"Really?" Cadance didn't want to give anything away of her joy, so she narrowed her eyes and looked from Spring to Storm, and finally settled back on Shining. "A harem?"

Clearing his throat and wishing he had wings to spread over Storm and Spring, Shining stepped toward his wife and nuzzled her cheek. "Cadie, don't do this to them. Please?" He looked into her eyes with a burning need to hear her support him, too.

"Of course I'm happy to hear you have taken the two ponies Luna and myself have been trying to—ahem—ship you with. Shiny, I love that you have found more love in our home. Storm lives up to his name, and while I am still wary, I think I'd like to spend a little more time with him. I've been trying to put stallions in Spring's way since she arrived here. It turned out I wasn't looking at the right stallion." Cadance stepped past Shining, gathering him up with her wing, and ushered him over to Storm and Spring.

Enjoying the feel of Cadance's wing pulling her against Shining, Spring had to ask, "Don't you already have a harem?"

"Therein lies the question, right, Shining?" Cadance asked.

Shining nodded. "Separate or combined."

"But that's not our decision to make, Shiny." Kissing her husband on the nose, Cadance gave Storm and Spring a squeeze.

"I always said no to your invitations, it just didn't feel right to be part of your harem." Spring firmed her stance despite the soft touch of Cadance's wings.

"… when it was Shining you loved?" Cadance asked. At Spring's blush, Cadance giggled. "I can see that you love him in the very air around the pair of you. If it helps, he loves you too."

"So we'll be Shining's harem." Storm bit his lower lip carefully not to make a mess. He looked at Cadance. "But I don't mind warming your bed, too."

"It's the same bed," Shining said.

"It's a big bed. Will either of you be upset if I have one of my harem with me while Shiny has one or both of you?" Cadance asked.

Straining not to blush, Storm looked at Spring and got a nod from her. "So long as Shining is there, I'm okay with it."

"I—I'd like a buffer in that situation." Spring was surprised at the big smile on Cadance's face. She felt a need to say more but couldn't think what to say. "I don't know what to say, or what else to say. I know I came here to find somewhere to raise my foal away from the Guard, but you made the castle here my home. I feel comfortable with both of you—and now with Storm—but I don't know if I'll feel that way with another pony I don't know."

Shining gave his wife a smile before he leaned against Spring and nibbled at one of her ears. "Just tell me if things are uncomfortable."

Seeing her husband make such a connection made Cadance glow a little more with the light of her talent. "I'm proud of all of you. Please, don't do anything unless you wish to, but I can assure you that if you keep an open mind, we can all continue to find love aplenty."

"Well, um, there might be a little more love on the way." Spring looked between Shining and Storm. "We were gone for two moons and I didn't have my monthly time the second one." She wasn't sure what to expect.

"Any clue as to which stallion?" Cadance asked, while Storm and Shining were silent in shock.

Spring giggled. "I don't know if bat ponies are compatible with unicorns."

"We're not," Storm managed to say.

Blushing, Spring looked up at Shining. "I guess you are quite the stallion, then." Her expression, she hoped, betrayed the raw joy she felt at the idea of having another foal.

Finally shaking off the shock of the statement, Shining whinnied in pure joy. "We're going to have another foal?" He wasn't sure why he deserved a kiss from Cadance and Spring for just asking that, but he was happy to roll with it. "We need to get Spring bigger quarters. We need more teachers. We need—"

Storm silenced Shining with a firm kiss on his lips, drawing a surprised but not unhappy sigh from the bigger stallion. He broke the kiss and reached his wing claw up to carefully poke Shining's nose with it. "We need to calm down and listen to Spring."

Leaning over to Spring, Cadance said, "He's really good at this, isn't he?"

"Shining or Storm?" Spring asked.

"Yes." Cadance managed to keep a straight face for nearly a whole second, which is when she and Spring broke into laughter. With the two stallions resuming their kiss, Cadance turned her full attention to Spring. "You have a choice here. Don't think I—"

Spring felt certain enough to cut Cadance off. "I definitely want to keep them. They were conceived in lovemaking and have a loving home to grow in. Assuming that's alright with you?"

"Honestly? I'm amazed we haven't had a plethora of foals. Shining, as you know, has always been happy to play when I'm involved. If it weren't for those birth-control amulets, we would have foals aplenty by now." Cadance kissed Spring's cheek. "Your foal will be part of our family, as you already are."

"It was a long trip. If you don't mind, Your—"

"Just Cadance is fine, in public, court, or private."

Spring smiled. "That will take some getting used to, Cadance. As I was saying, if it's okay with yourself, I believe I am going to have a long soak in a bath and then sleep for several days."

"Would you like company? I think these two are going to be busy." Cadance nodded toward the royal bathroom.

The bath that was bigger than her bedroom beckoned Spring, and suddenly it was all she could think about. "I would say that sounds wonderful."

Shining stirred from his post-coitus nap. He was wrapped in warmth and had the weight of another stallion on his back—which only meant one thing. "Storm?"

"Shh. Sleeping," Storm said, his mind still mostly immersed in a dream of a hunky stallion.

That was when Shining's brain got a message from his colon to say that not only was it full of bat spunk, but that it still had a large quantity of bat dick, too. The wings folded around him were, of course, Storm's. Without a doubt he loved the soft, fluffy wings of his wife, but he could appreciate Storm's too.

Adjusting his legs a little, Shining slipped backward off the bed with Storm still on him. Straightening his legs, Shining considered waking Storm, but figured a nice shower would do that. He turned and made his way to the bathroom.

Shining froze in the doorway. Cadance was taking up nearly half the bath—by using her spread out wings on the surface—but both the mares seemed asleep with their heads resting on the edges of the bath.

"Storm, wake up quietly, please?" To help wake his cargo Shining wiggled his rear—something that almost made him moan.

As he slowly ascended from sleep, Storm shifted, realized where he was and who he was on, and humped forward. "Mmmm-morning."

"St—Storm. Pick a mare and start massaging." His legs wobbling, Shining made his way over to the side of the bath.

Lifting his head from Shining's neck, Storm looked at the setting before them. "Oh my. And I can take my pick? Cadance." It was calculated. Though he wanted to show Spring how much he loved her company, Storm wanted to make it up to Cadance that he'd come on a little strong with their first meeting in the bedroom.

"Watch her shoulders. She flies more than she walks, so focus more on her wing muscles." As he stepped into the water, Shining could feel the bath's enchantments burning away what dirt and mess was in his coat, and when Storm pulled out of him and drifted toward Cadance, Shining let out a low sigh of relief as his rear started to recover.

Keeping his own wings in close, Storm swished with his wing-fingers to make his way over to Cadance. She was, to his mind, big for a mare. Not as large as Celestia, but he'd never been invited into a bath with Celestia.

Reaching over her body with his wings was a careful thing. Storm didn't want to give his game away and startle her awake with a stray drop of cooled water, so slowly reached around each side of her from one side and gently rested the balls of his wing-hands against the big flight muscles every pegasus had.

The two heavy cords of muscle reached around from where they anchored on Cadance's breast to her shoulders and back to her wings. Storm could feel through just the slightest contact that they were still tense despite what had been quite a bit of rest. So, without going too hard, he started to roll against the muscles and slowly work at the tension.

It was relaxing for Storm, too, to just ease into his task. Her muscles were built different to a bat pony's, but muscles were muscles and hers needed some love and attention. After some time he hadn't realized he'd been leaning against her, but heard a soft sigh come from Cadance.

"Storm?" Cadance asked. "No, don't stop. Thank you, but could you work a bit more on the right one? There's a knot a little down from where you—Ohhhh…" He'd found it. There'd been a little knot that had bothered her during her flying and each roll of his wing-hand over it reduced it a bit more until—finally—it was eased away completely.

"Anywhere else I could apply my talents?" Storm reached back across to give both flight muscles attention again. He'd felt the moment her whole body had gone limp, though, and figured Cadance had been suffering that muscle knot for some time.

"Rump. I stretched a muscle on my left side when I was taking off earlier. It's not sore, it just twinges every now and again." Was it an open invitation to her husband's lover to work over her rump? Cadance knew the answer to that, and was perfectly fine with him doing whatever else he could find to do back there.

Shifting around behind Cadance, Storm started at the peak of her croup and started slowly circling down over her muscles. If he didn't look, Storm could certainly imagine it was a powerful stallion he was massaging, but he didn't need to. He could admire Cadance as a big and powerful mare without the hint of dislike that normally crowded his appreciation for a fine butt when its owner was female.

Cadance let out a deep groan, completely unreserved, when Storm found the stretched muscle. He was gentle with it where she was tender and firm where he needed to be. In all, she felt herself becoming putty under his grip and, when her muscles were relieved, she lifted one back leg up and looked back over her shoulder. "Hungry?"

Storm used one wing to cradle Cadance's hoof. Leaning a little closer, he could see her eyes widen just before he kissed the frog delicately. "I've already eaten, but I appreciate the offer."

"Oh." Cadance was surprised she sounded a little sad. She'd been building herself up to the offer, and now he didn't need to feed. His kiss, however, turned into a nuzzle, and she let out a happy little sigh at the feel of his attention. "Anything else you'd like?"

"If you're asking if I want sex, I'll decline. I can appreciate you, Your—Cadance, but without that big hunk of your husband involved, and without me being worked up already, I'm afraid I don't know if I can perform." Storm leaned forward and rested his head on Cadance's croup. "Perhaps we could swap positions, Shining?"

"Storm," Cadance said, "you might want to look behind you. I believe Shining is busy."

Lifting his head from Cadance's rump, Storm looked back to see Shining on Spring's back, his hips slamming into her repeatedly. The urge to approach him and take his rump was almost overwhelming, but he didn't have to rush—and he wanted them to have as much personal time as he got with Shining. "Why isn't the water sloshing?"

"Magic. This whole castle is brimming with it." Folding her sodden wings down, Cadance stepped aside from the special spot she'd been occupying where a pony could relax safely. "Your turn. Is there anywhere I should focus on or avoid?"

It took a moment for Storm to catch up with Cadance's thinking, but it seemed like a different idea so he decided to just go with it. "I don't think I've ever been in this situation. Just—Just be careful about anything erogenous. I don't know how I'll feel about it."

"What if I ask you?" Cadance asked.

"That would be okay. As for muscles, my shoulders have my forelegs and my wings, I have most of the normal muscles until you reach my rump. Bat ponies have a twisting pelvis that allows our back legs to rotate." Storm spread his wings and tried to relax, letting the membranes hold his weight in the water by cupping a little air under them. He looked back over his shoulder to see Cadance reaching for his left rear leg with her hooves.

Bat pony muscles were different to pony ones, Cadance realized, but only in some places. His thighs were just as thickly muscled as any stallion's, but there were other muscles that provided the twist that Storm had told her about. "Extend this one for me, please, and twist it." She cupped his ankle as he stretched the leg to where it was pointing down and back almost completely straight, then he rotated the limb around his thigh, and reached up above his rump with it to show off his talons. "Wouldn't have taken me two years of dating to get Shiny in the sack if I could do that."

Storm couldn't keep back his giggles. He rested his neck on the padded brace and sighed. "Just don't try to lift it further than that without asking first." Her hooves, though, were gentle beyond belief as they traced his muscles.

Leaning in to kiss the palm of his talon, Cadance watched as his claws flexed but didn't come close to closing on her face. Trust—she knew she had to build it and that it was two-way. Feeling around his talon, she only found tendons and not a sign of muscle. Working up (or down, as it were) to his cannon, she finally felt an inkling of where all those tendons were gathering.

Gentle as she could, Cadance put the lightest of pressure on each tendon, tracing it down from its anchor to each talon. "How much strength can you exert with these?"

"I can crush bones with them if I get the right leverage, but it's the claws that are most effective." Storm had never had anypony examine him so closely. Not a single lover had ever spent the time to give his muscles, tendons, and bones so much attention.

Working toward his thigh, Cadance found one tight set of muscles. "These are what twist your leg around." It wasn't a question. Cadance slowly ran her hoof over the muscles. "Relax them, Storm." She felt as he did, and could see his leg untwist. That's when she realized it had been his inner thigh she'd been rubbing with her hoof. "Was that an ero—?"

"Not particularly. It was sensitive, but I was okay with you touching that. Under my belly and behind me is too far." Storm slowly lowered the leg back into the water to let Cadance continue to feel his muscles.

Now Cadance started to massage properly. She knew the muscles in his thigh so knew how to work them. "Storm, you have my permission to push me, shout at me, or even kick me if I go too far."

"Mmm. I'd be more inclined to grab now. That's nice."

"Sometimes it's easy to forget that as a princess I have a lot more…" Cadance fumbled for a word.

"Dominance? Bearing?" Storm said.

"Those. Yes. If I do something wrong, you have my permission to end it in whatever way you would feel safest." She worked up his thigh and over his croup, then down to the other. "You're not asleep are you?"

Storm's sigh was wistful, completely devoid of the seriousness Cadance's words had carried. "It'd be easy to sleep like this. Nopony has ever done this before."

"Massaged you?"

"No. I mean, just felt over my muscles and body like that. You were gentle, and I felt safe, and it was incredibly arousing. I don't know any other way to say it." Storm surprised himself by admitting it all. "If you lead with that, I'd follow."

Working her way up and to his back, Cadance spent a little time rubbing the sensitive spot every pony had where their tailbone meets their spine. It wasn't one of his off-limits spots, but she was interested to see his reaction. "Is this okay?"

"Yessss…" The touch was on that border between erogenous and just enjoyable. Storm's hindquarters twitched and danced, while in his mind he could imagine a big stallion giving him this work-over in preparation for something more intimate. When the stallion in his mind's eye turned into the very real mare that was massaging him—and he felt okay with it—he pondered telling her to ignore his previous comment about limits, but wanted to take things slow with Cadance.

Working her hoof over to his other thigh, Cadance leaned her head down on Storm's croup and let out a sigh. "Part of why I love—pardon the pun—my domain so much is the discovery and trust involved. Meeting somepony, showing them everything I am and letting them teach me what I can do to make them happy." She inhaled deeply, her nose picking up the musk Storm was too distracted to suppress. "You prefer stallions, though."

"P-Prefer. Yeah." His defenses were down, but Storm had made the choice to lower them. The smell of his own arousal was strong, as it was for most bat ponies, but he could smell Cadance's too. "Sexual attraction is too complicated."

"I like to uncomplicate it. Love and accept whomever you wish to—be honest and inquisitive." Cadance worked down Storm's other leg, feeling him relax and twist it up for her. "Would you like to do more than just massage?"

"Mmmm… No. Not now. I don't want it to be just sex." Shifting, Storm drew-in his wings and rolled over in the water. "I want to feel something. Romance me."

Blinking a little in surprise, Cadance almost bit her lip at the rampant stallion denying her advance. He wanted the softer side of things—romance. "You want to date?" Now she couldn't help but smile at his nod. "Well, where—?"

"No. I want you to date me. Take me out. Show me a good time." It was antithesis to all he had been. Dominant and gay, he wanted something soft and cuddly—no. Storm realized he wanted to be held and cuddled.

Stepping around beside Storm, Cadance pondered the reality of what he was asking. "This sounds more than just agreeable—it sounds fun. In a week. Lunch. We'll go on a date. Be ready and wear something pretty."

Shining looked over at his wife and couldn't keep back his smile. The situation had begun in a calm I've got this and had steadily evolved into what he was watching. "You're nervous and it's adorable."

"I'm not nervous—you're nervous!" Cadance's accusation made no sense, but then, neither did her complete inability to find a brush for her mane. "Where is the brush?!"

"Cady?"

"I don't have time!"

"Cady!" When Cadance spun around to glare at him, Shining used his magic to gesture above her head—where the brush was floating in a field of blue telekinetic magic. "You are literally holding the brush right now."

Lowering her magic down, Cadance stared at the brush she'd been holding. "I can still barely get used to having a horn and it's been how many years now?"

Shining leaned in and kissed Cadance's cheek as she started brushing her mane. "You're just distracted because you want to make a good impression on Storm."

"I just—ugh, a knot"—Cadance tilted her head, squeezed one eye closed against the uncomfortable tugging, and jerked the brush free—"I really like him and want him to feel safe and comfortable here."

"He already does, trust me. You just need to be yourself." Taking the brush from Cadance's grip, Shining started to work it through her mane with significantly less destructive force. "Just relax."

"How do you expect me to calm down? I'm going on a date with the princess of love!" Storm wanted to stomp around the room but couldn't because of the deep red jacket Spring was adjusting on him.

Lifting her head from the pin she'd just worked into the jacket, Spring raised an eyebrow as she looked into Storm's eyes. "Do you really want me to explain it again?"

He was meant to be the self-assured guardpony stallion—the aloof and exotic bat pony—not a nervous colt feeling panic growing as his first date approached. "M-Maybe."

"It's super easy. You see, when the princess of love—also an empress, remember—asks you if you want to have some special fun-time, you say yes or no. What you don't do is challenge her to a contest where she holds all the cards and you are a quivering pile of bat." Spring was beyond sparing Storm's feelings. "You wanted this. You asked for it. Now, Storm, you have to go through with it."

"I could tell her I'm sick."

"Storm, no."

"Or you could go instead of me!"

"Storm…"

"I just need to find you a wig, some stick-on wings, and we can use some cutlery glued to your back hoo—"

Holding Storm's head in her magic, Spring looked into his eyes and kissed him. It didn't last long, but she wanted to make sure he'd stop talking. "You're not sick and I am not helping you in some convoluted plan that will almost assuredly result in me fighting a duel to the death with a yak. Hold still and let me finish pinning this up so you can—" She was interrupted by a knock at the door. Stepping back from Storm, she examined him with a critical eye before nodding. "Wait there."

Storm found himself stepping from forehoof to forehoof as Spring walked to the door. When she opened it to reveal Cadance, he froze. She was wearing a long and flowing blue dress that gave glimpses of her hooves with each step.

"Date!" Cadance shouted.

"Yes!" His reply was only marginally quieter than Cadance's only because Storm wasn't raised by a mane who had the full knowledge of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Spring looked between Cadance and Storm and narrowed her eyes. "You two are buckin' perfect for each other. Go on, inflict the glory of your combined awkwardness on the rest of the Crystal Empire." Shooing them out the door and down the hall, Spring spotted Shining watching her with a big grin on his face. "What?"

"I'm not the one being outrageously dorky for once." Shining covered the distance between them and kissed Spring on the cheek. "I have to go and manage afternoon court. Want to join me?"

"Not particularly, but I will anyway. Lead on." Spring felt all aflutter at the cozy warmth that had been blossoming with Shining.

Stealing looks at Storm, Cadance liked the way he moved and strode with purpose at her side. During her brief stint of dating in high school—before she'd found Shining—Cadance had dealt with the fact that she was going to be bigger than most stallions well, though the stallions themselves weren't so fine with it. Some seemed to want to puff themselves up to look bigger while others had kept their distance a little more. She liked to think they did it in case she fell over and crushed them.

Storm kept close enough to her that she felt the whisper of air along her shoulder sometimes and he didn't radiate that air of skittish panic that those poor dates of yore had. No, Storm had his own panic that seemed to be slowly leaking out. "Am I making you nervous?"

"No!" Shaking his head, Storm tried to free himself of the useless fear that'd gripped him. "I mean, a little. I—I wasn't exactly joking when I said I wanted you to take me out on dates, but I didn't expect you to go along with it this much."

"But?" Cadance asked. "There's always a but somewhere."

"But I started looking forward to it. I barely slept last night and now I'm nervous for no reason and I'm scared if I start talking I'll begin to ramble and I think I'm starting to ramble right now and—" Storm was grateful for Cadance's blue magic holding his muzzle and quietening him. What he didn't expect was for her to lean down and kiss his cheek. "Th-Thanks."

"You're welcome. Would it help if I said I felt the same way?" Cadance nodded toward a fancy-looking coffee shop not far away. "I didn't sleep at all and now I'm worked into a mess because I don't want this to go badly and for you to form some kind of dislike for me and then have that poison your relationship with Shiny."

It was a shock to see how much she cared. Storm looked up at Cadance and leaned a little closer to kiss her cheek. "I don't think we could have a date go that badly."

The affection helped buoy Cadance up further and she started to prance a little. "I had five dates before I cornered Shiny. Each of them was more disastrous than the previous until aunt Celestia made me promise to only have them in cities that weren't magical constructs hovering over certain doom should said magic fail."

Storm blinked in surprise. "But—They couldn't have been that bad!"

"I got embarrassed and tried to slip out the window at The Eggplant Cafe. Not only didn't I fit out the window, but using alicorn-level magic to make myself fit collapsed the bathroom and part of the dining room—and I still didn't get myself free of the window frame." At Storm's disbelieving stare, Cadance smiled. "My second date was so terrible that my partner tried to escape in a similar manner. When I caught him, the blast I accidentally unleashed radiated pure love across half the city. Auntie had to donate a large sum to Canterlot Hospital's maternity wing as a result."

As his eyes opened further at the description of complete and utter date-destruction, Storm waited for Cadance to admit it was all a joke and she was just kidding—it never came. "And there were three more?"

"Three more worse than those two. One resulted in a fire."

"How big a fire?"

"Have you ever noticed how the tower I lived in was slightly different stone to the rest of the castle?" Cadance grinned. "It turns out beds can catch fire really easily, and if an alicorn doesn't know how to keep their magic in control, the sparks generated by intense emotions can ignite flammable things."

It was too much for Storm—he started to giggle. "Then you found Shining?" As soon as he said Shining's name, Storm felt a flood of warming emotional magic radiate from Cadance. It wasn't overwhelming, though, and he wasn't worrying about catching fire—at least he wouldn't have been before her previous description.

"Here we are." Cadance gestured to the coffee shop on the corner just ahead. "They make a lovely coffee from the husks of a particular crystal berry. It lacks some of the bitterness of traditional coffee, but has more kick."

Making interested sounds, Storm stepped into the cafe behind Cadance and looked around. The little shop was decorated with forest-print wallpaper and had tables scattered around the floor with several ponies already enjoying their lunch. At least, they had been. Most just gave Cadance a nod, but others froze and stared at her—he couldn't blame them.

Walking to the counter, Cadance used every ounce of the poise Celestia had drummed into her to ignore the stares and engage with the barista instead. "Fresh Bean, it's good to see you again."

For Fresh Bean, who was just a normal crystal pony trying to make her little dream business succeed, having royalty as a customer had been hard to adapt to. There was a level of presence that just demanded certain words spill forth and she'd been told Just call me Cadance, please so many times that she was sure, one day, it would sink it. "Your—Majest—Princ—Cadance! It's good to see you again. Can I get you something?" But today wasn't that day.

Cadance could see the mare waiting for it. It had become ritual at this point. "Please, just call me Cadance."

There it was. It was out of the way now and behind her—Fresh Bean relaxed. "Your usual perhaps?"

"What's your usual?" Storm asked.

"Two serves of my usual." Cadance used a wingtip to reach out and boop Storm on the nose. "A double of sugar for Storm."

For Fresh Bean, making Cadance her usual was already a trial of trying to fit more sugar in a cup of coffee than said liquid could usually suspend. She'd started buying specially prepared sugar from a unicorn in Canterlot that used magic to make it more able to be absorbed into water without thickening it. "I'll see what I can do, Y—Cadance."

Waiting for the barista to become involved with a machine that took half the wallspace of the shop, Storm gestured with his wing to a seat. "Should we take our seats? I can fetch anything you require."

"It would probably be the better idea. Poor dear often struggles to make my coffee for some reason." Relaxing on the seat, Cadance inhaled the fine scents on the air. It was coming on toward spring—her favorite season. "Love is in the air."

"Is that your way of saying I smell musky? I assure you, I was careful to—" When Cadance giggled and shook her head, Storm halted. "So what then?"

"I might be empress and all that, but I'm still Princess of Love, Storm. When a pony feels something for another pony, it gives me a rush of pure joy." Closing her eyes, Cadance inhaled to prove her point and giggled. "Also, you do have a slight hint of musk, but I like that."

Storm wasn't sure what to do, so he blushed and tried not to feel self-conscious. Male bat ponies, he well knew, had a unique musk that was all their own. He tried to distance himself from it due to the intensity and how it tended to turn a lot of ponies off. "It normally loses a bat pony dates."

"I could see that, particularly if it got too strong, but like this is nice. I think Fresh is having some problems with your drink." Cadance could smell ozone, a good sign that arcane forces were ahoof. When there was a crackle of lightning from behind the counter, she started to worry.

Carrying a tray with two huge, pink drinks and a pair of pastries, Fresh Bean tried not to betray how worried she was for the health of her royal customer's companion. "Two Royal Specials, one with double sugar, two eclairs, and a smile." She delivered the last as best she could given the magical forces she'd just had to wrestle.

Staring more at the pink monstrosity before him than at his date, Storm felt fear. His acute sense of smell—specifically designed to detect sugar and carbon dioxide—was pinging like crazy and, for a fraction of a monad of time, he could almost feel cavities start. "You drink this?" he asked Cadance.

"That's a double-sugar." Lowering her voice and leaning forward, Cadance added, "I only have that after an orgy."

Growing adept at ignoring the things royal ponies said was an art that Fresh Bean had started to master. She knew of Cadance's parties only because the mare never quite managed to take her usual amount of care about her appearance after one. There was also rumors. She ensured the pair both had their order and dipped her head. "If you need anything else, Cadance, Storm, please don't hesitate to get my attention." With no further requests, she backed away with the tray on her back and went back to her usual duties.

Bringing the straw of her drink to her lips, Cadance took a long suck on it and shivered with the pinkness of the drink. Of course it tasted nothing like coffee, but it had the legacy of coffee in its depths. Her eyes alighted on Storm as he stared into the abyss within his own drink. "It's not going to kill you. The sugar should pep you right up."

Despite the effort of that unicorn in Canterlot, the sugar had started to thicken Storm's drink. As he sipped at it, fought fluid dynamics and reality itself, he finally got a taste of it. The berries were obvious, but while they hinted at the taste of strawberry first, it developed into something far stronger. The sugar, however, was what sent messages through his strange metabolism direct to his brain that this is good for you. Taking a longer suck, he let out a surprised little meep noise when he let go of the straw. "That's really good."

Beaming in success, Cadance used her magic to pick up the eclair. "Aunt Luna did tell me a little bit of care instructions for bat ponies. Sweet things, she'd said, could never be sweet enough for a bat. I figured I'd test the theory."

"The only thing will be I am going to need to burn it off or lose it. Would you like to go flying after this?" By the way his question got an unguarded and startled look of surprise and delight on Cadance's face, it told Storm that he'd guessed right. A little research had told him that she'd been a pegasus before she'd become an alicorn—flying had been part of her longer than magic.

"I—I'd love that, actually. Shiny doesn't have wings, and there are few enough pegasi among the crystal ponies." She felt giddy and unable to resist smiling even more. To keep from blurting something silly out, she sipped more of her drink and nibbled on her eclair. "I haven't seen a bat pony flying before."

"It's not usually something we do during the day. Night time is when we soar through the skies, looking for delicate mares so we can invade their bedrooms and fulfill their fondest desires." It was hard to keep back his own giggles, even as Cadance almost spat out her eclair due to her laughter. "I see you have seen that genre of fiction too?"

"Seen it, read it, spent wistful nights with an open window." Cadance ticked the items off on three of her wing feathers. "Did the writer even know anything about bat ponies?"

"No. Not a thing. Consider that she got just about everything wrong. You didn't believe it?"

"Pfft, of course not." Waving her hoof dismissively, Cadance tried to forget those chilly nights or how they'd been her first introduction to masturbation. "But it's nice to have fantasies."

Storm's mind raced and he remembered back to the one book he had read. Feminine in the first person, it had been relatively easy to transpose himself into the ravished mare's place. "Now that would be something to role-play."

"You'd want to role-play that?" Inside, the young mare who'd spent those nights with her hoof behind her back legs started jumping up and down in excitement. "I mean, if you'd be okay with it, I wouldn't say no."

"On one condition: I'm fine going first, but when it's your turn, we're going to have to make you a bat costume." Storm thought it was absolutely reasonable, even if he was happy to see Cadance break down into a fit of giggles. "Deal?"

Trying to halt her laughter, Cadance nodded. She reached for her drink but stopped as more giggles made it inadvisable. Finally, she cleared her throat, sipped some of her drink, and said, "I'll have to dig out some of those books for research purposes."

"Oh, of course. Maybe we could read them together? I'm not sure I remember enough beyond the flying down and entering windows bit." He did, though. He remembered reading how the bat pony would drink the blood of their victim direct from their neck while doing all sorts of fun things that were typically the domain of more stand up and buck types. He hadn't minded too much, suspension of disbelief was strong when you had your dick in your wing's grip. "For research purposes, as you say."

Along with the laughter they both shared, Cadance felt unimaginable relief. She suspected that Storm had read the books too, and for the same reason she had, but it was finding shared ground that helped her learn more about him and not just about bat ponies in general. He liked flying, he liked bedroom games, he mostly liked stallions (though that had changed a little recently), he loved sugary drinks, and now she was finding that he liked her.

Storm was following a similar path that Cadance was exploring. He knew for sure now that she enjoyed flying, fruity drinks, and bad adult romance books. It was shared ground for him that had the whole situation just feeling right as far as being a date went. He chatted with her about other things too, small things like her thoughts on mares and stallions, and he'd even shared the more intimate thoughts he'd had about mares in general and her in particular. "Strength is what's doing it for me. You're not just strong, Cadance, you're imposing. I need that for some part of me. It feels good to not just let you be imposing but to shatter that imposing into—" He stopped before sharing too many details of their love life with anypony who might be listening to them.

Cadance smirked at that and nodded. "I know what you mean, and while I do enjoy that, I already have somepony who makes me feel that. I'll need to talk with her, I think, before we try that game again."

"If—If it would be okay, I'd like to talk to her too. You can ask her if she'd be okay with that, of course." Slurping up the last of his drink, Storm could feel his body metabolizing the sugar and pouring the liquid energy into his blood. He added the last of the eclair to his stomach for good measure.

"To talk shop?" Following Storm's example, Cadance polished off her lunch too.

"Yes. No. I don't know. I have feelings and I guess I never had the chance to speak to a pony about them before. I learned all the stuff about safe words from other guys, but it was all just parroted, you know?" Somehow he found himself inspecting the bottom of the glass his drink had come in. "The way you spoke about her, she knows what she's doing."

"She absolutely does. If you'd like, I will send a letter asking to meet her in Canterlot. You can be my guard there, and I'll ask her if she'd be willing to speak with you."

"Why don't you ask in your letter to her?" Storm asked, not saying anything further as Fresh Bean came to collect their dishes.

"Are you both done? Can I tempt you with anything else?" Fresh was more than a little shocked that Storm had finished his drink without bouncing off the walls.

"We'd better be going, I think. I promised a pretty mare I'd go flying with her." It was so cliché it almost hurt Storm to say, but the widening grin on Cadance's face told him that although it was corny, it had worked.

Pulling out his coin purse, Storm asked, "How much do I owe you for that?"

Shaking her head, Fresh Bean said, "The Pr—Cadance pays a monthly bill."

"Not for today. I'll pay for that." Storm was starting to get nervous about how much it would cost now she was talking monthly accounts.

"Four gold bits for the drinks and two silver for the pastries." Not exactly sure what was going on, Fresh rattled off her prices. "Total."

It was more than he expected, but given the crackle of magic still in the air his suspicions that the drinks were expensively fancy were now proven true. Counting out five gold, Storm set them on the table. "Thanks, the drink was great." It was also a week's pay.

Cadance waited until they were outside the shop before saying, "You didn't have to pay."

"It's important, though I'm sure it originally began as ponies trying to prove their ability to support a mate. Not sure if it makes sense in this situation." Storm walked to the middle of the street and spread his wings.

Having seen him use them in the bedroom often enough, Cadance was nonetheless surprised to see how expansively wide they were. "Your wings are amazing." The words were unguarded and honest.

Tilting his head to look back at Cadance, Storm smiled at her. "Well, come on, spread yours too."

Doing as she was told, Cadance took her time to stretch out one wing and then the other. She watched as Storm's eyes traced her feathery appendages until both were stretched wide—with roughly the same wingspan as his own. "Well? Are we goi—?"

Storm didn't wait for Cadance to finish. He pumped his wings and almost literally threw himself into the air from the lift. Pegasi had all kinds of tricks to gain them the aerodynamic advantages they had with such small wings, but bat ponies had to make up for their lack of flight magic with pure physics.

A shout of joy escaped Cadance as she poured magic into her wings, pumped them, and took to the sky after Storm. Though her wings were the same size as his, they weren't as wide and she wasn't as light as Storm. Having all the magic of an alicorn to pour through her wings, however, easily made up the difference.

When Storm started flying acrobatic twists and patterns, Cadance joined in as best she could. She wasn't able to perform them at the same time as Storm, but she only lagged a moment behind.

The flying wasn't all acrobatics. Storm slowed down to a gentle glide and aligned his wingtip with Cadance's. He'd seen pegasi fly far closer together, but there was no chance of doing it as they were thanks to their wings.

Gliding side by side, Cadance drifted back to the palace with Storm and they landed on one of the balconies overlooking the central square of the Crystal Empire. Furling her wings when she touched down, she looked over at Storm and couldn't help but smile like a filly on her first date. "You can fly."

"So can you. There aren't many pegasi who can keep up with that, let alone ones with as much presence as you." Walking closer to Cadance, Storm hesitated before leaning toward her.

Cadance was not about to be denied. She leaned toward Storm, too, and pressed her lips to his. With all the pegasus magic she'd been burning, there was a crackle of static as their lips found each other. She nuzzled forward, working her lips as if she would consume him, only to have Storm return her advance with his tongue leading the charge.

Giving as good as he got, Storm finally came up for air and let out a hungry groan. "C-Cadance, I—"

"Come along. You wanted your date, you got it. You wanted to fly, we did it. I was even gentlemarely enough to finish the date with a kiss." Leaning closer to Storm, Cadance pitched her voice low as her mouth brushed his ear. "Now, would you like to retire to the bedchambers?"

"To, uh?" Storm asked, his head spinning a little from the kiss.

"Cuddle. Snuggle. Maybe even kiss again." Leading the way, Cadance made sure to flick her tail around and try to entice Storm to follow her.

Storm couldn't have stopped himself from such an invitation if he'd tried. Trotting after Cadance, letting his mind wander, he felt an onset of lewd thoughts that, if he wasn't careful, would leave him helpless to resist Cadance's wiles.

Author's Note

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any character within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right character to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post!

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