her stallion for his hard work and effort. And she knows just the thing that will please him, even if she is again relegated to the party’s box of bandaids.

“Glad to hear it,” Twilight says, a poorly contained smile overriding her professional demeanor. She tries to keep her composure and distance. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Oh, none of that.” Cadance motions for Twilight to come close. The purple alicorn happily dives forward, hugging tightly. The three rest there, content.

Until Stormy Heart breaks, her precious life snuffed out in an instant.

Ch. 2- Faith Exhumed

Her horrible, keening wail pierces through the once serene room.

Shining Armor staggers to his knees while hooves clasp around flattened ears. His deep timber joins her cry of ultimate suffering, a pony not in distress but despair.

To say that her most joyous day turned into a tortured mockery would be a gross understatement.

It is only once her despondent cry ceases that he spins on his stunned sister. “Twilight!” he bellows, rage consuming him. “What did you do?”

Cadance can barely make out the resulting conversation, turbulent thoughts threatening to overturn and overtake her. She thrashes uncontrollably, her tormented lament unanswered.

“I-I…” Twilight stammers, unable to tear her eyes away from the writhing mare. “I thought it worked!”

She can feel her love, her very essence seeping out of the grievous wound.

“You thought?” Shining Armor shouts as he towers over her. Twilight’s ears flatten as a cold steel clad hoof menacingly points. “We trusted you, Twilight Sparkle!”

But the wound isn’t in her heart, much as the saying might go. For that is merely a muscle, frantically pumping. But instead her magical core, missing a chunk of itself!

“I thought it was going to work! I thought it did work!” The purple alicorn scrambles as pieces of paper bamf into existence. “The timing was exactly the same as before!”

Perhaps they are more alike than she thought, because with every beat of her fully functioning heart a little more love spurts out into the void. Perhaps, if she was able to stop, she might suture the rift and stem the loss.

“That’s not good enough!”

But she cannot. She desperately seeks her lost foal. And not the lifeless pair of cells deep inside, but her Stormy Heart’s core! Agonizing pulses search through the void, her own core ripping a little more as each comes back empty.

“I… Shiny, look! She’s hurt!”

With every passing moment she grows weaker, slumping against the unyielding crystal. It barely registers, her mind frantically pursuing any possible lead. But there is no trail, none she can see! Where has she gone?

“She… Cady! Cadance!” A hoof roughly shakes her. “Twilight, what’s happening?”

A hoof paws at the floor. If there is any hope, any at all, she would sell her soul to find it. Is this what drove the black king mad? Did Sombra find a solution in the crystals, but too late?

Twin beacons of pure light shine above her, but they aren’t what she is looking for. The voice that comes is dry, clinical in her observations. “...There is a rip, a tear in her magical core. It’s… bad. Draining fast enough to kill her in a matter of minutes.” Another pause, this time filled with terse scratches and frantic scribbling. “No… stasis won’t work... cauterizing only helps against physical wounds… a teleport to Canterlot would be even riskier…”

She gasps as her Shiny leaves her side, the fragile scab formed by his love tearing open. She attempts to rise, to tell him to come back, but her strength fails.

His voice gets quieter as he gallops to the door, shouting, “What else? Come on, hurry!” Then a loud bang, his next shout outside. “Get Celestia and Luna! It’s an emergency!”

She only regains her thoughts when he returns. Are they talking about her?

“I am hurrying! Oh, why did we do this so far away from Canterlot? They would have been able to help! They’ve got the equipment, and the personnel, and-”

No, she is not the one who is lost!

A single hoof stamp rings throughout the room. “Focus, Twilight! They aren’t here, and they couldn’t fix a tear this large! But you can! How can I help?” There is a brief pause broken by a single sharp intake of breath, an excited exclamation. “Your fertility spell! The one you used on Starlight! Can you cast it?”

They need to be searching for Stormy Heart! By returning her foal, they can seal the rupture!

“That takes time that we don’t have! And it’s not how the spell should be used!”

Cadance grunts, struggling to rise to her hooves.

“But will it work, Twilight? Will it save her?”

The barest turn of head and the merest raise of eyelids takes all of Cadance’s meager effort.

Twilight, eyes ablaze in white, doesn’t notice. “...Yes. It could. Giving her a… an alternate will seal the rift in her core. But, if it doesn’t take, then-”

She can barely see her Shiny vigorously stroke his cock as he lines himself up with her marehood. It pains her to watch, to see the agony scrawling across his face, the soreness and emptiness he will never give in to.

“It won’t fail! Our love is stronger than that! Now clean her out and cast it! Full power!”

After a moment of hesitation a burst of raspberry magic obstructs Cadance’s vision. She feels her inner self wash clean, scrubbed as desolate as the Badlands. She slumps over, her precious Stormy Heart now unrecoverable and truly lost to the void. Her mind clears, no longer fixated on what dark magic might have wrought, and cowers under her stallion’s stony glare.

They don’t give her even a moment to grieve, and she... she stumbles over the word. She hates that they are likely right.

She grunts as her stallion’s tip rams at her entrance. She would moan if she could spare the energy, cry if she could spare the tears. It’s good her marehood suffered from Flurry Heart as every callous thrust strains against her bone-dry walls. Relentless, he forces his cock deeper and deeper.

She can sense Twilight’s magic coursing through her inner parts, taking but a second to select and accelerate a single follicle along life’s journey. The new beacon blossoms, releases, and raspberry magic speeds the egg along its merry way. Simultaneously the lining of her womb replenishes, again ready to accept and nurture the new life. If only she could spare the same for her raw inner walls, only now starting to release their lubricant.

Two sets of heavy, galloping hoofsteps echo through the open door. Cadance can barely see, through the corner of lidded eyes, the arrival of two alicorns. It takes her a moment to place them as Celestia and Luna and not Noon and Midnight, their foals with whom they share a near identical likeness. They seem so small, so scared, as they stay so far away with rare expressions of hesitancy and unsureness on their faces.

“Is it safe?” comes Celestia’s melodic and eloquent voice, commanding even as she pauses. Fear and worry radiate from her, her tone warped and mutilated by a rippling magic.

“No,” comes the echoing reply of a dark and terrible tyrant, Twilight’s tenor amplified and distorted. “I am already casting, and cannot account for more sources of magic.”

“Cadance… lost... the first attempt,” her stallion grits out as he thrusts. “And with it, her hope.” He can’t keep himself erect with his wife in such an awful condition, and yet he valiantly fights the losing battle. Her inner walls burn, sore beyond any of their marathon sessions together, but she bites back any complaint, afraid of affecting her stallion. “She doesn’t have much time!”

“Twilight… art thou sure?” demands a deafening Luna, slipping back into her Royal Canterlot. “Because-”

“Yes.” The lavender alicorn’s curt reply cuts her off, but there is uncertainty masked behind her words.

“Luna!” Celestia says quickly, her muted tone brooking no disagreement. “Seek help from the Queen of the-” she cuts herself off with a quick shake of her head. “No, the Chief Architect! And you must not let Flurry Heart catch wind of what might transpire! Now go!”

The midnight blue alicorn’s teeth set against each other. Yet she nods once, galloping away with a forlorn glance backward.

Cadance can no longer keep her eyes open. She feels her essence fading fast. But there is a tiny speck of hope, drifting along her uterine horn. She binds herself to that speck, staking and directing her love.

“I love you,” she whimpers.

“I love you, too,” he whispers back through gritted teeth.

“You must release.” Twilight’s menacing tone echoes forebodingly. The heavy clop of a single set of hooves draws closer.

And when it brims it does not overflow, her own gushing torrent sealed. Breathing becomes easier, her tunnel shuddering in a pleasureless attempt to coax seed from her spent stallion.

“You will never speak of this,” Celestia utters as she steps behind the guard captain, her mane spilling around his backside. Wet licks accompany pained yelps, his thrusts doubling in urgency.

But it would not last. Not without her stallion’s contribution. She can already sense spiderwebs on once-sleek surfaces, cracks that will shatter the untempered vessel. But neither can she stop, or her own core will burst again, nothing to contain her own essence.

Not a moment later her stallion releases. Gone are the gushing spurts that might overflow around his cock and leak past his flare. But his valiant effort is not in vain, the pathetic dribble sufficient for their purposes. A reckless caress collects the closest, muttered calculations attempting to coincide the coming conception with the conclusion of Twilight’s cast.

In an instant the vessel solidifies. She can feel her, her newest foal. She dreads the connection, a porcupine liable to change direction without notice. Yet stroke she must, loving caresses of her foreleg across a needle laced back, faith in her Shiny giving her the strength to carry on.

An agonized moan matches a horrifying cackle, the former growing weaker as the latter intensifies. A terrified Cadance turns to see Twilight Sparkle looming above a fallen Celestia and imbibing her golden glow.

“I told you,” the dark tones reverberate as the white alicorn slumps over, lavender standing straighter, “that I could not account for more sources.”

“T… Twi…” Celestia ekes out, a pleading gaze met by sadistic glee.

“You brought this on yourself,” Twilight chortles deceitfully, greedily drinking down her mentor’s spirit. Malevolence shines from her eyes, apathetically ignoring the despair wrought from her betrayal.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Shining Armor orders, his voice ragged yet commanding.

She ignores him.

The pastel hues of the solar diarch’s mane dull as the ever-present movement ceases, abject sorrow in her tortured visage.

His face softens, begging, “Please. LSBFF.” Each letter pulls Twilight away from her… meal. “Take me instead. She only wanted to help.”

“You…” Twilight starts, turmoil coursing across her expression. “You would sacrifice yourself for her?”

“I would,” Shining Armor declares. He stands crisply, guard training on full display.

A swell of pride fills Cadance’s ragged chest, that her stallion would act in such a selfless manner. Though another part of her cannot stand that he would leave her bereft a husband. But it is a price they both know he, or she, might ultimately pay for their country. She silently prays that that day would not be today, and may never come.

As Twilight struggles with the concept the golden flow ceases, sounds in the room return to normal, and colors brighten to their usual hues. Celestia’s leg kicks once then goes still, her mane limp against her side.

Twilight snaps out of her fugue with a manic shake, her normally pleasant smile full of shock and horror. “Shiny!” she calls, embracing her brother in a bone-crunching hug. “Thankyou thankyou thank you! I was so... so starved, I couldn’t think straight! But you saved me!”

“Of course,” Shining Armor says nervously says as he initially tries to keep her at bay. When she merely sobs against his coat his defenses drop, embracing her in return.

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widen as she pushes her brother away. “Princess Celestia!” She races to the downed alicorn, gently lifting the unresponsive head. Tears stain the alabaster coat. “Are you alright?”

“She’ll,” Shining Armor starts, his voice catching in his throat as he looks at the fallen form. “She’ll be…”

Cadance’s head slowly lowers, concentrating on her aunt’s weakly beating heart. She takes a deep breath, willing forward reserves she didn’t know she had, and pushes forth a burst of love. Her body quakes at the expenditure, yet she couldn’t live knowing there might have been a chance to save her aunt that she didn’t take.

A single magenta eye opens, if briefly. “Twilight,” whispers Celestia, struggling to raise a foreleg and stroke the purple strand out of her herdmate’s violet eyes. “I’m-”

“Celestia!” Twilight exclaims, gripping onto the white alicorn as if her very life depends on it. “I’m so sorry! The spell, I couldn’t control it, I was too weak! And…”

“-Okay,” Celestia finishes as Twilight takes a deep breath, softly nuzzling her crestfallen friend. “Are you feeling better?”

“After what I did to you?” Twilight shudders, burying her face in the pastel mane. “I can never forgi-”

“Twilight,” Celestia interrupts with the stern tone she gets whenever Twilight starts Twilighting, “I will recover. We are alright. Though perhaps tonight I will require your assistance in lowering the sun.” She winks coyly.

“You…” Twilight starts, then gulps. She stands straight. “I would be honored to assist, though I fear I have… regained less power than you have lost.” A sheepish smile pokes out. “I didn’t exactly calibrate it for maximum efficiency, but maybe if I had more time I might be able to-”

Celestia holds up a hoof placatingly. “That is quite alright.” She glances at Cadance and Shining Armor, smiling as they rest in each other’s hooves. The urgent aura surrounding Cadance has faded to an uncomfortable throb, a grim reminder of what could have been.

All heads turn as the double doors slam open, revealing a dark silhouette.

The reformed changeling once known as Queen Chrysalis strides into the room. Ebony chitin covers her gravid midsection, armored plates flexing around two bulges of foal and half a dozen incubating eggs. Emerald wings lazily settle against her back as the bright green flare around her horn fades.

“This room reeks of dark magic.” Chief Architect Chrysalis’ fanged grin, malevolent no matter her true intentions, never fades as she casts a scornful glance. She lingers on the downed alicorns with a twisted smirk before pausing on Shining Armor and Cadance. Her scorn turns to shock as the whites of her green eyes flare brighter.

“What have you done?” she demands, filling the chamber with echoes of fury.

Ch. 3 - Cold Blooded Fury

“We are saving her!” Shining Armor shouts, ripping away from his wife. His ardent voice shakes despite his spirited response, hesitation and uncertainty suppressed behind a raging inferno.

“Shiny…” Cadance pitifully cries, her strength sapping with every step he takes. Even his mere intention of leaving brings pangs of pain, and she can barely handle the strain. After two of his long strides she can only whimper abjectly, darkness closing around her.

Shining Armor’s precise about face returns him to her side just as quickly as he left, worry etching across his features. Princess Luna slips behind the heavyset changeling, the two approaching Cadance and Shining Armor.

“Yes,” Chrysalis’ sarcastic tone bites, “I can see that.” The changeling stops as if pondering, an unpocked ebony hoof teasing at her fanged maw. She idly asks, as if discussing the weather, “And what if it goes wrong again?”

The guard captain, used to reducing new recruits to mewling foals with intimidating stares, growls out, “How do you know what we should do?”

Chrysalis, unfazed, snorts. “You wish a history lesson, when time is of the essence?”

His harsh glare remains unchanged.

“Fine.” The ebony head flicks up and to the side disdainfully. “I promised the unvarnished truth. When we first began draining our food-” she ignores their looks of contempt and disgust “-it looked like this. Mangled and mutilated beyond repair.”

Her horn flares brightly. A cylindrical representation of Cadance’s core done in harsh greens flickers to life in the center of the room.

“Over time, we improved our methods, requiring smaller and smaller perforations to the point where we didn’t need to open the core at all. We even learned to repair and reinforce magical cores, if a drone was… overzealous in their feeding. To better keep the secret. But this?” She snidely points at the jagged rip, mostly covered by a pulsing beacon of pink. “This is the worst tear I’ve ever seen, and you didn’t even try to repair it? You just thought his love would, what, glue it back together?”

“There wouldn’t have been time if things didn’t go right,” Twilight states rigidly, her own expertise under fire. “I’ve studied those types of mending spells, but never practiced.” She hangs her head. “Maybe I should have.” Her gaze returns to Chrysalis, hard and steady. “But intentionally harming another pony just for the sake of practice and experimentation is not how we do things.”

“Then perhaps you should not have been experimenting with warping the laws of Harmony in the first place! You know as well as I - better, perhaps - that unicorn and alicorn magic does not mix. You got lucky with Flurry Heart, and anypony can see the devastation she wroughts without trying!”

“That’s enough!” shouts Cadance, struggling to her hooves. Her jaw sets as if in stone. “My love for Shining Armor will bring us through this, regardless of what Harmony decrees!”

An ebony hoof, a sharp contrast again pink fur, lovingly caresses as it tilts Cadance’s head a little higher. “I’m counting on that,” Chrysalis purrs, her grin as baleful as always.

Cadance growls as Chrysalis releases her, two heavy thuds as hooves hit the floor.

“What would you have us do?” Shining Armor spits out the words. “Since you’re the supposed ‘love expert’?”

Cadance wants to reach up, to console her husband, but he shrugs her off. It feels like a dagger through her sundered heart.

“I’m so glad you asked,” Chief Architect Chrysalis answers dryly. She takes her sweet time assessing the situation, reveling in their frustrated growls. She turns to Luna, casually ordering, “Go find Doug and bring him here.” She makes a little shooing motion with her hoof, smiling mockingly.

“We art neigh thine fetch-filly,” Luna spits out through gritted teeth.

“If you wish her dead, by all means, keep standing there.” Chrysalis offers a theatrical bow, her hoof sweeping low. “We defer to thine bountiful expertise in passionate matters.”

Luna stamps a hoof on the floor with such vehemence that Cadance fears she might escalate. Much to her relief the blue alicorn spins, heavy stomps until she exits the room and a flash marks her disappearance.

“What do you need Doug for?” Shining Armor demands, his voice easily carrying through the otherwise silent room.

“Backup,” Chrysalis states darkly, striding around her projection. “In case that ‘patch’ of yours fails.”

“It won’t fail!” Shining Armor bellows as he leaps up, burning with rage at the very notion.

“I’m sure you thought the same of the first… attempt,” Chrysalis remarks casually. “But I can smell the haste your sister used in her spells. I’m guessing her first attempt was perfect?” She glances at the purple alicorn, her grin widening at the hesitant nod. “And I would expect nothing less from the Princess of Magic.” She offers a slight incline of her head, impossible to tell the sincerity. “And I suspect any further attempts will meet the same end. And unless you desire me to become the foremost expert on Love in Equestria, you would best heed my demands.” With a half-shrug she turns to the door. “If you wish, I shall continue playing overseer to your foals.”

“Demands?” Shining Armor raises himself as high as he can. He barely comes up to her bulky withers. “You would have us bargain for her life?”

“If you’re good at something,” Chrysalis purrs, her grin stretching across her muzzle, “never do it for free.” She bends down to his level, contemptuously petting his head.

Shining Armor growls, his voice as hard as the rapier he might have thrust through her chitin. “What do you want from us?”

“Simple,” Chrysalis states formally. “You will never confine my love. No more foals with you unless I agree.”

His voice is a low growl. “If you-”

“Oh,” Chrysalis purrs, stroking the tri-colored blue mane affectionately, “you don’t need to worry about Crystalline Shield and Cocoon. I’ll still bear them for you.” She kisses him just below the horn before lightly shoving him away.

“You want out of the herd,” Cadance states, tears threatening to freely flow. She thought they were a good, if unconventional, group, extraordinarily fair considering the changeling’s… proclivities.

Chrysalis turns, giving her a single - if she’s being generous, forlorn - nod. “Indeed. Though I have no wish to leave this fecund land.” She turns to Shining Armor. “In addition, no more… indiscretions to reward your most gallant soldiers.”

“That was your idea,” Shining Armor claims through gritted teeth, “to get more diversity among your nymphs.”

“Oh?” Chrysalis titters, almost mockingly. “I suppose it was.”

“Why?” Cadance pleads, feeling her heart rending as her herdmate threatens to do the same to their family. It’s not her fault the bond she shares with her Shiny is so strong! “Why would you do this?”

“Why?” Chrysalis echoes, her Tartarus-scorned grin never fading. “Simple, really.” She bends down a little, motioning at Shining Armor. “I don’t like the color scheme.” She shakes her head as she pulls back, motioning to her body. “Nopony gives the right combination of greens and blacks.”

“Nopony…” Shining Armor fumes, visibly putting the pieces together. He grits his teeth as he utters the name. “Doug…”

“Mm,” Chrysalis purrs with a lick of her fangs as the eponymous human walks through the doors. He sports a light white jacket, shorts bulging with foal treats, and toe-reinforced sandals. She grins at his cautious approach, obscenely moaning. “Speaking of…”

“What’s going on?” Doug says woozily, reeling from the teleport. “Is everypony okay?” He spots Celestia first and dashes to her recovering form.

Cadance feels a brief surge of joy, even though the compassion isn’t directed at her, as he slides across the smooth crystal. One hand tilts the white head to peer into Celestia’s eyes, the other resting softly against her supple belly and engorged teats. She knows her Shiny feels the same way about her, even as a raging fire blossoms in his chest.

“I’m afraid not,” Chrysalis says with a contrite shake of her head. Her sing-song voice belts out, “Poor Cadance over there will expire if her foal perishes! And it’s up to you to save her!” She winks salaciously, her intention obvious, her flanks waving back and forth provocatively.

“What are you talking about?” Doug asks as he shifts to Twilight, rubbing her flattened ears as she hovers over her once mentor. His focus stays on Chrysalis even as Twilight stains his face with tear-streaked nuzzles.

Chrysalis states with a solemnity Cadance isn’t used to hearing, “You’re going to give her the foal she needs to survive.” Chrysalis callously flicks her head at Shining Armor. “Very soon, she will need two patches on her core. The love of her consort, and the love of her foal. That, sadly, he cannot provide.”

“You think you can take my Cadance from me?” Shining Armor bellows, but it is not directed at Chrysalis. His foreleg crashes into the floor as pink shields shaped like daggers coalesce around him, all pointing at Doug. “This is all your fault!”

“What?” Doug says, bewildered, as he looks up from Celestia’s prone form. “I had no-”

“You planned this!” Fury ignites in cerulean eyes, the daggers vibrating like they might leap forward at any moment. “Ever since you learned we might have a foal instead of you!”

“I helped make the spell!” Doug shouts, brazenly ignoring the orbiting daggers. “Why the fuck would I do that just to hurt you? To hurt her!”

“Shiny,” Cadance pleads as she strokes her hoof along his side. He jolts at the contact, a worried glance at his wife. The daggers slow, pulling away from the mare he might have skewered. “Please. He didn’t mean for this to happen. None of us did.”

“Look,” Doug says, slowly getting his shaking limbs under control. “I was with you when Flurry Heart was born. Celebrating. I’ve always been honest with you, with everypony. And Cadance…” He trails off as vague memories come bubbling to the surface. “Full disclosure. Honesty. I confess I’ve been interested in the prospect. In the past. Once we had a potential solution, that possibility vanished because you were the pony she wanted to be with. She had her chance with me, and… we gave it up.”

Shining Armor bows his head, focusing on a single section of crystal floor to keep from unleashing everything in his arsenal.

“If it’s as serious as they say,” Doug says as he glances at Chrysalis. She nods minutely. He takes a deep breath to steel himself. “You once told me you would be willing to do anything for her, even give her up to another.”

“Then you knew this would happen!” Fury reignites in Shining Armor’s eyes as he pounces, four hundred pounds of pure muscle driving Doug to the floor. Ribs snap as cold steel gouges into flesh, the human whimpering in pain.

“Shiny!” Cadance calls before she collapses, blood spurting out of her mouth.

“How dare you!” Shining Armor bellows, shrugging off raspberry and cobalt auras with a practiced flare of pink.

“Look,” Doug forces out, one arm guarding his head while the other limply points at Cadance. “She’s…”

“She’s in no shape to make a decision!” Shining Armor rears up, about to come crashing down again. “But I swear.” His hoof crosses from the left side of his chest to the right, then sticks into his eye. “That if you touch her, I will kill you.”

He catches the barest glimpse of another burst of bright red from his wife’s mouth. He hesitates for a split second, cobalt and raspberry auras combining to drive him away. He tumbles head over hooves, sprawling onto his back next to his wife.

“Please,” Cadance begs as she coughs out another mouthful of blood, the next coming up dry. She shudders at the stain marring the crystal floor, knowing it will never come out. “Please don’t leave me.”

“Never,” Shining Armor groans out. He glares at Twilight and Luna’s aggressive postures, at Chrysalis busy licking her fangs, at Doug’s broken body and, for good measure, the white alicorn hovering above the human. “No matter what they do, I will never leave you.”

“This is just an anesthetic,” Celestia sluggishly tells Doug as she surrounds his body with a soft golden glow, her words slurring together. “We could set them, but-”

“But there’s no time,” Chrysalis states harshly as she strides over to Doug. “Her foal may be lost, and is imperative that we… act… quickly.” She grins down at him.

“Just bind them, tightly,” Doug grits out, hands clenched as Celestia wearily nods, cloth cinching against his chest. He snaps at Chrysalis, “What?”

“You will never deny my love,” she says, eyes flicking to his shorts. She licks her lips lasciviously, a low moan gurgling in her throat. “Any time, any place. I ask? You give.”

Doug frowns, obviously expecting something far worse. He rubs at his temples, trying to clear the stars from his eyes. “You seriously won’t save Cadance unless I agree to this?”

Chrysalis purrs mockingly, starting to walk to the door. “Does her life mean that little to you?”

“Does it mean that little to you?” Doug spits back.

“If it did,” Chrysalis counters, “I would offer nothing at all, and take my place as lead mare when she expires. But I do love keeping her around.” She winks at Cadance.

“Fine.” Doug crosses his arms against his chest, testing the bindings. He winces at the pain, and of giving in. “I agree.”

Chrysalis merely grins that damnable grin of hers.

“Sh… she’s getting close,” Cadance whispers, dread filling her words. The tick of her internal clock haunts her. She can feel the grim harbinger approaching, come to claim her precious foal before her time.

“See? This is why you need me,” Chrysalis says with a slight motion to Cadance. “As soon as her foal’s patch is lost?” She trails off, her callous shrug matching the malevolent grin as she strides over to Celestia.

“I thought you no longer needed to steal love,” Celestia states, accusation riddling her words.

Fury flashes across Chrysalis’ face as she rears up to her full height. And just as quickly it is repressed, the flick of her heavy locks entirely too staged. “Steal? No, we no longer need to steal love.”

“When you transformed, it was because you gave love,” Celestia continues, staggering to ponyloaf. She bares her neck, unflinching even as the changeling approaches.

“Yes,” Chrysalis admits. “I’m counting on it.” She caresses Celestia’s lengthy horn with her neck, nearly plunging her snout into the pastel mane. “Mmm,” she moans as she inhales, wisps of gold flecking into her muzzle. “Delicious, intoxicating, exhilarating…”

The tiny motions of Celestia’s mane cease again, colors dulling as if life itself is being sucked out. She slumps back down as Chrysalis withdraws, eyelids heavy. And yet she keeps her head raised, intent on seeing the outcome.

“And you,” Chrysalis woozily states as she approaches Cadance, ignoring the aggressive snort from Shining Armor. The pink alicorn raises herself as best she can, magenta eyes meeting green. “You must accept my love.”

“I…” Cadance stammers, frowning. She is confused at the accusation behind the demand. “I have never denied your love.”

“True,” Chrysalis admits, swaying slightly. “And yet never have you sought my love.”

Cadance gulps, her gaze flicking to her husband. He had always been enough for her; how had she been so short-sighted to withhold such a connection with her herdmate? Even before Chrysalis’ transformation she had avoided nearly all contact with the changeling, the thought of engaging her mortal enemy in anything approximating a normal relationship unthinkable.

“Please,” she ekes out, unable to return Chrysalis’ stare. “Would you share your love with me?”

“Of course,” Chrysalis purrs, her muzzle engulfing Cadance’s. The Prench kiss, if it could be called that, stirs the alicorn’s heart. “Do try to lose this before you lose your own, yes?”

The swell of golden energy fills Cadance’s heart and core, but the magic feels foreign and restless, inherently attempting to escape the unfamiliar confines. Yet it is still available, and only with great trepidation does she bolster her connection with her unnamed foal, perhaps in the hope that strengthening that bond will save her from the reaper’s scythe. She hates the anger she can sense in her husband, emanating outward toward Doug, toward Chrysalis, toward Twilight. Even Celestia and Luna register, if only for their inability to do more to help. She wants to help him, to counsel him, for them to get past this and-

In the blink of an eye the connection to her foal severs.

Perhaps it is because she has mentally prepared herself for the possibility, perhaps because it is the bolstered love that gets stripped away, but the devastating effect of losing her precious foal is constrained to an anguished whimper and mournful shudder. Her hooves stretch, searching for her Shiny, that comforting strength that could get them through any tragedy.

And yet his love, empowering and fortifying as it is, can only stretch so far. Only Chrysalis’ infusion lets her stay conscious, every ounce of effort devoted toward sealing that new rift.

“I…” Cadance forces out, unable to stifle the sobs leaving her just like the magic that pours out of her core. Soon, very soon, she will be dry and lifeless. She cannot bring herself to look at her husband. Not with the coming defilement, the shattering of their sacred vows. “It’s okay…”

“No,” Shining Armor counters harshly. His glare rests on Chrysalis, the glow in her mouth shifting from gold to green. The cobalt aura keeps him in place as raspberry spreads across his wife’s belly. “There are some things worth dying for. Like my love for you.”

Cadance feels a certain clarity, a ruthlessness she reserves for tyrants and slavers, as Chrysalis’ magic bolsters her own. She can sense the changeling faltering, slumping minutely to the ground, as she imbibes. A part of her wishes to soar, knowing the changeling has truly embraced their principles of friendship and sacrifice, but she forces that part away.

Her words sound cruel to her clear mind, yet she utters them regardless.

“Would you leave Flurry Heart without her dam?” Her head twists as she rolls to her back, remaining in contact with both herdmembers as she exposes her sex to Doug. “Could you live with yourself, knowing you had the chance, but not taking it?”

“I…” Shining Armor growls, teeth gritting together. His horn flares pink, only to be contained by cobalt. His gaze turns to Doug. “Why would you do this?”

“You are the one who used the spell,” Doug states as he kneels, pants undone. “Knowing the risks. Don’t blame me.”

“Buck you,” Shining Armor spits out.

“Pretty sure that’s-” Chrysalis starts before Luna cuffs her.

Doug closes his eyes, hand running along his slowly engorging cock. He tenses up, tightly gripping, short and fast breaths attempting to speed along the turgid process.

“You must be inside her,” Chrysalis states wearily as more wisps of green continues to escape her muzzle, each thinner and dimmer than the last. “Or the bond won’t be as strong.”

“Can’t believe you expect me to perform like this,” Doug mutters to himself as he lines himself up with Cadance, wincing in pain.

She grunts as he enters her marehood, hands never touching her. It’s smaller than she expected from the filly’s nights she’s spent with the other mares, conversing about everything under the sun and moon. She misses the imagined feel of his hands, those cursed fingers with their passionate caresses and strokes. Yet, she supposes, he is trying to stay as true to Shiny’s demand as possible.

Yet from the fury bubbling in her husband, she knows that any contact is enough to trigger his promise. She can feel his love, the only thing holding her core together, weakening.

“Shiny,” she ekes out, limply holding up a foreleg. “I love you.”

“Cady,” Shining Armor whispers as he burrows into her side, holding her as tightly as he dares. “I love you too.” His head sinks into her velvety fur. “More than anything else.”

“Me, too,” she says, caressing his three-colored mane as she feels Doug speed up. She barely acknowledges the feeling of him inside her, staying as detached as possible. “We are stronger than this. Our love will get us through.”

His response is an abject whimper and squeeze of forelegs around her barrel as Doug shudders in release.

The tell-tale glow of Twilight’s horn comes again, speeding the sperm along their journey. Cadance chances a glance to the side; the changeling is either unconscious or doing an excellent job faking, and she hopes the young inside her are okay.

A moment later, she feels a spark inside her ignite. She immediately latches on, securing her new foal to her core. Crude sutures form, lashing them to each other, just like her Shiny is connected to her. She wouldn’t be able to leave his side, not for a long time, but that’s a price she will gladly pay.

“Will you let me name her?” he demands of Doug, scowling, his promise still in full effect.

“Of course,” Doug says as Luna pulls him away. He rubs at his chest, grimacing.

“Mortal.” Shining Armor nods forlornly. “To remind us of how fleeting life can be, and how we must safeguard every precious moment. And Rage, because we must be passionate defenders of that life and love.”