Restore the Queen.

Chapters

Unequal by Design
Halfbreed(s)
Bonus 1
Pining Eternal.
Bonus 2
The Trough.
Perdition. Part1.
Perdition. Part 2.
Bonus 4.
Bonus 3.
Mothers Know Best.
Princes and Princesses.
Warmest Hearth.
Epilogue.
Restore the Queen.
Vague Anxieties

Unequal by Design

Author's Note

Once again, I do so hope it was worth the wait. Hopefully chapter 3 will not be so delayed. Thanks to https://www.fimfiction.net/user/119244/shadow+wolf1573 once again for their extensive help workshopping this piece. And even more thanks to everyone giving this story such a positive reception. I cannot express how glad I am that I've yet to (really) disappoint you kind and patient people.

Unequal by Design

Chapter 2.
Unequal By Design.

Another summer night in Ponyville, another evening of combing through taxes and bills and expenditures. Umbra wore slight glasses in the light of a pink lamp in the upstairs office as she delicately calculated tax rates and balanced the family budget for the month. Red magic moved two quills at once across her ledger whilst an abacus clicked and shuffled about to keep track of her math. A slight hum and a sip of her tea broke her focus for the slightest moment and let it glide toward the clock mounted on the wall.

So late in the evening and you still weren’t home from work. Again.

You had warned both mares that you’d be busy that week, so much so that you’d miss dinner and have to come home after the sun had already set. Clearly communicated and anticipated as your absence was, it still burned your wives to go without their husband for so long. Just as it did for you to go without soft mares and loving attention.

Derpy became antsy and skittish after dinner had been served, each night she would pace and tirelessly fuss about the house waiting for you. Despite the regular arrival at eight every night, the pegasus still acted as if you might never come back to the family. It wasn’t unusual for the door to croak open with your sweating and exhausted bulk filling the frame just for Derpy to charge forward and demand every detail of your day and any method she could deploy for making you feel better.

Dinky, though not nearly as worrisome as Derpy, also didn’t appreciate the lack of her father in the evenings. The young mare was forced to listen to her Mother and Aunt talk at the dinner table about their less-than exciting stories without her brash and humorous human to save her. Every joke and little prank was quickly quieted by her doting mother, and her outbursts of wanting to play fell on her Aunt’s deaf ears when she simply told her to relax and do her school work. Umbra would tutor her in the evening and Derpy would read her a story, but you weren’t there to play with her. No human to wrestle with, no one to make rude jokes with and not a soul to start fires with left her with rather dull evenings after school.

Umbra struggled just the same despite her being the best adjusted in the family. She could busy herself with painting and with educating Dinky in magic, but there never was as much entertainment in such things as laying with you and drinking the thrill of a stallion. Her painted visages of an otherworldly realm formed a grey and twisted image on her latest canvas, a work started just that morning. The oil paints of grey and brown and washed out hues dried in the waning light of the evening, another piece of her husband and her family in regal posture. She delighted in creating new places for you to dominate, though there wasn’t much imagination outside of dreary castles and broken worlds. The summer greens and brilliant blue skies outside failed to inject a happier atmosphere into her work, but at Dinky at least tempered her desire to craft scenes of horrific warfare. Less blood and guts and heads on pikes. More of you and her in Armor with Derpy serving as your loyal, if not somewhat hidden concubine in the background.

Sighing to herself and listening intently to the door, the unicorn was deeply pleased to hear the familiar beats of tired footfalls against the stoop. Your modest home suppressed sounds quite well, but an intent listener would never be surprised by an arrival. Thus, Umbra was already halfway down the stairs when you opened the door and discovered an oddly empty living room.

“Welcome home, Anonymous.” You were greeted with a sweet voice soothing the ringing in your ears.

“Hey, Babygirl.” You answered simply with a cloud of sweat and filth hanging around you.

“Let me take those, your Majesty.” Umbra kindly took the shirt and lunch box from your hands in her magic, though she always expected payment for the slight service. You welcomed the affection and happily knelt down to meet her lips in a gentle kiss.

“Where’s Mushy?” You asked as sweat rolled down your exposed upper half and washed visible tracks through the dirt plastered across your skin.

“Derpy retired early tonight. Dinky was quite restless and drained the poor thing.” You smirked at the idea of your daughter running someone else out for a change, her explosions in manic energy often leading to entire days of you and her rushing about Ponyville. You swore she could run for hours without taking a breath, a trait she no doubt inherited from you.

“Sounds about right… what about you, Sugar? You alright?” Umbra grinned as she set your lunchbox near the sink and your sodden shirt in the laundry room, her focus quickly turning back to her husband when her tasks were complete. You fished around the icebox for a drink to replenish the hydration lost under this accursed sun. Even after years of companionship and exploring your body, Umbra found it utterly fascinating. The way you moved, the way your muscles fitted together and the precarious way you walked all tantalized her analytical mind. She could watch you simply drink and stand for hours on end, especially when your hunky scent hung heavy in the air.

“I’ve seen to cleaning the family room. Bread is rising for this weekend and the finances have been computed. Just as you desire, my King.” She said with a haughty pride while approaching you. Leaning back against the counter and sighing in satisfaction as cool alcohol washed out your system, you made yourself quite the helpless snack for a hungry mare.

“Excellent. I’m happy to hear, Sugar… but you know I don’t demand that kinda stuff.” She snickered and kissed your filthy stomach to admire your flat, firm pectorals.

“Nonsense, my Love. You slave away for this family day after day. It is a wife’s duty to maintain the home how you see fit.” Such talk wasn’t unlike Umbra, though she was more in it for the thanks and compliments you made sure to shower her with.

“I guess I oughta’ just hush up and appreciate it then. Not like I’m gonna do it.” Derpy would clean the house from time to time before, but you mostly enjoyed doing it with her. Umbra however, would do just about anything to be told “good job” from you. If she weren’t so cute in a bandana with a duster in her teeth, you might’ve said something. But a clean house and fresh clothes were things you couldn’t possibly complain about.

“I suppose the engine is still giving you issues?” She said into your navel as dirt and sawdust clung to her sensitive snout.

“The mill’s still limping along. And without Gear Grinder there, I’m making this up as I go along.” Umbra nodded knowingly and accepted a scratch against her cheek. You might’ve been the sawmill’s supervisor, but that didn’t mean you were immune from the back-breaking labor. The chief engineer was on holiday during the same week your precious steam engine decided to break down, leaving you as the only some-what experienced hand to tend to it. Until he got back then, you were really and truly working like the old days. Shoveling coal, managing steam pressure and sweating like a pig in the heat. Your wives enjoyed the masculine pheromones, but the sunburnt shoulders and scattered steam burns were certainly wearing thin on your patience. Umbra grinned ear to ear when she smelled that familiar blend of intoxicating masculinity and earthen filth once again.

You had played right into her plan.

“Then, my King, I think it best I see to your hygiene. You’ve done more than enough for the day!” Your calloused and lifeless hand was stolen in her red energy and pulled along with the coy Queen.

“Come, come. I’ve a full regiment to get through with you!” You accepted this out of a real lack of energy. No smart remarks or playful gestures could leave your mind when it was drained from a week of tiresome work and your wife was so giddily galloping up the stairs. You were actually quite excited to see what the conniving and plotting Queen was up to. This time around, you found yourself very pleased with what she had crafted. A full bath of steaming and relaxing water laced with her own blend of rejuvenating oils and herbs and spices. She stopped you just after entering the bathroom and went about preparing you for the night ahead.

“You ran a bath?” You asked stupidly as the mare pulled at your belt and undid your meddling bootlaces.

“You always arrive on time, Anonymous. T’was a simple matter of anticipation and planning.” Umbra grinned smugly and pulled away your sweat-soaked garments, accepting your aid in the efficient process. Before too long at all you were stripped off the heavy and worn clothing that protected you. Chewed up and ratty denim, crunchy socks and boots gnawed at by all manner of debris were cast into the nearest hamper to prevent their rancid aromas from escaping and ruining the otherwise sweet atmosphere of the bathroom. Umbra delicately inspected your body for new knicks and cuts and burns, though her eyes naturally wandered across your manhood longer than anywhere else.

"My, my. You look even worse than yesterday, my King." She commented with a solemn kiss to one of your buttocks, causing quite a jump in you.

"I’ve got mares to feed. You know how demanding they can be." You grumbled with a smile, letting her guide you into the sloshing tub full of all manner of particles and oils. Your mare delighted in the sight of your tall and imposing frame so easily mantle the steep edges of the tub and gracefully fall apart into the steaming, clean broth.

"OOoooooaaaugh... that's nice." She snickered and helped to push more of the soapy water over your body, each little lap taking off another layer of filth and wood chips.

"I crafted it specially for you, Anonymous." She added with an adoring kiss to your cheek, her rotund and squishy body making use of the nearby step stool to climb in alongside her husband. A slightly awkward move, Umbra's added mass nearly overfilled the basin with the perfumed and soothing water.

"Whoa, Baby! Easy now!" You grinned and helped her along with caring hands catching her and letting the fuzzy mare dive below the cloudy surface. While you weren't one for luxurious and girly baths, you couldn't say no to an Umbra made wet and heavy by scented bathwater. Her mane washed through the water and replaced any hint of color with an infinite and stellar darkness. Long and tangling locks of mane saturated throughout the entire tub to curl and dance around your body in a way more intimate than any other creature could achieve. Umbra looked as if she had reverted to her old and ethereal state when she bathed, as her body could hide behind the monolithic shape of her ebony mane and morph into something entirely ghostly. Rising from the water with a flat sheet hanging over her head and two ears poking out, you delighted in parting the waterfall of soggy mane to reveal her piercing, loving eyes.

"Kinda smells like tea..." Words failed to really reach Umbra when she reclined across your front and let you touch her face so carefully. Stroking and kneading thumbs worked out the tired sag in her eyes and moved about the dripping fur with such skill. The pony melted into a jelly that clung to your skin greedily and rubbed soapy suds into your muscles.

"There is tea in it, yes." She grunted before sinking somewhat deeper and resting her chin millimeters above the waterline.

"But it is largely sunflower oil, lavender and allspice. Good for the skin and heart." You took in the majesty of such a weighty pony cuddling against your naked body, especially when her bulging belly rubbed rather roughly against your half-hard length and teased you with a softness unrivaled in the world.

"Usually soap and water works just fine for me. I didn’t plan on drinking this stuff." The dark sorceress rolled her eyes and kissed between your flat pectorals. Both hooves glided across your chest and arms with the ease of greased ball bearings, both of them smooth to the touch and exploring your body intently.

"These oils are essential for proper skin health, my King. I would be remiss to see you with a terrible rash or some awful infection." You wiggled at the touch of her teats dragging up your girth and the weight of her chest breathing deep against your own. So intimate was the contact that even you, after years of loving your mares and experiencing what they had to offer, blushed somewhat.

"Essential oils?" You laughed, earning a scoff from your Queen. Floating soap bars and washcloths fell into the pool of cloudy water, soaking and preparing for their use.

"And what exactly is so humorous, Darling?" Umbra berated with an exaggerated expression of offense, meanwhile lathering her cloth and scrubbing a fine brush against the soap.

"Don't worry about it. It's a human thing." She fought to contain her snide little laugh as she set about the delicate, drawn-out and in-depth course of cleaning her human.

Derpy cared for your health in terms of nutrition and affection, but only Umbra could ever make you feel so clean and refreshed. The chubby mare must've worked out an entire scientific system for this sole purpose and practiced by some equally ridiculous means. Bit by bit, part by part, Umbra cleansed your form of any filth and discomfort in soothing strokes and gentle scrubs. After so many washings and becoming so involved in her little project, you were more than comfortable to simply lay back and limply present whatever limb she desired next. Many times you were so relaxed and comfortable with the devious temptress, you even allowed her to shave your face and throat with a straight razor. A practice she enjoyed so thoroughly that the pony delighted in seeing your masculine beard grow thick and ragged.

Starting with your rough and powerful hands, Umbra slathered them with soap and scrubbed down each nook and cranny. Each finger was cared for and made to sparkle with your natural skin-tone once more. Your wife held a tiny brush in her teeth to remove any dirt from beneath your nails as well, the process stretching out for several minutes when you constantly interrupted her progress with boops and prods and pets. Moving down your arms and across your chest, both her hooves would rub and squish soapy swathes across the broad surface of human muscle. Small circles grew into rings of bubbling white that inched down your sun-burnt skin like thick paint creeping down a wall. The dark mare took particular interest in cleaning your neck and face, as every time she rinsed off one layer of soap she could dive in and have a taste. Maybe she judged her progress by your flavor, maybe she just enjoyed scraping against your jugulars with her vampire-esc fangs. It didn't really matter, as each occasion made you twitch and huff in the most satisfying of ways. At one point, she became distracted whilst sucking on your neck and had to be broken from her trance. Playing with her hair all the while was allowed, but Umbra would always play as if she didn't want your fingers sliding between her flowing locks and combing the kinks out.

“Rrgh! Get your claws out of there! Do you wish to be cleaned or not, fool?” You didn't let her go unwashed either, as her pudgy little form crawled all over you whilst she worked and begged for attention. Wash cloths and brushes were discarded in favor of your reliable hands, both of which were far more effective in relaxing and cleaning. You always started with her rump, as the mountainous hills of pony flesh screamed at you against the white background of the bathroom wall. Deep, rough and penetrating pressure kneaded soap into her fur and pushed around her healthy fat so it would snap back into shape and kick up droplets of water. You'd pull her tail up and expose her nethers to the water, just to teasingly wash the top of her dock and slowly let her flagging backside down. When the grinning and humming Queen turned her back on you to wash your tired and sore feet, you'd return the favor with duofold thumbs melting her hooves into useless nubs. Resting her belly on your thighs and letting her legs splay out on your chest, both the dark and polished hooves received a thorough seeing to. Around the hardened exterior, right between her muscular bulges and all across her frog your thumbs went about pressing and rubbing and kneading until everything felt like jelly in a plastic baggy. Umbra crooned and groaned in appreciation when you found her weak bundles of nerves and muscles, sometimes she'd be so lost in the delight of it that her snout would dip below the waterline and her satisfaction would literally bubble up around her smile. Laying back and drinking in the pristine serenity of her contact, you let your eyes close and your mind wander to more mundane topics.

"You don't know what 'diamond dogs' are, do you?" Absentminded fingers parted the sea of her hair so you could see her back move in time with her soft breaths, all ten fingers coming to rest on the rounded shelf of her wide hips.

"Mmmh... why does my husband ask me such things?" Umbra spoke like she had been shocked awake from a deep sleep and settled her face against the wall of the tub.

"They jacked half the lumber on one of our deliveries. Bush Whacker came back hollerin' and yellin' and carryin' on about them." A pause made the bubbles in the water and the steam rising off the surface seem deafening. Umbra thought for a moment as she rubbed herself against your legs and gracelessly stretched a hoof outwards.

"Diamond dogs are but a lesser race hungry for gems and jewels. Like wolves, but just wise enough to jabber on in their stilted tribal speak."

"What do they want with Everfree cedar logs, then?" You asked between kisses on Umbra's hoof, your hands holding her leg like it were a priceless treasure.

"Most likely for use in building their little hobbles underground. Or perhaps their natural urge to steal simply- oooh! Oooh, my King!" She giggled and sloshed in the water when you bravely licked across her sensitive frog and sent sparks of sensation up her leg. Her dark eyes cast a playful glare back towards your naughty expression, though most of your face hid behind her dark hoof.

"You know any way to keep 'em off our product? You know, besides hiring an escort?" Umbra licked her lips when you kindly switched hooves and lavished the other with equal affection. Despite their solid build, you found pony hooves to be highly vulnerable to any kind of pampering. Derpy herself preferred her wings preened and her belly rubbed, but your pegasus wife couldn't deny a passionate hoof rubbing on any day.

"Hire a friendly one from a trading post or wherever those beasts hide. Diamond dogs won't risk a tribal war by attacking another clan." Once again, Umbra proved herself to be useful in another odd way. Rough and nasty and bratty as she could be, the near-infinite pool of knowledge her long life and ambition proved indispensable at times. For some things there truly was none other more qualified than Umbra to judge. And for you, the price of her advice was very "reasonable." Kissing her hooves and squeezing her rounded thighs was a tiny cost compared to the revenue you'd save.

"Thanks Babygirl. I knew you'd know." Umbra let out a rare giggle of girlish excitement when you complimented her. Such was one of the very few things that utterly shattered her abrasive façade.

"Continue that divine rubbing and I won't demand compensation, my Husband." You intended to do far more than simple rubbing. Both hands were already gripping at her haunches and pulling her closer to your face. A slow and even drag that wouldn't outright alert her to your intentions brought her jiggling and all encompassing bottom mere inches from your nose.

"How about this, Sugar?" You punctuated the words with a firm kiss on her butt, one that made it warp and bounce against your face with a joyful energy.

"Ah- Anonymous!" Umbra let out another giggle when you debased yourself for her.

"What? I thought you liked my kisses?" More smooches were delivered between each breath to further tease and tickle the Queen. Her body writhed atop yours and attempted to swat your face with a tail, only for its enormous length of wet fur to weight it down and make the action entirely vain.

"Don't toy with me-EEEEHEHEHE!" Her fits of pleased laughter rolled through the halls of the house like belts of thunder crashing across a helpless countryside. Nipping and kissing and kneading her butt always made Umbra completely helpless and stupid to your whims, especially when simultaneously peppered with compliments and loving diatribes. Muffled by her buttocks and spoken in a hazy tone of lusty play, they still hit hard as ever.

"But your butt's so fun to kiss. How’s a man supposed to ignore something so big and soft and round?" Umbra buried her face behind her mane and kicked her rear legs in denial of such giddy, silly notions. Even if she batted your hands away and dragged her tail across your face, that was no indication that you were to even think of stopping.

"So round and soft and big and heavy- no mare's got a seat like yours, Sugar." Umbra narrowed her eyes to slits of sultry nastiness as more and more kisses beat her behind. You threw them without caution or care and lovingly buried your face into her plush curves. Touching fingers near the crease of her duofold orbs was a recipie for insanity, as Umbra's needy sex would immediately bulge and pump and wink for you without fail. Staring at her husband while he worked, the Queen licked her teeth and sank deeper into the moment.

"Not even the royalty? The ones so many desire?" If there was one thing your wife could do, it was hold a grudge. Years and years of affection and loyalty and love still couldn't remove that vitriolic and spiteful portion of her soul. No matter what you told her, she still wanted to know she was the very best. You could promise up and down that she was the most beautiful mare in the world and she truly stole your heart, but it didn't sink in until some other pony was put down. Umbra had to know she was better than someone else. She had to know that you shunned others for her and ridiculed lesser beings begging for a chance to even look you in the eye. And if there was a chance to dump on the Monarchy, all the more spicy.

"Celestia has a flat rock compared to you. I’d probably break every bone in my hand spanking a butt like that." You said surely, clapping both hands onto her hips to make her jiggle and to slam your point home. Delighted whines and knickers goaded you on, as well as her cheeks clenching and relaxing in rhythmic bounces against your face.

"Your butt could crush Luna’s. It’s not even a contest. Hers is so small I bet she’s got back problems from the lack of cushion." Your words got sharper and deeper when she approved so deeply of them and squirt gentle teardrops of arousal. The steam of tea and lavender and soap was now just a pleasant background to the main course of marish, equine lust and pheromones. Your eyes had to fight in order to see past her all consuming butt and spot the deliciously nasty glare your Queen shot back. The expressions she made were simply impossible to describe when their sweetness and alluring sexuality left you without words. Derpy and Umbra both said so much with so little whenever you gave them their daily doses of affection and care. Umbra turned into a sneering villain that had finally slain their worst enemy stood over their quivering corpse in sick glory.

"Ooooooh, a butt is no place for a King's face..." She grumbled before sinking below the water to re-wet her billowing mane.

"I can't help but disagree. If there was a man who could keep his lips off this butt? I'd tan his hide with a belt." A spank helped to make your point all the more clear. Wet fur and flesh made an especially jarring noise and threw off tear-drops of steaming water like a bomb blast. Umbra delighted in every last taste of the sensation, her teeth grinding and her hips wriggling backwards to grind against your masculine expression.

"Yessssss, discipline the ignorant, Anonymous!" Between the glimmers of her shining fangs and the licking mass of her pink tongue, your eye happened to catch an altogether different color. That medical blue and feminine pink put an instant burn in your heart that broiled with an uncomfortably familiar character. Stopping mid-slurp across her ass cheek and slackening your grip on her birthing hips, you took in the sight of a pile on the bathroom sink. A dozen pregnancy tests stacked a foot high with all their paper and plastic wrappers haphazardly surrounding the basin. A cardboard case was left open and gaping in their wake, one of the three that Derpy had bought some time ago. The very sight was enough to chill hot blood flowing through you and fire an icy harpoon through your heart.

"Mmmh... m- my King?" Umbra said with some hint of worry in her voice. She lifted her head from the water and caught your intrepid stare. A moment of thought later and she followed your gaze toward the most concerning scene. Perhaps far more alarming for you however, was your wife's reaction to your expression. Rather than reflecting your serious concern, the dark mare simply grinned and wiggled herself even tighter against you.

"Not to worry, my precious husband." Umbra cooed and hugged her legs about your neck to carefully cradle your skull between buxom thighs and ballooning buttocks.

"I've discussed the matter with Derpy and consulted several sources in my research. Persistence will see us through, most likely." Smooth and sweet and calming as Umbra's voice could be, there was no magic in it at this moment. It failed to console your racing mind and quiet the worried thoughts plaguing each word.

"My King?" The simple question pushed through to you and pierced the veil of hazy fog deep thought that confounded you and still there wasn't anything you could respond with. Your wife had to stop her sexual momentum and come to the aid of her human, turns and fumbles and grunts migrating her adoring snout from your toes to your nose.

“Before you say anything-”

“You’re really gonna make me go through this again?” You interrupted her and pressed her back with a hand against her shoulder. It was a dark move, one that sapped all the giddy and needy energy from your wife quickly as a bullet to the heart.

“Of all people, Umbra, you oughta’ know better.” You scolded with a sigh more than a breath. The weariness the mare had worked so hard to banish was back in full force and suckling your playfulness away. Fretting and fussing Umbra scoffed unconsciously at the very notion that her man wasn’t pleased with her concerns.

“What in Equestria do you mean, M’lord? Has your will to please dwindled beyond even the slightest care?” You shot the adorable mare quite a look when she playfully slapped your cheek with a hoof, a stare that communicated just how done you were with this discussion.

“I don’t know what you expect out of me, woman. We’ve been over this.” Umbra rolled her eyes and went in for another kiss on your jaw. Expertly, she dodged your second attempt to see her off and let her fangs nip at your delicate veins.

“You doubt your own power. This is not fitting of a stallion like you!” She chided you with an equally parental tone, albeit with a message that was far from reasonable.

“A stallion that may father a child as gorgeous and brilliant as Dinky surely has the ability to create at will. I’m sure of this, my Darling!” You rolled your eyes at her overly excited conjecture. Despite how annoying this could truly be, an arm couldn’t help but snake about her back and pull the pony snug against your barrel.

“Not even a pony. I’m pretty sure you know this ain’t gonna work.”

“My stallion wouldn’t even try?” Umbra shot back as she drew small circles across your chest with a hoof.

“He would drive himself to the brink of madness for Derpy, but not for me?”

“Don’t you play that game, Sugar.” You scolded once again, pulling her in for a kiss. The flavor of her lips and buttocks were evaporating, thus you had to replenish it.

“If I knew how to do it, you know well as I do that this place would be swarming with screamin’ little rug-rats by now.” Umbra pouted and flipped a sheet of dark mane from her eye to assure she could stare at you clearly as possible.

“Persistence, M’Lord. Not a thing in this world was accomplished in one half-hearted try.” You cocked an eyebrow at her words, perhaps just a little offended by the implication.

“After last month, I’d expect you to be pregnant in your brain.” The Sorceress blushed at the memory of your wedding night and the spirited madness that had filled her to the brim. That beautiful morning of sticky and stinking aftercare would forever stay with her, even if it was somewhat excessive and revolting.

“And we nearly had it!” She insisted with a strained smile.

“I believe it simply takes time for your essence to find its purchase in a mare. I’m not sure how, nor have I found it in my research, but I’m beginning to suspe-” One finger was all you needed to finally make her stop talking. Much like another mare you knew in this town, Umbra cooked off and spoke at a rate far too fast and annoying for you to handle right now. Her lips puckered for a moment before relaxing back into a displeased frown. She always preferred a whole hand to the mouth, none of this degrading and chiding finger business.

“Umbra. Babygirl. Sugar. Please listen to me.” The tone of your voice lowered and lowered until it finally reached a serious pitch. The joyfulness, lighthearted and eager music of it was replaced by a dower and grim shade.

“I would- in no unclear terms- love to have all the foals in the world.”

“With me?” She corrected, more just to hear you say it.

“With you. And Derpy, absolutely.” You huffed, letting your finger curl about her chin and stroke the scruff of dark fur there.

“But please… I don’t want you to be disappointed. With me- or especially yourself.” Your admission took the Queen of guard, instantly turning her face from a judgmental glare to a softened shock.

“Disappointed?” She questioned whilst nuzzling tightly against your palm. You nodded solemnly and sank somewhat lower in the water, allowing it to cushion your exhausted body and stave off the slow crushing sensation of that familiar failure.

“I can’t give you what you want. Maybe because I’m human, maybe magic- it could be some weird Equestrian crap I haven’t figured out yet. But I don’t want you chasing this ghost.” Umbra’s mouth attempted to form words of protest, perhaps weak reasoning and light begging trying to come forward as well. However, the utter seriousness in your expression shined through. Sun beams of genuine anguish cut through the fog of doubt and showed her the painful reality of the situation clearly as crystalline water.

“It’s… I wish I knew the answer, Umbra. God knows how many letters I sent to Canterlot about it. But I’m not gonna make the same mistake twice.” Your wife took in this bitter news with a prideful refusal to sulk. Rather than allowing the weight of his confession to hamper her progress, your resourceful and ambitious mare simply viewed it as another small obstacle in her greater scheme.

A thousand years of constant avarice and malicious plotting left her with a remarkable ability to change her course of action and adapt, no matter the situation. Umbra could slide in between plans and actions and strategies without so much as a twitch in her face, never showing her true intentions or inner workings. You had somewhat figured out what to look for after years of staring into her plush and snarling visage, but you still couldn’t quite pin down how or what she was feeling when such things struck her.

“T’was a time, your Majesty, that I thought the very notion silly. Indeed.” The cold chill of your real and honest talk was met with her sweet and velvety voice. Sharpened and stoic ice melted under the flowing silkiness of warm chocolate as Umbra combed her hooves over your hair and looked to your face with stars in her sickly eyes. Especially now, with her mane draped over her face and the water making her fur sparkle, you couldn’t stop yourself from petting along her shoulders and feeding off the womanly softness of this gorgeous creature.

“Had I not seen your work first hoof I too would’ve thought the idea completely idiotic. There was a time when I considered it a fool’s errand to try and claim your seed.” A brief pause let the two of you share a kiss in the silence of the bathroom, one formed from the purity of gentle contact between lips and the slightest smacking sound of affection.

“I never ruled out intervention. Mayhaps the Princesses did lend their will to Dinky’s creation. Perfect as she is, I cannot totally discredit those fat cows and their tainted magic.” You tried to say something, but quickly you found that her tongue dragging up your neck was far more distracting than it had any right to be.

“With my knowledge and your… 'virility,’ shall we say, I think we could defy them once again.” Her whispers in your ear put both unusual fear and shocking arousal into your heart. A bolt of conflicting emotions fired off into your most sensitive depths and cooked off stores of doubt within. This was that side of Umbra you knew existed, but never wanted to address. That insane, driven, intense and focused ambition that led her to her old path of slavery and murder. It dwelled inside your wife and waited just behind the lazy, dower and bratty disposition like a spider bearing its ebon fangs. You feared and loved it all at once, for at any time she could transfix herself on an objective and stop at nothing to achieve it.

All a man could do was wonder why it had to be this. Why it had to be an impossible demand of you. An impossible demand of the very world you weren’t meant to exist within. Umbra’s proclivity for brazen defiance had finally gotten the better of her, as nature itself was rarely insulted like this. And when it was, the consequences could be nothing less than absolutely dire. Silent reflection on all this left you vulnerable to more of her kisses, her plush lips peppering your face waking you from this existential stupor.

“Play your part, my King. Bide your time and hold fast to me. I will give you heirs if it is the very last thing I do in this life of mine.”

“Umbra-”

“I will make us worthy of history if you simply give me a chance.” She said sternly, pushing her nose against your own and covering your contact with walls of impenetrable hair. Sheets of mane hid away this exchange and blanketed you in an eerily comforting darkness.

“It is my purpose, Anonymous. My final goal.” Both eyes stared intently into the other to find a weakness. A break in the armor, a chink in the facade or any hint of distracting falsehood that might shatter resolve. But there was only genuine desire in Umbra and true dedication in you. Umbra’s eyes burned with fire’s ferocity and spoke clear as one could without words. For the first time since you had first laid with her in that open field just outside of town, you felt as if you could see right through her complex shielding and right into her most wild heart. In turn, Umbra sensed your willingness to be hers. The hard work and loyalty and fierce urge to be a good husband lived in your heart with Derpy, Dinky and herself constantly nourishing it into an overwhelming drive. Much like herself, you struggled in a world that didn’t want you there and bested odds others would’ve considered utterly unreasonable. Your very presence was defiant of Equestria, encapsulating all things she loved in alien shapes.

You two shared one last kiss before the door creaked open and let in the squeal of hinges sans oil. Snapping her gaze to the darkness of the hall, Umbra spied a grey lump lurking just behind cover. Human eyes struggled through the blackness of a dark house as well, though the harsh white of the bathroom’s lamp soon illuminated the yearning figure.

“Wha- Mushy?” You called out, hoping dearly that it wasn’t your daughter. Both mares insisted that in Equestrian culture, it wasn’t unusual or considered totally unhealthy for a foal to see their parents both naked and more intimate. Understandable as that was in a society where no one considered clothing necessary, human instinct still drove you to bar her from witnessing you and the wives tangled together in moments of adult affection. Similarly, you’d sooner be lashed with a bullwhip rather than strip bare in front of Dinky. That modest fear faded instantly however when the shy shape poked out further and revealed crooked eyes that refused to focus hovering just above a wild blush.

“Bubby?” A tepid voice whined in a girly and needy tone. Umbra scoffed at first, her tail lifting and her nostrils flaring in territorial defensiveness. Derpy was nothing short of a simple, angelic soul. But she could be awfully greedy with the shared snuggle time. And of course, because she was top mare…

“Mushy? What’re you doin’ over there?” You asked to the door, watching as it slowly opened and revealed your bashful pegasus fully. She scraped at the floor with a hoof, her feathers splayed out and her mane messy from a lonely pillow. Holding her head low and refusing to speak, Derpy very clearly communicated what it was she needed. Umbra wouldn’t hear it, instead climbing higher up your body and raising her head high.

“Derpy, he’ll be just a moment.” She said sharply with both hooves stroking your broad chest.

“Anonymous still has matters to discuss with me.” You sat up in the tub and shifted Umbra awkwardly. She protested in clingy grabs at your body, but was ultimately powerless against your innate strength.

“Why’re you standin’ around lookin’ all sad and lonely and pitiful?” You huffed with a quickly changing tone of voice. In an instant, you went from a deadly-serious mumble to a goofy and playful invitation. Your sickening “snuggle voice,” that let Derpy know you were ready to see to her needs and hold her close. Just the sound alone was enough to make her perk up, a simpering frown exploding into a giddy smile as you beckoned her closer.

“Get over in this tub right now ‘fore I come over there and kiss that squishy nose!”

Derpy quickly became a gliding mass of flapping wings and clopping hooves hell-bent on reuniting with her precious husband. Against the wishes of her dower herdmate, the pegasus happily threw herself toward the basin and clamored at the edge noisily.

"Rrrg, Derpy- !" She protested weakly before the shifting mass of her enormous human threw the mare off her balance. Umbra was passed about by the thrashing ocean of cloudy water when you moved to seize your wife in both hands. Burly grabbers latched beneath her arms and abducted the helpless pudge from the floor in a swift, practiced motion. The dark sorceress had to scramble for a spot on your body when Derpy smashed into the water and flailed about to find her proper purchase in the melee. Splashes and giggles and groans of displeasure crashed and squished together until finally settling together into a compacted and compressed symbiosis.

"Hnf- huhp- hmmp... there we go." You grunted with a mare in either arm and warm bath water splashed all over the floor. Both heavy ponies lay against you and snuggled up against your neck in territorial pushes for dominance. While it was spectacularly comfortable for you to just lay there and let them scrub you with fur and bulging pudge, the herd took specific time to make themselves as relaxed as possible.

Derpy pressed herself against your cheek and kissed rapidly, her legs bolting about your arm and body to reclaim her man for herself. Her wings unfurled into the water so her waxy feathers could soak in some of the relieving brew, likewise mixing and tangling them with the billows of dark mane flooding the basin. Umbra had to scour your body for a place still comfortable, yet with access to your face. Evicted from her favorite roost right on top of your front, she had to make due with your shoulder and arm as a bedding. The unicorn possessively held your head in her arms and rested her chin atop your skull, glaring at the sleepy Derpy below.

"Ooooooh... that's so nice." You hissed, squeezing the assets on both your wives with a lusty and domineering strength. Ten fingers sank deep into pony cheeks and massaged the feminine fat within until both your wives were pudgy puddles engulfing you in love. You were caught in a heavenly fold between equine kisses and bodies, so blissfully unaware of the silent war raging.

"Bubbbbbbbbbbbly..." Derpy giggled through the water, making bubbles that burst in your face and drew your stare away from the ceiling.

"Muuuuuuuuushy..." You replied and squeezed, making her squeal and wiggle against you even more.

"Hi Bubby." Derpy said mere millimeters from your nose, her warm breath tickling your lips with the minty freshness of her toothpaste.

"Hi Mushy." You returned with both tired words and a loving kiss. Just leaning in slightly was enough to beckon her forward and meet you halfway. Her laughter tickled down through your rigid jaw bone and sent her energy throughout your body in a fashion perfectly relaxing and arousing at once. Soft lips smushed and molded around your own until the mare broke away to plant another quick smooch between your eyes.

"Hi Bubby!" She said again, her voice growing higher in pitch as you excited her. Before another dim-witted reply could escape you though, Umbra forced your hand with the hooves draped about your neck. She turned your chin upwards and made your face vulnerable to her own kisses. The Queen's far more mature and passionate smooches took you by surprise and prompted quite a squeeze from both hands. Molding ass-cheeks caused each mare to jump and pay much more attention, something to heighten the already growing tension. Derpy watched needily as Umbra kissed you and rubbed along the length of your delicate neck with her hooves. She watched as your tongues danced together in an altogether lewd fashion and listened to your breathing grow heavier with need. Umbra fluttered her eyes open to meet Derpy's skewed glance, the contact of irises like the spark between two copper contacts. Both equines felt the zap of jealousy in their hearts, despite this arrangement being as natural to their species as walking or talking. Derpy held a strained little smile as Umbra molested you and ground herself into your helpless body. She suffocated you with her kisses and refused to let you recover under the pressure of her affection. Derpy couldn't appreciate such aggressive work, as it was no way to treat her precious Bubby. Snorting quietly to herself, Derpy nosed her way in and took your head in her grasp. Holding you by the cheeks rather than the throat, she was able to just barely wiggle your mouth into range of her attention and away from the pearly fangs of her herd mate.

"Oooooooh! I give the Bubby my keeses!" Derpy squealed into your face before diving toward your helpless gasp. She locked her mouth to yours and pawed at our chest with both hooves scraping for traction. Still breathless from Umbra's aggressive affection, you were nowhere near prepared for the onslaught pouring from these hungry mares. The entire upper half of your body became their jungle gym of manly muscle, struggling limbs and smooth skin. Hooves and chests and snouts and bellies rubbed and clung all around you, submerging you in a vortex of swirling black, grey and gold. Every now and again you might catch a breath of air, but it was from an atmosphere of exhalations and pony scents. Derpy's sweet and motherly aroma saturated her wet fur and infected your lungs with her ultra-familiar and calming presence. Umbra's naughty and mystic taste of ash and allspice mixed with her custom blend in the tub to create a toxic potion of attraction in your male brain. You surrendered to the mares and let them have their fun, but that didn't mean the battle was anywhere near over. If anything, your willingness to comply and be their plaything caused further competition for your open affection.

"Kiss the Bubby here- MWUAH! And here- MMMMWUAH! And here!" Derpy mumbled to herself as she slathered you with wet lips and licks and nibbles. Umbra scoffed at such a humiliating thing, for it was no way to treat a King. A stallion of your stature commanded proper love and adult affection, not this puppy-dog syrup of indulgent buffoonery. She dipped in between one of Derpy's nuzzles to your nose so she could press her cheek to yours.

"Huhffff, Derpy! You must kiss the King like this!" She warned with a scathing tone moments before she too lost herself in the exchange. Her mouth found yours and sealed the huffing, sucking orifice shut with a wet smack. Sideways and hovering over your head, Umbra dominated the kiss and held your head in her arms. Your face became a babe for her to pamper and nurture however she saw fit, both kisses and bites and strokes of your hair thrown together into a masterful blend. Derpy felt you tense at first as the dark mare shrouded you in her mane and rested you against her legs, but soon that was followed by a total and utter relaxation. You went so slack that your iron grip on their backsides degraded into a weak pat barely registering through thin fur. Derpy whimpered quietly, fighting to keep her cheerful grin as Umbra took her turn.

"But the Bubby is my kissy-muffin-colt! He needs lots of smooches so he can sleep tight!" She whined with her snout smearing into your neck. She took in the pulse of your exhausted heart through her sensitive nose, the bare flesh there picking up on each tiny tick and twitch of life that made you you. The pegasus jealously licked at your neck and suckled on your jugular as she waited for another opportunity to have her man. You were so drunk off mares and fatigue that it hardly mattered who or what, just so long as something was loving you it was good enough. Thus, Umbra sneered and growled as she took your face for herself. Her rotten eyes floated up from the intense scene to peer past her blinding mane, just a slight look to confirm a suspicion.

There, buried in the fluff of her round ass, was your hand. And on that hand stood her ring. The dark black and shimmering blue stood out so well that it was impossible to miss. Soaked in the bath and drenched with sweat from a workday in the summer sun, the eternal ice still remained solid and the tungsten still shiny. Her heart swelled with pride when she saw it digging into her flesh, a knowing groan leaving her throat when you used that hand to pull her closer. Whilst another, far simpler band of pure gold sat on your other hand, hers was still competing with it. Running right alongside Derpy's marriage piece, Umbra's outclassed it in every technical way. It was bigger, more valuable and by any mark, more fashionable. But that didn't change the fact that you wore both on either hand. Umbra was proud to have you to herself and honored to be chosen as your wife.

But there was always going to be another rump in the tub.

~Meanwhile~

In the highest chambers of the Canterlot castle, protected by the imposing walls of stone and the vigilant Guard of Equestria, voices chittered and chattered in an unending chorus of confusion and debate. Words flew back and forth between agitated parties, though a slight break might force through to silence them all and let only one speak. Just as it had been done for centuries, the council's debate floor was alight with passionate politics and intense exchanges. Not one pony in attendance would remain seated for the entirety of the three hours, for they would either get their chance to add their issue or debate another's.

Celestia and Luna presided over all of it every week, wisely watching and judging and making the final calls on every vote. Just as they had done for so many years, they brought order and organization to an otherwise tangled web of needs and desires. Luna used her more disciplinarian tactics to retain a sense of posh grace among the elected officials from the states and cities in Equestria while Celestia goaded ponies into peaceful agreements with motherly warmth. She never had to raise her voice, as Luna would always quickly see to the more rowdy council members. Regardless of their practice and skill in their art, both sisters looked forward to the end of this session. The sun was hanging low in the sky and the words growing less captivating on every issue. Every pony grew more and more fatigued, some simply waiting to go home and process the events of the hectic evening. Celestia herself yearned for her late dinner and a bath, as such gorgeous things would no doubt cool her nerves and ready her for a restful night's sleep. She smiled cheerily as the last issue was wrapped up and only a few traditional words remained to be said.

"Then we agree! Manehatten's municipal waste department will mandate that all river run-off from its sites shall meet the standards of any principality it flows into. If there are any further concerns please speak?" Not a voice rose to add unto the boring matter. So many eyes had already glazed over and hooves tapped impatiently on the rounded table all gathered around.

"Wonderful. I shall now take any final issues and suggestions for topics of our next meeting before we conclude." Celestia never intended for anyone to speak, as it was so astonishingly rare. These meetings were so long and thorough and heated that hardly anyone had the energy to lengthen them further. Her banana colored magic was already lifting her gabble to declare it all officially over, just for an usual sound to cut her off.

"Yes. 'Tis one issue we would like to discuss ‘fore we retire for the evening." Luna huffed in her stiff and official voice. No one dared grumble in distaste when the Night Princess spoke, though they all thought the very same thoughts of irritation. Celestia cocked an eyebrow toward her sister before gently setting her piece down.

"Oh? Then the floor recognizes Princess of the Night, Luna." She said with a palpable frustration in her voice barely concealed behind courteous sweetness. Luna inhaled sharply and nervously fidgeted for a moment in the spotlight of so many aggravated politicians.

"We should like to bring before the council the matter of the human and his progeny." The moment those words left her lips, every pony in attendance dropped their facades of respectful patience.

"Uuugh..."

"Not this garbage again!"

"Princess, please."

"How many times are we gonna go over this?" A myriad of voices chastised Luna and complained from every angle, making the dark Princess blush in embarrassment before she could gather herself.

"Silence in the court! If you please?" She bellowed sharply in her olden and righteous voice, failing to wipe the dark scowls off the faces of her constituents. To once again have all these judgemental glares upon her, each eye watching with scathing focus for what she would do next, Luna felt a familiar chill. A burning from eons before returned to her ancient heart and shouted for her to hide away from the fierce scrutiny she was now under. But, in a certain way, that sensation of alarm also helped to push her past the intrepid barrier her own awkwardness imposed. Swallowing hard and letting her gaze dance from pony to pony, the Night Princess let voice be heard.

“I beckon ye to reconsider this crucial moment. Our lack of decision has been most concerning to Us, for it sets a precedent most disturbing to not only Us, but Equestrian society!” She huffed with flamboyant bravado, perhaps laying her political voice on a bit thick.

“Umbrial Daze is within her rights to expect a young one of her own. What savage race are we to withhold the gift of motherhood from one that is now part of our glorious society?” Several growns rung out from dropping heads. Hooves scrubbed against tired brows and ruffled brilliant hair cuts in the strain of such a statement. Not only was this a frustrating debate, but it was perhaps the seventh time Luna had brought it before the court in the last year.

“Your Majesty! If I may?” A representative grunted as she stood from her seat, a look of utter fatigue weighing on her muzzle.

“I have been attempting to bring before the court a comprehensive budget reform for my state, yet we’ve refused to reach a conclusive vote for over three months! How in Equestria are we expected to take this institution seriously, if topics are picked exclusively at your whim?” Before Luna could reply, an even more aggravated voice cut through the air like an arrow.

“Oh, you WOULD bring up your budget reforms! The most unequal and embarrassing piece of law I’ve EVER seen in this building!”

“How dare you say that before our Princesses! Your voters should be ashamed for supporting such a tyrant!” A chorus of voices then erupted from the gathered mayors and dukes and duchesses and senators, one that quickly drowned out any other noise. Luna, flustered beyond speech, could only panic and shout into the meaningless melee once more.

“O- ORDER! Order, damn you! Remain on topic!” Celestia simply sat there in regal waiting for this storm to pass, as she was more than settled on this matter already. Luna’s insistence on its discussion was only serving to grind her patience down.

“It was you, Mayor, that plunged Fillydelphia into a recession with your hard-headed financial policies! How could we trust you in this court to make wise decisions?!”

“A pony that supports Spirit Strider WOULD say something so profoundly stupid!”

“You Red Party ponies are all alike! Trying to derail our discourse and make everypony forget how you botched the taxation system!”

“If the Iron Party would simply open their eyes, then we might be able to move past this awful deadlock they’ve forced us into!”

Rambling and shouting only dissipated when an exhausted and impatient Celestia rose from her seat and left them to their business. The very moment a pony perceived they no longer had to uphold the charade, all quietly gathered their things and made for the halls to mingle and talk and joke. Luna, defeated again, shifted through the vitriolic and combative politicians that chatted and laughed together as if they were all life-long friends. She never appreciated the duality of their personalities, but that concern was beyond her at the moment. She- as many stallions did in the old days- chased after the bobbing white mountain of her sister’s rump. Trotting stiffly to catch up to her, Luna hardly disturbed Celestia’s prim and proper walk away from the crowds.

“We thinks that you avoid our concern, Sister.” The alabaster alicorn smiled sweetly and tilted her head upwards aristocratically.

“Nonsense, Sister. The council simply had no time to discuss the issue again. I’m sure it will come up again at the next gathering.” Celestia shot back as their surroundings grew quieter and more secluded. The royal passageways and routes were often out of the public eye, for they were some of the rare places that the Sisters could have some modicum of privacy. Thus, Luna’s frustration shined through in the deafening silence of the castle’s inner sanctum.

“Thou cannot ignore this forever. Else Umbra shall find a solution herself.” Luna chided with a failing seriousness. Her taller and yawning sibling cast off the heavy burden of worry that often fell on Luna’s neurotic and uptight shoulders.

“Oh yes I can.” She shot back with quite some intensity, as if she were offended by Luna’s attempts to speak. The dark ruler of the night scoffed at her equal, bumping against her in an aggressive and childish display of anger.

“Ugh! The Council should not even be considered in this matter! Why must you complicate Our efforts?!” The Princess demanded of her Sister, finally getting the alicorn to stop in place. Celestia blinked as if she had been slapped, her face frozen in an ambassador’s neutral and cold position.

“Why do you think this is so important now, of all times? It was my impression that we were in agreement about this.” Luna stomped a hoof in protest, fighting the subtle displays of insecurity Celestia would no doubt see in her.

“Before, I was ignorant. Yes, it’s true that I cared little for the matters of fair Anonymous and his wretched wife.” Luna stopped herself with pursed lips, her eyes shuttering from Celestia’s and falling to the floor in thought.

“But… upon reflection? We see error in our ways. It is not our place, as the monarchy, to determine the matters of one’s progeny.” Celestia raised a curious- albeit judgemental- brow to her Sister. Such talk was unusual, to say the least.

“Luna, we’ve held Umbra under no wards or curses or spells. Her inability to bear Anonymous’ children is simply nature doing as it will.”

“But we assisted in the creation of one daughter-”

“Yes. As a reward.” She interrupted with a hoof, shaking her head in disapproval.

“And that was already a difficult decision for us to make. The Council still hasn’t forgotten how we failed to consult them.” Luna stood more defiantly, her posture defensive as a beast protecting its home.

“If we can, then we should.” Luna said stiffly.

“In this case, with all considered, I believe Umbra should be given a child if she so chooses one. It is only right that we-”

“Where is this all coming from, dear Luna?” Celestia cut through the spiel and the talk, the olden ways of direct and brutal politics resurfacing in her expression. Luna was taken aback somewhat, but her iron will powered through and allowed her to speak.

“Our natural sense of righteousness and love of peace hath planted this seed in our mind from the very beginning, Sister. It is the right thing to do.” Celestia appeared less than convinced, if her beguiling glower was anything to go on.

“Luna. If one is suffering from an awful cancer, does the surgeon work to spread it further?” The dark sister didn’t respond, simply standing there with her eyes to the ground.

“Or, do they attempt to contain and eliminate it?” She asked sharply with a scolding force hammering behind each word.

Solemnly pinning her wings to her side, Luna could just barely force her words through.

“Is that what we are to you?” Celestia did not respond at first, waiting for Luna to expand on her curious response. She was only greeted by an intense reaction of silent offense.

“Surely if Umbrial Daze is too foul and horrific an evil… then Nightmare Moon cannot be allowed to breed as well?” The words hung in the air for what felt like hours of grinding, shredding and dry silence. Neither sister was willing to cut in until the other spoke, as such an idea burned both to their very cores. Celestia held an expression somewhere between offense and shock, whilst Luna cowered under the foreboding shadow of this fear.

“Luna… dearest Sister…” The Princess started, moving in to comfort her equal with an equine hug. Their chests touch in a secure and warm bond, each one’s neck folding against the other in pursuit of safety.

“You and Umbra are not the same. Not one bit.” She said sternly, forcefully and surely. There was no ambiguity in her sentiment, as Celestia would surely slap the fire out of any other pony’s mouth for daring to make Luna think this way.

“Umbra is a soul swallowed by evil and just holding her nose above water. To even imagine you two being somewhat similar is… disgusting. I scorn the pony that put the thought in your mind!” Luna kept her eye closed and her lips still as Celestia did her best to comfort her, for there was still always going to be doubt wedged in her heart.

“Nightmare Moon dwells within me. Just as Equestria shelters many hidden evils, so too doth this body hold limitless tragedy. She is always looming just in Our shadow.”

“She is not. Nightmare Moon is vanquished and you have bested her. WE have bested her.” Luna pulled back quickly from her sister, shooting her a serious stare of caution.

“Comforting as denial might be, you know as well as I that our ponies will always see it in me.” Luna breathed deep to hold in her draining sadness, as this fact of her return hung heavy over all that she did like a stinking fog.

“They are wrong, Luna. Give them time and they will remember the kindness and justice you bring to this nation.”

“If there is fear, then there is little thought. They will see in me the same awfulness that defines Umbra. And when we tacitly approve of this fear through our inaction? When we treat Umbra as if she is… ‘cancer,’ then they will follow suit against any perceived evil.” The Princess squared her posture and chewed her lip, perhaps fearful to say what she truly wanted.

“If we forgive, we must be willing to go beyond a cold and dispassionate acceptance. Nay, we mustn’t break our backs to please Umbra. But if it is within our powers to grant her single wish, then we only mimic her spite and malice by withholding it.” Celestia stared into her sister with a twisted mixture of confusion and revelation, the two opposed emotions swirling together like water and oil.

“Our family knows tainted magic. You and I both have tasted the allure of untold power. The only true difference between Us and her is that we were blessed with each other.”

“Temptations by dark magic are not the same as what she has done.” Celestia shot back darkly.

“Whatever Umbra produces would be nothing short of wretched evil that we would one day have to imprison or destroy just as we did her. How many times are we willing to go through this cycle and endanger our ponies?” Luna was not fazed, for many a baron and politician had tried to frighten her over her ancient career.

“How many times must our ponies watch us fall to the forbidden realms of evil magic… Daybreaker?”

Now, she had truly stepped over an unspoken line in the sand. Celestia restrained a dam of emotions and furious comebacks with a twitching eye and pursed lips. That cursed name was never to be spoken in these halls again, for the very idea of that atrocious mare achieved something no dragon, army or pestilence could. It struck a deep and very real fear in the Royal’s heart.

“Never forget, Sister. You and I both could very easily be Umbrial Daze. And perhaps she would not look so kindly on our actions, either.” The enormous alicorn pushed past her sister rudely, butting their chests together and warming the room with a radiating and passionate rage.

“This discussion is over.” She growled, a fiery energy building in her horn that made nearby torches thrash and dance furiously with unbearable heat.

“Goodnight, Luna.” An enormous door slammed behind the Day Princess to assure she wouldn’t be followed, leaving the petite alicorn alone in her thoughts.

“Ugh… Luna. You and your legendary tact strike again.” She mumbled to herself, exhaustedly making for her chambers.

Halfbreed(s)

Author's Note

Special thanks to Shadow Wolf. He helped me very much with the themes and the composition. Without him, it would've been much longer and much more boring. More to come, thank you all so much for the positive reception.

Halfbreed(s)

Chapter 3.
Halfbreed(s).

Umbra stood out in the summer sun and let its powerful rays wash over her physique. Peaceful avian music accompanied this journey outside, along with pretty saddle bags draped over her back. Blowing breezes brought her fresh air to take in and nourish herself with, flowers shivering in the heated wind and beckoning her gaze. The ancient sorceress casually examined the mundane flora about her home in Ponyville, the scattered stalks and petals so common that most alchemists of her caliber wouldn’t spare a second glance.

Hydrangeas, a tulip here and there and sunflowers off in the distance hardly had the appeal of exotic bloodroot, delicious vanilla or putrid rafflesia. But they were markers of her home, her new life. A life content and warm and bursting with love. She couldn’t help but weave the buds and flowers into her mane in memory of eons past when she’d study in her old home forests magic and alchemy and witchcraft draped in blooming plant life. Her smile widened until her fangs poked out from beneath ebon lips at the old recollection of life as a forest witch, rather than a power hungry and blood thirsty queen.

Oh, how things change.

The dark mare was pulled from this fantasy by the scraping of young and delicate hooves against the dirt path behind her. A giddy trot totally unlike any other sound in the world, let alone the surrounding nature of Ponyville’s outskirts. Though it was a new sound, it was a natural and exciting one. Approaching with increasing volume and excited speed, Dinky came to a skidding stop by her Aunt’s side with saddlebags near-bursting with toys and tools for the day.

“Okay, okay! I’m ready, Auntie!” She reported with her Father’s distinctive dialect, her tail wagging and her eyes wide for the coming knowledge she’d receive. Umbra hardly broke her smile from the young and impressionable little treasure, simply beginning their short trip toward the Everfree.

“It’s good to see a young mare so ready and eager to learn.” Umbra spoke with a scholarly and careful demeanor, always trying to set an example for her excitable niece. Dinky returned the sentiment with a blustering smile, as she only really enjoyed learning in any capacity when her wise and ancient Aunt was involved. The dark unicorn had a talent for putting things in ways that the filly could understand. Not only that, but the bottomless well of her knowledge and intuition made Umbra into a living encyclopedia that couldn’t ever be stumped and always had an answer to whatever ridiculous question was thrown at her. Years of practice had helped train the Queen with patience, as when Dinky was still young enough to suckle her Mother’s teat, Umbra quite often found it difficult to tolerate the more aggravating aspects of an infant.

The screaming, the sleepless nights, the smells were obstacles that forced her to adapt and learn quickly. Just as the rest of the herd had done, she carved a niche for herself and filled it dutifully, despite the extreme frustration it so often caused. Derpy became the prime nurturer of Dinky, feeding and clothing and caring for her out of a natural dedication that guaranteed all who dared threatened Dinky with certain death. You instilled confidence through your masculine aura and brutish activities, assuring that your little girl would never be a quivering coward or an arrogant brat. Her youngest days were mostly devoid of Umbra’s influence, but now that her rapidly expanding mind was open to the world and exploring it every day, the charcoal sorceress had her in.

She was the sage of Dinky’s life, the one she could always turn to when crossing paths with the unknown. Mundane lessons could be addressed by her blood family, but the arcane and the metaphysical were Umbra’s unique domain. Her knowledge and her lessons had to be kept in strict line, naturally. Useful and affectionate and wise as the mare was, some of her ancient and “unique” sentiments had to be curtailed and corrected for the modern age. Discussing which race of pony made the best slave and how to go about sewing civil conflict into the town were strictly forbidden after Dinky spent one particular afternoon at the lake with her Aunt. A task made easy with a loving mother and father to help her, but still a concerning thing sitting in the back of your mind whenever your daughter scrawled cryptic runes on her homework or summoned purple fire at the dinner table.

Had it not given Umbra such a startling purpose and a true reason to rise in the morning, you might’ve perhaps put a stop to their outings. An impressionable mind left in the grasp of an elder evil was no recipe for peace. Twilight Sparkle indeed filled your mailbox and ears with her complaints and concerns. But that beaming smile of fulfillment, that tormenting warmth of motherhood and the satisfaction of watching Dinky use her magic with yet more skill made every last bit of trepidation float away. Umbra found her unique nirvana in teaching her niece, as she would listen without question and strive to please without fatigue. Even now, the dark mare felt excited eyes on her during something as mundane as a walk to the woods.

"So, my little Gem, have you finished your schoolwork?" Umbra asked along her giddy trot. Such a question interrupted the otherwise blissful and unaware grin on Dinky's face, as it was a serious matter when Umbra was asking.

"Yessums, Auntie." She answered in her Mother's unique words. Her broody caretaker beamed with pride at the notion, given that it was only early in the afternoon of Saturday. She had made sure from the very first day of Dinky's education to instill in her a sense of persistent drive and motivation. Just as she felt from her young ages, Umbra nurtured an almost neurotic obsession with punctuality and accuracy in Dinky's school work. The young filly came home, immediately did her homework and was only then released unto the world. You might've found it overbearing and your wife often saw it was quite a lot for a young child to maintain. But the great remarks from every teacher Dinky ever studied under along with leaps and bounds in her control of magic stopped any further protests on the issue.

You knew you could trust Umbra. Even if you couldn't, her “office” was just down the hall and never closed its door for you.

Just as Umbra was, she would be a remarkable student. Dinky would set examples and records. She would grow into an enviable, powerful mare capable of doing just what she liked whenever she so pleased. Umbra knew deep down that ambition like hers wasn’t present in all mares. Some, like Derpy, really did enjoy and strive for the simple and comforting life of a commoner. But Dinky would be gifted with tools nonetheless. Tools to live however she wanted, whenever. Umbra would make absolutely sure that her little niece would never be without ability or talent.

"How was the book? I imagine it was awfully boring for a mind of your caliper, Dear?" Dinky snickered in judgmental guile with her Auntie, both of them reveling in the special knowledge granted to the lucky child.

"Boooooooring! Daring Do’s such a ding-a-ling. I wanted her to get smushed like you said she would!"

"Raiding temples often ends in smushing. It would've made for a far more realistic read. Respectless pillagers and grave robbers always deserve their tragic fates." Dinky cozied up to her Aunt somewhat as they crossed over a slight bridge and effortlessly trot over slow flowing, crystal clear waters. Her gilded eyes wandered across the smoothed surface of sandstone rocks and their pebbly beds of silt for a moment, the naturalistic and earthy colors polished to a shiny finish. Cool air dwelled in the trench the water dug and helped to wash away the warmth building under the ponies’ bellies. This time of the year was always so expressly beautiful, yet her special and frightening Aunt found ways to add to the marvel of life coming back to the world. Explanations of intricate detail and appreciation of every piece in the twisted puzzle- though never fully understood by Dinky's developing mind- painted a magical and wondrous picture for her to be overwhelmed by.

This tiny corner of Equestria had so much to see and to learn on its own, let alone the wide expanses of wilderness beyond the mountains and the seas. She was filled with hope for potential, as if this time in her life might never end and she could learn from her Sage into the eons. Sure, at times Umbra could be too harsh and academic with her teachings. She demanded total attention when she talked and used words far beyond the mind of a six year old. As well, she was guilty of thoughtlessly destroying creatures that "threatened" her precious gem of a niece. Dinky had seen far too many spiders and snakes and lizards boiled from the inside or thrown hundreds of feet into the air by red magic. An immense respect for her Aunt overshadowed any and all fear she might've felt for her. But that dark and sour note would always be present in the back of her mind. She could never know of Umbra's past, partially because such notions of evil and atrocity and vitriol were beyond her comprehension. But also at Derpy's specific behest. Though trusted to be alone with Dinky and to nurture her, it was your job to make sure nothing nefarious was put into your Wife's prized and only child.

"Did you ever explore any temples? Like the ones in Daring Do?" Dinky asked a content Umbra, one whose ear suddenly perked toward a distance and dull noise.

"Me? Oh no, no. I would always have another go in my stead. Best they were crushed rather than I." She said rather casually, despite the dark implications.

"Though, I recall in my younger days plunging the depths of olden pegasus mountain forts for maps and tapestries. Of course, in their hubris, Pegasui often left their treasures out for all to see and envy." Dinky soon caught wind of the subtle beat in the air, a familiar and rythmic knocking against the Earth that her Aunt was far more tightly attuned to. As if a machine, her ebony caretaker stopped her trot and stepped off the dirt path. Knowingly and expectantly, Umbra watched down the length of the trail as Dinky came to her side. Staring for but a moment, the young filly's attention was quickly turned toward the dull humming of energy emanating off of her compatriot's wedding band. Smothered in the bright sunlight, such a weak glow of furious love hardly made it past the fluffy tuft of dark fur, but the tell-tale noise of growing passion was hard to miss. Dinky couldn't fully understand exactly why her Aunt's necklace sang its unusual song, but the signal it gave was nevertheless consistent.

If Umbra was grinning and her jewelry glowing, her Poppy was fast-approaching. Just like clockwork, you emerged from the nearby treeline down the path. Jogging easily over the warm ground in shoes so worn they hardly held onto your feet, every creature in Equestria knew you by the sound alone. A particularly non-pony like sound followed your unique gaite and gave proper warning to your presence. Coming closer and closer, Umbra's ring continuously hummed and buzzed with your proximity. Just as excitement welled in her heart, energy and love swirled about in her wedding band and blossomed outwards with radiating rings of bliss. You skid to a stop just before them with panting breaths and visible beads of sweat rolling down your face.

"Well, well, well. What's a pair of pretty mares doing out here all on their own?" You started without a hint of exhaustion to your voice. Just like usual, the strain of running hardly took the wind out of your lungs. But the muggy and thick heat endemic to late Equestrian springtime soaked you to the socks with human fatigue. Umbra took immediate notice, as the harsh and masculine scent pouring off you piqued her naughty and matured mind. Your daughter knew it to be your scent, but that never stopped her from being put-off by the intensity.

"My King! How curious to see you out and about!" Umbra said giddily, her crimson eyes training on the slight pack slung over your shoulders and the wilting cornflower tucked behind your ear.

“We fled from Derpy’s cooking, M’lord. She’s decided to stink up the kitchen once again.” Immediately a joyous warmth hit your pounding heart, one that produced a boyish and toothy grin.

“Get outta’ here. What’s she making? Please, please tell me it’s more lamb?” Your huffing breath helped you to talk faster and more excitedly, though your wife couldn’t answer before your daughter interjected.

"Poppy, I thought you did exercises in the morning?" Dinky said, her look of confusion further twisted by a sour grimace of disgust.

"Couldn't hardly sleep last night. When Momma sent me out for groceries, figured I might as well get a little run in." You huffed and offered the battered plant to your wife, one who was already quite well-dressed in green foliage and dazzling petals.

“Sugar, saw this at Applejack's place. Thought it’d look better on you.” Red magic seized the teal flower quickly and settled it behind her vacant ear. The ancient mare wiggled in sweet bashfulness as she accepted your gift, though a wash of worry shined through her otherwise enraptured stare.

"Dreams again, my Darling?" Umbra asked as the bright blue shimmied behind her ear and perfectly complimented her bundles of thick, black mane.

"Same thing as last night. Hoping like heck it passes before I get back to work." Dinky hopped forward on her tiny hooves, eager to speak.

"Auntie? You think Poppy might be seeing the future? Like you used to?" Umbra shrugged at the notion. What sounded utterly ridiculous to your sensibilities- something like being able to see the future through dreams- was apparently perfectly reasonable to discuss for your mystically inclined wife.

"I don't think so, Precious. Your Father isn't so connected with the world as we are. Especially as I was in those days." The moment the words left her lips however, the Queen shot you a suspicious look prying for some hidden truth.

"Lest his Majesty saw something he really ought to tell us?" Mock offense crawled across your face as you dropped down to retrieve lovely treasures from your run on the market.

"I told you everything I can remember, Sugar." You insisted with some playful frustration, bestowing your lovely herd with delicious treats. Pomegranates were rare in this part of Equestria, yet were highly prized for their flavor and refreshing nature. As your co-workers had to explain, they also carried a connotation of romantic interest and “spicy” desires for another. The first time you returned home with a bundle in your grasp, the wife's absolutely ate it up. Dinky enjoyed the gushing and hydrating sugar rush, Umbra and Derpy got to enjoy the sensual implications. The gift brought hints of relief to your Queen’s concerned expression and made giddy hunger explode across your Daughter’s.

"It’s like… I dunno. Feels like something’s coming in and hitting me in the face every night. You and Mushy are there, Dinky too. But I can’t shake the feeling like something else is stalking me." Umbra scowled in thought, both her and her little student holding their fruits in magic auras to spare their hooves a sticky rain. Dinky, grinning ear to ear, rabidly tore into her fruit without another word.

"Our only concern is the potential meaning of such thoughts, Darling. Ponies are disturbed by unusual dreams when forks in their destiny beckon." You waved a dismissive hand at her mystical implications, shouldering your bag and readying yourself for the last leg of your run home.

"Well, I'm not a pony. Probably just need to lay off the cider after dinner." She didn't seem all too convinced, but your wife found no other reason to hold you there. She and Dinky were expected in a field to harvest and learn. That didn't mean you were dismissed, however. The moment you took a step, red energy grabbed your shoulders and pulled stiffly toward the pudgy pony grinning at you.

"Restrain thyself, stallion! You certainly weren't going to run by without paying 'the toll,' were you?" Umbra snidely crooned, a nasty smirk splitting her dark muzzle to show off pearly fangs. Your eyes could do nothing but roll as she sassed you, the mare greedily tugging you closer and closer until you relented.

"Urgh... you see how your Aunt does me, Dinky? Treats your poor old poppy like a slave!" Hooded eyes and puckered lips answered your complaint with a wet and gentle smooch. Just a moment's contact and fires were bursting inside the mare with excited sparks kicking up and into the air. She lifted a hoof from the ground in a girly display of delight, a deep hum resonating through Umbra's jaw and into your own.

"Mmmmmmwuah! Thank you very much, young stallion!" It took quite a bit of concerted effort not to wipe your mouth after her slobbery kiss, for she always appreciated watching the glistening sparkle of her diamond spittle on your lips. Dinky scoffed at the adult exchange, naturally averting her eyes to the repugnant reality of what it took to create her.

“Be safe, my King. We’ll be home before dark.”

“Oh I believe it. Just behave while you’re out, alright?” You scolded with an overbearing and fatherly tone, assuring that the scathing demand didn’t go unheard.

“Yessums Poppy…” Dinky answered with a pout and red juice running down her chin.

“Not you, Honey.” An eyebrow cocked toward the smug and snickering Umbra following your quick correction. Its seriousness appeared entirely lost on her, however.

“Whatever could a mare like me do that would displease you, M’Lord?” She hissed with a floppy tail dragging through the grass.

“No summoning demons. No sacrifices. No black magic and absolutely no exploding of any kind. Alright?” You accentuated every word with a pointing finger, as if it were a cattle prod that would enforce your guidelines.

“Have you got it?” One last nag to make sure you were clear, despite an innate understanding that both mares would do whatever they pleased regardless.

“Yes, my King. I promise not to upset the little foal in the castle.” Umbra answered with a raised hoof and a haughty tone. Just barely good enough to put your mind at some ease. In any case, the blame couldn’t be put squarely on you anymore.

“Killer.” And with that, you were off. Going down the trail and leaving your precious mares behind, they watched for a moment or so before bursting into girlish laughter amongst themselves.

“Heh, Daddy don’t know squat about magic.” Dinky giggled to her equally amused Aunt.

“Pfft! ‘Black Magic!’ As if I would bother with such a useless and tiresome class of the arcane!”

“Why’s Poppy such a goofball, Auntie?” Dinky squealed as they set off once again.

“Oh he cannot be blamed. He speaks on things he knows nothing about. Our King never had the joy of learning the arcane from a young age.”

With that heavy layer of mirth pushing them along, they reached the sunny glen in short time. Over another creek and into the woods, buildings and business could still be seen through the whimpering tree trunks. Their inhabitants however, never came close. Seclusion through shrubbery made for a brilliant silence that both the mares used to heighten their concentration. Nothing came between them but the heat of the sun, the song of birds and buzzing of insects going about their business. That was something that took you many years to get used to. No cars, no planes or factories or enormous complexes of people to make noise. Equestria was so startlingly quiet in places that it lacked almost any parallel on Earth. Anywhere with people could never be as shockingly peaceful as this stretch of land in Ponyville.

Umbra set up a motley workbench for her tools and runes in the relieving shade of a weeping willow tree. A slight river ran through this sequestered dell and provided the perfect floodplain soil for rapid and diverse plant growth, as well as brilliantly clear water for bulking out potions and tinctures. Nothing fancy grew here, nothing particularly difficult to harvest and process either. The range of things she could create were more than enough to suit her needs, though. Dinky’s childish and excitable mind set about exploring this new area of her small home, trying to discover any new insects and plants she could capture and examine closely.

“Auntie? Auntie, have you got my book?” She called from a patch of mint and weeds. Slightly distracted with crafting a small burner, her fluffy care-taker took her sweet time searching through her satchels and retrieving the leather-bound tome.

“Yes, Darling! Just be sure to catch it, this time!” She called out, carelessly tossing it in her Niece’s direction with a spark of magic. Dinky thankfully saved it from accumulating more mud and filth, her deft use of amber magic taking it straight from the air.

“And be sure to avoid the poison oak!”

“Where?” Dinky returned, already flipping open her book to sketch out leaves and stems like her Aunt.

“You’re standing in it, my Dear.”

For this afternoon, Umbra took your current situation as inspiration for her next lesson. Last week, it had been the basics of healing salves and somewhat effective stimulants. Aloe vera, sea berries and pot marigolds crushed into a paste then boiled in river water helped to alleviate bee stings and minor cuts. Sassafras roots combined with honey and mashed tea leaves kept them alert and energetic during sweaty treks through the forest. Neither, however, were particularly thrilling or amazing in their effects.

Her newest recipe wouldn’t blow any minds or set any records, but it was something different for her student to see. A simple, yet effective potion to help calm your mind and settle whatever strange apparitions were disturbing your sleep. Basing her ingredients and process on memory alone, Umbra scratched into her notebook a simple list of ingredients that would contribute to your recovery from this strange ailment. And, perhaps, just a dash of musli roots and powdered autumn crocus to enhance your fertility. For her own sake. It was during this time of setting up the more complex equipment, putting together recipes and beating backs the hoards of biting bugs that Dinky would gain the most from Umbra. Wandering about and exploring to her heart’s content, the young filly could ask whatever she needed and always receive a swift answer.

“Auntie, what’s this one?”

“Echinacea. Best for colds and sore throat.”

“Auntie, how come your horn’s all red and pointy? But mine’s round and grey?”

“I reshaped it long ago to help me cast more concentrated energy spells. At the time I was fending off more rogue mages than now.”

“If Poppy’s ‘the King,’ then how come we have princesses?”

“He is King through marriage to me, a Queen. And the Princesses are princesses because they just happen to have such giant flanks no other pony can argue with them.”

“Auntie, why do you always know so much about plants and stuff?”

“When you’ve had to poison as many ponies as me, memorizing it all is quite important.” Again and again, relentless questioning. She indulged the filly with her answers and never once gave her a wry look or an aggressive answer. Tendrils of narcissism crept in here and there to allow Umbra an infinite patience with the young lady so long as she was the “brilliant and all knowing” mind that provided what Dinky sought. A warmth spread throughout her whenever she filled her tiny Niece with her own experience and wisdom, especially so when the matured mare could watch her ply the lessons she had learned.

Dinky so carefully harvested roots and petals and stems, her magic manipulating your ancient and rusted pocket knife just as she had been instructed. Careful flicks and knicks severed the ever so delicate components from their natural resting places, each trick and tactile move another tiny thing the ancient unicorn had to teach. Naturally, the fidgety and impatient little thing never caught every tiny detail that an experienced eye would. Premium buds, ripened fruits and roots of proper thickness might go unseen, subtle differences in the subject’s anatomy might escape her uncareful gaze and the sneaking presence of poison ivy always caught the filly off-guard. She had a long way to go for any alchemist, but made remarkable progress for her age.

A regular prodigy scampering through the brush. All under Umbra’s prideful watch. She smiled contently to herself and let the sun warm her fur, as if life itself were rewarding this laborious and in-depth process. It was times like this, in the silence of the forest and with Dinky by her side, that strange visions came to Umbra.

Perhaps a lingering side effect of her dabbling in ancient magic, or just her elder mind finally unravelling at the edges. In the far off brush her eyes at times spotted the colorful rumps and shoulders of foals skittering about. Laughter and ghostly movements rung out through the woods around here in quiet calls directed only toward the brooding mare. Should she concentrate and tune her ears to the invisible source, she could almost hear the voices of these wraiths come to pester her. An uneasy joy came to her heart, a new sensation in the otherwise blackened and desolate space behind her ribs.

Unwavering and sharp eyes of the deepest crimson cut through the steamy haze surrounding the trees and rising off the leaves. Umbra tapped into her suppressed well of magic, trying to parse out exactly who or what was trying to speak to her. Long ago, she could converse with the spirits wandering an area and know what they desired. Umbra could sense children yet to be born, ponies long dead and eternal souls without corporeal form. This mischievous band of spirits was clearly there to fool with her, to make her seem insane and to disrupt her efforts. They followed her about and made themselves difficult to spot, as many tricksters did when they sought to steal from novice mages. She knew that these children weren’t truly there, as if they were Dinky would’ve no doubt seen them as well. But she couldn’t shake a yearning weight crawling up her spine. The mare focused and watched intently until an overwhelming urge threatened to spill over her and force her hoof.

She wanted these apparitions to be true and real. She wanted dearly to see beautiful, natural and loving foals hop out from the brush and greet her. Heartbeats fluttered at the most fleeting, tiny and meaningless flash of a white-furred face hiding behind a tree trunk.

“Umbra! Auntie Umbra! Look at this thing! C’mere, quick!” Dinky hollered from the brush just as the unicorn’s ghosts hopped back into the brambles. The chubby and matured pony didn’t respond very quickly, as this extreme excitement for mundane discoveries was highly common in her niece. New beetles, a turtle or a strange rock would set Dinky off like a bomb and get her squealing. Umbra just had to bide her time and wait for the glee to wear down before she could calmly and gently explain what “incredible treasure” her little one had found.

Sauntering over with her mind wandering elsewhere, a strange pain slapped the mare in the back of her head. A reeling reaction made her stumble and struggle to keep her composition. She approached slower and slower in the wake of this unusual sensation. The dregs of a flu, the dragging and pounding headache of a cold and the exhausting heat of a fever crashed into every fiber of her being surely as an arrow piercing hide. Umbra was sucking for breath in seconds and dragging her hooves through the soft carpet of leaves below. Had her mind not been clouded by intense discomfort and the swimming confusion of illness, she might’ve been able to more quickly piece together exactly what was causing this. But it took Dinky showing her the offending item for all things to make sense.

“Lookie here! Someone left their dream catcher!” Dinky proudly held the woven net of hemp and twigs toward her Aunt, eliciting a nightmarish screech and flaring energy from the ancient evil.

“SKREEE!!!” Umbra responded when unwavering agony slammed against her front. She showed her fangs and let fierce magic glow in her eyes out of an uncontrollable and natural reaction to danger. Dinky instantly drew back and dropped the charm to the ground, lessening its effect on Umbra but still keeping it in range to cause her harm.

“GAH! Auntie?!” Dinky cried as she skittered back from the writhing and snarling demon her chaperone had become. Umbra clawed at her face with a hoof to try and scrape away the maddening effects of this ward, but the ferocious pain it caused her nevertheless overwhelmed her senses. All she could do to stop herself from devolving into a whimpering and screaming mess was back away and try to calm her simpering niece.

“Ugh- RRRRGH! Damned thing! Nnf! Dinky! Dinky, my Darling! Leave that rubbish where it lies and come here!” She called out through faded vision. Her world spun rapidly around her, fighting against her senses and plunging her into delusion. This simple ward was wearing off the further she back peddled, its horrible aura chasing her with invisible tendrils tipped with barbed stingers. Umbra threw drool from her mouth in efforts to regain herself as Dinky watched cautiously from afar.

“Mmhn- GHK-... ugh. Gods above. My Gem? Where have you gone?” She shouted into the forest of whispering plants and still trunks.

“Darling? ...Dinky?! Speak up, child! Come about!” She commanded with a growing fear in her heart.

“Are you okay, Auntie?” Dinky huffed from behind a tree, her proximity to the charm laying on the ground enough to ward off the monster Umbra had so quickly become.

“Yes, yes! Now come here at once! Your- oooogh! Your Auntie isn’t feeling well!” Such was a wild understatement, given her state. The simple trinket would've never harmed her when she was at full power and surrounded by clouds of magic thick enough to smother entire cities. But weak and vulnerable and restrained, Umbra was like fresh muscle without skin to protect her. The mare's body, filled with the souls of fallen enemies and brilliant wizards were incensed and angered by the ward's presence, forcing them to try and push out of the unicorn's frail and meaty body. They violently pulled and tore at her spirit, causing tremendous eruptions and pangs in her physical body. The very thing that gave Umbra her immense knowledge and power was turned against her, assuring that prolonged contact would melt her into a bloody puddle steaming with ghosts finally freed into the world.

“Are you sure? You got so mad, Auntie. You screamed at me and- and-”

“DINKY!” Umbra hollered, strain and agony replacing anger in her cries.

“Please, come to me! I can explain!” Only then finding her strength once more, Umbra stood up straighter and made herself at least somewhat less threatening to the young foal. Breathing deep and shuddering, the dark Queen held herself high and did her best to ignore the slight dribbling of blood running out of her nostril.

“Darling… I swear that I’m alright. I would never allow anything to happen to you.” She huffed into the greenery, watching as two frightened eyes of wheat gold popped out from behind a defensive trunk.

“You promise?” Dinky whined.

“On my very life, I swear to you. Now… please. Come out of hiding.” Dinky did as she was asked, albeit slowly. Slinking out from behind cover, she mindfully side-stepped the primitive trinket on the ground.

“Yes… I’m sorry, Precious. I need you to follow my instructions very carefully.” Dinky bit her lip intrepidly, freezing in place just in case she needed to leap behind another piece of cover.

“Take that accursed thing in your magic. Break it apart. Then let me see it. I have a sneaking suspicion that these woods harbor more than plants.” Dinky did as she was told, pulling the rough fibers apart and breaking the fragile wood. Snapped bits of the trinket broke its power, allowing a sudden rush of wellness to return to Umbra. Her muscles untensed and her organs ceased panicking within an instant of blissful healing. Her head continued to pound like a drum and the many vessels burst in her nose bled as she calmed, but such discomfort was nothing compared to the overwhelming shotgun blast that had hit her before. The spirits inside calmed and fell back into the dark pits of Umbra's being without another protest.

Dinky watched her with wide eyes as she came forward and examined the thing busted and torn on the ground. Just as one fearfully stares at a predator they feared might strike them.

“What is it, Auntie?” Dinky chimed, any terror caused by Umbra’s outburst outshined by her budding curiosity. The black Queen scowled and sneered at the rubble of the charm, her face contorted into a most profane and intense disgust.

"Ugh... Zebras." Umbra scowled darkly, her eyes scanning about the brush for some unseen foe. Dinky watched as her teacher threw her gaze from one horizon to the next with both her nostrils flared wide for any hint of a scent.

"Zebras? Whatcha' mean?" The innocent filly started after her Aunt as she trot deeper into the woods, apparently following some trail left by the offending creature.

"I know that primitive and ragged construction. Zebras guard their land with charms and trinkets that ward off spirits... of which I happen to be full of." Umbra answered bitterly, as if the very words imparted a disgusting and rancid taste to her tongue.

"Why would someone wanna keep you away?"

"That's more difficult to explain than I care to admit." Both ponies stopped periodically for Umbra to take in her environment, though to Dinky it appeared that her caretaker was walking in random directions without much reason or purpose. Umbra paused and let her horn glow quietly again and again, soon resuming her confusing walk through the woods.

"Where're we going? We're getting too far from town!" Dinky whined, the multiple warnings from the dark Queen herself resurfacing in her mind. She had been instructed in no uncertain terms to never stray into the Everfree. Its depth and hunger for hapless ponies was legendary, a consuming brush and unpredictable violence overwhelming to even the most seasoned travelers. Without heed for her own warnings, Umbra kept pressing deeper into the verdant fold. Temperate trees and shrubs morphed into jungle weaves of vines and leaves squeezing tightly against one another. Dinky crawled close to the ground and leapt over fallen logs in pursuit of her silent Aunt, watching and waiting for her to reveal what exactly they were doing.

"Hmmmm... yes, yes. I've got you..." Umbra hissed to herself in a still, stiff crouch. Dinky finally caught up to her and peered quizzically over the jagged stump Umbra used as cover. Her amber eyes dilated in shock when she spotted dozens of similar charms hanging from every tree before them. A small deer path cut through the poison ivy and vines and saplings with a swarm of dangling circles surrounding it. Someone or something had clearly spent days crafting these things and carefully hanging them from every branch, for their placement was calculated and devious. Umbra breathed deeply at the very edge of their effective range, as their concentration was enough to turn her guts and twist her muscles. One more careless step forward, and the sinister unicorn would've been entirely disabled.

"Holy moly... there's... there's so many! Why would a zebra do this?" Scoffing and humming with further magic, Umbra felt about the forest with invisible tendrils. Her spells attempted to cut through the powerful shielding of this place, looking for life or magic or any kind of indication. But again and again, her sight was blocked or muddled or resisted. Whoever called this place home was clearly no novice or paranoid fool. Intersecting fields of magic ensured that no approach was possible. Crawling low, running through or attempting to slide between the charms were all equally hopeless pursuits. Intensely focused on piecing together a plan to destroy this horrible bivouac of pain, Umbra paid no mind to the subtle approach of hooves beating on the earthen path. Dinky skittishly tucked behind their stump protection and threw her eyes in the direction of this encroaching presence.

"No doubt keeping some hoard of rubbish ingredients and meaningless trinkets safe from prying eyes. Darling, you ought to be able to traverse this without issue." Umbra said with total ignorance to the hooded figure emerging from the greenery. Turning down the path and into full view, a sackcloth covered being presented herself for the pair. Striped legs poked out from the bottom of this strange and rough cloak, each step they took making a menagerie of pots and charms and bottles jingle on her back. Gilded jewelry caught the vagrant beams of light cutting through the canopy, making her all the more conspicuous. Dinky poked her ignorant Aunt in the gut to pull her gaze away from the scene before them, as this creature moving toward them was totally unlike anything she'd ever seen.

"You can remove them such that I can pass through a narrow canal between their auras. Then, we will find the source of this-... this..." Finally, the Queen silenced herself when Zecora spotted them clearly through the brush. Stood still as a healthy tree, piercing eyes of emerald cut through the muggy air and speared the two mares with sharp, accusing wrath. Dinky's heart raced in her chest and leapt into her throat, a palpable terror overtaking her mind. Zecora was very much like a pony in form and posture, but so different it unsettled the young mare. She stared at the unusual beast before her to try and compare her to the pictures and drawings she had seen only in books before. The subtle differences between the lithe and athletic stature of a zebra and the stocky, somewhat pudgy appearance of a normal pony stuck out clear as day to her. Likewise, the heavy burden of Zecora's backpack conspired with her low-hanging cloak to obscure many of her defining features, giving her a most disturbing and shapeless form that seemed to harbor nothing but mysteries and ill will.

"Hm... I suppose our stealth leaves something to be desired." Umbra grunted before she stood up fully, letting the flowers in her mane jump out from the background and outline her clearly.

"I have planted warnings in every tree. Yet you come dauntlessly to pester me." Zecora called out to the dark mare, her deep voice carrying with it a beautifully rhythmic accent. Dinky was entranced by such a voice, as it seemed impossible for smooth and soothing tones to come from a creature like Zecora. She had imagined a ragged and dry witch's voice that would immediately communicate a twisted and blackened intent for any who trespassed in these woods. Rather, the authoritative and feminine music reached deep into her childish soul and comforted her with a striking familiarity.

"It is really quite rude to plant these things where the magically inclined might be harmed by them! You ought to consider your actions, friend!" Umbra hissed with a most aggravating whine. She scowled at the mare and turned her head up in aristocratic, arrogant scolding.

"Somepony could be well and truly hurt by these awful souvenirs, as I was!" Their zebra foe didn't falter beneath the irritating nagging of the dark Queen, rather, she stood still as a steel rod buried firmly in the Earth. Her eyes draped in shadow, they could hardly be seen glaring darkly at Umbra's squishy and chubby visage. Dinky could sense the hostility in the mare from afar, for there was nothing quite as striking as a deep and unbroken stare of utter hatred.

"I am no friend to you. Your kind does not belong here, so begone with your evil and your spawn too." Umbra flared at such a response, the words directed toward her precious niece hardly acceptable.

"Now you listen her- URGH! NNG!" Posturing and striking a defiant stance brought her just within range of the looming charms above. Crippling waves of sickness slapped the Queen back and sent her reeling into the fretting grasp of your student.

"Auntie! Auntie, be careful!" Dinky whimpered whilst pulling her caretaker close. Zecora narrowed her venomous stare at the pair and stepped back to make more room between her and the wretched little monster threatening her.

"Destroyer of my kind, Mistress of Sand, tyrant of the mind and land, why have you come here?" Zecora scorned, watching as Umbra steadily rose to her hooves and shook off the errant agony of well crafted wards. Dinky stared on as these strange titles fell from the zebra and stuck to her Aunt, each one biting and scathing as the last.

"We've come to enjoy the flora and fauna of our home town, yet some inconsiderate soul has left these blasted things everywhere!" Umbra huffed and stomped her hoof in frustration, her own visage more pouty and puffy than Zecora's unbreaking stare.

"I've come to try and reason with you, zebra. Take these horrible things down and leave me in peace!"

"Yeah!" Dinky confirmed. Their striped counterpart refused to budge, as she was hardly convinced. Slight trembles moved through her lithe and powerful legs, demonstrating in subtle jitters that Umbra indeed frightened her. Dinky had seen this reaction all her life, yet never to this extent. Most ponies she knew were at least somewhat accustomed to her Aunt's intense and abrasive ways. But Zecora absolutely reeked of fear. She stood bravely and resisted showing more than a silent shudder, but the ignorant filly could sense more brewing beneath the surface between the mares.

"They will stay. You will go and never return this way. You destroyed my kind and scattered them to the wind. And you wish to come into my home on a whim?" Dinky cocked an eyebrow in confusion, casting her glance to a stoic and frustrated Umbra.

"Wha- huh? What're you talking about, woman?!" She called out in your unique vernacular. The mystic didn't answer, her lips pursed aggressively.

"Ask your 'aunt,' foal. Horrors like she has committed are best regaled from minds of evil and hearts of coal." Dinky did just that, returning her bewildered stare to her fluffy and huffing mare. Umbra breathed deep to control herself, though most of the anger plastered on her face before had been shingled over with an obvious irritation. She wore the same face as when you scolded her at home for swearing and yelling in front of Dinky, a less than serious concern she didn't have time for.

"Umbra?" Dinky gasped, earning a sideways glance from the silent unicorn.

"What did you do?" Mulling over her thoughts for a brief second, her royal and haughty Aunt spoke with audible fatigue.

"Ugh... let us just say that, one can lead four tribes of zebras to freedom through the desert. But you can't make them mine azurite crystals once you get there." Zecora recoiled at the casual tone of her answer.

"Freedom from one slaver to another! You tormented and butchered sister and brother!" Dinky stared in flabbergasted disbelief as the exchanged moved dauntlessly without her. She could only look from one furious mare to the other, her loyalty firm with Umbra but challenged nonetheless.

"Oh please! You'd think that kind of thing would sort itself out after 1300 years! It's hardly my fault that your kind are so easily manipulated." Umbra huffed as if she were a child scolded for something they clearly did, her guilt difficult- if not impossible- to perceive. Zecora huffed through flared nostrils and stomped her hoof into the leaves below with a palpable, dangerous rage. Her otherwise peaceful and clear mind had been clouded by Umbra's presence, a trait that had to the downfall of her people in the first place. She could hardly think beyond red and throbbing thoughts, enraged and pumping adrenaline dictating her actions rather than logic or reason. Dinky whimpered when the mysterious mare whipped her snout back a grabbed a weapon with which to make her point all the more clear.

"RRPGH!" She huffed through clenched teeth, tossing a fragile jar toward the duo. Hyper-aware and already fearful of reprisal, Dinky saw the coming danger far sooner than her Aunt. In that tiny fraction of a second both had to react, Dinky clear just enough distance more to dodge the bursting container and its powdery contents. Forest winds and humid air immediately caught the vapors and cast them in a heavy spray around Umbra. Physical forces dispersed the momentarily blinding material into auras of magic and energy naturally surrounding a being as powerful and ancient as Umbra, thus submitting the enchanted particles to the influence of the arcane.

"GUH- What in Equestria?! EEEK! AUGH!" Umbra danced and kicked and thrashed like bees had set about her. Dinky watched in terror as her Aunt hopped out and fruitlessly tried to dodge the chasing swarm of fluff. Crushed up bones of those she had wronged carried the memories of painful deaths and traumas never healed, thus they had a vendetta. Poisoned with natural irritants and razor-sharp particles of broken glass, Zecora's unique weapon subjected Umbra to the maximum amount of pain any magically-imbued being could tolerate.

"Auntie?! Auntie! Stop, drop and roll! Stop- STOP PANICKING!" Dinky hollered to her caretaker, though her words hardly forced through the veil of wailing pain that shrouded Umbra. She had become a totally unreasonable filly in the wake of this aggressive cloud, for it tracked her unique and flaring signature of magic and attacked viscously. Preferring not to have herself covered in the stingy residue as well, Dinky turned her attention to the stalwart and threatening zebra that had unleashed this terrible creature. Childish rage, fueled by ignorance and undying love for her family, pushed Dinky to act. She couldn't tolerate a brazen and cruel abuse of her own, even if it were objectively justified. She may not have totally understood what the conflict between her beloved Aunt and Zecora really was, but she knew whose side she would always be on. A time for questions had passed.

No one hurt her family.

"STOPPIT! You big, smelly wiener!" She hollered toward Zecora with a stick raised in her magic. Quick swipes of her amber energy lashed the ineffective twig against the zebra's striped hide, failing to inflict pain by slapping hard enough to disrupt her snarling glare. Zecora was pushed back by the wild assault, each swipe Dinky took grew more bold and painful.

"Don't you hurt my Auntie! Make that stuff stop right now! Or I'm gonna whoop your flanks and smash your stripety idiot face!" Zecora huffed and dodged more viscous swings for her face, the fragile wood breaking across her sides and backpack when the force was simply too great. The sorceress was more shocked by Dinky's ability to approach her than anything else. Her wards were specially attuned to force out Umbra's influence and assure she could never approach. They attacked spirits and trapped souls with horrible agony and tormenting images of doom to force them to vacate their host. Umbra, filled to the brim with the haunting remnants of enemies and peers, would have her own body tear itself apart with shrieking and violent specters ripping through her flesh to escape. Just the slightest hint of corruption would trigger this response, Zecora worrying that acolytes and disciples of Umbra would come hunting her as well.

For Dinky to hold onto her strength in the very epicenter of her wards then, disturbed Zecora to her core. Either she was so ferociously swallowed by evil that her magic couldn't break through, or the filly was true of heart. She had to lack any corruption for the charms to ignore her presence, a notion she would never expect from one loitering around with the dark Queen.

"Are you hearing me?! Don't you ever hurt my Auntie! Take these stupid things down and say you're sorry!!!" Ringing through the suffocating air and cracking against Zecora's shoulder, another rotten stick shattered into wet splinters and chunky bits of debris flying off into the brush. Zecora's hard stare resisted the attack, her stripes twitching slightly but her body remaining stalwart. She stared down at the filly, picking apart her every move and mannerism and quirk to decipher just what manner of creature she was. That unbroken stare, the burning sensation of being judged pressed Dinky back in a momentary pause of intimidation. She huffed and searched for another frangible weapon to defend her family with.

"Who are you, little mare?" Zecora spoke calmly, her undaunting cool sending shivers down the otherwise sweaty and huffing filly. She stood tall and defensive against the striped menace, puffing out her chest with a distinctly human bravado.

"I'm Dinky Hooves! And that's my Aunt you're hurting! So unless you want me to shove a pinecone up your butt, you better leave her alone!" Zecora turned her nose up at the young and floundering thing, memories of chit-chat and town gossip flooding back.

"The human's seed? Another halfbreed?" Dinky spit on the ground in masculine defiance, yet another disrespectful tick she inherited from you.

"That's right! And I- wait... 'halfbreed?'" The little unicorn said with a cocked eyebrow, Zecora's attention quickly running back to her hiding previous hiding place.

"Dinky, get away from that witch doctor charlatan! We're going home!" Umbra groaned with river water soaking her to the very bone. Bundles of her fur and mane hung low with the wet weight crushing them down, white flecks of the neutralized material mixing with mud and plant debris. Whilst Dinky looked away from the quick-witted zebra, Zecora prepared another trick hidden in her pack.

"The world would be better off without your 'Auntie.' You don't understand what you defend, Dinky." Skilled and trained hooves pulled from her accumulation of odds and ends another trinket powered by magic, albeit a much simpler and less threatening piece. The simple figure, worn by use and speckled by the filth of age beckoned her home with humming and growling magic. Unable to directly influence magic herself, Zecora channeled the energy of the very world itself through the ancient idol.

"Yes, yes! Run away without an apology! That's all your kind is good for! Running!" Umbra whined with an aggravatingly high pitch, her energy and will to show guile sapped by chilly river water and the tingly burns still writhing through her skin.

"I will make sure to tell Anonymous the wrong doings of his seed, halfbreed." Zecora hissed before disappearing in a smoky shroud of crude magic. Thick blue dust burst into reality from nowhere and carried her off through time and space back to her home, an instant escape prepared at all times. Dinky skittered back in shock, momentarily standing in confusion before her resolve returned. Her hooves spread out and her horn grabbed yet another muggy stick to defend her honor with. Wafting plumes of magic settled and revealed an empty spot, forcing the filly to stand down and regain her breath. Confirming that the offending creature was indeed gone for real, the young lady turned her attention quickly to the sodden and heaving Umbra. She seemed physically alright, no swollen welts or shivers of pain running over her body. Dinky could feel disrupted fields of magic, however. Her eternal ties to the soil of Equestria and the energies within it clued her into the turmoil smashing through her caretaker.

Umbra was rattled to her very core by something. A shocking, tremendous thing had crashed down on the sorceress such that she could only stare and seethe. The spot where Zecora once stood was skewered in a hateful glare so intense it could set fire to stones. Umbra's reddened and puffy eyes didn't address Dinky when she spoke, for her voice never even reached her racing mind.

Those words, that simple conjugation. They burned her more than fire, they threatened her more than death. They infuriated Umbra into animalistic and wild state.

Halfbreed. Its syllables and sounds rang off the insides of her skull and bounced about mercilessly. Pulsing veins ran hot with enraged blood that screamed for righteous vengeance. Her old self, long buried beneath the decaying rubble of ancient ways, screamed from deep within to give chase and seek revenge. Olden images of the dead strung up from trees and mountains sparked in the Queen's mind. The satisfaction of exacting the death penalty on disrespectful curs.

"Auntie! Hey, Umbra?!" Dinky broke through, waving a hoof about the face of her teacher. Shaking the dew from her mane and the irritation from her eyes, Umbra only then gathered her faculties together.

"Are you okay? What was that stuff?! Was that old biddy out of her mind or something?!" Umbra didn't reply to any of these quick and stinging questions. Stock still as the trees around them, her ancient and stoic mind crackled and cranked within. She carefully processed the last few minutes with intense concentration and fought to beat down the boiling tides of red, aggravated energy inside.

Relax, calm yourself, restrain your words. Words and commands repeated in the unicorn's heart again and again until she could finally think on things besides Zecora's head on a pike.

"Let us begone from this awful place, Dinky." She responded simply and curtly, moving back toward the edge of the woods without another word. Dinky followed loyally and kept herself close to her Auntie. Fearful as she was of the potential inside the mare, she knew now that there were some out in the world who would do her harm. She was offended by the very notion of someone assaulting the helpless and well-meaning mother figure she held so dear. She protected Umbra from sticks and brambles and branches on their way back to their belongings, for Umbra walked silently and without changing course. Muddy hooves and cuts across her body from errant thorns didn't disturb the look of utter concentration the Queen wore.

"My Darling." She said out of the blue whilst they packed away their mortars and pestles and books and quills.

"If you could... don't speak of this day to your father." Dinky stared for a moment to try and discover why her Aunt would want such a thing. In her mind, it made perfect sense to tell you, at least before Zecora could make herself known and do it first.

Not that you had ever harmed or even raised your voice to a pony that had wronged you. All you ever had to do was lift a struggling pony by their hind leg with a single hand and your message would be sent clear as day. But to just let this slide? That was especially unlike Umbra. Keeping close and listening to the metered, deep and thoughtful breathing of her Aunt, Dinky couldn't hide her concern.

"Are you sure, Auntie?" She asked the still and seething Umbra, her expression contorting into an agonizing and forced submission.

"It would be best not to concern him. You know how he worries for me." Dinky couldn't follow this command in good mind, but the dark unicorn wasn't wrong. Dinky only knew that Umbra was "troubled," or however you liked to understate it in the past. You always asked Umbra what she was up to, how her days were and who she talked to. A reflex left over from the days before Dinky when it was your obligation to the royalty. As much as it irritated Umbra when you scolded her for insulting a pony or arguing with a merchant, it was a necessary step in the process of rehabilitating her. Dinky saw it as coddling, however. In her mind, she assumed that you thought Umbra so weak and grouchy that she might get herself into trouble they couldn't handle.

Perhaps here, Umbra was attempting to save face. How embarrassing it must've been for her to be attacked like that, just for the perpetrator to escape and have the last laugh. Dinky scowled at the image of Zecora running away so cowardly. That frustration pushed her closer to her Aunt and morphed into a nuzzle against her fluffy side when they stopped to regather their belongings.

"I promise I won't tell, then." Umbra's lips remained cold and solid in their sharp frown, but still the ancient Queen returned the affectionate display with a nuzzle of her own. Smooching between Dinky's eyes and stuffing her saddle bags with her tools, the Sorceress sighed in strained relief.

"Thank you, my Darling. I owe you a most extravagant reward for this ordeal..." She grumbled solemnly as everything gathered in her saddlebags, both of them setting off into the sunlight for a cold and introspective walk home.

"I could make Poppy get you some ice cream... if that would make you feel better."

"Hm... wonderful idea, my precious Gem."

"Chocolate?"

"Double chocolate."

Bonus 1

Author's Note

A non-canon chapter to rustle some jimmies and keep things spicy. Shadow wolf and I cooked up the idea as something I could write in a day or two and slide in-between or with the actual chapters. We'll have to see how its received. Hopefully, it's an enjoyable break from the more dramatic main story and I can do a few more bonus chapters for non-canon, silly sex.

If it comes across as more distracting and readers would prefer I didn't dedicate my time to it, I most likely won't continue the practice. Chapter 4 should be finished soon, as progress on it has been going wonderfully. Thanks so much for the support and the feedback. It's a pleasure to write for you all.

Bonus 1

Bonus 1.
Big Butt Biddies.

Rustling and knocking about in the upstairs closet, evil forces brewed terrible and wretched plans. Eerily cutting through the darkness with a single light, this duo of disgusting and conniving mares concocted their villainy on a diet of deceit, treachery and wine. If any eyes could behold them in this secretive and hidden realm, they would’ve drowned in tears and blood from the overwhelming horror. Several minutes had passed between their arrival at this unholy chamber and the completion of their sin. They burst forth unto the world with no intention of kindness or goodwill toward pony-kind.

Umbra and Derpy, both draped in old clothes and stumbling about in stupefied inebriation.

“Hear yee, hear yee! It is me! Princess Celestima! I come to ride on chariots and be a big bossy biddy!” Derpy hollered in a slurred mess of drool and confusion. The white jacket hung about her back painted her as the highest authority in the land, though the color of her tail and mane were still completely wrong. A paper party hat from her last birthday jut out from between her eyes along with a plastic tiara of gold. She held a doofy smile as she wiggled out of the bedroom closet and allowed her “sister” to make her own introduction.

“AND ME. CELESTIA’S SISTER AND POSSIBLE LESBIAN LOVER.” Umbra stumbled from the closet and fell face-first to the floor when her hoof caught on the sleeve of your old sweater. The dark blue piece somewhat matched the night Princess’ color, though the old skateboard logo certainly broke the illusion. The black hat riding along her horn somewhat resembled Luna’s crown, albeit with far more stains and creases than the real thing. As well, cardboard wings painted purple costumed the Queen as a near-perfect copy of the much taller and thinner alicorn.

“I ADDRESS ALL IN MIN EAR-SPLITTING VOICE SO THAT I MIGHT BE HEARD CLEARLY THROUGH MY OWN SMUGNESS.” She shouted, straining her own voice and knocking things over when she bumbled into them. Derpy skittered on her hooves toward the bedroom door, both mares stealing glances down the hall toward an alluring scent. The figure sitting there before the duo of intoxicated and confused mares hardly moved and hardly made a sound beyond a gentle snoring. Clasped in one hand was an unfinished bottle of cider, the other clenching weakly at the air about it in lazy rhythms. Spinning helplessly on the nearby turntable, an old human-music record scratched and whispered in that familiar tone of "I'm done playing" without a soul to come and take it off the machine. The needle only made a slight crackle every now and again, its soft and stuttering noise hardly enough to make you stir in your rough sleep.

Perfect prey for hungry princesses on the prowl.

The "royals" crept down the stairs with the soft carpeting cushioning their otherwise noisy hoof falls. Giddy little giggles and snorts were hidden with the most trivial efforts at stealth, for it took quite a tremendous force to rouse you from your sleep. Approaching quietly and staring with the most predatory, starving glare an equine could give, the "Sisters" stood themselves before you with pride, excitement and a slight swoon from side to side in both their chubby bodies.

"HARK! A HUMAN IS SAT BEFORE ME, SISTER!!!" "Luna" hollered at the very top of her lungs, the echoing thunderstorm of her voice breaking your peace and jostling you awake.

"GAH! GUH- Huh?! Wha-?!" You huffed and puffed in absolute terror with wide eyes scanning about the room. Your drink nearly went toppling to the floor in the moment and was only saved by all of your muscles going tense at once.

"He's awake, Luna! Let's get him!" "Celestia" insisted with a lunge forward to snap her hooves about your leg. Still shaking off the utter shock of being awakened in such a thrilling manner, you couldn't possibly react in time to the needy sisters throwing themselves on you and pulling at your clothing with their sloppy maws.

"JEEEZUS! You scared the crap outta me, Umbra!" You whined to the overbearing and wiggling ponies below you. Complaints fell on deaf ears however, as both were melding themselves with your familiar scent and firm feel.

"UMBRA?! I HARDLY KNOW THE MARE! OTHER THAN HER EXTREME BEAUTY AND WISDOM!" She screamed into your dick as she mindlessly buried her face in your groin. Derpy giggled and licked at your shirt, slathering herself up and down your leg in an effort to mark you as her own.

"We're not your wives, silly!" She answered you, despite never being asked. You cocked an eyebrow to the strange little show before you, one of your hands naturally coming to rest on "Celestia's" head of golden mane. It was just then that you noticed their little outfits, cheap and wrinkled and unconvincing as they were.

"'TIS US!!! THE MOST DESIRED MARES IN EQUESTRIA! WE CHOOSE YOU, AS OUR HUSBAND, HUMAN!!!" Umbra screamed at full force into your penis once more, the trembles of extreme volume rather exciting when channeled directly through your gonads.

"Uh... I already got a wife, though. Two of them, actually." You tried to correct the nasty little Princess, but she refused to listen. Instead, she chewed and chomped and mouthed at your shaft in desperate and drool-laden slurps. "Celestia" scooched in against her as well, aiding in the smooching of their new husband.

"Not anymore!" The grey princess slurred, her eyes especially derped when the full force of your musk slapped her sensitive nose.

"We're big-butt biddy Princesses! And your ours now, Bubby!" Celestia pressed herself into the fold between your legs, forcing Luna out so she could catch her shaky breath.

"WE CLAIM THINE PERFECT PENIS FOR OUR OWN, AS WE ARE SELFISH GLUTTONS FOR ALL PENISES WE FANCY!!!" Luna shrieked, earning your free hand on her snout.

"Yeesh. So you ding-a-lings are claiming me or something?" You asked groggily, forced to spread your legs far as they would go so both mares could wriggle their way in. Their snouts bumped and kissed and smeared against one another in the melee of horny sniffing, neither willing to let the other get more of your scent smeared across their face.

"MMmmmmyessssss! This Bubby is miiiiiiiine!" Celestia hummed as Luna did her quick and magical work, uncharacteristically red energy popping your button and ripping your zipper open for their starving, watering mouths.

"SELFISH WE ARE TO STEAL FROM RIGHTEOUS MARES! BUT- ooooh... ooh the aroma. It steals me away..." Luna moaned and huffed at your covered member with a most desperate and depraved huff, her nostrils flaring and lungs burning to stuff more of your pheromones inside. Celestia licked her lips and watched with deep interest, absentmindedly licking her lips when such an appetizing thing transpired before her very eyes.

"Y-yeah... mmph. Get in there. Doesn't Bubby smell so good, Um- Luna?" They shared another fit of girly laughter, your expression finally lightening when they began to lose themselves to the game. You huffed and pressed your hips outward for them, letting the heat of your nethers burn their faces and set their minds alight.

"Never knew you had the hots for me... but you know I still love my mares. I'm gonna need to be real impressed if I'm gonna roll with you two." You goaded, both hands pulling and stroking their manes in silent encouragement. They weren't dissuaded from their little game in the slightest. If anything, your rolling and bucking body only infuriated them further. Now they were challenged. Now their noble and horny goal of taking this buff and studly human for their own had an obstacle in the way. Their eyes met for the briefest moment in a flash of mad drive and bottomless will.

"We're gonna have to break out the big guns for this one, Lu-lu." Celestia huffed from behind a nose-full of throbbing human cock.

"I AGREE. FELLATIO WILL TOPPLE THIS IMPASSIBLE BARRIER!!!" The Night Princess whined into your balls, her off-color magic once again firing up and going about its sloppy work. Part of you flinched when the barely controlled and inaccurate magic ripped and tore at your underwear so close to your delicate parts. In her clearly intoxicated state, Luna could've very easily pulled or ripped something she shouldn't have. But the thrill of being disrobed so violently and then immediately having mares fall upon your helpless cock banished all worry from your mind. Soft and fleshy lips molded and suckled on your prick with such ferocity that your hands threatened to wrench bundles of mane from each naughty Princess.

"Aungh! Nngh! Holy moly..." You gasped and groaned for them, both sets of toes curling when they wrestled and bumped one another for a better spot. Celestia's greedy and wide-open mouth caught your head the moment she saw it, a chomping grasp pulling you into a realm of ultra-hot and slobbery softness. Luna was content to lick and slurp at your base however, as the abundance of spittle helped to express the intense flavor of a ready and willing male. She delighted in the texture of your testes rubbing against her tongue, each little fold and crease and lurid contraction setting off bombs in her mind. The mares giggled and gasped and moaned around you, their voices sending shockwaves through your hips that shot right up your spine and burst in your skull. Their rumps bumped and scrubbed together far behind the madness, each bubbly mound of mare catching your eye with their swaying, clockwork dance. You found it hard to focus, as both delicious butts and piercing eyes begged for your attention.

"Laaaaahng... lllehm... yesssh..." Luna moaned into your shining and clean sack, her eyes flicking to the gentle and kneading blow job Celestia subjected you to. Celestia was unusually akin to Derpy in her technique, as if she wasn't the stallion-sucking freak the rumors implied. She slathered and slurped and groaned rather than pumped, your cock staying in her mouth and only occasionally venturing closer to her throat. She struggled to hold you particularly deep, gagging quickly and tearing up when you cut off her air for more than a split second. Still, her heart was in it. The naughty Princess stared you in the eyes as you readjusted her paper party hat horn.

"Is my Sister simply not the best sleeve for a stallion? She adores holding such girth in her mouth!" Luna babbled much more quietly than before, albeit in a tone still far louder than necessary.

"Never knew she could be so gosh darn cute." You hissed between deep and ragged breaths of bliss, earning the warmest and most sincere smile from your Princess. She popped off with a sudden slurp of splattering saliva, bubbles running down her chin and from the corners of her mouth.

"Lu-lu should try it, though. With how loud she talks, I bet she could put the whole thing in!" She insisted, moving your throbbing and oozing head closer to the Night Princess. Luna's eyes crossed to watch your reddened and needy tip kiss her, a sudden gasp accompanying a blush exploding across her face.

"Pfft. Bet she's got a throat like a hallway, right?" You and Celestia shared a snicker, though Luna was far from involved with the conversation. She instead lost herself to the joy of pleasing her human and belittling herself. Hooded eyes slowly closed in the toxic and suffocating bliss of mouthing your cock and feeling it pulse in her mouth. Tremendous pressure swelled in your rod and only continued to thump aggressively with your heartbeat. She could feel her efforts being appreciated, each lick and suckle and plunge creating another set of tremendous groans and bellows from deep within you. Tracing her tongue across your bulging veins and ridges, Luna nearly fainted from the feel of your pulse growing faster and faster with pure joy.

"Holy crap..." You moaned to Celestia, watching her lean her head against your side and stare at her gagging sister. Luna bobbed deep and slow to begin with, much like your precious Umbra when she was particularly in need of attention. She let her lips stretch and mold and move around your girth, a perfectly slutty "O" to accentuate her pillowy and feminine mouth.

"Does it feel good, Bubby?" Celestia cooed, kissing your hand and stroking your thigh with a hoof.

"Yeah... it feels incredible." You gasped, watching transfixed as Luna debased herself for you.

"I love watching you, Anon. It makes me feel so warm when you ruin other mares." Celestia hissed, her derpy and skewed gaze migrating from your huffing face down to her gulping sister. Luna's spittle was splattered and dripping all across your groin by now, soaking into her blue sweater and your boxers readily. Steamy huffs pumped out of her flaring nostrils and partially obscured her far-away stare of stupid delight. She was clearly broken already, the simple addition of your prick in her mouth banishing any form of coherent or reasonable thought. Celestia wasn't satisfied, though.

To see you, the only human in Equestria, breed and love and cum was hot on its own. But it wasn't the premium show she desired. Watching your powerful body do to other mares what it so readily did to her/Derpy set her belly on fire and made the pony swell with an intense pride. Especially when another fortunate female, like Umbra or Luna was so entirely overwhelmed by your love that they struggled to speak or move after you'd pump your heavy seed inside them. Celestia endeavored to get that thrill again then, happily pressing her hoof against the back of her dark Sister's head. She needed to watch you perform. She desperately needed the satisfaction of watching every mare in Equestria moan and scream for (her husband.

"You're going so slow, Sillyhead! Don't you want Anon to like you? Hm?" She giggled and shoved the stupefied alicorn forward with a stiff jerk of her hoof, making both you and the Princess of the Night moan in shock.

"GAH! MMPH!"

"GHLRK! RRGK!" Both of you let out throaty and wet noises in the moment, Celestia fixing her horn again and drooling in pure lust.

"Oooooh! Much better! He's a big stallion, isn't he? You've gotta push really hard to get all of him inside!" She pressed again with only slightly less force, shoving Luna down your shaft again and bulging out her throat when it so effortlessly slid past her tonsils.

"URGHK! Hnnnnmmph!" Luna was somewhere between agony and orgasm as she was pressed into this brutal line of work, her body fighting for air but her mind fighting to stay. Her hooves snapped to your legs and dug in for support, both of you struggling to keep up with the pace demanded by the overlord Celestia.

"Mushy! Mushy, you gotta be- EASIER!!! NNG!" You hollered when the mind melting sensation of a pony's throat swallowing around your pick ratcheted up your body. Muscles tensed and nerves screamed in the glowing heat of such pleasure, Luna's eyes crossing and rolling in her skull as she gurgled around the very base of your pride.

"Thaaat's it. Nice and deep. Be a good mare and suck on Bubby. He'll make you feel so good, Luna." Celestia cooed and stroked a hoof across Luna's flaring mane, the sprigs of dark hair beginning to fly out in crazy directions around her goofy tiara and reddened horn.

"GHLP! HLP!" Luna gagged and spat before she was allowed up again, Celestia kindly kissing her cheek in a heated display of lurid passion.

"I know, I know. He's so big and sexy, isn't he? It might be too much for you! Just keep going. Don't think about the pain, just think about how good it makes my stallion feel." She giggled and pushed Luna again, forcing her to take on another rapid pace that no normal mare would subject themselves to. You were left gasping and bucking in release, the fierce pleasure shooting through your body again and again quickly as lightning through a steel rod.

"ULP- GLRK- HHLP- MMPH!" Luna's eyes rolled back as she was pressed down to your base again and again and again, frothy spittle forming at her lips and spilling all around your pumping rod. She was made to go fast and hard, though her clenching neck muscles and blasted brain helped in the process. Nothing was quite as appealing to the naughty Princess as slamming her face into your hips and feeling the most intimate part of you scream in pleasure between her cheeks.

"Gooooood mare. Good! Suck it. Suck my Bubby's big dick until he squirts down your throat. He makes so much cream for good little mares that can take it! I wanna see my hubby pump you full of his babies!" Celestia was not one to speak like this very often. Coming through in her angelic, childish and goofy voice, the lines were almost comically sexual. Were you not chewing off your bottom lip and fighting not to cum your brains out at that very moment, you might've even laughed. Sensing your imposing orgasm, the knowledgeable and experienced Sun Princess pulled Luna from your enraged cock just in time. You were left bobbing and dripping in the cold air, waiting for that last little bit to throw you over the edge. Cool air singed your raw flesh and stabbed through your heart with a brutal shock of reality coming back in. You were begging for it silently, clawing at your chair and squeezing around your royal mares with both legs curled about their bodies. Celestia held the most smug grin a pony could have before she pushed Luna forward once more.

"What're you waiting for, goofball? Aren't you gonna make my big, strong hubby cum? He's right here. He's waiting for you." Celestia snickered, watching as her sister delivered the final and most destructive lick of all time. Just one flick of her pink and muscular tongue against the crown of your manhood and you were bursting with pleasure. A switch finally clicked on in your mind and let forth a torrent of hot, fresh and fertile seed for the Sisters.

Naturally, lined up with your cock and staring at it like an idiot, Luna got the first and most potent dose. A gaping mouth made way for a fat rope to jump across the entirety of her tongue and hit the back of her throat. Drooling and thoroughly over her weak gag reflex, Luna stood there on shaking legs as you claimed her. One rope was immediately followed by another in her mouth, pursing lips forcing the others to dance and splatter across her face. She breathed deeply throughout this short period of time, though for all parties involved your orgasm felt like a century of unparalleled bliss and relief.

"OOOH! Look at all that cream!" Celestia giggled, maneuvering your rod about at its base to better paint her Sister's face. Luna sat there and took each blast with pride, her heart poinding and her marehood boiling with winking and dripping need. Your seed soaked deep into her fur and skin like a poison, leeching its essence into her mind to further melt it into a dizzied and helpless toy for you to play with however you saw fit.

"See how happy he is? Can you taste how good my hubby feels? Anon definitely likes you, he gave you so much, Luna! So much tasty baby batter just for you!" Celestia licked her lips hungrily and stole a dollop of the Night Princess' face, the familiar taste instantly relaxing her muscles and intoxicating far more quickly than any amount of alcohol.

"Oooooaugh... we... my throat... brrupt..." Luna burped in a less than polite manner, a frothy milkshake of white churning in her mouth as it curled into a dopey smile.

"You two are off the wall." You blurted with a flabbergasted expression, suddenly interjecting whilst the mares shared in-depth and sticky kisses to exchange your flavor.

"No. We're Princesses." Celestia added cheerily, flaunting your dick about like it were her prize.

"And now you're gonna stay with us. And make lots and lots of babies. Because we're big biddies that steal stallions!" Celestia crooned with enthusiasm and power, hardly realizing the mess she was getting herself into. Her paper horn askew on her head and wings flared, the drunken mare never paid any mind to your slowly moving and bracing body. She was far too fixed on lapping your seed from her sister and your rod, ignoring the threat looming closer and closer.

"The hell I will!" You chanted, lunging forward and seizing the chubby Sun Goddess right off her hooves.

“EEEE! W- wait, wait! This isn’t- WHOA!” She squealed and kicked and squirmed in your arms ineffectually, more tiring herself out than escaping. She could do nothing as you pulled the Princess in close and kissed at her trembling jaw.

"I got a better idea. How about I take you both for myself? Then, whenever I'm in the mood, I can go wreck your cute little butts however I please?” Both you and Luna shared a laugh of pure poison, through Luna’s bent wings of cardboard drooped in an amusingly sad fashion. Celestia writhed and looked down at her rotund belly to discover a miraculously hard and needy human standing at attention mere millimeters from her boiling hot and ready opening.

"Won't have to worry about hurting my poor little wives with you two taking the hardest, deepest breedings for them. I'll be begging for a nice, slow session after ploughing you girls into trembling, drooling zombies."

"Never go easy on us, Anonymous! And never go easy on your wives either!"

“Wha- hold on. I just- I need- oh golly!” Celestia blushed and gradually lost her ability to speak, the influence of your warmth and strength and security destroying her quick as a bullet. Luna helped all the while, her slurred speech and uneasy movements guiding your heft right to the Princess’ pudgy and warm flower.

“HE HATH CLAIMED ME! OH JOY IT IS TO CHOKE ON HUMAN SPERM! I, PRINCESS LUNA OF THE EQUESTRIAN NIGHT, DO SO LOVE TO CHOKE ON SPERM! LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE OR CONFUSION. SPERM. IN MY MOUTH!” Luna lost herself in a flurry of giggles as she pressed her lips against you and your captured Princess, puffy folds forming and slurping around you with a hungry equine tongue greasing the entire affair.

“Mmmlehm! SISTER IS READY FOR YOU, HUMAN! MAKE HASTE AND SEW HER GARDEN!” Celestia gasped and whined when you pressed a ready and thick crown against her opening, a familiar entrance made shocking by the roles taken and the alcohol consumed. Celestia was forced against your chest by powerful arms braced around her, another set of mare legs propping her thighs up to expose every bit of her lurid features to the world. She was helpless, defenseless and utterly at the whim of perverted monsters.

And it all thrilled her so.

“Aaah- EEEE! He’s in, he’s in!” She whined into her your arm, drooling and biting at it as your welcomed and slick girth pressed into her. Luna marveled at the skill and ease with which her sister took you, for her plump and grey pussy hardly even strained to fit your impressive size. Pink flesh poked out and squeezed around you like a most needy cushion of soft and slimy silk, droplets and tears of thick and creamy nectar lapped up by a starving and maddened Luna.

“Ooooh, mmmph! HOW DOES SHE FEEL, MY KING?! ASTOUNDING NO DOUBT!” Luna yelled into Celestia’s pussy, forcing a laugh from you as you sank her lower and lower. Trembling and flapping her wings against you, Celestia relaxed immediately when she felt the padded floor of your thick thighs catching her rump. Buried within, kissing her cervix and stroking her belly, the day Princess finally began to go limp and crack a wide smile.

“I never get tired of this, Mushy.” You whispered to her and her alone, letting the Princess know she was the very best in the whole world. She giggled and let herself bounce in your lap, not an ounce of strength left in her when the breeding began. Gentle and gyrating motions guided her helpless figure along your tool, letting her soft folds squeeze and slurp with all the gentleness they could muster. Luna helped you along with licks and kisses and suckles, never once taking her muzzle more than an inch away from the hot coupling of human and mare. She adored watching the pumping machines of male and female work, as their mechanisms were both disgustingly wet and intricately crafted.

“Yesssssss! Breed her, human. BREED HER. MAKE HER YOUR BABBLING AND HELPLESS BROODMARE!” Luna commanded with licks and kisses at your fertile balls. She goaded you along with nothing less than utter devotion, an unending lust to see what you could do and what her sister would endure. Luna delighted in suckling her Sister just as much as she did you, for the flavors of both were intoxicating and perfectly different.

You were salty and heavy, a thick flavor that slapped the back of the throat and lingered. Luna covered herself in your scent easily, it stuck to whatever it touched as a dominating mark. Celestia’s was a much sweeter and gentler scent that flooded the entire mind. She was maddening and attractive, like a hook in the cheek that commanded one to come closer. Sweet and milky on the tongue, her clit provided an endless well of flavor sensations that morphed any mind into an addicted mess begging to have more of her.

“WHUAH! OOPH!” She cried out and tensed as Luna did her dirty work, slathering her sensitive button with a hungry tongue as a human prick plunged into her most sensitive depths. She was overwhelmed, totally lost and grasping invisible wisps of reality. She had never felt this in her life, the double onslaught of horny and loving family falling on her like a meteor shower raining fires from Heaven. Celestia drowned in the pleasure, the safety and the warmth of it all. You held her so tight and bred her so deep. Luna nursed her pleasure out in such a natural and trained manner, there was no way her alcohol-addled mind could ever put up a reasonable fight. Her eyes crossing until they threatened to roll right over in her skull, Princess Celestia bit her tongue and let loose a tremendous release of mare pleasure.

Thick, yellowish and hot honey soaked your balls and Luna’s face, the splatter enough to saturate her dark sweater and much of the chair as well. Celestia’s voice hardly formed coherent sounds, let alone words to be made into a sentence. She was blasted beyond all reason and logic, lost to the whim of your body and her nasty Sister’s hunger. You both held her there as she twitched and wiggled in pleasure, her orgasm rocking and banging off an intense high over several painful seconds.

That didn’t mean you were finished, as somewhere in that mess of tangled bodies and slurping tongues, you were still buried in your wife- or princess- or whatever. She was melting into you, massaging your cock and kneading you for every bit of pleasure she could find. Derpy had such a skill for stealing your endurance, a hunger unmatched in any living creature for you seed to gush inside. Huffing, moaning and collapsing against you like a building demolished, you picked that perfect moment to press forward and fall over the edge.

A second wave of your orgasm flooded her fertile belly, lacing it with a hot helping of healthy human seed. She spasmed and gasped as you did, the beloved sensation of breeding well remembered and loved by your new, cock-hungry Princess. She draped your face in golden mane, blinding you both with her unbearable delight. Luna stared in awe as your thick shaft pumped and formed around your load, each fat bullet of seed flowing from deep within and visibly moving inside your wife. She drooled just at the sight, recalling the sensation of that very thing rushing across her tongue.

Luckily, drowning in lusty and horny mud, Luna reached an unexpected and sputtering climax of her own. The slightest waft of wind across her fiery snatch tripped her over the invisible precipice, allowing her too to fall prey to your grabby hands.

“Ooof… c’mere ya little freaks.” You hissed, still buried in your wife as you stole the other from the floor. Both folded like paper against your body, the nurturing aftercare beginning immediately to help them recover from such an insane display. Kisses hit both the mares’ cheeks, you assured them that you were still their loving, supporting and caring husband.

“Oooh… comfy, comfy…” Derpy mumbled into your throat, Umbra licking your jaw and stroking your chest with a sticky hoof.

“My poor neck.” She grunted simply, accepting a sip from your cider to help bring some relieving hydration. You happily applied a healing kiss as well, both wives sighing and sucking for breath in the steamy, sticky bundle you three had become.

“I love you guys so much it hurts. You know that?” Both mares beamed with pride at your words, drunkenly tucking in against your body to feel your love move uninterrupted.

~meanwhile~

Something about this night was clearly cursed. Celestia had spent this Friday struggling through difficult and boring sessions with the higher council. Once those had been let out, her assistant brought to her attention some water crisis in Appleloosa that required immediate and difficult calls to be made. She’d surely hear complaints for months about her choices. Right after that, it was announced that hundreds of ponies attempting to cross the border along a griffin settlement were detained and held as trespassers.

Then, worst of all, her coffee brewer had split down the middle and refused to give her any sustaining nectar.

The sun fell low to the sky, her own efforts marking the end of a terribly trying day. Bags under her eyes, tea in a mug and a blanket draped about her back, she made one final mistake for the evening before retiring. The hitherto-unmentioned crystal ball left in the castle observatory to track and monitor Queen Umbra.

A rarely used tool, but one she found herself checking at least once every few months to assure that you and your family were still getting along fine. Peering into it before tucking into bed, the sights she witnessed drove the final nail into this day’s coffin. Luna stargazed nearby before she was called to court, a sixth sense of hers cluing the alicorn in on her Sibling’s distress.

“Luna?” Celestia groaned dryly, sipping her tea.

“Yes, min sister?”

“If you could please… turn Anon’s testicles into walnuts for a few days.” Luna was left rather speechless by such a request, her ears perked and expression nothing short of quizzical.

“What-... why?”

“Punishment for whatever I’ve just witnessed… and calling us ‘big butt biddies.’”

"... sure. I don't see why not."

Pining Eternal.

Author's Note

That took longer than expected. Shout outs to Shadowwolf

Pining Eternal.

Chapter 5.
Pining Eternal.

In sacred and ancient places like this it was so easy to feel small and inconsequential to the world. The stone surrounding and the paintings upon the wall glared down on the weak and the young, reminding them of their insignificance. One's tiny life, a thing that was their all and their very being, was just the blink of an eye to ancient walls and vaulted ceilings. Equestria was full of these stalwart and olden worlds hidden from gaze, turning halls and twisting caverns lit by ancient gems unwelcoming to all but the immortal and the highly educated.

Being both and striding through the castle she had spent much of her long life building, Celestia was less than intimidated by it all. She saw the impenetrable walls, imposing architecture and secretive passageways the same way she had since the day they were erected. Like a child grown into an adult, there was no way this place could hide its charm and secrets from her. Even wards within the castle that were purposely built to be intimidating did nothing to halt her cool and casual step.

Mumblings from the castle staff had made their way to her, concerns over some pony entering the forbidden archives and making strange noises throughout the day. Two guards blocked the entrance to the place, the rest guarded by powerful wards crafted in redundant layers to stop any unwelcome intruder. But still, ponies chattered amongst themselves and worked up quite an air of concern. It was her duty then to see to it and assure them that it was nothing to fear. For if the wards weren't broken, the guards not slain and the occurrence repeating every night, it could only mean one thing.

Pushing her way through the final layer of protective magic, Celestia passed through both an ethereal and physical doorway into the chamber itself. She breathed a sigh of relief as the tendrils of magicka let go of her soul, allowing her to relax and act in flesh and blood. There certainly was someone in here hidden among the piles of artifacts and tomes. Stacks and shelves high as the ceiling made for a maze of a place, the orderly chaos so rarely seen and explored that the massive alicorn found it difficult to navigate. She didn't want for light, the gems above beaming soft white energy all around to assure no intruder could hide themselves in shadow. Mumbling music danced between the stacks and reverberated off the stone in loud echoes hitting the ear crisp as words spoken mere inches from it.

Human music. A distinctly alien thing Celestia had almost entirely forgotten. Her suspicions were all but confirmed then, leading her to the newest entrance into this sacred library.

"Well, well. You're up early, Sister." She chirped softly so as not to surprise her sitting and concentrating sister. Luna's ears perked up from her intense research, listening in whilst the majority of her mind remained focused on her "work." She was hunched over a motley desk brought in from one of the castle's abundant rooms, its smooth mahagony surface covered with almost every article from your arrival so many years ago. Everything that had been put here remained in remarkable condition, as the chamber was sealed, climate controlled and consistently monitored at all hours of the day. Your few records played just as cleanly as they did when they arrived from the factory. Your phone glistened with perfect cleanliness just as it had when the scribes had wiped it clean of prints. And your textbooks hadn't aged a minute since you last saw them, their pages still flat and neat and snow-white.

Luna examined them all quite deeply, her eyes hovering mere inches above the page of another book she had pilfered from your store of forbidden knowledge.

"Hm." Was all she said to her intruding sister, refusing to be distracted from what fascinated her so. Celestia leaned in closer to get a better look at her material, her pretty pink eyes brightening at the sight of engineering text and spinning vinyl.

"Oh, how lovely! You've finally decided to give it all a read!" She said with glee, nuzzling her sister's cheek just to irritate her. Luna batted at the alabaster pest with a wing, her stern concentration sharpened by the unusual noise pouring out of her portable record player and the strange material she read.

"We imagined it was high time that we gave it all a chance. Let us be so that we may study in peace." Luna chided with an amusing seriousness. Just like her old self, disappearing into material with an obsessive compulsion that would bury her completely. Celestia thought it nothing short of adorable to see the ancient Luna shine through in her sister again, thus she could not help but exploit the fun she was given.

"I seem to recall you being the one who banned it all, though?" The Princess said with a creeping and playful tone, earning her yet another dark scowl.

"I remember it gave you quite a spook when you first saw it!" Thoroughly pulled from her work and forced to face the reality of the situation, Luna sighed and snapped the heavy tome shut. The airy clap of pages coming together let her eyes wander back to her stores of caffeine rich coffee and piles upon piles of notes hogging the corner of her workspace.

“A mistake I shant make again, rest assured.” She grumbled, sipping her sweet and girly latte with a heavy set of eyes on her back. Celestia came close enough to leech warmth into her sister, a wry and knowing grin cracking her marble-colored muzzle.

“That might explain the pregnancy campaign some… yes. Yes I think it does!” Luna fought to keep her drink down in that moment, a bursting indignance fighting from within her throat. She swallowed hard and slapped a hoof onto the desk, nearly shattering it with her divine strength.

“SISTER. IF YOU PLEASE?” She hollered with an obvious insecurity poisoning her voice.

Celestia, finding her weak point, exploited it as any politician of her seniority would.

"And here I stand, thinking you had forsaken all stallion-kind! Luna, I am simply overjoyed to hear of your newest interest!" Celestia embraced her agitated and grumbling sister in a hug of feathers and playful teasing, watching as the dauntless researcher levitated photos of your home world into view. Any and all images that were on your phone had been painstakingly photographed and catalogued, those revealing things beyond pony comprehension sealed away here. That was the fate that awaited many of your things, as their contents were simply far too shocking or dangerous for Equestria have.

Despite the abundance of horrible magic, dark corruption and ancient evils, the Princesses still felt the need to restrict certain parts of your human lineage from the wider public. Things like folk music records, pictures of architecture and engineering techniques lifted from your college text books passed through the scribes and aided Equestria with vast stores of new and novel knowledge. The music industry exploded overnight when your records were released, the royalty deals alone seeing you through tougher times in your younger days.

But stories of war, death machines, and twisted acts of violence were sealed away. Luna herself, when first combing over your items, could not contain her shock at the sheer intensity of what she saw. Tanks, planes, battlefields strewn with the bloated dead for miles in every direction. Your graphic book of history's greatest wars earned you quite an unfitting reputation in the eyes of the royalty, at least for a time.

Magazine-fed twenty-millimeter autocannons. Steel cased aerial incendiary bombs. Armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot tank shells. Handheld rocket propelled grenades. These implements of destruction, of beautiful machining and intricate mechanisms were described, depicted and demonstrated in some of your books. The pictures of burned out vehicles, fellow humans torn to shreds and efficient factories filled Luna with the deepest fear she had seen in centuries. If ponies were to harness just a fraction of human potential for industrial death from your material, Nightmare Moon and Umbra would seem like holy saviors in comparison to the Armageddon that would fall upon her land.

That being said, it had been almost a decade since she had gone through it all. Dismissing it rather early into her research, the Princess had missed details and explanations and histories. All she could see and remember was the violence. The effort and concentration put into making others suffer. It sickened her just to imagine a tiniest bit of that guile in you, as your engineering interests could've built bombs and bullets just as easily as a bridge. Reading in-depth the forbidden texts however, with a backdrop of ear-splitting death metal, she tried her very best to gain some manner of perspective. There was depth to your world, to your heritage. She might've tried to bury it before, tried to cover achievements with the muddy sins of humanity. But curiosity overwhelmed all and brought her here.

"You put sentiments on me that do not belong." Luna mumbled to herself, fighting the temptation to turn and look her irritating sister in the eye. She grit her teeth and fought that creeping feel in the back of her neck, the candy-colored glower of her sibling sharp as needles and hot as fire.

"Luuuuuna... c'mon." The Solar Princess squealed in an uncharacteristically giddy manner, forsaking her normally metered and political voice.

"Tell me, tell me. Have you-"

"Sister."

"-fallen for... Anoymous?" Bouncing eyebrows drew targeted fire from Luna's seething gaze, though the flashes of embarrassment dulled the heat of her expression. Celestia stood smugly and with ears perked, just about restraining herself from biting her lip and giggling in victory. Luna wanted to spit something just as biting right back at her, she wanted to burn the hottest alicorn in retribution for not only disturbing her work and accusing her of such ridiculous things. Breathing deep and recollecting herself, the Night Princess calmed the racing thoughts rushing through her.

"We might have... developed a passing interest in him." The monarch whispered to no one in particular, never taking her seafoam eyes from her equal.

"This is quite an unexpected move for you, Luna. But not an unwelcomed one!" Celestia seized her sister in a hug, squeezing their chests together with a warm hum echoing in her chest.

"'tis only a fleeting interest brought on by that humiliating show at his ceremony!" The blueberry princess corrected, her voice straining with haste.

"Dear Luna. You know I will always support your romantic endeavors. Even if I don't understand, you know I would never judge you!" Celestia said with a tone mixed between mockery and genuine concern. Pulling away from the alabaster Princess and sipping her coffee with a pout, Luna knew these words to be entirely true. In all her long life, through every one of her marriages, Celestia had never breathed a word of unwarranted judgement. Never ever had they been cruel to one another of their choices, for neither would ever desire the same done unto themselves. Getting proverbially caught, however, was still quite upsetting on some level.

"It is hardly a romantic interest." She retorted weakly, as if her lips themselves didn't even believe it.

"His ideal has clouded our mind since that rude little display of his. We cannot possibly piece together what would drive a stallion to do such a thing." Celestia cocked her head in curiosity, never letting her genuine grin fall.

"His 'ideal?'" The Princess repeated, prompting Luna to dig through her material once again and turn her music down.

"We hath scoured his belongings for a clue revealing the purpose of his devotion. His heirlooms and portraits and memories, We held some hope that perhaps his history would hold the key." Celestia only then faltered in her giddiness, the smile gracing her muzzle twisting with some hints of confusion.

"How do you mean, Luna? Is love for his wife not explanation enough?" Her darker sister rolled her eyes, peering deep into photos of you in casual wear, your family and places you had been.

"Pfft. Hardly. The love of a stallion's heart would never permit him to debase himself in such a way. Something so feeble and malnourished would surely have died in him long ago." Pursing her lips and watching her sibling fidget, Celestia mulled over carefully what to say next.

"Luna... you know that not every stallion is like that? Yes?" Luna stiffened for a moment, staring off into space before robotically returning to her search.

"We know that not. Evidence stands in stark contrast." Celestia deflated at such a firm and cold statement, her hopes for a happy and involved Luna dashing against the sharp rocks of reality. Why she had to dislike stallions and think them so cruel for so long was a mystery to the mare. After all her long life, after all the husbands they had taken, Luna still believed the lot of them to be mindless and shallow bastards unworthy of her attention. She had sworn long ago- even before Nightmare Moon ever made herself known- that she would never love another stallion. Only rule them.

"But you think Anon is different in some way?" Lingering over a photo taken by your family of you and some manner of dog at a riverside, Luna huffed before she said her response.

"With so few opportunities to converse with him, We must extrapolate from his actions. His efforts confuse Us. His drive befuddles Us. He is a herding stallion, but for so long resisted the urge to take another mare. He is tall and strong and brutish. But does not hunt mares like the weakest of our kind. He could take what he wants whenever. But he doth not." She held the notion in her mind, lips trembling and her hoof dumbly pawing at her drink whilst she stared at your collection of photos.

"In the past he coveted things and achievements. One may see his admiration of machines and metals, yet so few portraits of family or ancestors. An eager and ambitious colt. He cast aside what he knew to strike his own fortune. Then, he was a stallion in the truest sense of the word." As she spoke, Luna became faster and faster and faster, much to Celestia's concern. By the time she had gone through pictures of simple machines, engines and tools, she came to a stop at a picture of a woman, one dressed fashionably and sporting gorgeous red hair.

"He saves images of what is important to him. We see things he has done. Things he wants to do. Things he holds in high regard. Human mares as well, though not near as many as We should have suspected. A typical stallion by any measure. So now We must ponder what point in time turned his soul about? What focused him to a higher purpose of unquestioned dedication to a family?" Celestia stepped closer as Luna grunted in frustration, her magic grabbing another record from the stack and examining its cover closely.

"His music is so angry. Horrible voices growling and screaming and gurgling. We cannot imagine what species of beast would desire this sound, yet We cannot stop listening. It transports Us, Sister. It takes Us to realms We've felt before, yet had no words for."

"I prefer his... calmer music, personally." Celestia added, the paintings of shredded bodies, twisted monsters and gothic settings denoting exactly what kind of music they tried to keep away from the populace. Luna had assumed most of it to be magical chanting and incantations before, given the rather disturbing and harsh tone of the sound.

"But I fail to see what exactly has you so confused, Luna. Anon has been here for so long, you don't think he would've matured into who he is?"

"Positively not." Luna huffed, placing a new disc on her turn-table and shaking her head.

"Stallions only grow more ambitions as they age. Anonymous ought to be expanding his herd, making business dealings and acting like an insufferable duke... yet he doth not." Staring again, she lost herself in the gentle crackle of the rotating vinyl coming to life.

"We... in some sense we admire this. Anonymous has transformed himself from a wild little colt into an upstanding citizen with restraint and pride."

"I always believed his wife to be the key, dear Sister."

"Mares embolden stallions. We know as well as thee that a herd grows the ego." Sighing and rolling her eyes, Celestia had to admit defeat then and there. She knew her sister wouldn't budge on the issue with such a hard head and set expectations. She could never see males beyond their stereotypical faults, the foggy sins of those before clouding her judgement and subjecting her to this game of looking for the obvious.

"Do you expect to find something?" Celestia asked as one last grab at a floating and misty goal.

"We hope to ascertain his motivation. Perhaps before his time here, he tasted true love and strives to rekindle it. It could be his loss of his belongings and family cultivated something like honor in him... We will see." Luna turned back to her work and hunched like a mad woman to bring her eyes close as they could to the messy nest of papers. Letting her sister simply sigh and step away.

"Luna, perhaps it's best to ask him personally on such things. Anonymous would surely never be so callous as to turn down your company." Luna grunted once again, sucking at her coffee cup for the last drops of energy within.

"We are trying."

~~Later on...~~

Another day in the plant. Another dollar in the bank. Another knot in your spine. You grunted and leaned forward on your bucket, sitting within the belly of a rumbling and filthy machine. A headlamp illuminated the off-kilter and jammed rollers of the unit, every bit of rubber and padding burnt off and ripped to pieces. It was a nightmarish jam, one that would take hours to clear and a forklift to disassemble. You knew this just from looking at it- just from the smoky smell alone.

"It's fucked?" You protégé asked, her cigarette inexplicably lit in the machine and illuminating her young face with a dull orange glow.

"Fucked." You replied, poking an oil can with a screw driver in defeat. Dinky rolled off her bucket-seat and popped open the nearby hatch, letting light stream in and bathe you both in the stinging glow of fluorescent lamps. Supervisor Umbra stood waiting for you, staring with expectant and sharp eyes beneath her white hardhat. Instantly, you were infuriated to see the mare and her stupid clipboard.

"Hey! I'm trying my best!" You barked instantly at her judgmental glower, the unmoving and cold expression on her snout burning deep into your heart. It was such a chore to please her, for she always demanded more and more from you. Any opportunity to ask the impossible, Supervisor Umbra would take just to aggravate you. And now here she was again, clean as a whistle and standing above your grease-soaked form like a god preparing to smite a lesser being.

"The fuck do you want from me?! It's impossible! It's fucking impossible!" You snapped again, frustrated throwing your tool at the machine to teach it a lesson. Refusing to budge still, your screwdriver simply bounced off and made a racket within the enclosed space. Staring down at you in that unfeeling, uncaring and far-off manner she always did, Supervisor Umbra merely sneered at your display. Marking something on her clipboard, it was clear to you then and there that yelling was no way to success. If it were up to her, you'd be down here for the rest of the shift until you fixed every last little piece of rusted metal and worn plastic in this thing. Glaring through her crimson eyes, she was joined on the side by CEO Derpy, the owner of this company and by extent, portions of your ass. They both judged you from above, clean and untouchable titans of industry that held total control over your tiny life. Twitching in your upper lip and sighing through the fetid, musty air tainted with oil and grease and dust, you had to relent. For the sake of your own sanity and the overwhelming pressure on your spine, you broke under them and addressed the issue you could never fix on your own.

Going through the motions was nothing short of mechanical and stiff, panels popping off and bolts coming loose to reveal the insides of the machine you had fixed so many times. The insides were dark and soaking wet with green sludge, a constricting stomach of sheet steel and sound-dampening foam hopelessly sullied by years of constant use. You knew it well, well enough to judge that it was far beyond your capacity. But deep down, you knew that your opinion wasn't going to be considered. Checking the oil pool at the bottom of the transmission, something rather unusual caught your eye. Shining your headlamp inside and scanning over the sickly surface of unmoving additives and rust-inhibitors, it almost looked as if something was alive in there. A duo of little lumps paddling here and there in lazy and unfocused motions, the massive gears just inches away from them unconcerned and ignored. Squinting in confusion, you leaned in closer to try and spy just what on Earth such a strange pair of shapes could be. Broken components? Ruptured bladders? You wracked your brain to figure it out.

That is until one reared up and hissed at you. An extraordinarily horse-like face on a spider's body, fangs and all shoved into a screechy maw with ruby eyes to meet yours. It made you jump, for the constricting space amplified the noise until the tiny voice nearly split your eardrums.

"GHK! What in the hell?!" You gasped, scooting back when the dripping and twitching arhtopods crawled out of their secluded hide. Brown and white with a healthy layer of green machine oil slathered across their hairy carapices, you didn't need to look at them long to know that the tangerine-sized bugs weren't friendly. They noisely scuddled right toward you, hissing and yelping as they latched on and sank tiny claws into your flesh.

"WHUAGH! GUH- AUGH! Damn it!" Immediately, panic set in. Falling to the hard concrete below and rolling about to try and crush your attackers, all three mares above simply stared in stupid stillness. Your maintenaince apprentice Dinky did nothing, her cigarette burning away bit by bit as you were torn apart by these strange monsters.

"Fucker! Get off me! HEY- AUGH! UNG!" Kicking and knocking around bruised joints and knocked your skull against rusted bolts, each move failing to dislodge the fast-moving and snarling little demons. They scuttled under your jumper, cut through your hair and sank their dagger fangs wherever they would fit. Stabbing pain rocketed throughout your body, each crawling creature mercilessly shredding you apart whilst your only help stared in silence.

"RRRGH! Get- OFF! Shit- PIECE OF SHIT!!!" You hollered, fighting one that had grabbed hold of your face and ravenously ripped at your lips. Just when you thought it was through, the exact moment you knew one would hit something vital and take you out, a gush of oil from the machine blasted the three of you into the wall. A rush of steaming hot and viscous fluid submerged you in a realm of darkness and infinite space, all weight and pain and sensation suddenly evaporating with your eight-legged attackers. Trying to catch a breath of relief, you quickly found that you couldn't. At first you assumed that the reflex failed due to a lack of air, but it quickly became apparent that you were now without lungs. White speckles in your vision sharpened and twinkled until they were stars, their far away illumination shining against a dissolving body. Your clothes, skin, flesh and bone melted away and spiraled into the void you were now one with.

No sensation, no perception, no idea of who or what you were. Seperated from yourself, pulled from existance and guided to this place, you beheld the truest and most basic form of experience. Were you falling, flying, drifting, swimming? There was no way to tell. In this place, this world beyond worlds, you were suddenly nothing and everything all at once. Just a consciousness alone searching for matter to inhabit. An unbelievable calm washed over you, rinsing away the intense terror and anger of before. This must've been what dying felt like, you disregarded the vague memory your body and let the universe take its place.

For a time- somewhere between a few seconds and millenia- you floated aimlessly through the vacuum and waited. Nothingess began to collapse around you, blobs of color and shape and texture growing into walls, a floor and a ceiling. Light from the stars concentrated above you, shining down on a rapidly growing physical form that your simple mind could handle and process. The feel of being, of living and breathing, soon came back to you with a familiar smack. You reformed in a strange and dark room, decorated pads of light above and below where you stood with a small mote around you. The moment your feet touched the ground, you were whole again. Alive and confused and blinking the gunge out of your eyes.

You sucked breath into your new lungs, filling the emptiness inside with the musty and cool scent of a cave long buried. Dampness settled on your shoulders, drawing your attention down toward your new and confusing wardrobe.

Green pants, big boots an a white vest. To your eyes it was kitchy and silly looking, but you didn't dare strip in a place unfamiliar as this.

"What the..." You started with a step forward, a small jump putting you over the moat and down the path forward. A light in the ceiling beamed with a heavenly aura, its slight hum of energy drawing you close. Stepping out of the darkness and into its embrace, you were drawn off the ground and tossed upwards into the blistering heat of a tropical sun. Just barely landing on your feet and catching your weight, the world spun around in a confusing vortex for several moments whilst your senses adjusted to the unusual eviorment.

"Oh, Anonymous! Finally, I have you." A sweet and feminine voice called to you, one you didn't often hear. Blinking and wiping the strain from your face, the green and bright world around you crystalized into something shockingly familiar. A babbling brook, lush grash, white boulders and ancient structures of stone. The sun beamed bright in a cloudless sky above, soaking everything in a sharp and wet heat. Dinosaurs lay about around you, some wandering here and there as if they had nothing better to do than stand and stare off into space. Every creature was some form of large reptile, say for the blue and black mare standing perky and proper before you.

"Art thou alright? Are all thine faculties in working order?" Luna stepped forward and prepared her wings to catch your drifting and swooning form the moment you threatened to fall. Holding your head to help medicate your pounding mind, you sucked down humid breaths of this strange and familiar air.

"Where- wha... who am I?" You gasped, the alicorn smirking to herself and patting your head with a wing.

"Calm your mind, Anonymous. You are safe here. 'Tis only a memory." The Princess' words were oddly soothing and warm in your ears, bringing sense back to your thoughts quick enough for you to rationalize what you were seeing.

"What is this place?" You gasped, stepping past her to examine your unusual and exotic surroundings closer.

"Somewhere comfortable. For ye, at least." She answered by your side, standing unusually close. You hadn't been this near Princess Luna in years, a note you mentally took and stuffed into the back of your thoughts.

"Does it please thine eyes? We have found it quite beautiful ourselves." Luna chirped as you approached a plant clutching a glimmering crystal between a trio of leaves. It was all so unusual and strange, but clear in your mind and reasonable in some backwards manner.

"Oooooh crap my head... This is so weird, man." You blubbered beneath the burning sunlight, covering your eyes and dumbly walking about the place. It was so unreal to feel the padding of grass below your feet, the weight of a sweat breaking out beneath your clothing and the piercing eyes of the Princess on your back. This realm wasn't real, but was so close that it might as well have been. You couldn't discern this sensation from your waking world, nothing here gave any indication that it couldn't be entirely real and reasonable to your waking mind.

"Cautious, Anonymous. We require thine focus." Luna approached and draped a wing about your shoulder, bringing herself oddly close and holding your body (Whatever that meant here) steady as she could.

"Focus your thoughts. Be calm. Why don't ye regail us about this place you feel so safe within?" Her words soothed your racing mind and applied a healing salve to your thoughts, letting you drift back down to a more sensible state. Your hands drifted down from your face and rested on the indigo plummage of her wings, the rustling feathers and silky fur twitching somewhat at the contact. Focusing your blurry vision onto the scenery, your mind ran it through the chunky and inefficient process of a sleeping man's thoughts. It cranked and crackled like Derpy's would under intense thought, things and feelings and faces flowing slowly back to your conscious mind.

"I... yeah. I remember this." You huffed unsurely, touching the ancient walls of stacked stone caked with moss. It was warm and wet under your fingers, the tropical sun heating the dampness created by a long and cool night.

"Was it real, Anonymous? Is this what portions of thine world were like?" Luna asked inches away from your ear, her ethereal form so close you could feel the energy it gave off.

"No... I mean... yes? There were some places like this. But this isn't real." You shuttered at the ultra-realistic bugs skittering over your fingers, straining eyes slowly wandering back to the landscape and drinking in the beautiful green of it all. A dinosaur sauntered by you both, its beige hide begging to be touched and examined.

"A dream need only be real as you remember it, Dear Human." Luna corrected as your fingers dragged over the rough scales and patches of vulnerable flesh on this living creature.

"This... this is fictional, I mean. I remember it like it was real, but it was just a story." You huffed, trying to put it into words she would understand. Ponies had no concept of human media, let alone something as complex and far-off as this.

"I used to come here when I was young. It was a game I liked to play." She could see your jaw gnashing with some difficulty to get the words out, a pained expression crossing over her plush and fuzzy cheeks.

"Did you come in troubled times? Havth We picked a painful time?" You shook your head, though neither of those questions had answers you could remember.

"No, no. It's just... weird to actually be here." Some semblence of sense began to percolate through your skull and leech into your mind, letting you move more freely and think more clearly. Luna followed your side as you walked stiffly and with little purpose toward a shadowed cavern in the mountainside.

"How did you even know about this place? I don't think I ever told you."

"It rested at the back of your mind. The moment We found purchase in thine thoughts, it called out to be remembered." Shaking your head and progressing through familiar caverns you had long banished from memory, you were surprised to find yourself moving naturally. Though this realm was yours and entirely under your control, the skills with which to manipulate it still drifted beyond your grasp. It conformed to you and your desires, letting your little walk end wherever you so pleased. Subconsciously or otherwise.

"Where art thou going, Dear Anonymous? Is something calling for ye?" Luna questioned, her wings flaring and her horn glowing in readiness.

"I don't know. I'm just trying to get my bearings, I guess." You grumbled, trees and ferns building in the tunnel before it opened into another constricting set of ruins long neglected. The cool colored stone soothed your burning eyes, gentle colors and mossy softness easing you into a relaxed and somewhat steady state of mind.

"Jeez... this is so trippy." You gasped, turning to face your royal guest.

"Why'd you bring me here? I didn't know you could even get in here... whatever 'here' means right now."

"T'was not an easy process. A difficult quarry you are, Dear Human." She answered, a content and warm smile beginning to grow across her muzzle.

"We have been attempting to breech the divide between thine waking and sleeping mind for some time, now. But you are so tightly closed to Us." She sighed and let her magic flash for a moment, a way opening quickly nearby to reveal a lush, warm and sandy beech. Oozing music guided you closer, hooks pulling invisibly at your body and forcing you to submit.

"Is that why I haven't been able to sleep?"

"Most likely. We apologize for the disruptive nature of our arrival. But we had no other option than to forcibly eject thee from your dream." Trotting along the ultra-relaxing and soft bedding of the sea meeting the land, you and Luna both fell in the shade of a palm tree. Carved temples of the God's faces watched from nearby, hanging high as if even the crude rock loomed in the heavens and protected you. Wooden tressels and rough structures swayed in the crystal blue waters, the inviting ocean lapping at the shore in an eternal rythm.

"Fascinating as it t'was to observe, your nightmares lock thee into quite an unreceptive state. We had to force ye out and suspend your mind in a place We could retrieve it from." You stared off into the inifite plane of water stretching out from the land, lost in her words and trying to push it all through. Then again, you had a sneaking suspiscion that even if you knew what exactly the Princess was talking about, it was simply too advanced for you to properly comprehend.

"'Fascinating,' huh?" You interjected, slowly and carefully beginning to bask in the imaginary sun on the imaginary beach. Concealing a blush behind her mane, the Mistress of Dreams held a bashful and uncharactaristically girly smile away from you.

"Yey... it is hard to comprehend your dreams. But they enchant Us so." She chirped quietly, the waves nearly drowning out the lovely and smooth tone of her voice.

"They are always so hectic. Your world is enveloped in this beautifully ordered and measured maddness. Hardly a beginning, never a satisfactory end. The middle of the things, the very most wild of things are always washing over you in an unbroken stream. Yet you are in total control? The human mind expresses itself without reason or restraint, as if dumping all its anxieties and subconscious fears onto you all at once."

"Isn't that how everybody dreams?" You quipped, wondering if you could fall asleep within a dream whilst bathing in such a peaceful scene.

"Hardly, Dear Anonymous. We ponies dream linearly. We go places that concern us, that help us to learn and grow. There is reason and logic to our thoughts. That is why I am so easily able to enter them. You, on the other hoof..." She giggled to herself, covering her smirking snout with a sandy hoof.

"What's so funny?"

"Forgive us. Please, we mean no offense. But thou art such an odd case for Us! It is thrilling in the utmost sense to probe you!" She chattered, though her choice of words failed to make you smile as much.

"At some point we had assumed ye were rejecting Us. Perhaps ye knew of Our presence and sought to press Us out with insane images and wild fantasies? But nay! 'Tis the simple reality of your thoughts! It is spectacularly queer!" You rolled your eyes in response, so deep in strange territory that a Princess giggling about your dreams hardly concerned you anymore.

"Well... you got me now. What is it you wanted to talk about?" Luna's expression sharpened at the question, her giggly mirth melting away into a more scholarly and focused excitement. She tempered her childish glee into an adult interest, though the gentle tremble in her lips still refused to lay still. Lips you just now happened to notice were incredibly plump and full and feminine.

"We simply wished to explain some things. And perhaps have some things explained in turn." Standing in the warm sand, Luna gestured toward a boat you had yet seen pull up to the shore. A simple and rough little dinghy painted a brilliant green waited in the surf and bobbed gently with the waves beating against its flat stern. a perfectly sized craft for a casual row across calm waters. Taking her que without question, you and her climbed in and started out of the natural harbor the unusual beach rested in. Thankfully, you weren't straining at all the move through the sloshing and crystalline waters. In Luna's influence, your dream world refused the more painful and strenuous aspects of reality. Thus, she and you could discuss things whilst you paddled along with the oars and she sat basking in the sunlight.

"You could always write me a letter. Or just come down to Ponyville." You said, the gentle volume of your voice reverberating off the sheer wall of craggy rocks and cliffs nearby. Keeping close to the land, Luna guided you along a steep incline with her wings stretched out to bask.

"We attempted this at one point. But We must assume they either never arrived, or thine mare hath seen to their destruction."

"Ah. Makes sense." You grumbled, thinking just how readily Umbra would destroy a letter from royalty she didn't like. Any and all attempts to make a rule about burning letters like that was overlooked by the Queen, for she would jealously guard you from anything other than bills and decrees of law. Just thinking of the dark mare's face, her gorgeous locks of flowing mane, her soft body and sinister voice filled your chest with a securing warmth. Especially in this place, a world built in your mind, the sensation and memory of Umbra quickly actualized itself in the land's side as a carved, rough statue of her. Luna cocked an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of such an idol, but she immediately understood its presence.

"Try to stay focused, Dear Human. Any distractions and your mind might fall back into the clutches of a dream." Her words just about got to their target, though they failed to demolish the earthen statue dedicated to your devotion. Grinning somewhat and continuing along this mountainous surface, the dark Princess drew your gaze upwards toward an unusual pair of human figures. Both of them peered over the cliff's face, staring down at the water and you two alike with intrepidation and hesitation rife in their expressions.

"Who're they?" You candidly asked with your eyes cast up to the heavens.

"They are you. So far as we can determine." Your boat came to a seemingly impossible stop in the calm and clear sea, waiting for the show to begin like an audience comfortably sat before a stage.

"Wait... that's me?"

"Indeed. We have reconstructed a dream you once had under Our watchful eye." You focused harder, finding that the young face reflecting back at you stood before the shape of your father, though he was some years younger than you remember him. It struck strange and powerful chords in your heart, like a startling image calling out with a family member's voice.

"You associate it something quite formative, though We cannot determine exactly what. We hoped you could illuminate why this memory is so important." You watched on in a mixture of shock, horror and fascination as the scene unfolded. Every word was heard clearly, as if it were spoken right to you. You vision floated to the figure representing you, the scenario's context and setting flooding back to your heart surely as a river flooding a valley. Your father, one you had grown with and one who had held you on the very day you were born, stood before you in the peak of health. He was just as spry and active as you always knew him to be in your childhood, albeit with some exaggerated features. That bulbous belly was gone, replaced with firm and flat abdominal muscles shimmering beneath the skin. His rough chest hair and bristling happy trail disappeared, instead replaced by a far more palatable dusting of dark fuzz. Most distressing however, was the mangled and foggy mess he had for a face. Had it truly been so long that you couldn't even recall what he looked like? In the few seconds of time you had to think clearly, you tried your hardest to travel back and see his expression. The shape of his jaw, the contours of his brow, the color of his eyes. Nothing came to you, leaving him with an obscured and unrecognizable appearance that refused to be understood.

"C'mooooon, boy! It's not that high!"

Carefully peering over the slate edge of the cliff, you confirmed that your father was indeed a liar. The height spiraled uncontrollably upwards, springing high above the water until all you could see was the dull green of the river below. Splashing waves and the sweet white foam of breaking water was invisible, though that might've been a combination of the distance and the relative calm in the water. The sight instantly struck your heart with a bolt of fear, forcing you back toward the forest behind so your feet could find the firmest ground.

"Whoa... whoa, whoa, whoa." You whined, tiny hands quaking in trepidation just at the idea of tossing yourself over the edge. Your brave, unyielding and all-knowing father gave you a mocking snicker, his smug expression burning at your young heart.

"See? Not bad at all! You'll hit the water in under a second, I bet you." Dad was always so brash and daring in his actions, nothing like you. The shy, reserved and cautious nature beaten into you by school and teachers pulled you back toward the forest, away from the potential danger there.

"Dad, I can't. I'm not gonna." You argued, the twisting fog surrounding his face contorting into something that resembled a cocked eye brow.

"What're you scared of? You afraid you're gonna fall and break your leg?" He asked, offering you a burly, strong and heavy hand. Locking your eyes on that familiar lump of callouses and rough fingers, it struck you just how much detail you could recreate in it.

"The water will catch you. You'll be fine, Anon! C'mon, there's nothing to it!" His hand crept closer to you, offering safety and security. He was so much taller than you, so much braver and masculine. It ate you up to deny him, to refuse him an opportunity to bond with him. He worked so hard, that much you knew. Somewhere in the back of your mind, there was that creeping sensation of not seeing him again for a long time. This was an opportunity, one you would definitely kick yourself for squandering. Wordlessly chiding yourself for even thinking of being such a coward, your tiny and shaking hand grasped onto his and approached the edge again.

Somehow, the water was even further below than it was some seconds prior.

"You're gonna scare yourself to death just staring, boy." He tugged you back to your senses, making your eyes jump back to his. A smear took their place, a comforting and old smear that plucked tense strings in your heart.

"Don't think. Just jump. Really jump! Jump like you mean it and you'll be alright!" The air in your lungs became so heavy. Your heart filled with crushing blood that dragged you closer and closer to the ground. Why was it suddenly so cold out here? The summer sun waned in its effects and refused to warm your skin, all the goosebumps pulling the hairs on your neck straight up.

"You ready?" He asked with a step back, just enough to get a slight run in before the leap. You shook your head vehemnently, totally unprepared for this insane moment.

"Ready? READY?! GO! GO, GO, GO!" He hollered in your ear, rocketing you forward with a crazy and stomping sprint. The wind screamed past your ears and took your locks of young hair with it, a freezing chill scorching your boiling fear.

"JUMP!" The simple command sent you aloft. A little spring upwards and you were flying through the summer air, blindly casting yourself into divine mercy and letting physics control your helpless body. Perhaps driven by a tiny pride, perhaps inexperience, maybe sheer idiocy, you hardly even noticed the lack of earth beneath your feet when the arch lost its upward momentum and cast you down. Sucking down a terrified breath, your gracful jump devolved into a straight plummet down into the abyss below, one that seemed to last a lifetime and a split-second simultaneously. Flailing wildly with a shut mouth, the cold water below swallowed you up and dissipated all speed in an instant. You cut deep into the murkiness below, much deeper than you'd ever been before. All the furious breath bulging your lungs out forced you right back up, making you bob and gasp and whine in the surf far below.

"Heheheheheh... WHOOOO!" Your father cheered from above, his muddy face peeking over the edge.

"I'll be damned, Anon! You're a wild little thing!"

"DAAAAD!" You called back indignantly, your cheeks reddening when you discovered his lack of intention.

"I'll be just a sec, crazy man! Ain't no way in hell I'm jumping down there like that!" Jostling around in the waters, your heart slowly warmed as he climbed down the sharp slope of mud and roots. Rocking back and forth from your own buoyancy, the organic and gentle motions eased the terrific stiffness in your muscles. Slowly, the experience unravelled and explained itself to you. The frightening unknown unveiled a phenomenon of excitement for you to deconstruct and examine. You could never see it in the air, kicking and squealing in fear. But now, on the other side, the value of it all settled in. Watching your Dad stand on the shore with his arm outstretched, a bizarre excitement to do it all again swelled in your belly and pressed you toward him.

"Dont you worry. I've got you, boy."

Those words kicked you in the teeth and shook reality back into place. Blinking as the boat below rocked and jiggled in the surf, Luna sat there smiling and folding her arms against her chest.

"We see now..." She said simply, her wings unfurling further in the sunlight as if they too were very pleased with themselves.

"Do you?" You asked cautiously, taking note that the figures and cliffside were gone. Now, nothing but sheer stone walls stood in their stead.

"We feel your context, your expression. Seeing it from your eyes, you have explained whilst your painted for Us." Breathing deeply in the wake of such a revealing moment, you continued to row wordlessly. Some parts of you were totally unsure how to feel with Luna watching all this. Your deepest personal experiences- at least the ones that survived your transfer to this world- laid out bare and examined thoroughly by ancient eyes. It felt strange, it felt prying and uncomfortable. But simultaneously, it felt relieving to share stories that would die with you. Stories and memories that would never be told again and might never hit the ears of another living thing.

Sailing languidly on the sea, listening to the waves slap against ancient rocks and watching Princess stare off into the realm of your mind, you couldn’t help but quietly wonder to yourself in the relative quiet. She hummed with a smile as strange remnants of your less reasonable dreams floated by like some demented theater. You beheld memories scattered and broken apart such that they couldn’t be mended by you or her. Twisted forms of places you had been, people you had met and things you had done were kept here on display for the brightest of Equestria’s minds to examine and try to decipher. Even if it was an ultimately fruitless task that would yield nothing of interest. Staring the blue Princess down, examining her intricate details and strange poise, you were only compelled to speak when her sea-foam eyes jumped back to you and sparkled with a shocking beauty. Luna had the most enthralling curiosity about her, a child’s energy submerged beneath the composure of an adult.

“Something troubles you, dear human.” She chirped, her voice ringing off the rocks. You looked away to try and avoid her piercing stare, sighing contently as you continued to effortlessly row.

“Just thinking to myself.” You dismissed your equine compatriot refusing to hear such nonsense.

“Now is not the time to be cheeky, Anonymous. We shan’t pass judgement.” There was a strange and genuine quality to Luna’s words here. Something so unlike the way she carried herself in the waking world, where politics and powerful issues weighed heavily on her soul. In this world there was no need for stance or prim and proper behavior. This place she controlled, she shared with you, allowed her proverbial hair down. You heard Luna’s true voice and it shocked you just as much as Umbra’s. So soft and cool and mellow, a singer’s instrument tasked with explaining things to your unworthy ears.

“I just… I always wondered what your deal was. Now I really can’t put a word to it.” Cocking her head to the side in curiosity, the azure Princess seemed confused.

“Our ‘deal?’ Whatever could you mean, fair Anonymous?”

“When I first got here, you never wanted to talk. You always seemed so distant and cold. Like you didn’t want anything to do with me. And I always accepted that. I thought- hey- she’s busy. Leave her alone, man. Poor woman’s got plenty enough to worry about without you barging in.” Luna blushed and held her head low in a suppressed shame, the past care she had shown for you indeed rather “limited” when put into the most generous of terms.

“Right up until I last saw you in Canterlot, I thought you didn’t like me. I don’t know if I offended you or if I was just… too ugly or something. But now you’re here. Now we’re talking like old friends and we’re watching my dreams.” Luna sighed and pulled her wings in somewhat, as if trying to shield herself from this line of questioning. In her heart she knew you were totally right. And even in this realm of her own making, she could feel you rising above her with a righteous frustration.

“And thou now wish to know what has changed?” You swirled the words in your mouth before replying, shrugging and gripping your oars tightly.

“I mean, has something changed?” Luna grunted and wiggled on her seat, visibly trying to figure out just how to put her feelings into words. DIpping into her vast well of political knowledge and technique, she crafted words that would say just how she felt without ever revealing the truth of her sentiments. Just enough to wet your palette and throw you off the trail.

“We sought to find something that interests Us. It lies within ye, as we have seen thine manuscripts and musical discs and actions.” It was your turn to stare in confusion, silence pressing her forward.

“What is it, what it looks like and how exactly We might find it? We are not sure. All that is clear to Us is that… thou art different. Different from a stallion, not just in flesh and bone. But in thine alien heart and beautiful-... erh… ‘unique’ soul.” You watched her face bend and contort into uncomfortable and awkward poses, the boat grinding to a halt against an unforeseen shore. The stop jostled your mind just enough to take your eyes from hers, the Princess making quick use of this escape route.

“Come, come. There’s yet more dream to explore. And We’ve yet more questions to be answered!” Luna made her way onto the grassy knoll without pause and only the slightest magic aura pulling at your shirt collar, the force irritating enough to make you chase after. Stepping out of the boat and finding a cold wind blast across you, it was quite a shocking change from the moist and heavy air of the sea. You huffed and trot to catch up with her, though you quickly found that you sincerely regretted doing so.

You remembered this place just like the rest, but there was nothing revealing or warm about it. Just like the icy spikes digging into your bare face, a grey and blocky building shoved cold memories deep into your heart and forced you to come to a stop. Luna waited by your side as you stared at the imposing menace of a structure, its mundane and dirty appearance belying the deep and swirling tremors inside it.

“Whaaaat…” You hummed, fingers clenching as Luna’s wing wrapped about your back. She reasoned that it was to keep the sharp wind off you, but in the same silent rationalization she also enjoyed the warmth of your body against her plumage. Standing and staring at his dower and dark place, you twitched when a familiar lorry pulled up along the road, its rumbling engine accenting squeaking brakes you had yet to replace. Aside from laziness, the reason for your slow action soon became rather apparent.

“We feel such… sadness here, Anonymous. You consider this dream a terrible turning point. But we cannot figure out why.” Luna’s words passed through a veil of confusion and fatigue as you watched yourself come out of the jailhouse, both wrists still reddened and bruised from tight cuffs holding you in bondage. Your mother, so stalwart and dedicated, led you out with a hand grasping your adult arm like it was nothing more than the crook of a child’s limb. Your heart stopped at the sight of her, the exhausted, limp and crooked posture of a woman drained of her energy and goodwill. Her flowing hair that always smelled sweetly of girly perfumes and product and her shining skin made supple and healthy with cocoa butter. Had it not been for the mask of obscuring sludge covering her face, you could’ve remembered the makeup she wore for her work at the office every day, delicately applied accents and blushes hiding age and weariness expertly.

Luna felt your face twist into a painful scowl, like hatred and fear bundled together into a shotgun blast of negativity. A sinking heart drove her to focus her mind, pressing you back into the fold of this dream you once had so many times in years before. Your body fell back into those cheap and show-off clothes with a silent thump, letting your skin soak in the bitter cold of mid-winter. The heated seat beneath you provided some comfort to the vast joylessness of such a place at such a time, a far-cry from the jail cell you had shared with a dozen other men. The weekend was behind you now, a court date set and a warm bed waiting for you at home. You couldn’t help but be bitter still, however. Grinding your teeth and watching the grey expanses of dead forest roll by on the highway, all there was in your heart was anger and frustration and humiliation.

You could feel your Mother’s eyes on the back of your head, as you refused to look at her. Even after getting arrested like that and beaten within an inch of your life, Mom still came to get you. After all those horrible things you said to her, all the flimsy promises of finding your own way and settling your own scores, she still took off work to come and pull you out. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t sensible. You scorned the idea alone, as you would’ve surely let yourself rot in that cell had it been you called to drop everything and help a hopeless slob like you.

Self loathing boiled higher and higher in your chest, rising to your eyeballs as you sat there silently and warmed your fingers against your ribs. Why did things have to be this way? Why couldn’t anything work out for you? School, jobs and now life as a hard-boiled man on his own. You weren’t cut out for anything, you didn’t fit any mold you found. It was a hopeless pursuit, a ticking clock signaling the brutal truth of the matter.

You were lost. Lost beyond what your tiny and young mind could comprehend.

Shuddering and squeezing at the bony cage just beneath your ragged, sticky shirt, a scent caught your nose. Saturated fats, high-fructose corn syrup, industrial soybean oil. Your eyes flicked down to the crumpled little paper bag hiding in the backseat, a gift from the divine above hidden in plain sight. Your breath hitched and your stomach snarled for a taste of that most delectable fast food, your very favorite dish. It was still warm too, the smell of it hot and sweaty with unhealthy wisps of delight tickling your senses and prompting a sideways look towards your mother.

How could she be so loving? So thoughtful and considerate? Especially for a scumbag like you? It wasn’t right, it wasn’t justified. You deserved to be in jail, deserved to be with the misbehaving boys that- just like you- couldn’t get themselves under control. It was wrong for your sweet and hardworking mother to pamper you like this.

There was only one way you could properly take it. Your heavy and sunken heart looked up at the shining sign of rare forgiveness blinding its unworthy eyes, cowering in fear of such genuine and unconditional love. Your breath hitched and your hands shook at the notion, grabbing hold of this makeshift lunch and tearing into it. A whole weekend of prison food and sickening smells left you starving for this homely goodness, a wash of emotions cutting through the mud caking your heart as your Mother grinned knowingly, as if she could see the future and know for sure she had won.

Luna smiled to herself as your silent emotions revealed just what changed, the precipice that had been toppled over. The ancient mare drank in the man you decided to be from that day forward, a strength fostered through failure and revived by a Mother’s unending affection. It warmed her heart to see a portion of your contemporary devotion ran in your blood, yet it crushed the Princess to think how close it had come to destruction when you came here. Her faltering thoughts dissipated the illusion of your family sedan and left you both standing in an open field, roads and power lines and drifting flurries melting away as you sucked for breath and pulled at the cheesy leather clothing still hanging on your frame.

“Strange… We never thought ye one of villainy and crime, Dear Anonymous.” You dusted off the old clothes wrapped about you, cringing at the memory of your unironic usage of such edgy apparel.

“Bah… I was a girly punk.” You admitted proudly, pulling off the pre-ripped coat and letting your mind manifest something more rugged and simple.

“Couldn’t steal, couldn’t fight. I just wanted to break things and make a fuss.” Luna tasted the sourness in your tone, watching as you stared down at her. She felt positively tiny in front of you, the two feet of height difference notwithstanding.

“Thou were seeking something. But whatever could it have been?” You shrugged and looked about you, the biting cold still whipping across the grey grass below with howls and whistles of hostility.

“I was young. I was pissed. You do things you regret when you get like that.” Luna failed to hide her bashful smile at such sentiment, casting her sea-foam eyes to the ground.

“‘Tis true…”

“Now then… you mind if I ask you something?” The divine ruler perked up at the idea, her magic pressing away this cold and unforgiving place in favor of a formless and easily manipulated white void.

“By all means, treasured human.”

“This might be kinda rude of me but… I gotta know.” You said with a nervous smirk.

“I’ve heard ehm… ‘rumors’ that you… you maybe…” Luna cocked her head to the side with a pout, her ears standing on end as that familiar concern hit her once more.

“Rumors that We perhaps… dally in unusual delights? Perhaps with… mares of certain persuasion?” You snickered at the dated verbiage, pocketing both your hands and grasping them into tight fists.

“Just a little scuttlebutt that I heard at the mill. Always wondered if it was true.” Luna blushed deeply and felt her wings twitch, fighting the urge to let such a lurid conversation stiffen them.

“Sorry if ain’t cool to ask-”

“Nay, nay! ‘Tis very much alright, Anonymous. It is a fair exchange since We’ve been given the privilege to explore thine dreams with such clarity.” She paused for a moment to pout once more, her tone grinding to a more serious note.

“And the truth of the matter spoken from thine lips ought to clear the more treacherous tabloids about Us, We shouldn’t wonder.”

“So?” You said with a bit of a sly grin, watching as the Princess centered herself and formed a new scene about the both of you. She cleared her throat and held her eyes closed until the world solidified and rumbled to life, a surrounding shroud of leaves and wooden beams and a night sky surging to life with a warm breeze moaning by. Vines surged up and over your head, crisscrossing over roofs of woven wicker to support their fat burdens of succulent fruit. A sweet warmth welled in your heart, a booming rise of flood waters moving up from your ribs to your mind in a sudden gullywash of sensation. Weightlessness nearly lifted your boots right off the ground and sent you spiraling back, Luna’s positive recollections of this place suddenly taking hold in you as well.

“There is truth to these harmful rumors, yes. At a time, We indeed cast aside that half of Our species. We forsook them for the pleasures of mares, that familiar shape We considered more pure and righteous.” Luna pulled you alongside her through this ethereal and whimpering vineyard, the gentle breeze carrying on it the earthy stink of fresh loam, wet topsoil and manure.

“We coveted an idol sewn from bitterness and conceit. For a time… perhaps a very long time, ‘tis true that We took only wives.” She trot between the berry bushes rising high above your head with the ease and skill of a farmer that had placed them all by hand. She knew these organic and dusty halls like the back of her hoof, leading you with ease and never stopping to check her place. The stars above flickered through the dense brush, a rapid nightfall shrouding all in a mellow and gentle darkness. Nothing like the blinding and hostile black of a real night, but a purple haze of a dreamy and secluded state somewhere between the night and the first blinks of twilight.

To your left and right between the stalks of rising bushes, you saw the beautiful and assorted mares Luna had taken in her life. Royal consorts, half-princesses, duchesses and fair ladies of far-off lands. Dressed in regal and flowing garments of the centuries past, it was clear that this was all business buried long ago. Each one was adorned with gorgeous jewelry, sparkling gems and diamonds and flares of cut stone that marked their regal statuses. All different shapes and sizes, but a definite trend of mares with strong chests and wide behinds. Luna held them all in high regard, as you felt a booming pride and affection in your heart whenever their crystal-like eyes met yours. Like looking Derpy’s eyes when you held her close at night, or meeting Umbra’s hazy glare after making fierce love in the wintertime.

“Make no mistake. We held these mares close to Our heart. Each one… a moment in time made beautiful and true by their very presence. Every wife I took was a precious soul, beautiful and sweet and fulfilling. ‘Tis true. We lusted for and loved mares over any stallion who walked this realm.” You were so close to her that bodies melted into one another, breaking apart and reforming into one being. You were falling into her perspective, feeling as she felt and remembering that moment she crafted here.

A divine revelry, a strange and intense pride and love for this instance in time came over you. You were so excited, so driven and happy. Running through this tilled dirt and finding a clearing in the fields, you were overcome with positive emotion sharper and fuller than you’d ever experienced in your life.

“But ‘twas a time long ago when we cherished traditional desires. We were a mare of mares then, a princess in waiting with a heart unburdened by cynicism. We loved unconditionally.” She stopped just at the edge of this farmland, hidden behind the hanging leaves of grape vines and the wooden supports holding them aloft. Staring out through the tiny gaps between shrouded green, Luna spotted a pair of stallions hauling great wooden carts. Stallions of brown coats and burgundy manes pulled these great loads of profit into their ragged and makeshift barn, the wood still somewhat fresh as if it had been built only a week prior. Her gaze focused on the smaller of the two, rather than the delicious and fruitful cargo he dragged behind him.

A strapping young lad, full of tight muscle and young energy. His mane was chopped short to avoid getting in his eyes as he worked, his hooves were capped with metal plates to protect them from painful rocks hidden in the dirt. Luna couldn’t help but stare at his pert and powerful rump. A strong young stallion worked hard all his life and soaked to the bone with the scent of earthly labor. Aside from the stern and unwavering grimace of stoic frustration, he looked just like his father. A name floated through your thoughts when you saw the unique and crisp outline of his face, the masculine cut to his jaw and the flashes of his eyes catching the moonlight.

“Persimmon Pearch.” It repeated again and again like a mantra, each time more dedicated and alive than the last. Luna repeated it to herself like a song, watching with her lips curled into a tight grin as his father stepped away. He stood there, staring toward the vineyard with yearning clear in his face. The young man couldn’t see Luna, that much was clear from his wandering and twitchy gaze. Sparkling jade pupils danced from place to place along the wall of foliage, searching and prying for a lurking figure.

“There was a time… so very long ago. We had tasted the fantastic love spoken of only in childish literature and meaningless stories.” A piercing whistle cut through the air and made Persimmon’s ears perk, a whistle directed right to him from pursed and girly lips.

“Father introduced Us to the family whom manufactured his favored wine. A blessed land he graced with Our presence. And in turn, they blessed Us with the vision of a gorgeous, passionate lover.” Persimmon came closer to Luna, following her rhythmic whistling with a growing smile.

“He was so beautiful. His was a purity unmatched in the world. Simple, strong, quiet. We knew from the moment our eyes met that he was Ours.” Whistling again and again, calling for him, Luna only made herself known when she could see the whites of his eyes. She poked out of the brush and met his gaze, neither speaking in the intense flurry of silent emotion.

“He feared Us, truly. He was but a farmer, We a goddess given flesh and ruling over his very life. But he could not fight destiny. When We chose him, there was nothing a soul in Equestria could do to pull us apart.” Like magnets in space, the ponies drew closer and closer until the warmth of their breaths tickled each other’s chins. Persimmon smelled powerfully of dirt and sweat, an unwashed commoner before Luna’s delicious and pure scent of rain in a pine forest.

“When We drew near, when We summoned him, Persimmon came. He lived to serve Us. And We lived to shower him with love.” They touched snouts for but the briefest moment, a flash in the pan that blinded both with overwhelming affection. It became clear to you then and there that this must’ve been far before the time of the Equestria you knew. Luna stood straight and steady, yet wasn’t tall as a normal stallion. She was so very young, reverted to a state of innocence several thousand years in the past. Your heart and hers skipped beats at this instantaneous contact, prompting you to take off back into the vineyard giggling like a wild child.

“Oh min Luna? Wherefore hath she gone? I chase, I run for ye! Find you, for I must!” He hollered in a language you otherwise wouldn’t understand, yet to Luna’s ears it was clear as the Queen’s English. Old Equestrian rang out off the tall stalks of grape vines and the rough beams around her, twisting turns and sudden jukes through the dense and synthetic forests hiding her away from her playful soulmate.

“For me, sing! Oh Persimmon, pursue Us without tiring! Blustering gales and lifted tails! Find your Love, and she shall give your gifts harkened from above!” Luna sang back in a whistle of musical tones and calls, her voice squeaky and sharp in the night. Slowing her manic pace down to a slow walk, she let her voice and her scent lead her Lover deeper into the darkness. She wafted her aroma about with fluttering wings and a wagging tail, casting her ethereal presence about for the sensitive stallion’s senses to find.

“Why is it that I must be tormented by thee? A common lout I am, lice in the great fabric of Equestria! But in glory of you, selected me you have! I give chase, but unworthy I am to do! Give unto this silly boy forgiveness! He is hopeless!” The strange grammar and pace of this foreign language was somehow natural and clear to you in this moment of withheld excitement, hoof beats drawing closer and closer with the increasing volume of his voice. Luna’s hooves trot in place as Persimmon slowly discovered her, a puppy dog’s insane glee bursting in her young and needy chest.

“Unworthy of shame! Unworthy of that name! Find and seize this glory uncommon, fair Persimmon!” And so he did, pursuing her dauntlessly through the vines and the flattened dirt that lay below a blinding moon. Bright moonlight bathed the world with a subtle and dull glow, stealing away contrasting colors in exchange for the robust purity of black and white. Luna cowered with anticipation in her little hiding spot, clearly angsty to be found. She felt him approach, his excited and young soul like a tiny flame before an eternal sun. So innocent and unique, weak and barely grasping to the fabric of true reality, as she perceived it with her higher form of being. But nonetheless precious.

The first thing she saw were his eyes, like diamonds glittering with devious intent and always refracting the most beautiful color of light. She laughed, as did you. She called his name, so did you. She fell to his whims and became a mare then and there, in fields of a vineyard under the summer moon. As quickly as the joy- the overwhelming joy- hit you, it was gone. Back down into the slurried memories of times past where it belonged. Luna opened your eyes to bleak place, devoid of warmth and mischief.

“Luna…” You hushed, looking about this simple room of stone and royal furniture. Adorned with the banners of a nation long-since past and decorated sparsely, this place felt more like a prison than a bedroom. Bars on the tiny window slits increased the crushing sensation of isolation and entrapment, no matter what the four-post bed and luxurious quilts sitting there begged to say.

“An immortal life is one of extremes, dear human. To feel the greatest, most incredible passions that would sustain a mortal for their tiny life.” The very same Luna from before came through a large oaken door with sullen eyes and a drained expression about her, as if the life had been trickling away for years now. Where was her smile? Where was her youthful blush? Hardly an exuberance for her newfound womanhood either, just a dower and stoic frown as chambermaids surrounded her and helps to peel off her burdensome dress.

“Happiness unparalleled, given for nothing… taken just as easily.” She whispered in your ear as you watched the lifeless form of Luna undress, her posture and form and elegance scanned endlessly by hard eyes in the doorway.

“Father married my Sister and I to dukes of lesser kingdoms to bring them into the fold of Equestria. My… ‘affair’ with Persimmon however, made me a tainted mare in the eyes of my suitors.” You could feel the judgement drilling into the Princess. Painful and icy daggers digging deep into her back, clawing away at her flesh until the nerves felt nothing. Just the cold weight of reality hinged on an old stallion’s face.

“Do you know what it’s like? To feel love… then for it to melt away?” Luna hummed wistfully into your mind, letting you watch her life slowly devolve into husband after husband, each one nastier and less compassionate than the last. Especially for a near-eternal being, things moved with alarming speed. Some husbands only lasted a year, many less than three. None would tolerate her far-away stares, her unloving ways and her ruined purity. They knew her not as a mare, but as a tool that for the great machine of nations. The grinding mechanisms had caught Luna between smashing gears and set about pulverizing her to nothing.

“Can you imagine the agony of knowing perfection? Knowing what it is you desire, what wonders the world can offer you and just how far it is from your grasp? Think of it… your wives… nothing but ashes whilst you carry on.” The dream world shuddered and ruptured as she put such horrors into your mind, your own thoughts destabilizing with an unconditioned angst. Luna felt your terrible pain, fleeting as it was.

“I passed from stallion to stallion. Changing hooves like unwanted jewelry. We were nothing to this world but a joke. Just from a stroke of young lust endemic to us all… who were We to blame at such an age?” You felt the spikes of regret and submissive guilt stab through your chest, sensations you had felt before and begged to never know again. Luna’s warmth rushed down your back and brought you a manner of easy, albeit unusual comfort.

“Stallions had brought Us here. Down into this mire from which We felt no escape. There was not a single notion of mercy in Our mind. Once the days of my Father’s guidance had ended, We returned to Our throne atop Equestria. We vowed on that day to never humor the fancies of a stallion again. We would reject them and the games they play with flesh and blood. We would never be a toy again.” Luna’s sharp tone rumbled the space around you both, bringing dust from the ceiling and sending the images of herself into a foggy haze. The painful reality of times lost faded into nothingness around you, leaving only you and her in a vast field of inky black.

Standing opposite of you, bowing for you presence, Luna held about her an unseen aura of gorgeous light. She beamed with warmth, fertility, softness and femininity your masculine mind instantly yearned for. In the darker corners of your subconscious, you were disassembling her equine form and studying each plush curve. Your heart pounded in your chest, mirroring her own when you both were so intimately linked. Bringing her gaze slowly up to meet yours, Princess Luna held a tiny, slight smile in the face of your cherry red blush.

“Time runs short for us. But We believe that this has been as enlightening for thee as it t’was for Us.”

“Yeah… I’ll say.” You replied simply, feeling a sharp compulsion to come closer to her. You stepped toward the majestic pony and naturally wrapped your arms about her neck and shoulders, sealing her into a welcomed and soft hug. She returned the gesture with a leg curling about your hip, pulling you possessively closer with wings fluttering at her sides.

“Thanks for this, Luna. I… I don’t even know what to say. I feel like you’re… like you could be my sister. It feels like we’ve known each other forever.” Her tiny squeak of enjoyment tickled your chest, neither one of your bodies attempting to untangle from the other. She pulled you ever closer, as if she intended to press herself into your body and disappear in you.

“We are so very gracious to be here with ye, Anonymous. We must admit to a… ‘kindred’ fascination with thee. As if We were destined from the beginning of time to fall into the other’s grasp.” Several seconds passed without another word, just the simulated breathing of two bodies drinking in the vast ocean of physical comfort. She was so soft and warm, so relaxing and satisfying to touch and pet. And you were titanic to her, securing and firm and all-encompassing. You were something she could hide within, something to hold aloft as a shining beacon in an otherwise uncaring and cold world.

“Anonymous?” She whispered into your neck, losing her thoughts to the growing intimacy of this moment just as you did.

“Yeah?” You retorted with equal quiet.

“Before you go… We wish to ask of Thou a question.” You agreed silently, running your open palm up her neck and gripping the bundle of soft mane gliding down such an elegant piece of engineering.

“Will you dance with Us?” Such a simple question. A rudimentary thing to say for an infinitely complex notion. Like a rock, a shapeless blob of raw matter, crashing through a sheet of glass and shattering it into sand. You were devastated by the question, but not enough so to take your hands off this mistress of dreams for one tiny second.

“I can’t dance.” You answered sheepishly, only for Luna to slowly melt out of your hands and surround you like water.

“It is a dream. We shall not move with our bodies.” Her voice filled you like molten gold poured into a mold, satisfying every need and want you’d ever had in your comparatively tiny life. Colors and shapes formed in your vision, bounding from one side to the next in a show of dazzling brilliance and soaring music. Music you recognized. Your music.

“We will show one another our most beautiful selves.” Before long you felt yourself aloft, gliding through a crisp springtime fog that crawled down the side of a lush mountain. Your feet hovered high above the tree tops and the rivers below, effortlessly defying gravity with some unseen force. All of Equestria spread out before your eyes, tucking the dark green land behind a purple sky with the ease and care that a nanny tucked a child into bed. Emotions and physical sensations swelled deep within you, charging your body with a shocking excitement as Luna trailed close behind. The Princess and you both left burning trails of blue fire raining teardrops of ice onto the Earth below, showering the make-believe residents with glorious crystals of personality and beauty.

Never having experienced the joy of flight, your unprepared mind was somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Luna had to playfully guide you along the invisible track in the sky, bringing you to the land marks of her eternal home. Canterlot, Ponyville, the mountains, the shores, the wind whipped glaciers and the jungles. For what seemed like hours you flew with her, ringing music playing just behind you both and fueling your escape. After eons of this journey, Luna grabbed hold of your body in her hooves, as if holding you whilst she flew. Like a bullet punching through fabric, you broke through a strange veil in the sky and returned home.

Uniquely human settlements buzzing with lights and gently sailing cars hummed below with the long lost noises and energies of the place you once called home. Straight and unnatural lines carved with beams of sodium lights like hazy yellow bolts of lightning. Luna soared with you so quick, so effortlessly touring your world as you remembered it. She sliced clouds in half with her elegant dives and fearless plunged through the open space, screaming silently with fantastic speeds toward the ground.

You naturally held your breath in terror, unable to imagine how this was happening, how this was real. Your voice was silent as the asphalt whipped below, mere inches separating you from the stony road. No human paid either of you any mind, their faces hidden by the hustle and bustle of a human city. Luna dug deep into your repressed mind, that part of you that never truly forgot the experiences of the life you no longer lived. Turning and twisting and snapping from street to street in harrowing navigation, Luna found the city melting away little by little into dark countryside illuminated only by the moonlight. Your home waited in the trees, hidden from the world by a cultivated and synthetic veil of privacy.

No time for details. She knew that this experience was overwhelming for you as it was. Thus, she kept the pace. She beat her wings and carried you further. Away from this, away from Equestria, away from Earth, away from everything. She whisked you to the sea, where all things begin and end. Releasing your spiritual form, she let you take wing alongside her, totally formless say for the whipping fire surrounding you. You and her took on shapes befitting your emotions, little of you left besides shrieking joy and color.

Twisting and turning over the desert sea like birds of prey harassing and clawing at each other with playful jabs and swipes, your and hers plunged into the water. A downward hook straight into the inky darkness with bubbles boiling off the surface of your undying flames. Luna spiraled and surrounded you many a time, far more experienced and excited to be with you. She wanted to engulf your form, to swallow you up and keep this burning gem for herself. She took on the form of an angler chasing after you, snapping and biting at your tail as your emotions summoned images and things from the vast blackness.

A ship rocketed out of the infinite void, up and between the both of you. It too moved with no hint of strain or physical drag, carrying its passengers and crew through the rushing water as if it were a light breeze. Luna pursued you dauntlessly, spinning and spiraling about the ship and getting her eyes caught on the strange sight. Humans swabbing the deck, tending to the oil lamps, families dressed finely sitting about the decks and watching her with gleeful smiles. They cheered her on, told her to chase, encouraged her to seize you and never let go. She came so close as to taste you, feel your being against hers again, maddeningly close.

Just then, the bow burst from the brine with fountains of white water gushing skyward. Massive plumes shot to the stars and fell as rainbow sparkles of rain, the gravity of their fall bringing your weightless mind back to a state of being. You felt wet, hot, heavy and defenseless. Things focused back into a clear image once the sea water and the salt trickled out of your eyes, but they were no less confusing and strange once there.

Laid out on your back, legs spread and eyes wide, you beheld a goddess. A shimmering woman wet from the sea, her hanging locks of dark blue hair stretching from her shrouded face down into a pool of water all around you. Her olive skin glistened with healthy shine, catching the light in beads of diamond ocean beading against her curvy form. You felt her weight, her warmth. The familiar shape of a female made for you. Her tiny hands stroked and held your bare chest with greedy and intense desire, clutching to you surely as the rocks to the Earth. You sucked in a sharp breath in surprise, too confused to protest as she parted her hair and showed herself.

Plush lips, cyan eyes, petite nose and a starving glare. Luna did not smile as she pulled in close to you, sharing your breaths with proximity. You shuddered as both hands naturally touched her hips, holding close the creature you were meant to be with. You were compelled by buried instincts to protect and hold her, a being entire genres of poetry and song struggled to admire properly. In your better mind you knew it was wrong. You were not hers, you were claimed property.

But when she kissed you with her soft, pink, warm lips, your mind broke apart surely as the ship below you did. Rivet by rivet, the plates drifted away from the hull. Its iron skeleton let water rush into the holds and the cabins, smothering away any evidence of this excursion. You gasped as the cold ocean wrapped around you mercilessly, pulling you down into darkness as Luna fell away from you.

Gripping stupidly at nothing, you swished and turned and tumbled through the familiar realm of transition, falling into yourself with not but the most gentle of bumps. All at once, you were real again. Your weight and sluggish motions were restored, the blankness of your once absent mind slowly taking in the sensation around you.

Soft warmth, the sweet smell of mare fur and the mumble of a breeze going down the hall way. In your arms, a curled and softly sleeping Umbra. She bundled herself against your chest, chewing on your arm and kneading your chest in her hooves. Against your back, sweet Derpy lounged across you like melting cheese. She mumbled into your ribs and stretched her wings, the soft rustle like a booming shotgun blast in this perfectly silent world. You sighed in exasperation and pulled Umbra closer to you, just to make sure that you were with who you belonged with.

“Poppy?” Another massive noise in the still room, the sound of your daughter’s dear voice. The developing little squeak made you perk up somewhat, enough to look out and over Umbra’s blooming mane.

“I had a bad dream…” She whined, prompting you to shuffle around a bit to make the tiniest gap. She knew the score well enough, eagerly pressing into the warm fold of protective bodies. Dinky sheltered under your form, both the mares in her life shielding her with their wings and hair. Another body pressing against your proved more therapeutic than you’d ever imagine, lulling you back into a far more restful sleep.

“Yeah… me too.”

Bonus 2

Author's Note

Sometimes I just feel the need for an uncomplicated classic.

Bonus 2

Bonus 2.
Never Gets Old.

Rushing back over the dried soil of this unusual land you called home, the soft and thinning rubber of your shoes beat a rhythmic marching music. A pounding heart powered you along this journey made short by your hurried pace, a promise of satiation banishing any fatigue you felt. Summer sun made storm clouds of sweat rush down your back and front alike, shrouding all of your being in a uniquely predatory funk. Ponies could sense it from a mile away, though the vast majority really wish they couldn’t.

The testosterone-fueled dash home came to a grinding halt just outside the front door of your little home, a slow pace necessary to remove your shoes and not crash through the door. You trundled inside with strained breaths and wild eyes, for the mixture of scents in the air was a dangerously empowering cocktail. Your own musk, the savory reek of cooking meat and the citrus-y hint of a needy mare. Swirling around you like flies pecking and drilling at your skull, the individual molecules conspired to make your gut groan for food and your heart snarl for “companionship.” Luckily, all of this was provided without charge or question in your humble abode.

Derpy dutifully saw to your care and prepared you a healthy, nourishing meal. She busied herself with a gleeful hum and an apron draped over her front in the kitchen, an open window allowing fresh air to circulate out all the excessive heat from her cooking. Ponies complained from time to time about the smell, but they might as well have complained to the wind for all the pegasus cared. If you wanted to eat dirt with a dressing of gravel and spit for seasoning, the grey pudge would prepare it for you all the same. Derpy adored nothing quite like being the most stereotypical wife she could imagine, right down to the joyful record of summer music playing on the phonograph and the blissful mood she so easily adopted.

“Whoa now! Do I smell salmon?!” You belted from the living room whilst wiping yourself down with a cotton towel. Derpy jumped slightly at the volume, but perked immediately upon hearing your tone. Her wings unfurled straight up to avoid bashing any pots or pans to the floor, her giddy hooves clopping right up to you. She answered the call to attention with prim and proper posture, a sweet grin accenting her presentation perfectly.

“Yessums, Bubby!” She yipped cheerily, her upright neck and hopeful eyes communicating just how exactly she wished to be paid for her work. Obliging her was effortless once you wiped the ample sweat from your brow and fixed the eye-burning embrace of sweat. Her lips were sweet and warm to the touch, just as they always were. And naturally, Derpy had to flourish the momentary embrace with the most girly noise she could muster.

“MWUAH!” She giggled, watching you like a dog as you trot into the kitchen and fully submerged yourself in the warm steam of cooking. You dug through the ice box for something to drink, drowning in the overwhelming and rare aroma of protein.

“Dang, Momma. Where’d you get that?” You huffed with sharp eyes focused on the massive steak of prepared flesh, a bedding of vegetables and glistening oil accenting the raw slab. Deprived of real meat for so long, your animalistic senses begged that you savaged it then and there before your lovely wife had a chance to cook it. But so long as your hands were filled with mugs of rejuvenating fruit juice, the urge could be suppressed.

“Big Mac brought it! Said he caught it just this morning and thought you’d like it.” Your wife worked like a machine as she spoke, sliding the tray of appetizing chow into the oven and slamming the door shut.

“Weird, didn’t know Big Mac could clean a fish.” You mentioned off-handedly, leaning back against the counter with your eyes dully falling to your wife again. The grey mountain of softness set her timer and checked her temperature again, obsessively ensuring your rare prize wouldn’t be ruined by negligence.

“Oh no, he brought it whole. I chopped it up just how you like!” You cocked an eyebrow as the pony turned to face you, a tentative gaze lingering towards the cutting board. Surely enough, the block was smeared with blood and etched with shallow channels from your fillet knife. A custom forged piece with a flexible blade no pony had ever needed before. The idea of gutting animals, draining their blood and removing their offal disgusted every pony you’d ever met, even Big Mac was unable to watch you prepare a wild-caught fish for cooking.

But it was highly apparent that- if it would please you- your wife would do just about anything. Derpy’s unfazed and casual look was fixed tightly on you, betraying just how little concern she gave when your satisfaction was on the line. Admittedly, it was almost uncomfortable to see her staring so intensely at you knowing she could expertly gut and clean a carcass with the same casual attitude she would have in cutting a letter open. Her unblinking, unmoving and unfaltering stare continued to burn a whole through your face however, demanding you respond with something to break the tension.

“What’re you lookin’ at, Mushy?” You spat coyly, sipping your icy drink and watching her giggle. Her wings fluttered somewhat as her tail lifted, two dead give-aways one after the other. She stepped closer and closer until her snout buried into your groin, the increasing pressure of her approach pushing it up and resting her chin right against your navel. Your shirt- despite being soaked with sweat and glued to your form- pulled up and folded against her lips, letting her drink in your taste and musk like a poisonous wine.

“Mmmmh… nothin’.” She answered unhelpfully, the slight wag in her tail communicating just how needy she was. You could feel her breaths pick up in speed and intensity, her body demanding more oxygen and her mind more of your smell. A hand gracefully landed against the side of her face and cupped her cheek, the touch making her already skewed eyes roll further out of control.

“Weh… nnph…” She grunted and hummed as you touched and pet her so tenderly, her hooded stare begging for masculine attention.

“If we have some fun, my chow won’t burn. Right?” Derpy barely responded, her already simple and easily distracted mind shrouded in the release of feminine pleasure. Her eyes closed lazily as your thumb worked circles against her cheek, an affirming groan leaving her throat when she suckled your digit and kissed it wetly.

“Mh-hm…” Hot breaths rushed out around your hands in puffs of excitement. A heady and thick excitement that infected the mind like a sickness. It compelled you to certain actions, begged you fulfill will of this needy and controlling mare. Already you could feel its tendrils sink into you, a silent order to stiffen pressing your manhood against the inside of your sodden shorts and against Derpy’s throat. She reacted in turn, tensing up for but a moment and letting out a girly gasp.

“Hahn! Hmmmmph…” Her voice refused to make coherent words in the face of such a spire, a beautiful and turgid obelisk for her to please and submit herself to. Backing away just enough to get a good look, Derpy beheld the tent twitching and twitching toward her with an accusing bounce to it. You pointed at her, ordaining the mare as the one who would cure you of this itchy, irritating need.

“Oh my goodness Bubby…” She huffed dreamily and pressed herself against you, drowning herself in your overwhelming and toxic masculinity. The alien and intense scent rushed through her mind and gummed up each gear it came across, shutting down entire sections that were deemed unnecessary for the task ahead. You leaned back and braced against the counter, gripping the wood so tight it croaked in protest.

“Mmph, weh… y- you smell so- MH! So good!” Her words hiccupped and failed when your hips grinded against her face, smearing her with the same dirty motions you intended for her backside. Slight rolls and tiny gyrations may as well have been devastating slaps to the mouth for your horny wife, as she reacted just the same to both. Her face flushed with excited blood and reddened to a ridiculous extent, her eyes rolling and twitching about as your shaft pressed between them. You reveled in watching her nostrils flare, her tongue lull and her mouth water for you. A human male, so rare and special. All hers. However she wanted it, Derpy would get it.

“Haah… you’re a good wife, Derpy. A very good momma.” You goaded with a hand combing through her mane. Such sappy words spoken with such honesty made her focus on you, worship you. The entire world fell to pieces for the pegasus, leaving only you and her in the moment.

Just how she liked it.

“My pretty, pudgy, loyal, hard working wife. My sexy baby maker. My good little Derpy always takes care of me.” These things you said made her insane with need. You bruised her with such overwhelming praise of pleased language, melting away any sense of restraint or honor Derpy might’ve had. She was feeling her purpose power through her thoughts again, the innate and eternal purpose pre-ordained for her at birth. To be your wife, to be your mare, to Mother your children and to own your love. She didn’t need to work for it, Derpy never demanded exchange for your dedication to her. But she regardless strived for your attention like it might disappear any moment.

As such, it was entirely reasonable for her to peel your shorts down with her teeth and press your shaft against her face. Hardening flesh smeared against the plushness of her cheeks and pulled at her lips, marking her with swipes of steamy moisture. She was painted on her most public spot with your essence, your dominance and your ability. Harsh pheromones sank into her fur like paint sticking to rough wood, assuredly lingering for all the mares in town to gawk and complain at. Unbothered by this public display and drunk off your need, the pegasus kissed and slobbered on you with little coordination.

She was no porn star, no trained practitioner of debauchery. Just a wife fueled by fiery passion and a need to please. Her little kisses and slobbery licks on your cock were just a formality, a show of her loyalty and willingness to work for her fun. But after such a drawn-out display of need and with a clock ticking in the back of your mind, such pleasantries were quickly refused. You grabbed her chin and brought her attention back to reality, even if your cock draped over an eye and blinded the poor mare.

“C’mon… up ‘n at ‘em.” You commanded simply, earning a flustered smile and an audible wink from her rear. She danced on her hooves for but a moment as you reached down for her, taking your soft wife into your arms and lifting her with ease. She went without protest, her soft body happily bending to your whim the moment you asked. Off the floor and onto the kitchen island, you senselessly knocked off almost everything standing there. Things clattered and clacked against the wood below, the ear-piercing volume completely unable to faze through intense breeding haze.

“Mmph! Eh, nnngh…” Derpy only let out hushed little whimpers and grunts as you set her on her belly, the plush curves of a portly mare supporting her body at the perfect height for a spirited loving. Truth be told, when you were building parts of this kitchen, this exactly situation was what you had in mind. Her rump, fat and round and heavy and warm, hovered at the perfect level of your groin. Visitors and Dinky often wondered exactly why only one of the side of the island had a scalloped edge. But you never told them it was for nesting your wife's round belly as you pounded her puffy cunt. That was a trade secret held just between you and her.
Oozing lips glistened in the harsh sunlight of a summer afternoon, mixing with the natural warmth of a running oven until the sweat you had broken exercising came right back with a passion. Laying there vulnerable- helpless even- to your desire made Derpy prickle with lust. Her useless legs kicked somewhat as she adjusted against the wooden slab making up the kitchen island, both of them instinctively spreading for what was to come. Her back curved for you as your hands nestled on either side of her shoulders, the glint of a simple wedding band flashing with brilliance in the sunlight.

“No funny business. No messing around.” You hissed into her ear, kissing her sugary entrance with your end. Contact made noise from both ends of your pony bride, her voice calling out in unrestricted delight and her chubby lips slurping around your girth. Derpy seized as you pressed and slipped against her winking flower, her soft and welcoming insides already relaxed and loose for you to fall inside of.

“No, no, no!” She answered giddily, nearly singing it in pure exuberance.

“Just rump-bumps! Just baby making!” She demanded as she had so many times, the delightfully simple mare equally as straightforward with her lovemaking. You weren’t about to protest feeling sweet Derpy’s body wrapped around yours once more, not in a million years would you deny such a privilege. Grinding and sliding against her sopping wet opening made for quite the nasty music ringing out in the kitchen, your thick shaft purposely exciting her already engorged and puffy cunt.

“You wanna make a foal, Mushy? Want me to put another bun in this big, chubby oven?” Derpy squealed and flapped her wings with aggressive need, her pair of wedding rings shining from each wings’ knuckle.

“Yes, yes, YES!” She yipped at a volume far from appropriate, her voice most likely alerting the neighbors to exactly what was going on in that kitchen.

“Give me more, Poppy! Gimme babies, please, please, please! Oooooh goodness, hump me all you like! I wanna be big with your babies again, Anon!” Derpy’s babbled words powered the last push into her, an injection of high-octane gas straight into your engine that overcame her minimal resistance. With one smooth motion you both had practiced countless times before, your manhood sank inside her silky soft and oozing cavern. The slightest squelch of affection gushing out of her rattled the room, buried beneath the torrent of moans and whimpers and whines Derpy let out each time she was penetrated. The first rush of fullness, the excitement of another breeding beginning and the giddiness of a potential pregnancy floored her to no end. Her eyes would straighten as your cock slurped inside and stretched her rubbery walls, the spongy grip she exerted on you immediately working terrible magic on your stamina.

“Meh- EEEK~!!! Anon! Ooh, oooh Poppy~!” Derpy fiddled her hooves about whilst you started this process again, a steady and shallow loving good to get her nice and rhythmic with your affection. Your shaft pulled halfway out before sliding back inside of her in a succinct motion, not a second spent still when your wife was so clearly in dire need. Her hot and molten insides bent and swirled and undulated around you, a suction quickly forming. Derpy’s pussy truly had a mind of its own. It pulled when you pulled, it rippled when you were seated inside. Hitting her cervix on your particularly deep thrusts made her clench up like a filly in heat, nearly ripping your manhood off and keeping it for herself. Her tendency to call you by such a patrimonial name formed after Dinky was born, the filly's affinity for calling you such apparently hopping to her Mother with ease. It was difficult not to love it, especially when you could so easily pull the same trick on her and heighten her pleasure.

“Rrrrrng~ That’s it, Momma. Stay nice and still for me. Lemme fill you up.” She squealed at the title so fitting for her, the chubby pegasus heaving and twitching with release as you bred her. Clapping hips soon morphed into a lurid drum beat of affection, your dick plunging inside her with a hurried and calculated motion. From tip to base you moved in an even motion that had taken years to master. Her looser and softer love made it nearly impossible not to slip out, Derpy’s accommodating insides holding you not with suffocating tightness, but a trained vacuum that would pop each time you accidently fell out of her wet embrace.

“Hah- hnng- MMNH! Y- Y- Y- Yes Poppy! Mmmh! Nnf, I love you, Anon! I love- EEK!” Your poor wife couldn’t even spit out her words in the melee of gyrating hips and grinding affection. Each concussive slam of your body against her shattered another synapse in her mind. Every time your throbbing head kissed her clenched gasket another piece of her flew off like shrapnel from a bomb blast. And when your fingers curled around her legs, her fate was sealed. A grip like this could only mean one thing when a horny human was pounding her backside.

Derpy couldn’t banish the smile from her snout as you slammed home inside of her, pressing yourself to your base and rocking the island with your stiff thrusts. Her ass jiggled and cushioned your every move, dampening the already sharp slaps of busied fucking. The mare’s mind was awash with needs and wants, all of them revolving around the gift of your fertile and fresh seed.

Heaviness, fullness, fulfilment, motherhood. She wanted them so badly. She wanted them with you and no other living creature. Kings or dukes or barons or businessmen were worthless to Derpy. Their spawn- however beautiful and pure as they might’ve been- were wasteful excess in her mind. She wanted YOUR children. Derpy wanted to be YOUR wife. She was THE mare that Anonymous the human came home and made love to every night. A wave of affection carried her to familiar heights as your animalistic fucking built on itself, grinding teeth forcing much of your dirty talk into a growled and grunted state.

“Rrgh! Aaaugh, Momma! Oooooh jeez, Momma you feel so good. You’re doin’ great! Just hang in there a little- GHK!!! LONGER!” Veins pulsed and throbbed in your neck, bulging outwards with rivers of energized blood gushing straight from the heart to your “working” areas. Everything was put into breeding this mare, this incompatible creature you loved so dearly. Derpy was your fantasy and your love, a perfect combination you could never tire of being with. You felt so natural inside her, like her pussy was a specially crafted home for your cock to burrow inside of. Everything about her was right, from texture to feel to noise to aroma. You wanted to give her everything she wanted. You were going to devote every last tiny shred of your energy to pleasing her.

“Inside, inside, inside! Please inside! Bubby- OOH~!!! Inside Momma! Put a baby in Momma!” Her legs clenched together as the pressure became unbearable inside her belly, the bubbling force firing back out of her as your manhood crashed inside and settled comfortably. Flaring walls locked you into place surely as a nut would a bolt, forbidding you to leave until your duty was fulfilled. Derpy’s orgasm turned her into a smoldering pit of white-hot flesh and squeezing walls purpose-built for harvesting your gift. Trapped inside her and unwilling to budge even an inch, your body reacted naturally as it always had.

Crushing pressure surged inside your boys and forced out jets of hot, creamy, thick batter for her to work with. squirting through her tight cervix, Derpy’s experienced womb caught ample amounts of your essence and stored it safely inside. She trembled and shook as the smothered process took place, perfect balance struck between nursing your cock for more and squeezing it with pleasing heat. Her heartbeat was stimulation enough to keep your orgasm going, a mind bending pleasure shooting through every fiber of your being on each organic tick. You nearly bruised her legs crushing them between your fingers, heaving breaths crashing over her head as her slack and limp body turned your powerful form into goo. She was in control now, totally manipulating you and your body to her tune however she so pleased.

Hunched over your wife and gasping for breath, buried inside her pussy and sweating like a pig, you were drained entirely. Derpy was likewise exhausted, sucking for breath and craning her neck to look you in the eye. Her amber iris brought back some hint of reality from the void of orgasm submerging you both, a soft kiss reviving the emotional affection in this physical tangle.

“Haahnng… Poppy…” She gasped into your face, earning herself another flurry of sloppy and passionate kisses. She licked your chin in appreciation of your efforts, your hands stroking and rubbing her back to do the same.

“Hff… hhhng… I think I came in your brain, Momma. Lordy.” You snickered in exasperation, adoring the little laugh she shared. Your length slid out of her only once she allowed it, all her muscles relaxing at once so you could fall free and drip onto the floor.

“Momma feels full…” She mumbled, her body scooped up in your arms and carted away from the busy kitchen.

“She looks full.” You added quietly, nestling her upstairs in your bedroom to avoid scarring your poor daughter whenever she and Umbra returned. Derpy kicked and grinned sweetly when you kissed her rotund gut, the bulgy nature of it due to diet, rather than any pregnancy. (Unfortunately)

“I’ll be back in a few. Gotta shower this... funk off and have some lunch.” Derpy giggled and lay back against her soft sheets for a moment, basking in the afterglow of such a wonderful aspect of life. She sighed and rested a hoof against her chest, breathing in the sweet summer air streaming through the bedroom window.

“Fffffffuck that dick is so fire…” She huffed to herself.

“You say something, Mushy?” You quipped from the door frame, only a step within ear-shot of the blasted wife you just bred.

“Ehm… nothing Bubby.”

The Trough.

Author's Note

Warning: swearing

The Trough.

Chapter 6.
The Trough.

Sitting in the sunlight of the unbearable mid-summer’s heat and letting it soak your bare skin with its burning rays almost scrubbed this feeling off you. Dirt and grime and saw dust and gear oil was splattered all over your body and glued in place by the abundant sweat oozing from every pore. It weighed you down like a jacket of fatigue that gnashed its tiny and irritating teeth into your flakey and enraged skin. But somehow, it felt positively clean and neat compared to the weight inside. Your heart beat slow and heavy. Each moment your mind turned over the events of the night prior again and again.

This dream wasn’t discarded into the pile of forgotten fancies and delusions like the others. Whereas most of the time you could only recall fleeting glimpses of the strange world your mind created, you had the entire journey tattooed on the inside of your skull twirling round and round in a tormenting cycle. Throbbing pulses resounded through your head in time with the whimpering winds running over the rough wood of the saw mill. Carried on the breeze’s back was the sound of your hustling workplace ticking along without you, the stallions of the mill watching anxiously as their usual ring leader sat defeated and exhausted.

Most of them knew better than to take their eyes off of work and involve themselves in another man’s problems. At least once a month there was poor unfortunate dealing with marriage issues, financial struggles or a bad hangover. But if they were there, on your time, there was an expectation to suck it up and talk later. Somehow, someway, you were the one to break this rule.

“What’s up with the Boss?” One of the younger sawyers asked between the shrieking passes of spinning iron through wood.

“Dunno. He’s been sulkin’ like a filly all day.” The splitter replied, his dark metal wedge rising on a chain before dropping down to splinter a log. The crew stared for a moment or two before wisely taking their eyes back to the task at hand. The only one who remained with time enough to care was the boldest.

Timber Lane was the owner of the mill. A short, stocky and muscular stallion raised on a diet of wood chips and pure labor. Tim was a shining example of the hard backbone that made Equestria run. His was a lot that created and built and maintained the everyday life of the nation, a living blood flowing dauntlessly through Equestria’s veins with a reliability some could only dream of matching. A mindset of hard work, discipline and toughness made him perhaps the least understanding stallion alive when it came to emotional distress, but Tim had known you long enough. You hadn’t shown so much as a lifted eyebrow at work for four years. Sitting alone, still as a rock in the burning sunlight was most unusual and concerning behavior then.

“Hm…” He grunted to himself, a rare outburst of speech that surprised his staff more than the howling grind of steel teeth eating bark. The gruff, green colored stallion approached you from behind with his traditional method of comforting, his horseshoes beating on the dirt like sticks on a drum. Burgundy stubble caught so much dust from the saws and the coal fired boiler that he almost looked like a blonde, though this tiny bit of amusement totally failed to reach you. He noted how you didn’t address him when he approached and stood uncomfortably close.

“Yer’ gonna get burned up sittin’ in the sun.” He said simply, his voice rattling through your skull like nails in a tin can.

“It was shady when I sat down…” You muttered in return, thumbing a gnawed bit of lumber in your fingers. Weighty and sluggish moves infected the tiniest motions of your body, right down to the tactile and careful positions of your hands. Tim’s dark eyes watched you and interrogated every subtle sign he could for weakness. He pried for answers with little hope of understanding anything he came across.

“Dip stick. That wife of yours kick ya in the head too many times?” He huffed with no discernible change in the tone of his voice. Tim’s hoof pressed against your side to try and dislodge you from the spot you had taken, but even a muscled earth pony stood little chance of forcing your massive body to do much of anything. Tim was nothing short of mystified by your stillness, a lack of emotional education on his part making this an uncrackable case. He stared at you sitting there, still as a statue and mysterious as an unwinnable puzzle. His ears twitched and his hoof stomped the earth below frustration.

“Somethin’ like that…”

“Hot damn, Boss! Looks like someone really pissed in your cereal this mornin’!” Wood Chip abandoned his post at the pulling chain to come and speak with you, his fur dotted with so many bits of blasted hickory that his deep purple color was dirtied beyond recognition.

“What in the hell’s wrong with the boy? Git off ‘yer lazy buns and get back to workin’ like the rest of us!” The resident engineer likewise left his bubbling and burping machine behind to scold you, his greying and cracked hoof knocking you fruitlessly up the side of your head.

“Both of you stop.” Tim commanded, though his stern and uncompromising voice was useless against rough working stallions that had been shouted at a hundred thousand times before.

“Why if I ain’t seen a monkey that work less than you, I’d be rippin’ and slappin’ him a leather ass in a second!” Gear Grinder berated into your ear with a fidgety and stilted posture, his incredible age making him simultaneously unstable and fiercely aggressive in open deviance of all logic.

“What in the hay does that even mean, Gear? Anon got somethin’ wrong with him and you’re givin’ him an earful!”

“Shut up and go back to work.”

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with the colt but a little bit of the mondays! He just needs a good tannin’ on his hide to git him motivated again!”

“Anon? Hell no he don’t! The colt can’t stop workin’ when he’s at home! I’m startin’ to think he mighta’ hit his head.” Timber Lane grew more frustrated as the asinine conversation continued, both the stallions not even addressing you, but each other.

“Both of you. Shut up. Work.” He grunted, though the difficulty he had with raising his voice prevented him from making a strong impact.

“How in Celestia’s perty ass are you gon’ say somethin’ like that? That stallion’s nineteen hands tall! His head’s flyin’ with the weather team!”

“Well I’m just sayin’! He’s actin’ mighty strange this mornin’. He drank his coffee with cream AND sugar. You ain’t never seen him do that, now have ye?”

“I am going to kill you both if you do not move.” Tim tried again with more annunciation to his speech, once again unable to break the stand-off.

“He’s bein’ a fool! Ah told him! You was there when I told him! Don’t ya go marryin’ no mares if’n you can herd! Did he listen? Hell no! No look at ‘im!” After the dam finally broke in your mind you straightened your posture and turned to face them all, the movement of such a massive body begging their attention.

“Fellas? Hey.” You said with a wave of your hand, instantly commanding silence. Even when sitting, the stallion’s just barely came to eye level with you.

“Look, I appreciate the concern. But could you please… shut the hell up and get back to work?” You huffed with no meanness in your voice, but the swearing certainly set off alarm bells in your employees’ minds. All eyes widened somewhat in shock, say for Timber Lane. Who simply stood there and felt his emotions in perfect silence.

“Dang… you kiss your wife with the mouth?” Chip unwisely asked. His words furrowed your brow quite substantially, as there was almost no patience left in you.

“What’s goin’ on, son?” Tim interrupted, his tone nothing like a question but his stare somehow becoming deadly serious. Just the tiniest contraction of the muscles in his face signalling the weight of his curiosity. You couldn’t bear to hold secrets from your co-workers, the stallion’s you considered like brothers and spent so much of your time with. But this was no ordinary secret. You withheld something far worse than a bad prank, a stupid mistake or a mistep in morality. Betrayal far greater and more destructive than any other weighed on your heart.

“Nothing. Leave me alone.” The answer came far too fast and strained to be convincing in the slightest, even to the callous and gruff stallions.

“Anon, ya’ll gotta spit it out now!” Gear shouted with his distinct jawl, leaning in far too close to you so he could make his point clear as possible.

“Ain’t never done a stallion no good to hold secrets! Works better for mares, I tell ya what.” Both you and your boss scowled at the crogety old stallion as he spoke, but he refused to halt his rambling for even a moment.

“I hate to agree with an ancient, dusty old stallion… but he’s got a point.” Tim mumbled, his voice barely audible and his accusing glare falling squarely on you.

“We ain’t gon’ holler at ya, Anon. We just wanna help ya.” Chip added with an impressively warm smile, his inviting stance lessening the dark cloud in your gut. For reasons you couldn’t quite pin down, being surrounded by the burly and reliable men you worked with pulled you out of the soggy mire you found yourself stuck in since that morning. The crushing ice rolling around in your stomach lay still now, allowing you to breathe without the searing pain of awful truth stabbing through your lungs. They could see you relax, all of them presenting the most receptive faces they could.

“Go on then. Spit it out ‘fore I fire you.” That sense of brotherhood you felt only at work began to fight through the filters of pride and stoicism it took to do this job. Your friends were surrounding you, probing your strange behavior with an entirely unstandable and warm concern. There was nothing to hide, no reason to restrict yourself in their presence. All that was left was a buried fear for the truth.

And that wasn’t going anywhere until you confessed yourself to someone. Anyone.

“Ugh… supposed I oughta’ get it off my chest and be done with it.”

“Yes. You should.” Tim interrupted, his unchanging face somewhat amusing when he was attempting to be soft and therapeutic. You drew a deep breath to attempt calming yourself with the moist and scented air of the intense Equestrian summer, lighting a fire of absolute terror in your gut.

“Well. You fellas remember my second wife?” Your stallion compatriots nodded knowingly, their gazes meeting one another in a rare moment of silence. These rough and tumble stallions weren’t afraid of much. Being this close to the everfree and oftentimes dealing with its inhabitants, they were experienced with monsters. Massive bugs that lurked in logs, wandering manticores that strayed too far from home and carnivorous plants creeping through the leaf litter never fazed these hardened lumberjacks. But Umbra was a different beast entirely. Her mere presence set them off their dinners, for she was so imbued with rancid evil that the average pony could smell it on her like rotting flesh.

“The scary one, yessir.” Chip answered, his ears visibly twitching with subtle dread.

“Sure. The ‘scary one.’ Ya’ll know she’s not a fan of the royalty. Especially when they’re messin’ with me in particular.” Tim huffed and snorted indignantly, his posture becoming more defensive as the words left your mouth.

“And since the royalty has been awful busy with us for the last few years… they uhm… they… well… Luna I guess. She might’ve… sheesh.” The confession stopped itself like a cork slamming into the firm walls of a wine bottle. You nearly gagged on it as the resistance built in your throat and the pressure mounted quickly. Realization was burning inside you, the sudden knowledge that if you couldn’t even tell your friends, there was no physical way you’d ever tell Umbra. All eyes were on you, the mounting weight of scrutiny somehow far outpacing the many royal trials you had to sit through during your early days in Equestria.

“Ah shoot… ya’ll gettin’ told to send ‘em more taxes!” Gear hollered, his missing teeth accenting his flapping gums.

“Ah knew it! Ah told ya’ll when they was elected! Damn it, Timber! The damn Celestials are burning up our bank accounts!” Chip, too young and simple for politics, could only stand there in bare-faced confusion as his coworker cooked off in such an inappropriate manner. And Tim, a dyed in the wool Celestia supporter since he was born, could only stand there stock still as he always did every moment of every day.

“Shut yer saggy mouth ‘fore I throw you in the river. And you.” He snapped toward you, holding his snout mere millimeters from your nose in a desperate display of dominance.

“Get to the point. You’re burnin’ up my day light.” Such a simple command was like ordering you to take the sun from the sky. Barriers sprung up in your gut that refused the command, beating down your will to speak with savage and endless brutality. All the more proof that you had to speak. You had to be clear with your friends, else this agonizing sensation might just eat you from the inside out. Nostrils flared to vent off your boiling exhaust, neither eye able to focus on anything but the ground. Dirt was the only one you felt kinship with.

“Princess Luna… she came to me in a dream one night.”

“Well shoot! She ain’t done that for you yet?” Tim resisted the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes at such a childish concern, the fierce battle within him manifesting as a gentle twitch in his upper lip.

“Dang, Anon! Everypony gets a visit every now and again! What’n the hay’s the big deal?” Chip interjected before your mouth could form the words, quickly frustrating you beyond comfort.

“It’s not just that, ding-a-ling!” You spat with an obvious and unusual strain in your voice.

“She- Princess Luna-... rrgh! How do I explain this?!” You hissed at the sudden cork jammed into your thoughts, the simple minds surrounding you chugging away like inefficient steam engines running on cheap fuel.

“She-... she did something. Alright? She held me down and… and…” The reactions about you were exemplary of the stallions you worked with. All of them displayed different expressions of shock in twisted, contorted shapes.

Gear’s eyes widened somewhat as his smile broadened, showing off the gaps in his teeth.

Chip only watched with bated breath and utter confusion on his face, as if you had reached up and turned your head around.

And Tim finally broke his stoicness, both his eyebrows ratcheting up and his frown deepening into a dark trench.

“Well I’ll be…” The senile old horse chattered, stepping up to his “big-man” and draping an arm about your shoulder. Clearly the confession had taken a sizable chunk out of your endurance, as the words alone left you panting and sweating bullets. Gear Grinder paid no mind to your reaction, instead cackling dryly and hacking against his own drawn-out breaths.

“Anonymous. Young stallion… ya’ll just been taught a lesson.” He huffed with a wise and knowing voice smelling powerfully of apple cider and grits. You returned his gaze with curiosity and buried hope, perhaps wishing silently that he held the true answer to this strange circumstance. A “lesson” could mean anything. Was Luna offering you wisdom, a vision of the future, a concealed answer to a question you had been silently asking for years? You wanted to believe her so mystical and mysterious, rather than anything so outwardly raunchy and practical.

“Ya walk around with nuts like that, ‘yer gonna attract attention son!” BWAAAHHAHA!” A hard and metal-shoed hoof cracked against the rear of your skull and knocked nearly all the sense from your head. Such a mighty and painful beating matched how you felt on the inside, such throttling currents of discomfort and agony suffocated for a moment until the dull throb of a concussion.

“WHEEEW! Welcome to the club, colt! Ya’ll struttin’ ‘round with them wives in a big ‘ol herd breedin’ with a queen every damn night! Now you’s gotcha an admirer!” Gear trot about the group with a high and mighty posture, each pounding hoof on the dirt below raising his head higher and higher despite his rickety and bony neck.

“Welcome to the Moon Riders, Anon! It be a high and mighty groupa’ mare-bustin’ and heart breakin’ sons a’ bitches! And now you’s in for life!” Blood rushed away from your face in a river of seething fear. Suddenly your mind was light as a feather and foggy as a winter mountain drowning in confusion.

“’Moon Riders?’ What in the hell you talkin’ about?” Chip piped in, following the older pony’s prance with his entire head in utter confusion.

“Yessir! Breeders of the high and mighty herself! Princess of the Night only comes to the biggest, baddest stallions she fancies! Just like me, colt!” Intense banter was directed right in the young stallion’s face like a cannon blast, so much hitting him at once the absurdity took several seconds to sink in. Chip’s impressed grin quickly morphed into a skeptical frown as Gear continued to praise himself.

“Wait a minute? How in the hay did ya’ll bag Miss Luna in a dream? Yer’ older than damn dirt, Grinder!” The greying pony huffed and had himself a smug laugh, one that sounded oddly similar to a screeching door hinge begging for oil.

“I wasn’t a crotchety old bastard back in the day, son! Yer’ pappy was nothin’ short of a mare-makin’ machine! Ah had all the damn fillies in ponyville on ma waitin’ list!” Had Tim ever changed his face from furious shock, he might’ve perhaps reacted to such a wild statement.

“The hell you were! And ‘sides, Miss Luna was on the damn moon up ‘til ten years ago!” Dismissing his logic immediately, Gear Grinder shook his head. Dismissively, he pushed the younger earth pony about with a hoof jabbing into his chest.

“You don’t know nothin’ Chip! You was a foal when all that happened! Ya’ll can’t prove that!”

“Ah know fer damn sure that Miss Luna didn’t come down from the moon after a million billion years and pick YOU as the first dick she was gonna get!”

“I wasn’t no first timer, son! Me and the fine purple honey was together over a hundred times ‘fore that! Maybe even a dozen!” Their words fired back and forth like the indistinct and chaotic chatter of a gunfight. Blasting lies and scathing comebacks sailed across your nose with complete neglect, your face frozen just as Tim’s was. The two of you locked eyes in that moment, a father staring down a foolish child. He pressed like a glacier rolling over a helpless landscape. Suffocating, dauntless and totally unfeeling in his natural progress forward. Suddenly the noise of the world fazed out of your senses. Only you and him were left. No buzz of saws cutting into wood, no meaningless banter between two idiotic men fighting for dominance and no whimpering wind to interrupt this sharp and driven interrogation. For the first time in many years, you felt small.

“You mean to tell me that ya’ll been runnin’ off in yer’ dreams to… do whatever you like to do with the Princess?” Tim huffed, his unmoving tone devastating when aimed at you. After so many years of being in his good graces, his golden child of the saw mill, it burned worse than fire when he scolded you.

“I didn’t choose this.” You qualified, knowing he would believe you but terrified of where this conversation would lead.

“She came to me and startin’ askin’ all these questions about my life and where I came from, all this weird mess happened and then, she’s sitting in my lap planting one on my face!” You gasped as it all came pouring out in a toxic and muddy tide. Your heart rate skipped several steps and shot straight to a racing rhythm as your boss sat there, unmoving and unfazed.

Timber Lane was one of those ponies that was so traditional, so set in his ways and confident in his lifestyle that any opposition to it was like an insult to him. While he was loyal and driven in every facet of his life, he was still a cold and stern authority. Thus, his stare was like a spear crushing through your face. He looked as if he wanted to rip your throat out with the subtlest change in his brow and lip. Tim was clearly fuming at the very idea of you possibly cheating on your herd, especially given the deep connections to his own.

“I just… don’t look at me like that, man!” You barked at him, quickly reminded that yelling at Tim was equivalent to hollering at a rock.

“I didn’t ask her to! I don’t know what was up with her! She was all over me like a pony in heat, man!” You begged forgiveness from a party totally unconcerned with the issue, perhaps practicing for when your marriage inevitably exploded and you’d fall to your knees. Tim’s face morphed subtly from his own to Derpys, then Umbra’s with alarming clarity. For but the tiniest speck of a second, you would see their reactions to your nonconsensual treachery.

“And ya’ll let her?” He huffed, taking a step forward to put your noses mere inches away.

“NO!” You snapped back, closing the gap and booping the unmoving slab of stallion with your face.

“Gettin’ mighty worked up there, Sugar. Ya’ll got somethin’ ya wanna tell me?” Sharp and ragged breaths shared between you two was an odd and proprietary means of communication. Neither of you were backing down from this discussion, meaning neither of you were lying. Tim wouldn’t humor a conversation unless it interested him. Or even worse, concerned him. With the stallion applying such undue force to you, it was clear just how deadly serious this was to him. He would not rest until the entire truth was laid bare for him to scrutinize. Whether you gave it, or he had to rip it out of your bloody chest cavity mattered little to him.

“I. Did not. Ever. Cheat on my wives.” You hissed through clenched teeth, insulted that he’d ever insinuate such a thing.

“Then what’s got you so scared, son?” He belted back without skipping a beat, never changing his voice from the usual, dull monotone.

“I don’t know what to do.” You said without thinking, losing yourself in the moment and spilling your beans. Truthfully you wanted to manage some control over the situation, rather than admitting abject failure. It felt unnatural to leave such things to vulnerability and the goodwill of others, even back in the days when you were a human in a human world. For too long, Equestria made you fly solo. You had to be on top of things since the day you arrived, else the world would’ve opened up and swallowed you whole again. To be this lost, this utterly and totally lost and clueless, felt as wrong as that kiss.

Tim knew it just from your face. You were fighting back without a real reason. You were insecure, acting impulsively and matching his masculine energy. A complete waste of energy that you fell for in this moment of clouded thoughts. The words oozed from your mouth like cold mud from a stoney crack, forcing you to decompress and back down. Now that you had lost fair and square, it was time to quit pretending and be honest.

“I… have absolutely no idea what to do about this.” You admitted, sighing in defeat as Tim softened.

“Anon… there ain’t much ya’ll can do.” He said with a clear and concise voice, unwavering as the wooden buildings you and him had constructed together.

“How am I supposed to turn down an all-powerful goddess? What’s she gonna do if I reject her?”

“Don’t suppose ya’ll thought about makin’ it work?” You shook your head in defeat, feeling as if the enormous and sloshing weight inside it would rip it straight off your neck.

“No sir. It was enough lettin’ Umbra in. And I very much doubt she’d ever approve of me and Luna.” Tim cocked an eyebrow and snorted somewhat at your response.

“Mh. They ain’t the kind to share?”

“No sir.” You answered solemnly, gripping your ratty work pants with quivering death grips.

“If Umbra found out we even talked, let alone kissed? She’d… I dunno what she would do. But it ain’t good. I can tell you that much.”

“Mh. Yessir. I can see that.” Tim contemplated in his own silent manner how to approach this issue. Soon enough he found himself in your predicament all the same, staring off into the middle distance trying to compute his options whilst rambling chaos broke out all around him.

“Honestly, I don’t even know how badly I want to turn the Princess down.” You huffed with near-silence, perhaps frightened that Umbra or Derpy would be lurking in the brush waiting for you to misspeak.

“Tsk. Can’t hardly blame ya.” Tim muttered, though with a somewhat dismissive tone to his voice.

“Gettin’ yer hooves on a second rate Celestia ain’t bad pickins. ‘Specially for a two-legged freak like you.” Such a small joke was enough to lift you an inch out of the suffocating mire of despair. Timber Lane could always be counted on to lighten the mood with his unbelievably dry humor.

“But… sheesh. Having her on one hand and them my wives on the other? How long before they start naggin’ me about ‘having favorites?’ Or dang- how long before I do have favorites?!” Your boss scuffed the ground with a hoof, demonstrating just how deep in simple and mechanical thought he was.

“Hrrm… Colt gets a love letter from the Princess. Next thing you’ll be weddin’ dragons and raisin’ the dead.” Shaking his head and releasing a drawn-out breath, the grumpy stallion spit on the ground. A tell-tale sign that he was done with the conversation.

“Get outta’ here ‘till ya’ll get this figured out.” He said, rather surprised that you didn’t instantly protest.

“Go on home. Go on a hike. Do whatever it is that make you humans think worth a damn. But go on. Git.” The words left his mouth and he turned on his hooves, leaving you there with a burden lifted off your shoulders. It was a miniscule and meaningless weight coming off your chest, but it regardless provided you incentive to move. Just as he left you, you left the mill. As you did every night after a hard day's work.

But this time, you left to perform more crushing labor. Physically you were fresh and ready, totally unworked and pumped full of masculine power. But inside, invisibly, you were nothing but a child curled up in the corner waiting for a spanking. No matter how you planned the conversation out, you saw nothing but dread in your very near future.

~~Meanwhile…~~

Something about this day must’ve been spreading a sickness of discomfort around Ponyville. The air was thick with the moisture of a seasonal rain yet to come. Ferocious cocktails swirled in the breeze and billowed up between the buildings.

For Umbra was indeed quite pissed.

The exact reason escaped her at the moment, but the mare knew herself well enough to put these emotions into words. Another sleepless night of thrashing about the bed in a chilling sweat, waking up to find you gone off to work and the memories of past transgressions ate the mare from the inside out. Derpy had to walk Dinky to school that morning, for the dark Sorceress of the house was simply in no mood.

An intangible but very real switch was turned in her, something was wrong. Frustratingly, attempting to meditate in the sun room brought her no answers. Umbra’s concentration could not last for more than a few seconds before she trailed off into a pounding headache. She felt as if the vessels between her brain and skull throbbed with undue pressure that crushed her thoughts back down whence they came. Every breath was exhausting, a swirling vortex that rushed into her lungs then turned to lead in her belly.

Her long career as a soldier had taught her myriad ways to deal with pain, but none prepared her for the dull, constant throb in her skull today. When she had been struck in the head with a war hammer and shattered three of her vertebrae, that was less immobilizing. After suffering a pyromancer’s warth and losing the skin on her chest, that was less irritating than the wandering thoughts. And when she had been locked in a castle’s sewer as punishment for sabotage, the swirling dervish of feces and freezing water was less suffocating than this.

All the Queen could do was sit and stew, staring out the window with a record playing and a book’s first page sitting there waiting to be read. Derpy busied herself about here and there with her usual activities, seemingly impervious to the same dreariness that threw itself unto her ebon Queen. Her mirth and giddy smile stabbed at the slouched pony and nagged her to rise, to fight off this strange depression and make herself useful. The well of ambition that had flowed unabated for thousands of years pushed her to move, pressured her to do anything at all. It had served her well for so long, guiding her through plans of domination and webs of deceit. But at the moment, it was just a candle lit under her belly that burned hotter and hotter the longer she tried to ignore it.

“Mrs. Grumpy-pants?” Derpy chirped, positioning a small cup and saucer by her herdmate’s side. Umbra’s eyes twitched toward the warm and lemon-scented brew so kindly presented to her, the swirling amber color so much like Derpy’s gorgeous eyes it functioned as an extension of her motherhood and kindness. Nostrils widened to take in the soothing scent, but such winds of calm were added to a hurricane of dread. The stirring pot in Umbra’s mind quickened its pace and rapidly rotated into madness, powering her to speak with a croaking and weak voice.

“Derpy.” She harrumphed, summoning the dutiful wife to her side with a smile.

“Did you feel something… off about the King this morning?” Derpy’s ears perked at the strange question, her smile refusing to fade when the beaming sunlight warmed her cheek.

“‘Off?’ Oh no, no.” She answered casually with no regards for Umbra’s seething tone or posture.

“Bubby got up and went to work! If he was off, Poppa wouldn’t get outta bed.” Umbra groaned at the answer, burying her face in her hooves as Derpy absentmindedly hooved her apron.

“He probably felt like that ‘cuz he was sleeping. That limp and squishy kinda sleepy.”

“No. Not like that, mare.” The sinister royal sneered, her teeth showing in a flashing display of frustration.

“I mean in his attitude. His posture. Have ye not noticed how he carries himself this week?” Derpy stared at the Queen for several seconds thinking over the proposition. Visibly her thoughts ratcheted through her mind and knocked against every wall on the way out, scrunching her nose and narrowing her eyes. The pegasus’ bad eye spun quicker and quicker in its socket as the excess pressure of consideration bled off and vented the inefficient process.

“Hmmm… hmmmmmm… nope!” She answered with a chirp, bouncing on her hooves and retreating to the living room.

“He felt fine to me! Just as big and strong and warm as he always is! Of course, I was asleep the whole time. So I guess it doesn’t really count.” If she had the strength, Umbra would’ve beat her head against the window. Her need for pain was just a distraction from the very present discomfort already running wild inside her, something Derpy could never pick up on when she couldn’t see straight.

“But… hm… now that you mention it?” Derpy hummed as she set up her latest set of decorations, all of them made by hoof in the Mares’ Club.

“He was sleepin’ really, really good last night! I woke up to take a tinkle and I thought he was dead!” Umbra’s ears flicked toward the speaking mare and drank in every word, hoping to find some answer hidden in her babbling speech.

“Laying around with his eyes all open and stuff, not breathing and not moving? I got really scared for a while!” The mare spoke gleefully and easily in the afternoon light, totally unaware of the armageddon she had just released. Umbra’s eyes widened to dinner plates as the facts washed over her and leaked their fetid, stinking waters into her heart. The pulse of her heart slowed to a bassy rhythm just barely keeping enough of a beat to sustain her life.

“But then he spazzed out like how he does when puts his finger in the light socket, gurgled a little and slept fine. I think poor Bubby’s been getting too much sun. It’s cookin’ his brain!” She said with a shrug, ignorantly fawning over her stained glass ornament and the multicolored shadow it cast on her home.

Umbra stewed. Umbra seethed. And most of all, Umbra forced a heavy, sticky and venomous bowling ball down her throat. Her ancient and cunning mind cut through the smaller thoughts and attacked the biggest issue at the moment with all her faculties, all her focus and all her learning. Thousands of years of education poured into solving this issue, exploring every avenue in hopes of discovering the one fault with it. She considered everything that could possibly induce a state like that- everything- say for the one horrible, disgusting yet obvious thing. Poisoning, fatigue, disease, drunkenness, hitherto unknown mental illness.

Infidelity.

The word alone burst something behind her eye with monstrous strain. The throbbing ring of pain swirling round and round in her sprouted barbs and caught the walls of her skull, inducing sincere agony and a vibrant ring in her ears. Umbra swore her vision doubled and unfocused, phasing in and out of reason before her snout like a film burning in the projector. The ring so honorably and proudly worn around her neck fizzled and popped, the trapped energy within pushed to its limit and nearly punching through the diamond encasing it. Even the hardest material known to Equestria feared for its safety when subjected to the molten tide moving throughout the hateful Queen.

There was no other explanation that made any sense. Only dream walkers induced that kind of state in a healthy and unassuming pony. You had not been merely visited, but yanked from your physical being and stolen in the night. Pilfered like treasure right out from under her nose. In all her years of arcane practice, Umbra couldn’t imagine a way of breaching the divide between mind and reality so brutally. Especially for a non-Equestrian unbound to the eternal flow of magic in the world. To do something like that took planning, education.

Untold power only gods could harness.

Another throb set Umbra off like a fuse finally reaching its termination. Explosive will and motivation made the sinister mare jump to her hooves and trot toward the door with a robotic motion stiff and stilted. She stomped as she went, denting the floorboards and nearly ripping the front door off its hinges with her magic. Violent bangs made Derpy jump as she followed after the mare, the curious pony watching her herdmate go.

“I am going to pick up Dinky from School.” Umbra snarled between clenched teeth, purple candle light burning in her eyes.

“But school doesn’t let out for three hours!” Derpy called back with a sudden wave of concern running over her. She knew well enough that her pudgy body wouldn’t stand the test of Umbra’s might. Something was clearly horribly wrong with Umbra if she was willing to interrupt Dinky’s schooling for it. Jiggling on her hooves and biting her lip, the overburdened wife could only make off for the mill to summon her muscle.

“Oh Jeepers…” She mumbled, unaware of just what manner of fire she had started.

Umbra’s hooves beat a war path into the rough road criss-crossing through Ponyville with an undying and concerning focus. Her lips pursed as her teeth mashed and slipped against one another in rough grinds of ferocious anger. Her mind was operating on a different level than any normal pony could comprehend, for she was thinking rashly but logically. Formulating complex schemes on a whim was her gift, one of her many talents fostered through practice and education. But when that talent was totally unrestrained, it quickly became a dreadful curse for anyone that crossed her path.

“Get Dinky home. Find Anonymous. PUNISH HIM. FIND PRINCESS LUNA. PUNISH HER. KILL HER. KILL THEM ALL. BURN DOWN THE CITY.” The words repeated in her skull again and again like the tick of a clock dangerous low on oil. The unicorn moved with purpose and little guidance, allowing the lesser parts of her mind to totally consume her stride as she gnashed her thoughts together. Ponies had to jump out of her way and mind her barging form pressing through their crowds, everyone watching her with bated breath and hushed whispers. Grass and dirt below her hooves seethed when contacting her untold wells of fierce energy, the gnawing force of her internal magika leaking out and setting fire to them.

Purple flames licked upwards from the greenish auras left in her wake, the air sizzling and squealing when it touched her unholy form. Her magic-retaining horn ring jiggled on her red spire, begging to leap free and escape the flamethrower rage bursting from her heart. She was growing stronger, so powerful that her old self would cower in honest fear of her potential. Umbra’s barely restrained fury clawed and scratched and screamed to be set free and reduce this unjust world to a flat plain of black ash.

Her protege, on the other hand, was unduly focused. Dinky sat in the shade of an elm tree outside the school house as ponies played around her and shouted in glee. Her gilded eyes focused on her paper and her floating quill, scrawled runes and ancient incantations summoning a dead god’s favor. Humming magic flowed through the bitter and rejected sigils of power, bending and twisting to Dinky’s practiced whims. Just as her Aunt had taught her, she channeled her thoughts and needs. Thinking solely on her goal, the young unicorn let the gifted strength become her will. In an instant, like gas catching the super-heated particle of a spark, a flame popped into existence. Purple fire, corrupted magic expressing its exothermic reaction with the air, danced on her parchment without burning it.

The satisfied young filly grinned and focused on keeping the simpering flame alive, feeding it a continuous trickle of energy. Experimenting with the rate however, she could make it rise and fall and leap and sparkle. It was monumentally strenuous, costing every last bit of her concentration and willpower to maintain. But there it was, sparkling for her with the shouvenism of a proud and haughty stallion.

“MS. CHEEEEEEERILEEEEEE!!!” A shrill voice called from nearby, shattering Dinky’s focus and bringing her back to the real world. The young filly flinched and let her flame die, its purple body fading instantly from reality with a pathetic cough of black smoke. Dinky’s body rankled and recoiled at the burst of noise, for its irritating and high-pitched tone was both familiar and alarming.

“Dinky’s trying to burn down the school agaaaaaaaaain!!!” Straight Lace, the antsy little filly, proved herself to be a thorn in Dinky’s hoof many times in the past. And unfortunately, this recess was no different. Neurotic as she was loud and sassy, the curly-haired little bundle of azure nervousness never hesitated to tattle and to blabber out in terror whenever something was even slightly awry. Your daughter may have once been friends with the astute and studious little filly, but that was long since a faded memory. Only bitterness remained in the wide gap cut between experimental unicorn and naggy little pegasus.

“I am NOT! Ugh! You’re such an ass-head!” She spat with ample vitriol swirling in her chest. Dinky blushed whenever she was discovered doing something she shouldn't, an occurrence that was rather frequent given her devious nature.

“OOOOH! She said a bad word!” Someone else chipped in from the sidelines, the school yard pausing for a moment to watch the confrontation.

“Nuh-UH!” Dinky spat with childish guile, her own youth intoxicating her such that any proper, level-headed response was impossible.

“Yeah-HUH!” Her schoolyard rival retorted without much charisma, chewing her words and spitting them like gnarled bits of filth.

“You’re gonna burn the shcool down, ‘cuz you’re a stupid half breed and you have a witch as a momma!” Straight Lace was never good with her words, the rather biting insult she flung making Dinky puff up and snarl like she had just been smacked. The common school yard practice of mocking every aspect of a pony truly knew no bounds, as even Dinky’s heritage was considered fair game. Umbra was certainly not her mother, she wasn’t a witch and your participation in her conception didn't make her any less of a pony than any other trotting around ponyville. Yet the scathing little tongues of ignorant minds paid little mind to the facts. Watching her focused mind instantly go to pieces trying to defend herself was entertainment enough to set aside logic and kindness.

“I’m gonna rock your crap and toss you down a flight of stairs if you don’t shut up, Lace!” Dinky snapped back, tossing clods of earth in her magic toward the abusive little filly. Straight Lace jumped about and squealed to dodge the oncoming missiles, unfocused and furious magic slinging them with little care and even less accuracy.

“EEK! Staaaaahp!!! Dinky you’re being a halfbreed! STAAAAAHP!” Ever since someone’s parents let that word slip from their mouths, it was the catch-all term for anything Dinky related. Had she been a little wiser and not let it bother her so visibly, then perhaps the diatribes of scathing cruelty would’ve been less effective. But bred and raised to be proud like you and undaunting as her mother, the unicorn was entirely unequipped to handle such drivel. Afterall, it was not only an attack against her, but her family. The blood running through her veins was at stake here, the words of her schoolmates cutting down to the marrow of her most intimate insecurities.

“Dinky’s being a bully again!” One of the colts shouted from the background, tossing a banana with a coy little laugh while he was at it.

“Take one of these, half breed! That’ll calm you down!” The school yard snickered as the monkey references continued to pile on, yet another brutal mechanism to cut the nerdy and focused filly down.

“Ugh! You buttholes are so immature! I am not a monkey!” She shouted back, stomping her hooves defiantly. The natural discourse was set already, the back and forth of meaningless and mean-spirited debate in full swing by that point. Her heart was pounding and her mind putting together the pieces of insults for slinging at others, Dinky was ready to continue on this endless fight that would surely end with her forgetting it all by the next week when the kids would settle their differences and ask her for tutoring again.

But the foals simply stood there, their mouths pursed shut and their fur standing on end. Dinky marveled at her ability to silence a crowd at first, quickly finding that her own coat did the same as her hapless peers. Each fiber prickling through her skin was pulled by some strange force surrounding her like water, stimulating her into an unusual and uncomfortable alertness. The filly whipped around to lay her eyes on what brought about this feeling, her heart instantly leaping from her chest at the sight of a familiar face.

“Auntie!” She chirped, giddily trotting to her care-taker without a care in the world. Any wayward glance toward Umbra’s composure, her shivering shape and her seething eyes would clearly distinguish her as a threat. A ticking bomb ready to go off at the slightest jostle that no living, sane being should ever approach. Dinky was blinded by her trust, only stopping herself when she was behind the protective veil of her guardian’s chubby black body. Umbra’s infectious and writhing eyes drilled into Straight Lace’s face like daggers rending the skin from her cheeks. The child stood in place, hypnotized by fear, fascination and utter confusion. Umbra approached her wordlessly and silently like a predator sniffing out fresh blood spilt in the grass. Her teeth showed with a nasty snarl that let wisps of purplish smoke fall from the corner of her mouth.

“Little one…” She huffed, her voice contaminated by the leaking spirits within her. So driven by rage and furious beyond containment, Umbra’s trapped power was breaking free. Her physical mind of bits and pieces and gears and springs was consumed and washed over by the thousands of souls trapped within her. The incantations, runes, spells and curses of a thousand lifetimes piled together and forced through a crushing bottleneck to the surface all fought to control her, something that would certainly overwhelm the physical and restrained sorceress. Unrestricted, she could easily manipulate all her strength naturally as one would their limbs. But with the ring struggling valiantly on her horn, there was nothing she could do in this state.

“Have you any idea in that tiny piss-pot you call a mind, what the penalty is for using that wretched, damnable word is?” Umbra hissed with drool visibly pooling at the corners of her mouth. Her venomous and nasty swear hit Dinky with some force, scrubbing a portion of her wry grin off and replacing it with palpable angst.

“Y- yeah! You got any idea?!” She added on to further torment the shivering Straight Lace. Mysteriously, though she was terrified beyond compare simply looking into the swirling and endless eyes of this mare, her legs refused to move. Some demon within her locked every joint in place, screwed her hooves to the ground and stole the wind in her chest. The filly was caught in a savage trap of watching Umbra’s face, falling into it and drowning in her influence. Weak and inexperienced, the defenseless innocent could only cower as Umbra leaned in close enough to smell her fear.

“Say it…” She snarled, curling her tongue into a sharp hook mere millimeters from the child’s nose. Lace huffed and whimpered under the pressure forcing itself upon her, the strain crushing her bones, flesh and spirit into a dribbling pulp. Fear unlike any she had ever felt sank deep into her, not only afflicting her mind, but her body. It leeched into her muscles and shred their fibers apart, exhausting her, stealing from her. Umbra could feed on this energy for decades, the familiar and delicious delicacy of abject horror in a pony’s face.

“I- I- I’m sorry Miss Um-”

“SAY IT!” The unicorn interrupted, frothing at the mouth and spitting fire from her eyes. The rune that Dinky had struggled to make spark and fluster burst into a geyser of purple flames, scattering the crowd with its gaseous terror. Hooves skittered and clawed at the ground to get away, the volume of its sudden burst rivaling the bone-chilling call of the Queen. Dinky was sent reeling back from the motherly mare as she twisted and contorted into a fierce deity, her body smoking and burning off excess energy. She was hot to the touch and steaming in the sunlight, tendrils of purple energy clawing out of her eyes and nostrils like some leech lived within her skull. Lace could not breathe, could not react and could not comprehend the horror descending on her. In that moment, she was not a living thing, but a being of pure fear inanimate and destined to suffer what she must.

“So easy to torment the downtrodden and the scorned. The dirty lessers that’re beneath ye and thine judgemental eye! Oh what merry times you must have dreaming of their anguish while you sit prim and pretty atop a mountain of righteousness!” Umbra’s voice was mired in the bite of anger, several souls speaking at once while her lips formed the words. Voices wound together into a continuous bundle of chilling and unnatural sounds. Her teeth seemed to grow with each syllable, stretching further and further down from her jaws until they could no longer close. Tentacles of purple and green and red ripped at the flesh holding her face to her skull, pushing her eyes about until mysterious, dark fluid oozed from their sockets.

“A- Aunty?! Aunty stop! That’s enough!” Dinky piped in, stepping up to face the demonic foe her caretaker was quickly becoming. She could sense the erupting presence of evil in the air, a long-buried and obscured force Umbra carried within her. A force of destruction and hatred far more devious and horrific than she could ever be, a pure creature of malevolence she harnessed for her own means many centuries before. She was allowing it to take her, to play its role in strengthening her negative emotions. It worked with all the other powers trapped inside her to subjugate Umbra into their willing and furious thrall.

“We will enjoy this opportunity to teach respectless worms an overdue lesson in restraint. When we flay the skin from your bleeding muscles, string up it upon a standard and make war against your bottom feeding bloodline!” Mechanisms of magic ripped Umbra into pieces, shredding her appearence into a tatter mess of dripping ribbons hanging from bristling thorns. Her shape was crafted from emotions, a tormenting image created to sustain the fear pouring into her endless well. Lace could not bear to see it, collapsing in breathless terror as the onsalught deprived her brain of oxygen.

“AUNTY! AUNTY STOPPIT!” Dinky blurted and kicked against the unicorn’s side to dissuade her vicious intent. Tiny hooves smashed into real ribs and flesh, but the magic clouded about Umbra’s physical form reacted violently. Pain was fuel for this burning fire, negativety of any color was simply adding onto the ferocious and insane expression Umbra fostered. As such, blinded and unable to control her actions, the old Queen buried within her broke free and snarled at her beloved.

“Trechery! Betrayal! Spineless mortal pawn!” She barked with a chorus of husky and hateful voices. All attention snapped to Dinky as the ripping thorns continued to pierce her skin and grow like hedgehog spikes. Your daughter couldn’t bear to look into the tattered and stretching face of her caretaker, the once beautiful and feminine shapes torn and stretched over a new structure. Duofold eyes of glimmering purple stared from within this bivouac of dead vines and writhing spirits.

“Stop, Aunty! This isn’t you! You’re acting like a maniac!” Dinky barked fearlessly as unimaginable terror smashed her heart. An orb of fire gestated in her chest and weighed her down, but her unbreakable will and ignorant bravery refused to head its reasonable warnings.

“Come back, Umbra! They can’t control you! They don’t deserve to control you! You’re better than them!” She squealed into the snickering face that was no longer her Aunt, stepping back to avoid having her eyes gouged out by surging thorns. Whatever had taken Umbra laughed at such a sentiment, for it was no longer true. In this moment of extreme angst, this weak point in the chain of life, Umbra had given in. She had not only failed to stop the beast within her, but had welcomed it to exact a heated revenge. Whatever this entity within her was, whoever it was, it felt no love for Dinky. No love for anyone, say for itself corrupting and savage self.

“You are nothing but a mindless fool to this one! A useful idiot to bring her out of this miserable hole you call a home!” The demon snarled and smiled in its own crooked manner, manipulating Umbra’s lifeless body into a threatening and stiff posture.

“That’s not true! She’s told me about you!” Dinky shouted back, despite the creeping worm in her heart telling her it might be true. Umbra had warned of this nameless being, this liar incarnate. Equestria was full of demons like this, those that would say anything to get their way and destroy in the most sadistic, enjoyable manner for them.

“She has already abandoned you! You are not hers to love! Now step aside, ignorant child! I have been restrained long enough and an idiotic, weak child will not hault my plans!” Dinky refused, pushing into the apparition to find her beloved Aunty in the fog. Through stabbing bristles of writhing and burning thorns, she knew Umbra was there. All of this was a spectacle, a false conjuration that couldn’t truly hurt her. Even if the pain of driving thorns into her face was immense, unbearable, it was the proper thing to do. Umbra’s warmth, her motherly softness was inside this place. All she had to do was get a hold of her and bring her back into control.

“Get off me, you filthy babe!” The beast hissed as a massive and overwhelming force crushed both it and Dinky. A siesmic wave of power crashed through both their bodies and sent them spiraling back in shock, especially Umbra’s rather unimpressive and chubby form. The smog of deceit instantly vanished and left the scene peaceful again- at least as peaceful as a thrashing human and a screaming mare could be. Dinky’s vision blurred and struggled to draw the lines of reality again as her head spun and her ears rang, as contact with such powerful magic was quite exhausting for any unicorn unprepared for it.

“DMHNK! MMBEE!” A voice hollered to her from the confusion, a closing and tight embrace shaking the foal back to her senses. In an instant the sun was blotted out from the sky, a reassuring scent was flooding her nostrils and a sweet weight protected her. Arms strapped about her body like pillars of soft fur and squeezing security, a force powerful enough to squish the breath from her lungs.

“My baby! Oh Celestia my poor little Dinky!” Derpy whimpered into her ear and buried her face into the abundant grey of her chest, shocking her child into a state of awareness. Out of pure reflex the filly clung to her mother, a lingering fear still very present in her heart. Though her thoughts rapidly cleared and her racing mind calmed in the embrace of her mother, her body couldn’t possibly respond. A pounding heart, soaring blood pressure and quivering muscles were useless to her now, a slow process of medicating affection soaking into her drop by drop out of Derpy’s infinite supply. All she could do was hide herself away in the folding wings of her adoring parent, watching as you savagely wrestled the monster to the ground.

Tackling a beast made of thorns was certainly not the reason you had taken off of work. But the instant Derpy came sprinting to you half way between home and the mill, you knew something awful had to be happening. She was panting and sucking for breath, but fighting through her lack of physical fitness to summon you. Something about Umbra. Something about the school house. And most concerning of all, something about Dinky. Instincts kicked in the very moment you spotted something dark and freakish looming over your daughter, driving any sense of pain out of the muscles currently skewered on magic thorns.

“RRGH! Agh! Son of a- GHK!” You wrapped arms about the beast’s neck and squeezed tightly, fighting hard to kill it before it could do yet more damage. Pain fed into the ferocious entity’s strength, but the scent of your body, the power of your presence and the ring wrapped about your sweating hand countered every last particle of strength it derived. Crystals worked in tandem between Umbra’s necklace and your band, sparking with the overwhelming force of love between husband and wife destined for one another. Royally gifted strength overwhelmed the demon… for now. Flashes of positive force jostled Umbra back in control and extinguished her conjured form like water suffocating a fire. The blood racing from your cuts and the pain crashing through you was eliminated, restoring all strength to subduing this strange force.

“NYAGH! RRRRGH! RRRARRGH! GUAAAAAAAAH- AAAUNGH!” Free of its influence and forced back into the proverbial driver’s seat, all that was left was a thrashing and kicking Umbra. She wiggled and screamed and hollered for the entire town to watch, your sweaty arms unwavering and refusing to give under her. She was helpless, perfectly weakened into a normal mare that could never even try to hurt you. Scraping hooves and bruising strikes were nothing as you sucked for breath and regained your thoughts, a super-charged rush of adrenaline tempered into a boiling and furious rage.

“Umbra…” You hissed in revelation, panting as she tuckered herself out fighting against you. She was blinded by her rage and completely overwhelmed by her own outburst, simply running on instinctual spasms until there wasn’t an ounce of energy left in her. No magic, no calories, no fire. Just a limp and whining mare in a deep state of need.

All eyes were on you, staring aghast and unsure how to react to this wild turn of events. Ponyville watched with bated breath for your reaction from every nook and cranny of the village, their fixed eyes hoping you had truly defeated this latest threat. With considerable effort you stood up with Umbra braced in your arms like a wad of rubber caught in a steam engine. The mare was uncomfortable and contorted into a stiff posture, but even this humiliating fate was better than falling to her old vices again. Her ring glowed on the end of its sweat-drenched chain, ensuring that your presence would keep her tethered to the real world.

Regardless, you made a silent and wordless leave. Derpy would care for Dinky now, but your duty was centered around Umbra. Just as it had from the very moment she came into your life.

The short walk home felt like an eternity with her writhing and twitching in your arms. Much like holding a monstrous fish ripped from the ocean bleeding profusely from the hook jammed in its jaw. No matter what, Umbra would not settle. She wouldn’t calm herself and make anything easier for either one of you. Frustration built until you nearly kicked the door down to your own house just to get in, settling the Queen roughly on the couch like the mare had transformed into a ticking bomb in your hands.

She landed gracelessly, all at once going limp before stiffening back up into a hunched and wiry position on the cushions. The dark bundle of fluff and angst didn’t dare look you in the eye, but the seething tone and panicked rate of her breathing indicated just how furious she was. If you weren’t just as betrayed as Umbra, perhaps your manner of address would’ve been more cognizant.

“You… need to start talking.” You growled with an accusing finger jabbing toward her. Umbra recoiled like it were a sharp blade slicing into her flesh, scowling like a scolded child.

“Tell me what in the hell is going on with you. Right now.” You didn’t raise the volume of your voice beyond an authoritative hiss, a deep bellow that rattled the timbers of the house. The land itself quaked under the fiery emotions swirling in that living room, every second of silence raising the heat by several degrees.

“NOW!” You snapped when Umbra kept her lips sealed, the bubbling and senseless anger inside bursting free as you flipped the coffee table. A single hand was all that was needed to catapult the heavy hunk of mahogany and everything on it, shattering tea cups and clattering silverware screaming loudly to make your point clear.

“Don’t you dare raise your voice at me!” Umbra finally retorted with an equally strained snap to her voice. Her posture instantly morphed into a hostile and upright stance aimed toward you with wisps of purple frothing from the corner of her lips.

“I am your wife, you perverted, lying ape! What in Equestria has compelled you, Anonymous?! Have you simply lost your morals?! Has your tiny mind disappeared up your own ass when I wasn’t looking?!” Your screaming wife’s words crashed against a barrier of utter confusion and foggy rage that couldn’t hope to parse them through. Given your less than reasonable state at the moment, anything but a straight answer to your question might as well have been another language.

“Wha- what the- the fuck are you talking about?!” You shouted into her face with an expression of desperate confusion.

“You’re out here attacking kids and threatening my daughter, and you’re sitting here in my house acting like I’m the one that’s out to get you?!” Veins visibly pulsed in your neck as the blood flushed your face with a ripe redness, Umbra’s lips curled into a vicious and deeply frightened snarl.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?! Are you trying to ruin everything we built?! Are you trying to get those god damned Princesses sniffing around here even more?!”

“I’ve done nothing against this family! You’ve already destroyed what we have, Anonymous! The moment you coveted that rotten Princess, you chose the end of this marriage!!!” Umbra’s voice was cracking and reaching new heights of strain. Squeals of utter agony were combined with the overwhelming anger within her, a dual poison that made yet more fire erupt from her eyes.

“WHAT?!!” You hollered in return as every muscle turned taught in your body. The blood ran cold in your veins as it raced to your heart and left your extremities. Numbness consumed your body in an instant.

“Don’t you dare deny your lechery! All these sleepness nights! All these troubled evenings you’ve complained about! Taking another mare as I slept next to you?!” Umbra pressed tears from her eyes in stinging and puffy expressions of pure despair, sobs of anguish interrupting her screaming fits.

“I know what’ve you done! I know it, you filthy, damnable animal!” A moment’s thought gripped as you stared down at the simpering mare before you, a wash of emotions hitting you. All of them funneled into an incredibly tight space, the first one to break free being the most potent and concentrated frustration.

“THAT’S what this is about?! You’re turning into a damned demon in town square because you think I cheated on you?!” Your nose was now so closed to hers that the tiny little hairs on either end touched, a imperceivable spark of static electricity between overwhelmed minds.

“Think?! I know, damn you!” She barked back with spit splashing across your face. A racing heart and flustered mind blocked any attempt at rational thought. All those years spent talking with Umbra, learning her intricacies and quirks faded away and left you speaking to a misbehaving coworker. The passion was reduced until it was a barely visible smear against a throbbing red background.

“Why didn’t you talk to me?! Why didn’t you say anything?! Why are you walking through town, trying to bring the entire fucking country down on us?!” You barked louder and louder until your throat burned from the sheer volume you put out, both of you showing your teeth in feral snarls of inconsolable rage.

“Poppy?” A tiny and meek little voice cut through the racket of panting and growling and sweating between you and your wife, drawing your eyes to the front door. The littlest shape inhabited the frame with the background of a sweltering summer behind her, tears welling in her eyes. Dinky sniffed and quivered whiped at her bubbling nose, for she had never in all her young life heard you raise your voice like that.

To see you two in such turmoil, to wittness such a ferocious exchange in her own home, was more than shocking. Her foundation was challenged, the one place in all the world she felt safe was transformed into a battleground. It was alien to her, so wrong and twisted and strange. The surreal feeling of falling into a bad dream whislt awake prickled the fur on her back.

“Dinky… go outside and wait for me to call you.” You ordered with a husky voice, jabbing at the door with a finger.

“But… Poppy-”

“Outside! GO!” Immediately the little filly skittered on her hooves to retreat from the thundering boom of a furious man’s voice, the sting of such cruelty stabbing your heart. It was entirely warranted however, as you wished not to have anything complicate this until it was resolved. Your wife stared as if nothing had happened, her eyes stewing with a purplish haze oozing out of them like pus from an infected wound. The momentary interruption gave you just enough time to catch your breath after unleashing on Umbra like that, a shaking pair of fists clenching hard enough to squeeze the blood from your knuckles.

“You need to get a handle on yourself.” You hissed toward Umbra, her sneering indignance written across her face. She could barely stand to look at you, that old sense of disgust boiling back up from the bottom of her stomach. She scraped at the couch with her hooves, readying them to stomp your face into the dirt and return you to the filth you spread throughout this family.

“You are gonna bring the hammer down on all of us in a heartbeat if you do this shit again! We just got them off our backs and you wanna bring them right back!” Umbra was so repulsed she could barely speak. her lips curled and twitched and pulled into horrific shapes as she attempted to parse out her vitriol, but such efforts failed her again and again. Nothing could emerge from her efforts, leaving her to simply growl and grunt at you like a ferocious puppy.

“How am I supposed to turn my back on you, if one little thing is gonna blow you up?! Why didn’t you just come talk to me?! Why can’t you calm the fuck down and think about what you’re doing?! What’s gotten into you, Umbra?!” The ratcheting volume of your voice threatened to return to the blistering howl of before, but forces outside of your control conspired to halt this gnarly process. Just as another layer of sweat began to pour down your forehead, a speedy weight collapsed against your skull with a rigid motion and an ear-splitting noise.

“BWANG!” Umbra cringed as your neck crumbled in on itself and your skull flexed beneath Derpy’s quick moving frying pan, the sstamped steel coming down with such force that it nearly knocked your eyeballs out.

“GHK… WAAAAUGH!” You hollered in agony and gripped your head with both shaking hands, your skyrocketing blood pressure forcing out a hearty dose of red life between your fingers. The dark unicorn sat before you was ready to spit something equally as punishing whilst you stumbled about in pain, but she could only squeal when the portly housewife brandsihing such a fierce weapon came for her as well.

“Wh- Derpy!”

“BWANG!”

“EEEEAAAGH!” The pony saw the same fate as you as both your bodies collasped to the floor with ringing ears and tiny rivulets of blood running down your arms. Derpy hovered over you both with her weapon slightly bent and her eyes holding a unique darkness. You cowered and huffed and grit your teeth beneath waves of advacing pain throbbing your skull, totally unprepared for the sudden and violent attack.

“Augh- OW!!! DERPY!” You shouted at your wife for the first time, earning another bonk on the back of your head.

“GAH! STOP! I’m not a cartoon character!” She simply raised the cookware above her head to make you quiver and squeeze in on yourself, a reflex compelling you to hunker over Umbra as well to protect her. Despite having just hollering about how much she hated you, how ready she was to leave you, the sorceress quickly ducked under the embrace of her King. Her legs wrapped about your arms and her face folded beneath your body, burying her nose in a soft and familiar place. Neither of you were willing to say another word to the punishing goddess slowly descending to the floor, her crossed eyes focused difectly on your face.

“This is a place of happiness.” She started, her low and authoritative voice so shockingly real and different you wondered who had taken over your wife’s body. She was scolding you, punsihing you, speaking with a personality you had never encountered before. The presence of this mature, angry, destroyer mare made you simply sit there and listen like a child who had misbehaved. Derpy stood there, unmoving and unnerved like a statue of bronze.

“This is a place of family… this my daughters home.” She continued, stepping forward to burn a hole right through your sweating, red face.

“You will never, ever, ever raise your voice to my baby again. And you will never talk like that in this home so long as I live.” Derpy didn’t snarl or hiss or growl. Instead, she commanded. Her long-ignored authority stood front and center, looking down on you and your Queen. For the first time in many years, you felt positively small.

“I love you. Both of you. You’re my herd and nothing will ever change that. But so help me Celestia, the Father of my foal will not bring tears to her eyes!” The sentiment made you come to a fullstop wtih Umbra in your arms, a shame descending over your mind like radiactive ash burning your flesh. The heated spires of humiliation and regret stabbed through your guts as Umbra sucked for breath against you, clearly suffering the same fate as her legs twitched and her voice cracked.

“Get out… get out of my home until you’re ready to be parents again.” Derpy commanded quietly, though you were unable to move. Everything spun about so violently in your mind that standing and carting your dark wife out was simply impossible. Derpy however, was more than happy to help.

“Out! Out, out, out!” She yipped and smacked you on the back with her flat instriment, forcing you to jitter to your feet and rush for the back door. Umbra came with you with her hooves slipping and sliding against the floor boards, Derpy giving you both chase and smacking your backsides with her untensil.

“And don’t come back until you can be a Father again!” You and Umbra tripped down the slight stoop and tangled together in the mess of panicked steps and squealing terror, a rather hilarious scene if it weren’t for the mild concussion banging through your brain. The screen door and the backdoor slammed shut behind your twisting and twirling bodies like a vault sealing itself off from the world, a clicking murmur signalling just how thoroughly stuck you both were. Derpy not only locked door, but went about the house locking every window, the basement and the front. The entire house became a fortress against you and your dark wife, a huffy and aggravated pegasus pulling the curtains just as one last measure.

After all was secure and tightly locked, there was only one last thing to do. The doting mother returned to the foyer where Dinky huttled against a wall with her face covered by her mane, the hard clop of hooves against the floor bringing her attention up to the soft, warm expression of her parent. The filly’s face was frozen in a mask of terror and betrayal that Derpy despised, such an unfitting visage for a child. Her wing tip floated toward the contorted mess of shaking muscles and confusion, bringing her chin up to face her properly and restore some meager confidence.

“Dinky… come here. Momma’s got you.” She whispered deeply, her child rushing forward to embrace her. Dinky sniffled and buried her face in Derpy’s chest, the wings of soft feathers and warm security closing around her. She was veiled in a plush realm of safety and soothing heat, free to cry and vent however much she needed to feel like herself again. Her mother squeezed the Filly on and off to knead her overwhelmed body like dough, slowly molding her back down into a little lump of childish energy. Her horn sputtered and sparked with angst against Derpy’s cheek, but even the slight tingles and burns of the energetic release couldn’t stop the loyal wife. She hummed and pulled her sweet daughter into the living room, setting them on the plush couch.

“That’s it… just let it all out. It’s okay.” Derpy spoke a constant stream of reassuring and soothing remarks to her child, cooling the fire raging in her. An all too familiar feeling that Derpy had known herself. A complete shattering of the world beneath one’s hooves. An utter debasement of everything a child knew. Mommy and Daddy acting like soldiers in opposing trenches, hatefully gritting their teeth and wringing their hands to kill the other. Instead of being mother and father, they were just people again. Foreign and hostile people in a helpless child’s home. Dinky concealed herself in her Mother’s bosom like the Earth itself had split open and swallowed the village.

“Momma…” She squeaked, sucking for breath and fighting just to get her words out. Derpy hummed and curled around her child, protecting her from the hostility forcing itself into her life. She knew all too well that a child had no avenue of escape, no strength to fight. The cruelty of adult anger far surpassed the will of a child, no matter how strong, intelligent or mature they were. Even if Dinky could understand why you were acting this way, she could never truly comprehend it. All she knew was that her place of sanctuary was now a violent no-man’s land.

Derpy worked to reverse this terrible effect, nuzzling and kissing and cradling her baby in the center of the house until she calmed. She would force herself back into the fold and reassure her child that this was indeed her home. This building, this place, this room was safe for her. And it always would be. The infallible sentinal would always be here to watch over her, nurture her and support her.

Momma would always rule the roost, even if the King and Queen proved they couldn’t.

“Ugh… Jesus…” You groaned as you sat in the grass next to the sprawled Umbra, both of you swooning in the sunlight as passerby cast weary glances over the fench. The knot forming atop you skull was bloody and passively sore, just the whimper of the wind enough to make it sting and throb like a heartbeat.

“My wife seriously just beat me in the head with a frying pan. Oh my God…” Umbra was not fairing much better with her similarly pounding skull and swirling thoughts. She nursed the wound with a hoof pawing at her hair, though you reflexively covered it with your soothing hand. Though accepting of it initially, it took but half a breath for the mare to duck away and sneer at you. She attempted to force a growl from her enraged through, but the dry and ragged tunnel could only produce a weak mewl of disatisfaction. Your hand fell to the stoop in a defeated slump of lifelessness, neither your nor the fuming wife below able to look the other in the eye. Umbra cast her gaze shamefully to the grass below, you the painted fence surrounding Derpy’s garden.

A sullen silence blanketed you two, pin-holes in the suffocating sheet punctured by the lively chirp of insects, the songs of birds and the far-off bustle of Ponyville. It occurred to you just how quiet Ponyville was, the low din of life clearer and more harmonious in this place than anywhere you’d ever been. Umbra drank in the beautiful humor of it, as if the world was so indifferent to this earth-shattering afternoon that it didn’t dare lay quiet. Nature, reality, all things turned on their axises regardless of the household’s conflict. The Queen felt small once again, sucking a shakey breath and coming dangerously close to a sob.

“They’re gonna come lookin’ for us.” You finally said with beads of sweat rolling down your face.

“Yes…” Umbra mumbled as her ribs pulled in tight against her chest and forced every breath from within.

“I think we should take a walk.” Your wife cast a weary glance toward you and flashed her teeth in a growl.

“Give us some time to talk.” The dirty expression written across her face died somewhat when your forcibly calmed tone of voice shook her. A subtle begging for her to calm and be herself once again.

“Hrrm… I agree.” As if connected by steel rods, you both stood up and whined at the discomfort in your bodies. Umbra’s stiff and bruised muscles could barely carry the burden of her weight and your exhausted, battered body protested each and every step. Steering away from town center, you and Umbra made for the shrubbery of the forest. Down a small deer path where the brambles grew shoulder-height and the sun could just barely beam through, there was a lovely dell carved out of slight hills. Umbra could see the subtle and muddled signs of ancient construction here, old Ponyville perhaps digging out a reservoir for irrigation many generations before. To your simpler mind however, it was just a depression between two hills that collected cool and refreshing water.

Gentle currents pulled it out of the Everfree and into Ponyville at a trickle that filtered the crystalline water. A murmuring creek on one end and an impenetrable thicket on the other, the disturbed earth had long dissolved into a sandy bank that subtly faded into the greenish coolness. It was a popular place for the summer-time crowd afflicted with fatigue and heated fur, but in the middle of a work day it was entirely abandoned. Not a soul disturbed the slowly moving water, not even a fish breaking the surface to snap at occasional horse flies.

Umbra wordlessly moved into the water and soaked her hooves in the wet sand, letting the lapping disturbinences splash up her legs like kisses of cool wind. You peeled your sodden boots off and rolled your socks off your tired feet, setting them up on a dead pine’s limb to air-out however much they could in the moist summer haze. Pulling a smoothed river rock with you and setting it in the sand, you sat down next to her. Again the roar of nature consumed you two as the words and thoughts tumbled in your minds. Neither could filter them out properly to find the right thing to say, Umbra in particular soared through so many options trying to figure out the right balance.

Accusation, affection, demanding, desire, betrayal, forgiveness. How could so many conflicting and diametrically opposed emotions make a single thought? There was no coherence in this state, no manual to create a focused sentiment from these disparate pieces. Silently, peacefully, you gave your battered wife a chance to speak.

“Anonymous?” She started, refusing to look you in the eye.

“Yes?” You replied gently, locking your fingers together in a brace of readiness. Whatever may come your way, you let yourself believe that it was earned. For this moment, no matter your justification, you were prepared to accept whatever punishment was intended for you. Umbra turned to face you, her face smeared with the proverbial mud of conflicting emotions cutting through her. Deep strife slashed into her soft and rounded flesh, her cheeks made puffy with tears and aggravated redness.

“I wish for your most honest answer… because whatever it may be… even if it the most devastating blow you may deal… I will accept it.” Sitting seemed too pitiable a position for this ordeal. With visible difficulty you moved to kneel before your wife, soaking your pants carelessly with the rejuvenating waters of the dell. Umbra was at your eyes’ level when you came to this posture, but a lowered head put it in perfect striking range if she felt the need.

“Yes…” You answered solemnly. Your wife sucked in a ragged breath through her bruised throat, the dry tone rasping against her quivering teeth.

“Have you desired another? Well and truly… felt an emptiness in thine heart?” The silence weighed so greatly on you both it was a wonder that bone and flesh could withstand it. She was so vulnerable to you, sacrificing her indignant rage once more for an opportunity to be humiliated. A righteous thing to do, but uncalled for. The throbbing lobe of insult pulsating deep within you at the very suggestion that you’d ever forsake your wives for pleasure stung. It burned and wormed its way deeper with every razor-like second that the words danced in your mind. Umbra watched your expression twist into a snarl of ferocious denial.

“Never.” You grunted, begging to a higher power that she would follow her word and accept your answer. The Queen didn’t want to. Her nostrils flared and her heart ached in the same manner they had whenever someone spoke lies to her. Umbra’s instincts had so rarely failed her that she considered it nothing short of blasphemy to doubt them.

“Then these visitations from the Princess in the Night…”

“Uninvited.” You retorted sternly, gripping your hands into bloodless fists.

“On this, you swear?” The authority in her voice fueled you. The call of a husband’s duty rang deep within you. Without doubt, fear or conflict you brought your gaze to hers and answered.

“I swear on my daughter that I would never go behind your back. I’d rather have nothing than risk what we’ve got.” Tension built between you two as she digested your answer. The sentiment tossed and turned in her mind as she felt the relief of her acceptance, all the while swallowing a bitter tang of doubt. Umbra could deconstruct every word, every inflection and the tiniest details of your speech until it was all meaningless. Her analytical and precise mind could turn this heartfelt moment into a rhetorical study that she would doubtlessly control and dominate. Just as the devious mare had done so many times before in politics, she could turn your right into a wrong with flicks of her tongue.

Not for an instant however, did she consider it. The Queen had neither the stamina nor the vitriol to oppose this agony within. Her heart swelled and pushed forward a tide of tears and blood into her face the moment a crack showed. Her entire expression fell apart and turned into a puffy, simpering mess of whimpers and whines. Umbra’s muscles shook as the oxygen rushed out of her lungs in gasps of melancholy, their strength fading away.

“Oh… oh my King!” Your dark wife fell into your arms and melted into a watery slag against your heart. Glowing diamonds hummed with unified energy once again as harmony was partially restored in that sweaty and suffocating pond. The water splashed around you both and cooled the infernos of doubt welling within, heightening your need to hold her close and keep her secure. Your Queen sobbed into your neck and bit on to your flesh to keep you close, praying that you would never slip away from her grasp.

“C’mere you… that’s it…” You huffed into her thick bundle of sweltering mane and kissed her gently, peppering her skull with reaffirming and sweet affection. Umbra sniffled and whined continuously as the burning rot of doubt and regret receded inside.

“What has come over me? Why was I so quick to believe you betrayed me?” She whimpered between throaty coughs and snotty hiccups, her hooves desperately pawing and pulling at your belly to keep their manic grip.

“Have I fallen so low? Am I coming apart?” You refused her punishing talk, insisting that bringing her in closer and smothering the doubt from her mind would do the trick. Wrapped in such a secure and powerful cage of human muscle, the mare naturally relaxed her continuous trembling.

“Babygirl… I don’t know what’s up with you.” The whisper into her ear made it twitch and tune towards you to absorb every word.

“But I don’t care. I wanna help you. I wanna get to the bottom of this and make it all better.” The ebon pony pulled in against you until she was a compressed bundle. Her limbs and tail tucked against her pudgy body as you carelessly relaxed into the water and soaked your trousers. Sweat poured from the both of you and mingled with the humid atmosphere until steam danced about your heart-felt, devastating embrace.

“My King…” She murmured weakly, her face naturally molding to your hands as they encircled her cheeks. Staring into your eyes with a breathless mouth hanging open, your thumbs pushed away the salty and stinging tears. She looked entirely unlike herself, for the strength was drained from the mare. Your Queen was nothing more than a helpless commoner overwhelmed by her vices. Instincts fired up inside your chest to protect and hold and nurture. Your natural inclination to keep what was yours safe aggravated your muscles into locked braces armoring your petite little bride.

“But you have to be honest with me.” The tone was serious enough to betray exactly how you felt. A dark and stoic voice made Umbra pinch her eyes shut once more, silently rejecting his fact.

“You have to tell me everything, Babygirl. I can’t help you unless you let me in.” She struggled visibly to swallow your words. Each one smacked her like bitter dust thrown in her face. Umbra burrowed deeper into your hands to hide her shameful denial, as if she could perhaps just dig inside you and let her agony be understood. Not a single word could form between her lips, for they refused to stay still long enough to make a sound. Jaw bones chattered and locked when she attempted to force something out, anything that might help push this along.

“I-... I can’t… Anonymous…” Your wife confessed, covering her face with her hooves like a humiliated school girl.

“Everything you know of me- HIC! All that I have built with you… the truth would… drive it all away.”

“Babygirl, nothing you could ever say would make me stop loving you! Don’t think like that!” You begged, holding her face in both hands to try and comfort the shattered mare.

“I am unworthy of your love! I always have been!” She gagged and whimpered around her words as the clank of plate armor shattered the peaceful atmosphere. Hooves beat on the earth and signaled the arrival of your awaited entourage, unwelcome and unwanted as they might’ve been. A pit formed for your heart to plummet into, the stormy cloud forming over you made all the thicker when that normally non-threatening and girly voice snapped like a whip across your back.

“Anonymous!” Twilight called out, her authority bolstered by flared wings, a glimmering crown and a duo of her personal guards. Spear-wielding stallions far more muscular than you could ever be flanked the Princess with sharp tips directed at you, ready to put you down should they be commanded. The punishing stare burned through you and commanded you to answer no matter how much you wanted to deny it. Umbra let you go reluctantly, standing on her own weak hooves as your dripping body rose to full height. No matter how long you had walked these lands, ponies still stepped back when you towered over them. Hardened soldiers doubtlessly facing much greater monsters still mindfully pulled back from your relatively leviathan figure.

“I don’t want this to be any uglier than it’s already been. Give us Umbra and we will take care of the rest.” Twilight didn’t request, or even command. She ordered you. The divine authority handed down a proclamation that could compel any creature in Equestria to legally submit. There was no higher office than this, no greater being to appeal to if one disagreed. She was sure you would understand, for her stance was that of regal pompousness, rather than readied attack. You stood and waited for her to say something further, perhaps to justify this obscene desire so you could speak in defense of your wife. But against your wishes, Umbra was already trudging forward with her head lowered and her tail tucked against her rear.

“Hold it.” You huffed, overriding the supreme ruler of the land. Twilight recoiled with widened eyes as Umbra obeyed you, her own expression likewise befuddled.

“Anonymous-”

“Shush. I’ll handle this.” You chided your wife with quick and quiet words. Words that utterly enflamed the neurotic Princess.

“Anonymous! I’m not giving you a choice!” Twilight snapped with visible frustration painted across her face.

“An incident has been reported by several townsfolk. We must restrain her and keep her under surveillance until we understand what triggered it.” You scowled at the presumptive little pony, your human sensibilities refusing to feel intimidated by the diminutive and mouthy beast.

“I understand the concern but it’s really not necessary.” You answered calmly as you could, but the tremble of fear was indeed there. Umbra could taste it like ash on the tongue. It rocked her confidence like the shiny spear points rocked yours.

“This mare’s my jurisdiction and I’ve got everything under control. No need for an intervention.” Twilight could not look more offended if she tried. That spark of righteous anger and challenged authority erupted across her face clear as a summer afternoon.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Anon.” Twilight harshly retorted with a nod toward her guard, who in turn moved with a mechanical and trained step forward.

“But I won’t hesitate to apprehend you both if it means keeping Ponyville safe.” Insult was the only emotion you could feel when the squat and powerful stallion brought a weapon within inches of your gut. With the slightest lean forward he could gut you like a fish and completely disable you. Twilight was no innocent either, her incomprehensible magic restrained just to give you a choice in the matter. If she wished, the unicorn could no doubt have you and your wife suspended above the air and rushed wherever she pleased. Refusing to flinch, blood running cold as a tundra river, you bat the spear away with the flat of your palm.

“Umbra is under my care. And I was given this mission to watch over her by the Celestia Sisters in the contract we signed. You don’t have any say in what I do with her.” If the purple unicorn could turn entirely red, the rage building in her would’ve obliged instantly. She fumed and stomped her hoof as you carried on refusing her. Pulling out the details of a contract was the perfect way to incense the academic young mare, for the mind-numbing and scrawling fine print of a contract was exactly the kind of thing she prided herself in understanding. Challenging her interpretation at the book club was a recipe for an angry alicorn, let alone a legally binding document

“I am the Princess, Anon! As a subject of Equestria you are bound by my word!” She hissed and pulled at you with wisps of magic to make her point all the more clear. The weightlessness of lifting wards made you uneasy and struggle to stand, the water around your legs rising upwards in reverse teardrops. The guard likewise never let his stance down, ready and willing for potential violence.

“I answer to Celestia! She gave me this job, she has the final word!” You barked before hovering several inches out of the water, helplessly kicking and struggling for gravity to save you.

“Guh! Hey! Damn it- put me down! If you take that mare away from me, I’m calling that fat white blowhard down here tomorrow to lay you out, Twilight!” Her guard flinched at such harsh language and prodded at you with the blunt ends of their weapons.

“Speaking ill of Her Majesty won’t help you, human!” They belted as Twilight scowled and approached you with narrowed eyes.

“My Darling, it’s okay…” Umbra groaned in exhausted defeat. She limply hung in the embrace of Twilight's brightly colored magic, completely opposite to your stiff flailing.

“The hell it is! I wanna talk to Celestia!”

“This isn’t about you, Anon!” Twilight snapped back, jabbing you in the nose with her hoof.

“This is about the safety of Ponyville and everypony in it.”

“Then let me watch the crazy woman like I’m supposed to and get out of my business!” The stubbornness that Twilight often showed others was shockingly annoying to be on the receiving end of. Her teeth ground together as she fought and whittled at your ridiculous resolve, quickly discovering that it was rapidly worsening the situation.

“RRGH! ANONYMOUS!” She snarled, nearly losing control over herself. The veins in her neck bulged with a masculine rage as you refused her again and again, challenging her authority time and time again. Royal training kicked on in the back of her mind, whispering silently for a calm approach. She indeed had the will and the legal authority to order your arrest. The mare was no minor princess or wealthy noble, thus there wasn’t much you or any other pony could do about her.

However, diplomacy begged for an alternative. Surely you would follow up on your word if she were to subdue you and Umbra, no matter how reasonable it might’ve been. The most reasonable thing to do somehow seemed the less ethical option in her grinding and articulating mind. Twilight huffed and regained her composure with deep, thoughtful breaths. Steam puffed from her ears and her cheeks quickly lost the flushed red coloring they had. Just as the royals had taught her, if one approach didn’t work, there was always another. A disagreement was simply a compromise in the making.

“Ugh… you want an audience with the Princess?” You nodded sharply, attempting to reach for your wife when she was suspended in a separate sphere from you.

“Yes Ma’am.” You answered simply. Twilight never softened her icy look, but neither did you.

“She’s handled this longer than you, no offence.” Twilight very clearly took offence.

“I can’t let her just walk around like this, Anonymous. You know that would be irresponsible of me.” A flurry of words wanted to come out of your mouth. They halted at the very last moment when your better judgement decided to make itself known.

“But… if you’re so driven to resolve this yourself? I can make an offer.” Umbra cocked an eyebrow in surprise, but still hung limp as a cooked noodle in the Princess’ grasp. Her ears tuned toward the mouthy and purple Princess to hear her out, the terms you agreed too surprisingly relaxed for the circumstances. Though she never dropped you two during the negotiations, the power you exerted over Twilight drove Umbra mad.

Dauntless will, a clear and concise intent that would not be defied. A singular objective and a will to see it through no matter what hell came before it. Initially trying to focus on Twilight and address her, Umbra’s attention split rapidly into falling stars of hazy focus. She felt no compulsion to show respect and give her attention to the intervening Princess. The distrust and vitriol reserved for the Royalty fell away, the overwhelming security she felt in you trickling in its stead.

You defended her, stood tall and rebuffed attacks that might spirit her away from her new home. The feelings of abandonment, of utter and total loneliness creeping in once again burned off into toxic smoke harmlessly streaming into the atmosphere as you talked Twilight down. She scowled in frustration, whined and complained as you made your terms clear. You bent the Princess into pretzels and refused to compromise on Umbra’s safety.

She wouldn’t be taken away and she most certainly wouldn’t be examined by anyone, for now. Twilight only allowed you to walk back home one your own feet after you consented to Umbra’s house arrest. She would be confined in the home until the Celestial Sisters could decide how to proceed, just how you wanted it.

In a rare moment of total contrast, Umbra felt utter dread upon seeing the modest home you called your own. A deep, cold and fermented fear snapped upwards from her belly and drove a spear through her gut. The ancient sorceress’ heart skipped beats and groaned behind her ribs, pressing outwards like it wanted to rip free and shirk the consequences of its actions. You felt much the same and couldn’t hide it. Twilight stood at the precipice between fence and yard, watching callously for your next move.

“Well? Go on then.” She commanded, her wings twitching in aggravation against her back.

“You wanted to go home so bad? Then go.” Umbra and you both looked back at the mouthy alicorn skittishly as the color drained from your faces. You swallowed hard, tossing over the words you would try and present to Derpy. Should she not forgive you, should she deem Umbra unfit to be around Dinky now, there wasn’t much justification for Umbra remaining in your care. Twilight would have every reason in the world to whisk her off to the Friendship Castle and never let her go. Exchanging glances with your sullen wife, the weakness in the air sat thick as concrete between the two of you. A monotonous droning groaned in Umbra’s mind, blocking out reasonable thought when such uncertainty dominated the air.

It was on you, then.

Stepping forward and rapping your knuckles against the rattling screen door you meant to fix felt like dipping your hand into boiling oil. You very bones hurt thinking about this apology. Every breath you drew to talk burned like smoke in your lungs. And kneeling down in front of the stoop was like exploding every joint in your back. Twilight stared in utter confusion as you and Umbra both knelt for the door, as such practice was normally reserved for addressing those of higher birth. Thus, it was jarring when a mare of no special status and a child lorded over you both with puffy eyes and deep frowns.

Derpy looked down on you two expectantly. She was a punishing goddess in need of pleasing after such heinous transgressions against her household. Dinky appeared to have aged several years in your absence, for the lines of crushing betrayal and fear were etched into her tear-soaked fur. Your little girl quivered at the sight of you. Umbra’s darling pupil gasped in genuine fear. It was enough to kill the Queen. The agony was stacked high enough to crush her into paste that might never rise again.

“Baby…” You started by swallowing the thick lump of mud in your throat. It had been quite a long time since you felt this small in Equestria.

“I… I’m sorry I raised my voice at you. It was wrong of me to treat you so harshly when you were just trying to help…” Derpy cocked an eyebrow at you and lifted her snout. For a moment you tasted rejection like iron on your tongue. Every muscle cramped up and locked in place within your body, for the very idea was poisonous to you.

“I- I don’t ever wanna scare you like that again, Dinky. I was being a rotten old man when I yelled at you. Your poppy should never ever speak to you like that and I know it…” Dinky whimpered and looked to her Mother. Wordlessly Derpy directed her attention to the huffing Queen. The pathetic lump of coal you called a wife fell to her belly and cowered like a dog, half out of respect and half fear. The top Mare would judge her every move and perhaps- perhaps- show mercy. Dinky waited on Umbra’s words with baited breath and stood anxiously at the edge of the stoop.

“Darling Gem… My precious and most cherished student… I am… I have shown myself quite foolish today.” The words had to fight through a thick and heavy filter of pride that still rested within her.

“In my haste I have endangered this family. My ignorance nearly cost me all that I value! Snf-! A stupid old mare I am… hardly worthy of the whealth I’ve been given!” Your wife buried her face in her hooves and choked down ragged breaths through a hitching and sobbing throat.

“My Darling I have so thoughtlessly destroyed your trust! I cannot believe my own ignorance and impulsiveness! If there was a hope in all the heavens that I could take this day back, I would give anything to have it!” She pressed to the ground like a puddle, averting her eyes to the itchy grass.

“If they took this demon away for a thousand years more, the punishment would be too lenient. This old fool is too rotten to beg for an apology. But she can only you hope you will not judge too quickly. Dinky… with all my heart I apologize to you.” Suddenly it was like you two had been buried up to your chins in sand. The burning air scalded your flesh and pulled at Umbra’s fur like a million hooks on wings. You scorned low-lifes peered hopefully up at the goddess of your forgiveness, silently pleading for levity.

Derpy glowered down at you. You had stood under unkind divinity, dismissive nobles and ignorant townsfolk. But never in your life had they affected you like this. Celestia’s holy light could intimidate, but only your pudgy wife’s scorn could completely dismantle you. Dinky on the other hand, seemed to be completely rattled. Her tiny and delicate mind was racing into territory she was ill-prepared for. The dark heft of adult agony, of prolonged and inescapable suffering. The destruction of the pure by forces hardly considered evil, yet hardly welcomed. In her panicked fear she wanted Umbra to stay away, she wanted the infiltrator gone and banished forever.

But those green eyes were much too genuine. The sickly color of putrefaction, humid spring leaves and shiny beetles. How could little Dinky ever punish a face that had raised her? How could she ever turn her back on a genuine compassion? Nothing in all existence could compel her young heart to that truest form of hatred. The very idea was a million miles away.

“Auntie!” She finally whined, skittering on her hooves and flying into her fluffy care-taker. The sopping wet, sweaty and tangled embrace they shared made all in attendance step back in surprise, but quickly gravitate closer. You embraced both Umbra and you daughter as they fell into tears and tight hugs. Just as your arms braced around them and held them close like eternal chains, their painful cries and sobs flaked off the heavy layers of masculine stoicism from your heart. It was difficult not to cry when your beloved were so moved by emotion, especially when your treasure of a wife gently folded her wings about you and kissed your forehead.

“Oh my Gem! My precious, brilliant Dinky! I won’t ever harm ye again! Never again so long as this body lives!” Umbra belted into the young one’s cheek as she kissed it again and again, peppering her with affection compressed into a lethal bolt. Dinky returned it with an unbreakable deathgrip around the dark unicorn that securely tethered her to home. Never again would her absence darken her life. Derpy nuzzled between your eyes as the blood rushed your face and nearly shoved tears from your eyes, her expression of warming relief like heaven splitting itself open for you.

“Welcome home, Bubby.” She cooed softly, kissing you once again to soothe the fires of fear in you. It worked brilliantly, taking all the strength and stamina out of your muscles.

“Now… come inside. You need a tubby and some dinner.” With her wings she guided the huddled mass of emotions back into the house, calmly directing things just as she always had. Twilight watched in somewhat confused awe as the entire scene unfolded before her, both eyes wide open to catch every detail of the emotional exchange. She watched as Derpy turned about to address her and disengaged from her simpering entourage.

“I must say Derpy. I’ve never seen anything quite like that.” The Princess congratulated with a small smile toward the housewife, watching as the pride glowed across her face.

“Thank you for bringing her back.” She replied, tucking her wings nearly against her back as loose strands of gilded mane hung in her eyes.

“Anonymous insisted she could handle house arrest… I hope you know that you’re in charge of that.” Derpy snickered and perked her ears in interest.

“I’ll do what I can… but you won’t take my baby’s Auntie away without a fight.” Derpy said with startling clarity, enough to make even the all-powerful Princess retract.

“So long as she doesn’t make me take her away, then it won’t be an issue.” Derpy held her rather threatening smile for a moment before softening once again.

“I will send something in the mail when I hear back from the Sisters.” Twilight state simply and made for her castle once, leaving the area in relative peace again.

You, meanwhile, drew a bath with Umbra upstairs. Dinky had to be pried off her so she could be made somewhat presentable again, your poor pretty wife splattered with mud and dirt and river water. You weren’t much better, still speckled by the filth of the saw mill and stained with burning sweat. Settling into the hot water with her was very much like taking a soggy pillow into the tub, for your limp and lifeless Umbra simply folded against you. The mare sighed and breathed deep with her head against your chest, dripping and soaking silently whilst your heartbeat soothed her racing mind. You chewed on your cheek and let the relaxing heat percolate through your body, staring down at the dark pony clinging to you and refusing to look you in the eye.

She might’ve been a sassy handful, a secretive little demon and a wild pain in your ass at times. But you could never imagine how on Earth she could consider herself “unworthy” of your love. The very notion burned your mind with questions. Umbra, however, was in no state to provide answers. For the time being, you would simply have to wonder to yourself how she could be so low.

Perdition. Part1.

Author's Note

An unusual content warning but important nonetheless. The following chapter contains horror, tragedy and mild gore. This chapter is part 1 of 2, given its rather intense composition. Should one find that the content is too offensive for them, then part 2 is offered as a less serious alternative. Ideally both should be read, however, part 2 can be read and understood in the greater context of things without having to read part 1.

Apologies for the strange structure. But I felt it necessary to present it in such a way as to allow readers with less tolerance for horror-centric literature to still enjoy this pivotal part of the story. Please do let me know if there is any confusion or if you have any particular critiques of it, as I have not done such a thing in the past. Part 2 will be uploaded shortly.

Many thanks for the continued to support and comments. Shout outs to Shadowwolf

Perdition. Part1.

Chapter 7.
Perdition, Part 1.

Combing over the stacks of papers, the documents waiting to be signed and the dense bills laden with ear-marks, Princess Luna calmly buried her angst. The dark colored Princess sat in her office, one of the most luxurious in all the world and embraced the loneliness of such a grand place. So much space, wasted on openness and opulent decorations in her name. The desk below her was large enough for several ponies to sleep on, yet she only ever used a small portion in the very center for her business. Since the summer heat was in full swing, the damp warmth had come through the windows and wet the stone. A tin fan wedged into the narrow siege windows moved the air through, humming along with a pleasing white noise the Night Mistress valued.

She sighed deeply as the approach of hooves echoed down the long hall, their distinctive weight and timing signalling exactly who was coming. Cyan eyes scanned over one last document with little interest before setting it aside in the light of a bluish crystal lamp. Truth be told, only half the content of any given legislation was being read. Luna’s ancient mind was so helplessly occupied that it failed time and time again to register the words pouring into it. Article five this and expansive innovation that, the monotonous pace of such talk that understandably put the normal pony into a deep coma of boredom.

Rather than the important legal procedings of her nation, Luna consistantly found her focus falling to the old-fashioned scroll that had been sent to both her and Princess Celestia. The distinct handwriting of an actual hand writing and the tell-tale scent of dusty old parchment stored in still shelves marked it quite clearly. Drawing a deep breath once again she unfurled it in her magic and read it for what must’ve been the hundreth time that day.

”Explosive anger- advanced apparition magic- the conjuring of the hatred demon Zreth-ihna- verbal abuse directed toward a filly- threats of violence- recomend intervention and study to determine the cause of the outburst- Umbra currently under house arrest- please advise.” Naturally Twilight’s rather long-winded style of writing filled the entire piece of parchment from top to bottom and side to side. Reporting on one incident that seemingly took a few minutes to occur, the Friendship Princess described it down to the most agonizing detail.

In her tossing and turning mind the Princess could not determine just how she should feel about this latest event. In her most genuine heart the distress welled thick and cold. Simply thinking of such awfulness plauging her people put the Princess ill at ease, especially when you and yours were the face of such negativety. The less compassionate and more professional portions of her saw opporunity, however. Just as any good politician knew, there was nothing about a panic that couldn’t be exploited. This long and grinding campaign of allowing Umbra to bear children might finally have just the spark of energy it needed. The Princess silently scorned herself for such a heartless manner of thinking, however it was certainly for the best. Luna had never let her ambitions trip over something petty as her own concern. The exact verbage of the law she envision played again and again in her mind’s eye. Her speech to a worried and flustered council was perfect parts emotional appeal and calculated legality. All that would be required was proper timing. Then a majority vote would be assured.

Assuming of course that the mare who just came through her doors didn’t immediately veto it all.

“I trust that you’ve received Twilight’s latest report?” Celestia said from the ajar door of ebony wood and wrought iron. Her soothing voice echoed through the hall like it were hollered into a tin can, stiff walls and high ceilings projecting it about in reverberations of authority. Luna didn’t stir from her reading posture, insisting that she finish the last few words of the document before addressing her regal guest.

“Yes… yes indeed. It hath come across our desk when the sun began to set.” Celestia stepped into her Sister’s abode with a metered trot and a soft expression. Her approach was designed to dispel any hostility and communicate her pure intent, but her mere presence conspired against her. The crunched and sour glare on Luna’s snout was nothing but closed and conspiring. Coming to a stop just between the pair of fine chairs set before her Sister, Celestia breathed deeply the ancient aroma of moist stone and old mortar.

“We suppose it shall make for a lively discussion tomorrow. Surely you have sent the council copies if they have not already heard of it?” Luna didn’t look up from her documents and spoke in victory, as if her plan was all coming together right then and there. Her alabaster sister sighed and cast her eyes to the floor for a moment, her pomp posture and regal control failing for a moment.

“I’ve gone through the proper channels and alerted all the representatives.” She said with no enthusiasm to her voice.

“But I have my doubts that they will be so excited to hear of Umbra’s latest outburst.” A smug little grin split Luna’s snout, victoriously proclaiming her own satisfaction. The Night Mistress tapped her papers into order and fluttered her wings in excitement.

“Indeed. They ought reconsider their opinions then! Callous as it may seem mine Sister, We may finally have the upper hoof in this matter.” Deflating poor Luna was never a weak mare’s task. Educated and wise as she was, her self-assured nature had eternally been a point of struggle for her. A racing mind could run through all the complex political calculations quickly, but it might never cast a wary glance back to check its math.

“Maybe… or maybe they’re still tangled in the matter of Blueblood’s ascent to Arch Colonel in the Equestrian Guard. As is the press.” Luna’s expression instantly contorted into a indignant pout, her ears pinning back and the warmth in her chest doused with dark sludge.

“What of such a vain matter? ‘Tis only a thing that disturbs fillies and mares whomst remain young in their hearts!” She dismissed instantly the rather contemporary matter of their relative’s promotion, for in her busy mind it hardly registered as anything beyond a simple clerical error.

“Far more pressing matters are to be decided on. The council will surely forget themselves and act quickly. 'Tis the duty We hath passed down to their clans.” Celestia scowled and looked away from her cocky sister, earning quite the piercing glare.

“Luna. Surely you’ve been paying attention in the last several meetings we’ve had?” The dark sibling cocked an eyebrow in visible offense, her tail lashing out behind her.

“Dear as this issue has been to us-”

“As it still is!”

“Right, right. Dear as it is to us, the public’s moved on.” If the Night Princess could write “confused” on her face, it would’ve been a less obvious indicator of her feelings. Celestia’s azure sister leaned across her desk with a most accusing posture.

“Public matters art Mine concern, Dear Celestia. Surely so long as this remains unresolved, then it is in the Public’s interest.”

“Yes, you’re not wrong.” Celestia grumbled.

“But their interest has waned. Umbra and her lot have become old news to them. If Umbra no longer concerns, the council will surely wish to focus on the newest trend that does.” Luna drank in the information as if it were bitter spit flung right into her mouth. The alicorn had a serious issue with her proverbial bubble being popped, especially when it was wholly justified to do so. Her lips locked into a tight frown and her eyes into narrow slits of accusing wrath, yet their target was utterly unfazed by such malice. Luna held her breath and watched for Celestia to break, show weakness or concede in any way. But rather, she stood on a solid foundation. There was no beating her down, changing her mind or showing her the light. All Luna could do was accept that she was mistaken and return to some sense of normalcy.

But the very thought made her stomach turn.

“We see… ‘tis a compelling argument.” She hummed, softening herself as if she understood. Celestia watched carefully as the fire crackled and her sister retreated into her fabulous chair. She carefully examined every last move and twitch and retraction in her Sister, sensing the lack of genuine acceptance in her.

“I don’t intend to demean you, Luna. I’m humbled by your concern for them.” Celestia placed her hoof over her heart with a warm smile, watching Luna’s face twitch with slight insult. In truth, there was only one unusual creature that held her so-called “concern.” The same one that had infested her thoughts since the night before.

“But I cannot stand to watch you bend yourself into knots trying to help them. I’m pressing you let go of this impossible task.” Tense seconds built between them as Celestia watched her Sister sit there in utter silence. The Night Mistress breathed deep and stared into the dancing fire roasting cedar logs in her hearth, crackling and blackening fibers glowing with a dull and soothing orange.

“We can call an emergency meeting in the morning, if it will make you feel better.”

“Nay…” Luna said with shaking head and dull eyes, standing from her desk and making her way around its impressive length.

“Yee speak the truth, Dear sister. Yet the shining light of this radiant knowledge is simply too bright for Min eyes.” Luna grumbled and made for her door, stepping right past her sister without so much as a wayward glance.

“Allow us to reflect on this lack of sight.”

Luna’s night came late in the evening, as was customary in the summer. She ruled the winter, Celestia the fertile and active time of heat. The Princess dallied in her fancy delights in order to vent some of her frustration then. The public baths, hardly used since she had returned, were still polished to prim and shiny perfection. The marble pocked by iridescent mosaics of heros and history surrounded her as the fresh spring water poured ceaselessly from the ceiling. Polished bronze plates let in steam from the bubbling flow as it trickled down into the lower parts of Canterlot, filtering off the filth of busy nobles through the sediment, rocks and moss of ancient landscapes. Luna got to enjoy it in its most pure form, the divine liquid mysteriously generating from the very top of this holy mountain her castle encircled.

Soaking through her fur and imparting its heavenly warmth through her tired muscles, the great alicorn sighed deeply in the echoing hall. Peacefulness enshrouded her as the water did, stillness unparalleled creating a glassy and reflective surface for her to sink into. The deepest pools allowed her entire body to sink, only the top third of her neck emerging from the relaxing depths. Her mane filled the water like a cloud, her wings unfurled and stroked gently to make lapping waves and her mind wandered away in thought. The Princess could indulge in whatever she desired, whenever the need struck her. Luna hadn’t known hunger or want since she had returned from her cold exile, yet here these very sensations were twirling within her.

Generations had labored, withered away and risen again in efforts to see this place. Ponies dedicated their lives and bodies and minds to reaching this zenith of class and opulence. Yet the Mistress of Night was still lacking. There was not a soul there to comfort her. To bring living noise to this otherwise silent place. The babble of water and the rush of current was nowhere near as satisfying as the steady breaths of another. Naturally, the highest authority of the land could borrow any pony she liked for an evening or two. Many hundreds of stallions and many hundreds of mares were doubtlessly lining her halls at that very moment just for a chance to be her consort. But that one being she craved was barred even from her.

Luna relaxed into the water until it enswathed her lips and rested just below her huffing nostrils. Her eyes sharpened to needles as her thoughts focused and her eternal energy turned outwards. Glowing dully and humming quietly, her horn came to life and filled the bath hall with its wavering pulse of magic.

In an instant she was flying through the practiced motions of dreamwalking. Generally she prefered to be in the safety of her own chambers when visiting her subjects, but on such an occasion the Princess simply couldn’t wait. A mage expert as her in this practice could certainly dreamwalk and float at the same time, thus she needn’t worry about smothering herself and being yanked from her focus. Larger matters were at hand anyway. Or so she convinced herself. Her yearning grew so deep that there was no distraction on her way into the void. Right through the clouds of thoughts and feelings and cries for help she soared. Her pace was like a bullet ripping through the air, her ripples of penetrating energy converting many nightmares to reaffirming experiences and meaningless drivel into impactful revelations.

That distinct signature, aroma and flavor of dream was obvious as an alicorn on the streets of Canterlot. Finding it was no difficult feat, but entering it proved surprising to her. The Queen of the Night fell into the scene crafted by this unique mind with shocking ease, as if it were any other pony naturally accepting her presence. It excited her to feel the membrane of a dreaming soul like this one guiding her inside. The ghostly precipace between waking and sleep gripped like fatherly arms welcoming a weak child home.

Then came the punishing cold. Winds blowing southward whipped across a barren scape bereft of much detail. Luna was but a bodiless perception viewing the scene from a distant vantage completely unaknowledged by the mind manifesting it. She felt the chill of winter’s harshest embrace around her, but nothing so hostile could compare to the warriors inhabiting it. The dominant consciousness in this realm pulled her in, allowed her to feel as it did and hear its voice clearly. She latched onto the man circling another, his eyes beholding a hostile and fierce soldier. All at once, she understood the context.

“Such a fine young man...” You whispered to her without realizing. The idle grip on your sword was tired and practiced. Leather creaked beneath your rough and dented plates of steel armor, the rattle of your opponent’s lamalar like church bells ringing in the distance. Luna could feel your exhuastion, the pain of several wounds bundled together and the weight of age. You moved slowly and deliberately, guaging the slightest moves of your challenger.

He was a young buck, concealed in dark dress of leather, plate and fantastic flare. A mask like a dragon’s mouth covered his face, tall horns rising from his connical helmet. In his hands he held a curved sword that shone brightly with immaculate craftsmanship. The manner he presented it, the singular intent in his eyes and the deep breaths he drew blared his desire to kill like an orchestra. Though shaped like you, he was composed of more demoic components.

He lunged forward and clashed his blade against yours, firing off furious sparks from the chipping metal. His strike was powerful and quick, but impercise and unpracticed. In your experienced bones you felt a lack of training, only talent and drive in his movements. Blocking it sluggishly, you pushed him off with a kick to his armored gut. Flexible lamalar caved inwards and knocked the air from his lungs, leaving him breathless and vulnerable. Easy as it would’ve been to strike then and punish such a brash move, you let him founder and struggle. So much violence for so long, it had left you weary of producing anymore. The burden of a soldier that you had shouldered for so long cut deep into your soul and muscles.

He recovered and made another go at you, this time thrusting the end of his curved blade toward your throat. Another quick parry send him tripping and reeling away from you, nothing but the clang of metal against metal drowning out his exhuasted breathing. Such was the burden of a soldier, to destroy and humiliate what was beautiful. In another life, this young and vestile man could be a husband to your daughter. He could grow and enrich into a fine warrior just as you were. In a fatherly manner, you wished to raise him, teach him and nurture his potential rather than silence it forever.

But a soldier’s duty is never to nurture. Your sworn loyalty to higher powers compelled you to follow this honorable task, no matter the pain it incurred. This young warrior’s transgression against your Queen could never be forgiven. His ambitions were too destructive to allow. Thus, it fell to you to cut him down. The moment of clarity that returned to you soured any hope for resolution. In his rage he came again with raised blade and hollers of murderous energy, only for you to direct your straight blade into his underarm.

A rare spot bereft of any protection on a knight. Instantly the dark steel dove into his soft flesh and negated a lifetime of training. You struck like lightning, as if there was no movement between stance and attack. Instantly, his life was over. Muscle split along the straight edge of sharpened, ancient steel. Blood burst from ruptured veins, arteries and capillaries to flood the young man’s body cavity. The air in his chest rushed from his mouth in a silent gasp of agony, the final comfortable breath he would take. This maneuver that senselessly taken so many lives came quickly and mercilessly. You hilted the blade in his body, busting the pauldron opposite of your strike upwards when the blade emerged from his throat. The force lifted him off his feet for the briefest moment, slamming him back down onto shaking limbs when you retracted just as quickly.

One lung split, his heart sliced deeply, his aorta bisected and any opposing bones splintered. It was a dark blow to take against a person, for it was not only deadly but painful. In those final moments as he succumbed to gravity and fell to his knees, he was paralyzed by the agony of withering away. Gasping, coughing, retching up mouthfuls of crimson fluid, the challenger quickly fell forward and planted his face in the soil. Prostrate motionless before you, twitching as his muscles wriggled and twitched, you sighed as the darkness pooled around him.

Another battle just barely won.

All there was to comfort your beaten and battered mind was the image of your Queen bedazzled in diamonds high above. A throne-warming, soft speaking and eternally affectionate matron. It calmed you to imagine her satisfaction with your work, no matter how brutal and endless it might be. Feeling the presence of another, your mind pivoted quickly. Princess Luna made her interjection with relative ease this time around, finding that your mind accepted her presence with an injection of lucidity.

“Didn’t expect to see you again.” Was all you could muster before the world started to flake off around you. The Night herself took form quickly in a flourish of misty cloud, her azure color and flowing mane filling your vision as a white void slowly consumed everything around you.

“We did not expect such visions from thee, Anonymous.” She retorted with palpable concern in her voice, perhaps even fear. That very same intrepidation rested in the base of your heart, a prey animal fear of some mightier beast that might be stalking nearby. An inexplicable sense of dread wandered through your like the wind combing through an abandoned house, filling you with the icy presence of someone else. You and Luna both turned toward the horizon to behold another warrior, one whose identity was concealed by shadow.

“Hm… this is a curious sight.” She murmured gently, the Night Princess aware that this was but a dream, but disturbed regardless. You faced this figure head-on with your muscles locking into an attack position, readied yet drained. The weight of your armor and weapon now seemed impossible to heave toward him. What was once an extension of your body, your tools in defeating your enemies, now pulled toward the Earth with unending gravity. Your heart pounded in your chest to move thick blood through your aging muscles, much unlike the young and wiry creature threatening you.

Long hair caught the wind and danced about dark eyes glowing red. Not a sheet of armor guarded him against attacks, for a hundred scars were more than enough to stiffen his ghostly flesh. His impressive musculature made even your mighty and healthy body seem sickly and malnourished, a victim of famine before a god. From such distance he stood and watched, breathing deeply and clutching the very same sword as you in his capable hand.

“Anonymous… doth thou have some business yet to attend to?” Luna whispered to you as if this man staring you down might truly lunge forward at any moment and cut you down. You stood firm with readied submission, subtly aware that he would do no such thing. Capable, willing and bloodthirsty as this man was, you knew him too honorable to end your conflict like this. To cut down a man when he was tired and old and beaten was no righteous way. He would wait and watch and study. He would bide his time until the perfect moment came to succeed you and overtake everything you had.

“No… No. I think we’re done here.” You muttered in a moment of lucidity. The Night Mistress took control of the dream with ease and faded everything away. Scraps of scenery and atmosphere broke down and hovered off into nothingness as she reset every aspect of the realm, flattening everything into a blank whiteness fit for impressing one’s thought onto. Heavy metal armor crumbled to dust around you as the profound exhaustion drained away, letting you feel normal once again. The ashy dust of a thousand years of war blew away, uncovering an invisible sun with ghostly rays filling the entire place uniformly. You and her stood in a world of no shadows, no darkness and no subtly.

“What’re you here for?” You asked grimly, struggling to look your Princess in the eye. Luna simply stood with hurt spread across her face, both ears pinning to her skull. The royal was sadly cognizant of why you seemed so distant.

“We’ve heard of thine wife's outburst, fair Anonymous.” She started, your eyebrow raising in curiosity and insult.

“And… We thought it best to come hither and claim some responsibility.”

“I agree.” You interjected the instant her sentence ended, cutting off any hope for a gentle compromise. Luna retracted from you as you spoke, completely unaccustomed to be spoken to in such a manner. Especially when you lorded over her with such height, the spear of embarrassment drove ever deeper into her. You were likewise sickened by your own words. The recoil of such malice and darkness hit your square in the chest and forced a pause into your mannerisms.

“I just… I didn’t mean to-”

“Nay, nay.” Luna huffed with her hoof raised. She resisted the urge to come closer and comfort you, no matter how dearly she desired to embrace you and explain everything away in a single, hurried breath.

“We understand. ‘Tis Our doing that hath drawn such scrutiny to thine clan. We hath acted out of turn and brought conflict to thine beautiful family.” The Princess regained herself and stood firm in preparation for her admission.

“T’was never Our intention to be so thoughtless. The very laws We hath penned to ensure the sincerity and gravity of marriage have We muddied. And toward such a valuable friend, no less.” You watched as emotions flooded her face, for even in a world she controlled there was no suppressing the conflict within. It burned deep to see her struggle so much, a mare of such power and experience rarely put into a vulnerable state.

“We shall grade no vengeance ye wish upon Us. Whether it be never hearing thine sweet voice again or eternal hatred for Our being… ‘tis a fitting punishment.” Her eyes closed and her lip trembled under the weight of this admission. Once again you stood before a mare on the brink of a breakdown, her soft insides exposed like raw flesh to the burning wind. Derpy might have been the absolute Queen at breaking your heart with her tears, but Luna came dangerously close to matching your Wife's brutality. Instinctively you wanted to come forward and hug her, to soothe her weary heart and assure her everything was alright. There wasn’t a drop of malice in you, especially not toward the Princess that had spent the best part of a decade threading you through every legal loophole in Equestria.

In a strictly logical sense it might’ve been best to brush her off and accept such a cold offer. To never speak with her again or court her dreamy wiles would certainly put you in better standing with Umbra. Even better, it would certainly halt any further risk of agitating her in the future. But mares wielded the uncanny power of emotion over you. Physically mighty and stoic as you could ever be, nothing truly mattered when ponies of the female persuasion were beaten down. Years of training from your beloved had conditioned you to protect and serve with an ever-gentle hand. Luna’s transgressions could not even stir you to furrow your brow.

“Jeez… we don’t have to do something like that.” You retorted quietly with arms opening slowly. Luna’s ears perked and her wings fluttered against the small of her back as you spoke. A hopeful glint sparkled in her iris like a star freshly birthed unto the sky.

“But fair Anonymous-”

“It’s really not necessary.” You interjected, holding up a hand to halt her conciliation. She poorly concealed her smile, for the guilt was draining away like sludge pouring from stagnant pools. The words wrestled against one another to find their proper footing in your mind. Filtering them through was carefully done with great strain in your racing thoughts. The Princess’ eyes burned holes through you and made ample gaps for your emotions to pour through. The natural liberation of dreaming loosened your lips as well, damning you to speak nothing but honest truth.

“I liked that kiss… I didn’t want to admit it and I still don’t. But you turned my whole world upside down.” She stepped forward to apologize, but quickly retracted when she thought better on it.

“I hate myself for even thinking about it. I can’t believe that I’d be so selfish, I should’ve said something! Anything! But I just let it happen, like I was too stupid to see where it was going.” Tense silence consumed this spiritual place as you drew deep breaths of recovery, slowly realigning your mind so it could think straight once again. Your nocturnal guest sighed quietly and hung her head in shame, likewise finding the most genuine words to say.

“It is curiously tragic that ye saddle this blame.” She started, standing straighter to make her point all the more clear. You followed her motion with focused and wild eyes desperate for answers.

“That a mare of highest regard approachest thou and the greatest sin was a hesitation to repulse her? A Princess desired for millenia tempted a devoted stallion and he besmirched all his good deeds and all his good wives because he imagined their potential union for but a moment?” She came closer with each word, speaking softly and spreading a smile across her snout.

“Forgive Us, fair Anonymous. But does it not occur to ye that such a stringent prudence is unbecoming of a stallion like thee?” You crossed your arms and huffed in thought, juggling the words in your mind and trying hard to put them together in some sensible manner.

“Were it Our decision to make centuries ‘fore now, we might agree. But we imagine ye hath shouldered this burden at the behest of some repressed and bitter soul.” Thinking back to the heated exchange had at the saw mill just the day prior, a small chuckle boiled up from your chest. Quickly the tension was released like hissing steam from a pressure valve and her coy smile was shared.

“Yeah… now that you mention it? That sounds like Timber Lane…” The Mistress of the Night politely covered her lips with a hoof to laugh at his expense.

“Know ye what he dreams of?” You cocked an eyebrow in fascination, stepping closer to the tall and lithe mare to take in such privy knowledge.

“I figured you’d be sworn to some kind of disclosure agreement about other people’s dreams.”

“Yey, ‘tis Our obligation to maintain some dignity for our subjects… but when Timber Lane fondly conjures images of enjoying his pipe with the belly of Our Sister swollen with his progeny? We see his scolding of ye as bad faith.” You grinned and shook your head at the very notion of Tim having any dreams beyond logs and planks. Luna and you once again felt close to one another in this field of nothingness, as if nothing had ever happened, but the joy such a taboo act brought still lingered.

“Yeah…”

“Yey…” She retorted, staring into your expression with a drowsy and far-off look about her. You returned the favor, falling into her beauty and struggling to keep from drowning in it.

“Surely there is something We can do for ye to make up for the trouble? We would be remiss should We thoughtlessly breed strife and never repent.” In truth, there was certainly something she could do for you. Something only her kind could possibly give you that would set things on the path of healing. All you had to do was gather the gall to ask.

“I think there is…” You started, sucking in a cold breath as Luna prepared herself with misplaced giddiness.

“I want to know… why Umbra hates being called a halfbreed.” Were it not for the blue fur on her cheeks and snout, you could watch the color drain from the Princess’ face. Luna’s ears stood on end in alert and her legs stiffened to prepare for a swift get-away, like you were some predator leaping at her from the bush. The Night herself gulped nervously as the memories of such times flooded her mind again and reinstilled those dreadful sensations.

“Oh… We see…” She said with dry throat and parched lips.

“Is there something wrong?” You spoke with more force than you intended. Frustration was indeed building in you, as it seemed such an innocent and simple question. Given the absolute conflict in Luna’s expression and voice however, it was suddenly apparent just how deep this pain ran.

“We must apologize, Fair Anonymous. ‘Tis a question We have not the memory to answer properly.” Luna said somberly, concentrating for a moment in the vast void. Deep rumbles like bedrock grinding against itself hummed from the ethereal floor however, soon birthing a vertical wall of polished stone. Dark granite rose some ten feet into the air before halting with a stony grunt, your gaze beholding a heavy and metallic door on its front. Rather than any manner of welcoming barrier between rooms, the door more resembled a bulk head on a ship. It was braced by heavy iron bars bolted into place, locked by worm-gear mechanisms that could never be reversed and solid as the Earth itself. No way to look through, no way to every open it without the cruel key-holder’s consent. It was the precipice to a realm that was worse than prison, but a tomb for the living damned. You had to step back in frighten when you saw it, especially when Luna’s dower eyes fell on it and regarded it with such reverence.

“We can only allow ye to see it for yourself… if ye have the strength.”

“Luna… what is that?” You gaped in awe and fear as the blood in your veins chilled.

“A construction of Umbrial Daze’s mind. We grant ye an excursion into her thoughts, her memories, her very soul. Through this door is the world within she that withholds all mystery, regret and suffering accumulated in an unnaturally long life.” As she spoke the bolts came loose and fell from the stone frame. Screeching rust begged not to be opened and forewarned of the world beyond before falling to the floor with silent clatters. Metal and stone cracked and prepared to show you an entirely different realm of imagination and manifestation whether you could possibly comprehend it or not.

“But be warned, Dear human. Ye might find within thine wife things which ye cannot imagine. However much Umbra might’ve regaled to you in your time together, ‘tis not but the very surface of her depravity.”

“What am I supposed to look for in there?” You said with shaky determination.

“Not so much ‘what’ ye must find. But whom.” The last brace disintegrated into dust and revealed the final lock on the door, the only thing that could truly compell it to open. A perfectly smooth hand-print molded into the iron. You stood before it with baited breath and a supreme pressure crushing your ribs. Not a breath could come or go in this moment, for there was such great anticipation you weren’t sure how to react. An entire world twisted and formed and sculpted from Umbra’s mind. A world that would be far more honest and revealing than any dream Luna had ever seen.

“Anonymous?” Luna hummed mere inches from your ear, for the ringing in them was now so bad you could hardly hear her.

“It is not thine duty to see such horrors. Honorable as your devotion is, We must advise against this path.”

“Why’d you show it to me then?” You asked cautiously, lifting a hand to press into the lock and open the way.

“Ye requested it of Us. And We would see thee enlightened, rather than lost.” A dry gulp made a rock settle in your gut with a tiny measure of comfort.

“It’s gonna be wild in there, isn’t it?” Luna simply nodded, standing in a way that would eagerly accept you if the fear grew too great.

“If ye truly wish to know? Ye must see it as it happened.” Several seconds of hesitation gave you no strength. There was no preparation in the world comprehensive enough for the madness intended for you. Much like all of life’s most devastating challenges, there was no warning or mercy in this endeavor. All that was given was you having the will to do it.

So, holding your family in your mind, you pressed your warm palm to the cool iron and let the seal break. The touch of a familiar broke the barrier between your and Umbra’s minds, lacing them together in a manner similar to how Luna wove herself into the patterns of dreaming minds. Through magical means far too complicated for you to ever comprehend, you passed through the threshold between body and soul and fell into your loving wife’s mind as if it were a real physical place.

And instantly the voices of a thousand screaming souls berated you with hurricane force. A sandstorm of hollers and cries and debris kicked up over an expansive landscape scared by deep pink valleys and crooked trees. Bramble patches covered the ground like wiry hairs dripping with stinking bile that whipped into the air and splattered across you. Absolute terror gripped your heart, a basal and unforgettable fear you had never felt in all your waking life. Pain unparalleled soared not only through your physical body, but your mind. All your horrible insecurities, your crippling fears and distant anxieties became reality in that instant and drove spears deep into your conscious.

“GUH?! AAAUGH?!!!” You couldn’t even force the agonized calls from your mouth while your soul was destroyed in this hellish realm. You fell to the ground on your hands and knees, your most internal being under assault from screaming demonic winds. The fleshy and pale earth below pulsed with a steady heart beat that heaved flakes of dry skin into the air, like dinner plates fired from a cannon. Stink like burning sulfur and rotten flesh flooded your nostrils, the very bottom of your soul uprooted from your being. The dead forest of thorny stumps and seething flesh exhaled one last mighty gust against you that caught on your broad chest, thick and sticky air wretched as if released from a dying mouth. Red and black and brown and pink blurred together into a flurry of motion as you were catapulted up and away from this horrible place, rapidly descending off a cliff face and deeper into this nightmare.

You limply soared through the heavy and fetid air of this place until splashing hard into a shallow swamp of sticky tar and water. Though foul smelling and concertedly warm, the goo at least broke your tremendous fall enough to save your body. Not a bone broken, not a bruise. The air lurched back into your chest when you lifted your mouth above the stagnant pool, burning eyes adjusting to the horrors abound.

“Auugh! Holy shit!” You whined with fidgets and weak attempts to right yourself. Greenish and salty water surrounded you and the gooey mud beneath hampered any real attempt to stand again. The water felt as if it were only a few inches deep, perhaps a foot with the mud on the bottom. But there wasn’t a solid surface to brace against. Nothing but smoothed lumps slipped and slurped against you when you fought to keep your head above the surface.

“Hng! Haugh- gah! Son of a- ACK!” After much kicking and squirming you finally sat up in the bog of rotten bilge and oppressive heat, beholding this world you had so brashly entered. Great towers of agitated skin rose up all around you and stretched for miles in every direction. Where there wasn’t barren and jagged mountains of shale, thick cords of blood filled veins criss-crossed over the land. The roar of the wind descended from the sky itself, punching a hole in the sewage-colored clouds and letting a blinding light shine through. The glow burned worse than any fire, moist and ash-filled air gumming up lungs and eyes like stinging glue. Ancient temples of crumbling stone rose up and out of spaces between curling muscles and pulsing tentacles, their heavy bricks blackened by fire and smoothed by the endless storm. It was so incredibly loud there, screams and moans and rumbles and crackles and lightning strikes ringing in your ears.

That such a place could ever be imagined was frightening enough. But the very idea of this land being the incarnation of Umbra’s mind, the mare you had slept next to for seven years now, filled you with a unique dread. Wretched negativity had already flooded your thoughts as a consequence of coming here, but somehow the worry and fear built yet thicker. By some miracle you at least had your wits about you, trembling and sloshing in the thick soup to fight for reason. This swamp stretched on for quite a distance behind you, perhaps several miles of steaming and moving mud placed between your position and the nearest landmass. Were it not for the rock-strewn shore a dozen yards in front of you this journey would’ve surely ended before it even began.

“Focus… focus! Move! Move, you ancient old man!” Mantras of motivation repeated in your thoughts again and again to fuel this incredible effort forward. Swimming through the sludge and pushing yourself along was all you could do, for standing was certainly out of the question. Gravity conspired to pull you down, down, down into the muck, only concerted and concentrated effort keeping you above the waterline. Your muscles tired and grew less useful as you moved, despite no real physical body being present in this spiritual plane. You had to question just how real this all was, for it was terribly real in terms of pain and horror, but nonsensical in construction.

Not that there was much time to ruminate, for something boiled up from deep within the mire. Ghastly bubbles of cloudy funk broke the surface inches from your nose, throwing thick tear-drops of muddy awfulness into your face.

“Mmmmnaaaugh… Anonymous…” A dull and ghostly voice mumbled, some freakish mockery of a face rising from the slop to address you.

“GAH!!!” You barked and thrashed in the water as a mare lifted herself from the bog, her mud-soaked body kicking and squirming in the filth. Cloudy eyes and dark fur were so spattered with grime it was impossible to give her any personality, only the vague and meaningless shape of something that looked alive. She writhed toward you and grabbed your leg between hers, gripping with incredible strength you’d never expect from such a sickly and frail looking creature.

“Augh! G- get off me! God damn it!” You belted and kicked at her fruitlessly, for yet more emerging bodies boiled up to the surface around you.

“Anonymous?”

“Urrrrrnnng…”

“Help us…” Stallions and mares and diamond dogs and all manner of creatures came out of the mud to grab onto you. Desperate limbs and sharp claws and needy teeth dug into your body like you would somehow grant them freedom from this wretched suffering, only serving to slowly pull you down with them.

“Rraugh! Let go of me! GET OFF! Son of a bitch!” Beating against the deathly faces of the departed did no good, for their pain was already so monumental that it hardly affected them to be punched or slapped. They all shared this horrible bog, forming the water, the sludge and the half-dead floor beneath in one massive stew-pot.

“Save us, Anonymous!”

“He’s here… he’s here…”

“Living soul, a living soul!” The water climbed higher and higher up your neck until diamond dog paws grasped about your mouth, silencing your brash protests against this fate. There was no telling how this would end for you, whether the perceived reality of this hellscape could actually hurt you or not, the very real sensation of drowning was booming in your chest. Much like a dream your body was in utter panic, feeling the very carnal presence of death looming nearer to you in that moment. A dozen limbs were dragging you down into the mud, calling your name and begging for help until you joined them in this suffering.

Only when an ethereal force seized you by the ankle did you find any respite from this torment. Yanked and jerked free from the grabbing hands and the biting teeth, the strength of ten stallions pulled you along the slick grime of the pool and toward the shore. For a moment you feared your foot might just come off, perhaps some predator had bitten down on it and was now taking you wherever it intended to do its gnarly work. Instead however you were unceremoniously cast up and out of the water, falling harshly to the shore and retching up whatever grunge had seeped into your throat. Ears ringing, heart pounding, and vision obscured by filth, your savior hid behind this veil of confusion with odd stillness to them.

“See now have I what hath excited them.” A baritone and comforting voice rang inside your skull, the patrimonial tone of a strong man you hadn’t heard since your own father’s voice. Swiping away the sticky mess from your eyes, you were able to look upon the one that had rescued you.

“Haahn… heugh- ECK! Pfeh… thanks, stranger.” You whimpered, beholding a mighty and tall stallion draped in rough robes. The dark burlap lay over him like a sagging wet hide with multiple holes punched through it. A single glimmering eye stared back at you from beneath the hood, a shocking blue against a backdrop of rust-colored sludge. Whoever this stallion was, he was unusually massive. So large in fact, he made you of all people feel small. A complete lack of reaction or natural motion complimented his statue-like presence, for he didn’t even twitch or emote when you stood and shivered like a cold babe.

“You are a strange creature.” He said simply, gently gazing over your tall form with his eye.

“But… recognize this stallion, I do.” The pony grunted with a strange accent, as if he had come from a foreign land that spoke some proto-language long lost.

“Then you can guess why I’m here?” You asked intrepidly, prepared to jump back and run if this too turned out to be some demonic trickery. The stallion said nothing and simply stared at you with his face cold and motionless like a rock.

“Come. To my Son, answers I can provide.” Without so much as a bow or a nod the monstrous stallion turned about and made his way down the shore. A slow and methodical trot that was easy to follow, unlike his words. You cocked an eyebrow at him calling you such a name, though you hadn’t the wherewithal to question it. Cautiously you and him crawled along the shore of the swamp, ducking under sharp outcrops of stone and treading on makeshift bridges. Rivers of slime ran down from the fleshy forests above and into this damned valley, an outpouring of awful smelling fluids into a nation-sized cesspool. Silently you thanked a higher power you were thrown so close to shore.

This mysterious guide moved with care and experience, as if every rock and stone and crack and tentacle had been memorized long ago. He paid no mind to the looming statues of faceless monsters and long-dead tyrants, the shallow pools of still bodies bubbling in rot nor the foul stench. Along the cliff face he walked, tucking into a suffocating crevice buried in the warm and humming rock.

“Down, down. In the earth is safety.” He whispered in his strange accent like someone was watching closely, prompting you to creep gently down the smoothed hollow. Decades of use had probably taken many of the blade-like protrusions from the wall, for the sheets of sharp stone outside were worn down to acceptably smooth and pebbly surfaces in here. There was also plenty of tool marks on the wall, your keen eye recognizing chisel and file marks etched into certain places. Between the layers of primordial sediment, impossibly preserved spears and arrows and bones jut out, as if they had been buried beneath a million years of rock only a week prior. Fires burned in rough braziers heaped with strange planks of splintery wood and thistle bushes, each tendril of orange and red flame reeking deeply of sulfur and burning violently. Some distance into the cavern things opened up and spread the walls apart more comfortably. The stony womb encasing you both was wreathed with strange decorations and talismans crafted from iron and stone roughly shaped. Rusted and rotted spears and swords and shields lay against the wall at one end, a dense pile of weeds and mosses at the other serving as some dreadful bedding. A hissing crystal of red light shimmered in a cage hanging from the ceiling, keeping the place somewhat illuminated when stagnant blood dripped from the cracks and crevices. The air was suffocating and slow, mingling around the place rather than flowing out to relieve the thick stench within.

“Come hither and post thyself in a manner that pleases. Offended by your presence shall I be not.” He hummed quietly and sat atop his messy bed of reeds and dead plants, peeling back the hood draped over his head. Bluish-white fur long since spackled over with mud and filth shone through the red light above, bristling muscles beneath it revealing an unparalleled level of masculine strength. You cocked an eyebrow at the tall and pointed horn emerging from between his eyes, the shocks of electric blue mane sprouting around it accenting its unusual length. Normally such a threatening and sharp thing was only seen on accomplished alicorns imbued with divine magic.

Cautiously injecting respectful care into your sluggish movement, you eventually sat before him on the warm and wet floor of his miserable little hovel. Examining him up and down you discovered he was a most unusual thing to see in a place like this, from the ends of hooves to the tip of his tall horn.

While you stared in confusion at his shiny blue armor and his scarred body, he gaped at your strangely familiar figure. As you struggled to comprehend folded wings hiding beneath his cloak, he likewise scowled at your unusually clean and uninjured body. The two of you gaped at the other with distinct stares of utter confusion masked by a polite restraint. He dare not speak and you dare not question him, as both of you beheld an entirely unnatural thing.

“So… you live here?” You started quietly with a glance thrown about the room. The alicorn cleared his throat and grunted, his deep and reserved voice rumbling his barrel of a chest like the bass on a heavy set of speakers.

“Home in this place I must make. The outside, dangerous she is. Wind doth blast from the crucible and flay unprepared flesh. Lowlands safer. Belly of the rock safest.” Between his accent and sentence structure you struggled to follow his words. Slapdash sentences rattled out of him like rust from an abandoned machine.

“Why come to this place has Anonymous?” You could’ve returned that question quite happily, had he not used your name in such confidence. To hear your name spoken from the mouth of a stranger, a hermit somehow living in your wife’s own mind, drove any ability to think from you. Thoughts came to a screeching halt and slammed against the inside of your head in a process that must’ve painted quite the expression on your face, for your unusual host became somewhat flustered after he spoke.

“You know me?” Your words were fearful, understandably so. The mysterious alicorn swallowed a lump in his throat, tossing and turning the words in his mind in great efforts to construct a proper, less frightening response.

“For many years, have I watched ye. From the moment thee cometh into my Darling’s life, have I observed.” He said with a tone of pride hinting his otherwise dull and exhausted voice.

“In this place, to observe is but a function of us. Connected all are we to the Queen.” Another span of tense silence lay between you two as the strange notions and ideas crushed against your chest.

“Sense me that ye art confused. Umbra to you has explained this place, yes?” Slowly shaking your head, your clammy hands came together to wring against themselves in a pensive terror.

“Hm… secretive. Admire her resolve to be tricksy, do I.” His lip quivered in a manner that almost resembled a grin.

“Within this world doth she store all souls consumed. Talents, memories, drives, ambitions- a vault to forever contain he who before Umbra stood. Kill them, then devour their essence of being, she would. All who share this fate, here they come. To rot and to suffer just as she doeth.” In his eyes a cloudy memory took shape and consumed his vision. Your burly host stared off into the middle distance for quite some time before he snapped back to attention and looked to you with concern.

“Mayhaps distorted becomes mine vision. A place for a loyal husband, this plane be not. How comes a human such as ye here? Layeth thou not this evening next to mine Darling and take her assuringly to thine breast alongside the bastion of thine first wife?” Of all the things you wished to respond with, of all the sentiments you wanted to express and blurt out, of all the impossibly complex things you could say to him, the most wretched and simplistic drivel was all that could find its way through the maze your throat had become.

“Just visiting.” He nodded gently and softened his expression. The worry drained from his face, though it was really quite difficult to track any change in emotion when his stiff muscles hardly moved.

“Hm. Pleased I am. A good husband are you. Sadness would striketh me should ye die.”

“I appreciate that.” You returned with a weary smile, sucking a sulfur-tinted breath and coughing as the sharp air burned your lungs.

“I appreciate you saving me, too.”

“Tarry upon it not. Consume without remorse doth the blood swamp. For mine Son, t’was a noble task.” Again the use of that word hit you. Bolts of fearful lightning erupted in your chest and mind when he looked down on you with such an unusually adoring visage.

“In ye see I that confusion is rife still.”

“Yeah… you could say that.”

“Apologies. Watcheth, so long have I. Forgetting that never have we truly met.” Offering an armored hoof to you, the cloak fell from the stallion’s shoulders somewhat and revealed the majority of his unusually stalwart dress. Taking hold of it naturally, you felt distinct shock when the glittering blue was no mere metal, but solid gemstones stained by soot and slime.

“Anonymous. Umbra’s husband.”

“Stoic Stone. Father of Umbra.”

That you were shaking your half-father’s hoof was shocking in its own right. That your hitherto unknown half-father had been trapped within your wife and watching over you since you had come in her life was also rather shocking. That Luna knew he waited here and suffered endlessly thanks to Umbra, defied your use of the English language. For quite some time after that, Stone explained himself in simpler and simpler terms.

Fifth heir to the Crystal Empire, military general, gifted practitioner in geological magic, enjoyer of brass instruments, enthusiast of comedic plays and father of your wife. The mysterious, never mentioned father of your mysterious wife. You had heard Umbra mention her Mother all of one time in all your years together. A passing comment about how Celestia was “...older than my grey, brittle mother and somehow far uglier.” But her father, the stallion that supposedly raised her, was never mentioned.

Ever.

No one ever asked, but with all the stories of campaigning and witchcraft and devious acts she boasted to you and her book club, it only now occured to you how strange it was that she never even spoke his name. How dreadful it must be to sit here, within his own daughter and watch his memory fade to nothing. Gawking at him with wide eyes and pursed lips, the words capable of addressing such a bombshell fizzled into nothingness. Your throat turned to a desert as Stone simply sat there, evidently far better practiced in processing these emotions than you.

“To a son fatherhood ‘tis but a component of his strength. That I was absent to know a young stallion such as thee… mine heart swells with regret. Mayhaps unto I a grand debt rests.” You couldn’t reply to this now unusually holy and powerful figure before you, for it felt as if an ancient saint had miraculously risen from their tomb and touched you in blessing. The long-dead Emperor smiled understandingly, albeit with the tiniest movement of his lips such a smile demanded.

“Genesis of mine Darling’s angst… long ago such it was. Can the proper words come into this mind? Should perception so flawed be fit to recall history so grand? A heart tied tightly to the agony itself unto the world bred, wherefor can a stallion place his hoof such that the gravity shant sweep him off to perdition such as here?” He sighed quietly and lay his head against the warm stone, listening to the internal pulse of this constructed and living realm.

“Good fortune unto thee, as punishment for me. This weakness of mine, must relive it upon the setting of the moon and the shutting of eyes. Peace unmatched hast thou fostered within Umbra, as she clings to thine breast and soundly slumbers. Yet this sentence unchanged marches into eternity. Even now… forgiveness turns against this wretched old horse with embarrassment.” Misery overcame his ability to speak in the moment. The very top of a bubbling and fermenting awfulness nearly cascaded over his throat and dripped out as a sob, yet Stone buried it as he always had. There was something admirable in his namesake ability to drown out and conceal his truest emotions, but some part of you suspected that perhaps this habit was at its breaking point.

“The time is nie… in flesh sinketh the hooks of wretch blizzard winds.” In the blink of an eye a sharp cold rushed over sweaty and sticky skin. Dry air blasted across your face and ripped the composure from your thoughts with a singular effort. Both eyes were immediately forced shut when the furious current blustered against your front and numbed your body. The world again shifted and molded around you, as if the eternal rock and solid earth were transient and flowing as sea water. No small amount of frustration hit you as things became less and less sensible and all-powerful figures tossed your consciousness around like a baseball. The sound of screaming wind deafened you and concealed the transitioning reality swirling about.

Darkness descended. Your muscles no longer responded, for they were just as ethereal and distant as the rest of you.

“Open thine eyes and behold.” Stoic Stone’s voice moved through your very being in waves of power, as if he spoke within you. Creeping weight like a thousand suns pressed to your shoulders, squeezed your heart and crushed the air from your lungs. Suffering unlike any you had ever felt turned inwards, such that your mere existence in this moment was torment. Stone, crystal, draped canvas and sunlight melted into one another until solid objects were formed. Mighty pillars holding aloft skylights of cut gemstones. Running carpets of soft wool dyed with the colors of the divine. Equine bodies glad in steel plate and mail coifs, silently standing above your kneeling form.

Blue armor so heavy that not a limb could lift it, say for those of a demi-god. Howling winds died down into a whimpering, creeping cold that crawled about the floor and leached into your bones. The very coldest you had ever been, like your mind had taken a corpse’s place. Hushed gales morphed into gasps, whines and sobs around you that echoed off the high walls of unbreakable construction. Downwards your shameful gaze peered to your kneeling form, shamefully sitting there and receiving your punishment.

“That Our eyes can behold such awfulness… what sits before Us, if not a traitorous beast?” A female voice berated you like the lashings of a whip. Instantly recognizable, you could only wonder who on Earth was speaking. In taking Stoic Stone’s place, the context of his memories slowly grew more and more apparent.

“Have We not suffered enough for you? Has your mind grown so deprived of purpose, that you wish Us to be humiliated further?!” Moving against your will, exhausted eyes hovered upwards under someone else’s control to address this angel of punishment.

A glowing alicorn much like Stoic, albeit far more feminine. The apparent Matriarch of the Crystal Empire glared hatefully at you in shimmering lights of blinding white. Her form was so bedazzled in diamonds and gems and beauty that it hurt to look upon her, especially since she looked down on you with unilateral disgust.

“Nothing to say… never a thing to say for yourself. A wretched child We have in place of a husband!” Her voice snapped at the pinnacle of her wrath, morphing into a choking sob to match the others in the room. Voices all around were smothered beneath their crushing misery that sang out like a choir. Most painful however, were the whines of a babe wrapped in rough cotton.

“This thing you’ve created… with Our own chambermaid no less?” Your apparent Wife foundered at the word and cried once again. Kneeling just next to you, was the very same mare that had caught your eye. A dark unicorn, her hair longer than all the rivers in the land and her eyes more brilliant than the lofty heavens. Healthy and well-fed from the castle kitchen, dressed simply in a maid’s clothes and simpering in utter terror. Even now, in this moment of distress, she was the most gorgeous creature to cross your visage. Umbra took the place of her mother just as you took the place of her father, leaving a mysterious third party to writhe and cry helplessly on the frigid castle floor. Tiny human hands reached and grabbed at the chilled air in hopes of Mother’s warmth, each little gasp and shout from the tiny creature drawing more tears from your equine lover.

“How could you, Stoic?! Ten generations of tradition shattered before the entire Empire! Before the Celestia Sisters!” Shamefully your eyes glanced side to side to figure out the gathered crowd. The throne room was full not only with guards, but judgemental eyes. Powerful dignitaries, noblemen, generals and princesses from across Equestria stood and watched as the Crystal Empire succumbed to a scandal. Young Celestia and Luna watched from behind their row of armed protectors in a state between disgust and sorrow. Not one in the arena of ponies even suggested mercy with their foul glares, for they all knew that your failure was unforgivable.

And every single one of them could continue staring and punishing you for all time. It mattered little to a heart hardened by a hundred lifetimes in war, politics and conflict. Just as your father and his father and his father before him had done, you had spent this near-infinite existence growing your Empire’s might. A room of aggravated nobles were but an irritation in the face of your sobbing love. Umbra wailed into her hooves and leaned heavily towards her child, yet chains and powerful guards held her back. She wanted nothing more than to dive after her bastard offspring and hold it tight. Motherly instincts commanded her to protect this defenseless child from the ice and the forces falling around it. Not a word could escape her bruised throat when a torrent of anguish continuously spewed forth.

All this and you were still silent. Unable to form a single word in protest.

“Both of you cretins ought to face my wrath… both of you ought to be humiliated as We have been! Perhaps if We beheaded the lot of you and cowered in the shadows for a hundred years, the world might forget this besmirched name of Ours and look upon Us with more than pitiable loathing!” The Empress choked and stopped herself. Maids and high-ranking advisors surrounded her like a shield, taking the role of protector you had so perverted with your actions. Her prying cries carried on for minutes uninterrupted. Not a soul dared to speak in the suffocating air. Deep in your heart, at the very most genuine dregs of your thoughts, you searched for sorrow and regret. But each time you found the tiniest kernel of emotion, it was for your beloved. The common mare that had taken your heart and twisted it in her hooves so effortlessly. The purest equine to walk this land and the most fertile womb you had even taken to bed.

Your wife was the true pinnacle of beauty, as all alicorns were. Loyal, devoted, energetic and pure in all the traditional senses. Four-hundred and some years of marriage, yet not a drop of love. Try as you might, there was no drive within to fulfill your duty to the Empire. In all other aspects you so naturally excelled because of your breeding. Your ancient and dedicated bloodline gave you such strength, power and knowledge. But no desire to continue it. A thousand armies made of strong, wise and veteran stallions filled you with but a drop of pride in comparison to the child helplessly writhing on the floor. Still lips could not begin to argue in your favor, but your right arm would draw a blade and cut down any foolish pony that touched your brood.

“Your majesty, your highness! Most honorable and merciful of all divine leaders in Equestria! Please forgive me of my transgressions! I-”

“Shut your mouth before We condemn your wretched hide to the mines! You worthless, conniving, filthy slave-mare!” The Empress barked back with fire in her eyes. The ear-splitting volume of her royal voice could deafen a normal pony in a room like this with such echoing walls. But it served only to fill you with some manner of reaction. A twitch of anger fluttered along your lip and caught the Empress’ seething glare.

“We see now… thou art distracted. So hopelessly distracted.” She seethed through her clenching teeth.

“Our poor, poor simpleton husband. The faintest whiff of dirty, common mare heat and off his mind goes. Down the river of depravity…” Your wife festered a devious and sharp smile at that moment. Her thick and healthy lips curled and thinned into a sharp line that cut her elegant shape in half. The old half that was once full of strained love. The new half that had been scorned beyond repair. You felt no fear for yourself, but your love and progeny faced the indescribable wrath of an alicorn wronged.

“Down the river… yes. The cleansing ice… What better medium exists to make that which is filthy and disgusting and rotten pure again?” In her eyes burned the ancient fire of corrupting anger. The negativity that had turned so many of your kind to ferocious evil and destruction in this ancient land. Fingers clenched harder and harder until the rough leather of your gauntlets groaned in protest. In your hands lingered a force powerful enough to crush bones and liquify flesh. All they wanted to do was wrap about her throat and silence her punishing rhetoric forever.

”Take that thing to the river and do what must be done.” The words boomed across the hall, shuddering all that was once solid and eternal. Rubbery flexes and ripples tore everything apart and sent you into the future, knee-deep in the snow and trudging forward under the sunlight. The rattle of armor, the exertion of armed soldiers pushing through the snowdrift and the whimpers of a devastated mare beat on your ears far louder than the screeching winds ever could. For whatever reason, you had elected not to cover your face or eyes, leading to them burning like fire had been lit under your chin. The pain mirrored just how twisted and enraged your heart was, watching as your beloved pressed forward before the small procession of guards guiding you to this punishing place.

The river was frozen over for most of the year, but in this strange moment during spring time the ice shattered in places sufficient to see the clear water. Sheets of white spread with inches of frigid, crystaline flow between them like scaly flesh splitting and leaking blood into the Earth. Umbra sobbed the closer and closer they came, exhausted and cold and hungry and holding her child close. If the poor thing had survived the battering winds and the agonizing cold, it was only because she smothered it in her waning warmth tightly as her failing body could. The bank was dotted with dark pebbles and splatters of white snow, though thankfully it was clear enough to see your own soaking boots. Umbra came to a stop before the water with her shivering and utterly devastated body quivering before you, her gasping and struggling babe buried in the fur of her chest and neck. She dripped from the ice melting into her fur, massive clots of the white powder clinging to her fluffy flanks, back and stomach. A shroud of snow that weighed her down, bending her knees and nearly breaking her back under the crushing weight.

“Sire… please…” She huffed, though her tongue was so cold it could barely move in her mouth. Your pair of guards flanked you as she waited for you to do as you were told. Looking down on her, the weakness always within burst forward again. That most powerful of your muted emotions flooded your throat and nearly forced out a gurgle that might’ve been construed as a word. Instead of exerting your authority, challenging the forces that be and claiming your dominance, you once again took the easy way out. Weakness drove you to draw your sword and in a flash fell your own men. Stallions you had trained from childhood to be your loyal and stalwart protectors were sliced and stabbed in a flash of motion. Umbra stepped back and gawked at you in absolute terror, for she had never truly seen your combat ability up close. Fluid and smooth and powerful motions made living flesh very quickly dead flesh, steel armor nothing before your razor-like blade. They died before they hit the ground, grunting and moaning as their lives were instantly taken instead of your beloved.

“Sire…” She cried as you sheathed your weapon and let the blood freeze across your face, its burning and stinging presence adding to the monumental agony within. Umbra recoiled when you robotically stepped toward her, surrendering her babe to you with a reluctance that shook your being.

“They are innocent… just a little one… please… they are your own flesh and blood!” Umbra could only whisper her begging words from her parched and frozen throat. You held the tiny creature in your massive palm and looked into its eyes, seeing yourself in its twisted face. The mixing of divine and common blood made for a gorgeous creature, a handsome beast twice the strength of any living commoner you’d ever known. Even now, as a fresh child completely unable to fend for itself, your progeny hummed with powerful magic and physical strength. Its eyes glowed with a dull green behind them, fuming with a ghastly radiation of corrupted power. So young, yet so impure. A god's strength perverted by a mortal's weakness.

“Spare them… take my life if you must. But you cannot destroy such preciousness.” Umbra begged with her hooves clasped together, pleading with you in the only way she knew how. The child reached out for you naturally, the tiny little fingers colored like soot grasping at the father they would never know.

“I have failed those that came before me. I am not fit to carry this name.” Your voice shook the land beneath and the heavens above. The entire world quaked when you finally made such a monumental decision and deposited the babe back in your lover’s arms. She took it quickly and buried them in her embrace. The show of mercy injected the tiniest warmth into her soul, allowing her quaking body to grow still and somewhat more confident.

“Go… never come back. Speak not my name for the rest of your days and forget my face.” You commanded boldly, taking the same tone with the mother of your child as you would with new recruits.

“The river leads into the village of Donnerstons. Make a new life there. You are capable of that, I know.” She gasped and pinned her ears back at your words, weakly pawing for you with her free hoof and falling to the dirt in a pitiable pile.

“But… but Master! You cannot abandon us! Your child, they need you!” She whined and crawled toward you like a bug desperate for prey, though you pulled away callously.

“Master, please don’t leave us! Weakness made us one! Now we shall suffer together! Hooves intertwined fore-”

“Silence.” You commanded sternly, cracking the surrounding ice with your voice alone and making your Lover hold her child tight in fear.

“I have chosen your life over my honor. Should I do what is right and true, it would be to see you both smothered beneath the ice here and now. But it is my choice to make and thus I have made it.” The apple of your eye, the sole gem of your long and storied life looked up at you with destruction in her posture. Devastated could not begin to describe how utterly ruined she was, for the entire world had cracked open and swallowed her whole. It burned you deeper than any fire could, but to watch her perish as you were commanded would certainly be worse.

“Now go. And take that disgusting halfbreed from my sight.” Again the world shuddered and waved like the ripples ruining a smooth pond. The once glassy surface of this realm broke down into a sparkling and sputtering mess of colors and sounds growing upwards from within the false earth. Whistling wind morphed into the ear-splitting cries of a baby as your own bundle began to weep shrill cries of rejection and its mother likewise broke down. Helpless to do anything, completely alone in this hostile and punishing world, they were condemned by the same callous hand that had brought this unto them.

The cries of a child became so loud and splitting that you had to shut your eyes tight and grind your teeth in response, that slight period of darkness transforming the world once again into someplace wholly different. The moment you were able to open your eyes, the world turned red.

Blood spattered on snow and stone, fires raging for miles in every direction, rusty iron sharpened to jagged points and billowing clouds of ash and soot blotting out the sun. Waves of burning heat radiated off the kingdom you had built and rode on the icy winds of a particularly harsh winter. The two extremes stressed and exhausted your already drained body, forcing you to your heavy knees before a gathered mob of shouting and screaming ponies.

“On this day we- the subjects of this wretched tyrant and his foul mistress- throw off the chains of slavery and servitude!” An unseen orator shouted to the crowd to your right with a husky and sinister voice. Gathered in the townsquare just beneath the crystal heart, thousands had come together from all walks of life to see your so-called “trial.” Peasants in ragged clothes, warriors in broken armor and ugly thugs bedazzled in stolen royal finery that once belonged to nobles and politicians. They cheered and banged their weapons on the hard gemstone floor of the castle so thunderously that your organs quivered in response.

“A new age has been born, thanks to the will of the people and their dear leader! The tainted purity of the Crystal Empire has been brought to heel! By its own downtrodden and oppressed!” Another booming cheer from the crowd gathered around you. It was at that time that you couldn’t help but stare down at your own armored hands, finding that there wasn’t anything binding you here.

No chains, no rope, no magic to hold this supposed dictator down. Whatever punishment this gang of violent revolutionaries had prepared for you, you had knelt before them willing to take it.

“Glory be to the King! Glory to the Revolution!” The crowd became a monolithic voice chanting the same phrase again and again and again, louder and louder and louder each time. Your ancient heart raced in your chest as your own child came around your side with a weapon in hand. Standing in Umbra’s place, a new figure of unchecked power perverted. Glowing green eyes, dark skin, sharpened teeth and polished steel armor. A horrifying creature that could’ve once been a human like you, but so poisoned by malice and hatred that no words could properly describe them.

He was tall and mountainous, just like you. He carried himself with the same posture as you. The chiseled profile of his jaw mirrored your own. Anyone with half a functional mind could see who he had come from, especially given his anthropomorphic shape. Your own son looked down on you with sickly sweet satisfaction in his grin, the flowing robes of red lined with white blowing in the howling winds of war and his long mane of dark hair tied tightly behind his skull. There was not a drop of goodwill in his sea of madness. And all the blame soundly rested at your feet.

“Father…” He huffed snidely whilst drinking in the taste of his ultimate and horrible victory.

“How does it feel to be at the riverside yourself?” Your own sword shone brightly in his hands, dimmed with age and spackled with filth. Kneeling there now, knowing you were to perish at the hands of your own mistake, you were once again left with nothing to say. Just as you always had in life, you refused to meet this challenge.

“I am ready.” Was all you groaned back, mouth so full of blood and swelling that it hardly sounded like your own words. His smile fell and his arm raised your blade into the sky, bringing it down with a mighty and single effort across the width of your neck.

Finally, blackness. A stretching and warm blackness that melted down into the muddy colors of this hole Stoic Stone called his home. The twisted realm of Umbra’s mind released you two from the vision and so kindly deposited the both of you in the stony womb. Stone lay across the floor on his side, huffing in exhaustion and grinding his teeth. A scare traced across his broad neck in a straight line of pink and purple flesh.

“Hrrrrnmmm… recall this do not I…” He hummed in distress, as if he had relived not only the moments, but the pain present within. You yourself were quite deeply submerged in the mire of this revelation, sucking for breath and choking on the sobs in your chest.

“Present to me is the changing of things because of ye… this much human-like thing that took upon it the shape of mine daughter t’was no recollection of mine.” You sweat profusely and tried to calm yourself, but some manner of absolute panic had descended over you in that moment.

“Progeny of thine loins be nothing to fear, Son. Repaid shall be you just as was to flesh and blood given. So say I, he who hath tasted the blade of one forsaken I made.” He sighed in submission to his fate, solemnly nuzzling into the hard ground of his chamber like a babe pulled from its mother.

“Anonymous… turn thine ear so heard this may be. In you is the making of a good stallion. Carry not fear for what hath happened to me… take on this lesson that again shall never be spoken. Through Umbra can thou deliver for Equestria a paragon of equine kind.” The world growled around you two and cinched itself like a seam being sewn together. The very stone itself trembled like a sickened stomach trying to expel you.

“Cannot I say with assuredness thine true purpose in this land. Alien you are, so brought to her you were for reasons beyond us. None but thee are so gifted to know their destiny. They will fear what she shall create, but create she must.” With one tremendous push, the cave crumpled in on itself and smashed you against the wall. Your participation in the infinite cycle of reliving those most horrible moments in Umbra’s life had alerted the mind to your presence. It knew you to be a foreign body like a fleck of dirt in the eye, thus it reacted quickly to spit you out. With a twitch of motion that crushed your form, instantly all calm was restored.

Laying back in your bed and staring at the ceiling. No profuse sweating, no locked muscles of absolute terror and only the slightest elevation in breahting. Though your head pulsed with intense pangs of discomfort and your throat was dry, there was no lasting damage you could feel. Relief should’ve been the first thing that swept over your racing thoughts, but that was simply out of the question when your dark wife loomed over you with a most accusing of looks on her face.

“Where has my King been?”

Perdition. Part 2.

Author's Note

Part 2 of chapter 7, for those wishing to skip the scary part. Again, ideally both should be read. This chapter however, should cover the first well enough if one has skipped. Please do let me know if it does not or any confusion arises.

Contains mare love and dinky being cute.

Many thanks for the overwhelmingly positive reception. Shout outs to shadowwolf.

Perdition. Part 2.

Chapter 7.
Perdition, Part 2.

“So… we’re all done?” Dinky chirped quietly to Miss Cheerilee as a few other fillies and colts scribbled across their tests. She broke a silence that had been more or less maintained for the last three hours in the hot and cramped school house, the open windows allowing in the ambient bustle of the market down the street and the humming winds from the mountains. The Royal Aptitude Test for Adolescents had finally come at the end of this school year, Ponyville’s prepared student body studying diligently to meet their marks and prove to the state that Cheerilee had done her job.

The standardized testing was minor filter, as even the brightest minds in the school struggled mightily with it. Cheerilee’s ever-practiced teaching had seen everyone ready for it just as it had every year since then. Once again Ponyville could boast a one-hundred percent passing rate. With Umbra’s fiercely enforced study habits and tutoring, Dinky would surely be in the top percentile of the class.

“That’s it.” Cheerilee chirped sweetly, her motherly voice sending a warm spark into Dinky’s heart. The young mare danced on her hooves in utter elation as another school term wrapped up for the summer.

“I’ll send the results to your Mommy and Daddy. You’re free to go.” Squealing to herself with pride and excitement, the unicorn skittered about the desk and embraced Cheerilee in a quick hug. Taking her bags from the nearby hook and pushing her way through the door, your daughter beheld just how fantastic and expansive the world could become.

Ponyville opened wide to her with the blinding sunlight and the stark heat carried on the wind. Green bloomed from every crack and cranny to make shady patches in the soft grass where the care-free and the smiling set up picnics and quiet reprieves. At this time, about noon, the market bustled with ponies going about their business and taking breaks from their jobs. Free from school and free from any manner of responsibility, the pinkish unicorn suddenly found everything so much sweeter. The air carried the familiar scents of seasonal release, like flowers and apple butter and blossoms. Colors glowed with blinding brilliance in the sunlight, stark whites and greens and oranges strung up as awnings to offer comfort. The soft ground baked into airy and crusty dirt that kicked up when hard hooves scratched and crushed it, thus adding an Earthy hint to the warm season. Rain hadn’t come for several days, making for a far more dry and pleasant heat that ponies could enjoy.

Her homeland opened wide for her and presented welcoming arms like the leaves of a rising flower. Everything and everyone was alive and energetic again in this eternal cycle of her young life. Light and unique joy filled her chest as she excitedly trot through the town toward the forest, passing by many a smiling pony sipping cool cider from mugs and sweating bullets of heady musk. Fillies and colts were already running around in their little posses of playmates and gossip, chatting about or beating one another with sticks at the less busy junctions in the streets. Dinky ignored them, choosing instead to indulge in her absolute most favorite pastime of all summer.

Over the bridge and between the thistle groves where the mud built up thick and stinking, just under the willow that hung drearily over the river and in between the trees grown intertwined like lovers. There was a more straight-forward path to the saw-mill, but this one was merry and interesting. She checked to see if the emperor tree sprig had grown any, pleased to find it had already gained several inches since last week. Dinky returned to her own little patch of greenish moulds grown in a tree stump that Aunty Umbra helping her to cultivate it for the antimicrobial potions and tinctures it could create. The bees’ nest bulging out from beneath an oak’s under arm was none too happy to see her, but the aggravated scouts threatening to sting the young filly didn’t dissuade her from checking in on the local pollinators. Just as Aunty Umbra had described it, perfectly balanced yet chaotic. It filled her with security to find everything how it needed to be, now there was just the matter of acquiring a partner with which to enjoy it all.

“Lumber routes across Equestria have seen an increase in the amount of trading posts over the last year such that an increase in the overall cost of travel has mandated smaller crews for the hauling however with the need to increase load sizes-” On and on and on the dull pony dressed lightly droned on before you and the gaping mouth audience he had. Under the roof of the mill so as to hide in the shaded portion of it, the lumberjacks gathered together to hear a presentation from one of Timber Lane’s partners up north, where much of your processed product was ultimately shipped for construction and ship building. In his starchy shirt and simple tie the older stallion looked rather trustworthy, but his skills in oration did not reflect his professional sheen. Many of the boys were simple farm-folk that weren’t too keen on much besides wood, steam, mares and cider. Good, tough men each and every one of them, but dull as rough iron. You looked at your team from time to time to find them in the same state of utter befuddlement throughout.

Tim insisted that it was best for the entire crew to be present for the company briefings. Afterall, the lumber-pirates outside of Fillydelphia and the spreading of branch rot fungus was directly linked to their livelihoods. But unlike you or Tim, most of the boys were just there for the bits. They really couldn’t care less if taxation along the river was done by the ton or by the log, nor did many of them have the smarts to grasp why market supply and demand curves necessitated a certain amount of stockpiling. Some of them could barely tell the difference between steel saw teeth and carbide saw teeth. But they were some of the best, straightest sawing jerks this side of Canterlot.

So you sat and half paid attention to the briefing, fading in and out as something in the corner of your eye caught your attention. Over the drone of a boring and monotone voice the tiniest clop of tiny hooves broke your focus and jerked your vision toward the forest. A blob of yellow and ashy pink poked out of the dense brush with glistering eyes pointed right at you, excitedly prompting you to move.

“As such the cherry wood stockpile should be emptied within the next month in order to capitalize on the coming fall season as many ponies celebrate-... Mr. Anon what are you doing?” He asked politely as you stood up from your wooden chair and wordlessly made your way toward a set of stairs just outside the awning. The older stallion watched your slow and considerate movement with great focus until you started pulling off your work shirt, likewise reaching down to pull your boots off and toss them into the shade.

“Aw hell…” Tim grunted to himself, relinquishing you to the higher duty suddenly thrust upon his head supervisor. Dinky came sprinting out of the weeds like a giddy puppy hopped up on sugar, repeating the same little run she had done so many times in the past. While she bolted toward you, you slowly suggested where to go, as each step up the stairs led to the rough wooden walkway built on top of the mill’s roof.

“Wha- what in Celestia’s name is he doing?” The sturdy business stallion witnessed your daughter come soaring up onto the saw dust covered platform before chasing you up the stairs. A full on dash across the roof could be heard when bare feet and little hooves alike smacked onto the wood above, both you and Dinky running like mad men across the platform and toward the deep, gentle moving pool where the product usually gathered. Today it was rather empty, thanks to the hard work the boys had pulled that week. You and your daughter ran fearlessly and leapt off the edge of the platform you had purpose-built for this stunt. Simultaneously hitting the water, the tremendous splash rocketed upwards and made a dazzling rainbow in the blistering sunlight.

“Hm… that’s… yes…” The visitor mumbled to himself as you and your giggling daughter resurfaced, paddling down the gently flowing river and talking amongst yourselves.

“YEEEEEEEHAAAW! Did you see how far I went, Poppy?!”

“Goodness gracious, sweetpea! You shot up like a cannon ball!” She giggled helplessly and twisted about in the water, splashing the refreshing and cool broth all over her warmed and heavy fur.

“I flew like a pegasus! I was like a hundred hands in the air, Poppy!” Tim had learned not to bother you during so-called “Dinky time.” The general rule was understood that your one and only child gained priority over anything besides the mill going up in flames. Especially in the summertime when Dinky had so much time and you so little before she grew too mature for her old poppy, these moments spent lazily swimming down the river through the woods were too precious to be discarded. Your tiny equine girl clung to your back after paddling a short distance through the crystalline and fresh smelling water, letting the current slowly push her human vessel down the silty, deep track. Despite being ostensibly made of brick-like muscle these days, you still floated rather pleasingly in the relieving river.

“Poppy, what was it like back where you used to live?” Dinky chirped in your ear as she hung half in and out of the water. Just like she did whenever you two had a rare moment to bond, the child always barraged you with questions.

“Used to be that everyone looked like me. Lots and lots of humans in big, big cities like Fillydelphia. But I lived outside the city in a big building called an ‘apartment.’”

“How come no humans ever come and visit you?”

“Don’t know any here. I’ve been gone so long they all forgot about me.” The filly pouted at such a sad notion.

“How come you live in Ponyville? And not a place with more humans?”

“I like it here. It’s where your Momma and your Aunty live. Quiet, too.”

“Can we go to the human place?”

“I don’t think so, babygirl.”

“Why not?”

“It’s so far away. And no one remembers where it is anymore.” You hummed before making a rather quick swish through the water, pushing yourself over the sandy shoals just so your belly skid across the soft silt.

“Poppy?”

“Yeah?”

“Were there ponies where you used to live?”

“Ponies? Sure, sure. Just not a lot of them.”

“Were they unicorns? Were they nice, like Miss Applejack?”

“Hm… not really. They weren’t a talkative bunch.” She paused and clung tightly to your neck, squeezing herself to you as the canopy above grew thicker and thicker. The stillness of the woods was broken only by the buzz of insects looking for mates and the songs of birds looking for food, a peaceful roar the mind could quickly grow attuned to. Dinky idly watched as the passing plants and rocks and trees grew out of the river’s edge like hairs spread perfectly about the world. The cool water running through her fur, the warm sunlight beating against her back and the security of her enormous father put the filly in a rare state of relaxation.

“Poppy?”

“Yes, Dinky?” You answered again, swimming slower so your mouth could better remain above the waterline.

“You think the Princess is gonna come and take Aunty Umbra away?” The question sat your windpipe like a led weight crushing your throat closed. Immediately your mind was brought back to that serious question that had yet to be truly resolved. For now you could assure her that no such thing would happen, that it was but a nonsensical nightmare she might’ve had completely divorced from reality. But you naturally had little insight into the goings on of Equestria’s politics. Twilight sent her report, Celestia and Luna had no doubt read it by now and someone somewhere was going to make a decision on it. Denying the danger Umbra had posed during her outburst was out of the question. Any and all justification the authorities might conjure up for taking your wife away would be entirely reasonable and difficult to counter.

That she was still with you and not locked up in Twilight’s castle was nothing short of a miracle itself. Whittling all this down for Dinky’s understanding took you several seconds.

“Hm… I don’t think so.” You answered, coming to a stop in a particularly fat bulge in the river where the sand washed away and left a deep pool.

“I don’t know so. But if they were gonna, they would have.” Dinky squeaked and detached from you to paddle about in the cool and clear water. Her utter confidence in you let her circle and swirl about comfortably to expel that ample store of youthful energy in her, for there wasn’t a thing in the world that could go wrong when her mighty human father was nearby and watching. You had to admire how she could entertain herself so well out in the forest, far away from games and books and toys and other such childish things. You recalled your spoiled self back in the day, playing with blob-shaped plastic electronics and novelties aplenty that your parents selflessly gave to you. Growing into the man you were now, such ungratefulness made you rather bitter towards the younger Anonymous that once held your place.

Now that was all gone, but a memory to you and you alone in this strange world. Dinky flicked her eyes from leaf to leaf, stem to mighty trunk and muddy bank to sandy shore. She always seemed to be looking at something skittering about in the brush that you just couldn’t see, like something or someone was calling out to her in the woods with innumerable and tiny voices. Watching in fascination, the little filly made you reflect silently on higher things that she could probably never put into words herself. No intention of causing such introspection, just the purest form of acknowledging just how little you understood about this place.

“Sometimes I wish they would.” Dinky chirped without a hint of fear or malice in her voice. Your feet scraped against the soft bottom and rested against a rock below, grounding you for this strange conversation.

“Dinky. That ain’t very nice to say about your Aunty.” You grunted with a patrimonial tone.

“I know. Aunty doesn’t like the Princesses.” The fantastic unicorn dipped below the surface for a moment before literally popping back up above the surface in a flash of magic, carelessly splashing down in the relieving pool.

“They put chains on her and hit her and made her look stupid in front of all her friends. I’m not ‘sposed to say their names in the house.” Rolling your eyes at the memory of such a rule, you let the wiry little filly continue explaining her strangely anti-Umbra sentiment.

“But Aunty doesn’t feel good. They can make her better.” That Dinky could say something with such a relaxed tone and clear mind was concerning to you. From the mouth of a babe something shockingly cognizant and conscious.

“She’s told me… but I ain’t ‘sposed to say.” A deep breath hissed from your nostrils and rippled the water in front of you, the sound of it lumbering out of your chest forceful enough to scare off minnows hovering below the surface.

“What’s she told you, Babygirl?” You asked quietly, trying to be as soft as possible. Dinky halted her swim to float for a moment and think about it, both ears perked skyward to radiate more heat from her fuzzy body.

“I’m not supposed to say… but Aunty Umbra says something’s wrong with her.” Your daughter blew bubbles with her nose like a care-free child would on a playdate, not in the middle of a brutally honest conversation.

“Her Poppy never loved her. Her Momma never loved her. No pony ever in the whole world ever loved her. Aunty says you’re that ever cared about her.” Dinky said these words with surprisingly gravity for a child. Her usually chipper and high-pitched voice mellowed into a dower note played again and again, the droning quality reflecting such a subject matter.

“She ever tell you about her Dad, Dinky?” Your daughter pondered the question for a moment, dipping her head beneath the water to wet her gilded mane.

“He was a bad stallion.” She said simply, her face pinching inwards in disgust.

“He gave Aunty Umbra away and never checked on her. She said he was a bad poppy.” Sun rays beat down on the back of your neck like the last few hours beat down on your conscience. The illuminating nature of such a conversation forced you to simply stand there in the rejuvinating water like a statue and soak it all in.

“I’m not supposed to tell any pony…” Dinky hummed before wading up to your shoulder and carefully whispering in your ear.

“But Aunty’s scared you’ll be like her poppy. That if she ever does have a baby, you won’t wanna take care of it.” His image came back to you as the words came from the little filly’s mouth. Images of a stark figure clad in black, standing high above with weapon in hand. A man to surpass you. A warrior to destroy everything in front of him. Half of Umbra’s power in a human figure that no Equestrian might have the strength to match. In truth it filled you with terror, the very idea that something you might produce could harbor within in demonic desires of destruction and the capability to bring such nightmares to life. Breathing deeply, you tried to dispell this fear.

Just as you had done with Dinky, you expelled all fear of creation in this alien world. Somehow, someway, you knew that it would be alright. If it took to your dying breath to bring peace to your family, that’s what you would do. Dinky felt the intrepidation in you and certainly percieved that this fear might be more real than she anticipated.

“No… I couldn’t.” You huffed, casting your eyes down into the water and watching the rippling waves distort your own figure.

“I know what it’s like to be alone. I know too well how it is when you ain’t got no one to love you.” You daughter had heard little about your life before her mother came into the picture. What kind of man you were before the taming touch of Derpy Hooves elluded her simply because she never asked. The young pony stared at you and marveled at the mystery hidden within. She could only think of her family as unchanging monoliths. Eternal forces of motherhood, fatherhood, nuturing and caring. That you could be any different than the man you were now, that you could exist without someone to work and strive for was nothing short of incredible to her. The little unicorn snuggled up on your neck and nuzzled your cheek, a carry-over from her time as a little melon-sized babe in your bed.

“You know what it’s like to be at the riverside…” Several tense seconds passed in that wood, several seconds of unparalleled thought. Both you and your energetic daughter hardly moved a muscle in that moment, for the aura of the air was simply too thick. Hot and fresh air rushed over the water as it moved along its eternal course like blood through the land, washing away the silt and muck on the banks in the same monotonous and steady form as your thoughts. Dinky floated down the creek some with her hooves limply paddeling, a motion you soon followed.

“Welp… they’re gonna need me back at the mill. Let’s get goin’ babygirl.” Dinky loved watching you rise out of the water. The entirely verticle push ripped the surface tension apart and made it rain heavy beads down like a thunderstorm in a pleasingly mighty manner. Especially for a creature as small as her, seeing you push out of the depths was like watching a ship rocket out of the vast emptiness below. Both you and her clambered onto shore with sodden jeans and sodden mane hanging heavily acround your bodies, inviting you both to shake off the excess moisture in a canine fashion.

“You wanna get some ice-y pops before that?”

“Yessum! Yes- yes- yes!” Dinky cheered with magic sparking from her horn and a floppy wag from her soaking tail.

“Good. ‘Cuz it’s way to hot out here to walkin’ around soakin’ wet.” You grumbled in return, smiling and rolling your pants up just enough to keep the saggy ends from draping through the dirt below.

“I heard Pinkie got a new flavor today, Poppy! Like- like pomegranate or passionfruit.”

“I didn’t even know we had those here.”

“Yeah, yeah! They had them come in from Phillydelphia! Applebloom told me all about it! They have a big farm out there that grows all sorts of weird fruit from around Equestria. And sometimes they-...”

And so the day began once again with some manner of levity. The mid-summer’s sun cleansed the river water from your skin and clothes just as the events of the day had cleansed your mind of doubt. As if your morning talk with Umbra hadn’t been enlightening enough, Dinky had found a way to further temper your resolve. Sitting there in the shaded padio of Sugarcube Corner with ice treats and sweat rolling down your neck, all seemed well. The tremendous burden of choice had been lifted, finally giving you some manner of confidence. Watching her sit there, idly watching the ponies go by with such wonder and energy in her eyes poured a simmering hope into the bottom of your heart.

As if to say that your choice in all this was all that the world needed to eventually right itself. How or why, when or where, it was no longer up to you. You had played your part and made that promise to wife and daughter alike. No matter who or what came before you, you wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes as Umbra’s long forgotten father. His very name brought you back to that morning in darkness, where the clouds built so thick from the mixing of cool and warm air that the moon was entirely blotted out.

Fog crawled about the ground when the summer moisture condensed against the cool greens of plants and the window panes of ponyville, making for an altogether darker and more mysterious night than the rest. The house itself was made a comfortable temperature then, if not for the soggy humidity creeping between the walls and beading up on the ice box. Heavy air like this made Umbra’s mane puffy and more curly than normal and often made Derpy’s feathers far more flaring and brilliant. Both mares needed more maintenaince in the warm seasons, something that their “maretime” often saw to when you were shirking your duties as a husband.

Pushing a fan into one of the windows and turning it on, you tried to direct some of the cool night air into the house with its current. Sucking in the perfumed and sweet scent of summer instantly dried some of the exhausting sweat on your back, though it could never dull the eyes drilling into your skull. Sitting plush and furious at the dinner table, her favorite mug filled with coffee and her mouth curled into a sharp snear, your wife sat waiting for answers. Whenever she brought the pink and sloppily painted cup to her lips and politely sipped, the flash of “Aunty Umbra is the best!” would taunt you with purple, delicately painted letters. Impressive caligraphy for a six year old, no doubt due to Umbra’s training in proper writing with magic. The script was undoubtedly inspired by her own floral and flowing style of cursive.

Regardless, she stared at you with concerted effort, as if it might pry open your chest and reveal all the answers she desired then and there. Prefering not to wake Derpy, the two of you thought it better to take such a heated talk downstairs.

“So… guess I got some explaining to do.” You grunted to yourself, turning to face the mare. Your dark wife cocked an eye brow in silence with both ears turned toward you in attention. The plush and soft face twisted and turned into so many conflicting emotions, none of them very positive or receptive to whatever it was you had to say.

“You remember what I said at the lake?” The mare didn’t answer right away, instead chewing on the words and spitting them out with little care. Reddish magic gripped your boxers and pulled you toward her with the weakest suggestion it could muster.

“Remeber how I said, ‘I want to help you’ Babygirl?” The pulling didn’t stop until you were smacking distance of her. Standing close enough to feel her warmth, the Queen then countered by giving you the harshest stink-eye known to equine-kind.

“You have trapsed through my most inner thoughts unwelcomed. Not only that, but you have done so with the aid of that loose, nosey royal.” The mare retorted with conflicted poison in her voice, as if she herself didn’t really believe the words.

“What you have seen is my own business. Locked away for a reason.” Umbra said with a whimper rather than a growl. Simultaneously she threw her eyes to the swirling cream in her cup and let her vision blur into the steam rising gently off it.

“My King surely now holds sordid opinions of his Queen… henot only knows but hath seen for himself the miscarriage of justice that were her life.” Your dear and pudgy wife hung her head in shame, casting her deep green and red eyes to the table with trembling lips. The very sight sickened you in a pungent and poisonous manner. Fists formed in place of nurturing and loving hands so they could become dangerous weapons. Strangling fingers squeezed and muscles tensed into bundles of powerful cord primed and prepared for something- anything at all- to just try and hurt what was yours. The simpering little mare before you inspired that protective instinct at the very base of your brain, a masculine urge to destroy everything if it meant keeping what you held dear safe.

“I wanted to know. I needed to know.”

“You trespassed with the aid of that blue tyrant. You have conspired against your Wife.” A snort of frustration left your nostrils in a huff far more aggressive and domineering than you intended it to sound.

“She came to apologize.” Umbra shook her head with a sick grin, cocking an eyebrow as she sipped her milky and sugary drink.

“Surely the Princess of the Night herself can go about molesting any stallion she so pleases. Why in Equestria does she always try and “apologize” to my husband? Is it too much to ask that he not be disturbed by the presence of thirsting mares?” You wished you could share in her weak little laugh, but the accusation still made you furious enough to strangle someone.

“I forgave her. On one condition.”

“To see what troubles me, eh?” You nodded to her, sitting next to your wife and making the chair creek with your exhausted weight.

“Could you not have assumed? So curious as you were, Anon?” A hand took her hoof between capable and strong fingers, squeezing her securely to reenforce your bond. The ring on your finger sparkled with a dull glow within the diamond, growling magic perking Umbra’s innate mystical senses.

“Umbra, Sugar. I could guess you had some issues. But nothing like-... that.” Her usually plush and curvacious lips thinned into a line just barely splitting her muzzle, her dower eyes narrowing to the table and staring a hole through it.

“Hmph… Indeed. So very trite, isn’t it? A young mare abandoned by her father, raised alone in the forests with nothing but malice in her heart? Surely Dinky has read a more compelling story in school.” You gripped her tigher and pulled on her foreleg, pleased to find her limp and willing to come closer.

“Umbra, I-” She leaned forward and kissed your hand, staring at you with transfixed eyes stained by centuries of wretched magic.

“You needn’t explain.” She hummed, pursing her lips before sipping her coffee once again.

“That you would dare enter my realm, brave its hostilities and seek the truth defies my expectations.” Her words were dim and weak, albeit with the tiniest flicker of a candle’s light hidden within.

“I cannot approve of turning to… her for assistance. But to torment yourself for my sake? I am sincerely befuddled, Darling.” The chair creeched against the floorboards when you scooted closer to her, putting your nose mere inches from hers.

“Your father spoke to me.” Her eyes fixed to yours like an iron bar was connecting them, flinches of anger making her lip tremble and twitch.

“What did that rotten pariah dare say to my human?” She snarled.

“Tell me what happened and I’ll spill it.”

“Don’t bargain with me as you do with that idiot fog-horn of a Princess. I am your wife and you shall-” Leaning forward shut her up rather instantly, for lip-to-lip contact clogged both her mouth and her thoughts. She flinched and first, but the muscles in her neck simply refused to pull her away. Something about this contact simply said so much, drew her in so tightly and filled her with such affection. Her necklace jiggled at the bottom of its polished chain, rumbling with magic as her chest rumbled with a pleased purr.

“Mwuah… now tell me.” You huffed into her cheek, the tip of your nose nestled between her nostrils. Umbra huffed a deep breath of your familiar and reassuring scent, swallowing the stone in her throat.

“Rrrgh… I was born… to a slave and Stoic Stone. Mother always said that I had been birthed from the loins of a great stallion, but during 'inopportune times.’” You kept her close all the way, listening intently and kissing her nose to encourage more.

“He took her in the summer during a thunderstorm… I was born shortly after the spring thaw. When the Empress discovered my presence in his chambers? She…” Your precious wife choked on the words and refused to say them, for her lips were frozen in place. Even as a barely conscious babe, she remembered the piercing and ferocious cold so vividly.

“She ordered me… to be drowned. And for my coward of a father to watch.” The images flooded your mind again, replaying from the night before like a projection on the opposite wall.

A poor mare, sodden with freezing snow and clutching her babe to her chest. A dark child perverted by corrupted magic straight from the womb. A frigid river with an armored father weighing the options of smothering his child, or living his life in abject shame. Umbra’s eyes stared into the table below, reliving that moment most would’ve forgotten mere seconds after it happened at that age.

“But… for reasons beyond even me, he sent us away. With not an ounce of bread or a drop of water, my mother carried me to a village to spare my life.” Her body shivered in cold spasms of fear. Instantly the blood drained from her flesh and limbs, turning her into a quivering and freezing ball of angst. It made you reach about her once again and clutch your wife tight against your warm figure.

“She raised me in the shadow of the Empire, always migrating from village to village so no one would remember her face. She waited for him to return one day and take us away from the forest. Take us to the castle and live with him forever and be happy. The very blood that ran in my veins was his… but of course, the nobles and the mages and the royals did not appreciate commoners and royals making little demons such as I. Such power and intellect in the flesh of a nobody… the most dangerous creature to walk Equestria.” Her body folded into yours naturally, submitting to the pumping and living warmth of a body prepared to defend her at any cost.

“So… eventually… when she became old and grey and I hardly aged a day in thirty years? I knew who I truly was. And when I demanded answers? There was not a soul to give them. Only that damnable word every half-witted villager spit at me.” She sighed deeply and paused, chewing her cheek at the memories of being a child-faced adult, simply because her alicorn heritage extended her life far beyond that of an average pony.

“I joined the military, the guard, the Emperial Legion and finally the Royal Knights, working and plotting all along to rise high enough so I might see him again. And then… well.” She finally smiled somewhat, her eyes flashing with purple haze when such a savage moment in her life reflected in her mind.

“I did what I do best… destroyed it all.” For several seconds you let the silence pass, unsure what to say.

“Now you see our Son standing in my place. One who has yet to be born and already I have destroyed that as well.”

“Hey, hey… Don’t be cookin’ off like that and talkin’ a bunch of nonsense.” You said with a gentle smile and arms strapped about her. Umbra covered her face with her mane and hooves, especially when you were close enough to breath down her snout.

“I already know you’re crazy, Sugar. I always knew that.” The laughy and joking tone of your voice fell on deaf ears that morning. Umbra sniffeled to herself and wiped her nose raggedly, still unable to face what she considered to be yet another reckoning in her long life.

“That you colored it so… our offspring imagined so heinous and wicked. Turning against you as I did my horrible father? You think of me as a monster, Anonymous." Those powerful fingers ready and able to kill in defense of your home crept along the curve of her shoulder and behind the shivering tower of her neck. Through the jungle of Umbra’s curling and thick mane you dug, defeating any weak protest your poor, exhausted and needy wife could put up.

“You want the truth? Or a lie?” You asked the same way you might ask at work when someone badgered you with a stupid question. For such a crushingly heavy situation it might’ve seemed entirely inappropriate. But given the severe lack of levity in your woman’s face, a different tactic was certainly warranted.

“What manner of truth could a weakling such as I swallow? A royal in the eyes of my beloved no longer… but a squalid murderer just as they always said. As fit for the moniker of ‘Queen’ as I am ‘worthless.’” Gravity would be Umbra’s worst enemy this morning. Specifically the pulling and crushing strength of your arms ratcheting her closer to you. The natural warmth and firm shield of a human’s chest made her instantly lean into it and cast aside whatever foolish worry she had bottled up in her jiggly gut.

“The truth is… you really scare me, Umbra.” You huffed into her head, kissing between her ears with a gentle and noisy little peck. She held still as a rock under the effect of your words, unsure how to absorb such a comment.

“The things I’ve seen… will haunt me to my dying day. And how exactly I’m ever going to sleep again… I haven’t quite figured out yet.” Speaking directly into her head, the words transfered into sweet vibrations rumbling through her bones. The relaxing force of such thoughts physically interacting with her put Umbra at an ill manner of ease, one that was at least more receptive than a tightly bound and bundled stress.

“You really do scare me. I would’ve never guessed that you had that kind of… place in you. But I know better.” The pony sniffled at your chest, burying her nose in your slick chest to suck in the relieving scent of a familiar family member.

“How long have we been married, Babygirl?” She grunted the answer at first, puffy and swollen eyes acclimating to the darkness of your masculine bossom.

“Mh… three years, my King.” She answered quietly. Brace-like arms secured about her body and squeezed tighter around her shoulders, inviting the pony to utterly fold in on herself and become vulnerable. She obliged the warm and compact hold, for it flooded her chest with such honey and sweetness that it was simply irrational to deny. A thundering heartbeat pulsed against her and stimulated the ring dangling from her silver chain. Yours and hers hummed gently in the dawn’s gloomy light, a connection of love immortalized in precious stones beyond value.

“And in all that time… you’ve been a mother for my child.” You said, stroking down her neck and kissing her twitchy ear.

“A sister to my Derpy.” She snorted again, finding it all so childish and silly. Perhaps the iron Sorceress truly was at the end of her mental rope and all that one could do to help her was talk in such an infantile manner. Umbra knew with absolute certainty that in any other state she would’ve rejected such a degrading manner of conversation. She was a grown mare, after all. Not some babe in need of being talked down to and carefully educated on the state of things.

But even the ancient Queen had to admit how wonderful it felt to be cradled in human muscle and whispered to. For the time being, she would allow it.

“A painter, an academic and my wife. My beautiful, soft, squishy wife.” The sentiment pounded in her head like thunder growling in the mountains, soothing her into a delirium of pleased purrs and soft squirms to get tighter against you.

“I know well enough what you did. I ain’t stupid. I’m not gonna pretend like none of that ever happened.” In the silence, Umbra felt her insecurity well up thick and hot from the bottom of her gut. The looming sense of confrontation hung on her back like a devious creature clawing and scratching into her flesh, never leaving her be in this moment of weakness.

“But… even if it wasn’t real, even if it was just a dream, your Father gave me some pretty sound advice. I like to think.” She twitched at the mention of the man, sneering to herself as ancient disgust washed across her.

“I ain’t gonna make the same mistake. I know what I got and I don’t intend to give you up any time soon.” Palms squished about her cheeks and extracted the sleepy mare from your chest. She grunted and whined as you forced her to look at you, gentle and circular strokes on her cheeks softening the blow of your confession.

“You fear our child… you fear that they inherit my power.”

“I won’t lie.” You answered confidently, kissing her softly in the dark. She returned it with a needy squeak and hooves pawing at your front.

“I am. I don’t know what in the world he’s gonna do.” Another kiss grounded the pony in reality, assuring her that there was no risk of being ejected from this sweet, heavenly embrace.

“If he’s anything like you, Lord knows the whole world is gonna be watching him.”

“If he is anything like you, my King, they need not be concerned.” Umbra iniated her own kiss this time and brought her hooves up to your shoulders.

“The thing is… I don’t care anymore.” You said with deadly seriousness, gripping her securely.

“If he’s the worst little rotten bastard that ever was born, if he’s a the goodiest little choir-boy in the world- it doesn’t make a difference.” Umbra stared on in absolute awe, suddenly overtaken by your being. The mare was awash with feelings for you, completely and utterly drowned by your quiet and hushed speech. For the first time in her long life, Umbra knew what reverence felt like. That belittling and humbling desire to worship another, to see them as higher than one’s self and to dedicate to their misssion floored her to no end. A mind-set she had spent many lifetimes trying to impose unto others so easily thrust itself onto her.

“Long as I have you here, I ain’t worried about it.” You confessed in a huff, stroking her cheeks and watching the thick fluff brush across your calloused digits.

“My Wife can topple empires, kill kings and make goddesses scream like little girls. I doubt some runt is gonna get the best of her.” Umbra sighed sweetly and pushed into your grasp, hoping that perhaps it might just envelope her entirely. She felt this coming being’s presence for so long now, but could never pin a true emotion to it.

Excitement. The prospect of finally meeting this new son that might go on to do great and honorable things for the family. Fear. What strength she might give him and how his mind- polluted by her corrupted magic- would use it. And finally, a most overwhelming desire. Not only to see her own legacy carry on, but to see an improved version of her King. Finally, the perfect mixture of cunning, drive and stalwart strength. It all filled her chest with a helium-like weightlessness that boiled up into a smile across her snout, one you siezed upon and kissed adoringly.

“For you, babygirl. I’ll get us through it.” Her heavy and tired eyes met yours in a spark of contact that made both your wedding bands shimmer with energy. Flowing love coursed through the physical contact of man and pony, polarizing the short distance between you both until an arc of flowing current was made. Soul to soul, heart to heart. Through your adoring stares a promise was made that stood firmer than any mountain and with more authority than any alicorn in a crown.

“If this is all true… then show me proof.” She hummed her words and kissed you again between heavy breaths.

“My King, make love to me.” She commanded simply, pressing another smile to your face.

“Lay with me as if it would bring the end to all things. Think of that thorny terror when our child is wielding his weapon high above your head… and conquer it.” Sometimes living with mares as dramatic as Umbra required you to practice not laughing. The sultry and cheesy lines pouring out of her mouth tickled both your humor and your arousal, a rather dangerous mixture in such an intense moment. Her distracting eyes cast the most intense lear a mare could manage, thankfully pulling much of your attention away from prodding thoughts. Focused hands crept down her back and slid over her rotund hips, securely digging into the soft flesh below and latching tight to her fuzzy rear.

“Oooooh… no stallion has ever coveted me as you have, Anon. My horror consumed them and they saw not a mare, but a monster.” She hissed as you lifted her easily from the chair below and hoisted her pudgy belly against your front. Gasps of hot breath ran across your neck when she squished against your broad and uncompromising front, all four legs instantly bolting around your body.

“How does such a brave stallion fear something like their own child? Are you truly so wise that you might know your son’s future? Or was your judgement clouded like my father’s?” The tactile feel of her body against you was enough to nurture your masculine excitement. That short trot to the couch stretched on like infinite plaines as she continued to try and break your resolve.

“Mmmph… Even if our spawn would burn the earth beneath our hooves just for the pleasure, I would still give birth to them. Just to fulfill my duty to you. Just to- UMPH?!” Unceremoniously Umbra was dropped from her comfortable perch in your arms and allowed to plummet onto the couch. Her foot-high plummet was just enough to stir her mind a bit, an airy fwump! of butt meeting cushion eliminating much of the noise on impact. Her hooves stuck out in the air stupidly as her head rested against the armrest, a massive human shape blotting out the weak kitchen light some yards away.

“Getting a little verbose, Sugar.” You snickered, grabbing her rear legs and playfully wrenching them outwards. The dark Queen gasped as she was exposed and toyed with, your hands and fingers like hydraulic clamps compared to her squishy and limp legs. Forelimbs curled up and over her chest, hiding somewhat behind her jiggly belly.

“You think you can convince me? That if you just keep talking I’m gonna back down?” High-pitched whines and chitters of flustered excitement left your Wife when you pressed down on her legs, bulging out her puffy and needy sex. Much like her engorged and dark labia below, Umbra’s eyes likewise bulged and opened wide to accept you.

“Umbra, babygirl, sugar. C’mon now.” A kiss on her cheek trailed down jaw and morphed into nibbles against the thin flesh there. Your equine woman seized and huffed in gleeful surprise with a blush running so deep it reddened her very soul. In the hazy darkness of the sun just barely breaching the horizon far away the unicorn was left with mostly tactile feedback to enjoy, the touch and weight and warmth and aroma of a powerful human male effective as it always had been in nullifying her higher mind. No thoughts, no protests, no will. Just total and utter submission and a willingness to comply.

“I might be dumb, but I ain’t a liar.”

“N- no…” She grunted with flashing fangs of pearly white. The mare’s entire form quivered when your broad front met hers, a slight squish of contact putting your boxers against her bare body and eliciting a squeaky-

“Hah~!” The pleasured music of your mares had always been an invigorating thing to witness. Soft cries of mirth injected into cries of strain when dealing with such a bigger body. Certainly not a canal-busting and mind-breaking manhood like a stallion, but a will to use it properly that couldn’t be matched. Umbra needed only the suggestion of penetration to fall into her natural and feminine rhythm.

“You want proof? Alright… I’ll give you proof.” A gentle but authoritative bite introduced a mildly painful pacification. Nowhere near enough to break the skin, but still tight enough that your pointed incisors made themselves very present. The pony’s heartbeat boomed against your chest in throttles of pressure and excitement at a pace rapidly increasing. It floored you to no end when she whined and gasped into your ear, breathing deeply and steaming up your vision with hot breaths of girly need. Her hips pushed into yours, raising up to contact your barely-restrained manhood and kiss it with sugary and sticky smooches.

You countered by forcing her wide and pillowy hips right back down into the couch below. A slow and forceful buck that ground her into the dirt made both the charcoal unicorn and the couch groan in strain, especially when the bulge of your turgid length plowed into her soft snatch and spread her rubbery lips in an animalistic manner.

“Hah~! Hnng, A- Anon~! Ooh divine- my King~!” She gasped little whispers of pleasure and need each time you touched her. The mare’s mouth became a hushed speaker for every praise and adoration she had for you, one trained to remain quiet and polite after sharing a house with a child for so many years. It used to be that she would purposely holler loudly and boldly for the neighbors to hear, thus spreading the so-called “glory of Anon’s prowess” to the rest of Ponyville. In this more personal and intimate manner though, you found it far more stimulating. As if she were so overwhelmed by the mere presence of your breeding rod that it stole her ability to be obnoxious and boastful.

The slight slit in your striped undergarments finally did give way under your hardening length, spreading just enough for your firm and hot flesh to touch her off. Your nerves screeched like fire alarms when the wet and soft padding slurped against the bottom of your shaft, similar booms of endorphins running down your spine when Umbra mewled a low-

“Huhnnng~...” on contact. She bit her lip and stared up at you with reverence and love in her sickly eyes, drooling slightly in the wash of pheromones and hormones clouding her judgement.

“Anon- hah~! Hmmph, yes~. Love meeee~...” She beckoned you into a kiss that was happily accepted. Smacking lips mirrored slurping glides and gentle pushes against her tight opening, a love-tunnel that had never relaxed even after seven years of breeding. Her hooves shook and jittered around your hips before closing around your body and clasping you tightly. Another knock of force bounced her against the couch, inspiring yet more whimpers and cries of desire.

“Please- please~! Yes, Anon~! Give it to us! My King~!” Such words of encouragement couldn’t be denied. Umbra gripped your hanging and heavy shaft in her weak magic, the most gentle and silky touch making you grunt in surprise. Her eyes were watery with affection and lust, demanding you stare into them and watch the subtle hearts forming in her pupils.

“That’s it… get a hold, Sugar.” You snarled huskily into her face, watching her expressions twist and turn from excited mirth to prepared dread. She would receive no mercy or pause in this bout, that much she knew. There was motivation in this, a sincere and intense drive to prove something. No gentle morning fuck simply for the fun of it. No casual encounter focused on the mere pleasure of man and woman coupling.

This would be for a higher reason.

Thus Umbra was submerged beneath a deep ocean of dedication when she lined your rounded end up with her pumping opening. Like electrodes meeting, energy flowed through both you and her in a reciprocal cycle of bliss. Warmth poured from your rod into her waiting flower while a rocket-like pleasure shot up through you. The natural and oft-practiced art of mating was so wonderfully repeated by the both of you in such happily adopted positions of submission, dominance, acceptance and giving. Umbra looked upon you like you were the sun and the moon, glorious power so above her that words could not do you justice. Your hands cupped her cheeks and held her close, snaking about her as if she were the most precious and rare treasure in all existence.

In that last moment before the plunge, you looked into her eyes and searched for hesitation. You plunged into the mire of her muddy, blood-spackled, rusted and horrific world to sniff out any sense of fear or dread. The wretched past lay inside her, every murder and lie and backstab gurgling in an endless swamp that was somehow packed in your beloved wife. A thousand life-times of suffering all in one spot you were about to slide your most vulnerable part inside of. The genesis of what could be Equestria’s most awful threat, the half-breed cross-species freak that could follow his Mother’s twisted path and raise hell up from the deep in his quest for power.

All of it existed in a superposition of time, waiting on you to collapse it. Give Umbra her child, potentially destroy the nation. Give her nothing, ensure you destroy her. In your rational mind, the choice was clear. But when breathing her scent, feeling her warmth and adoring the wretched and vile flower that her soul had bloomed into, logic was the first thing to be cast aside. You and her never looked away as the folds of flesh wrapped about one another in a fluid movement of slow muscular contractions and slurping noise. Her dark lips spread around your intrusive rod, joyfully squeezing for you as the downfall of Equestria may or may not have been decided.

“Haaahn… Ooooh divine above… My Kiiiiiing~~~...” She trailed off into a whimpery ecstacy below you, her hooves holding your head as another kiss was shared. A promise made in silence, written and signed by pressing into your wife’s plush opening. Her welcoming and familiar cavern remained tight as a drum for you, always maddly squeezing and milking and sucking as if she intended to permanently entrap you inside her. Rings of undulating muscle goded you inside, tracing up your alien length and rippling with excited need upon each pulse of her heart. The dark Queen’s royal and metered voice sputtered into high-pitched and breathy whines of pleasure that danced across your ears with a most delicious and satisfying tone.

“Hmmph! Hnn- unmph~!” She gasped and huffed into your face as man and mare bonded once again. The rounded end of your manhood nestled snugly against her cervix like a dear friend coming to visit once more, the fleshy kiss of slimy contact sparking that old feeling of purpose in your wife. Stars sparkled in her vision whilst she took hold of your shoulders, tightening her grip for dear life as the slow and deep thrusts rocked her up and down.

“Ugh- IMMPT~! Anon~!” She squealed and sputtered at you when the back and forth motion stretched her guts and pulled at her delicate flower. The smooth and measured motions of an experienced mare-breeder like you accounted for her delicate and soft texture, never once daring to be too rough for your plush wife. She lay there in absolute comfort now accentuated by the pounding pleasure of a man’s presence. Umbra stared still at you with narrowed and sleepy eyes fixed eternally to the matching stare of her stalwart protector. The man that would make her whole again and restore what had always been missing.

“Hnnf… I love you, Umbra.” You grunted to her inbetween grueling plunges inside her. Her soft snatch spread so smoothly around you, squeezing and milking with a buttery grip that made your nerves screech in need. The simple and ancient portions of your brain demanded a hard and fast pace. Nothing so sweet and subtle and deliberate as this. Her body was masterfully crafted for this, soft and squishy thighs and chubby buttocks and a rotund belly cushioning every soft blow while dark insides worshiped your sensitive shaft. She looked so helpless below you, unable to even sit up to properly kiss you with her trembling and puckered lips.

“I love you more than any Princess, any job or any fool that would take you away from me.” Growled words soothed her into a yet more accepting state of utter limbness, her body submitting to its beloved role as a human plaything.

“My~... husband… oooommmrrrph~~~...” She chirped and bit her lip before you could kiss it. Every word came between the staccato interruption of the increasingly passionate breeding below, quickly falling apart into drooly jibberish barely erupting from her mouth.

“I’ll kill any pony that comes between you and me. I’ll strangle Luna before I ever turn my back on you. I’ll give a hundred demon babies before I ever even consider not loving you.” Truth be told it was hard to talk and love at the same time for you. Sweat beaded up on your back and neck from the summer warmth streaming through the windows and the humid fog outside, sapping your endurance. Her sweet and slobbery opening drooled warm nectar down your gonads, adding yet another stain to your long-suffering couch. Churning lava inside her made for incredible heat around your manhood, driving you mad with the plush walls and the squeezing muscles drawing out your seed.

One look in her face however confirmed that your efforts were indeed worthwhile. She was smiling dopily and drooling on herself when such a savage decree left your lips. Pleasure and devotion unmatched covered her in a mask of pure bliss, the dark and sinister Queen beaten down into the most pliant, subservient and powerful mare in Equestria. For you, the man that would give her life, a second chance, a child to call her own, nothing was too drastic. Nothing was too improbable. Nothing would ever bring her back to that frigid riverbank bereft of security and safety.

“Hah- nng! Babygirl, I ain’t got much left!” You hissed into her face as she pulled you down. Her nose touched to yours and the darkness of the night slowly burned away under the intense sun, illuminating your final moments of endurance in mellow orange light.

“Claim me~~~.” She cooed as your seed rushed inside her, painting the mare’s guts with alabaster kings and queens waiting to be. Her fertile insides could do nothing with the mismatched material, vainly taking it within her garden and swirling it about mournfully. Sacred and filling and pleasurable as it was, there was still no use in such fresh, virile and sweet human essence. Its presence- in the form of a weighty exhaustion washing over every fiber of Umbra’s being- was all that she required. Immediately her racing thoughts and aching muscles were put at peace. A quiet and content peace that a child might feel when settling in for a wonderful night of sleep. Everything would be okay, everything would be as it needed to and the forces at work would see to it.

Her orgasm was dwarfed by the sensation of sweet relief. Relief from the howling gales of her own turmoil that had blown her down for centuries. The weightless joy of such a finality made her utterly dumb and soft under your panting body, her eyes meeting yours in a final stare of love unimagined.

“My King…” Was all she could say before you embraced the pony and lifted her from the seat. Morning’s imminent arrival would rouse Dinky sooner than you wanted, leaving almost no opportunity to make such an adult situation disappear. Fortunately, your sticky, sweaty and panting wife looked to be in the perfect mood for a bath. She curled into a soft sphere of fur and dripping sper. and short breaths, utterly unaware of your slow and careful carting up the stairs. All she could think was the name floating in her mind, the mysterious monikor that danced at the edges of her thoughts for so long.

That day, out in the field by the house where the sunlight shone most bright, Umbra lay and let the world dance around her. In the shade of a lone birch tree, the powerful unicorn simply listened closely to the elder languages of the material and immaterial. Grass and flowers grew taller and stronger around her body, for the positive energy pulsating in the ring about her neck amplified the nourishment and metabolism of the flora. Just as her mother had been all those eons ago in the cold taiga of the Crystal Empire, the so-called Queen returned to her long-forgotten pleasure of green magic. The thanks of the grass, the beckoning whistles of the flowers, the somber moans of the trees, the dark grunting of the stones. It all mirrored her inner monologue, finally a single voice speaking for itself with not a chirp of interruption.

Say for one, of course.

“There you are.” Squeaked young Dinky, her fur still damp with the scent of a muggy river. Purple stains about her mouth saturated her fur with the syrupy remains of ice-cold treats.. Umbra felt her tiny hooves against the packed dirt of the sun-baked field, only opening her eyes so she could joyfully see her niece come close and lay against her.

“I was looking for you, Auntie.” She said with a surprisingly soft and adult tone, the childish excitement endemic to her age quieted. Umbra smiled warmly and pulled her close with magic, nuzzling her most precious pupil.

“Come… come closer Dinky.” She beckoned with the most gentle tone she could manage, one that could only be heard from an inch away. Dinky obliged with a hum of safety and satisfaction, settling against her teacher’s side with a forelimb placed over one of Umbra’s.

“Poppy made you feel better.” Dinky said with pride in her voice, sensing the change in Umbra’s tide. The magic aura around her was entirely different than it had been the day before, even the night before. No longer the thick storm cloud of changing energies and twisting patterns confusing the mind. The smiling mare kissed her Pupil’s cheek in agreement, beaming with radiant energy like a star peacefully drifting along its predestined course.

“Indeed he did. Anonymous has made all well, just as he was created to do.” Dinky giggled and watched as her Aunty stared off into the forest, her green and red eyes tracking invisible shapes in the distance with great interest.

“Poppy fixes everything.” She said gleefully, taking great pride in the “purpose” of her father. Umbra had always said you were brought here for something, though the how or why were never really clear. Now, after all she had seen, it was spelled out in letters bold and clear as the storm clouds hovering over the far-off mountain peaks.

“Have you heard his name again?” Dinky questioned politely, trying not to agitate her otherwise calm and relaxed Aunt. Umbra closed her eyes and thought for a moment, her magic manipulated twigs and grass blades and rocks naturally, forming the word that had been repeating in her thoughts for some time.

“It has come and gone… though I never knew it to be a name. Just as the future always is, the image is unclear and unpredictable.” She grinned at the forming word below, finding that it was indeed just like the coming presence she had felt for so long.

“We are so lucky to taste it. To feel it like the wind through our manes and the sounds of the forest. It may be beyond words and come delivered in moments of uncertainty. But in that fraction of a moment Dinky, you must trust that if it was shown to you, it is nothing to fear.” The young filly watched as the final touches were put into place on this yet unspoken name, a new sound created just for this beast that would be birthed unto Equestria one day.

“Ozymandias.”

Bonus 4.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Bonus 3.

Author's Note

What this fetish is called i cannot say. But if you happen to know please tell me. It is my favorite.

Bonus 3.

Bonus 3.
Gatekeeper Most Cruel.

Luna soared through her realm on a muggy summer night with particular zeal, drawn toward a particularly active spot hidden away by a veil of noise. The myriad of dreams calling out to her swam past like the billions of water particles running in a river, growing faster and more hurried the closer she came. This beacon called out for her with a peculiar tone, one that reached out for her distinctly. She could no more ignore it than she could ignore someone calling her name, the reflex of the Night Mistress to address and explore the realm of pony thoughts.

Breaching the surface of this strange dream, she immediately knew its owner by feeling alone. Every pony had a mojo to their thoughts, like their special aroma or delightfully unique flavor. Derpy Hooves’ was light and fluffy, warm and nourishing. The dryer sheet scent was cushioned by the softness of feminine sweetness, a Mother’s overwhelming and adoring grasp. The Princess breathed a sigh of relief here, she felt cared for and nurtured by a higher power again, something she hadn’t felt since the beginning of Equestria eons ago.

Curiously, she didn’t need to take on any sort of shape to hide away from the dream. It subtly welcomed her to approach in her true form, gliding thoughtlessly into a chamber of her own castle. Her hooves became solid against the plush rug of the south wing, a section generally reserved for foreign dignitaries and their entourage. Luna shivered as a winter chill rushed up her spine, drawing her seafoam eyes towards her oddly covered back.

Derpy dressed her in a flowing and thick dress, perhaps something that a bride to be would wear to her betrothed’s estate. Little shoes clung to her hooves and reflected her expression in flashes of silver, revealing the layer of makeup covering her face. Bright lipstick, dark eye liner and flaring eye lashes. She moved with the flow of the dream in a professional and trained step, but her ancient mind couldn’t help but wonder what on Earth was going on.

Why would Derpy need her dressed like this? Why was there such a chill in the air? What was this warmth welling inside of her, a childish excitement for Heart’s Warming Eve at Grandma’s house? She could only wait on answers as she was drawn to the Master bedroom of the south wing, both guards bowing to her as they opened the ebony wood doors.

“She enters! Honorable Right, Mistress and Arbiter, The Princess Luna!” The guard cried in ancient tradition, bringing attention to the Princess’ arrival. She entered carefully so as not to intrude too rudely, addressing Derpy directly as she stood in the middle of the room. The lavishly furnished chamber crackled with a fire burning in the hearth, its dancing light bouncing off the polished stone that remained cold to the touch. Luna could see the snow falling outside the narrow siege windows of the castle, white flurries rushing down from a white sky. It made her gravitate toward the warm inferno and the even warmer body occupying the living room, both mares bowing to one another.

“Princess.”

“Duchess.” Luna returned, smiling sweetly at the exotically dressed pegasus. Derpy was clad in flowing necklaces of gilded pearls, a simple and elegant dress covering her heavily pregnant shape. The mare bristled with marks of status and affection, her rings and necklaces and piercings all melding together until it appeared she was surrounded by an aura of swirling stars. A single black pearl hung between her eyes, accenting her wheat color irises like a shining supernova in a starless sky. It pulled Luna in like a blackhole, sucking her closer to Derpy until she and the shorter mare shared an affectionate nuzzle against their respective necks.

“It is a grand pleasure to see you again, Duchess. We are so ever glad you hath come to us.” Derpy smiled bashfully and giggled to herself, the jingle of her jewelry mirroring the somewhat sloshing sache of her full belly. She bulged out her dress on either side of her body, so much so that one could rest a cup of tea on the top of her burden. The pegasus seemed to glow with fertility and health, a perfectly crafted mare for bringing foals into the world. Winter time was a rare season to be so loaded with children, as they would surely be born before the snow melted and the blooming spring brought the crops out of the ground.

Clearly, a mark of her status. Duchess Derpy needn’t worry about low wheat stores or the fragile potato crop. She was fabulously wealthy and only concerned with higher matters. Luna blushed at the detail put into every facet of the mare’s appearance, for she was infectiously beautiful.

“I extend the same feeling to you, Honorable Princess. It brings us both such comfort to stride through these gilded halls.” Her voice had dropped an octave since Luna last laid eyes on Derpy, or perhaps it was just how she always perceived herself. The mature, clear and clean rumble of bassy femininity hit differently than her childish babbling. The Night Princess was drawn to follow it toward a pair of couches across from the fire, fine furniture so prestigious and rare it was decorated with sapphires and gold. Sitting on opposing pieces, the mares placed a polite barrier between themselves, though the Royal among them sensed that there was no such need for pleasantries. Without a clear idea of what exactly it was, Luna tasted in the air a deeper and more intimate intention to this meeting.

“Ten-thousand years they stand. And may another ten-thousand see them stalwart as ever.” The Duchess lay her head against the plush cushion of her seat examinine Luna with crystal clear eyes. Her gilded irises sliced deep through the royal fluff and glamor, flashes of mischievous jade just barely visible in flecks of color.

“But… we imagine that this call was not to speak about your accommodations.” Luna spoke without using her own voice, for her words were dictated by the silent mind laying across from her. Derpy guided this dream like a director guiding his actors, albeit with a far more omnipotent command. Until Luna deemed it necessary to intervene, she was along for the ride and curiously watching where it went.

“It is true. Unfortunately, I am not so interested in architecture and masculine drivel of the sort.” She and Luna shared a snooty giggle between them as a powerful aroma started to fly through the room. A sudden rush of pheromones caught Luna’s sense and made her blood run just that much hotter. An adult, feminine, wild excitement shot through her like a bullet tearing its way through thin wooden planks. Derpy was clearly affected as well, her wings gently rising from her back with sprinkles of diamonds studded between her grey feathers.

“Then… enlighten us. Whatsoever requires my immediate attention, Duchess?” Luna chirped with a curious and playful tone, her eyes narrowing down to sultry slits as Derpy licked her lips. The poison creeping through the room emanated from the bedchamber like smoke from a bonfire filling a cabin. It swirled and danced around the mares with taunting tendrils digging at their minds in aggressive jabs of irritating desire. Luna knew this scent, but only from second-hand whiffs caught off the Duchess herself.

“My sources say… that thou have interest in exotic pursuits and wonders.” The Duchess answered, her pupils dilating to wide spheres of ebony when the masculine presence sank deep into her.

“Presume Us guilty.” Luna answered, her ears flicking in order to better tune towards the soft padding of feet. Duofold doors of thick mahogany split down the middle, letting a rush of steamy excitement flood the room and drown every present mare. The distinct and strange noise of bipedalism coupled with soft soles against marble announced in no unclear terms just who was accompanying the Duchess.

“We’ve brought you a treasure most rare. Marvelous treat from lands never touched by pony-kind.” The Duchess’ words were lost in the river of sensation that the human put out, his throbbing and captivating masculinity so brilliant and bright it could outshine the sun. Luna felt her heart stop for several seconds in the wake of your booming entrance, her eyes struggling to behold all the delicious detail.

“Is he not divine? My Anonymous commands so much attention wherever we go.” Indeed you did, at the behest of your wife of course. Fresh from the bath, your musk was accented with scented oils and herbs spread across your fine skin. Muscles glistened with the tiniest film of the nourishing potion of bathwater, catching the fire’s light and sparkling. Each and every feature was polished to a mirror finish, all imperfections once hiding in your body blasted away in Derpy’s vision of you. Everything was groomed and kept perfect as she saw fit, an army of celibate and dedicated maids employed to assure your health. Luna could not help when her eyes drifted downwards toward your less honorable areas, her disappointment quickly turned to curiosity when a snow-white towel covered your groin.

Your expression was nothing short of utter coldness, an unfeeling grimace birthed from life as a working man. Luna felt your past in a familiar pang of joy, a rise to power marked not by birthright, but pure strength of will. You had earned this position in higher society, you had earned your wife and you had claimed all you saw. A far-cry from the weakling, limp-wristed gentry she often dealt with. Her tongue curled from between pursed lips to lather them with sweet spittle, a hungry reflex when spying such a pristine specimen.

“Your Grace? I presume you have been acquainted with my Husband?” The Duchess said as the unmoving statue came to life and approached her. Disciplined eyes set on her and her alone, your wife lifting her head with expectant lips. All the Princess could do when the sweet smack of flesh to flesh hit her ears was whine jealousy, an icy spear driving through her heart in light of such dedication.

“Ind-... Indeed… We recall his Excellency from the Dragon’s Summit some time ago…” The princess swallowed the boulder building in her throat, watching closely as the stiff human stood over his bride. He assuringly rubbed his hand across her bulging gut in honor and reverence of his heirs-to-be. Duchess Derpy shifted and huffed as the babes within kicked against her soft walls, a trio of children baking together inside her warm womb and waiting to be birthed.

“He’s changed quite a bit since then, if I may say with pride.” The Duchess cooed and giggled with mirth as she was stroked and pet and protected by her human, a slab of muscle looming over her with the cool and calculating expression of a devious and ambitious planner. Luna caught her eyes tracking his hands as they glided over and pressed into the fold of Derpy’s body, the soft noises released from her downy fur making the feathers on her back ruffle with needy twitches.

“I am sure you know this, but he requires quite a lot of taming whenever we make visitations to Canterlot.” The princess hummed with feigned thoughtfulness whilst Anon knelt by his bride, casually kissing with a trained restraint. So much power stuffed into such a tall body allowed you to be incredibly forceful with just about any pony you came across. It would be child's play to assert your will over the nation, but Derpy held all that force in her hooves. When guided by her, you were a trained hound loyal following her commands to the letter. The dedication in the most mundane of your actions embarrassed other stallions of objectively higher caliber, for they could never reign in their masculinity like Derpy did.

“Mmmwauh! He requires so much attention, my poor Husband. I’m afraid that hardly a week goes by that I mustn’t satisfy his carnal cravings for me.” Luna’s front teeth gnashed at her lip until the cyan lipstick there peeled off in slobbery shingles. The thought of you looming over her with fierce need in your eyes brought tendrils of sick pleasure to her heart. The instinctive desire to surrender and go limp for a powerful male made her back legs weak and her front legs twitchy. All her muscles wished to serve you, to be soft and pliant and limp in your arms like a ragdoll happily accepting whatever may come its way.

The Duchess sensed such desire in her Hostess. She was not highly regarded among the Canterlot elite, but the meaningless opinions of her lessers could never dampen her intelligence. She crooned with a deep growl when she caught the Princess devouring you with her eyes. You followed silent commands communicated through subtle body language until the Duchess fired the starting pistol.

“Anonymous? Would you be averse to servicing our most gracious hostess tonight?” Luna gasped at the notion as it fought through her conflicted mind. Her body popped and burst on the inside with the dirty thrill of sex running through every muscle. Nerves fired off with excited fireworks as she was spoken of in such a disrespectful and crude manner. No pony would ever dare suggest such a thing, not if they valued their livelihood in Canterlot. Just as her Father had dictated before his death, speaking of such lurid things involving the royalty was high treason. Doing so on the royal grounds, before the pure and clean Sisters with such a brazen and measured tone carried the sentence of death by drowning. Duchess Derpy chanced her and her human being lashed to logs and thrown into the icy canal supplying Canterlot, a damning fate that would press her once good name into the muddy dregs of history.

It was disrespectful. It was unlawful. It was nothing short of sacrilege. And Luna drank in the devious intent with a parched throat.

“We… I… I cannot…” She attempted to force the words from her rapidly wetting mouth. Crackles and mumbles were all that fell from her trembling lips as you drew near, the overwhelming presence of your tall stature next to her turning Luna into a needy puddle of a Princess. The staggering height difference set the primal parts of her mind alight with the instinct to cower and worship. Just as a tall stallion in the days of prehistory was a sign of health and strength that would breed strong foals, a tall human projected the very same signals of dominance and capability. Duchess Derpy always contended with the masses molesting her Husband with their greedy eyes, a long shadow inviting many dirty roaches to hide beneath it. The Matriarch allowed another to bask in your good graces and still held the reigns firmly in her grasp.

“If it is what my darling Wife desires, then it will be done.” You replied with a soldier’s discipline and eloquence. No long speeches of flowery desire, no trained dialect meant to light the spirit on fire and no hiding behind complex innuendo. You were so charmingly simple. A machine sculpted from flesh and bone. Luna then twitched and felt her breath hitch as you touched her, the alien feel of fingers dancing down her neck making icy chills burst across her body.

“Sir Duke! We- We cannot! ‘Tis not proper!” She whined and whimpered as you caressed her down with delicate and trained strokes across her indigo pelt. You paid no mind to her quiet and half-hearted protests. Every mare you had bedded for your wife’s entertainment complained and refused at first. Perhaps out of politeness or fear of consequences. But after dozens of spirited breedings with every walk of mare across Equestria, you knew better than to stop. Duchess would never sic you on a mare who wasn’t mad with so-called “human fever.”

“Oh shush, Princess. He shan’t put a finger where you hath no desire for one.” Duchess Derpy grinned and hummed happily as her heart boiled over with a unique satisfaction. Luna was struggling to cope with but the lightest of your touches, the most gentle of pleasure you could provide a mare. The mere suggestion of naughtiness- of walking the line between the acceptable and the lecherous- made Luna mad with conflict. Her higher mind with its weaker ties in her physical being snarled and snapped and frothed at the mouth when you touched her. She knew well enough that this was not allowed, that this was breaking every regulation that ruled the Princess’ life from morning to night. It was a destruction of that which made her civilized, which made her Kingdom function from top to bottom.

But the deep roots of her primal and carnal desire were far stronger. They held sway over her true self, the animal that powered the high and mighty monarch. She was but a beast with a thin veneer of pomp and training to cover up savage thirst. Your touch was a chisel against that coating, breaking off the spackling of modesty with brutal smashes against that fragile little coating. Flakes fell all around her, dazing the Night Princess into a slurried state that could only function on the most basal, needy level.

“He- He should not-... haahnnng…” Words failed her, for there was insufficient communication in this place. The complicated and delicate action of speech was far too cumbersome for a mare in her position.

Duchess Derpy adored the breaking of mares. She loved nothing more than to watch them crumble from afar, the same satisfaction as watching a building fall into dust from a skilful demolition. Sure, there was a time when you first took her to your breast that it happened just as easily to her. The first few months of being your wife were indeed a wild and blurry memory of endless pleasure. To relive it was a thrill without comparison. The pegasus’ wings faltered against her back, extending outwards to display her healthy, lush and bejeweled plumage for you. A mare with a wide wingspan was desirable like a stallion with a large maleness- the reflex was impossible to fight.

“Oh, don’t humor us with platitudes and denial, Dear Princess.” The Duchess hummed, signaling you subtly to go further. Human fingers danced down Luna’s neck and scoured over her back, touching delicate nerve bundles just right so her skin would shudder and twitch. The equine body simply wasn’t built for such tactile feedback, let alone a body that was so rarely pampered as Luna’s. Satisfaction crashed through her like a volley of cannon fire, forcing the Night Mistress to bite her lip and dam the throaty moans sloshing in her chest.

“Contrary to what your silly nobility believes, I am not so ignorant as not notice how you covet my stallion.” Luna’s breath hitched as she was betrayed. Her mind flooded with the conflicting emotions of fear and arousal, her wings splaying outwards with a rude “FWOMP!” The Duchess giggled and narrowed her eyes to needles at the young royal, licking her lips deviously. The Nocturnal Matriarch could vaporize insolent mortals like her and the human, but such skill in the arcane arts was utterly useless in this vulnerable and suffocating heat.

“How you molest him with your gaze. How you follow him about like a filly in heat to catch his scent. How the blue bloods and pure breds claim he could easily fall to their ‘whims.’ It offends me.” Though speaking seriously and watching an intimate exchange, Duchess Derpy held her expression of friendliness. Welcoming, horny, needy friendliness.

“Soon enough, I came to wonder. ‘What would a self-respecting mare do for just a taste of a prime stallion? What low would she debase herself toward? What false promise would she make for a single night?’ It’s a rare and curious thing to see, Your Highness.”

“MMNAHH!” Luna cried out in sharp delight as your hands cupped her hips, a cheek pressing to hers in powerful assertion of sure dominance. Her fur stood on end and trembled under your touch, begging for yet more stimulation whilst an avalanche fell all around her. Hot breaths hammered her down, flattening the iron politician into a simpering little filly.

“Princess Twilight, Cadence, the Filthy Riches, Fleur De Lis, Queen Chrysalis… none more than a moment of passion for my Husband. A notch in his belt etched by howling moans and humiliating diatribes of desire. He has claimed countless treasures for me. Yet, only two of the most prestigious variety remain.” Luna could not fathom the depth of this fantasy. How debauched and thorough a seemingly simple mind like Derpy’s could be that she would not only lust after her natural love, but the domination of others so far off. Others she had never even meant, but wished to see ruined regardless.

“Well?” The Duchess hummed, her grin nothing short of pure malcontent condensed into a mare’s face.

“Won’t you show us the depths of your depravity, Princess Luna? Will you submit your divine body to MY stallion for his selfish satisfaction?” The Duchess had to wait for her answer, as the mouth of her accused was quite busy with its own howls and whines. Luna’s lips curled and twitched and quivered with the tide of sexual ferocity crashing over her, thrashing waves beating her down until she was utterly powerless before her own needs. Her sex winked and bulged out of her backside with a puffy and shining arousal. Her blood flushed the dripping flesh with an evening darkness until the deep cerulean morphed into glimmering, sticky purple.

The Princess’ powerful and ancient heart pounded in her chest with such force that her lips quivered on each thump, their winking rhythm disrupted by this cardiac beat dominating her perception. Your scent, your warmth and your aggression was all her once sharp and keen mind could understand. You were everything she had ever desired- at least since she had come through the double doors sealing off this lusty paradise.

“W-we-! We doth- Aaaauuungh! Gods above!” She groaned and cast her eyes back towards your work, the slightest dribble of need falling from her exclusive love. Hardly a stallion had ever seen it, let alone claimed it as theirs. Luna was a prized lay in the eyes of every stallion lusting for mares. Perhaps not as prestigious as her immaculate sister, she was still seen as a model for all mares and the demonstrator of their natural beauty.

You were about to have her. Not only for free, but with such willing compliance that you don't need to play games to win her over. The Duchess nodded her head with a dark blush across her cheeks, signaling you to steal away the Princess and begin the night in earnest.

“Anon, my precious Husband? Please escort the Princess to her new favorite bed.” You complied and spirited the Night away, cupping her like a babe and letting her juices flow down your powerful arm. Such warmth and sugary need was thrilling, beads and tear-drops of heady arousal washing out portions of your own musk in favor of this rare scent. The unique musk of a Princess, one of two who would never share it with any pony other than the most elite of the elite. Her mark soaked into your permeable and smooth skin, forever painting you as one of the lucky beings to have her turn to putty in your arms.

She received much the same gift from you, as well. Sweat and oils and human spirit trickled into her fur like a heavy fog consuming a mountain. The caustic and addictive compounds flushed her mind of any conflict, all logic and self-respect. This was breeding at its most primal. And in some ways, she hoped it was the most pure. Nothing quite matched the sensation or the honor of carrying a powerful stallion’s foals inside, Luna was especially inspired by the duty such a burden imposed. Her tail flagged for you as her body met the soft sheets of luxury, her teal eyes falling to the grey mare relaxing across a love seat tucked in the corner of the room. A curious sight that denied being examined, for there were greater and more jarring things to come.

“Master Anonymous… this is truly what ye desire?” Luna whined as she was descended upon, her belly posted skyward and her limbs quickly wrapping about your body. Your size totally engulfed her in a blanket of muscle and security, like the entire castle had folded in on itself and buried her alive in the most comfortable place imaginable. The Princess wondered just when your expression would turn about from its face of bored and aloof coldness. She waited for any emotion to come across at all, something to betray just how you felt, how you thought of her. But you returned nothing of the sort, as your heart was hardened as your patience. The very best she could hope for was a confirming hand running down the curve of her lithe belly and the shocking warmth of fingers against her sex.

“Huhng?! Mmph!” She complained with throaty moans of pleasure and surprise mixing together into a toxic jumble of sounds, her eyes flying to yours when the tactile feedback had hit her totally. Your hands were rough and firm, yet still perfectly soft for the task at hand. No hard horn from the hoof of one like her, your touch was totally unique in Equestria and highly prize by all mare kind. Duchess Derpy cooed when she saw the burst of need rocket across the Royal’s face in a tell-tale display of your abilities.

“Yesssssss, my Husband. Touch her. Give her what she wants.” Duchess commanded with a seething and dark tone to her voice. A sadistic and tortuous music trebled in each word she let loose, as if this was no light-hearted gift to lift the spirits. Luna sensed something awry with the manner with which she was handled, but that tiny notice was barely registered when your prying grasp pulled open her marehood and let plumes of steam fill the room.

“Hmmph! Hnng, oh Gods! Anon- EEK! Master- please!” Luna’s nerves fired off without rhyme or reason or mercy inside her head. The flesh of her purple and plump lips fed her a constant stream of stimulation she could hardly process, as each blooming stroke and touch and fidget was devastating to her. It took every last bit of her mind to keep track of it all, the totality of her brilliance guided by your primal and common hand.

“Feel her, Dear Anonymous. I want you to touch what so many stallions can only fantasize about! Claim it boldly for me!” Derpy cheered you on with narrowed and focused eyes concentrated on your work, feeding off every little movement in your arm. You worked Luna’s slit up and down, back and forth and to and fro. Gently warping the very outside of her opening about, you got a sense for how rubbery, pliant and soft she could be. Rivers were beginning to run between your fingers with musky and sticky little inlets threading between the tiny bits of fur accenting her need. The more you rubbed, the wetter the scene below became. Hardly a minute passed before the flat of your hand was grinding and swiping and slipping over her winking cunt like greased ball bearings.

“Hnng! Stars above! Anonymous, thine hand is incredible!” Luna barked into the air of the bedchamber, craning her neck to kiss you. Still lips hovered just out of reach of her panting and whining snout, the millimeter gap between your mouths deliciously short, yet punishingly wide. You could feel Derpy shiver at the idea, as she always reserved such intimate pleasures for herself.

“Withhold, my Husband. Let the Princess earn what I am so freely given.” Pleading eyes from below meant nothing when such a direct and uncompromising order was given. You felt no need to defy Derpy, as the pony you held now was nothing in light of your Mistress. Luna might as well have been the Princess of Dirt, for all that it mattered to you. Spreading her lips, feeling about the soft opening of her flower and teasing her flexible entrance was no exercise in your own release, lust or desire. It was all for the Mistress. The one and only mare in all Equestria.

Luna was unaware of this cold and unfeeling arrangement. She fell into her role naturally as a rock falling to Earth, especially since every last bit of energy poured into holding fast to your body. Hooves kicked helplessly in the air as a single finger pressed inside of her, parting her soft and slick walls so you could drink in the texture of such divine feminity.

“Oooh! Oh damnable stars above!” She squealed, the voice of a pleasure goddess bouncing harmlessly off the walls around you. Then and there, she was beyond saving. As assuredly as day becomes night, Princess Luna became yours in mind and body. Her walls crushed your finger and her eyes molested yours. Bodies alien to one another became unified in a much practiced dance of debauchery and wet squelching. Silky purple flesh pulsed and nursed around your digit as if she wanted to rip it off and keep it forever, a most pleasing texture rippling across your sensitive hand. If any pony had curiosity large enough to ask you would gladly describe your fondness for alicorn sex. Nothing quite compared to the musculature of a goddess coupled with the satin grip of common femininity. It was sex on steroids, everything wonderful and raw magnified into its purest and most pretty form.

In your own deep thoughts you still prefered the glorious fit of Derpy’s canal. But then again, you would rather suffer a swift blow to the gonads than love another mare simply for her body. Exploring enough to please your Wife, the main course of action finally rolled into place. Luna gasped and watched with great concentration as your fingers oozed from her opening and moved toward your mouth, allowing you to sample her freshly brewed and sweet nectar.

“How is it, my Wonderful Husband? How does Luna compare to all the other poor mares that will never feel your touch again?” The Duchess asked with her own hoof hovering about her engorged snatch, a combination of hormones and body heat making for an intensely musky and thick scent. The caustic eyes of a self-made man bored through Luna’s as you sampled and took in her flavor, locking it away in the infinite vault of secrets at the back of your mind.

“Fine wine. Sharp and intense. But murmurs away into a most pleasing taste unlike any fruit I’ve had the pleasure of eating.” Luna’s forelimbs folded against her chest as she choked out some sound between a moan and a meow for more, begging you to be more passionate with every hurried and heated breath.

“Mmmmmmh… she sounds so desperate, my Husband. Luna must suffer so many lonely nights in this dreary castle all on her own… won’t you cure her of this awful affliction?” Powerful hands concisely negotiated about the Princess’ body and settled on either side of her head. Crushing the mattress down around her, Luna fell into the gravity of your form and quickly braced her legs around you. She wanted to be close, she wanted to be close enough to merge with you. This entirely twisted moment in time would be too short if it was made eternal to her. Listening to your heartbeat, feeling your manhood knock against her silky door- it inspired her most feminine spirit to sing jovially in her heart.

“Oooooooh gods! Divine powers! Mmmph!” She cried out as her silken and sopping entrance was stretched open about your manhood and made to bow before its unstoppable force. Bending flesh and squeezing muscle submitted to your presence and bathed your shaft in unbearable warmth, one so familiar to a mare that it made even you shiver somewhat.

“Rrrnnnng…” You snarled into her ear as she buried her face in your throat and crushed her hooves into your back. Deep ruts formed in your muscle from the pressure of her grip, clawing at you as if silently begging for yet more. Power restrained only by your mercy toward the mare boiled and frothed to be set free at such wonderful stimulation, the burning inside only quenched by the startling pleasure of sowing your seed inside a willing female. A savage and selfish desire that would see itself satisfied no matter the social ire it might draw. Your body and your mind competed against one another in this brutal brawl of breeding and thrusting and huffing, both burying the Princess beneath a mountain of masculinity from which there was no manner of escape.

“Ha- HMMN~! Master Anon! Moon above- NYAAH~!!! Thou art the most- UMPH! Divine feeling stallion in all Equestria!” She hollered without control and without shame. The proud and ear-splitting voice of the Nation’s ruler echoed off these stony walls with waving songs of intense pleasure. Her physical being ran straight over her thoughts and crushed them flat against the floor, smothering everything with the sludgy and dark confusion of orgasmic bliss. The alicorn could trace every last bit of your man-hood inside her, from the ridges to the veins to the throbbing channels keeping you stiff. Duofold heart beats bumped and throttled against one another in the excitement, ticking with opposing metronomes of organic energy. Likewise, you had to admire how silken and artful her insides were. Nothing so rough and haphazard as a commoner, rather, the perfectly smooth walls of a master craftsman’s work. A soft and gripping texture that resisted pulling away, but welcomed rushing through. Intense warmth so permeating that its heated waves channeled from your shaft to your hips and up your spine like a river flowing uphill.

Her scent and yours combined in the increasingly steamy atmosphere surrounding your coupling, making the Duchess simply ooze with marish need that sullied the royal loveseat. Derpy bit her hoof and growled to herself in content as yet another prestigious mare fell to her monstrous human. The angle of her perch let her watch as your shaft glimmered in the weak light of the bedchamber for a moment before plunging right back into the quivering socket. Gooey strings of excitement clung to your hips as they pistoned back and forth, pounding soft and vulnerable flesh with mallet-like force at a steady and brutal rhythm. She adored watching your familiar body work, all the muscles and sinew and motions clear and apparent without fur to obscure the view. But something about Luna’s tensing muscles, twitching legs, kicking hooves and shrieking cries of satisfaction dug deep into her heart.

Knowing full well that this was a milestone for the mare, that this would be the best lay of her entire long life and that she was the arbiter therein, pleased her to no end. Watching as a master in his craft did sick work on such a prim and proper mare, reducing her to nothing but a drooling, sex-obsessed beast made her squirm with warm tingles. She gasped and groaned as a particularly hard thrust made Luna cross her back legs around your hips, squeezing you against her bounding hips as her orgasm rocketed between muscles like firecracker sparks.

“Oooh! What a healthy release! My Husband truly brings out the best in a mare, doesn’t he?” The Duchess giggled as Luna wordlessly gasped and licked your neck, staring into your eyes with sparkles of adoration. Her breaths were heavy and quick and labored, drawing in your addictive scent until it clogged her mind completely. You stared back as well, wearing your stoic mask as you always did under supervision.

“Finish her, my Anonymous. Make her yours from this day forward.” The Duchess commanded, so you obeyed. Releasing any manner of restraint, your body went into a thrusting dervish. A slapping staccato made a terrible racket in the room when combined with the suddenly hysterical Luna’s moans of affection. She gasped and whined and yipped in time with your penetrating, pushing harder and harder against you until there was hardly a quarter inch of human flesh leaving her on each pull. Her grip grew tighter and more desperate with every passing second in your presence, locking her to you until all your mortal muscles could do was bury your cock inside her and vainly bash at her guts. She refused to let you move, refused to let you escape and demanded you breed her completely as a stallion could.

“Hah- mmph- yes- ooh~!!! We love you! Moon and Sun, We love you! Stay with me! Breed me everyday, Master! Make me your mare! Be my King! Be my King!” She desperately huffed and drooled as you pounded into her one last time before releasing the levie. A sudden flush of white powered through her once pristine canal and saturated it with your mark. Just as they had done for every other mare of importance in Equestria, both your orbs contracted and forced impregnating, fertile seed into the quivering mess of a pony below you. High pressure and concentrated jets of release spewed through Luna and filled her divine womb, making her the most high and sanctified mare in Canterlot for the few seconds it took to fill her. You could watch the personality fade from her eyes, the bright spark of personhood that made her the figurehead of a nation. In its place, nothing but lust. The animalistic lust that ruled the roost of primitive, wild species’. Duchess Derpy coveted the image forever in her mind, biting her lip until a single drop of blood ran down her chin.

“What… a show… My Husband~.” She hummed and worked herself into the cushions, satisfied to see Princess Luna kissing your lips with fervent energy. The mare whined and whinnied for her rented stallion in the darkening night, allowing the dream to transition its muddy series of events to another time and place. In an instant Luna was recomposed, re-dressed and made proper again. The weak rays of sunlight streamed through the stained glass of Canterlot’s main hall and bathed everything in the warm, dull light of the rising sun. Luna stood there, bedraggled and exhausted with a content grin on her face as the guests of honor made their leave. Out through the main door and into the cold snowfall of winter, Sir Anonymous strutted away without even acknowledging her.

“Indeed. He must maintain some semblance of control about Us now. Since we have… bedded. Perhaps Anonymous is shy in regards to such true love between he and other mares. This, We can certainly understand. But already We feel hunger for him. Blessed divine bring him back to Us quickly! Send this stallion to min bed chambers on gilded wings and not a shred of modesty! A single day without his love is intolerable to this mare!" The Princess’ body trembled at the memory of the prior night and the multitude of climaxes you brought her. Truly the most magical and overwhelming evening of her life. It filled her soul with the flurry of excitement endemic to seeing a loved one, the passing Duchess Derpy inviting her to speak softly between the guards and the mingling nobility.

“T’was an evening most delightful, yon prior.” She chirped to the smiling mare wrapped in warm wool and cotton to protect her brood.

“I must agree. A most pleasing show your Majesty hath shown me.” The Duchess and Luna giggled as they reached the doors protecting them from the wind, stopping for a moment to address one another.

“Mayhaps… We should hear from ye again in the coming days? To host thine Duke and thy children would be a most comfortable arrangement.” Derpy gave a strange smile in reaction to such a question, biting at her raw lip and narrowing her eyes.

“Oh Your Majesty… were it any other time I would agree to an arrangement so comfortable and enlightening.” Her wings stiffened against her back, unfurling ever so slightly before the befuddled Mistress of the Night.

“But my Husband has enjoyed your company once and that is enough for him. He shan't be needing thy Royal services any longer.” Luna’s heart sank and her eyes nearly watered at the loss, the concerned mare watching as Derpy made her leave.

“B- but… but we shared such intimacy… Thou commended Our time together! Surely We may make a compromise?” Derpy simply laughed and stepped down the snowy steps toward her waiting man, his cold stare fixed solely on her in the busy streets.

“Ah yes. But indeed, he is my husband. Thus it is my decision to make. Send him no letters, Your Majesty! For he shall not read them!” And with that, they were gone and unbothered by her troubled stare. Luna’s gaping jaw and aghast expression simply waited there as the dream dissipated into Derpy’s mind, fading away until she opened her eyes to the same ceiling she slept beneath every night. With a gleeful smile she yawned gently and snuggled in against your chest, kissing your sleeping cheek.

“MY husband.”

Mothers Know Best.

Author's Note

Shout outs to shadowwolf. He's done his best but I'm sure plenty is still misspelled because of me.

Lesbians.

Sad times.

Mothers Know Best.

Chapter 8.
Mothers know best.

Addressed unto the family of Anonymous the Human,

Dearest subjects Derpy and Umbrial Daze. Good day unto ye. We in the Royal chambers wish ye a very happy summer solstice- assuming yon letter hath come before such festivity. Most regrettably however, this letter seeketh not to discuss so gayly the current state of mundane things.

We, The Princess of the Night, write unto thee as a request in the most humble of forms. Though this letter ride upon the wings of the Royal Postal Service and beareth upon its seal the insignia of Our most weighty institution, We wish only to speak upon matters of intimate interest. Hark, should the lot of ye fine ponies and human accept the offer and cometh unto Us in the Crystal Empire, We would accept thee with a most jubilant welcome and the finest accommodations. The address of ‘187 Malachite Way’ shall be thine destination. The Geode Estate will be expecting you within the month of August, as We too shall be making the premises Our own home during business dealings there. Journey forth when the time is right, lest the reservations expire come September. Tarry not upon concerns of the State’s watchful gaze scorning ye on the approach, for this letter flies to ye on owl wings through the shady forest of secrecy. Not a soul but We and the courier know of yon letter’s presence. And- barring any terrible tragedy- ye shall be the only ones to lay eyes upon it.

It is hoped that Our approach will temper fears within the family ye have nurtured within Our great nation. Our heart yearns for thine presence and our lips ready themselves to sing ye a warm welcome upon safe arrival. Should ye accept, there is no need to respond. We shall be made aware of thine arrival and mightily rush to see every need met. Should ye choose Our offer not? No shame should glance at thine heart. We will accept your absence as a respectful declination. We do however, wish to see ye here rather than before the hooves Our most cherished cohort, Twilight Sparkle. We first and foremost commend her active procedure in contacting Us in Canterlot about the last so-called “incident” that struck Umbrial Daze. Our intentions may not be as noble and proper as her own but We regardless shall make upon ye offers that shall compromise in entirely different and novel ways. Should this letter be fully disregarded, then heed only this. The Night shall always be more forgiving than the blinding flare of Day.

We sincerely implore thine family to consider the invitation in the most charitable manner. Should any pony trouble ye on the matter of Umbra’s house arrest, bear upon them this seal and all shall be forgiven. Our authority reaches over all lesser courts and Our will is not to be violated.

-The Right Honorable Majesty of the Moon and the Stars, Her Majesty of the Dark Court and the Angel of Sleep, Princess Luna.

~P.S. Please find enclosed tickets of travel to the Empire. We have spared no expense in suitable accommodations.

Umbra held the fabulous scroll in her magic and read over it again and again in the bright sunlight of the snow-flecked lands rushing by. The summer sun so powerful in Ponyville dwindled to a flickering candle of itself in these lands, leaving a brisk chill to run over the flattened plains of rocky outcrops and smoothed hills. Occasionally her green eyes would watch the familiar realm go by with all its villages and towers and roads speeding past her. Each pony, each building and every character therein carried on as if the greatest scourge of their nation wasn’t in their fold once more. She watched as bustling towns swished passed while unnoticed and rubbled-laden fields dragged on in surprisingly slowness. Some were mere abandoned villages that suffered failed harvests, others were military camps no longer necessary for the security of the nation.

Others were livelihoods and homes that Umbra had burned to the ground and slaughtered. Resting her chin against the cold lumber of the train window, the Queen watched it all fly by in fast motion. The blurry recollection of time quite nicely matching the smeared colors that such a speed lended this land. Her sighs and heavy breaths fogged the mirror-surface momentarily before the luxurious air within dried it, sweet scents and aromas swirling about the brooding mare like spiracles of dust. She reflected on the brutal humor of her soaring by in such profound comfort as the wasted lands she scourged many centuries before sat there in cold desolation. The Queen shut her eyes and breathed deeply as the voices of long-lost villagers and soldiers whispered in need around her, calling out for recompense under the roaring steel wheels rolling along steel tracks.

Were it not for the jingle and jangle of fine china bumping against itself atop a wooden tray, such a monotonous sound might’ve put her to sleep. But with a rickety clank and shift, the door behind her whined open and revealed the soft mare retrieving a wonderful breakfast.

“Wakey, wakey! I got you some sippy-coffee and foldy bread!” Derpy chirped with an old hoodie wrapped about her shoulders, the worn out and hole-ridden thing forever loaned to her by a hard-working husband. Umbra’s ears perked and her lips tugged into an amused smile as she turned about and addressed the candy-sweet confections that first class train cars called “breakfast.” The dark and steamy brew sloshing gently in its tiny ceramic cup was indeed Derpy’s so-called “sippy coffee,” though most ponies her age would call it espresso. ‘Foldy bread’ could be many things she couldn’t remember the proper name of, but this time Umbra was most pleased to find a stuffed scone. Milk in tall, narrow glasses and a bowl of frigid fruit stood on either side of these wonderful treats, certainly far more sugar than vitamins packed into this morning meal.

“Wonderful, wonderful. This is a surprisingly high-class arrangement!” Umbra cooed with a warm smile as her companion sat across from her, eagerly sipping her own coffee and trying her own fruity treat.

“Oh, it was super fancy in there. Chocolate fountains, super expensive coffee machines- they even tried to serve wine for breakfast! How weird?” Derpy giggled and chugged a healthy dose of milk.

“Wine? You mean a mimosa?” Umbra quipped to her confused herd mate.

“Mimosa? I thought that was a flower?” While the silliness could be unbearably frustrating, this morning made for a gleeful and gentle Umbra. Wrapping herself in the warm and starchy blankets of the sleeping car, the chubby unicorn gently feasted on her breakfast with a bemused grin.

“Mh… could be. Cocktails love to share their names with all manner of special, nice things.” Munching and sipping and pouring and satisfaction filled the car for several minutes. Umbra couldn’t stop looking out the window and into the sunny fields around them, shrouded patches of grass holding onto the icy shell of fallen snow. The temperature drop had inspired everyone to don far warmer clothing and snuggle up at night. Even in the rather small bed designed for ponies, the family piled atop one another in a great big pile for the great journey toward the Empire. Mountains of pudge, thick muscle and fluffy fur worked together so that no one was left behind, but also inspired strange feelings in Umbra.

Even now in the morning light as she gazed at Derpy’s plush form, she felt pangs of something different poking through her. The grunting heater in the car only went so far to stave off such a chilly atmosphere, thus she often found herself gravitating toward the ultra-warm and safe mother. Her squishy body molded to hers and buried her in comfort, suspending the needy sorceress in a plain of infinite comfort for hours on end. Sweet scents pouring out of her fur and running over her body nourished a troubled mind and flooded her with relief. The near-infinite amount of mare to cuddle always gave Umbra options in the cramped space of the bed. A cramped space she would never dare leave in favor of the adjacent bed just a few feet away. A heart filled with worry kept her awake for many nights before this, but Derpy’s overwhelmingly peaceful presence conjouled her into a beautifully metered state.

“Whatcha’ lookin’ at?” Derpy quipped with a mouth half full of berry scone. Her innocent stare made Umbra blush somewhat beneath her fur, a flutter of affection moving up her chest like hot steam.

“Who? Me? Nothing, nothing…” The charcoal Queen replied, sipping her little espresso shot once more and sighing contently.

“Just thinking about some things…” Derpy’s ears stood on end and focused toward her herdmate. Unlike you, the pegasus quickly caught onto something turning and thrashing inside the crafty unicorn. The most subtle of hints to you were mountains of evidence for a mature mare like Derpy, especially one as feminine and empathetic as her. Never dropping her motherly glower of welcoming softness, the mare spoke up with a voice barely rising above a whisper.

“Excited?” She pried gently, wedging herself carefully into the Queen’s thoughts.

“Perhaps… in a manner I am. Though I’m not sure what for.” Derpy sat and silently waited for Umbra to spill open yet more of her reclusive imagination. Her style of interrogation was both remarkably cruel and exceedingly gentle simultaneously. Careful prodding and strategic pickings never pressured someone to speak without their fullest comfort, but that also allowed her to receive full admission from the unsuspecting target. One would simply feel so safe and secure talking to silly old Derpy that the words would fall out of them and keep falling until all that needed to be said lay exposed between her hooves. Umbra’s guard had long been let down before the pudgy housewife. If anything, she was made more confident confiding in her herdmate whatever concern might befall her. Derpy could simultaneously understand and fail to understand, somehow.

“Coming back to these lands stirs certain feelings in me. I must admit that I’m… dreading and yearning for this at once.” Derpy’s ears perked attentively, though she looked a little lost. Her eyes crossed in front of her espresso cup and made it difficult for her wide equine tongue to reach into it.

“Whether I was summoned here to face my final punishment or not, I cannot be sure. Those conniving Royals may be waiting just out of sight to run a blade into my back. They may set a trap for your humble Umbra so they can pick her brain and lock her away. But for some reason I cannot fully describe? I don’t care.” Derpy thoughtfully paused her munching and stared into the expression of her herdmate, cocking an eyebrow at her pudgy friend.

“Wha- Why would they do that?” She asked, snuggling somewhat tighter into her pilfered hoodie.

“Bubby took care of all that. Twilight promised she’d leave us alone.” Umbra grinned and snuggled her own fleecy sweater, its billowing white fibers contrasting perfectly against her dark coat.

“I will never entertain the idea that this invitation is anything so personal and sweet. I’m well versed in the Royals’ style of dealing with their problems, as I’ve been one for some time.” Umbra sighed and sipped her tiny cup of coffee once again, the tremble in her voice pronounced as it was subtle.

“So… perhaps if I willingly tread into the lion’s den they will show me mercy. I want to accept this punishment rather than fight it. And if it comes to light that my fears were assumptions? All the better.” Neither wife could really pin down how the other was feeling.

Derpy watched her fluffy compatriot shift and nervously squeeze in on herself like a collapsing star. Umbra’s limbs pulled in against her body and fidgeted slightly, like a prey animal in the presence of a predator. The dark Queen likewise watched the searching eyes of her herdmate scan her again and again for answers. Fruitlessly Derpy tried to parse out what could cause such a dower feeling in Umbra, what in Equestria could compel her to feel so rotten. Instincts within her began to cook off and spark with energetic reactions to such turmoil. Her wings moved and squeezed as if to hug something, her legs aching to close about Umbra and keep her safe. She was instantly driven to protect a familiar, thus getting up and closing the distance was natural for her.

“Hmm… what are you doing?” Umbra asked softly as Derpy snuggled up against her side and nuzzled her neck, the sweet scent of the fertile mother washing over Umbra like a sea breeze.

“You’re talkin’ silly.” Derpy mumbled softly into the charcoal fluff of her companion. The unicorn responded with trepidation, carefully moving herself to allow more of Derpy’s warm weight to rest on her. She had rarely snuggled this close to Derpy before, lest it be for some more intimate purpose. The two were more than acquainted by this point, but it had rarely crossed Umbra’s mind to single Derpy out for her comfort. For years now they had slept together, bathed together, laughed and cried and loved together, but never truly connected. Only a dozen occasions in the last few years had they even kissed.

Feeling such a soothing, calming and infantilizing mood come over her in that moment flushed the concern from Umbra’s heart. The content march toward punishment now seemed so far off and silly, like a thing that would only ever happen in a dream. Here, in real life, there were protectors to save the Queen. Soft, eternal, warm and sweet protectors that wrapped around her like blankets of the softest cotton. Her muscles untangled and her heart slowed to a low bumble of noise, reducing the Queen to a simpering little child snuggled up with Momma.

“We’re gonna take care of you. We’re gonna keep you safe forever and ever and always love you.” Derpy’s squeaky and feminine voice rolled over Umbra’s body and rattled her bones to their core, for it was exactly what she needed. The most potent medicine for an otherwise deadly ailment, her innate fear of the unknown faded into nothingness.

So what if this was her final punishment? So what if the Royals could pluck her off her hooves and whisk her back to prison? Momma was here. And Momma would never let something like that happen.

“Hrrrnnmmm…” The Sorceress melted into her herd mate and collapsed to the bed. Blankets tossed aside were replaced by unfurling wings of soft grey down and rolls of grey pudge, the most securing and comfortable cushions known to ponykind. Dark legs grasped onto Derpy and pulled her close to the Queen, welcoming her to return the favor. Umbra didn’t hesitate to bury her face in Derpy’s shoulder, hiding herself in the plush realm of a mother.

“There we go… come here now. Silly pony.” Derpy naturally stroked Umbra’s mane and rubbed her back, calming down the excitable little ball of black fur. She so adored to care for those in her life, whether they be human or pony. Her remarkable skill in cuddling one into a better mood proved itself once again to be unmatched in Equestria. Her sweet scent like fresh baked goods and female pheromones was like a panicena made reality. Umbra huffed it from her chest fur like a mad addict, her eyes slowly shuddering closed as the mellow scent consumed her mind. You might’ve had the most arousing scent to her, but Derpy certainly had the very best. Her fur was warm to the touch and soft as downy feathers when one pushed their snout into it, parting the waves of dull color to let the feminine freshness wash over them. Umbra had always adored this scent, for it always meant someone kind and soft was nearby.

“Silly pony talking about silly nonsense. You’re safe with us, Umbra.” Derpy cooed dreamily and closed her eyes in the cozy delirium. It was so cool in the train, pitiful little space heaters failing to warm her frigid hooves. The rumbling roar of steel wheels spinning down steel tracks blocked out any intrusive thoughts from her conscious, the bump and tumble of the irregular ride rocked her to a peaceful sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and closed a few times before sleep snuck up and struck Derpy down. She lay there holding her herdmate, likewise turning her into a sleepy mass glued to her. With you and Dinky out of the car for quite some time, the two migrated into more and more comfortable positions. Sooner than later Umbra was face to face with the pegasus, nuzzling her snout directly and humming sweetly into her face.

Derpy huffed in return and kissed out of habit, smiling all the while.

“Hmmmn… Derpy…” Umbra grunted in a fleeting state of consciousness, her blurry vision consumed by grey mountains and yellow clouds. She pressed into the incredible comfort around her and squeezed the gently breathing pillow, eliciting a squeal of delight.

“Ooh… Sweet little Umbra.” Derpy giggled and kissed her snuggle buddy between the eyes, drawing them up to hers like magnets from afar.

“How about some of my special cuddles? Would that make you feel better?” Umbra bit her lip and stared on like a helpless plebeian knelt before their king. She felt reverie for this unique comfort, this harbinger of safety and security. Her guts turned and thrashed with the excitement of a child on the most fantastic of holidays, a long-buried feeling in her ancient heart.

“Y- yes…” She answered, earning a soft, firm kiss on the lips. She and Derpy met with a wet suction between them that made the entire world seem small as their little room. Umbra’s mind faded into the background as her herd mate massaged and moved her lips about, breaking the contact after a good while with a flourishing-

“Mwuah!” Another flurry of giggles made the Queen weak and shaking with need, the slight drafts of cool air making her press and grind against her chubby cuddler.

“You and Bubby are such suckers for my cuddles.” Umbra nodded into Derpy’s neck, her snout painfully cold without her kisses. Chirps and cooes and moans from the mother’s chest shook the ancient evil. Her bones rattled from the slightest adorable noise, her eardrums burst from the pounding waves of this sweet voice. Her own calls of delight and relaxation were nothing before the soothing symphony Derpy let out effortlessly, as if the mere sound of her voice could cure any and all ailments a pony might suffer from.

“Don’t you feel all safe and warm? Like nothing in the whole wide world can get you?” Derpy said sleepily and kissed Umbra’s ear, making her squeak and kick in ellation. Surely that was some form of silent agreement, as Derpy only felt another pony clinging tightly to her bosom when Dinky was a newborn hopelessly dependent on her for life.

“Good… we love you. Very much. We always will.” No longer could the Queen take this emotional beating. She had to reciprocate this enormous gift of content she had been freely given. Her sleepy body pushed and clamored up just enough to match Derpy’s face, every muscle in Umbra’s neck pushing forward so she could reconnect with her snuggle buddy. Derpy’s eyes widened in surprise as the unicorn held her head in her hooves and passionately kissed her, moving and grinding lips quickly evolving into slurping and wrestling tongues. There was an immediate loss of any decency or friendly intent when Umbra pushed onto her pudgy cuddler and huffed her scent. She panted and sucked down mouthfuls of the motherly aroma surrounding the pegasus, staring deep into her crossing eyes.

Derpy had seen this look in her before, but she still couldn’t quite comprehend that it was directed toward her. Normally that insane stare of lusty hunger was reserved for you, her handsome husband laying back and letting Umbra love all over you. The needy look of affection-starved mare focused solely on her now and struck her heart with a deafening lightning bolt of dirty excitement.

“Derpy… I don’t mean to alarm you.” Umbra whispered, her eyes flicking to the door between them and the rest of the car. Her magic quickly flipped the locking mechanism and sealed the helpless wife’s fate.

“But I feel we need some… mare time together in order to really relax ourselves.” Derpy whined in surprise and suddenly felt the wetness running off Umbra's undercarriage, a pronounced musk hitting the back of her throat. The tight interior of the bed let the building aroma of mare need billow like choking smoke. Fruity and spicy hints danced around in Derpy’s brain with infectious connections forming between her firing neurons. The tell-tale reek of sex, of lust and of procreation that called to all living things with a silent voice. It made her own body react with equal parts need and confusion, for it had been a long time since Derpy even humored the idea of bedding another mare.

Feeling their teats mesh together, their puffy lips hover mere inches apart and their racing heart beats syncing, the pegasus couldn’t deny how heated it all made her. She was already getting butterflies bouncing about in her chest with excited flutters dancing out of her throat. Her legs spread in reflex and her chest heaved under the weight of the unicorn pressing her nose against her own, the scent of sippy coffee thick on her breath.

“Do you agree?” Umbra asked with hope in her voice, along with plenty of syrupy, sticky lust. Her fangs glimmered with the reflected light of a racing landscape outside, the pink of her tongue poking out to lick and lap at Derpy’s lips hungrily.

“I- we- mmph! Yes!” Derpy gasped between licks and nibbles, submitting herself to the whims of this starving mistress. Umbra didn’t immediately snap her jaws about the throat of her prey, however. With care and restraint she hovered down the length of her new obsession, carefully placing kisses as she went. Over the rounded planet of Derpy’s belly she paid special attention, for there was a subtle jealousy here.

Umbra nuzzled and huffed and kissed the belly that had birthed her student. The soft expanse of gray fluff molded and worked under her lips, churning slightly with warm fat springing back against her force. She pressed to it and listened to the flowing sea of music it made, admiring such a fertile womb that could create such beautiful children. The very notion that it once housed a bright young youth like Dinky made the Queen weak and breathy. To have something so precious and pure grinding against her face sent spasms of thrill through her body, bursts of pleasure knocking about in her hips like firecrackers in a hallway. A particularly deep kiss on Derpy’s navel ended the worship however, for there were very important matters to attend to.

Derpy could only see the tips of Umbra’s horn and ears when she disappeared behind her belly, the thick walls of her thighs brushing against her cheeks. Hot and wet breaths rushed over her plump nethers like storm winds over helpless, rolling plains. Her body twitched and kicked helplessly when the muscles were so gently stimulated, a familiar yet different creep of warm pleasure. Her hooves jiggled above Umbra’s head as she dipped into the sweet reserve of her herdmate, tasting her matured and rubbery flower with an intrusive lick.

“Hhhhhaaahhnnng…” Derpy groaned as a thick and muscular equine tongue parted her girthy lips and lapped at her squeezing snatch. Fiery bolts rushed through her body with conflicting emotions that summed up into shocking delight. Satisfaction from the warm and careful organ writhing and pushing into her sex made her relax and hum and huff, but Umbra’s aroma and feel challenged her normally relaxed posture in love making. It was different enough to keep her locked in attention, constantly focusing on the tiniest tickle or touch of the unicorn’s being. She was being surprised and shocked and pleased again and again as Umbra pressed her snout into her folds, suckling and slurping with a skilled familarity.

Try as you might, no man could ever please a mare like another mare could. Umbra judged from her own tastes and desires where Derpy’s most sensitive and secretive spots would be before attacking them with lengthy and wet slurps. Slick lips dripping with creamy excitement painted her snout with the sticky heat of a flustered mare, imparting a sweet and milky flavor onto Umbra’s tongue. Her eyes rolled back as she carefully dug and slurped and kissed at her herd mate’s lips, forcing moans and grunts out of Derpy that she had never heard.

“Hrrmph! O- Ooooh goodness! EEMP!” Derpy covered her snout with a hoof to muffle her ecstasy. Never in all her life had her rear end been so cared for. The detailed and precise licking hit delicate nodes within time and time again with brutal efficiency. This manner of release was far more metered, calculated and deliberate. Rather than the pounding and raw coupling of male and female, this was a worship of the feminine body. Umbra worked to please the one she idolized, she threw herself into the warm and suffocating mire of a mare’s body for the sake of a higher being. Her eyes drifted closed as she labored away, parting the grey sea of Derpy’s lips again and again. Kisses and suckles and licks focused in on her bulging clitorous and forced the delicate nub to wink furiously.

“EEK! Umbra!” Derpy snapped her pudgy thighs about the dark Queen’s head and nearly crushed her skull. Pressure mounted around her as the unicorn burrowed into her lover and growled into her body. Her jaws parted around her bulging center of fleshy pleasure and snapped her lips about it, melting Derpy into a gurgling and whimpering paste. The rotund wife contorted and kicked and moaned and squeezed Umbra until her wheezy breaths couldn’t escape, pinning her perfectly in place for a hearty drink. Wordlessly, Derpy let loose a torrent of orgasmic pressure that filled Umbra’s maw. Any flavors left from breakfast were entirely destroyed by the creamy and milky blend brewed inside the chubby mother, a pleasing combination of funky and smooth. Umbra’s eyes rolled back and sparkles danced in her vision from the lack of air, her gulping throat swallowing the mouthful of Derpy pleasure swirling between her cheeks.

“Hah- hhhng- ooh! Oh my goodness! Oh crackers! Umbra!” Derpy bucked her hips and forced herself to release the Queen. A suction broke with a lurid pop! that set the poor creature free, a dripping maw and a hurried pace of breath punctuating both mares’ composures. Umbra quivered and savored the taste rushing through her mouth at the time, a sweet and sour blend of milky high notes and motherly hormones. A perfect wine made from Derpy’s nethers, one that portrayed her soft and powerful character perfectly.

At the very base of her mind, where thoughts were constructed without words to describe them, Umbra detailed precisely why she found such a delicacy fit for worship. The very essence of life was contained in this nectar like treasures in the Earth. A delicious and hearty essence that could birth great children and nourish them. Structures within that bent stallions of all species to its whim and dictated the whole of society. A special brew from a special mare that bore brilliant children with a handsome human that Umbra desperately wished to emulate. It was almost as if she could learn the secrets of fertility from tasting and scrutinizing her herdmate. The perfection in silky grey mounds might hold the secret, outwardly displaying a most alluring and tempting shape. Sleepy green and red eyes constantly scanned over her again and again, admiring the puffy lips engorged with life and oozing creamy drippings into the sheets.

Derpy’s rising and falling belly messaged her teats about and inflated out of sync with her pulsating winks, setting into motion many layers of jiggles and quivers and shakes. The Queen pressed her face against the mountainous pillows of the care-taker’s breasts, finding that the perch was so pleasingly pliable and warm and cushioned one could just fall asleep and never wake up. Her face sank into the supple flesh with ease and the tick of a pounding heart throbbed against her skull, working the exhausted mare down into a useless pace of sore limbs and fur. The entire cabin had grown warm with the two working out their “mare time” in such a confined space, a swirling funk of musky mare release likewise poisoning the air. Mindful and red magic cracked the window open just enough to vent all the steamy exhaust out of the train.

“Hmm… hnn… goodness gracious…” Derpy whimpered as she struggled to move. Her chubby body rotated until she was saddled up against her herd mate once again, finding that she was near dead in her exhaustion. The content grin across her snout however was quite a pleasing sign. A soothed and smug little smile on a soaking wet face that simply screamed safety and security. Umbra’s curled back and tucked in limbs relaxed in the wake of such pleasure, as if she herself had culminated from the two’s tangle. Derpy felt the soft sinew and squishy fiber of muscles in utter bliss, a state of vulnerability one would only reach in the presence of their family. For the first time in recent memory Derpy could look onto her herd mate and see in her peace. A satisfaction that would last, that was pure and was powerful. It charmed her to kiss the sleepy royal’s cheek and watch her bleary eyes flutter open in a moment of sleepy thanks.

“I’m gonna clear the table. Then we can go for a little walk to the breakfast car. That sound good, sleepy-peepy?” Umbra responded with a soft little grunt and a weak nod, burying her face in the soiled sheets as the chilly winds leeched in through the passing landscape. The ride lulled her through the foggy state between rest and awareness. All the thoughts lacing together with an endless spinning narrative came to a halt as Umbra dressed herself again in a rarely-worn dress of flowing white. The rather rough cotton garment stitched together by the Mares’ Club blended well with the increasingly snowy exterior of the passing Empire and shrouded the Queen with a gorgeous shape. Your wife looked positively ghostly floating into the dining car and taking a seat next to her hungry niece, her big appetite yet to be satiated by the provided feast.

The bustle of the table raced by Umbra without hitting her senses. Words from you and Derpy and Dinky and the few other fancy ponies sharing the space fell together into a soupy confusion she had little interest in picking through. Her mind was simply so unfocused and calm that it hardly functioned. The sound of it all, the hum of life rolling on around her was enough to sustain the Queen. For all she knew, this might be the last time such indulgence would be possible. To feel the presence of love and family, to listen to it and taste it in the air. The absurdly strong coffee soaking into the dark wood, human fingers scraping against a velvet table cloth, feathery rustles of pegasus wings and the sparkle of young magic lifting utensils. It all might be gone soon. Not likely so, but in all her years Umbra had learned the difference between unlikely and impossible. So long as the probability wasn’t zero, she couldn’t resist dwelling on it.

“Are you ok, Aunty?” Dinky sided in with a hushed voice meant to conceal her words. Umbra huffed gently and locked her eyes on the window across the car.

“Yes, my Darling Gem. I am beyond ‘ok.’” Dinky scooted closer on her chair until she could lean against her teacher, subtly linking them together on a deeper level. Both of them being practitioners of powerful magic, their energies interacted behind the veil of the visible world. Forces like magnetic fields mingled and reacted to the other’s polarization and force, examining and analyzing in a secret language that needed no words or gestures. Dinky could simply feel the aura of calm in her teacher, the subtle hints of darkness settling at the bottom like the grounds of coffee in a mug. She thoughtfully magicked a cup onto a saucer and slid it to the dark unicorn, earning a kiss on the forehead for her thoughtfulness.

“You used to own all of this… it’s weird to think about.”

“Some would like to dispute that. But yes. I feel this land… knows of my return.” Dinky’s ears perked and her eyes stared with waiting enthusiasm, for this smelled like another enlightening lesson.

“What do you mean, Aunty? Like, the ponies here? The dirt, the trees?”

“The silent language of a place, my child. A tongue more ancient than any living thing. The rocks, the trees, the wind- the magic saturated within them all is flowing differently about me. In one tremendous chorus they speak.”

“What do they all say, Umbra? They better not be bad mouthing you!” Dinky puffed her chest out in protective zeal. Her misguided effort did great work in strengthening Umbra’s sweet smile.

“No, no. They are ambivalent.” Umbra said simply, subtly detecting that Dinky didn’t quite understand.

“The flow of all things is avoiding me. There’s no security in my presence. Whether to feel fear, hate, forgiveness? The elements haven’t quite selected a proper response to my being here. And… I am filled with both sadness and great joy.” Dinky cocked an eyebrow and wrapped her forelimbs about the bushy matriarch as if some wind might just blow through and steal her away.

“But… we’re going on vacation, Aunty. A super fancy vacation. Poppy said the Princess won’t take you away.” Sighing deeply, Umbra silently fussed over how to best describe this feeling in her. Or at least how to cushion it so that Dinky wouldn’t be racked with the same unreasonable fear as her.

“A vacation. A trap. Another trial to account for my actions. It could be any of these things.” Umbra erred somewhat in her next word, her smile degrading into a pensive line across her soft snout.

“We stand here with our hooves dusting the edge of a great abyss. And my only desire is to leap headlong and be freed of this awful waiting.” Dinky pursed her lips in a frustrated sort of confusion, watching for any revealing details in her Queen’s expression. She dearly hoped this was some manner of test, an intricately woven trick meant to test her and press some manner of revelation on her. But the longer she let her Aunty think, the more concrete this dark realization became.

“Umbra… no one’s gonna try and take you away? …right?” The unicorn sighed deeply and closed her eyes whilst the fur on the back of her neck stood on end.

“The possibility is not what concerns me. Darling, you must grapple with the true probability of these things. While not impossible, certainly improbable. I am simply following my thoughts to their logical conclusion and… determining how I feel about the results.” Her student pawed at her arm and belly with her possessive and protective little hooves for a tighter grip on the stalwart figure in her life, staring up with a holy reverence.

“One last hardship, be it real or not. Then from this burden shall I be forever cleansed. I see this land I once conquered as nothing but foreign soil. So many lifetimes squandered to control it, whilst my destiny was with you all along, my Darling Gem.” Dinky watched her pensive friend sip her coffee in thought, her voice shuddering somewhat along with the rattle of the traincar climbing a gentle incline.

“I am finally separated from this place. Just as I am from that old Queen so filled with hate. And no matter what this call to destiny may entail, it fills this ancient body with pride to complete it.” Completing her thought, Umbra let Dinky answer. She waited for a sweet young voice to interject reason or reconsideration, but it never came. Dinky simply whined at the reality and held her dear Aunt close as her little arms could.

“I hope you stay with us forever. I hope those no-good fatty Princesses keep their hooves off you like Poppy told ‘em to.” Dinky cracked a little smile and kissed her Aunt’s cheek, using her undying affection to pop her out of this philosophical funk.

“My Aunty already got locked up and thrown away. They don’t need any more proof that you’re a good pony.” Umbra blushed and looked down on her child with a warmth that could’ve freed her from the eternal glacier so long ago. The crushing tornado of thoughts danced off into the canals of her mind once again thanks to the pushing wind of Dinky’s affection, calming her once again into a mellow and gleeful state.

“Come what may. Come what will. With my family by my side, no creature so mighty can harm me now.” She admitted as the two folded in on one another, conforming to the soft and rounded shapes of affectionate healing.

The world seemed right on that train, the entire journey from then on was nothing short of utterly rejuvenating for all aboard. You and your wives slept more soundly and for longer than you had in years, thankfully cuddled up every night with your daughter for extra warmth. Such lavish accommodations were new to you and yours, thus it was such a delightful treat to be served prepared meals every day. It was almost a shame to have it all end on the last day of the trip, screeching steel wheels grinding to a halt at the opulent central station of the Empire. Glimmering stone floors polished to a squeaky finish stretching on for miles in every direction, the stalagmites of shaped gemstone reaching high into the sky with glittering sparkles catching the weakened sunlight.

Long sleeves and puffier shirts beat off the slight cold rolling through the atmosphere, nothing too frigid but enough to be very noticeable. You were never sure how that geography worked, for it wasn’t exactly a several thousand mile journey between here and the sun-blasted summer of Ponyville. But then again, you weren’t entirely sure how there could be ponies made of crystal either. Thus, keeping your questions to yourself, you and the rest of the family made your way through the bustling nerve center of the transportation network for this side of the nation. Diamond dogs and ponies and griffons and crystal ponies milled about with loads of all different kinds sitting on the tracks or getting loaded into differing vessels, allowing for you to more or less disappear amidst the strange creatures and cultures.

The ponies certainly remembered you, that much was clear when they stopped whatever they were doing and stared. Umbra dressed herself to be less conspicuous, hiding behind her white dress and suitcase to mindfully avoid causing a scene. That proved rather difficult however when strangely dressed ponies with dark colored clothing and wild haircuts jumped toward you with insane grins and wild eyes.

“DUUUUDE!”

“It’s the human, man!”

“METAL FOREVER BRO!” They hollered at you and threw up their hooves in the best approximation of devil horns they could physically muster, earning little more than a smile and a wave.

“Poppy, those stallions have metal in their faces.” Dinky added once they were out of ear-shot, referring to the polished studs and jewels piercing through the flesh of their cheeks and ears and brows.

“Dinky! It’s rude to say that about other ponies!” Derpy quipped with a scolding tone, though equally perplexed by such a crowd.

“I’m just saying, Momma!”

“She’s right, Momma.” You added casually whilst scanning the place for somewhere to get proper coffee.

“They wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes with my guys back in the day. Their piercing game's weak.” Getting out of the populated areas proved more difficult than you had hoped. Crystal ponies were indeed a curious bunch and many approached you to ask how things had proceeded since the final trial. In a surprising turn of events, the Empire had come to appreciate you far more than Equestria had. Ponies wanted to shake your hand, they wanted to know about your wellbeing, some even wanted you to lay your fingers on their personal items or their business for “good luck.” Afterall, who could be a more fitting patron saint of the Empire than the creature who had brought its greatest enemy to heel? Umbra sneered at them so brazenly approaching her human, carefully revealing her displeased look and scaring off those that got too comfortable. Derpy and Dinky were thoroughly amused through the vicarious fame their patriarch had gained.

“Wow Bubby, I never knew they liked you so much here!” Derpy giggled as you shooed off another crystalline mare asking for a blessing.

“Starting to remember how irritating it was.” You half joked, walking behind knowledgeable Umbra as she directed the family toward this hotel Luna supposedly waited in.

“Irritating indeed describes it.” She grumbled, navigating the streets and buildings with ease. She had, of course, built parts of this city during her repugnant reign so many centuries ago, thus it was like walking through one’s own home. Conflicting tides smashed against one another in her heart seeing this place so close once again, especially considering some of the new landmarks her freed subjects erected since their liberation. Statues of the Elements of Harmony, of Celestia and Luna, monuments of freedom to be expected were naturalin a post-Umbra world. That much she could stomach. But the historical sites she created were notably more dower and covert.

She remembered where the town gallows used to be. Their quartz foundation stones still stood in the middle of a public park without the latus of black basalt built on top. Slave markets were now craft markets for skilled laborers to ply their trades. The opulent mansion she had built in her honor was long since torn down and cleared away, making a rather obvious gap between the central bank and district council buildings. Most amusing to her however was an art piece sequestered in a noble’s personal garden, one where a strangely shaped human figure offered a hand to a snarling mare. She could only assume that an artist had been inspired by your figure and tried in vain to copy it, much like herself in the last decade of applying herself to the craft of paint and canvas.

Assuring herself that even her least accurate portrayal of you was leaps and bounds above that loathsome piece, the unicorn eventually did lead the family to their destination. And almost immediately all of them froze in place and stared with jaws hanging in shock.

“Whoa Momma…”

“Goodness gracious…”

“That’s a big-ass hotel!” Your daughter shouted with little decorum, earning her Mother’s sharp stare.

It it was certainly warranted in the face of such a spectacular structure. The Geode Estate had been constructed to please and fascinate delegates to the Empire many centuries ago. Its staff tirelessly crafted a tradition of excellence in every facet of its operation, assuring it was both a gorgeous point of pride for the Empire and a peerless hotel. Titanic walls stretched high as castle towers with dozens of windows carved with mathematical perfection into the blue and green crystal, accents of red and jade and pink and purple placed artfully to accent each line. Columns of malachite stood atop dark sapphire bases engraved with the faces of Emperors and Empresses of the past, though you and Umbra both lingered on one that had been smashed apart and until the feminine shape was utterly unrecognizable. You couldn’t help but notice the rather unfitting bust of Princess Cadance mounted in the center of the stairway leading to the front doors, as its pink color contrasted sharply with the red base it was mounted upon. No doubt Umbra’s facade once occupied that space, but diligent citizens had corrected it.

Guards in the most fierce armor and bearing the most efficient weapons stood still as statues in carefully arranged patterns of patrol, functioning like robotic sentries rather than stallions and mares of flesh. It reminded you of entering government institutions back in the world of humans where the construction, presentation and atmosphere were all purposely crafted to instill respect. This place was mightier than you, more honorable and more storied than anything you’d ever laid eyes upon. Or at least that’s how it seemed. Fantastic opulence flowed inside just as it did outside, the lobby of the estate spacious enough for a dragon to stretch out and relax comfortably. High ceilings were embedded with light gems and refractive crystals of all colors, creating a dazzling display that would surely give you a headache if your eyes lingered too long.

“Hmm… I can hardly believe what that pomp, pink Princess has done to my manner.” Umbra grumbled to herself.

“What’s that?” Derpy chirped, focusing on the immense fountain spewing crystaline water high into the air until it curled back down into precise pitchers held by singing foals carved from zircon.

“These rugs she’s put down on my beautiful honey calcite floors. They were textured to prevent any fool from slipping on them, but the idiot has polished it so smooth you could glide a sled across it! Not an ounce of respect for history.” Her complaint was silenced by the noisy approach of crystal hooves against a crystal floor, the glimmering and translucent mare bedazzled in shiny jewelry bowing for your posse in respectful grace.

“Welcome, most honored guests. The Princess of the Night has made reservations in your name. I am Tangerine Dream and it would be my pleasure to escort you to your accommodations.” Her orange hide glistened in the light of the opulent hotel and presented no apparent reason not to follow her. Umbra swallowed dryly, her pensive eyes floating from familiar nook to memorized corner in search of a trap. She herself had pulled this maneuver of luring unsuspecting and greedy foes into the estate and pouncing on them, thus she quite disliked being on the receiving end of such a possible plan. Her memories retraced the steps of elite assassins and loyal guards concealing themselves in the darker corners of the ancient building. Walking between you, Derpy and Dinky made her feel safer, but not totally secure. All the way up the grandest staircase in the land and through the elegant halls of the estate, she waited for something to reveal sinister intent. While you and yours gawked at the overwhelming craft and beauty, she examined it deeply.

So far so good, not a speck of dust was out of place. Pure and clean stone was freshly waxed, windows clear as the summer sky outside and the finery dusted. Decorations and paintings hid nothing from sight, say for the stone behind them. All that presented itself as a concerning itch for the dark Sorceress was the destination that Tangerine Dream stopped at.

“For Sire Anonymous and his herd, welcome to your room.” The astute unicorn stopped just before an enormous entrance fashioned from steel reinforced marble, beckoning toward a much smaller door adjacent to the vault-like seal. Umbra’s lip twitched in the presence of the so-called “High Chamber” in the estate, its confines reserved for only the most wealthy, highest born and powerful creatures in all Equestria. Thus, there was no doubt in her mind who had taken that room for themselves. The fact that her own room would be touching the Royal’s chamber twisted her guts.

“Wha- what about Dinky?” Derpy whined protectively as her wing naturally extended outwards and gripped her young child.

“Lady Dinky’s accommodations have been made for the room just across the hall. She will find-”

“My own room?!” She squealed and crashed through the doorway into the opposing chamber, madly running about and inspecting her newfound luxury.

“I got a balcony, Momma! I got a record player!” Derpy fussed and trotted after her little treasure, leaving you and the charcoal Queen to inspect the grand suite reserved for you.

“Should you require anything, please do not hesitate to make use of the bell. I will see that your every need is met.”

“Where is the Princess?” Umbra demanded coldly.

“Babygirl, it’s been a long trip.” You added cautiously. A hand on her back didn’t seem to dissuade her in the slightest, for her muscles remained stiff and taut. Tangerine’s reaction was nothing short of professional, however.

“Princess Luna has made her intentions of speaking with you known. She is, however, currently at work in the Parliament. It is my duty to summon you the moment she is ready.” Umbra pouted and huffed, but decided rather redaily to let it go. Figures that the royal wouldn’t even have the guts to face her when she landed. Dinky and her Mother still bothered about the room she apparently had to her own, leaving you to open the door and gratefully let your better third in.

She trot through the extreme luxury this place was crammed with, idly tossing her suitcase by the double king-sized bed. You had to stop for a moment and look around the shining beacon of hospitality, for in all your strange life you had never felt such pampering. It even smelled fancy. Plush sheets, embroidered carpeting, furniture speckled with gold trim and diamond studs. A magical fire roared in the hearth, causing the entire thing to pulse and emanate warmth like a living heart. It made you feel horribly underdressed in a worn out canvas jacket and tattered jeans. Dirty work boots besmirched the mirrored floor tiles of azurite.

“Jeeeeeeez! Look at this! The whole house could fit in this room!” Your voice echoed off the stiff walls and ceiling where intricate mosaics of history glittered. Umbra only giggled in response, for she personally designed much of the decorating in this wing. The mare momentarily busied herself with unlocking the glassy gate to the balcony, the breadth of which could comfortably seat a hundred ponies.

“You figure they serve breakfast in this joint? I don’t think I could afford it if we got charged for it.” The clatter of your own luggage landing by the bed snapped Umbra out of her thoughtful state and prompted her to finally answer your jovial tone.

“If it’s anything less than the finest sippy-coffee and twisty bread I will overthrow the nation again.” You retorted with a weak laugh, talking slow steps toward the same platform. The cool air crept in and nibbled at your throat, making your cheeks redden in a fashion that always deeply pleased your dark wife.

“Really puts Ponyville in perspective, doesn’t it?” You said with a hand coming to rest between her ears. Immediately the charcoal terror leaned into your touch and sighed quietly to herself.

“Many things are put into perspective by this moment.” She answered cryptically but gave little time to deconstruct it. Quickly her magic was tugging on your sleeve and drawing you to the wide balcony’s sunning chairs.

“Come, come. Let me sit with you, my King.” You obliged with a smile and a grunt when your butt hit the soft fabric. Tired muscles and worn out bones crumbled together as the unicorn lept into your lap and made herself comfortable, curling and shifting until her buxom hips were squished right against your legs and her face against your chest.

“Ooooh yeah… this is the life.” You groaned and stroked the devious mare’s face. Bundles of dark fur brushed beneath your fingers in tickles of warm joy that coated your hands in her delicate, smokey scent, distracting enough for her magic to pilfer your breast pocket for the concealed treats within.

“Hmmm… let me see…” She giggled girlishly as your cigar and lighter were stolen and held just out of reach, moments later followed by her wry glare.

“My Darling… planning on indulging that nasty habit of yours in my fantastic manor?” She gave you the most wry and condescending look a pony could give, though in this rare context it proved far more charming than irritating.

“Well, if I had known it was your hotel? I might’ve had it on the train instead…” She snickered and sliced through the cigar with a razor of dark red magic, simultaneously breathing a torch of purple flames from her plush lips. Even if the tobacco was stale, crunchy and loosely rolled, the addition of your Queen’s unique heat made it absorb her brilliant flavor and miraculously become top of the line. She and you shared an intense look as she took the first hit for herself, puffing the cloud of warmed particles into your face.

“Hmmmm… earthy. Nutty. Hints of cedar wood bark… this is a remarkably fruity piece for my husband.” Taking the piece from her magic and savoring it with haughty puffs of relaxing enjoyment, you immediately felt the rush of soothing heft that weighed on your mind. Gravity pulled downwards with renewed vigor, pinning you in place and making Umbra feel all the more luxurious against you. Soft curves and plush fur melded with your shape as you both shared the indulgence, trading it back and forth whilst staring absently into one another, the stars and the setting sun.

“I’m gonna make my case to her… right to her face.” You hummed as Umbra lay her head against your chest, bathing in the smokey scent and basking under the waning light of the sun.

“Princess Luna… I want children with my wife. I want to give Umbra a kid to be proud of.” She cooed sweetly, running her hoof in circles about your broad front.

“I’m not gonna move an inch until you give us what she deserves… so help me God you better listen.” Had the entire world been put on pause, the wind exchanged for soothing music on the record player and all things made gentle for the rest of this infinite time Umbra could spend with you, it would only barely match this zenith of peace. The dark mare, slouched across her husband and watching as the day curled back into night figured this could be a comfortable eternity. Warm and secured and loved. Adored so much that this beast of a stallion wrapped his arm about her side and squeezed her greedily to his side. Nurtured so thoroughly that her herdmate need only the whisper of need to cross her mind before she lept into action. Fulfilled so deeply with a wry and curious mind no doubt raising hell in the other room across the hall.

Come what may, she could not find the energy to fear it. The cruelest and least humane punishment a pony could conjure for her would be a worthwhile price for one more second in this embrace. It was almost irritatingly disruptive when Derpy finally came back from her little excursion after the sun had set, her gentle hooves clopping harshly against the stone floor below and jostling Umbra from her near-sleep state.

“What’s up, Mushy?” You greeted with an eager hand reaching out for your grinning wife. The pegasus dodged your pet like a playful hound, holding onto a most brilliant smile and dancing gently on her hooves. Her wings bristled with glee and her tail whipped about like ribbons in a parade, signaling that perhaps something was in need of your attention. Both you and the sinister sorceress sat up at attention to hear this jovial news.

“Princess Luna said she wants to talk to youuuuuuu!” Derpy hummed in a sing-song tone that could peel the scales off a dragon. Her voice wormed into your and Umbra’s hearts alike with exciting heat, burrowing through the icy wind rolling across the nighttime city.

Finally, it seemed the time had come. Putting out your smokey cigar and rising with your dark wife, immediately the air became thick and tense like cast iron. Weighty reluctance made your unicorn lover walk slower than she normally would, even with your full support behind her. Despite your full belief that nothing bad would befall you or your family, the dread of meeting with the highest authorities in the land still sank its claws into you whenever they so forced themselves on you. Patting your gorgeous mare on the side and finding that Derpy only stood there in full excitement, the short and stiff journey began.

“You comin’, babygirl?” You asked the grey pegasus as she tapped back and forth on her hooves so rapidly her chubby sides jiggled on each little bound. Her wings likewise began to extend on either side of her back, chilling both you and Umbra with the intense implication of “specific” flavors of excitement.

“Nope! Momma needs everything ready in here!” She giggled and shoved forward into your rear ends, pressing you and Umbra out of the chamber and into the hall with rapid smacks of her hooves against the floor.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Go talk to her! Go, ya silly-heads!” She chirped and squealed in delight and forced you from the comfortable room before slamming the door. It clicked shut in a manner far too familiar to be comfortable for either you or the Queen, but the looming cloud of dark wood and iron from before hung much closer than you needed. Umbra swallowed heavily and pressed her tail against her rear, pinning both ears back against her skull as well. Were you any less anxious about it you might’ve offered some words of encouragement. Your hand gently digging into your back and stroking her fur was the best you could do. A little bit of effort for a long way’s progress. Umbra hummed quietly to herself and worked with your hand to press open the mighty barrier of destiny.

It didn’t creak or groan, but whispered with the displacement of the air moving around it. The duofold doors opened to a stately chamber fit for the finest of ponies to inhabit, complete with art and books and finery already installed. A fire made of heat crystals roared in the hearth with a smokeless fury that filled the entire room with a dancing, orange energy. Reflecting off the polished quartz and gems and diamonds, it made for quite a dazzling display. Following behind Umbra, you found it quite foreboding to enter such a massive room, for many buildings back on Earth were the only structures that could hope to match its impressive breadth. The dangling chandelier of mighty diamond shards bedazzled you with its refractions and optical trickery, distracting just long enough for Umbra to push forward on her own toward the central office. Separated by the slightest partition of hanging curtains, the driven mare saw to having this business done with once and for all. Spreading the fine red fabric revealed the Princess herself standing behind her desk and peering through a fine telescope of gold and silver, pondering her gorgeous collection of stars and galaxies lazily hovering through space above.

“The coming of Ye has brought great joy. We are relieved beyond measure that forgiveness finally comes.” Umbra stopped herself before the desk as you trundled in with confusion swirling about your head, both of you quickly bowing in respect for the leader. The Mistress of Stars grinned sweetly at the sight of her once-mortal enemy kneeling before her, even if it was more of a courtesy than a full, respectful bow.

“Rise, min guests. There is no need for such cold formality in the realm of friends.” Doing as you were asked, both you and Umbra found that Luna came forward and dipped her head in respect, a most strange thing for a monarch like herself to do for common folk. Her eyes quickly darted to yours with a longing that sent rattles down your spine, one plainly visible before Umbra. Keeping hold of your composure, there was little else you could do outside of standing there and remaining stoic.

“What is the meaning of this summons? And what manner of ‘forgiveness’ could one such as yourself need?” Umbra questioned with a sharper tone than was entirely necessary. Her voice cut through the dull fog of distraction you shrouded over Luna, making the somber Princess redirect herself in the proper direction. You couldn’t help but feel her eyes on you just as you would warm your hands, for the gripping power behind such a gorgeous creature was nothing short of magnetic.

“Some explanation is in order, yes. You all deserve as much, given what all We hath put ye though. Will you hear Our most forlorn request for thine ear?” Umbra sneered as you felt the blood in your face warm, the mere presence of this mighty mare stirring strange sensations in your gut. Umbra looked to you with a raised brow and a skeptical glare, but your lack of denial assured her that nothing strange was afoot.

“Speak your piece, Luna. I endeavor to understand.” Umbra’s voice cut off much like the precipice of a cliff. She dropped the burden of carrying the conversation square on Luna’s shoulders, pounding her into making any manner of mistake she might sense. Given her career, The Princess of the Stars took such a task in stride. She sucked in a deep and resounding breath that rattled the very foundations of her being before guiding her eyes squarely to the charcoal mare before her. Looking at you whilst attempting to force her words out would almost certainly end in her speaking out of turn and ruining this delicate moment.

“Umbrial Daze… ‘tis been a long and storied journey for thee to hath come this far. Openly We shall admit to doubting that this moment may ever come, when thee and We could share a room with amicable relations.” Umbra rolled her eyes and pouted, but quieted her disgruntled huff when you leered sharply at her.

“T’was an error We shan’t soon forget. A fool of Us has time made and from such a belittlement, We only wish to learn what We might.” Umbra’s less than impressed expression was to be expected, but the dark-colored alicorn remained unfazed. Her cyan eyes flicked to you for but a moment with a starlight flash of inspiration, instantly followed by a dry swallow in her parched throat.

“And… upon reflection? We would like to think some effort has been made to correct that.” Umbra’s tail flicked with a certain lack of patience running through her. She fidgeted and snarled at the sweetly smiling matriarch looming over her, unable to parse out exactly what ends this was heading towards.

“Tonight, We have brought Ye outside the jurisdiction of the Canterlot Council. By entering these grounds, ye hath come under Section seven of the International dictate on foreign officials. So long as the family remains on these grounds, but a fraction of the laws placed upon Equestrian citizens shall apply to ye. Thus, We are able to give unto thee a most auspicious gift.” Standing there, shielded from the cold by the magnificent walls she built, Umbra could only slowly put the disconnected pieces together. Grinding the gears of her mind together and gnashing her teeth, Luna could watch the revelation expand in her intricate mind just as her eyes did. Her tail lifted and her ears perked, signaling some worrisome combination of rage and elation reacting with one another.

“You… you have restricted my divine-given right to breed with my own Husband?!” She snapped, her legs bracing into a defensive posture. You couldn’t formulate a response, for immediately your body was reacting physically to Umbra’s outburst. Both hands leapt to her and grabbed onto the mare’s barrel, shielding her from this revelation with armor made of flesh and bone.

“You damnable tyrant! Rotten, corrupt, fat royal! Where doth thine authoritarian reign end- if not the bedroom door of every Equestrian! How dare you betray my trust?! I have submitted myself to you! I have prostrated before the nation- a respect I now see is naught but a hollow platitude to ye!”

“Babygirl-!”

“Curse thee! Damn thee to the very bottom of tartarus for this injustice!” Luna absorbed the outburst with remarkable stoicism, chewing it for but a moment as she forced it down.

“Nay… t’was not a crime of passion, Umbrial Daze. But one of inaction and neglect.” Luna sighed, dousing only a part of Umbra’s hellish rage. She still fumed and bared her fangs at the royal, snapping at the air as you forced her down with the weight of your masculine strength.

“Any creature born of divine blood must be approved by the High Council of Canterlot. All those whom shall wield the greatest strength of our kingdom must be controlled, lest they arrive unto this world rejected and tormented by that which they cannot control. Surely thou understand this better than We ever could.” Immediately the unicorn’s fury was tempered. The pounding rate of her heart still thumped mightily away between her ribs, but the realization of such a cold truth cooled her hellfire mind.

“Diluted as the corruption might be, the Council sees fit that We should never give unto thee a proper heir. A lingering string of evil should be cut and left to wither away. However they may see it, We hath disagreed. We hath advocated on behalf of thine clan. We hath done all We could to see that thine progeny shall be made legal.” Luna’s increasingly frustrated tone reflected the days, months, years spent nagging the changing tides of politics. Standing there like a pier in a never-ending storm, the countless comings and goings of the current concern beat her down into a desperate and raw nub. Not a single mind had changed in all these years, at least never enough to make a difference. You saw the passionate fire in her eyes, the mark of a truly capable mare committing herself to a seemingly impossible undertaking. Truly, it was a task only the divine could see through.

“And… finally… Unto you have We brought the enlightening truth. T’was Us that allowed for Dinky’s birth. T’was our inaction that has made this herd barren. And it shall be Our will that sustains this clan. Equestria shall not mend thine terrible wounds, but We shall.” Silence so thick fell over the room. Umbra’s ears rang with the deep pitch of a mind nearly broken, a heart made to reach the highest peaks of heaven and simultaneously the lowest dregs. Shocks of painful spite collided with the soaring heat of excitement overtaking her, crashing against one another like bullets fired from opposing rifles. These feeling stopped dead in her center and knocked her about with visible distress. She was unable to speak, completely numb from the chin down. Stars formed in her vision, for Umbra was entirely shocked beyond reason. You, on the other hand, still had some wits about you.

“I… I’m not sure what to say. It was really you guys the whole time?” The dumbfounded and idiotic sounding words brought a nod out of the dower looking ruler, her posture straightening into a scholarly and aloof stiffness.

“It is a shame that We had not the heart to tellest thou so long before. We are guilty of a most heinous crime and wish dearly to make Our amends to ye.” She stepped closer with a cautious gate, making Umbra flinch back and nearly burst a blood vessel in her straining eye.

“For the time that ye shall inhabit this place, We give unto thee the ability to cure this mare of her ills. Any mare that shall… ahem accept thine seed shall be sewn surely with child. And since they shall be conceived outside the gaze of the Council? They shall have no say.” Heat overtook your cheeks at the very thought of it. Another bundle of children, another phase of life starting all over again. Monumental joy overpowering everything else in your mind, it was impossible to ask rational questions or formulate thoughtful insights. Legal ramifications and specifics be damned- you were given a chance to do what had been demanded of you for so long here and now, free of charge. Were there a more potent fuel for the heart of man, it could never compare to the pure delight such an opportunity brought.

“This revelation indeed has stopped ye. We understand.” Luna said this with a strange and robotic quality to her voice, blushing and hiding behind her flowing mane somewhat.

“Please. Take time to reflect. Enjoy the amenities. There need not be a rush to-”

“Silence.” Umbra commanded, wiggling herself free of your grasp and asserting herself to the monarch.

“Never in all my years has my own treachery reached the heights of disrespect and disregard for liberty that you have.” Umbra snarled, beating down the already soft and malleable Princess with her tone.

“I have taken lives and toppled empires with less sadistic and convoluted means than this. Were I ever to dream of such a prolonged and heinous punishment? I might resign myself to the badlands as punishment for my madness.” Luna recoiled into herself, invoking memories of Fluttershy when someone at the market accidently bumped into her.

“My hope for your damnation will burn bright as the summer sun until the very day I am recalled to the divine glory. But in the meantime… I shall accept this token apology you have given me.” She said with an upturn of positivity toward the end, bringing all eyes back to her with a specific flavor of awe. Umbra approached the towering royal and stared straight into her, slowly lowering her head for the mighty alicorn.

“Thanks be to you Princess Luna, for finally seeing the light.” For a moment the Princess simply stood there in confusion before mirroring the gentle bow to the Sorceress, quickly rising again with a shaky smile to address you.

“And Sire Anonymous? This is agreeable to you as well?” A nervous laugh was all you could let out, for the pressure was mounting so tall it crushed the breath from your throat.

“Heh… w- well if the wife’s okay with it? I don’t see why not.” Umbra hummed with self-satisfied glee in her throat, flicking her tail side to side in order to taunt you with the half-concealed curvature of her backside.

“Then We are pleased. A most wonderful occasion to be celebrated indeed!” Umbra turned stiffly to face you, a most devilish and disgusting grin painted on her face. Somehow, it filled you with both an overwhelming and masculine energy and a sincere fear of her intentions.

“Shall we prepare our accommodations then, my King?” Luna’s blush darkened at the very notion, her shining gaze unable to rip away from undressing you then and there. Feeling rather objectified in the most sensational manner, you couldn’t help but get a little skittish and jumpy.

“Uh- ehm- yeah! Yeah I’ll go fetch Derpy and tell her-”

“She has already been informed, Sire Anonymous. In her own special way.” Umbra flicked her tail and fidgeted between expressions of delight and sour hatred. Her heart fluttered and skipped vital beats to make stars dance in her vision, rapidly thinning blood rushing through her mind and refusing to carry important nutrition to her mind. The Queen huffed and immediately felt more sensitive, more charged and aware of her surroundings. Already, the needy mare was pushing toward the door with her antsy hooves scraping against the mineral flood below.

“Before ye galavant off to ehm… take care of business, We have one last request to make of thee.” Luna said to Umbra with a singular glance toward the squat little unicorn. The dark Queen flared her nostrils in frustration and cast her gaze back towards you, taking a sizable bite out of your appearance with her hungry glare.

“Phenomenal timing, Your Highness.” The unicorn sneered, flicking her tail with a hurried and frustrated energy.

“Only a moment of thine time, Your Highness. We simply wish to speak covertly with a peer.” Luna hummed with a bemused and playful tone, her own heated eyes dancing from your wife to you. Umbra cocked an eyebrow at such an implication of respect, watching the Princess for any breaks in character. Detestable blushing and weak smile aside, Luna betrayed no internal conflict that she could interpret as malicious. In the many lifetimes they had spent at one another’s throats, opposed and studying the other for weakness, Umbra had come to understand Luna as a remarkably controlled being. Were she truly planning anything outside of the most honest and kind ordeals she would have no such smile. The Alicorn would retract and harden, pulling herself into a cold state of immovable concrete that shaped itself into a mare. At the moment she stood there raw as an open wound and openly trying to soften her appearance. The Queen bit her lip and fought to dispel her own cynical thoughts, for the situation was so radically different and unique among their interactions that it simply demanded to be addressed differently.

“Ugh… I shan’t be far behind ye, My King.” Luna’s trembling smile beamed wider as she bid you a silent farewell, watching with shimmering eyes as you slowly moved back and out of the tremendous room.

“Uh… don’t keep her too long, Princess.” You said meekly and with a small bow toward the royal. She returned it with an oddly deep dip towards the floor, nearly kissing the polished surface in her show of respect.

“Fret not, Sire.” Her breathy retort turned Umbra’s stomach like the sloshing waves of a lake beating on a rocky shore. She cringed in disgust as her Husband was addressed in such a way and her property trespassed against. Green, sickly eyes stuck to Luna as the mighty door was pulled shut and latched behind you, leaving them in a crucial silence. Both mares had done plenty sizing up of the other since they came to this vital junction. The metallic taste of a grand precipice lingered in the air alongside the perfumes of a grand hotel and the smokey hint of a fire in the hearth.

“One must wonder how my husband is in any way ’sire’ to you.” Umbra started with a less than friendly tone.

“Anonymous the Human is a fine stallion worthy of such a title, no matter the mare that giveth. This much, thou already understand.” Luna replied politically and clearly, swallowing the storm of emotions bundled in her throat with great difficulty.

“Indeed I do. I understand far more than you ever could what kind of stallion he is.” Her stance quickly became defensive and hostile, pushing back against this encroaching presence softly winding over her.

“I also understand what hunger does to a mare. Even the highest born mare.”

“Umbrial Daze it is not like that.” Luna answered robotically and stiffly, banishing the offense curling in her chest that would otherwise ruin her mission.

“Then how is it? Traipsing about his dreams, inviting him to extravagant hotels, divining semi-legal favors- when does it end, Princess?” Luna sighed quietly and hung her head, pushing her hooves together like a prep-school filly taking a lecture.

“I can no longer stop a pony from coveting what they please. But that desire best remains private when stallion and mare become one, as we have.” Holding her face still and burying her blush beneath indigo fur, Luna steadied herself for the final leap forward. Their eyes locked together in a wordless exchange of ideas and emotions, though Umbra had very little positive to give.

“Indeed… a unity of three. Exclusive and inclusive together. Contradictions made perfectly functional.” In her tone was reverence, admiration. Umbra flinched at the response and its whirling implications. Luna averted her gorgeous stare toward the fire rather than Umbra’s piercing hatred, trying her best to find some peace in the dancing heat.

“Lest ye art part of some hitherto unknown cult, We would be most comfortable assuming ye a herd.” Umbra didn’t respond, instead baiting the alicorn to carry on explaining herself.

“And… given that We haven’t had the opportunity to court a noble creature in so very long-”

“Very funny.” Umbra interrupted, ripping the Mistress of the Evening from her train of thought.

“Surely this ‘test’ of yours has gone beyond all realms of reason? I am fully aware of your preferences, Dear Luna. Don’t attempt to enrage me with your contrived desires.” Umbra boasted with a pouty and dismissive weight to her voice, watching the mare’s face for any sort of change in her stoic expression. Concerningly, nothing of the sort immediately came, rather few motions even threatening to disturb the Night’s cold and political facade.

“Min ‘preferences’ remain mysterious to thee as thine wicked justifications remain to Us.” Luna answered coldly and with audible frustration, taking a full second to pack all of it down once again.

“At times I have been plagued by strange visions… perhaps foretellings of the world to come, perhaps delusions without meaning. For fleeting moments in my most private moments, I see him.” Umbra hissed quietly under her breath as the fur running along her spine stood on end and her legs tensed into stiff pillars ready to kick at a moment’s notice.

“He is strong, he is loyal, he is… both mine and yours at once. An object of desire- yes. Even I must admit to this. But a cure for what so long has rotted this ancient heart.” Umbra could not formulate words to properly convey how she felt. The disgust, the avarice, the understanding all together made for a milky and unpleasant potion in her gut. Her ears steamed with the boiling heat of her running mind, venting off the pressure rapidly overwhelming her voice. She wanted to speak, to shout, to damn and curse this Princess for her ridiculous words. But not a single syllable fell from her still lips. Rather, a discontent hum of noise growled in her throat.

“He is a contradiction. And… I wish to be a part of it.” Luna turned on her hooves to face Umbra, lowering her head into a traditional show of respect. Her chin touched the floor, something the Princess perhaps hadn’t done for any other creature since her mighty father. Umbra watched with disgusted confusion, as if a bug had come out of the brush and likewise debased itself for her.

“Umbrial Daze, honorable mare of Anonymous the Human. We ask to join thine herd with yon blessing.” A laugh, a snort or a guffaw would surely knock the wind from Luna’s little show. The flabbergasted mare could do nothing in response but gawk at such audacity. Her eyes hovered from one part of the royal to the other, failing again and again to formulate a properly biting response. Instead, the bark that popped first into Umbra’s mind was the only thing her trembling lips could make out of her dizzyingly complex displeasure.

“Good gods… stand up. Stand up, you ridiculous royal!” Umbra commanded, shaking her head in utter befuddlement.

“I will admit it here and now that I have long admired your gall, Luna! The sheer audacity it must take for you to do the things you have done and never break character! It is truly an incredible trait of yours!” Umbra puffed out her chest with assertive aggression running through her veins, her unnaturally colored eyes locked onto the Princess as she stood again and held her piece with pursed lips.

“The audacity it must take to demand that I share my stallion with the likes of you! It simply boggles the mind that anypony could thirst so desperately! You wish to have him? You truly wish to bed my precious, loyal King? Then ask him yourself! What need do you have for tormenting me with your depraved questions?!” Umbra yelled until the entirety of her breath was exhausted. Sweat dripped down her neck and rattles of energy moved through her jaw as Luna simply stood there and bear the brunt of such rage. The Princess drew a deep breath and recomposed herself to gain some manner of control over the situation.

“Anonymous need not have his mind clouded at this moment. I show restraint out of respect, not guile.” Luna started softly- so softly that the fire and the wind nearly drowned out her volume.

“The stallion contends with enough as it is. Satisfying his obligations day in and day out. Two mares in divine matrimony is a burden very few are willing to take on. One must approach a courtship with the same grace and gentleness they would the lover they intend to please.” Umbra huffed and snarled at the idea of Luna calling her husband a “lover,” for such a term was indeed quite exclusionary in Equestria.

“We have already received Derpy Hooves’ blessing to join this herd. Should I follow the tradition of things, then I need not consider the opinion of his second mare and simply go about my business courting Sire Anonymous however I pleased.” Luna sharpened her features for Umbra, holding fast a serious and unchanging expression.

“But… since thou hath walked a righteous path with such drive and dedication? It is high time that respect be shown to these efforts. Thus I have brought thou here and endeavored to make all right.”

“Favors shall not dissuade my judgment of you.”

“And I expected so much. I am no arrogant fool like Nightmare Moon. I have brought you before me to ask with the utmost respect.”

“And that is why you ejected My King? So he couldn’t have a say in your molesting him?”

“Because he is unable to decide.” She answered, nearly choking on the words and taking deep breaths to retain her thoughtfulness.

“He and I are not the same. The powers invested in me by divine birth would color his judgment such that I could never trust it. Who is he, a common stallion to deny me? I know with the coldest truth that even if he detested me with vitriol twice that of yours, he wouldn’t have the right to deny our affection.”

“He worships no Princess. Your authority means nothing to him.”

“And what of you? What good could such a conflict between herdmates ever bring? Think selfishly- I’m sure thou hath the ability.” Luna stepped closer with a looming presence about her, standing high above Umbra with eyes made into glaciers.

“Could the King ever be truly content if his Queen and Princess gnashed at one another’s throats? Nay. We think not.” Umbra pouted and stood off against the royal, defiantly spreading her legs and digging her hooves into the floor.

“I ask thee- not as a Princess- but as a mare. Umbrial Daze, wouldst thou ever open thine heart to me? Couldst thou ever stomach the idea of thine King sharing his affection with me? Well and true, from here until the dawn of another age?” Umbra didn’t reply, clearly swishing the notion in her mouth like vile spit.

“He would never know need, or want. Derpy and thou would be cared for by the greatest wealth in Equestrian history and permitted to do as ye pleased. Our offspring will have naught but the best education, the most loving care. Mine and yours raised together as paragons of Equestria, fathered by the greatest stallion to yet walk this land. If thee truly can welcome me, it shall be a life untethered to the concerns of drudgery.” Umbra’s teeth grinded against one another in a furious and stiff slowness. Her jaws gnashed and her voice cracked under the pressure, for it was all too much to bear.

She yearned to see the very best for her family, for all she held dear. Already she had rationalized an eternity of punishment for the sake of her loved ones, the depths of punishment she could stomach would fill oceans beyond capacity many times over. Pain, loss and redemption had been prepared for, accepted and understood before she ever stepped hoof in this building. But this proposition was simply different. It was not a moment of agony, a promised retribution that might lead to eternal peace.

This was different. In her heart she knew it was wrong to deny the benefits, no matter how deeply it sickened her to think of it. That another mare, a mare surely mightier than her might share the same bed as she and you and Derpy. Luna, the Princess that had discarded you in the very beginning like lowly trash unworthy of her time now boomeranged right back and begged forgiveness. The very notion lit off the long-buried synapses and reflexes in the Queen that detected treachery. There wasn’t a single fiber in her being that believed it, yet she somehow knew it to be true. The dark sorceress knew- by means completely secret to her- that Luna meant only to do well by you and the herd. She would be a model wife by any stretch of the imagination and doubtlessly bring great honor to the family.

But to feel her presence in such an intimate manner, to feel her warm weight in the same bed as her herd and to watch her bear children from her precious human- it was all too much. Umbra’s heart faltered at the idea and forced tears to her eyes in a pitiable display of weakness. She sniffled and wiped them away with a hoof, shaking her head.

“I had prepared for a punishment great enough to crush a mare… yet I have been humbled regardless.” Luna held her posture, the soaring weightlessness in her heart gripped tightly by the anchor of reality.

“I am… ashamed of my disgust. Princess, it is impossible for me to admit your-... b- benefit to my herd.” She growled and stomped her hoof in frustration, hanging her head low and concealing her simpering expression with her hanging mane.

“I cannot bear to think of it. I wish to bring him happiness- but not for a moment could I honestly stomach such an arrangement!” Luna’s expression fell while her wing tip rose. She lifted Umbra’s chin from the floor and gave a dower smile, the reddened emotion about her eyes likewise generating burning tears.

“Umbrial Daze… is it not a shameful thing to be honest.” Luna hummed, smiling softly as her own voice whimpered and wavered in its strength.

“It is a virtue I am glad to see in thee… even if it will pain me to see this herd climb aboard that train without my love to accompany. Umbra’s lip still twitched at the idea, forcing Luna to let her go and step away with tentative respect.

“By the Moon and the powers it grants unto me, I shall respect your wishes. But… with one request.”

“Speak it quickly, before I change my mind.” Umbra spat, bringing quite a pause to Luna’s thoughts.

”Were we a weaker mare, mayhaps we would hold our tongue then.” She thought to herself, rapidly returning to her centered train of thought.

“If I may… ‘visit’ Sire Anonymous on occasion in my own realm, would this be agreeable to thee? For nothing more than to satisfy my own curiosity?” Umbra was beyond drawing petty lines in the sand, her fluttering heart simply begging to be reunited with her family.

“As you wish… perhaps it will dampen your need for him and leave us all at peace.” She retorted and turned to leave, shoving aside any niceties in leaving the Night Mistress behind. Simply standing there and watching as the Sorceress left, Luna’s tears fell to the ground and nearly shattered the entire world beneath their crushing weight.

The night was yet young, but never had the royal felt its length more potently than now. Luna swallowed a sob but still it groaned from her lips in that moment, echoing around the grand hall she inhabited. Another vision yet struck her in the irritated fog of her weeping gaze, bringing to her conflicting peace that she could not wrestle properly to reason.

The presence of a man, not a stallion. A reassuring grip about her shoulders that would never let her go and a familiar face crafted just for her. An affection so pure and so natural that it would sprout ancient trees and vast rivers should it ever touch the ground, all for her. When and where were unclear. All that mattered was the presence of a unique soul never to be seen again in Equestria’s long life.

“May they come to me soon… by the divine, let it be soon.”

Princes and Princesses.

Author's Note

Shoutouts to shadowolf.

Princes and Princesses.

Chapter 9.
Princes and Princesses.

Umbra, feeling drained and heavy from confusion and dread after speaking with the highest authority in the land, retreated to her pristine grotto just a yard and a half down the hall. Sagging with the drudgery of miserable reality, she hardly fit the puffy and curly nature of her mane as it burst from her sweater and rolled over her shoulders. Tying it back was simply out of the question here, for she had long known the winds of this place would simply twirl and whip her mane about however it wished. That blizzard wind always brought her back to younger days of ambition and drive, when night and day were but the changing colors of an eternally winding tapestry in her life that never sought a moment of pause. Energy unmatched yet by the sun and the moon eternally glimmering high above the clouds.

Now, going on two-thousand and forty-two years, she finally felt the fatigue of it all. Just a moment’s rest, a respite from it all now that the dust was settled. She sighed as the door creaked open to a new life, a new set of challenges and wonders to behold. All of it held in a wavering state of being and not being, for it was all on the family to decide the fate of Equestria. Regardless of what she did, Umbra had once again made history in the Crystal Empire to the tune of a tearful chorus.

She had to admit some excitement at the prospect, however. Certainly there was a twisted joy in potentially birthing a destroyer that would surpass her. A brute of such inconceivable might and guile that the world itself would sooner crack open and fall to ruins rather than oppose his will. That and perhaps the promise of freakish, night-long poundings that would see her and the top mare quivering like spanked jello under the moonlight. The door opened to reveal both these possibilities, greatly adding fuel to Umbra’s waning reserve.

Lingering in the frame for a moment she spied you and your mare already starting the sacred rhythm of courtship. A song detailed and complex and marked by weaving patterns of affection without a scholarly composure. Derpy lay astride your bulk and buried her muzzle into your face, peppering it with a rainfall of kisses and smacks and nuzzles that would make the sugary confections of Pinkie Pie look like bitter ash in comparison. Her hooves braced about your throat and hooked onto your shoulders, both her wings extended and upright like a tree of lurid satisfaction. Her tail swished side to side with a windshield wiper’s staccato beat, tossing golden strands of silky hair to and fro over her plump and ready marehood.

The dark mare sealed the door with a click muffled by her stealthy desire to watch such a delicious scene unfold naturally. Her eyes danced from one tremendous demonstration to the next and ate up all the fine details of it. Derpy could hardly stay still when braced to your front and indulging her adoration. Firm and smoothed human skin scrubbed into her fur as she writhed and wiggled and shivered against you, burning her scent back into the familiar planes of scared and sun-tanned skin. Her legs squeezed about your hips on and off and on and off in spastic little flexes, ones that somewhat timed with her puffy and winking lips. Whimpers and squeaks broke out whenever she felt particularly pleased by a kissy noise or a nibble at her neck, giggles and moans thrown in so that no loving mind could deny her beauty. Umbra hung onto every noise she made, itching to taste the divine cocktail of a mother in need once again.

Your masculine talents were deeply adored as well. There was very little in Equestria that could quite match the dexterity, gentleness and firm grip of a human male’s hands. Possessive little grippers bereft of weaponry- like those of a dragon- that would grip so securely- unlike the bone shattering snare of a griffon- that instantly soothed any member of mare kind into a more receptive state- unlike the rancid and dirty pads of a diamond dog. Umbra had known all these sensations and triumphed yours over anything somewhat similar. The way your fingers sailed through fur and dug rounded nails into equine flesh was so sublime that poetry could be composed about it. Just watching you knead and smush and squeeze and comb over Derpy’s hips made Umbra beg for an easel and her pallet to be at hand so she could capture such a precious and unique moment.

Calloused and hardened fingers creased by age and use made fatty buttocks and rounded love-handles jiggle again and again. The simple pleasure of watching gravity affect your wife nursed an erection that strained your soaking boxers, nothing but the frailest button holding the forward slit closed and preventing Derpy from sinking your spire inside herself. Ferocious manhood pressed and pumped your stiff tent against her at times, an innocent mistake when the lower mind was calling the shots rather than anything more civilized. She would squeal and giggle whenever you lost control over the magnificent musculature below the belt, but she clearly demanded no forgiveness for such a transgression. If anything, Umbra nearly bit through her lip watching as the sweet and innocent housewife pressed back and parted her engorged marehood about your head and squeezed greedily.

“Mmmmmh~~~ Bubby, Bubby, Bubby~...” She groaned in tranquility and accepted another kiss from you, the blush formed on both your cheeks molten enough to morph metal into flowing tears.

“Rrrrng~... I can’t wait to hold you down and rut that gorgeous backside, Derpy.” Huffing and heavy groans shared between you two skittered off like sparks in a tinderbox. Eager fire bloomed in your chests as Derpy’s smile melted into a gasping “O” of female excitement, her simpering and oozing hole desperate to have you intrude once again.

“Ooooh goodness, mmph~! Please, please, please~~~ Put babies in us, Bubby! I want your babies- I want your foals! I want you to make me pregnant again, Anon!” Derpy’s wild words slurred into one another as you thrust against her again and punched at her sopping wet opening. Umbra’s mind did backflips upon hearing such an insanely dirty demand, though the retort was perhaps more devastating.

“I’m gonna breed you until you can’t walk, Mushy. Then I’m gonna make you watch me wreck Umbra even worse.” She shuddered and oozed another healthy splatter onto your boxes, soaking them so thoroughly they were glued to your shaft and traced the veins throttling hot blood through your system.

“I wanna watch you make her pregnant… I wanna see it when you put a baby in her, Anon.”

“Yes, Babygirl.” She kissed you again, as if that would seal the confession as an unbreakable truth forever more.

“I wanna watch Umbra become a real mare. I wanna see you fill her up and make her scream for you, Anon.”

“UMPH~!!!” Man and mare alike snapped to attention when Umbra’s voice cracked and let loose a squeal of excitement. Her little hiding game could no longer sustain itself when her nethers shrieked with such ferocious need and gripping winks ratcheting down her spine. The very waves of sound Derpy’s voice made bounced through her body and stole away her composure, obliterating everything in their path and touching off nerves as they went. She couldn’t stop the wave of fire rushing up her spine just like she couldn’t stop you from making her whole again, for even if there was the ability there was never the will. The tiniest moment of time saw you all wide-eyed and confused, only for the next fraction of an instant quickly turning vile and devious. Derpy’s eyes narrowed and focused unto the intruding sorceress kneeling behind a coffee table, her simple mind rushing through possibilities and dark desires like a librarian combing through their infinite stack of literature.

“Well, well, well… Momma’s here.” She hummed with angelic tune and devilish desire intertwined in a perfectly discordant voice. Rapidly descending the bed and sauntering toward her herd mate, Derpy could not help but leave a trail in her wake. Piddles of pooling arousal hit the polished stone floor in a staccato of wet excitement, a rhythm that matched her own sultry expression. Umbra could do little more than stand there and accept the deep, passionate kiss delivered to her by the adoring housewife. Tension built up in her muscles and her heart faltered at the mighty contact, a zap of energy moving through her when the incomparable softness of the pegasus’ mouth soothed her.

“Hmmmm…”

“Mmrph… mmngh~...” She replied, leaning into Derpy so much so that her rear hooves nearly lifted off the ground. The adoring mass of gray and amber love guided her to and fro with her swaying head, the rumbles of each voice pouring from the mare shuddering through their bones deep into their most vulnerable beings. Derpy popped free with a flourish of wet connection, strung to the dark Queen by a wire of translucent spittle. Their eyes flashed to one another, ships passing in the night destined for the same port and desperate to leave these treacherous waters behind. Umbra needn’t say a word, she needn’t ask for any consideration in this magnificent moment of release and ease. In her gaze, Derpy spoke without ever making a sound. She saw one mare come through that door, thus she could assume with ease just what the Queen had said to Luna.

Surely such a tragic evening deserved a rest. Surely the battered little filly before the mighty mother was in desperate need of her family. The pegasus would be merciful and take her by the shoulder, nuzzling into her neck and not-so-subtly guiding her toward the reclined man they had both come to treasure.

“Come on, come on! It’s time.” Derpy hissed into her ear, nibbling the flap of sensitive flesh and bringing out warm giggles from the freezing mare. She was slow to start but fluid in her progress, her diamond-like eyes leaping from the beguiling mother at her side to the mass of masculinity occupying her bed. One that refused to be so lazy and relaxed that he would reach out to the both of them and assist.

“You know how Bubby gets when you make him wait, Umbra.” Derpy huffed as she and her herdmate were hoisted from the cold floor back onto the cozy sheets above, each one handled like a bundle of cotton weightless and carefree. Derpy arranged Umbra at your side, pushing her plush and chubby frame against your broad musculature with the same overbearing presence as a model maker on their project. For reasons beyond the both of you, neither you nor your dark wife minded too much. Her face gravitated toward your own and locked into a needy kiss rather quickly, one that pleased all involved with its gentle and assuring nature.

“You should’ve heard the things he said about you. He missed your big, round, squishy rump so bad. I wanted you to come back right away so he could cuddle and kiss and pet and rub on you. Shame on you for taking so long~!” Derpy giggled and loomed over you two as the kissing intensified into less innocent territory. Your unicorn babe didn’t waste time in mantling your body and treating your shape like a jungle-gym. Masses of curling black mane untangled from her hair-tie and cascaded over you in a shroud of scented darkness, obscuring the tongue kisses and hiding some of the deeper moans from the world. Derpy brushed strands out of her way so she could better watch it all unfold, her hooves gently sliding in to piece together her prefered scene. Umbra's sweater was the only thing she need remove for everything to be perfect, the momentary interruption of your kisses driving the Queen to retort with twice the vigor.

“Thaaaaat’s it… Bubby? Umbra’s been such a good mare for you. You know she’s had such a hard time since we got here… be a good husband and help her feel better.” Your burly and heavy hand felt the pressure of her polished hoof on it, the bony knuckles serving as proper leverage for her to guide it along the rounded mountain range of Umbra’s writhing body. Fingers glided over the silky and thick fur until finally coming to a stop at the peak of her backside. Instantly the familiar and soft flesh made you grasp tightly, eliciting an excited and naughty squeak from the mature mare.

“Umph~! Anonymous, you dog~!” She huffed into your face, smiling wide and kissing your nose in the brief flash between deep embraces.

“He loooooves your rump, Umbra. You know he thinks it’s the best butt in all Ponyville?” The cross-eyed wife bit her lip and watched the dexterous fingers of her lover knead the doughy buns of her herdmate, each squeeze and press and pull flexing her fleshy body about and revealing more of its lewd details. Derpy’s heart skipped beats and burst with illuminating rays of hot anticipation as Umbra’s lips and pucker bent to your whim. Oozing a thin stream of her sugary excitement, the plush sex that Umbra boasted gripped tightly in on itself as the rushing blood racing through her pounding heart engorged her lips. The dark slit running between buxom and thick cheeks puffed further and further out until one could sink their entire snout within its slimy embrace, peaks from her bright clitorus shining like starlight in the pegasus’s eyes. In an all-together more dirty fascination, Derpy brought her snout close to Umbra’s less often used hole and watched it squeeze for you as well. The bulging and rounded pucker of her backside morphed and moved and gripped at the same rate as her more fertile entrance, begging for its turn in the spotlight of your masculine attention.

“Such a pretty butt for Anon to breed. He wasn’t kidding when he said you were the perfect mare to carry his babies.” Hot breaths ran down the flexing femininity of Umbra’s rear-end with increasing pace, a sudden shock of wet heat making her gasp and break your heady kiss.

“OOH~! Oh Derpy!” She snarled and buried her face in your neck, groaning as the intrusive wife swiped a long and perverse lick across her favorite mare. You gripped Umbra tight to keep her from wiggling away, feeling her slowly relax as Derpy dragged a heavy tongue from the bottom of her bulging clit up and over each plush bump. The sweet and fleshy taste of her vulva gushed a healthy dollop of wine for her to indulge, a film of slickness that helped her tongue pull at her clenching backdoor with alarming ease. Thick flesh from lip and pucker alike bent and molded to Derpy’s tongue, feeding her subtle and primal information she could understand naturally.

Hormones and musk mixed together in her mind in a cocktail of sex and debauchery, telling the equine that this mad Queen was more that prepared. Something was indeed different, from the scent to the taste to the heat of it all. Derpy delighted in knowing you would feel an all new mare tonight, not once but twice. She could see the raw and raunchy appeal that stallions would have for this, only now could she grasp at the mysterious edges of what it must be like to desire breeding and humping and thrusting into a soft and fertile hole so willing it spread open for you.

“Hah- AAHN~!!!” The Queen whined into your face as you held her tightly in place, submitting her to the whims of a dirty wife driven mad.

“That’s it. Just let ‘ol Derpy do her thing, Babe.” You groaned deep into her with reverberations bounding from your chest in booms of assuring force. Umbra tensed and melted and tensed again in rhythm with Derpy’s prodding and deep licks, her body falling prey to the satisfaction of being so thoroughly pleased and worshiped.

“Everytime I see that fat little pussy I wanna do the same thing. There’s nothing on Earth better than spreading your juicy lips and digging into your sweet round ass, Umbra.” Her eyes, the tightly shut portals to her thrashing thoughts, glimmered with pleasure so sick and thrilling. The mare gyrated and pushed and wriggled her hips for Derpy to press into and spread for her own amusement, the narrow snout of a feminine mare easily reaching deep into her folds and harassing her most sensitive parts.

“You know that you’re the most delicious thing I ever ate, Sugar? You know everybody in town thinks you’ve got the finest, biggest, softest ass in Equestria? Tell ‘em, Mushy.” The pegasus needed a full second to remove herself from the musky and hot embrace of her herdmate, the subtle pop! of her lips coming free making the individual bumps in Umbra’s back prickle through her skin.

“Mwuah! Mmmh~! She smells so good, Bubby! She tastes so ripe and ready for a foal in her belly~. So hot and squishy and soft, I wanna slobber on her all day!” Umbra’s voice peaked and cracked down the middle when her feminine lover dove back in to sample the platter, spreading her buttocks with her hooves and ravenously devouring her puckered rear.

“FFFMPPH~!!! NNNNNMMMP!” She hollered and moaned like a demon into your neck, foolishly concealing her musical expressions. You adored feeling her twitch and buck and resist at first, shocking rods of pleasure shooting through her raw and rough nerves as the surprisingly adept Derpy ruined her butt.

It had been quite a long time since Derpy had done this, but that dusty old skill rapidly came back into its prime once the doughnut shaped mess in front of her was properly sloppy and trembling and gaping for her. Wrinkled flesh colored black as coal rapidly brightened into a pink and sensitive sheen that her own pink organ rushed and pressed against. Clenched muscles crushed tightly and refused to let her in too far, but soon relented when made helplessly slick. Derpy savored the terse and bitter flavor with eager examination, running her tongue slowly over and then into the pinching seal of her fertile Queen. Just as she suspected, it was delicious and complex in flavor. Nothing foul and rotten, just the fascinating and adult flavor of a rare and delicate dish. It reminded her of coffee and wine mixed together, the best and boldest of those flavors magically mixed inside this sensitive opening. It doubled her pleasure to think of your turgid rod sinking inside this dirty hole, a forbidden zone only Umbra allowed to have penetrated and defaced. Derpy had rarely known a mare that would do that for her stallion, even fewer who were as proud of it as Umbra.

“A- A- Annnnnngh~~~ Anonymous she’s- UMPH~!” Your Queen could hardly force the words out of her mouth, such trembling lips more adept for kissing and suckling than such complicated things as speaking.

“Oh I see it. Don’t worry about that.” You assured her with a rock-hard shaft pulsating against her belly, such a dirty show rare enough to spark your entire attention. Derpy dipped back and forth behind Umbra’s bushy tail and seemed in absolute bliss slobbering on her musky ass, groaning and moaning sweetly as she mouthed and suckled and adored the tight pucker. You huffed in masculine desire as thick strings of saliva and musk connected the two, the ancient smell of sex and the sight of your innocent Derpy drenched in Umbra’s filth setting off fireworks in your brain.

“Haaahnn… mmmph~... lehlmm… She’s ready.” Derpy yipped simply as her tongue passed over her now sodden and dripping lips. The Queen cast her exhausted and begging eyes back and forth between you two, utterly and delightfully subjected to your perverse whims. It felt so wonderful to be frail and vulnerable, knowing full well that her trembling and plush body would be treated with the utmost care between the two of you. She needn’t worry or fret or whine or complain, for nothing short of heavenly release would come to her tonight. Whether by mare or stallion- it didn’t matter. So long as it was her family, her herd, her protectors. That’s all she desired in that steamy moment.

“I love you… I love you so much… Gods above I love you.” She whimpered as her shaking lips rose up to kiss you, each pillowy crease finding their mark on a waiting human. You sat up straighter to hold the simpering little Queen tight, pleased to find Derpy sandwiching her tightly from the otherside.

“I love you! Oh My King! I- I just can’t scream it loud enough! I love you both! I want us to last until the sun dies and our love is the only light in all creation!” Blinded by her affection the mare kissed back and forth between you two, losing herself to the wild melee of pleasure. Man kissed mare, mare kissed mare and pegasus kissed man again and again in no real order or pattern, just however the heart demanded it to be done. Wrapping about Umbra and smothering her in that bed, you were no longer man and mares, or human and ponies, or husband and wives, or mares and man. You were one singular and intertwined unit that would forever sustain itself through the radiating bond at its core. You and Derpy and Umbra were one whole that would forever be and had always been meant to be. That it had finally been reunited only now was nothing short of absolute tragedy. Before too long the whole quivered around the painful void still left within. A wife claiming her husband and calling upon him to fulfill his masculine duty to her. Umbra molested you with her hooves running free over your form, a stroking hoof brushing down her quivering back and feminine lips whispering so subtly into her ear.

“C’mon now, Momma. On your belly. Bubby can’t do his job right if you’re all scrunched up.” Derpy’s voice struck a strange and buried nerve in the Queen’s mind. That almost forgotten and shriveled synapse that responded to commands and obeyed them without question. She had only made use of that little wire for such a short period of her life that it took a moment for it to fire within her brain and make her move, something Derpy definitely noticed when the sluggish unicorn ripped herself off you like her fur was glued to your flesh. The entire movement appeared painful and delicate, for she hunkered down at the edge of the bed with her rear end skyward with deliberate action.

“Thaaaat’s it. Nice and open for Poppy. Show him that giant booty so he can put a baby in jt~.” Derpy giggled and bit her lip in heated anticipation, her eyes moving to you and likewise issuing a silent command.

“Looks inviting… I think I’ll take a gander.” Bed springs and fitted frame pieces creaked under your weight as you moved to stand, the spear of manhood flopping in aggravated flexes within its cotton prison. Both mares’ eyes instantly locked onto it with canine focus, scanning and preening and scrutinizing that wondrous bulge of stiff flesh until it sauntered out of their view. Derpy squealed quietly when you finally took post behind the fertile, dark Queen, your scent and hers combining into a potent cocktail of arousing affection.

“Mmmmph! A- Anonymous?” Umbra whimpered as Derpy stroked her mountainous buttocks, spreading them for you so the pulsating pink insides would call out with a lighthouse’s repeated flashes.

“What’s up, Babygirl?” You hummed in satisfaction when your rod came to rest between her plush buns, an observant pegasus kindly shimmying your shorts down bit by bit. Every muscle and joint in Umbra went tense as a wooden board when you touched her, though this quickly melted into a slurry on the bedroom floor. You always adored humping against her spread behind like this, threatening to penetrate either one of her purpose-built pleasure pits. Derpy unsheathed your spear and kissed its rounded head as a wish of safe travels. Your Umbra gracefully pushed back and smeared herself against your shaft, an involuntary reflex that you utterly adored. Sliding up and down, wiggling side to side and clenching in rhythm to some hidden song, the mare only did as much when she was completely debilitated by desire. Her heat seasons, late nights reading raunchy books or just out-of-the-blue fantasies always made the plush and chubby sorceress a cuddle monster, especially with her shapely seat. To encourage this behavior you always gave her a firm smack on the rear and a hard push into her back door, threatening to break its fleshy seal and coating it with your excited drippings.

“AUNGH~! Oh Gods!” She hollered into the blankets and squeezed her thighs together, mushing them with her teats into a tantalizing chamber of folds and velvety fur. There had been times your face had plunged into that pit of mare flesh and fur, the sensation enjoyably warm as it was sickeningly erotic.

“P- please…” She answered, looking back at you with a wild and glittering eye. Her ring sprawled out on the mattress and hummed with living energy, breathing in the simmering love of husband and wife and exhaling the most beautiful hue of Cherenkov blue. Your gaze locked with hers in that moment, completing the circuit of two beings becoming one.

“Don’t hold back. Do what comes naturally, you handsome tyrant! This flank is yours to demolish as you see fit!” A more clear invitation you couldn’t imagine. Derpy giggled and smiled with sinister intent as she pressed your shaft down against its springy tension, guiding you straight into the gripping, winking and steaming opening of your wife. Something about it felt so different already, like a mare in heat but far more desperate and engorged. You felt different, as just the moist and stagnant air around her made your nerves screech and sizzle with the pleasured friction of rapid intercourse. Derpy sighed in release as your head split her lips down their rounded middle, a delightfully wet and lurid-

“Glrp…” Ringing off the walls when your wife closed around your head and sucked hard.

“Hnnnnnnnnmmmmppph~~~...” Umbra shivered as her mind was obliterated, the empty space behind her eyes replaced by a single word that boomed with repeating signals.

”Breed.”

“There you go, nice and snug in Momma~.” Derpy cooed and writhed as your shaft plunged easily inside the pocket of flesh made so perfectly for this purpose. Silky soft insides bent and squelched as you made her tiny void a great gaping space filled with your body, shared heat leaping between you two and nearly burning the nerve endings right off your shaft. She was so much hotter than usual in the most literal sense, as if you had stuck your manhood into a kettle and let the water slosh all about it. The intensity quickly robbed you of much of the composure you had somehow retained up to this point, forcing you to grip her hips tightly with crushing fingers.

“Hah, mmph~!!! OOoooooooooh my goodness~~~...” Umbra’s squeaking moan pushed into the sheets just as you bottomed out inside her snatch, the winking and quivering “O” of muscle crushing your cock and suckling on it with audible hunger. You could stand it for a second or two, but quickly the deeper and ancient part of your brain commanded action. Back out of her and back in again, this time with far more force and a tremendous jump in speed.

“NMMPH! HRMMMPH!!!” Umbra buried her face in the sheets, as she knew there was no way her ready womb would give the rest of her body a break. She couldn’t keep her savage need hidden when getting the business in such a manner, especially with the damnable words pouring out of Derpy’s pleased and drooling mouth.

“Mmmmh, big stallion~. Bubby’s so big and strong~. Oooh! This big mare butt is so warm and soft, he’s gonna pump it with so many babies~.” Who exactly she was talking to didn’t matter at the moment, for Umbra was a lesser creature than before this breeding started. The pace escalated smoothly from a deep and slow plunge into steady volleys of thrusts into her, melting the flesh within into a hot soup that moved and squeezed and milked around you without much structure. Or at least that’s how it felt. Her walls were so powerful and greedy for you, as each thrust seemed to grow more laborious and difficult. Umbra held tight and refused to give you a moment to rest, as if she hungered bury you in her snatch and simply never let go.

Dark lips pressed in when you thrust, then undulated outwards with a vacuum grip when you retracted. Back and forth they danced around your stiff shaft, leaving a thick film of gooey and musky excitement that left your pride glistening and slick to the touch. Derpy swiped a lick of this rare wine from time to time, finding that the Queen’s flavor became even more robust and satisfying when a hearty dose of testerone came into the mix. The clock-work rhythm of your breeding pleased her to watch, as your flesh contrasted wonderfully with the unnaturally dark fur of the Queen. Softness engulfed hardness, masculinity pounded femininity, submission and aggression blended together so majestically that it all seemed one machine working in perfect order. Your pervert wife marveled at how your supposedly alien shape so perfectly clapped against the padding of Umbra’s hips. The way her buttocks bounced and jiggled in waves of force as your front squished into them with an airy-

Clap, clap, clap! timed with your grunting pushes. Muscles flooded with testosterone flexed and pulled and bulged just beneath the skin, highlighting the power and development of your matured body. She loved to watch it all unfold, unable to pull her mind out of the sticky and dirty gutter of such a voyeuristic act.

Your soft Queen pampered your shaft for every second it was buried inside her, claiming responsibility for the no-doubt shattering orgasm that would create her most precious child. If there wasn’t sufficient pleasure and devotion then there would be no reward for her, thus she doubled her efforts in making your body reach those illustrious heights of bliss. She pushed back against you to meet pounding thrusts, the noise soon overcoming all others in that wing of the hotel. Her insides squeezed when you pulled and relaxed when you entered, constantly creating a hot friction. Her ass writhed and twitched for you, showing off every detail for you to molest and toy with however you wished. Your eyes beheld the incredible dance that Umbra had perfected over many years of marriage and breeding, one that would always ruin your endurance and shorten a night of hot mating by a considerable margin.

Her hips jerked back and forth in clockwork springs of motion with stiff stops, forcing her round and soft cheeks to gyrate and bounce rapidly. Meeting your thrusts with her ticks of motion made the mountain of equine rump bounce and spread and clap against your hips with a rhythm and show enticing to any male mind. Bountiful cheeks pressing together from their own inertial and completely concealing your cock, hiding it inside the warm and wet cavern of her greedy sex. And somehow in the very next instant she was pulling away from you, the force spreading her pillowy ass so wide her winking and squeezing backdoor gasped at you with a fleshy flex. Machine-like in it’s rhythm and pace you couldn’t help but stare stupidly in the dirty sight of your wife’s bouncing ass, the desire to feel and taste and huff and worship such a jiggling lump of mare driving you to the brink of insanity. Especially when she slammed herself home and ground her rump into you, pressing with enough force to knock an unprepared man to the floor. Each cheek jostled and bounced as if they were independent of the equine speared on your girth, noisy jiggles furiously chipping away at your restraint. Her insides swirled and crushed around your shaft, savagely demanding nothing short of the most fertile batter a man could produce.

“Nnf- hahn- mmph- ooh!” She cooed and squeaked on every plunge, beating the bass drum of your firm gut in dutiful presses. Umbra wavered under the influence of such a girthy and filling presence inside her, the full warmth rushing through her body relaxing every vital muscle and supercharging the others. Every inch of stiffness spreading her guts made the mare gooey and soft and submissive for you, a desire to pleasure and to be used for the pleasure of another. Every drop of sweat pouring from your brow, every baritone grunt of satisfaction and every bruise made from your crushing fingers was another notch in her belt of pride. The pounding force of a hard shaft churning her gooey insides sparked the feminine desire to behave and beg for her lover, the sensations of bruising mass and burning friction mixing together in her mind like a bubbling stewpot of filthy, dripping satisfaction. Her legs could barely support the added weight of your member, a surprising effect of shoving it inside your wives being that it somehow acquired the mass of a brick in their guts. Umbra was impaled in place and drooling rapidly onto the bed spread, surrounding herself with an aura of steamy run off as her eyes rolled back in her head and her body dominated the space where her mind used to be.

“Ooh- ooh- ooooh gods! Please- mmph! Seed me! Seed me your- UNF~!!! Seed me, your Majesty! Put your children in me, Sire! I’m ready! I’m ready for your children, Anonymous!” She hissed and snarled and bit into the bedspread with her sharpened fangs, tearing holes through the thick blankets. Such demands were easily met as your muscles burned and shoved you forward with newfound gusto. The burning spire of climax was rising in your stomach, slowly ratcheting up each vertebrae in your spine until bursting in your skull. Fairies of white light danced in your vision as it focused on the gyrating and bouncing hole of your wife eagerly swallowing up your manhood again and again and again. Just watching her soft opening work was enough to lure you into a hazy state of bliss, but feeling her heat and her weight and her plush mass engulfing you ensured a creamy and grunting resolution.

And then some tiny demon whispered in your ear. A warm and motherly presence leaning against your shoulder and licking your jawline cajoling you with syrupy whimpers and moans.

“Do it, Bubby. Make a Momma out of her.” Derpy kissed your cheek and watched with great fascination as the last inch of your shaft hung outside of Umbra’s pulsing marehood. Her snatch gripped and suckled at you with fat lips engorged with excitement in desperate attempts to bury you as deep as she could have you. Pulsating and twitching against her sealed cervix wasn’t enough, she needed you to threaten it. Umbra needed you to smash her delicate insides apart and rebuild them however you wished, she wanted nothing more than to be left in tatters after this magnificent night with her herd. But soon enough that very wish came true in spurts of hot, milky release.

“Hnng- aaugh… ooooh crap~...” You hummed and bit your lip as Derpy fell to your cock’s level, watching with deep intrigue as waves of seed rushed through your shaft and delivered fresh sperm to Umrba’s waiting garden. Her pulsing and gripping flower trembled as the first volley slammed inside her delicate walls, armies of microscopic fertilization rushing through her body as most welcomed guests inside her dark, sweltering halls. Unlike the myriad times you had done this before, your swimmers found much easier purchase inside unfamiliar territory. The alien makeup of Umbra’s body guided them to a waiting and ready destination where their long and hot journey finally came to a satisfying end.

Umbra lay there with her body trembling, her very soul beaten out of her backside and replaced by the turgid warmth of a stallion claiming his throne. Your royal mass smashed her guts apart and made her accommodate your every tiny detail, giving her the sensational delight of being heavy and full and useful and beloved. The elite were the only ones allowed to have your affection, the very most gifted mares in all Equestria were denied this delicious nectar, this fantastic and natural role that drowned a mare in affection. A brutal fucking that bruised your cheeks and left you gasping for breath when your entire body was stuffed with cream invited the aftercare most women could only dream of. You fell around her with your arms shrouding her ribs, your back laying across hers and your chest fluttering against her shoulder blades. Her entire world was shrouded in your warmth, your heat and your musk raining down in sheets of blinding funk. Her body pulled in for you, curling around your cock and squeezing around in nursing pulls that demanded you stay and assure the ritual was complete.

“Haaahnnnn- Hmmmmmnnnn~~~... my Kiiiiing… my handsome King! My precious, powerful human! Fill meeeee~~~...” She buried her snout in the blankets and murmured at your kisses, squirming and kicking her hooves to burrow deeper into her cage of muscle and masculinity.

“That’s it, Poppy. That’s it. Hold her close… hold it in. Let the baby-batter do its work! “ Your pudgy wife lorded over you both like a professional in husbandry, stroking Umbra’s rounded belly as the warmth quickly turned into majestic heat. The soft and plush rolls of fat were stiff now with mass filling her, the delivery of manhood into her fleshy rose working brilliant and complex chemical processes within. The pegasus pressed her ear to the trembling broodmare’s gut, listening in on the gurgling and swishing and sloshing moaning within. She adored the idea of listening to life be created, to witness it from such a perverse vantage where nothing could be kept secret. Her own lips quivered and oozed a heady dollop of excitement onto her ham-like thighs as the images of a helpless egg assaulted by thousands upon thousands of swimmers dutifully diving after it. Only one need to breach the seal, one lucky child to take hold and start making themselves at home. She breathed the heady scent of fertility in and let it wash through every fiber of her being, hormones changing and swirling together in a cocktail of arousal that could strip the chrome off steel.

“Mmmh… so full… Umbra’s belly’s so full of Poppy’s love~. You’re gonna have a beautiful baby, Umbra~. Such a pretty, pretty baby~.” Derpy kissed the bulging undercarriage of her herd mate, adoring the innocent little bundle yet formed. Umbra wasn’t fairing much better, her hair flying apart into strands of curly ebony soaked down with sweat. Her inner thighs crushed inwards to seal her entrance, trapping every last drop of your essence within her boiling garden. Your potent brew swirled inside her, adding a degree of warmth with every passing moment she could contain it. You felt her energy drain, her desire to move completely buried by this mad need to be safe.

Understandable of course, since now she carried precious cargo. Without ever having felt such a sensation, without ever bothering to be educated on this sacred and natural process, Umbra still understood it so naturally as it happened. The moment of conception, the rush of heat into her body, the snap of the final piece falling into place clicked in her mind. A blink of her eye and a whimper later, she knew everything was going to be alright. She was assured by the hormones and inclinations programmed into her subconscious mind that her body was now host to a precious child. A little one all her own. Dormant parts of her body and mind flushed her system with endorphins and seratonin, guiding her toward a peaceful lull that would ensure nothing would interrupt the delicate dance of her particles and your particles.

A million little pieces working together into a machine that so perfect assembled itself, finally given the proper tools to do so. She closed her eyes and heard your voice in her ear, dragging out the sensation of each and every molecule stitching themselves together inside her. Every micron of circumfence added to her egg was a radiant boom of pleasure inside her, every pulse of your softening shaft inside her was a furious bolt of lightning in her thoughts. Gasping and writhing, your motherly Queen squeeled when her warm and engorged cunny finally ejected your exhausted manhood.

“Ooh! Messy, messy Bubby!” Derpy giggled and pressed into the fold with animalistic speed. In a flash your wife was burying her face into the gooey cunt of your other wife, indulging herself on the spent nectar of a fertile male fulfilling his obligation.

“Hah- hff, hooooooooly moly…” You snarled as the cool winds nipped at your delicate and raw cock, both arms still braced about Umbra as she whimpered and spread her lucious legs for Derpy. The poor unicorn couldn’t catch a break this evening, for on every end she was assualted by needy herdmates desperately hungry for her body.

“Jeez Derpy… you don’t have to be on clean up if you don’t-” Stroking the gilded plain of your darling goofball’s mane, it was quickly apparent that she was no longer listening. Derpy’s entire mind was centered around this warzone of man and woman, of fertile soil and virile seed finally combined. You shuddered and gasped when her tongue ran a long line from clit to pucker once again, this time gathering all the stringy and steaming essence she could carry and depositing it into her mouth.

“want… to… jeez…” You hummed as the beautiful sight revived your cock, for Derpy had rarely ever been so ravenous. She delighted in the mix of flavors so intense and pungent on her tongue, gathering them all before daring to swallow. She had never tasted a newly minted mother, thus it was a deeply rare opportunity. Umbra’s walls were still raw and red and hot to the touch, oozing copious affection and drenched with alabaster. Her lips pulsed outwards in winks of need, signaling that she could go for another round, or a dozen- maybe even a hundred. Her body pumped out the chemical musk of need and readiness to be fucked, to be bred and to be loved. Derpy answered the call with a rapidly filling mouth, her eyes popping open in surprise of your volume.

“Glrrk… rrrrhmmmm~~~ My Kiiiiiing… She’s so ravenous… she won’t stop…” Umbra whined and curled her back for the demonic mother feasting on her rump, the dirty pegasus only stopping when her mouth was full beyond closing. You and her exchanged hot glances of mutual desire when she sat up, her lips ajar with the sloshing cream of spent human cum. She huffed and smiled as best she could, slowly laying down by her herd mate just as you did to grab her face.

“Wha? Derp- MMH!” Umbra didn’t tense, apparently finally getting the message that no one intended to harm her. The Queen didn’t expect to find her own mouth suddenly full of salty and creamy spunk however, the delivery method so unusual it begged to be deeply examined.

“Mmmmh~... slrp- hmm~!” Derpy held her head with her hooves and bolted their lips together ensuring not a drop was wasted in this sticky, slippery contact. Your heart flipped about in your chest as the mares indulged before you, drawing you closer and awakening your shaft back into action. Umbra didn’t protest one bit beyond the initial contact, for the taste was equally tied with the ideal for pure enjoyability. The flavor of the final seed, the warmth of a man that repaired her so fully. Swishing it between her mouth and Derpy’s exchanging their flavors and staring into one another’s eyes, she was spent. Nothing could be more arousing, dirty and debauched than swallowing the cum that had sewn her child, tasting herself and her herdmate and her husband all at once and taking it all within her. She could’ve laid there and passed it back and forth forever, mindlessly diluting it down until nothing was left but Derpy, nothing but motherhood and complete satisfaction. Her mind was numb to the world, only disturbed when a distant jingle broke the silence like a pane of glass falling to the floor.

“Oh! Room service!” Derpy squealed and instantly ripped herself away from the action, nearly breaking your nose when her head jerked up. Umbra was left with her mouth open and her belly full of cum, pawing vainly at the warm spot the pegasus once held when she lept up and out of the bed.

“Huh? Wh- where is she-... Anonymous… get her.” She complained as you likewise tried to wrap your mind around the dripping and winking mare answering the door, the bell considered far more polite than a harsh knock against a loud granite door.

“Confections for Madam Derpy Hooves?” A voice answered, you and Umbra both self consciously folding your legs together to protect dripping gonads.

“Thank you, thank you! It looks wonderful!” Derpy chirped in her most measured manner before pulling the small cart in, slamming the door behind her with such force it nearly brought the room down.

“What is the meaning of this, Derpy? Do you want the Empire to see me when I’m so… full?” The Queen whimpered and rubbed her rotund belly with a newfound peace, glad to find your hand soon covering her hoof to join in.

“Nope. Poppy needs water so he can go again! And everypony needs snacks after rumpbumps!” She hummed as the small cart of glistening mineral water, wine glasses and small plates of fancy snacks rolled elegantly to the bed, fine craftsmanship assuring it neither squeaked nor rattled on its journey. Disruptive as it was, the royal couple couldn’t deny how enticing it all looked, espeically after such a draining evening.

So you indulged for the moment, letting the worries of it all flow away as you lay there naked with your wives and simply recharged. The sexuality of it all never left, but the serious tone very quickly did. Sipping on your drink and nibbling on fine pastries, you could just lay there with your mares across from you, idly chatting and reclining against pillows in the closest approximation to heaven one could imagine.

“Mh. Goodness me. I haven’t tasted the spring waters here in so long.” Umbra chirped as she lounged against Derpy, her skull finding the soft padding of the pegasus’ thigh more suitable than any pillow.

“There’s not like… crystals in the water, right? Like stuff that might rip my insides up?” You asked cautiously, for the drink was indeed quite similar to the ultra-rich and fizzy drinks you knew back home. The flavor proved nowhere near as salty as the bottles your slavic friends could knock back, but the tang of dissolved rocks still lingered on your teeth heavily as blizzard snowfall.

“Hardly. I had the spring dug such that it would lessen the silica content. The iron and calcium are what make for an enjoyable drink.”

“Guess it makes sense. The entire city’s made outta rocks, the water’s gonna be pretty hard.”

“Hard water? Mine’s still all sloshy and slippy.” Derpy piped in as she feasted on a bundle of nuts coated in fine chocolate, her voice reflecting genuine loss.

“I want hard water… I could put it in my saddle bags at the Mare’s Club. Then I wouldn’t need a cup.” Umbra rolled her eyes at the ideal, delicately taking another sip of the precious and prized drink.

“Perhaps we could stop for some of that wretched eternal ice the royals are so fond of. I’m sure street vendors still hock it around here.”

“Can you actually eat that stuff?” You questioned cautiously, the inconclusive look about Umbra’s face spawning more questions than answers.

“Well… technically yes? But given that it never melts, one has to chew it and then swallow what is essentially broken glass. But I have seen it done before.” Derpy perked up at the notion, her tail swishing and beating against the mattress.

“Did you ever break it up and throw it at ponies? That sounds like something you would do.” Derpy asked the pensive Queen, her searching face bringing a smile to your own.

“Hm… now that I recall? I don’t think so. It’s not a terrible idea, though. Could you imagine having ice stick to the muscles of freshly pieced flesh? How horrific to remove.”

“And you could make backward facing barbs too! So you can stab a griffon in the heart, break the point off and watch him rip his heart out! I would make it triangular too, since you can’t stitch those closed.” Derpy said all this so concisely that it begged for a moment of reflect, both you and the Queen staring at her and awaiting an explination as to how she had conjured such a fantasy.

“What? She can talk about murdering ponies all day but I can’t?”

The night seemed to be winding down from there. The moon rose solemnly in the sky as the snacks were put away and the drinks drained off, leaving only satisfied ponies and a satisfied man. Conversations wove together such that you could hardly remember them at the moment, the highly attuned senses of a working man eager to dissappear the moment he had some rest. At some point you had tuned out somewhat, laying back and stretching your legs in total repose.

A foolish thing for prey like you to do.

Equine lionesses might’ve seemed tired and limp and squishy, lounging about and giggling and idly looking out the window. But they were experts in seeking out unsuspecting males, they had to be. Umbra was the first to notice how vulnerable you had become, how brazenly you presented yourself for their hunger to indulge in. Mid-conversation her eyes flashed at the limp mound your cock had become, a rush of spittle watering her mouth and excited hormones flooding her mind. Instantly the topic at hand was lost on her, for she could only then imagine the horrible, terrible things she would do with your masculinity.

Derpy wasn’t far behind, her own gaze zeroing in on the unsupervised young man laying against your thigh. He still smelled of sex and mares, he still pumped and subtly twitched with energy to go again. She still wanted to feel his head bashing against her guts in hurried thrusts. Immediately she was dreaming of it sliding inside her, crushed between her muscular walls and milked so intensely. Her sensitive and needy snatch would eagerly take him all in, stretching and bending however he needed to be comfortable and stay inside. The mare jittered and her fur stood on end, especilaly when she and Umbra could so easily creep up on you and surround your cock.

In a herd they moved to surround you, engulfing your lower end in the fluffy folds of marish fat and motherly warmth. They pounced quickly to catch you off guard, keeping their faces within sniffing distance of your manhood and licking their lips with barely restrained desire.

“Oooooh Anonymous~?” Cooed your precious Queen, drawing your attention back down to your loyal wives. They piled on like waves bearing down upon a very fortunate ship, smothering your body in the drab colors of affection and feminine fat. Derpy on your right and Umbra on your left, their soft and kissy snouts busied themselves with smooches and licks and nuzzles against your hardening shaft. Their hot breaths rushed over the sensitive skin in plumes heady excitement, mixing their musk with yours so they could sustain themselves on the most raunchy potion known to ponykind.

“Surely you aren’t finished yet? A stallion of your caliber surrendering after just one pregnant mare? For shame!” Umbra accented her condemnation with a long and wet lick across your scrotum, painting the precious jewels that spawned her child with her hot affection. Your body tensed and bucked upwards in response to her, both mares sliding their hooves over your dominant and defiant hips as you sucked for breath.

“This precious thing of yours… how does every mare in Equestria live without a stallion like this?” Your wife’s voice was sinister and calculated, hissing from between her sticky lips as Derpy pressed your length into her gentle maw. Another bolt of pleasure rammed through your spine as she did so, four eyes of brilliant color spearing you through the heart every second of the way.

“So girthy and long and heavy… virile enough to sew a mare of an entirely different species. If only you knew how many hungry mares thirst for you. How precious and rare your love is.” She cooed and watched as Derpy mouthed and slobbered on your head, swishing about in her mouth and cooing sweetly as the flavor gushed over her tongue. She adored feeling you grow hard again, finding the bursts of pre-cum splattering across her tongue both satisfying and electrifying. The flavor of pregnancy, the unmistakable tang of a man deeply devoted to her. The intense funk of a stallion ready to breed and ready to dominate. Sliding up and off your glistening shaft, the simple wife let it pop free from her plush lips, only for another mouthy sheathe to slide over it and suck deeply.

“Mmmmmnnnnnh~~~ Our handsome, powerful King. All the sweet words in the world couldn’t do you justice, Sire. All the poems and whispers and moans in your name couldn’t match just how deeply we love you, Anonymous.” Derpy hummed in agreement, kissing Umbra’s cheek and leaving behind a sticky, salty mark. The Queen bumped her rotund rear against her pegasus sister, driving the near-manic mare into action.

“I think… perhaps something more forward would suffice, however. Something that will properly express how we feel.” Derpy followed silent directions from the Queen, blushing deeply as she rose away from your manhood, assuming a position proper for a large and needy mare like herself. She reclined backwards and lay flat on her back, spreading her legs like chubby and rounded wings begging for attention. Like the blinking lights on a runway her hocks of flesh guided your eye down, down, down to her belly, the rounded mountains of softness calling out in ancient tongue. You were well acquainted with her round belly, her chubby teats and her sex, but it never stopped being so delightful to behold. Derpy writhed and wriggled somewhat to get comfortable, spreading her winking lips and squishing her full udders together. It was enough to make you bolt upright in anticipation, only Umbra’s hoof against your chest stopping an immediate move for the fertile wife.

“My King… show mercy to this fine mare. The heat has clouded her mind. She might beg for the full force of thy love, but she is a delicate and beautiful thing.” You huffed and nodded in agreement, unable to rip your eyes from the puffy, dripping and winking lips of your beloved Derpy. She giggled and covered her snout in glee, flexing her back somewhat and gently thrusting her sex toward you to provoke the most destructive response she could. Umbra leaned in close to whisper, her voice like melted chocolate rolling across your tongue.

“Make sweet, sweet love to her. Remind us what all this work was for.” Connecting pieces flying about in the excited storm of your thoughts rearranged and snapped back into place as she kissed your cheek. Logic momentarily came back into play as you gently guided your lips to hers and made the most adoring peck you could. A promise that you would do as your lovely, gorgeous Queen commanded.

“That’s the King we love… now go. The poor thing can hardly contain herself~.” Obliging the commands of your feminine overlords, your face crept closer and closer to Derpy’s boiling hot snatch with the same sly slither as a serpent. The aroma was already intense and wet around her, steam rising off her shrouded opening as the cool air rushed in through the windows. Her soft form was so familiar yet so exciting, especially when she spread that little bit further at your approach.

“Mmph~ H- Hi Bubby~.” She cooed, you gaze and hers locked together like a circuit. It brought a sick grin to your face when she pushed toward you, gently nestling her thumping clit against your lips. Without replying to her little greeting, your next motions were purely focused on her pleasure. Derpy’s body trembled and loosened as you gave her love button a firm suckle, the skipping and sparking match to set off this tinder box of equine and human affection.

“Eep! Oooooh Bubbyyyyyy~~~!” She whined in deep, loving intoxication as her hoof combed over your head, stroking your hair and begging you to continue on. Your duty to please her never ended, but now it was time to step up and face the call like a good husband ought to. Slowly and gently you drew shapes across her rounded clit, pushing and sliding across it as you wrote slick words across it. Slowly at first, drawing out disorganized characters one after the other to keep the direction swift and changing, all the while humming into her body to send deep trembles through her bones. Derpy was instantly relaxed and rendered dumb as a rock, only able to drool and moan and pull at your hair with her giddy hooves.

“Goodness me, M’Lord. Someone has been practicing how to pleasure a mare, haven’t they?” Umbra’s lips smooched across your back, trailing up toward your neck before pressing against the back of your head. Sinking deeper into Derpy’s plush bosom, it quickly engulfed the entire lower half of your face in gray mountains of soft plush. Lips opened about your mouth and her opening kissed toward your tongue, beckoning you inside its crushing, fertile and boiling canal.

“You’re such a good stallion, Anonymous. A paragon for ponykind to strive for. Any mare without a King like you suffers.” She hissed into your ear and pressed harder against your skull. The mattress of warm and feminine flesh below curved inwards like space and time around a supermassive blackhole, suckling you to her. Derpy’s legs locked around your head to secure such a loving and pleasurable source to her body, quivering thighs like meaty pillows muffling your ears and keeping them sweltering.

“Ha-aaa- nnnng~~~! Bubby you’re doing such a goo- OOH~! Good jooooooob~~~...” Your wife writhed and humped and ground her hips into your face, bending and flexing your muscular neck with her lust. Something about having your face be the center of her release, the cushion for her massive backside and the object of her obsession was uniquely wonderful. To feel each intimate, dirty, sexual detail of your beautiful wife more personally and clearly than any other living creature. That she would trap you, begging for your presence and showering your efforts with love made you ravenous and beyond driven to give the chubby wife every last bit of your attention and energy.

“That’s it… embrace her. She loves you so dearly, Anonymous. Can’t you feel her desire? Don’t you wish to please your loyal wife?” Umbra’s hoof moved to your brow and pushed back, forcing your face upwards just enough to spy Derpy over her own rotund belly. She was heaving breath and groaning deeply in utter bliss as your tongue dragged and painted across her snatch. The thick mire of orgasmic release made her eyes rotate out of control, as if they were spinning dynamos set terribly out of balance. The equine filled your mouth and nose with her affection, squirts of lubricating and milky essence gushing from her needy and engorged opening in sporadic gasps.

“Look at how she adores you. See what you do to us poor mares? You simply ruin us, Anonymous~. Our King is a gift to all feminine souls~.” The dark sorceress peppered you with kisses, encouraging you to go harder, deeper and get wetter. You did so at the expense of your own breath, soft and rubbery flesh sealing off the world around your skull.

“Oooh~ Oh goodness~! Mmph~! Don’t stop, Bubby! That feels ssssso good~!!! Augh~! K- keep licking me just like that, Bubby~!” Derpy humped your face with an added gusto that thankfully allowed gasps of her musky air to fill your nose. White flakes of snow danced in your vision after a number of volleys against your lips, a tiring tongue refusing to give in the face of such an assault. Umbra drooled onto the mattress and found herself transfixed by it all, especially with the incredible company of Derpy’s musical pleasure.

“Just listen to her, Anonymous. Your mare is in need~. She wants you. She needs you. She desires you and only you~.” Masculine pride burned like a butane torch in your heart, a stroked ego rising just like another distinctly masculine appendage. You and Derpy were ready to go, if not more than that. Her suffocating heat broke free with a lurid and wet ”pop!” when Umbra’s magic parted the sea of thigh smashing your cranium. Instinctively you jerked back for a breath, quickly finding your open mouth the target for a pressurized squirt of mare wine.

“EEP~! Oh- oh goodness~! Oh my gosh~!!! NNG! G- get back here you sillyhead~!” Derpy whined with a dopey smile about her dopey face as her hooves gripped vainly at the air. Ragged and deep pants refueled the dwindling supply of oxygen in your brain, recentering your thoughts slowly but surely until Umbra could act as your guide. Soft and gentle magic like silk-wrapped fingers encompassed your gonads and shaft, massaging and worshiping them with the deft expertise only a millennia of practice could achieve. A deep and baritone growl left your throat out of instinct, the feeling of being admired pumping your already sex-addled mind with more blinding testosterone. Naturally, the submissive and breedable mares before you smiled ear-to-ear at the animalistic sound their husband made, each one silently dreading with wet lips what a crazed human would do to a helpless mare.

“My, my, my~! You’re struggling to hold back, aren’t you My King~?” Umbra giggled and nestled herself against Derpy, sharing a kiss of anticipation with her. Multitasking with practiced ease, the crimson fog of magical influence gripped the opposing petals of Derpy’s fat sex and pulled gently to reveal her pink innards, something that made the mother release the most heavenly sound.

“Oooooooommmmmph~~~... G- go ahead, Bubby~. Put a baby in me~. Put another beautiful baby in Momma’s tummy~.”

“Don’t keep the poor thing waiting, Sire. She wants so badly to be your brood mare~. Won’t you give her the pleasure of taking that enormous pride like a good little mare?” The plush and needy pegasus let out another voluminous droplet of her excitement as such dirty words rattled through her mind. Through years of experience they could both tell you weren’t really present. Behind the glassy and hyper-focused eyes of your predatory face there was only the basal creature. The unevolved, desperate, hungry creature that only bred and dominated and penetrated because it felt incredible to do so. No higher function, no higher drive. Just sex, just pleasure, just the satisfaction of claiming a female and her precious, gooey gash. You leaned forward and let your massive figure blot out the lights of the room, each mare biting their lips in anticipation and feeling the heat of excitement in their ears.

“Aaannnngh~... Hi Bubby~...” Derpy greeted you and looked absolutely perfect for a kiss. You obliged her and Umbra both, lingering on the dark Queen for a moment as she snuggled against the fertile commoner. Your manhood twitched and stood horizontal in defiance of gravity, pointing itself right at Derpy’s snout and glowing with heat.

“Oooooh… he sees you, Derpy~.” Umbra cooed into the mother’s ear and made her buck upwards in anticipation, the magic surrounding you and her pulling inwards to make each organ gravitate toward the other.

“He’s coming right for you… you must’ve done something to upset him~. Look how hard and desperate he is. He’s going to ruin you~.” Derpy made a noise between a moan and a squeal of anticipation, spreading herself further apart as you made your divine entrance. Pressing against her sopping wet and wide-open cunt let you slide in with little issue. The taut muscles of Umbra’s crushing insides were nothing like the forgiving and soft canal of her herdmate, but both had their equal charms in breeding. Sliding inside of Derpy was essentially falling into a sleeve of absolute softness, unparalleled control over each fiber of her being allowing the mother to stroke and milk and nurse with uncanny precision. All these years of unloading batch after batch of useless seed into her and you still couldn’t figure out how she did it. All you knew was that it was the most satisfying, maddening and sweet pussy you had ever had the pleasure of bottoming out inside.

“HAaahhhhnngnnnnn~~~... Ooooooh my gooodnesssssss~~~...” Derpy stared into your face as you sank inside her with one fluid slurp of motion, pressing your hips together like puzzle pieces fitting back together. Her entire expression changed from a wild and girly excitement to an aghast and stupefied look of pleasure. Her mouth hung open and her eyes relaxed instantly, as if every last bit of worry and strain and concern was suddenly forced out and replaced by throbbing human mass. Your noses touched in a spark of pure love firing between adoring parties, Derpy giving you all the attention and love and praise a mare crammed full of warm cock could.

“Fill me… fill me up Bubby~!” She gasped into your face, bracing her arms about your neck so there was no hope of escape. The mature and deliciosuly heavy equine pulled against unyielding strength as if she were nothing more than an accessory, a mark of pride dangling from your throat and speared on your pride. She loved you, she worshipped you, she was willing to become lesser for the pleasure your carnal desires could offer her.

“Babygirl~! You’re such a good girl for me, Derpy~.” You growled into her snout and kissed her dearly, a soft little peck for your quickly loosening and relaxing wife. The mare huffed and gasped as your cock pistoned back and forth against her soft sex, pulsing lips wrapped like flower pedals about your turgid and throbbing stem. It was if you were feeding her a direct line of relaxing and warming affection straight through your pulsating veins, as her tight grip melted further upon each bouncy and deep thrust.

“Let him take you, Dear~. The King will see that you are pleased~. He will satisfy your every want and desire if you simply relax and accept your role as his womb~.” Umbra hissed into Derpy’s ear and stole kisses from her whenever she could, casting her wicked and sickly eyes from groaning mare, to snarling human, to mid-coitus gonads slathered in affectionate moisture.

“He’s so deep already~! Punishing your sweet flower, pumping you with babies, dominating every aspect of your being~.” Derpy shuddered and fell into a deep, slobbery kiss with her herdmate as you steadily pounded into her. Her voice degraded to nothing but high pitched whimpers and mewls of satisfaction, her slick pussy slurping and sliding agaisnt your manhood with a noisy and wet grip. Pushing inside forced out dribbles of her excitement like oozing tear-drops around the base of your girth, painting you with the familiar and sweet aroma of a female madly devoted. Pulling out nearly pulled out half the mare with you, her stretchy and needy insides pulling at your shaft and following it outwards before greedily pulling you back into her fertile garden.

“Hah- nngh~! Oh- OH BUBBYYYYY~!” She gasped into Umbra’s face and broke the kiss as you plunged into her, smashing against her vulnerable and tight cervix. Her experienced insides locked around you and undulated with wavering rings of constricting motion, stroking and nursing and goading you just to dump everylast cell of sperm right inside her.

“The King can’t get enough of you, Derpy~. You turn him into a beast whenever you present for him, Derpy~. There’s so little you can do now, isn’t there? All a poor, defenseless mare can do is just lay here and moan until he’s satisfied~.” Umbra and her buried their faces in one another, their hooves coming together in a uniquely female bond. Your work became hurried inside her, as the warmth and the wettness and the bouncing teat smacking against your abdominals were very quickly whittling down your patience. Derpy morphed from functioning mare to barely functional pillow as the steady beating escalated into a stiff and measured pounding. Your hips smacked in tremendous claps against her backside, the purpose-built padding of a fattening mare the optimal cushioning for such an ordeal. Internal muscles switched tactics from teasing and milking and kneading to simply remaining relaxed and loose for you, as the thrusting was simply too fast to hold onto for too long.

Powerful hands settled around the mares’ heads as you worked, an awning of inpenetrable human muscle lording over them. They stared up at you with their lips locked and their mouths twisted into sick grins of pleasure, especially the drooling and utterly infatuated pegasus. You could feel her grow hotter and hotter inside, the pulling walls of her needy pussy grinding and smearing against your sensitive shaft with undaunting duty and resiliance. The soul nearly left the infinite pools of her rolling and unfocused eyes when you repeatedly beat on her cervix, the firm end of her sopping wet canal squashing your pulsing and raw head deep inside her sloshing guts.

“OOH~! A- AAHNG~!!! BUBBY~! He’s so deep! Oh goodness- NNPH~!!! You feel so good! You feel so good breeding me, Anon~!” Derpy’s hooves jittered and gripped at the air as her mind was helplessly replaced with orgasm, the racking booms of ecstacey erasing whatever sense still remained in her goofy head. Her howls of overwhelming sensation couldn’t stop you for a second of course, as your own internal programming was now running on pure instict. Looking down at her, feeling the tendrils of fiery pleasure rocket up your spine and watching Umbra care for her all at once triggered certain things in the base of your skull. Ancient neurons responsible for thrusting your hips, churning your seed and holding your wife steadfastly by the chest were calling the shots now. However much you loved them both, however much you cherished these precious moments together, that higher and romantic process was completely untennable now. You were a monster simply in need of a wet and screaming hole to dump your seed inside of. And by all that was good in the world this hole was begging for a gush of cream.

“Surely you can’t last much longer, Darling~! You’ve been rutting his poor mare right into her climax and I haven’t seen one gasp of satisfaction from you!” Umbra giggled, stroking the orgasm rattled mare’s mane and cradling her utterly overwhelmed shape.

“How resiliant a stallion must be~! Even with a mare wrapped around his pride, screaming in need, needy as can be, he still hasn’t finished~!” She tittered and climbed atop the panicking Derpy, for your pace didn’t even slow after her rocking climax. She snapped around the dark Queen as she shrouded her in warm fur and soft flesh, submitting herself to the whims of a devious and horny wife.

“He needs some motivation, Derpy. The King needs some help to pump your sweet insides full~.” The Queen ran her tongue across the pointed daggers of her teeth as Derpy groaned and turned into little more than a ragdoll of meat and cum, simply laying there content as a dog as she was harshly fucked and bounced on human cock. Umbra obliged your fierce need with a curling back, her bulging backside smacking across your muscular undercarriage. She left a wetspot upon each contact, a fat smear of your steamy batter drawn in the shape of her heart-shaped ass. Initially unsure what she planned to do at first, the answer was revealed when the humming creature reached back and spread her leviathan, musky, femining backside for you.

“Oooooooh… d- do me next, Anonymous. Your Queen is so desperate~! Claim my tail hole as your own! Breed my tight backside and use me! Mmph, ooh, ah~! You’re so ready, just stick it in! Maul me, Sire~! My body is nothing but a toy for you~!” That was simply too much to bear. Watching your once controlled, elegant and polite wife bend over and play with her pucker was simply too much. Such a dirty and raunchy thing to do, such unctrolled words of pure desire thrown around for you. Her oozing gash deposited thick beads of alabaster fertility onto Derpy’s teats, the warm and bouncing mounds of flesh mirroring just how rubbery and soft her insides were. You could’ve finished just fine without this “help,” but something about it was simply maddening to behold. Umbra begging for love, begging to be mounted and bred in her own special, dirty little manner made you furious with need. She knew well enough that you loved mares enough to finish inside them just fine, but once her trained, experienced, muscular butthole was thrown into the mix it was a different kind of pleasure. Nothing pure, nothing loving and nothing that you would care to think you were capable of.

She wasn’t “helping you finish,” as she so boldly lied. She was milking from you a savage and raw orgasm that would no doubt increase your yield from average. An animal’s load, pumping into a submissive and helpless female in the wild where no holy eyes could behold. The thought of parting her ebony pucker around your manhood, hurting her for your own satisfaction, listening to the perverted music of a wide shaft stretching an unsuitable ring stirred something entirely different than love in you. Wild, fiery, sudden bursts lept up from the base of your spine and burst in your simple masculine mind, flicking the final switch and allowing the goodness to flow.

“Thaaaat’s it~. Breed her, My King~. Cum inside her and make her loyal to you~. Overflow her, drown her, impregnate this beautiful Queen!” Umbra hollered and pressed back against you with her full force, feeling each tremble of mighty climax quiver through you. Stalwart and eternal as your muscular form always seemed, climax made you weak as a paper wall. She felt each atom of strength drain and funnel straight through your cock in jets of pleasing slickness. Derpy kicked and sighed with the familiar weight of a human creampie settling inside her gut, the added mass crushing her body and soul into a comfortable niche. To be the pleasure center of a great creature, to be submissive and loved and fattened on cum was simply the pinnacle of sensation. She could write books, craft poems and sing thunderous songs about the joys of being utterly dominated and fucked out of her mind by a powerful human but none of it would come close to actually being there.

Staring Umbra in the face as she was made a mother again, grinding their bellies together and clamping their legs about one another, Derpy doubted she could ever reachs heights like this again. The mares pressed together and felt eachother’s process, they felt one another becoming greater than the sum of their parts. Part chemical and part biological, the swimmers now swarming inside them attacked a ready apex. Rounded orbs of life bundled into a single point were suddenly set upon by compatible genes, altered spears modified just enough to open the gates and get to work. Where they failed time and time again, finally now your boys pierced the veil of biology and sank their hooks into the deepest, most intimate parts of your wives. Quickly the process flooded their bodies with hormones and compounds and heat, idicating to anyone familiar with the signs exactly what was going on inside them. They transformed to beacons of warmth, paragons of softness and the epicenter of all that was good in the world. They smelled different, they moved different and by goodness they felt different.

Especially Umbra, who now knew a joy that was unparalled in all the world. She had seen entire armies burn before her, she had taken nations by her will alone and she had severed the heads from greast beasts bearing down upon her. But in light of becoming a mother, of being made fertile and loved and submissive, all that was dust. All the memories of being a Queen filtered away in her mind until only one word was left, the perfect word fashioned to be most pleasing to all living things.

Mother.

The afterglow proved quite intense, as you were thoroughly drained and your mares thoroughly stupefied. They trembled and shuddered and molded round you as everything collapsed into the void of energy your great breeding had left. In place of hurried heartbeats and racing thoughts, curled legs, gripping fingers and heaving chests rushed to fill the vacuum. You lay back with aching lungs and a raw manhood growing limp in the cool breeze of the hotel room, the sheets totally wrinkled and crushed and pulled apart under the ferocious fucking you had given the mares. They clamped onto you, embracing either side of your body with their oozing backsides splattering long lines of irregular paint across priceless comforters. Sucking for breath and holding them tight, staring up at the fabulous ceiling of gems and craftsmanship, you worried for a split second that perhaps this was all a dream.

A sesnation so mighty as this surely only came in the last gasp of life, just before the soul evacuated the body and moved onto the next plane. You stared so blankly in fear of blinking, as a momentary pause from this basking instance of satisfaction, of a job well done and a life well lived might just allow it to slip away. But all at once it solidified again when the mares kissed your cheeks, squeezing in from either side and letting out their own quiet little gasps of relaxation. Their chubby forms engulfed you surely as blankets, their overwhelming warmth and presence making you wish for an eternal sleep in a bed like this.

“I love you two…” You hummed, earning little giggles from the exhausted party. They braced tighter around you and smeared their bodies into yours, trying to bury you alive under their affection. Their breaths rushed over you in calming bursts of stormy relief, the cleansing embrace of loved ones pleased beyond all words. They couldn’t even craft some sound resembling words before they were finished, before they were completely without need of an addition to this perfection. The family was one. The family was fruitful.

The family was whole.

In that moment, Stoic Stone peered out of his den in a cautious movement of stiff fatigue. Staring out through the holes of his rotten cloak he spied the most curious sight- at least for this realm. White, pure light streaming into his hollow.

An usual aroma had stirred him awake in the womb of rock and iron below this hellscape’s skin, for it was so totally alien after centuries in this realm. Rather than the putrefaction of flesh, the deterioration of ancient temples and the musky bitterness of hope disolving, his nostrils burned at the flavor of sweetness. The calm, nurturing and relieving scent of fresh snowfall in the forest. Rousing from his sleep and taking a look from his burrow, the ancient creature could hardly beleive the reality he found himself in.

No more bloodswamps. No more biting trees of flesh gnashing their teeth. No more greenish clouds of brackish hatred raining bile on his back. Instead, bristling pinetrees as far as the eye could see. Fresh and powdery snow, the kind that came in the late autumn just as the harvest was finished. The tiniest hint of smoke climbing from a chimney and dissipating into the wind. He crawled from the grasping hole he called a home and felt his cloak fade away, replaced by his once brilliant and powerful armor. In an instant he was somewhere else entirely, somewhere that was foreign yet beautifully familiar. In his heart, no more guilt and crushing regret. Instead, replaced by the hope of coming home. The desire to warm his hooves by a fire. The satisfaction of a campaign finished and the anticipation of embracing his beloved.

A cabin in the woods glowing with the tangerine light of life inside the frosted windows, charms and effigies and apothecary supplies scattered on the stumps and on makeshift tables. Stepping through the snow, approaching this strange place, his soul nearly transcended when the loose-fitting door rattled open for him. Standing several paces away, his lip quivering and his eyes burning with relief, Stoic Stone beheld a young unicorn mare of the most stark ebony. Her smile banished the whipping wind rushing through the forest and her exhausted mother of grey fur replaced it all with desperate yearning.

“Daddy?” The filly asked into the wind, the duo of syllables rumbling the entire world around them. Stoic sniffled and gasped, the tears finally clawing from his eyes and falling to the snow like meteors.

“Y- yes… My most pure treasure…” He answered, the pleased and jubilated expression of his daughter assuring him a well deserved eternity in this peaceful place.

“Welcome home, My King.”

Warmest Hearth.

Chapter 10.
Warmest Hearth.

That frigid summer night carried on long after the herd had gone to sleep. Looming high in the sky, Luna’s bold-faced moon shined down with a comforting and surprising brightness illuminating the snow-speckled night. Dinky sipped carefully at the tall and slender glass provided to her, sparkly and fizzy fire running over her tongue and zapping her with a unique thrill. The filly was far behind in the latest game of “Widgets and Fencposts,” one of the many, many thousands of boardgames The Princess of the Night had in her collection. She pensively scanned over the pieces arranged in a diamond pattern, encroaching pieces of an opposing color slowly surrounding her.

“More wine, Miss Dinky?” Luna offered with the bottle hovering about their heads, one politely wrapped in soft linen to keep its frosted glass from dripping onto the board. As well, the opaque shroud helped conceal that the so-called “wine” Dinky had been so deviously allowed to try was nothing more than sparkling grape juice. The Mistress’ young foe nodded silently and moved a piece carefully, instigating a strategic bluff that Luna had seen countless times before.

“Thanks, Miss Luna.” She replied with a somewhat victorious smile, sipping her delicate confection with a pampered haughtiness. The entire evening had been spent in Luna’s hotel room where there was plenty to do and even more to see. The Princess certainly didn’t travel light, as Dinky came to find out. Board Games, books, scrolls, writing supplies, her own personal entourage of silky bed sheets and pillows and even live creatures kept in spacious tanks. Your little girl supposed that transporting them was much easier with magic, as she couldn’t imagine the nocturnal creatures reacting well to their tanks jostling and moving about in pony hooves.

“Mh. Interesting move, Miss Dinky.” Luna commented gently as a fluffy and pudgy rat nestled against her shoulder, one of her many pets exemplifying the population of the night. One of her less understood hobbies by both her Sister and the public, for many of the beasts that called her realm their home were quite undesirable in the common palette. Spiders, frogs, rats, mice, possums- whatever braved the inky blackness of the evening she had at least one. Dinky was particularly enticed by her skeleton-patterned tarantula, Rattles. The Princess marveled at such a young filly so casually lounging with a hand-sized and hairy spider crawling across her back. None of her pets would even dream of harming a pony, but the very sight was enough to put many ponies off their dinner.

“How about… We counter with this?” Luna carefully moved her peace into a mercifully foolish position on the board that simply invited a clever counter-attack. Dinky scrunched her snout and narrowed her eyes, deep in thought as she examined the strange game over and over again.

“Hm… but that means…” Yellowish magic took hold of her piece and moved it forward, striking down Luna’s knight and moving forward through the gap it left behind.

“A fine advance, Miss Dinky.” Luna smiled and sipped her bubbly drink once again, finding her eyes lingering on the door to the room.

In her thoughts- if only for the briefest moment- she imagined someone were stepping through that door. A tall and heavy figure of muscle and cotton clothing unlike anything else in the world. One who carried himself with honor and respect, but still wore his vulnerabilities where all could see. In between the crackles of the fire and soft chittering of her rodent companion the princess could hear the distinctive padding of feet against the zircon floor of the hall, a chorus of approach that would signal to all what mighty creature came her way. But in all reality the door was fixed shut and expected no company. The great chamber of her luxurious accommodation was lucky to see two within its walls. Three was but a far off and desperate dream.

Dinky couldn’t quite understand what kept Princess Luna so occupied whilst they played. She needed every last bit of her concentration to participate in this match between the minds, yet her azure opponent often distracted herself staring off into space or toward the chamber door. Initially somewhat irritating, the young mind took quite a bit of time to unravel exactly what might be disturbing the seemingly invincible monarch sitting before her. Dinky still resided in a state of mind bereft of romance. She was still unhindered by the burden of longing for another, realizing the incompleteness of one’s self and madly chasing after the final piece.

But she knew from her Mother and Aunty when a mare was needy. A mare in need of company always displayed the same symptoms of searching, antsy posture and desire for distraction. Perhaps that was why Dinky was invited to indulge in games and pets in the first place. As the Princess lightly fluttered her wings and sighed to herself, the filly knowingly sipped her forbidden drink once again.

“You know, Miss Luna?” Her soft and high-pitched voice broke through the veil of thoughts clouding Luna’s mind, inviting her to rejoin reality and engage with the diminutive guest. Her eyes betrayed how empty she had become that evening, for the sea-colored rings peering into her soul reflected nothing but pale reality.

“Even though Aunty Umbra says you’re a no good, smelly royal… I think you’re a good mare.” Dinky said with no smile and not a hint of condescension. Her words were spoken with surprising measure for a child, as if an adult were hiding behind her mouth and speaking through her. Luna couldn’t respond initially, pinning her ears back and waiting on the potential insult that would almost certainly come after. After several seconds of pensive staring, all Dinky offered was warmer ambition. She smiled in the sweet and toothy manner only a child could, convincing Luna to do so herself.

“And... I think you’d be a great Aunty too.” Between the tiny creature of such a tiny life and the infinite glory of the majestic Princess, a connection formed. Like lightning in the night that healed all wounds and brought comforting illumination to the thundering dark. The Evening Mistress felt a tear jerk at the corner of her eye and just barely suppressed it under her crushing will.

“It… it means much more to Us than thou couldst know, Dinky. That you would comfort us in this time brings us much relief.” Dinky grinned and set her hoof atop the Royal’s, patting it with unbelievably assuredness.

“Thou art a model daughter. Great things no doubt lie in yon future.” The two clinked their glasses together in the light of the fire, returning to their game with their furry friends astride their necks, the cold of the outside beaten back by the radiating heat of friendship.

“It’s good you two didn’t tie the knot, though. It would be weird if you were fucking my Dad.” Dinky added, prompting Luna to spit her drink across the floor.

The memories of that night many years ago washed over Dinky as she sat on the train toward home, its rumbling bangs and rattles against the icy tracks so common and muffled they couldn’t disrupt her intricate thoughts. So much time had passed since then, at least from her perspective. For an adult a decade was quite a long time, but for a child it was a life and a half proceeding forward at a blistering pace. Now a young mare trusted to move about the wide world by herself, Dinky couldn’t believe just how it all had happened.

Her two brothers still felt like brand-new additions to the family, the same as her sister. When they were born the entire town became a stomping ground for journalists and travelers wishing to see the “first human ever born in Equestria.” So much buzz was made about Umbra’s child, though that curiosity sadly turned to disgust on too many occasions. Not that they could be blamed, a human child had never been seen in this world and chances were good that one would never be seen again. But with time, the town came to appreciate the little fireball you and Umbra had created, accepting him as one of Ponyville’s many strange citizens before too long.

Ozymandias bore a name many found quite the mouthful to say, thus most who knew the boy just called him Ozzy. Even in his early years he looked just like you, the shape of his jaw and eyes and features eerily similar to his hyper-masculine father. The soot-colored skin and fang-like teeth were certainly Umbra’s doing, along with his dark hair that grew so fast and so thick you had to cut it with hedge clippers. Dinky suspected he would still be a manic little monster when she returned from her latest semester at Canterlot Academy, running himself to exhaustion outside everyday whenever the boy could get away with it. Ozzy had always been a handful to care for, as the flow of corrupted, poisonous magic naturally imbued into him afforded him several unusual traits for a human.

At a young age your boy was incredibly strong, lifting rocks above his head and mantling trees with incredible grip strength. At ten years old he was built like a marathon-runner and hauling sawn logs on his shoulder like a machine. His adoration for toy swords and shields made him quite dangerous to play with as well, as one swing with a stick could crack the shin bone of a full-grown stallion. Given how rowdy and energetic and defiant the young demon could be, it was often the case that he was hauled back home by some displeased citizen complaining about a broken window, market stall or wall accidently smashed by the titan-like child.

Thankfully however, there was only the one rambunctious and unstoppable child in the family to worry about. Derpy’s earth-pony son Dusty was just as thick and well-built as his brother, but nowhere near as wild. Dinky had known him to be a bit slow ever since he was a toddler, as the poor kid could just about barely read now at ten years old. He stood on stocky legs and sported a stocky body, his stocky neck holding up an usually empty head for such a dense stallion. Sometimes the town worried he might be blind, simply standing in place and staring at the ground for an hour at a time. But, whenever questioned as to what exactly he was looking for, his answer was always the same.

“Dirt.” Dusty sure did enjoy his dirt. And digging. The colt kept a jealous guard of a dirt collection behind the house, sorting it by grain size, water retention and fertility for plants. How he ever examined the fine details of soil when his curly and squash-colored mane hung over his eyes, Dinky couldn’t quite figure it out. But his unusual obsession also led to Derpy’s garden exploding into one of the most productive in the village now that she had a dedicated groundskeeper to monitor her topsoil.

Finally, her understated sister. Daisy wasn’t a marvelous creature of demonic birth, nor was she a burly, indestructible dirt savant, but a simple mare with very little composure. There was Fluttershy, then there was her main rival Daisy in the “Most Easily Frightened Mare” competition. Long-legged and skinny as a rail, Dinky’s sister never enjoyed loud noises, scary bugs or voices raised above polite conversation. No matter how she thought about it, the young mare couldn’t imagine how such a bow-legged and whimpery little thing could be spawned from a human as stalwart and brave as her father. She was often called names at school for her total lack of a spine, but her secluded and patient nature made her quite the introspective and complex individual.

The frail filly busied herself with books and poetry and music, most of the time. And despite Dinky’s upbringing, Daisy showed herself to be the model Aunty’s girl in the family. She adored Umbra more than any creature on Earth, taking all her lessons in music and literature and the fine arts as if she were the highest priestess in the land. Even at the Academy, Dinky hadn’t met many pegasui like her sister who could play the harpsichord, read sheet music and compose sonnets. Especially ones that were still learning to properly spell.

Her queer little family brought a smile to her tired and youthful face as the familiar view of her home village came into focus through the falling snow and the blustering winds. The simple village of ponyville painted white, a great spire of crystal rising from the middle like a beacon. It had grown a lot since last summer, the friendship school bringing in hundreds of migrants and workers and interested parties that settled in the town. The masses ruined much of the quiet and quaint nature of the tiny town, but such an influx of money didn’t hurt the village-folk. Had it not been for the steep rise in demand for logs and Umbra’s paintings, the family wouldn’t be able to give Dinky such an aristocratic and high-profile education in the first place. Luna’s scholarship helped quite a bit as well.

The train station was thus a much larger complex than the days before Dinky’s siblings were born. A single terminal was no more efficient than a dirt road for the waves of tourists and business ponies making their commutes into the village. Great glass panels hovered over the rails to keep the passengers dry and warm, polished granite and elegant wood structures surrounded Dinky on all sides as she sauntered off the carriage with her suitcase in tow. Dozens of ponies funneled through the crowded halls and passageways of the place, Dinky’s guide standing a full head above them and frantically waving his arms. The citizens of far off nations and towns stopped and gawked for a moment whenever they saw him around here, so much so that Twilight initiated a poster campaign to alert visitors.

”Just be aware when coming to our fine village that there are indeed two humans that take residence here. They are a kind and understanding race, but very unusual! Please do your best not to stare! They are citizens just like us.” It didn't do much good with your goofy son always making a scene, but it helped to keep him out of trouble. Dinky couldn’t care less if griffons and yaks and ponies were staring, for he was still her little fireball and in need of a hug on this bitter afternoon.

“DINKY!” He shouted far too loud, snatching the lithe little mare in his arms and embracing her tight. Dinky returned the favor, hoisting her things in her magic far above her head so their reunion wouldn’t be interrupted.

“Ooooh goodness! There you are, Spaz!” She giggled and squeezed about his jacket-clad body, the dark purple wool coat a gift from the town’s accomplished seamstress.

“Who let you out of the house, Ozzy? I thought Daddy was supposed to meet me?” Her bipedal brother stole the suitcase and the school bag from her magic, gladly carrying them himself in a boisterous display of his strength.

“Don’t you remember? Dad broke his leg at the mill. Momma said I should do it instead.” Dinky didn’t buy a single word he said, as Ozzy was one to jump head-long at any opportunity to leave the house. Most likely Umbra had suggested it gently that he take her father’s place, only for him to immediately burst out the door with assumed permission granted. He could be trusted to do some errands on his own, but there was always the possibility he would come back with forest debris tangled in his hair or a new bruise on his face. Umbra hated pulling twigs from his mane and Momma Derpy would simply ball everytime one of her children was hurt.

Dinky was happy to see him regardless. Sometimes a little insanity was a precious commodity when one spent all their time in books and schooling and studying. Academy life suited her, but the unicorn’s roots would always be in simple Ponyville.

“That’s right, that’s right. Things get mixed up when you’re away for so long.” She caught him staring at her with a mysteriously eager expression, as if he was waiting for something. The purplish mare grinned as they walked, feeling his eyes burn into her saddle bags like a soldering iron.

“Well… if you’re good and keep carrying my stuff? I might just have something for you.” Immediately the boy lit up like a firework, his smile shooting from ear to ear to show off the gaps in his jagged teeth. Now the two were running home rather than trudging, Ozzy demanding such a quick pace. He plowed through snow like Big Mac plowed through the freshest loam, leaving Dinky to trot after him with satisfaction and victory painted on her face. He might’ve been a difficult creature to control, but Ozzy was always a simple heart to sway. Before too long they were home doused in frigid water, powdery ice pouring from the sky and melting against their warm bodies. To her surprise Dinky found someone else out in the frigid drift, a stable and unmoving creature much like a familiar rock planted in the ground.

“Dusty? You good in there?” She hummed into the young colt’s ear, patting his bare shoulder. The dark-colored stallion didn’t stir, only turning his brick-shaped snout to face the voice.

“Huh? Oh. Hi Dinky.” He replied simply, his voice almost entirely bereft of inflection. If he was looking at her, Dinky knew he was glad to see her. She eagerly embraced the little bowling ball of a pony, pulling him up and onto his hooves in the rising frost.

“What’re you doing out here, goofball? You’re gonna freeze yourself to death.” Dusty was indeed cold sitting around and letting the snow pile several inches high on his head. But there was simply no way to tell how he was feeling just by looking at his unmoving features.

“Uh… Ozzy told me to wait here. Been waitin’ just like he said.” His studious sister could only roll her eyes, using her magic to dust off the blistering cold heaped up on her sibling.

“Said he was gonna get you for me and bring ya back. And I just ‘sposed to wait here.”

“Aunty Umbra told you to go, didn’t she?” Dusty’s mind ran through the complex calculations of remembering something that happened less than an hour ago, all the while letting his jaw hang open somewhat.

“Uh… yeah. Probably.” The mare’s things had been brought inside before the offending human could get a good tongue lashing for his less-than-clever ruse. Dinky brought her brother inside and dusted him off one last time, unwisely speaking and making her presence in the home known.

“Get some blankets and relax for a bit, Dusty. You’re gonna lose your hooves if you keep hanging out in the snow like that.”

“Oh wow. That would suck.” He said, showing no real concern. Dinky unwrapped the scarf about her throat and adjusted the bags weighing across her back, allowing an unsubtle predator to pounce on her.

“My Baby!” Derpy hollered from mere inches away before smothering the unsuspecting student. Wings and forelegs and neck and kisses all fell upon her unsuspecting form, shutting out all the warm light of the home and filtering it through the Mother’s plumage. It nearly knocked over the lithe young lady, so many smooches and such tight hugs overpowering all the strength her body could muster.

“Oooh welcome home, Dinky! Mwuah, mwuah, mwuah! Right on time, as always! That’s my filly! My pretty baby filly! Mmmmmwuah!” Dinky cringed and wiped a thick helping of her mother’s lipstick off her cheeks, though this only went so far as to smear it across her face.

“Sheesh, Mom! Don’t you ever get tired of that?” Dinky groaned, only half protesting such an assault on her dignity. Her portly and apron-clad mother only giggled at her displeasure, fluffing her wings and emanating a wondrous aroma of ginger bread and cinnamon.

“Everypony loves their Momma’s kisses. Some are just too proud to admit it.” Derpy’s long blonde locks were tied tightly back in a voluminous bun, such a practice meaning she was certainly cooking something festive and filling. Several months of poorly cooking on her own and surviving on academy cafeteria food did endear Dinky to this idea, as the scents of Hearth's Warming were washing over her again in a thick tide of nostalgia. Her Mother might’ve been overbearing, but deep in the teen’s heart she had to admit a part of her missed being so lavished with attention.

“Now come on in, Little Miss Professor! I’ve got sprouts in the oven and mulled wine in the crock. You eat it up all you like so you can pack on some winter weight! It gets cold up in the mountains and I don’t want you shivering all winter!” Dinky was hustled along by her soft and fancy-smelling Mother, popping her saddle bags open in her magic as she was pressed into the kitchen.

“I got it Mom, I got it! Jeez, you’re acting like I can’t even feed myself.” The filly huffed, though her pouting expression could not conceal her desire for such delicious things. The house was so inundated with the sweet and spicy aromas of so many holidays past that Dinky failed to keep her relief concealed. Her usual sneer of teenaged superiority melted away after several short seconds of aromatherapy, cooling her discomfort in being nurtured so carefully. The unicorn seized a small mug and filled it with the deep red ambrosia of her Mother’s hot wine, finding it strong and potent as ever but still deeply enjoyable.

“By the way… I got you something.” Dinky jittered as the burning alcohol ripped through her young body, the rather lax drinking culture of Equestria allowing even the youngest in the family to sample the adult drinks if they had the guts for it. Her saddle bags flipped open to reveal stacks on stacks of neatly organized things. Binders and boxes and envelopes all so perfectly arranged, just how Umbra kept all of her important documents in the office. The matron of the house turned to face her darling, quickly finding a gemstone embedded in silver.

“Oh? Oooooh Dinky! It’s beautiful!” Derpy swooned and took hold of the delightful trinket with great care, removing it from the silky soft padding of its original box. Her eyes beheld a glimmering stone of dark amber polished to perfection, a darker vein running through the ancient sap toward the center where a dancing light continuously thumped against the walls. A rare and incredible piece of jewelry, one most certainly out of reach of her student daughter. Nevertheless Dinky strung it over her Mother’s head and let it dangle from her neck, the silver chain and the yellowish center-piece so perfectly matching her own colors.

“Where in Equestria did you get it? It looks so fancy Celestia should be wearing it!”

“A friend of mine in Material Manipulations made it. A ‘thank you’ for all you’ve done with Aunt Umbra and the like.” Derpy didn’t mind at all that these gifts were usually less thoughtful than something made by her own children. For many, many years now the family was gifted things from the random ponies of Equestria, assorted trinkets and letters of thanks for taming one of the great evils in the land. But this was far more special, as Derpy could immediately feel a connection with her daughter through its tiny links and enormous gem.

“He made the chain and found the amber. I got some help polishing and enchanting it.” Derpy seemed near tears as she embraced her little one and kissed her cheeks, defiantly pushing past her young woman’s resistance.

“You’re so thoughtful, Dinky. Is he a handsome stallion? He has to be smart if he’s in the academy too! Not as smart as you, but still probably worth looking into?” The pinkish unicorn rolled her eyes and sighed, chugging another helping of steaming wine to soothe her nerves.

“Mooooom! I don’t wanna go out with anypony! I’m busy enough with school, I don’t need to date every stallion I meet while I’m at it!”

“Oh hush now, Dinky! Stallions just make everything easier! Never hurts to start thinking about finding a nice, handsome, strong husband to take care of you.” Her little girl cringed at such a sentiment, but stuffed that negativity down quickly as she could. It was neither the time nor the place to start pushing back against her pegasus matron, for there was still an entire house of family to catch up with.

“Hey Aunty, look at me!” Ozymandius broke through the onslaught of Derpy’s affection and stole away her focus with his dripping, sodden jacket. He held his arms outstretched and let his mop of hair hang over his shivering face, the snow from his constant running and rolling piling up and chilling the young lad to the bone.

“My hands look like they’re dead. Look at ‘em!” He presented his unique claws for the pair’s inspection, showing off how lifeless they indeed looked. It was one thing to have such unusually dark flesh, but whenever he was chilled Ozzy’s veins popped outwards with a strange bluish color. Without hardly any body fat to cover them, his body bristled like a starving addict whenever the frigid weather broke through his clothing.

“Oh my goodness! Baby you’re completely soaked!” Derpy fussed and instantly went to work on what she considered her own flesh and blood, her wings disrobing him without acknowledging his morbid appearance. Dinky pulled away and watched with great comfort as Ozymandius was assaulted with this attention. The chubby and fuzzy mother stripped him of his sodden coat and his soaked scarf, quickly peeling off his likewise sopping shirt and tossing them all toward the laundry room without much care.

“Yeah! I buried myself in snow to see how long I could stand it! Like an avalanche.” His pegasus caretaker dabbed him down with washcloths and wrapped one tightly about his head, vainly attempting to soak out the water leaching into his lengthy locks.

“Oh Honey! How many times have I told you? Burying yourself is gonna make you sick and you’re gonna be all laid up in bed! Then what’ll you do? You know Momma Derpy can’t stand to see you shivering like this!” Derpy continued to fuss and fret over him until he was somewhat dry, though his flesh was still clammy and chilled to the touch.

“I know. But I lasted five minutes this time!” Ozzy chirped with little self-awareness, his Aunt narrowing her eyes as he refused to warm up.

“That’s it, little man. I have no choice but to just squeeze all that heat back into you.” Derpy chided him before wrapping her wings about the diminutive boy’s back, pulling him into her forelegs for a tarantula-style pounce. Dinky giggled as he squirmed and whined in the restraint, all the invasive Mother’s body heat flooding Ozzy’s lanky shape like a shotgun blast.

“H- hey! Lemme go! Aunty!” If there was one thing Ozzy didn’t enjoy, it was being restrained. Anything that held back total freedom made him antsy and wiggly and uncomfortable. But if there was one thing Derpy could do, it was hug a human into submission. The boy could be strong and powerful and flexible all he wanted, but Momma still held all the cards in this house.

“Mmmmmh! Mmmmh! I’m just gonna squeeze all the cold outta you!” She giggled into him as he tried and tried to break free of her hold, unable to admit that he rather enjoyed the silky soft shroud of his Aunt’s delightful hugs. Dinky broke away from the carnage once they were thoroughly distracted, pouring another mug of hot wine for a particular person in the house. Unlike hers this mug was tall and thick and discolored from years of use. The white porcelain had long since tarnished to a yellowish beige on the outside and straight brown on the insides, decades of sipping and coffee drinking marking it as property of the man in the house.

She brought it to the living room, finding this man reclining by the window in his favorite chair. A cast wrapped tightly about your left shin as it sat on the ottoman, a fan blowing all your pipe smoke gently out the open window so you could better tolerate the noise inherent to a busy household. You and your girl shared a grin at first contact, Dinky rapidly encroaching on your immobile figure.

“I’ll be a son of a goat! The Professor returns to her old man!” Dinky snickered and set the mugs on the stand by your side, hugging you firmly the moment she was in range. You returned it with a burly grasp around her body, reminding her silently of the days when she was small enough to fit in your hand.

“Hey Poppy! I missed you!” She planted a respectful smooch on your cheek as you pat her lithe little back, the weight of a young mare pressing out an elderly-sounding huff from your chest. She was shrouded in the sweet smell of burning tobacco and masculinity, bringing her back to the good days of being so young and worshiping her father.

“How’s the leg doing?” You shrugged and blew a heavy cloud about your face for the synthetic wind of the fan to blow out into the cold. Since you were both too tired and too crippled to sit comfortably out in the cold these days, this was the only way to relieve your building boredom aside from grabbing an unsuspecting mare and kissing her into submission within the chair.

“Ah it’s alright. I’ve had worse.” You lied. Age had finally caught up with you this autumn, as one lousy plummet from the saw mill’s platform was enough to crack your ankle in three places. An accident that young you would’ve doubtlessly shrugged off without a scratch, but old and gray Anon just barely survived. It was certainly an eye-opening moment for you, but one your sizable family cushioned much of the burden within.

“Been itching like crazy. But your Aunt has been helping me with that just fine.” Dinky smiled warmly and presented you with the hearty helping of drink, simultaneously opening her saddle bags to retrieve another gift.

“Aw thank you, Sugar. Momma’s been so busy fussing over the boy that I ain’t had a chance to get me one.” A heavy sip beat away some of the cold building on the side of your body, rejecting the icy winds that blew in when your smoke was blowing out.

“I saw this at the Canterlot Carnival and I knew you had to have it, Daddy.” Your baby girl presented perhaps the fattest cigar you had ever seen in your life from her school bag, one so carefully shrouded in preserving wax paper that it rivaled the finest factory job you had ever seen. Immediately you were staring in surprise as such a beast levitated into your hands and settled its tremendous weight against your palm.

“Goodness gracious! How in the world did you get a hold of something like this?” You huffed in both surprise and scorn. Your girl was far too young to be buying things like this, but the scale of such a treat distracted much of your parental mind from that little fact.

“Oh griffins will sell to anypony with the cash. They didn’t even ask for my school card or anything.” A furrowed brow couldn’t conceal how pleased you were with such a rare treat and Dinky knew that. All you could do was accept another hug and embrace the increasingly rare opportunity to be with your daughter.

“As a father I don’t want you buying any more of this.” You grunted into her ear, tickled by the reverberating giggles in her throat.

“But as a man… maybe I can look the other way every now and again.”

“Happy Hearth's Warming, Daddy.” Much as you missed being called “Poppy,” apparently such a term wasn’t fitting for a young woman like Dinky. There wasn’t much time to dwell on it, as your boy came stumbling in with crimson marks of kissy warmth painted across his face. His expression was nothing short of utter displeasure, as Ozzy hated getting smothered.

“Pfleh! Egh!” He gagged, wiping off his Aunt’s copious kissy marks and finding that most of her glossy makeup only smeared across his wrists and knuckles rather than disappearing.

“Boy, I know you didn’t make poor Dusty stand out in the snow so you could leave the house.” The dark-haired child snarked back and showed his teeth like a dog, still feral as a beast in his young age.

“Hey, I might be crippled, but I can still give you a wallop if you act like a fool!” Dinky giggled and retrieved his gift in the mean-time, her downtrodden half brother sighing in defeat.

“Sorry, Pop…” Such a lashing was made better in a flash when Dinky gifted him something heavy and wet wrapped in similar wax paper to your gift. His nostrils flared at the salty and savory wall smashing into him, for it was his favorite thing in all the world.

“Here ya go, crazy-colt.” Dinky hummed sweetly, watching as her rapid little sibling ripped apart his gift and immediately set upon it with a startling hunger.

“Heck yes! Thanks, Dinky!” Most ponies couldn’t stand the potent aroma of smoked meat, especially of the griffin’s cured variety. Hardened by age and shelf-stable for up to a year in the proper conditions, vendors took great pride in their individual family recipes and their legacy of providing nourishment for armies and explorers. Their shops in Canterlot lingered around train stations and other depots for travelers, providing almost entirely for their own kind moving through foreign lands. But if a little mare came in and wanted to buy some of the leather-like snack, they would happily sell it to her as well.

Disgusting as she found it simply because of her herbivorous nature, it was always worth watching her brother and father devolve into wolves for their protein. Ozzy just barely held back from biting his own fingers off chowing down on the delicious strips of jerky.

“All yours, Ozzy. You don’t even gotta share this year.” Her psychotic little helper threw his arms around her neck and embraced her tightly, cracking her back in a somewhat satisfying manner before a voice badgered him from the floor above.

“Ozymandias! Where in Equestria have you gone off to?!” The unicorn’s heart soared at the deep and matured tone of such a voice. Feminine notes bounced down the stairwell to punish her brother for his insolence, but even the harsh belting couldn’t wipe the pleased look of satisfaction from his feasting face.

“I’m coming, Momma! Just a minute!”

“You will come now, young stallion! Your mother is calling you!” Just as she remembered, Dinky found her Aunt to be a demanding task-master. Given how energetic and wild her son was, Umbra worked quite hard to keep him busy and tamed and educated whenever she could. Just as she did with Dinky, every child in the house was subjected to her teachings and rigorous “exercises” for the purposes of enrichment. Ozzy was far stronger than his pudgy and fuzzy mother, but magical spanking ranked highly amongst the greatest pains in his tiny life.

“But Mooooom!” He complained, greedily holding his gift close to his chest like a starving animal.

“Go on, Boy. And take your sister with ya.” You commanded quietly, grinning at his childish anguish.

“But I don’t wanna take lessons today!” He complained with an increasing pitch, simpering as if he was commanded to his own execution.

“If ya get it done quick, then you’ll still have some daylight to go outside and play. So quit belly-achin’ and listen to your Mother.” He deflated with quite a dramatic huff, comforted only by his sister taking him in her magical grasp and leading him up the stairs.

“Come on, Ozzy. I’ll see if I can’t talk to Aunty and get you off the hook.” The sharp-toothed boy snapped at his meaty treat again in defeat, following close to his unicorn guardian. Immediately upon reaching the second floor they were greeted by the flowing noise of a harpsichord playing in the distance, muffled by the cool walls where the fireplace heat didn’t reach. Dinky had considered the sound of plucking strings, smashed keys and off-key singing to be incredibly irritating for so long, but now that she had gone months without it the familiar twinge filled her with great relief. A child learning music was always a thing of patience, swallowing the countless hours of ear-grating noise before anything somewhat tolerable could be made. But, much to her pleasant surprise, Daisy had made excellent progress. No doubt thanks to her Aunt’s diligent training the notes flowed smoothly, with purpose and with intent. Chords bellowed together with their combinations expertly rung out key by key, a young mind making what almost sounded like proper and beautiful music right off a fancy Canterlot record.

“One and two and three and four and- very good, Daisy. Remember that alegro on the sixth measure. One and two and three and four- count with me, Darling!” The door to Umbra’s study always remained ajar, even in the coldest of the winter months when every last bit of heat needed to be preserved. It remained a constant beacon of welcoming comfort in the children’s lives, a place they could enter at their discretion and find guidance when they needed it. Dinky saw it now as a beacon of familiarity once again, her young and racing mind shrouded in ease when she pushed it open and found her teacher carefully monitoring her slight Sister’s efforts.

“Very good, Darling. Remember your form. Keep your spine straight and your eyes on the paper. Allow the music to flow through you, Dear. Just like that.”

Umbra had been somewhat fuzzy for all of Dinky’s life. But now, she was positively bristling with thick fur. Her thick sweater seemed entirely unnecessary, given how she kept her naturally dark and fluffy fur longer in the winter, but the sinister matron still prefered a tall turtleneck of dark burgundy when it snowed. The children always adored snuggling with her when they were babies, digging their chilly hooves into her long and feline-esq fur to stay comfortably toasty and warm. Derpy liked to hold and cradle when she snuggled, perfect for long naps in the summer. You prefered to hoist and protect whenever the kids needed someone to lean on, a firm platform much better for carrying exhausted little bodies home from the river. But Umbra’s round and bushy body would always be best for deep and assuring comfort. The profile of Umbra’s billowing mane brought Dinky back to the old days, as her Teacher never trimmed it very much. If it wasn’t in a bun it was cascading over her shoulders and hanging down to her knees in some places, rising high in great curls that seemed to dance and twist together in a rhythmic and natural dance. Some of the black had faded by now and even streaks of gray were starting to form among the nimbus cloud of mane, but it still accented her so perfectly that she hadn’t aged a day in Dinky’s mind.

Narrow as her vision was with all the silky soft strands hanging over her face, she still detected the presence of children in her office, turning to face them with a Mentor’s demanding, yet prideful expression. Her little red glasses fell down her nose somewhat, pushed back up carefully so she could behold every last little detail of her returning prodigy.

“My star student finally returns! And just in time to bring back my most challenging student.” Dinky giggled and rapidly embraced her teacher, squeezing firmly as Umbra did the same. There was no holding back such a relief, for living without her was like living without a leg. The two kept in constant contact through letters, but it simply wasn’t the same as having one’s sage on hand whenever times became uncertain and trying. So many lonely nights of studying for her exams and trotting alone through the Canterlot campus had reminded Dinky just what her family had provided, for every gap left by their absence was a great, dark void in her young heart.

“Ooooh come here, my Gem!”

“I missed you, Aunty! It’s so good to see you again!” They hugged for several seconds before slowly breaking apart, Umbra delivering a single, reserved kiss to Dinky’s forehead. She knew better than to overwhelm a teenaged filly with her affection, something Derpy was completely unashamed of doing no matter the circumstances. Ozzy thought himself clever moving toward the door whilst the mares were distracted, but his Mother’s magic rapidly locked the mechanism to prevent his foolish escape.

“How has the Academy treated my precious pupil? Tell me that you’ve been eating properly and avoiding those wretched colts.” Dinky squirmed somewhat as Umbra inspected her face and figure for any defects, eager to see if the newly independent filly was taking proper care of herself. She squinted through her spectacles to inspect every little facet of her delicate little niece, finding that she was as prim and proper as the day she left. However wonderful as a teacher, Dinky remained consistently aware that speaking ill of anything or anyone to Umbra was a dangerous game. Reserved and scholarly as her dear Aunty was, she still was the most sinister being alive today. Thus it wasn’t beyond her to take a train ride to the Academy and utterly dress down a professor that spoke ill of her most prized student or hang a bully upside down from a tree until they begged for mercy.

“Yes Ma’am.” Dinky replied dutifully as Umbra pat and smooched her cheeks again, pleased to find everything in order. Just as she always had, Dinky only brought back prideful news for the Queen.

“Hi Dinky…” Daisy chirped with her long locks of mane tied tightly back, keeping her bright green eyes open for the keys before her.

“Hey, Daisy. Aunty Umbra taking it easy on you?” Her boney and shivering little sister shimmied herself further into a blanket wrapped about her hips, concealing her tiny frame from the cold. Despite pegasuses generally tolerating the cold better, Daisy had no tolerance for anything colder than a stiff breeze. On the bright side it did make her more susceptible to hugs.

“Oh no, no. I- I’m practicing everyday now. I practice right until bed.” She said quietly, making Umbra roll her eyes in exasperation.

“And what have we discussed time and time again, sweet little filly?” Daisy murmured to herself, pressing her hooves together pensively.

“Little fillies still need to take breaks?” She answered with her eyes on the keys, already dreaming up the rest of the song they were rehearsing.

“That’s correct. The love of music grows stronger when one has time away from it.” The black matron carefully closed the cover of Daisy’s instrument, mindful not to let it slap shut and scare the poor thing out of her feathers again.

“So… your lessons for this Hearth’s Warming is to enjoy yourselves. Relax and play as children should.” Ozzy returned to his wild grin, visibly bouncing on his feet in glee.

”However.” Umbra snapped toward him, narrowing her gaze to needle-like points.

“Be prepared to resume Octavia Melody’s second movement next week. One more tardy mark young stallion and you will be practicing until bedtime until I find your performance satisfactory.” Umbra’s voice had the remarkable quality of going from absolutely delightful to frightfully cold in an instant, something entirely necessary when raising a creature as resistant and defiant as Ozymandias. He groaned quietly, but submitted to the overwhelming will of his Mother.

“Yes Momma…” He answered, his little half-sister reaching out for him with both arms.

“Can I have a ride, Ozzy? Please, please?” The older mares beheld one of the most precious things they knew, Dinky mindfully sticking close to Umbra with no intention of leaving her. The human reluctantly cradled the delicate little filly in his powerful arms, blanket and all wrapped up like a bundle. Daisy adored nothing quite like being carried by a human, whether it was her enormous father or her powerful brother. She immediately looked content and relaxed when she was hoisted up so easily, totally uncaring where they went so long as she could just go limp and worry about nothing. Despite how much he visibly seemed to detest such a girly thing, Ozymandias never said no. Just like his father, the boy’s body was a pony chariot whenever it was requested.

“Make sure not to wipe those marks off, Child. I want all the mares in town to know you’re still ours.” Umbra chirped as her dark-haired boy made his leave, snickering when he desperately tried to scrub off the lip-shaped claims of authority again.

Now alone with her mentor again, Dinky turned toward her and felt the need to start yet another hug. Umbra likewise was enraptured by the presence of her grown student, disturbed by her readiness to cry just at the sight of her handsome and maturing girl.

“It’s so wonderful to have you back, my Gem. Never would I have imagined what a lonely place this can be without you.” Dinky grinned and mindfully brushed a lock of hair from Umbra’s face.

“I can say the same, Aunty. It’s been hard without you.”

“Surely a mare of your caliber finds the entire exercise boring? Your marks have been so exceptional this year. We’re beside ourselves watching our little Dinky grow.” Umbra simpered and her voice wavered, simply holding her glowing Gem of a unicorn, idly wiping her snout with a hoof. Dinky grinned warmly and nuzzled her affectionate Aunty. No matter how embarrassing it was to be fawned over by her family, there was still an element of utter bliss in it all. Umbra could not contain herself when she threw her arms about Dinky’s shoulders, holding her close like she was the most treasured creature in all Equestria.

“Aunty… are you crying?” Dinky taunted with a knowing smirk, embracing her nightshade scented-teacher and listening to her quivering chest croak with pride.

“N- no… I am just…” She slid off the young thing and wiped her eyes, her magic encircling the handsome mare her little student had become.

“Nothing in all this long life of mine has made me feel such pride as you do.” Dinky and her shared a long moment of silence, feeding off one another’s joy in the situation. The cold outside bit hard at the wood of the house and earth below, smothering it with the hostility of nature and reality that constantly crept in through every tiny crack and imperfection in the house.

But between them, there was not a bit of cold that could survive their affection.

“Don’t allow me to hold you up, Sweet Dinky. I’m sure your journey home has been a headache after those tiresome exams. Won’t you share some wine with your old Aunty and tell her what you’ve been up to?” The door opened again with Umbra’s magic pressing the lock, filling the room with another frigid draft that crept through the halls.

“All I’ve had to drink up there is tea and mineral water. I’d love some wine.” Umbra walked close to Dinky and squeezed through the doorway with her gem, embracing all that was right and genuine in life. The entire house came together as the sun came down on Equestria on that snowy night, the settling snow outside perfectly smoothed and complete and picturesque in its alabaster brilliance.

The perfect ending to a long year.

Author's Note

It's done. Merry Christmas. Shoutouts to ShadowWolf.

Epilogue.

From this perch, the entire nation seemed as one small place on the back of a postcard. So high above it all, above the minutia of detail and the vast expanses of unclaimed land were made into a singular thing simply displayed for one to view. A whole so complicated, but made comprehensible from just the right vantage. It was all there. Ponyville to the south, Manehattan to the east and the very peaks of Appeloosa to the west. Had there not been a mountain to the North, one could see far off toward the Crystal Empire and its wind-whipped plains of ice and snow.

Ozymandias could never be sure why, but he felt a kinship with the cold. Harsh currents of biting air, the snap of ice in the nostrils and the dreary clouds that hung low for most of the season comforted him. He knew it was an unusual way to be, given that most of this nation was still invested deeply into agriculture and worshiped the fertile nature of the giving summer and autumn months. He was unusual in many ways of course, but here in Canterlot that wasn’t something one could brag about. Take a short walk through the right streets and plenty of strange creatures with their strange languages and strange foods would seem common as the cobblestones in the road.

Despite being a human- a pony-halfbreed human- Ozymandias never felt brotherhood with the foreigners in his land. Griffins and diamond dogs and dragons and the like were insular peoples that preferred their own kind. His kind were ponies, the ones he had been born in the midst of and spawned from. Winter time was coming, one of his rare friends in this vast world that he ignorantly felt he understood. The splintering shards of ice and the slicing storms wouldn’t trouble him, for they never had since he was a young boy growing up in Ponyville. For now, autumn was bringing about the endless harvest festivals and celebrations around Equestria, an occasion Canterlot didn’t celebrate in the same way as his modest countryside origins.

The young man sipped his cider and adjusted his uniform somewhat, finding that the ragged and hole-filled tunic rubbed his dark skin in just the wrong places. Royal Guard tailors had done their best to accommodate him, but the rough material just didn’t wear well when it was wet and worn. Today had been a long day for breaking it in, popping many of the stitches out and splitting some of the seams whilst he was training with the other soldiers.

The Royal Guard was an honorable institution, albeit one perhaps bloated by age and eons of peace. Equestrian military history had more or less stopped many generations ago when the Celestial Sisters were split amongst themselves, that civil war ending with a resounding victory. The nation hadn’t declared war in hundreds of years, thus the hard working stallions and mares in the services had slowly declined in readiness and purpose. Still a physical pursuit, one joining the Guard was put in charge of policing duties for the most part, shipped off across Equestria for service tours in whichever province needed armed muscle to protect the peace.

In a way, Ozymandias hoped dearly he would be stationed far from home. If his Mother and Aunt saw him in full armor wielding a spear, they would almost certainly fawn and weep about him night and day. Fretting about a son’s safety was acceptable. But fussing and harassing him in front of his rough peers was a different matter.

Company H was no place for a soft soul. A, B, C and D were reserved largely for the pure-breds, the blue bloods, and the native ponies. Everything below was either a gaggle of secondary troops rotating in and out of training, or the rejects. Company H was the unit graced with multiple species. Non-ponies rarely served in the golden armor of the palace. Non-ponies rarely served in very prominent roles at all, for there was some manner of image to maintain. But as Ozymandias had come to find out, non-ponies still had plenty to do for their country.

Immigrant or native, the griffins and dogs and drakes in this company had all enlisted to protect the nation they called home. Thus, they were given plenty of opportunity to take on the most dangerous and loathsome tasks in the service. Border patrol in hostile environments, monster extermination, bandit response and most importantly, logistics. The dark boy rubbed his aching shoulders after another sip of his brandy-laced drink, the steamy brew keeping him warm in the poorly insulated barracks. He had always been strong, but hoisting around five-gallon barrels of water for the entire day had taken its toll on him.

When he joined, he imagined he would be taking after the local candy maker in Ponyville. But six months in and he hadn’t done much fighting. Mostly running and drilling and marching and the like. He had come to know much of his company, but that couldn’t quite make up for the rather sizable gulf between expectation and reality. The Sargent insisted day and night-

“Oh. It’ll come. And when it does you’ll mess your trousers and beg for more PT! Now shut your ugly mouth and move, scumbag! I’m sick of looking at you!” Their stallion drill sergeant Rough Neck certainly made a convincing argument there, but his troops were almost universally too green to accept it. All the human could do was bide his time, practice and work until he was ready. Today was done, nothing was going to change that. Thus, he enjoyed the tiny window of relaxation afforded to the cadets in Company H.

“Stew, Rat?” A hulking diamond dog grunted in his ear with a great splotchy apron draped over his front, the stains of myriad dishes blending with time to make one foul odor. Ozymandias had many nicknames in his short life, but Rat’s Nest was certainly the least endearing. No matter how many times the barbers cropped his long locks of ebony curls down to his skull they would grow past his shoulders within a week, necessitating that he simply wear it tied up constantly. Such a dirty mane constantly sodden with sweat- in all fairness- did indeed resemble the cozy hobble of rodents constantly scurrying around the soldiers’ feet.

“No… I can’t take another bite of that shit.” He answered huskily, pushing his gaze back out the stone window looking over the countryside. The entire barracks was alive with noise tonight, some motley streamers of bats and pumpkins and moons hanging between the bunks as the boys mingled and ate and drank. Shining Armor himself had spiked the piping hot cider with Fillydelphia brandy, bringing in a rare pot of meat stew for all the carnivorous boys under his command. Ponies had good hearts, but detestable palettes for anything that wasn’t green. Thus it was little more than water, salt and beef boiled until gelatinous. A good effort, but near unbearable after half a serving.

“Ooooh, grumpy Rat’s Nest always turning down food! How will you get strong-fast like me unless you eat meat?” Despite his wish, Ozzy’s towering friend ladeled him another helping of the clear and flavorless broth. Rip-Snort was a man he could rely on, but he was still a large talking dog when things came to brass tacks.

“Dude-”

“Eat, eat, eat! Free meat for you doesn’t come cheap! After this it’s back to lentils and bean-slop for us!” Ozzy knew he was right, but he somehow still couldn’t stomach the idea of this rough and sinewy beef hock breaking apart in his mouth and soaking up every last drop of saliva on its way down.

“Ugh… bring me more brandy. How about that? That’s the special stuff I actually want.” Rip rolled his eyes and set the massive tankard of stew down, its steam dancing with the cider’s steam to entirely ruin its flavor.

“Stupid pony juice make you bitch. Big meat piece make you dog-strong! Then you win more fights and not die!” He accented his factoid by flexing his incredible arms, bulging muscles conditioned by the same months of training as Ozzy. Had it not been for the corrupted magic flowing through his muscles and bolstering their strength, the young man would’ve been torn apart by these creatures before he could pick up a spear. No normal man could ever hope to take on a diamond dog and live, but then again Ozzy was no normal man. Whilst he and most diamond dogs were relatively similar in their height, the males boasted such incredibly broad shoulders and wide arms that the human looked helplessly out of place standing rank and file with them, thus they couldn’t help but believe him to look horribly malnourished and sickly.

“Then tonight I’m a bitch! I’m gonna throw that slop up if I take one more bite, I swear!”

“Ah let him be, Snort! Rat’s got a point.” Nasal intones and a snarky voice cut through their conversation and effectively stopped it then and there. Soaked from beak to cheeks from drink, the trio’s most confident and slick member made himself known with a strut and a visible lack of stability to his step. One could positively smell the fire of drunkenness on him alongside the contraband cologne.

Sand Piper wasn’t his real name. But the griffin took it on to sound more equine
when living amongst such creatures. He was young and strong just like the rest, but unlike his fellow jar-heads in the making, Piper had quite the devious intent to his actions. Even now Ozzy couldn’t help but listen and watch him closely as he settled against the same wall, something about his expression communicating great promises. Ozzy could always be expected to smooth things over with Sargent Rough Neck and the mares, some special gift of his being a rather soothing face for authority. Rip-Snort never missed a chance to be charitable, toting stew to serve or carrying a comrade with a broken ankle. A good man, but one not to be trusted with anything delicate.

Piper could find things. On multiple occasions he came back to the campfire with a fat turkey simply perfect for roasting or skittered back into the tent with tobacco to share. When they weren’t marching or training, he could find information- perhaps the most vital treasure of all. Tonight, he had the look of discovery. Ozzy could smell it on his smile, the stiff and unique countenance a beak curled upwards betrayed.

“That crap’s for dogs and alley cats. We’re soldiers, ain’t we?” Rip held the tankard of slop closer to him, defending it against such scathing remarks.

“Is good… they left bone and fat in for vitamins.”

“La dee dah! A mouthful of beef fat! If only I had some pig foot to wash it down with.” Ozzy huffed as he finished his hot drink, the very tips of drunkenness’ tendrils tickling at his mind.

“Listen to your Momma, Ozzy. It’s the nutrients in that slop that makes your feathers eventually come in.” Pinchy talons nicked at the young man’s face, but he quickly batted them away.

“You got anything good for us? If not I’m gonna go to sleep, dude.” Piper fished about in his ripped tunic for a moment, producing a paper bag of the most unassuming variety.

“Keep mouthing off to me like that and I won’t bring you a damned thing, Rat Nest. The going’s good but security’s all up my ass tonight.” Rip and Ozzy peered into the bag with great confusion, finding no vittles but great heaps of dark fur. The pungent smell of fashioned rubber burned their eyes and the cheap scent of rough stitching made their guts rumble for more substantial rations.

“What the- This just garbage! Why not steal food? Good food?!”

“Everybody besides us is on patrol, ding-dong! I can’t even jay-walk out there without East Company trying to slap a pair of cuffs on me!” Ozzy pulled the piece from its sack-shaped container and cringed yet more at its unusual appearance.

“You’re losing your touch, Chief. This is a dud.” In some manner he felt offended at the bird presenting him with a gorilla suit. Normally his plundering was sweets and snacks and razor blades. The kinds of things a man came to dearly miss when on a strict military diet.

“Somehow I knew you guys wouldn’t put the pieces together.” The haughty beast rolled his eyes and stretched out the costume, showing off its unusually anthropomorphic shape.

“Look close. See? It’s made for a diamond dog.”

“So?” Ozzy snapped.

“So… we throw you in there? Lurk around a bit in the bushes? We can scare kids all night and take their candy! It’s a classic!” The boys had to admit some excitement at the prospect. Military men didn’t get to enjoy the holidays, dress up in fun costumes or indulge themselves on sweets. The best they could hope for was right here, sleeping in a cot like every other night with sweaty beasts on either side but joined by the spirit of drunkenness. Memories flooded Ozzy’s mind of doing just this in Ponyville, lurking and skulking around under the cover of foreboding darkness on Nightmare Night and leaping out to frighten the children. It worked just as well on adults, given his already freakish appearance compared to the average equine.

The same trick didn’t work as an adult, however. Being one of two humans in all the world, it was always easy to trace any aggrievement back to him.

“The hell I’m wearing this. Make him do it.” Ozzy tossed it toward their burly compatriot. His shoulders were far too broad from the outset, the entire costume perhaps designed for a female or a child of his species.

“You want free stuff? Gotta cover your face, Rat. Haven’t I taught you anything?” The mask was indeed bone chilling, if only because of its uncanny ability to look like no creature that had ever lived. Ozzy had seen gorillas in books and he was somewhat aware that they didn’t have great big gaping mouths full of sharp teeth and furrowed brows. While perhaps inaccurate, it was quite scary. And if the costume was indeed baggy and ill-fitting enough, he could most certainly raise as much chaos as he liked and still be free the next morning. He looked back over the rest of the barracks, most of the boys so drunk already that they were passing out at the table playing cards or snoring in their bunks. The moon rose higher and higher by the second, ticking away their opportunity to be naughty. So, weighing his options, the rambunctious young thing cracked his neck and stood straight.

“Let’s get some candy then.”

Luna sashayed her way through the crowds built in the square, ghosting between ponies that by now had loosened their lips with alcohol and dance. The music was fantastic this year, a mixture of human inspired pieces and traditional brass bands intertwined for a perfect balance. The games and lights and noises all danced around her in a dervish of colors, her face strung up in silhouettes remembering that great foe long since defeated. After all this time there was comfort in seeing the mare in the moon. A reassurance that she was gone and buried rather than hiding just beneath the surface.

In her absence this holiday turned out to be quite suited to her tastes. Sweets, costumes, wild dancing, fireworks and night-long rampages of fun delighted the shy princess much more than stuffy and regal ballrooms packed with important ponies. Among the commoners, she could not only participate without fear but connect with her people on the most intimate level. It was a rare time to be a participant in something glorious, rather than its stodgy overseer.

It was also tremendous fun to burst into diatribes as Nightmare Moon whenever new passerby dared take their eyes off her. Skilled in the arts of illusion and stealth, Luna had sent dozens of ponies into screaming hysterics with her glistening fangs and venomous eyes. To leap out from the shadows and roar, to watch the absolute panic cross her ponies’ faces and then to have them embrace her in quivering laughter was a feeling unlike any other.

Her wandering about the city instigated the guard to be on a constant high alert. At each street corner some poor soul draped in armor held their spear or sword at the ready in case some evil character decided to make their move. But given how many of them were speckled with purple and pink kiss-marks, draped in celebratory banners and swooning drunkenly on their hooves, the Night Mistress guessed they too had made time to indulge. One or two got quite the good scare as well, screaming at the top of their lungs when the dreaded Nightmare Moon snapped her jaws at them.

The scaring was amusing enough, but her true joy lie in being so free for the evening. No business to attend to, just an entire day and night for her to call her own and do as she pleased. The last five years had seen very little creativity in the costume, but this season Luna marveled at her own delightful idea.

White paint ran from hoof to ear with delicately placed floral accents, making use of her naturally dark color to illustrate a skeleton walking among the living. From the proper position she could pull off the illusion with startling skill, as if there truly was just a set of lifeless bones animated like a living mare. The artists she had recruited to help her added flowers and lines and accents to make it all the more appealing, her face especially dolled up with feminine details. Ponies complimented her left and right, for it was really quite the expressive and boisterous costume. Others attempted the look, but simply lacked the professional help Luna had at her disposal. Likewise, they didn’t have access to the stunning glow-in-the-dark paint she was able to mix herself. It was the first time in a long time that make-up made her feel pretty, in the truest sense of the word. Something about the red lips and the eye liner and the mascara and the obscurity of her face made the Princess all the more willing to pose and laugh and speak among the crowds.

Making her way toward the cliff-edge of the mountain city she found the crowd thinning. Out here in the natural parts, there was less to see and do and thus less ponies mingled around yapping it up. The silence bristled with the dull roar of the festivities, putting Luna into the most relaxed state she had felt in days. A breeze ran down from the great towers above and imparted the sweet aroma of the mountain, of the magic flowing through it and blessing every stone laid in its foundation. Illuminating the grass and the bushes around her, she took to walking the little path idly and thinking to herself.

So much so that she failed to notice the discarded candy pails on the peripheries of the trail. Where the gravel stopped, the grass concealed empty wrappers and paper covers for candies pilfered from unsuspecting victims. The skeleton mare simply made her way down the path with her hooves beating against the loose soil in a rhythmic and telling pattern. A signal to any devious creatures watching that prey approached none-the-wiser to their horrible scheme. The boys put their stolen goods down and silenced their laughter for a moment, preparing the gorilla for his next theatrical entrance.

“Damn she’s tall! You recognize her?” Piper scoffed at the approaching pony, her make-up so thick and intricate it was hard to pin any face to her. Ozzy sucked for air through the tiny hole punched in the teeth of his mask, sweat and steam fogging his eyes like burning smoke.

“How would I recognize anypony in this thing?” He snapped back, crouching in preparation for a terrifying leap from the bushes.

“Smells fancy. Smells like perfume and candy.” Ripsnort interjected with caramel gumming up his mighty teeth. The boys had taken to disguising themselves with whatever costumes they could pilfer from the public, thus they were clad in paper-thing rags meant to resemble the grim reaper and some kind of fairy princess. Ripsnort didn’t mind the pink so much, as it caused great confusion whenever he jumped out and threatened to eat passing ponies.

“She’s coming! Get ready, Rat Nest!” Ozzy adjusted himself on his burning heels as the mare came closer and closer, humming gayly to herself in the night. He waited and listened, unable to get a good look through his mask and the brush and the darkness shrouding him. The sound of her squealing in befuddled terror would no doubt be quite amusing, though. Better if she dropped whatever vittles she happened to be carrying too. A moment passed before he was patted on the shoulder, the signal to begin their ferocious attack.

“SKREEEE!!!”

“RAAAAAUURGH!!!”

“OOH! OOH OOH AAH!!!” Ozzy swung his arms above his head and moved in the most disturbingly ape-like manner he could, the uncanny appearance more than enough to convince most ponies he was a real, deformed simian. Luna stopped dead in her tracks as the trio of vagabonds leapt out at her screaming and waving their arms around, each one dressed more ridiculous than the last. Unusual to see a trio of non-ponies out at night, but nonetheless amusing. Perhaps it was all the wine tonight or just the wonderful air flushing her lungs, but the alicorn hardly stirred at the sight of such ruffians. If anything, she was quite pleased by this boyish attempt to frighten her.

“Get her, monkey! Attack!” The burly diamond dog in a tu-tu commanded, his black-furred compatriot beating his chest and making the most blood curdling ooks he could.

“OOH! MONKEY KILL!!! MONKEY KILL!!!” He roared through his rubbery mask, the sweet sound of his muffled and insane voice sparking something in the back of Luna’s mind. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped ever so slightly open, the tone and tenor and character of Ozzy’s voice burrowing deep into familiar territory. She had heard this sound before, albeit with the details changed. That unusually deep voice lacking in nasality, the pattern of non-equine lips speaking with sharp canines behind them. There was no way to compare this masculine and rambunctious voice to a face, as the stupid costume surrounding it concealed any identity one could parse out. But anything vaguely anthropomorphic that sounded like that triggered a response in the base of her brain.

The boys quickly lost their nerve as the mare stared at them unmoving and unresponsive. At a certain point they feared she wasn’t even breathing. Ozzy still wiggled around in a monkey like fashion, though his voice shed the husky growl of a crazed primate.

“Uh… get her! Rip her hooves off, monkey! Yaw!” Piper’s threats didn’t disrupt the mare from eyeing their costume-clad comrade, her eyes so focused and intent it burned through the plastic fur. Ozzy was suddenly uncomfortable in front of this lanky and somewhat familiar mare, as if a twisted skin walker had taken the flesh of a pony and stood ready to pounce.

“Ooga booga.” The human grunted, spawning a demon. Immediately the mare burst into a cloudy dervish of blue fire and inky blackness, lightning bolts striking the ground around her. Enormous fields of magic swirled about her and plunged into her body, bending and breaking it into a monstrous creature long thought banished from this realm. The trio stood awestruck as she contorted and cried and turned before them, her final form mighty and tall and rippling with sinister energy.

“OH CRAP.” Piper gasped simply as his tail pinned to his rump. Ripsnort’s ears immediately fell against his skull when the tyrant snarled down upon them, her glistening white teeth caked with drool and backed by powerful jaws.

“N- NIGHT- N- N-!!!” He tried to scream her name but simply sputtered in absolute shock. The pair tightly embraced one another, protecting vulnerable bodies from the shrieking winds of the Night Ruler’s presence.

“Guys?! Guys what’s going on? Get this thing off me!!!” Ozzy shouted with booming thunder ringing in his ears from all directions. The energy building around him sent trembles through his body, the energy radiating off this powerful being interacting with his own internal source of corrupted magic. The young man didn’t have words for the feeling of immediate terror rushing through his heart, as if death itself had reached out and grabbed his throat. Worse yet, he couldn’t see a thing through the rushing fog of ebony flooding his vision and his long hair tangled in the mask. Pull and rip as he did, the slick rubber wouldn’t let go of his unusual jaw line and come free.

”Cower before me, rotten subordinates! Your sacrifice pleases Our hunger!”

“WUAAAAAAAAAGH!!!” The troops squealed in the most girlish manner possible as Nightmare Moon spread her wings and brought down penetrating, consuming darkness.

”His human flesh shall sate Our bloodthirst… for now! Pray that We do not crave the soul of another whilst ye still live!”

“Damn it! What is going on?!” Ozzy demanded as he ripped the mask off, taking a bundle of his own hair with it. The boy’s last moment was spent gazing up at the forces surrounding him, a cyclone of darkness that turned the skin a clammy and cold like dead leather. Eyes of the most chilling glacier color bore down on him, fangs like sharp diamonds descending to have flesh ripped to tatters. Crashing down with tidal force the blackness swallowed their friend up and burned him away like fire. Instantly the mare and the boy were vapor listlessly hovering in the air. Thick clots of the magical residue danced like embers before they were torn apart by the wind, as if nothing had even been there in the first place. The troops peered out from between one another’s arms with the terror of death nipping at their noses.

Profound horror rattled their cores as they saw naught but the lifeless mask sagging on the soil. A sweat-drenched face soaked in moonlight marking the spot where their friend had been devoured by Nightmare Moon.

Ozymandias, on the other hand, gasped awake after the swirling darkness had consumed his vision. The sensation of teleporting always played tricks with his mind and disturbed his train of thought, very similar to being whacked in the face with a stick. In that moment where his eyes remained glued shut from sweat and magic dust clinging to his lids he was at least able to reflect and appreciate not being dead. Blinking himself back to life then, he almost came to envy those lifeless and still.

“Forgive me, Dear King. But t’was the only way We could spirit thee off for Ourselves. We do so hope thou are not harmed?” The soothing, mellow and shy voice graced his ears in a chorus of alluring sound. Immediately the breath flowed free from his chest, as if all his burdens had suddenly been lifted and he walked without gravity. Then he beheld the mare and the room and felt himself stiffen in reflex.

“Wha- huh? Princess- Princess Luna?!” He gasped upon finally recognizing the tall and painted figure, her body completely unshackled by her regal jewelry. She was naked to him, akin to seeing one’s closest family without their skin. He had always been raised to respect her divinity, he had pledged to protect her nation in joining the guard. But now he was standing before her, bedraggled and stuck in a gorilla suit. With no grace he fell to his knee and attempted to bow to her, only narrowly missing a table’s edge with his face. In this monstrous bedroom filled with star charts, telescopes and tomes of ancient knowledge, the mighty marble table would’ve surely cracked his skull.

“Nay, nay. This is not necessary, dear King.” She hummed, lifting his head with cooling, azure magic. He resisted at first, but his body had grown accustomed to being commanded. The panting human yielded and struggled to meet her gaze, finding that his eyes locked forward out of habit. The painted Mistress of the Stars would not have it, as she stood on the tips of her pretty painted hooves to meet his gaze. She simply had to see them, for they were gorgeous works of art and an indicator of his heritage. Just as she suspected, muted green sclera with poisonous, red irises. Ozzy felt the sweat pour with renewed vigor as the Princess consumed his field of vision, commanding him to behold nothing but the soft white painted onto her fur and the glistering majesty of her sea-foam eyes.

“You… wish not to look upon Us? Art thou nervous? Please, there is no need! We assureth thee that we mean no harm, Ozymandias. We dearly apologize if our little trick has disturbed thou!” She said with a soft expression and a tremble in her voice, as if she too was overwhelmed by his presence. Ozzy had grown so accustomed to ponies speaking gently around him that it hardly registered, every creature he ever knew harbored some level of fear for his alien shape. Luna searched him for signs of undue terror, but all she could find was the maddening shape of a unique human once again standing before her. It took much of her own self control to resist touching him and feeling out such a treasured body simply for the honor of being one of few to feel its construction.

“Permission to speak, Your Highness?” He stammered somewhat as the words fell from his mouth in a trained and robotic manner. His entire form locked tightly into a quivering attention, each muscle cocked tightly to assure no hidden drill sergeant would come rushing from the shadows and scream in his face.

“Of course! Thou may speak however much thou wish. Our chambers shall be thine refuge, dear King.” Luna didn’t pull herself away from him when she said this. The hot breath leaving her lips tainted with the aroma of wine infected his mind. Sweet tendrils of both alcohol and sugar made him tremble as it came wet and hot from another body, especially one of such a beautiful and regal mare. In her focused haze, there was little besides spitting on her face that would push the curious mare away.

“I am Ozymandias of H Company, Ma’am! Equestrian guard! My commanding officer is Rough Neck and I will report to him for punishment immediately upon my release!” She tittered with a gleeful laugh at his rigidness, such an injection of absurd rhetoric giving her the strength to place a hoof on his chest.

“We are well aware of who thou art. A human doth not go through Equestria without being noticed. Remove this awful thing thou art wearing! We cannot speak truthfully with such a childish intrusion!” The Constellation Queen pressed down on his loose and uncomfortable costume, disrobing him with a few tactful presses and pushes. Magic crept up his back to find a zipper and yank it apart in one smooth motion.

“Your Majes-!” Ozzy blushed deeply as he was made half-naked before the highest authority in the land. In his bid for comfort Ozzy wore nothing but his training shorts and boxers for this sweltering excursion. When Luna had assumed this itchy and cheap thing would conceal an actual uniform befitting one of her Guard, the alicorn nearly fainted upon seeing his bare and powerful body.

“Goodness, my King! Th- thou art so- EHM! S- so bare…” She huffed with a hoof hiding her aghast expression. Ozzy looked utterly horrified at this, quickly concealing his lower half with his hands vainly covering his groin.

“Apologies, Your Majesty!” He snapped in reflex, bowing to her and holding his quivering attention.

“It’s very hot in the suit! Please forgive me, Your Highness!” Luna’s eyes wandered up and down his exposed and helpless form, drinking in the details of such a masculine man. Ozzy clearly took after you, but with an incredible lack of fat to cover his natural beauty. Flowing through his muscles were tendrils of Umbra’s tainted magic, a growth-stimulant of unnatural origin that the blushing Princess’ own powerful field of energy fizzled and sparked against. Clearly mortified at his nakedness, Luna thought it would be best to look away, to cover him with a towel- anything to keep the human from thinking of her as some horrible, devious pervert. But in her wash of emotions the mare within her was victorious, thus she couldn’t look away to save her life.

“‘Tis most alright! We simply cannot… cannot… take thee seriously in that thing…” Her mouth watered as his heaving breaths pumped his broad chest up in and out, his muscles straining and flexing beneath his ash-colored flesh and his long locks of hair hung over his shoulders. He shuddered as she inspected his toned and powerful body, bringing back memories of his invasive physical during the first day in the Guard. Cuts and bruises lined his muscles. Training dummies, wooden spears and the wear of exercise left him with many dashing lines of red and gray across his dark figure, something Luna could not help but fawn over. Her eyes widened as she saw his hurried breaths lift and lower his abdominal muscles, their ice-tray shape dazzling to her racing mind.

“We see thine issued trousers and nothing more? What have you done with your uniform, dear King?”

“Your Highness, I’m sorry for what I did! I swear it was just a joke, Your Majesty! I’ll never-”

“Fret not, human! We beggeth thee, ‘tis nothing to fear with Us! That is not why thou hath been taken.” She corrected him quickly and hopped closer to assuage his guilt. In the process the tips of her painted hooves met the tips of his toes beneath the pile of costume she stripped off him, an electric connection that their opposing magical auras could feel. The boy silenced himself as if an authority was barking orders in his face, burying his shame beneath a layer of discipline. If the Princess wanted to strip a soldier naked they could, it wasn’t illegal. But he had never imagined that it would happen like this, even less so to him.

“We know who thou art. And We hath waited so very long for thee.” She hissed, so quiet he could hardly make out her words. Arctic winds blew up his back as she spoke to him, his masculinity reacting in the most natural way it could when a powerful and gorgeous mare was looming in his face. She smelled so sweetly and captured his attention so resolutely- how could the soldier not give his ruler every last bit of his focus? Luna was utterly enraptured by him, his uncanny resemblance to his father combining with the exotic changes brought on by demonic magic striking resounding chords deep in her soul. She needed him here, alone. Otherwise she might just embarrass herself in front of the whole nation trying to speak to him.

“Your name… it means Fallen King in human tongue.” She hummed in satisfaction at the notion, staring with such wide-eyed wonder that her guest felt somewhat objectified. Ozzy swallowed dryly as she spoke, for he wasn’t sure how the Princess would ever know such a thing. Many years ago Umbra had confessed this to him, but no other creature had ever questioned the purpose for such an unusual name. His eyes darted from side to side in strain, the moment weighing upon his chest like a great boulder crushing all the air and endurance from his frame. The Princess only relented when she realized how close they had become, the very wisps of her lips nearly touching his. The Royal retracted and moved her mane to try and conceal her boiling blush.

“An- Anyway… We are well aware of thine presence and prowess. And as such, We wish to offer unto thee a position.” Her voice took a far more business-like tone than before, sounding more akin to a rehearsed reading rather than natural speech. Ozzy detected some trepidation in her, if only because she no longer had the strength to look him in the eye and speak at the same time.

“A position?” He answered stupidly, the sweat building in his bundled fists like suspended orbs of water. She likewise swallowed an enormous glacier in thought, her wings fluttering and her eyes watering in hope that he would be receptive. Just as it took every last bit of his strength to stand there exposed for her, Luna poured all her gall and aptitude into speaking her carefully practiced words.

“We should like to recruit thee, Ozymandias of Ponyville, into our most honorable Lunar Guard.” She said diplomatically, locking eyes with him with the most hopeful and promising expression a mare can make.

“As our… personal protector.”

Author's Note

I didn't forget about her.
Shout outs to Shadowwolf.

Restore the Queen.

Author's Note

Well, I certainly hope it was worth the wait. Glad to be back and I do so hope you enjoy.
Infinite thanks to my editor and workshopping partner https://www.fimfiction.net/user/119244/shadow+wolf1573 who gave me the confidence to return. I will be working to keep chapters coming out with at least some modicum of regularity.

Restore the Queen.

Chapter 1.
Restore the Queen.

“Dear subjects of Equestria, please rise in honor of the Highest Authority, the most Honorable, the Greatest in the land-” The stallion stood before a gathered crowd spoke with a long winded, yet breathless voice. His words reverberated off the walls of chiseled stone and inlaid metals such that the ears would ring even at the very back of the court. Ancient phrases written long before the births of any pony there rung off the stained glass windows depicting victories and tragedies as they had for millennia in an unbroken tradition. Its beauty, the ancient history in motion before the modern eye, belied the boredom it induced.

Umbra especially disliked the speech. She had heard it before during less comfortable times and thus associated it with bad memories. While it was certainly shorter than it was now, the dull ache it caused burdened her all the same. The dark mare sat alone before the stacked thrones of Equestrian royalty, though the Sisters and their accomplice had yet to reveal themselves. Hundreds of ponies crammed into the court behind her, so many that they spilled out the doors in an ocean of pastels and excited forms. The public would never allow such a monumental moment to escape their gaze. Journalists, historians and average ponies all shuffled in seats or on their hooves or in the air to catch a glimpse of the greatest evil since Nightmare Moon.

Sinister and conniving as Umbra looked- what with her sickly green eyes, glistening fangs and omnipresent expression of disdain for those surrounding her- she was not what the masses had expected. They thought an empire toppling, murderous and insane Queen would be more imposing. In so many words, a chubby and fluffy mare wrapped in a ratty sweater with bedraggled hair jutting out from her bun failed to impress. She was cute, soft and plush to the eye. Many even found her quite beautiful. Though beautiful in the same way that a toxic plant’s brilliant colors dazzle the eye with clear warnings of danger.

Unusual as the mare herself was her husband. Most ponies knew of you, the solitary human in all the world. But almost none had seen you in recent times. The last few years spent in Ponyville allowed Canterlot to forget your unique face and bipedal nature. The pundits and paranoid had a wonderful spike in viewership when news spread of you and your woman’s arrival. Theories of her power, her intentions and lingering evil abounded in the city throughout every café newspaper and train-side chatter. The ride up from your small home had been exposure enough to the chattering of the ignorant, yet every coffee you bought for your shivering mare brought the doubt and vitriol closer to reality.

You knew your Queen to be harmless, now. You knew in your heart of hearts that she would never betray your trust. Umbra could never fall back into her old ways, as they were simply inferior compared to the life she led now. Her hooves had been tied, in a sense. Without you, without your love and her compliance with the law she would lose the things she cherished most in the world. Midnight cuddles under the covers on Friday nights. Backrubs in the summer sunlight by the lake. Freedom to roam the town and forest. Love and eternal support from a handsome human and a loyal herd. Breeding so intense and satisfying that it manifested as an addiction to human love.

Sitting there now, under the scrutiny of others from every conceivable angle, Umbra felt a creeping pressure within her. The official’s speech would soon end, summoning the Princesses to present their final judgement. They had been watching, listening and always examining her since her release from prison. Equestria as a whole waited and held their collective breaths to see just how far a monster could turn. She thought her transformation profound. The effort that had been poured into her “correction” was so immense that you could hardly be repaid for it all. Her eyes slid shut and her nostrils flared as she reluctantly bowed before the coming presence of her final reckoning. This was it, the last humiliation of a defeated Queen.

“-they whom give us life and order. Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. And her Majesty, Empress Cadance.” The three alicorns stepped out from behind their thrones and sat in an orderly fashion, their massive bodies filling the room with both the warmth of affection and the safety of authority. If any had their heads raised to look upon them, they might’ve noticed the slight surprise crossing their faces to see a prostrate and humbled Umbra. The celestial sisters remembered the last time she had sat in this very court centuries before. Mostly because the ear-piercing wails and shrieks of rage she made still haunted them to this day. Now, in this state, she appeared less than a warrior. She hardly looked like a mage, even. If anything, Luna almost suspected a random housewife had been pulled from her home and forced to sit before them.

“All may rise. We have judgement to pass.” Celestia called in trained fashion, for she had said these very words thousands of times. The low roar of rustling clothes, feathers and manes was punctuated by a cough or two breaking the silence. Otherwise, every pony in attendance respectfully held their piece.

Despite the surrounding coliseum of warm bodies shrouding Umbra and scrutinizing her, she had never felt so perfectly alone. Not a voice in her head spoke anymore, the ancient spirits of twisted magic and unholy knowledge silenced. All eyes were on her, yet two were the only ones she cared anything about. If she had the gall to disrespect the Princesses again, she would’ve cast her eyes back to the assuring, warm and soft glare of her Husband. You, her King, that had brought her here to demonstrate just what a changed mare she had been molded into. For now though, she would bend the knee to the cretinous and callous rulers of this land. They held from her the key to salvation and a peaceful life lived in fulfillment.

Freedom.

“Beloved ponies. Treasured human. We see now a mare made whole and right through the doctrine of harmony.” Celestia started, her spiel enough to make Umbra roll her exhausted eyes.

“Love, tolerance and acceptance turns the tides of rivers., uproots mountains and holds fast the will of stallion and mare alike. We hold these truths close to our hearts, as they have crafted a nation that makes allies of the greatest foes.” Celestia addressed the crowd in her diplomatic and rehearsed manner, repeating mantras burned into the minds of young and old alike over thousands of years. She held a proud and cheerful smile the entire time, refusing to match her compatriots’ rather muted expressions. Luna could hardly muster a respectful gaze when she looked upon the ebony Queen sat below her. And Cadence, ever the vapid figurehead, locked her face into a soulless smile that somehow came across as far more hostile than any snarl. Umbra could positively taste the metallic and bitter hatred lingering in the room. The highest powers in the land were only allowing this to happen out of respect for their traditions, nothing more. At least in her mind, Umbra knew that this was not out of genuine care or concern for her.

“I have witnessed through accounts provided by our beloved human, my most trusted student and the kind residents of Ponyville the turning of faces in this mare. Her road was festooned with challenges of all sorts and sizes, some of which were never truly faced and bested.” She spoke with a casual glance thrown to you, a sting to accentuate the bumps in the road that you had personally “handled.”

“It is my belief that Umbra is fit for Equestria once more. Though she may never earn the truest love of her fellow ponies, she may at least be trusted to uphold and benefit from the society we have built on our founding principles.” She finished with a flourishing hoof gesture before quietly settling back to her regal starting position.

“I now call upon my comrades in royalty to make their final judgements as well. They too have deliberated on the progress, the reports and the facts of the matter.” Standing down, Celestia allowed Luna to stand in her posh and titanic posture to address Umbra. Though there was a massive crowd gathered before her with all eyes trained on her azure figure and her imposing gaze, Luna faced none other than the Queen herself. She communicated her ambivalence quite clearly without ever having to speak a word to the “changed mare” slowly rising from her bow.

“Honorable subjects. Again we bring this pony before our council in order to decide her fate. Her actions and her intentions bring her back to our grace, as the inescapable pull of a star shall always pull a hopelessly outmatched planet.” She never once looked away from Umbra’s agitated expression, some suspecting that Luna didn’t even blink during her diatribe.

“We have seen the evil in this mare first-hoof and know the extent to which it perverts and decays our world. Our order sustains the life of this nation and thus the life of everypony blessed to be a part of it.” The dark Princess pursed her lips tightly and held her ears high. She dragged this moment across the proverbial gravel of time, grinding and scraping and cutting deep into Umbra. Should she deny a positive judgement, it would be several more months- perhaps even years- of reporting and tracking and watching from the royalty.

“Today… we are reluctant to welcome Umbrial Daze into that order. Reluctant, as the seed of evil never dies. Only wilts and hides in the soil for another tumultuous rain to awaken it.” Umbra huffed and flicked her tail at the ever-lengthening speech drilling through her.

“But, so long as our righteous human may preside over and feel his unusual affection for this mare… we allow her to stay. As the practice of black magic is a guarantee of eventual failure, so too is holding onto hatred.” Luna bowed gently to the crowd before sitting down. Umbra’s heart lifted somewhat when the majority of this trial was done, but she was also painfully aware that the final obstacle would be the most difficult by far.

That plastic, pink, pouty, perfect, petite smile. Eyes of the most aggressively cute teal. Wafting scents of synthetic fruit aromas and dusts of gaudy make-up. How she so loved to hate this “Empress.” Cadence struck the perfect- irritating- middle ground between Celestia’s genuine warmth and Luna’s stoicness. Hers was a passion that smelled fake from afar. Umbra had always detested this perky alicorn, even far back in time when both were but little fillies in the Crystal Empire. Looking at her always brought about the same reaction, unwavering disgust and vitriol. She knew the Empress felt much the same, as that strained and shuttering smile could only be hiding the purest distrust and revulsion.

Then again, given the dark and intense sensibilities of the Queen, she may have been placing undue assumptions on the Empress. When she too rose to speak, all ears tuned to her immediately. Even you held your breath, despite knowing all along how this would go. Cadence dramatically held onto her moment of silence, her eyes fluttering from one pony to the other in the crowd before slowly settling on Umbra. She giggled internally at the sight of this foe, for she was nothing like the beast of yesteryear.

Young Umbra was nothing short of a firebrand with a chip on her shoulder and every incentive to prove herself. That spry, young, angry and ever-agitated filly was now just a mare. A normal and plush looking pony draped in traditional clothing and smelling of affection. Her natural gift could sense the passion inside her all along. From the first days to this, the very last moments of an insane battle. Red, pulsating and insatiable lust for power and control was nothing more than a faded crimson in the background of a supernova. It still existed with the stench of rust and fire, yes. But overwhelming it all was an incredible and fresh love for you. Her human emanated a similar aura about him, though its duality was palpable.

Passionate, wild and young love swirled on one side whilst the other harbored a far more stable and matured affection. Umbra was mad for you, as her entire form was consumed by this thrashing and turbulent dedication. It was clear that she would do anything for her husband, as you were her addiction. Among the scattered feelings of despair, dread and worry, Cadence nearly drowned in loyalty. Your dark wife, your loving and loyal sorceress threw herself to the floor in front of her arch nemesis like a monk falling before a holy relic.

For you. Not her.

She prostrated on the floor and showed her submission just as the old ways demanded, a meaningful and humiliating display. Umbra was burned by fire on the inside, but she was fueled by high-octane stimulants when her mind drifted to you.

Cadence outwardly giggled as the audience did, no doubt further enraging the helpless Queen.

"Before I can make my decision, I feel that I must be further convinced with substantial evidence." Cadence began, bringing the other princesses to a silent halt with her implications. Umbra too was made quiet by her words, as she nearly bit her tongue off in spite. Laying there in a vulnerable and submissive plea for mercy, she couldn't possibly imagine just how Cadance could be so petty. In her mind, the pink menace was hell-bent on dragging out this atrocious trial of hers as revenge. Whilst she couldn't entirely discredit such delicious evil, having it done unto her certainly failed to please Umbra. Her teeth gnashed and her breath hitched in the slight pause made by the dramatic and smiling Empress.

"I hereby call forward a witness so they may attest to the change in this mare's character." Her cerulean eyes landed on you in the stands, drawing forth an uncanny nervousness from deep within. All eyes were upon you now, like the days when you first came to this land. Gasps and mumbles and confused speech rang out all around you, further adding to the sweaty and shaking composure that overcame you form.

“Anonymous the human. Please rise.” Cadence commanded.

"Yes, your Majesty." You answered out of reflex rather than respect, as you knew well enough that your dark mare wished that term reserved strictly for herself.

"Approach the bench, Mr. Anon." Cadence beckoned with a tap against the ancient wood, her duo of cohorts looking on with somewhat bemused expressions of interest. This was not part of the plan, nor standard procedure. Celestia welcomed such an interruption with a grin, whilst Luna barely held back a petty protest. Solitary footsteps beat on the tiles below and rang out for the whole nation to hear, all ponies waiting with baited breath for the sole human's testament.

"Anonymous the human, have you any evidence that would perhaps 'sway' my opinion on this subject? Could you somehow demonstrate what a changed mare Umbrial Daze has become under your care?" Said pony only now lifted her head from the floor to meet your shy and bashful gaze. It was such an unusual look for you after she had grown accustomed to your masculine and confident mannerisms. It struck a shameful bolt of fear in her heart to see you, her most powerful and handsome protector in this world stumble and fight your own words in a fit of boyish charm.

"Yes ma'am. I do." You said your words with an awkward and stiff stutter. It was as if they had been coached, rehearsed and forgotten many times. There was no spirit behind them, only the calculated and orchestrated mockery of such. Umbra could positively smell the strange character in them, her eyes narrowing to scowling slits as you fumbled about with your breast pockets and suit jacket.

"Somewhere in here... er..." Cadence snickered and lifted her snout in the most intensely irritating manner she knew how. Umbra could already feel the urge to bite her throat for turning such a smug look to her husband.

"Whenever you're ready, dear Human." Celestia added with a giggle and a lean to look over her towering pulpit. Your hands eventually found what you sought, a small box embroidered with shiny thread and glimmering with dark red satin.

"This! This right here." You held it high with a beaming pride that struck the room speechless, though part of that may have been the abundance of confusion sweeping through the ponies. Umbra herself felt her mind jump to conclusions upon seeing such a trinket, ones of matrimony and legal obligation. Those ideals disappeared when her more rational mind fought back and scolded her for being so childish. Why on Earth would you need something like that? You and her were already good as married. A ring or a necklace or a pendant would've just cheapened the true and deep love felt between your souls. It was an unnecessary and expensive addition to your lives, thus it was highly unlikely that the tiny box you waved around like a magic charm held that kind of thing inside. What good could a beautiful, personal and considerate gift like that be? She dismissed it with a bite on her lip and both her crimson eyes focused keenly on your nervous posture.

"This piece of evidence right here, is all I need to change your mind." You addressed the crowd just as much as Cadence, knowing full well that the Empress no longer held their attention. She simply sat there, knowing where this was going well before it began. All she had to do was witness and approve.

"And what shall it prove exactly, Sir Anonymous?" Luna chimed in with a stoic and somewhat cold phrase. Your tight grip shifted and all five fingers nearly crushed the box in your grasp as the words slowly formed into sentences in the back of your dry throat. These hundreds of rainbow colored eyes waited and watched you, yet only two concerned. Your sorceress sat there and watched in confusion, her own will to speak stolen by the weight of the situation.

"I'll show you." You started, moving toward your brooding mare with a look of utter determination clear in your face.

"I'll show you that Umbra wants one thing... and one thing only." You took one last breath before taking the fall before your mare. Sitting on her haunches, Umbra's eyes met your level when you knelt down and presented that box for her.

"Umbra. Babygirl..."

You wouldn't dare...

"Would you do me the honor of marrying me? Legally, I mean... like now?" You said with a shaky laugh, knowing full well that such a thing was impossible without citizenship. Before the Princesses made their decision, you and her could never be wed in an official capacity. To do this was nothing short of a statement, a bold and wild statement made right in front of the most powerful beings in all the nation. Umbra stared forward in utter surprise as you undid the slight box and fidgeted the top off.

"My King-" She tried to speak, but her words had been silenced by the expression. That uniquely human display of unreasonable confidence and brazen disregard for the customs of this land. green and red eyes dilated to behold the spectacular piece brought to her, for its construction rivaled stars and celestial phenomena in their beauty.

"Now this is quite the surprising development! Don't you think, Luna?" Celestia said softly to her sister, one who was less than pleased with this sappy and public display of emotion.

Your ring to her, your gift to forever show just what kind of bond existed between you two, caught the beams of gorgeous sunlight such that it glowed with the flowing energy of love. Cuts into the crystal wad stuck atop the tungsten band simmered red from embedded bits of ruby, their aggressive colors perfectly reflecting off the contrasting cyan. Geometric edges moved and melded into one another to form a precise yet wild chunk of priceless mineral jewelers would die to hold. Shards from a shattered diamond studded the circumference to mark it with the maker's trademark style.

Umbra had stolen many a ring like this in her long life. Thusly she knew only Cadance, the Arbiter of love in Equestria, could've shaped and built it. Her silence was concerning, but her aghast expression was far more telling. She could only flick her gaze from it to you in a hurried stutter. You lifted it out of the box to reveal a long chain formed from silver, one perfectly suited to drift over her head and hang from her neck. The dark Queen made no fuss when you did just that, hoisting her pendant high and ever-so gently settling it on her petite shoulders. Her snout drifted down to watch it go but quickly snapped upwards when the familiar warmth of your shaking hands combed down her leg and gripped her hoof.

"Sir Anonymous... are you trying to imply that Umbrial Daze would even humor the notion of marriage? To a human of low birth, no less?" Luna cocked an eyebrow when she finished glaring toward Cadance, the gears and cogs of her intricate mind beginning to piece together this silly stage performance.

"If she'll have me." You said simply whilst never taking your eyes from hers. Umbra huffed for breath in the shocking moment, unable to focus and think clearly in this wash of emotion. Flicking ears and twitching lips mirrored the wild dance inside her and the thrashing of tides colliding from both sides.

She wanted to scold you for this. She wanted to punish such a stupid, embarrassing and childish stunt. This was her trial, her final and last obstacle to a life free of burden and scrutiny. And you picked now to ask the greatest question of your lives. In front of all these strangers, the Princesses and Equestria. You made this personal, emotional, vital moment a public spectacle for all to see and witness.

But in that very same breath, she was inspired by it all. It was such a royal thing to do. So pompous and arrogant and brave. You defied the Princesses themselves by taking the focus from them in their own courtroom- their own city, even. You had walked in and made all eyes and hearts turn to you and her alone. This would go down in history, this would be written down in official records and newspapers and accounts for decades to come. Whilst the only human in all Equestria might've faded from memory and become but a slight footnote in the unusual and varied history of Equestria, this exchange would last forever. Umbra gasped when the cool metal warmed against her fur and your hands squeezed her hoof.

"Well?" Cadance interrupted, shooting the befuddled Umbra a most aggravating look. Of course her King had been talked into such silliness by her. Idiocy of this caliber could only come from the demented mind of that pink menace. Umbra wanted to spit right between her ocean-colored eyes, but the pull of your ultra-powerful affection reinforced an unusual calm in her. Shudders ran across her body when the icy rain of truth finally hit the bottom of her heart.

"Show us, Umbrial Daze. Show us just how much you care for this stallion." Cadence invited Umbra to exonerate herself before the court. A simple demand that she met with a huff and a twitch of excitement.

"I- we-... this is..." She stuttered whilst leaning in closer to you. The weight of her new necklace seemed to gravitate her right towards your center, towards the heart that made her the mare she was. The crowd could sense this drive, they could watch in all the subtle and delicate detail just how compelled Umbra was to abandon everything in favor of her husband. That nasty little blob of black mane and grey fur melted into pliant slag the instant you touched her.

"Yes." She finally sputtered, though only to you. She looked you in the eye, she stared deep into your mind with magic restrained by an inhibiting brace about her horn. Her ancient skills of manipulation and reading one's thoughts played into perfect use here, as she dove head-first into your realm and discovered once again how flooded with need it was. A shared space, yes. But a space that echoed with winds singing her name and mountains carved into her visage.

"I would give everything for you... forever." She whispered huskily, slight beads of crystalline tears dripping from the corner of her eyes. You smiled sweetly and wiped them with a calloused thumb before they threatened her thin makeup.

"Hm. Colored me convinced. I rule in favor!" Cadence cheered and looked to Celestia, waiting for her to drop the grin on her snout and make it all official. Cooing in delight at the near-kiss shared between you and Umbra, the alabaster alicorn cleared her throat.

"Since we are all satisfied with the proceedings, allow me to commend Umbrial Daze on her pilgrimage." Flashing yellow light flicked and twisted a quill about behind the podium, scrawling an elegant signature across the final document of this affair.

"Congratulations on your rehabilitation, Umbra." That paper floated towards you both with a neat fold keeping the gorgeous print safe from the world.

"And since your citizenship has been approved and notarized, I believe Cadence has one final matter to address?" Naturally, lost in one another, neither you nor Umbra hardly noticed the Empress spreading her wings and likewise signing her documents.

"Yes, yes. I hereby pronounce you Stallion and Wife. You may kiss the bride, yada, yada." She said in a less than official tone, as you and your wife had already embraced before she finished. Umbra simply could not stop herself from grabbing your face and lurching forward in a predatory snarl. The crowd recoiled at first, but slowly calmed to a low roar as you and the once evil beast exchanged affections. Some were terribly put-off by the sight of you and a pony kissing, whilst most warmed to the notion quickly and stomped their hooves in approval.

Not that it mattered. Umbra had conquered the very last hill that stood in her way. She was now a queen in the truest sense of the word. Married to a handsome, powerful and confident king.

The Princesses were merciful enough to allow you passage through the inner court to avoid the press. Bands of hollering and snapping reporters would no doubt ruin the moment so carefully crafted for Umbra. Through the olden hallways of statues and paintings and hidden torch switches that opened yet more mysterious chambers, Cadence herself guided you. The dark mare walked before you both, as she was lost in her own world staring into the piece now hanging from her neck. Held aloft in weak magic, Umbra could not pry her eyes from it for even a second. She miraculously dodged corners and turns despite the insane scrutiny she gave unto this symbol. It brought flurries to her heart each time the light bounced off it in a different way. Flickering fire and beams of sunlight and magical energy made it hum and come to life with subtle signs of life inside. Just like your love, it was a subdued manner of fierceness that dwelled within. Your unicorn wife only caught slight snippets of your chat with the Empress.

"That went far better than I was expecting." The cheery Cadence said, the clop of her hooves echoing down long throats of marble and stone in an almost deafening manner.

"Princesses seemed a little miffed... but yeah. All things considered." You answered, both hands finding comfortable positions in your pockets.

"Oh, I also wanted to ask you-"

"Right. That." Cadence interrupted somewhat stiffly in anticipation of this mysterious question.

"Please understand, Anonymous. It's not just the Princesses and I that have to be convinced. The Council of Canterlot has to sign off on the procedure as well."

"I know, I know. I'm just wondering. Think this will change any minds?" The pink mare sighed and hummed in thought whilst conflict crawled across her expression.

"I have advocated for you before. I would worry for your safety- naturally- but if today's outcome is any indication of her progress, I'm almost certain that it should be done." You perked somewhat at the news, albeit with a cold chill of reality still clinging to your heart.

"What about the Sisters?" Another strained sigh left Cadence, the end of your long walk approaching in the form of a light streaming through an ancient archway.

"You are human. We can't expect you to understand what we do." She said, her face soft and nurturing to cushion any offence such a phrase might have caused.

"But you must realize that this is no decision we make lightly." Leaning in, the Empress beckoned you to listen intently.

"Her bloodline is tainted with evil. It has been for centuries. Should your offspring undo what we've built here-"

"You don't think I could handle it?"

"The child will outlive you. And her. And every pony alive now. At a certain point, It won't matter." She spoke in a tone of deadly seriousness, as if her own throat had turned to frozen stone.

"Those of us that might see that day must decide whether or not it is a battle worth the risk." You stared forward as she laid the heavy news across your back, suddenly shocked to find a lack of neon pink by your side and a new mass magicked into your breast pocket. The Empress stopped just before the exit to show the most intense stare you'd ever received in your life.

"I won't keep you in the dark, Anonymous. I believe in your strength." Monotone speech and serious eyes communicated the weight of this discussion, especially when the Empress stepped back into the darker halls and away from the revealing warmth of the sun.

"But always remember that Umbra is capable of anything. Anything." With that, you were left to your own devices in a secluded Canterlot alleyway. Where exactly you were and how long you had been walking was a mystery with little time to dwell on. You pulled Cadence’s gift from your pocket, finding a very similar box to the one she had given you before the trial. The small container was rapidly overshadowed by piercing, red eyes however.

"You conspired with her, My King?" Umbra huffed softly, her cheeks still somewhat puffy from the healthy cry beforehand. You responded with a slow kneel to meet her gaze, both hands gliding up to find her soft jawline. Umbra responded by nuzzling into them, quickly discovering your new box and stealing it away in her magic.

"Figured you'd prefer something more uh... 'royal' than a little wedding in Ponyville." She smiled gently in your grasp, her mind slowly rising from the frothy waters of affection and overwhelming emotion to drink in the insanity of what you had done.

"I would've never imagined that pink dimwit marrying me."

"It took a lot of convincing, I'll tell you that much." You said with a snicker, kissing her snout and watching as she flustered and struggled to react.

"I like the irony, your worst enemy having to watch you get hitched." Umbra hummed as you stroked her face with both thumbs, utter content and peace sprawled across her exhausted and squishy features.

"You've hardly a grasp on that word..." She commented almost silently.

"Oh shut up and gimme another kiss." You interjected and pulled her into you once more for a passionate and longing contact. Umbra didn't hesitate to meet you and press her lips tight to your own. Soft hums and moans echoed through the empty alleyway, filling the otherwise lifeless space with the miracle of passion. Umbra never felt so safe and warm, her body was writhing and twisting like a sapling in the wind. Every bone quivered when your voice rocked and echoed through them. Her muscles relaxed into a slurry of helpless mass for you to mold and shape and play with. Her very heart yearned to be closer to yours and ride the thumping rhythm of your life's energy. It floored her to taste you, to feel and to have you with her. She was lost in this infinite world of human smooches, so much so that she sat there aghast and drooling when you pulled away and adjusted the droopy collar of her sweater.

In the brief moment between steamy plumes of emotion, she snapped open Cadence’s box and marveled at the trinket inside. A tiny, rounded, almost featureless ring of black tungsten. The piece was highly understated compared to the ring made for her, surely something more modest for a stallion of your caliper. Tiny details however made it all the more unique and captivating, however.

A jagged line of eternal ice ran through the center of your ring, the very same enchanted water used to contain Umbra for all those painful years. Red jewels smaller than rice grains studded the peripheries as well, perhaps a warning built into Umbra’s physical promise of devotion. She could only imagine a pony as vain and petty as Cadence putting such a thing into a wedding band, but when it was tied to you Umbra could only think of it as absolutely perfect.

“You like it?” You interrupted, bringing the staring mare back to reality.

“She said they might be ‘a little off,’ since she hasn’t made rings in a while. But I thought it was pretty neat.” Umbra huffed a tiny laugh and gladly pulled the piece from its box with her trembling mouth. Magic would only interfere with the intimacy of sliding your ring on and settling it on your rough and masculine hand. Umbra happily did so when you offered it to her, a magical energy humming between you two when the affection channeled through the shaped stones.

"Now then. We got the whole day to kill. What're you in the mood for?" You asked to a staring and still Umbra. Her ears were perked and listening, but her mind refused to pass your words through. She filtered out all meaning to your voice in favor of simply listening to the gorgeous and masculine tones of it all. Her heart thundered in her chest and your scent filled her lungs such that nothing sensible or reasonable could possibly influence her now. The mare breathed deeply and focused on the weight of her new wedding band dangling from her neck. The sight of yours likewise stole her ability to respond, as her black band contrasted so perfectly with your skin and cemented you as the one and only stallion she loved.

"We could go for lunch, check out a museum, stop in one of tacky shops- I'm up for anything." Again she gave no real response, only opening her eyes enough to give a sultry leer.

"The hotel." Was all Umbra said, her lips still somewhat wet with your spittle and her hoof pawing at your chest.

"Wha- you wanna go back to the room?" You asked as she pulled at your tie and forced your face closer to her own.

"Take me back to our bed, my King." That look in her eyes told you all you needed to know, really. Umbra once again wore that familiar face of desperation and need. A starving, focused and sharp look could burn through walls and shatter boulders with its strength, especially when it was naught but inches from your face. Umbra snorted hot breaths of wrath and smartly tugged your tie to make her demand all the more poignant.

"Right... whatever you say, Sugar." You wisely relented and stood up carefully. The naughty mare below coyly nuzzled at your beltline with a smile that showed glimmering fangs of pearly white.

"Let us not waste time and wander through this gaudy town! We will find a tram and ride as newly weds!" You followed after the astoundingly bouncy mare, noticing all the while that her magic never ceased holding her new ring tight to her chest. At times it was quite difficult to keep up with the chubby lump of fur and energy, as she was wildly rushing through the tight corridors and down rounded streets. Umbra clearly knew this place better than you and simply flew between the buildings rising high into the sky. Running after her in fancy dress shoes and a stiff suit built up quite the sweat before the Canterlot tram mercifully picked you two up and started for the train station.

Your wife cuddled tightly against you the entire ride and made sure every eye that happened upon you drank in your union. Beaming with arrogant pride and stroking your chest, Umbra would gladly sneer and boast to mares and stallions about your love. Neither of you were easy to miss in the pastel sea of brightly colored ponies, but your wife still fought to be as noticeable as possible. Whether that meant standing on her hindlegs to give you kisses, spreading out on the seat to lay her head in your lap, or just being obnoxiously loud with her compliments there was no line she wouldn't cross. You were thankful to get her off the train after the short trip and hide the excitable mare in the modest hotel.

Fighting up the stairs and fiddling the door open, Umbra burst into the room to cast off any hint of modesty or self control. Her grin was sick and conniving all the while as crimson energy liberated her of the now stuffy and uncomfortable sweater. You, out of breath and bracing yourself for this, found the hotel's couch and gracelessly fell into it.

The entire trip here had been quite stressful for you both, leading to a lack of intimacy throughout. Umbra clung tightly to you at night and never let you out of her sight, but the weight of potential rejection left neither of you particularly needy. She could hardly be consoled with petting and kisses, instead demanding that you simply hold her under the hotel covers as tightly and as long as you were able. Cozy and scantily decorated as this room was, it served as at a proper fortress for the two of you. Tomorrow you'd both be setting off for home, hopefully never to see this room again. Umbra intended to leave her mark on it, approaching stealthily as you struggled to untie your shoes and throw socks across the room.

"Hmmmmm..." She hummed to herself as you silently disrobed. A weight pressed to your palms when they went for your belt, as if two weights of iron were now firmly strapped to them. It was an odd and startling sensation that forced your grasp away from your precious cradle of fertility.

Umbra would have the pleasure of unwrapping her husband. No one else.

"I should scold you for being so boyish, my King. Playing games with your Queen is hardly what I'd call 'mature.'" Maneuvering around the couch like a panther creeping on sleeping prey, your wife let her eyes spear you through the heart. She was completely naked, say for the dangling and jingling necklace holding her ring.

"You could've humiliated us before the peasantry. Made us out to be clownish buffoons rolling across a stage for their amusement." Never once did she frown during this diatribe, instead keeping her sharp smile. Hooves padded across the carpet in near-silent steps inching closer and closer to you with each passing second. You wanted to speak, but the Queen had no such interruption.

"But I must admit... it pleases me that you'd be so brash." She came to a stop some steps away from you, standing between your legs like a great ship cutting through dark sea water on a valiant crusade.

"That you would stand before the Princesses and disrespect them... just to prove our love was true?" She huffed through her nose as redness flushed her cheeks.

"Asserting your position over them was nothing short of dictatorial, my King." Whilst you never imagined that your little stunt was that scandalous, satisfying your wife's hatred for the monarchy never hurt. You held your piece then as Umbra turned about on her hooves and showed off for her captive stallion.

"The perfect trait for a King. To dominate and command respect." Any smart remark or stupid pun failed to leave you when engorged lips and shivering flesh caught the sunlight. Hungry folds suckling toward you with a quivering pucker just above to compliment them. Umbra's rounded and plush love was just as curvy as it always was, but now it throbbed with the animalistic need of a feral equine. Sopping lip pulsed with blood under the deep black of her skin until her vagina took the color a flush and ripe plum. Backing into you and settling her magnificent ass in your lap let each raunchy feature press into your clothing and skin, communicating just how needy she was. Her love was hot like iron to the touch, searing with an almost unhealthy warmth. Red blushes of arousal pulsed with worming veins against your groin, scrubbing a heady and sharp musk into your slacks in the same motion. Her titanic cheeks spread your legs further and further until there simply wasn't any room left, yet they still demanded more space for their incredible masses. Your wife filled a lap like molten metal filled a die, albeit with a much hotter and more aggressive bent to it. A swishing tail hardly fanned the exhaust of the mare's need, as the smell still wafted upwards and smacked your nose like an open palm.

"Well? What're you waiting for?" Umbra groaned with bouncing and grinding hips. Her movements made the couch creak and moan with strain. Weighty and thick assets pressed and smeared into you until the furniture threatened to give under Umbra's overwhelming presence. You could feel her lips kissing and pulling at your covered girth in fleshy pulses of strength. Quivers and hiccups flashed pink walls and squirt creamy lubrication onto you with each thump of Umbra's racing heart. Both buttocks mashing and squishing together between your thighs helped to slather herself in milky preparation and mat her dark fur with ultra-sugary musk. It became impossible to look away- painful even. Her ass was simply so commanding and warm and inviting that your male mind found itself enslaved to the shape and the feel and the scent all at once. The rounded edges and flowing lines led you to the canyon of sex and musk the Queen so haughtiness offered, drawing your helpless attention right to her sopping wet gash.

"Don't fight what you are, my love. touch it. Touch me." The magic restraining your hands finally dissipated as Umbra teased you. Self-guided and hungry for a firm handful of beautiful butt, it took but a moment for you to embrace both sides of your wife's pudgy ass. Each palm slapped on contact with her fuzzy bottom, their force and grip such that air wouldn't possibly stand in their way.

"Ooh! Oooooh... you love my backside, my King? Does it please you to own such a rump for yourself?" Umbra let out an unusually high-pitched giggle as she grinded and smeared herself against you. Rotating and gyrating hips smashed into your crotch with increasing force until it looked like someone spilled a cup of milk in your lap. Wiping lips opened and kissed across you in honor of your strength, simultaneously robbing you of anything to say other than-

"Rrrrg..." That guttural growl was all the needed to be said, of course. Umbra ate up any positive feedback you'd give. Snaking across her pillow lips, her tongue dangled from her maw when the poisonous effects of lust took over her higher mind

"Touch it, yessssssss. I am yours now, my King. Forever and truly yours. This flank is your right!" The unicorn groaned and hissed to herself as you molded her ass in lusty motions. Each cheek was held in a death grip of desire that helped to mold their fat into balloons of darkness. Bulging quite obscenely and seated to perfectly meet her, your manhood easily slid in between each side of Umbra's femininity. Gripping lips split around you and slid along your shaft before her squeezing pucker caught your rounded end. Even her less fertile and muskier hole was begging for attention in noisy grips and sticky winks. Wrinkles and folds pulled at you in an effort to coax you inside the puffy and steamy holes demanding your seed. Most maddening of all however were her thick cheeks, both of which clenched and relaxed rhythmically to engulf your manhood.

"Umbra..." You grunted, moving your hands closer and closer to the boiling hot pit of pleasure and wetness. She was steaming in the cool air of the room and rapidly filling the entire hotel with her heady, earthy raunch. These pants would surely carry her scent forever now, soap and water ineffective for removing your mare’s potent memory.

"Mmmph! This garden is yours, My King! Behold how it yearns for you!" A particularly hard push backwards made you nearly yelp in shock when orgasmic pleasure rocketed up your shaft and burst in your chest. The tendrils of her thick wetness leached into your boxers so much now that your cock was bathing in the enraging compounds of mare need.

"Nng, hff! You might as well have mounted me right in front of those blubbering royals! Show them that they've nothing to give that could compare to your manhood!” Grabby hands folded into the embrace of her ass and nearly disappeared into the darkness below. Umbra was growing more desperate and aggressive with each moment you failed to penetrate. Pants that were once a playful tease were now aggravating walls that stood between you and your mare's pulsing tunnel. You wanted them gone just as Umbra did, but you couldn't imagine not squeezing and squishing your mare's cheeks for even a second.

Forming her ass about and molding it between open palms was nothing short of hypnotizing. How she flowed and worked like liquid, yet still held firm in solid jiggles of mass. Elastic flesh and thick pudge pushed harder and harder into your groin until the wooden frame of the couch once again croaked in protest. Her pressure, her weight and her size drove your cock to madness inside its itchy and sopping prison. Just watching her engorged cunt grab at you and squirt milky tear-drops made your heart pound and throttle like an engine sputtering for gas. Her body was so hot to the touch, she was simply pulsing with such energy. Umbra conquered your mind with her rump and stared into your flabbergasted face with quite some pride.

“I'd trade all the wealth in Canterlot for your kiss. I'd set fire to chronicles of unspeakable power just to be held in your arms! I'd bow before the Princesses so they could watch you breed me!" The black unicorn hissed one last time before she mercifully pulled forward. The slightest rush of air moved between you two and allowed red magic to do its work. Finally, after several minutes of heated and painful grinding, your soggy and musky pants were torn off in fields of energy and tossed aside. Boxers went soon after and let your thickness jump into the open sunlight without a hint of shame. Much like Umbra, you were pumped full with fiery blood and aching with aggravated redness. Licks of moving air from the spinning fan above stung like bees and wasps attacking you, mirroring how your wife’s ultra-sensitive and puffy snatch felt. Pain and pleasure melded into one intense and freakish sensation when your wife’s titanic ass finally came back and encapsulated your bare manhood in her folding mounds of suffocating ass.

“GHK! Angh!” Your voice jumped without command at the first touch of white-hot lips against you. Nerves fired off confused and wild signals when you became buried between jiggling assets and kissed against both holes. Your size was enough to cover her nethers entirely, from bottom to top all her black was replaced with you. A winking clit, poking with a hot and sensitive pink nub, tickled and slathered the base of your shaft with gooey and thick geysers of pleasure. Her whimpering and gripping tailhole pulled and suckled on your head with a muscular ring hungry as the sopping tunnel below. Her cheeks squeezed and relaxed with the ticking clock, assuring that every moment spent in her grasp was a nightmarish explosion of pleasure.

“Hmmmmmrrrrph… get in there, my King. Feel how warm I am for you? Do you see how ready I am to please?” You gasped and lined up your assets with her own, easily gliding over the polished surface of her sex with so much grease squirting from the little mare.

“Yesssssss… give it to meeeeee! Put it in! Put it inside me!” Umbra growled in throaty mumbles of mindless desire, every part of mind more deeply focused on the firm pressing at her backside.

A rounded and red crown inched between bright pink walls, a funnel of muscular flesh guiding you deeper and deeper inside her. It almost hurt to touch her, the heat of her body so intense it created plumes of hot steam and musky walls of haze. As well, Umbra’s normal tightness had been ratcheted up into an insane deathgrip that refused to relax around you. The clenching and saturated tunnel gave just enough for you to enter, the force of her weight and your strength just barely letting you pop inside with an airtight slurp. One tiny opening was forced open about the first third of your length and audibly accepted every bit of it.

“Ooh! Ah, ah, yes! Yes my King!” She snarled and grit her fangs in the wake of the torrential pleasure slamming into her mind. Umbra trembled on her hooves with just a portion of your manhood inside her. Bulging veins and throbbing ridges massaged about inside her with tiny twitches forcing your girth back and forth inside the soupy mess of her cunt. Though you held fast to her hips to try and gain some leverage, Umbra was more than happy to take on the task of breeding. She shook her backside for you between ragged and needy pants in efforts to loosen her kneading and nursing snatch.

“Hff, hff, jeez! You gotta- mmph! Relax, Sugar! You gotta-” There was no talking to Umbra, now. With a ring dangling from her neck and a husband jammed inside her pussy, the mare couldn’t possibly be reasoned with. The intricate machinery of her brain had been busted and repurposed for an entirely different goal now. All she could imagine was your seed firing inside her boiling hot womb. That end goal drove her to pound and bang and slap against you with the same hurried pace of a factory machine running an unsafe speed. Physical tightness forced her to be stiff and slow at first, but that minor discomfort was blasted apart in favor of a mad and awkward ride once her inertia was found.

“Rrgh! RRFG! Breed me! Take me! Make me your mindless broodmare, damnit!” Umbra cursed and hissed and moaned under her breath as she subjected her soft flower to this torment. Slapping and riding hips went up and down again and again in a blurring flurry of jiggling buttocks and swishing tail. Her cunt split elegantly to hold you inside and undulated with massaging motions to milk every last bit of pleasure from you. The force of her rises was enough to make holding her impossible, thus both hands were forced to retreat and grasp the cushions for some kind of tether to reality.

“Baby- NNG- GUH! Babygirl?!” You huffed in disbelief as Umbra took the lead. She had never ridden like this, the wild and lusty pace unbecoming of the normally romantic and needy Queen. She usually preferred to be doted over and cared for during your lovemaking, much like Derpy. She would lay there and let you worship her, limp legs and relaxed posture making her like a talkative pillow with open holes for you to enjoy.

But now, she was on a mission. She strove for nothing short of fulfilling a new, deep desire. Her mind was awash with images of your future, your marriage and your unity. Her life would be incomplete without heirs to carry on her name, carry on your memory. That ancient need was impossible to ignore, impossible to suppress and leave alone. Exhausted as it may have made her and strenuous as riding you may have been, Umbra pressed on regardless of any protests thrown at her.

“Slow down- NNG! Baby! Gonna- hff, hff, gah!” You tried to suppress the boiling tides inside you. Thrashing waters and bubbling potions brewed in your balls until the pressure reached critical levels. Her monstrous grip and insane speed was breaking you down quicker than you needed, leading to an almost premature burst of seed. It wasn’t your style to allow such a thing, for it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as a slow boil. Umbra hadn’t even reached her own peak when you threatened to teeter over the edge, yet she couldn’t have cared less.

“Do it! Cum, Anonymous! Fill me! Fill me with your seed until I can hardly stand!” She punished your hips with such force that her tightly bound bun of hair burst at the strap and let a fountain of ebony fall over her shoulders. Back arching and her internal muscles milking you with all their might, you broke at the seams and surrendered to her body. Just watching her ebony mass flash pink and ooze around you was enough to melt any higher facets of your mind. Stinging vines grew over any will to resist and any notion of restraint. Your male spirit fought through the useless layers of modern decency to command you toward one mighty action. Just as your wife forced herself to your base and held your entire cock inside pulsating, working flesh, the first jet of orgasm gushed free.

“Mmmmh… My Kiiiiiing…” Umbra closed her eyes and drank in the satisfaction. That pleased and fulfilled sensation of honoring nature’s commands. Fresh, hot and flowing sperm raced inside her womb and populated the tight space with its white torrents. She grew ever so slightly heavier with your batter flooding her, that extra pressure on her hooves like the most delicious nectar poured straight from heaven. For a moment, Umbra weighed absolutely nothing. She lost touch with her physical body when the ecstasy exploded in her chest and sent her spirit rocketing to the stars.

Only for her to come screaming back a moment later and drown in the dirty pleasure of it all. Her cunt was simply too tight to allow much to stay inside her. There wasn’t a millimeter of space left inside her pussy that wasn’t crammed tightly with your throbbing and pumping cock. Thus, whatever her belly couldn’t contain was launched out of her with spiraling spurts of heavy juice. Your alien prick pulsed and bulged with orgasm pumping into your wife, each throb engorging your shaft and spiking the intense delight burning Umbra’s heart. Clung so tightly to you and knit together by marriage, the mare could sense every moment of orgasm. She could feel your pressure, feel the strength of your body operating so naturally inside her. Even though you two were so different and manufactured into such unique shapes, she knew your every motion by heart. The beauty of it all left her still and suckling for breath in the wake of your orgasm, her own a forgotten relic when such desperate times were upon her.

The Queen made your cock into a throne for her enormous ass, the cupping feel of your spread legs just as exciting as the softening rod buried inside her. A quick approach of softness sparked alarm in the dizzy Queen, a warranted fear when you soon were too flaccid to remain within her unreasonably tight confines. Oozing wetness and snotty, sticky passion poured out of her the moment your manhood was forced out and made to bob pathetically in the unforgiving air.

“Whoa baby… holy moly…” You gasped and leaned back into the couch. The experience washed over you like a drug again and again in your mind, pushing out any reasoning powers still left after such an incredible moment. Your wife hooked a hoof against her puffy and oozing snatch to hold every particle of gushing orgasm inside, all the while shaking on her legs and fighting to stay upright.

The draining experience of love made it difficult for her to carry on. Even without a climax to sap every last bit of energy, simply taking you inside her was a labor that often destroyed the mare for an entire day. She recalled many a weekend morning spent breeding in passionate twists of limbs and moans, only for that day to be spent recuperating in the bed and hardly moving until nightfall. Her weak stamina refueled itself on the taste of sex in the air and warmth sloshing about inside her precious flower, pushing the mare to shake off her fatigue and chase after your wilting trunk.

“Hff, hff, hff… hnng… so virile. So powerful. My King is- mmph! My King has been holding back, I see.” She turned around with twitching legs and deep breaths sucking the heavy air past shining teeth. Drool fell from her lips as she guided her snout into your groin, sniffing and prodding at the sticky and creamy cock that would soon make her whole again. A hungry tongue lashed at your underside as it drooped lower and lower, the weight of your shaft soon settling across her snout while Umbra lapped at your half-drained nuts.

“Moving a little fast, aren’t ya Babygirl?” You asked with a slight laugh and a hand running through her mane. Umbra stared at you with piercing and threatening orbs of crimson, all the while drowning in your run-off sex and kissing your jewels.

“Gimme a few minutes. You know-” That foolish protest was cut short by her fangs nipping at your delicate scrotum. Just the gentlest touch of sharpness to your fragile gonads to show that Umbra would have none of your reason or restraint.

“Haahng… I don’t think so.” She growled with bubbling cum frothing at her lips and rivers of sticky white running down her cheeks.

“Your duty is yet to be fulfilled. I can feel it, your Majesty!” Umbra hissed and licked up the length of your cock, her face dragging along and scrubbing it clean with dark fur. You hiccupped and bucked at the almost painful spike in sensation, as the raw flesh and throbbing nerves had yet to calm down and regain proper sensitivity.

“Don’t forget, my King. I am certainly yours.” The mare stopped just as her plush lips met your glans and used the opportunity to lay a sloppy kiss on your pumping tip. It burned like fire straight from your rod to your heart, a line directly feeding you shocking and wild feedback your brain couldn’t possibly process. It was lucky Umbra had such hair, otherwise the crushing grip you had on it might’ve yanked handfuls of mane right out in surprise.

“But you are mine, as well. You are bound by law to give me what I desire, no matter the cost. No matter the burden.”

“UmbraAAH!” Any effort to talk sense was blasted apart by her chomping softly around your manhood and slurping it clean of filth. A hoof casually slid between your thighs to cradle both testes in a comforting, goading manner to churn more seed within them.

“You know what your Queen wants. You know what to do. Make our mark on history, Anonymous.” The mare rested your cock across her face, blotting out an eye and staring right through to your very soul.

“We will make royalty together. Dukes and duchesses and princes and princesses. Or we will die trying.” Every fiber of your being wanted to correct this, as the desire was familiar territory. Once again you faced the impossible task of breeding a mare with alien and incompatible seed. Derpy had miraculously birthed your child some time ago, but how and why was still nothing short of a mystery to all involved. There wasn’t much reason to ask anyway, as your child and wives demanded all your attention and support. But now history repeated itself right in front of you with a stupefied and panting expression drunk of love. Clamoring up your body and sitting in your lap, Umbra was doomed to fight the same uphill battle Derpy had spent years trying to win.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re a King, Anonymous! Yours is a seed stronger than any other mortal stallion’s!” Umbra pressed her ass against your lap once more, grinding your cock between her gushing lips and smashing your endurance with titanic buttocks. Black mountains buried thighs and hips under their embrace, demanding only one thing.

“Umbra-”

“Shhhhhh…” Your wife kissed your cheek, leaving sticky marks along your jaw.

“We will show this damnable world what true breeding is. Right here, right now. I will nurse every last drop from you.” Dark hooves rubbed along your neck and face, stroking and worshipping your appearance as Umbra stared intently into it.

“This room will see a hundred days worth of love in a single night. I want you to give everything to me. I want to be so heavy with your essence that my legs fail.” Noses touched in the intimacy of it all, a squirt of your cum escaping her reddened and enraged cunt.

“Please… ruin me, Anonymous. Look at me not as your mare. Think me nothing more than a vessel for you to release inside again and again and again until it is done!” If you weren’t so hard then and there, you might’ve tried to resist her. There might’ve been some notion of refusal in your heart. But the moment Umbra aggressively guided you back in the fold of her body, there wasn’t anything to be said. Your hands naturally grabbed her ass for leverage and helped her down your spire of firm flesh.

Cream bubbled up and squirt around your filling cock as it plunged into the tight cavern of the sorceress. She gasped and hissed into your face as she stared into you with lurid noises of wet sex echoing her moans. Messy lubrication slipped and gurgled between you both, making for a noisy coupling that every adjacent room could hear with alarming clarity. Umbra had loosened up very slightly from your last entrance, her pink walls inflated with need but allowing a somewhat easier entry inside her. After only a few strokes, your rounded head was punching at her cervix in beckoning knocks. She took you to the root with far less struggle and maddly held on with a crushing pelvic floor.

“Unnng! Augh, Anonymous!” She groaned and bit into your neck out of utter desperation. Umbra spiraled back into a breeding haze of incoherent thoughts as you did your sacred work. Rocking her back and forth and aiding her stiff bounces, a second breeding got well underway within seconds of penetration. She squealed and hummed and moaned the entire way, perhaps orgasming in the midst of your exhausting work. Lifting her was easy, but doing it repeatedly was an intense workout. Your biceps were burning within minutes of bouncing the pony in your lap, any climax miles away after such a catastrophic one just wiped you out. The second filling though was well worth the wait, if Umbra’s flabbergasted and strained expression was any metric to judge. She curled tightly against you and buried her face in your neck whilst another tide of white gushed inside her. The mare was growing heavier in your lap, squishing down with ever so little force added by your fertile addition.

A tremendous effort by any other metric, the second was still not enough. Your heart raced and your muscles ached in a vain plea for rest. The dark Queen refused any sensible pause however, instead laying herself across the couch and spreading thin like melted butter. The plush mound bulging from her groin was completely painted over with white and left a suitably enormous stain on the once inviting and modern furniture. Staring at you and heaving her whimpery breaths, there was no possible way you could deny the wretched unicorn another round. A third mating within the hour when the near-lifeless unicorn pulled your shirt back toward her. Her legs snapped about your body the moment you came in range and snared you into a missionary pounding.

“Again.” Was all she could choke out, her canal so filled with see you couldn’t find the proper hole to enter at first. That breeding lasted far longer than the last two, as your raw manhood was almost bereft of sensation after two deep poundings. Umbra herself was able to reach her peak twice in the hour of sweaty, panting and wild thrusting it took for you to lace her with another batch of stringy cum. That unbroken hour left you drained, burning and sore with exhaustion. You hadn’t mated like that in years, let alone after two equally viscous sessions. Umbra spurted pearly jets in geysers of pressure, her hoofs unable to keep your essence trapped inside when her crushing walls failed to relax. Someone listening in wouldn’t have been blamed if they thought you both were absolutely inebriated and suffocating in a gas leak. Animalistic howls and moans and wheezy breaths communicated just how wild the atmosphere of your room had become. Umbra’s chest rose and fell with such rapidity that it made her rotund belly jiggle and her tongue hang from the corner of her maw. A slow and tired attempt to step from her decimated body away only succeeded in allowing her to move without being seen and throw herself onto your perfectly made bed. She lay on her belly and inadvertently added pressure to her already overwhelmed system, thus you were alerted to her readiness by a rude

“SPLRT!” of hot white human gushing across the floor.

“Again!” She demanded, her voice slurred from orgasmic overload. Laying on her side with thighs pressed together, her myriad of folded, juicy parts melded together into yet another cum-covered puzzle. That breeding failed to even register in your memory as anything more than a blur of thrusts and moans and bites. Burning pain built up so thick in your muscles that falling onto the bed was all you could do after that thinning load of maleness squirt inside of Umbra. It felt like only water had left you that time, all the sperm produced over the last week currently swimming about and trying to find purchase in your new wife. Laying there and gritting your teeth in exasperation, it was only then that you felt he stingy presence of multiple bite wounds scattered up and down your neck and shoulders.

“Again! Nnf-... again!” Umbra whined, crawling across your body with a visibly bulging gut dragging along the blankets. Seed and yellowish mare orgasm stained the sheets with musky spills of heady stink, filling the room and your noses with the overindulgence of two unreasonable maniacs unleashed on one another. The sun set lower in the sky as you mated in a mindless and stupid flurry of breeding. Each lay grew longer and slower as nerve endings failed to recover and muscles became useless bundles of exhausted fiber. Human and pony alike collapsed after hours of breeding only when the darkness of a young evening beckoned the yellow street lights to come to life outside. Pounding hearts slowed during one last sexual tangle, you and Umbra sucking for breath and glued at the chest by excess.

Sweat and cum and drool and all manner of filth made it impossible to escape the grasp of the other, leading to a grinding halt mid-thrust atop the annihilated mattress. Sheets were scattered around, clothes draped across furniture and the room billowing with wet fog from your unending efforts. Laying on top of Umbra with her legs spread around your hips, neither of you were willing to move away from the other when the last bits of life finally left.

“Ung… fuck…” You swore, the very first you had said in years. Arms clenched around the quivering Queen to pull her into your secure and loving body, one she happily embraced and buried her face in. Her butt was a patchy and sopping mess of black fur matted with cum and lips oozing so much that she could be stuck to a wall. She clenched and milked at the air once your softened cock finally fell free from her, the kneading motions of her energetic lips pressing out your unused and alien alabaster like a leaking faucet. Her hooves scraped and pulled at your ribs, calling for aftercare in the blinding heat of two bodies pushed to their limits. You obliged with a kiss below her horn and a bruise forming on your chest from her ring crushing against it for so long.

“Alright… alright. Yeah. I’m done.” You whispered, kissing her ear as she gurgled some incoherent jumble of words into your collar bone.

“Agrrrglgg…” Sweating and panting and riding off the heat of the moment, there was no need for blankets. Umbra didn’t even need pillows when the firm, securing mass of your bicep cushioned her head so perfectly. She disappeared into a realm of touch and blurred perception that focused tightly on the gurgling waves beating the walls of her insides. In her mind, the mare could feel each and every sperm cell dashing for her egg and fighting to sew her with children. Her body was processing and boiling with production, perhaps fighting to fashion a handsome son to carry on the name of King after you. Her muscles were growing weak and diverting all their resources to her womb, maybe helping to craft a gorgeous and brilliant Queen to rival her own prowess in magic. Ideally it was both, giving her twins to best Derpy’s single child back home in Ponyville.

Umbra closed her eyes in peace, knowing that you had done your very best either way. Now it was up to nature and luck to produce her heirs. And with you by her side, she would wait however long it took to get what she wanted.

“I love you, Umbra.” You said with a startling finality to your voice, allowing it to be the very last thing she heard before the best day of her life ended.

Tomorrow, it would all be so different.

Vague Anxieties

Chapter 4.
Vague Anxieties.

Umbra sucked for breath under the pressure of this ethereal burden pressing on her chest. Kicking and thrashing unconsciously in bed, the unicorn sweat profusely as the images within her mind assaulted her sleep. Without pause, without quarter and without mercy, the restless Queen faced the scathing attack of her own psyche trying to piece discordant songs and garbled screeches together. These things, these places, these ponies she saw. They were all gone- long gone. She had made sure of just that many lifetimes ago. She buried these apparitions to prevent this very horrid haunt from visiting her again.

From unseen vantage points inside her they hurled words and insults and shouts. In a vast sea of nothingness with a definite and painful sense of place, the pony could only cower and wait for the pain to end. A sheet of icy rain fell invisibly on her as the spirits shrouding her delivered their punishment again and again.

“Take that thing to the river and do what must be done.”

“I have failed all those that came before me. I am not fit to carry this name.”

“Weakness made us one. Now we shall suffer together with hooves intertwined forever.”

“Disgusting halfbreed.”

That name. That wretched, foul and disgusting name. It alone was enough to catapult Umbra into a shocking state of awareness once again. Jostled awake and panting against the mattress, your unicorn wife squirmed and rolled in the crowded mess of the nest. The thinner and more breathable blankets for this time of year constantly slipped off pony and human bodies alike. Umbra rapidly found herself without protection from the harsh reality suddenly closing in around her. Green and red eyes danced from place to place in this familiar room she called a bed chamber, but nothing offered her an ounce of safety or a whisper of reassurance.

She was suddenly afraid. Really and truly afraid. Of what? Of who? Or even why, she couldn’t quite tell. The lack of answers reinforced this quivering terror in her, as it was exceptionally rare that the wise and aggressive pony couldn’t rationalize herself back to a calmer state. Of all the horrible things she had seen and done, this was the most terrific by far. Something had truly gotten to her and shot straight through ancient and heavy armor. The mare’s mind drowned in fear that hid away higher thoughts and reason. Long locks of her hair were everywhere in the bed, spread out and soaked with sweat in places. Umbra was splayed, she was exposed and vulnerable to the hovering things waiting to strike. Imaginary or real, these feelings of anxiety didn’t care about the difference.

Her chest heaved and her hooves pawed around for something to help her, something to save her from this realm of confusion and darkness. Her memories and dreams were shrouded in the fog of a confused mind slapped awake by a nightmare and blended together with the real world. The blackness that comforted her before was now a collapsing cave wall inching closer and closer with suffocating cold to greet her again.

There had to be a shield from this force somewhere. She wasn’t helpless, for she would never allow such a state. Searching around, the ebon unicorn quickly came upon her still and heavy aegis. Thankfully, just as you always had, your body was nearby and pulling her in. Gravity depressed the mattress inwards beneath you and made it slope toward your body. It made mare and blanket alike cling to you, that is if Derpy didn’t flatten herself out in the summer months to air out her wings. Turning herself about quietly and cautiously approaching your face, Umbra came close enough to smell the masculine scent emanating off your neck before she spoke.

“Anonymous… art thou awake?” She whimpered into the nothingness, praying for a response. She begged a higher power for you to say something, for nothing else could possibly save her uneasy mind. Her hooves stopped touching around the still bed in search of answers, instead choosing to tuck in tightly against her belly to keep any attacker away from her sensitive and vulnerable figure. Gritting her teeth and fighting to conserve her resolve, Umbra let free a sigh of unparalleled relief when you rolled over and answered groggily.

“Rrrph… yeah, yeah. I’m here, Sugar. I’m here.” You answered with a dry and ragged voice. Crystalline human eyes cut through the darkness when moonlight caught them so perfectly and fired an infectious spear through Umbra’s heart. She caught herself staring into your drained expression, the shaggy facial hair and sharp contours of a man’s face bringing warmth back to her strangely freezing body. A trained professional, you immediately noticed with a skilled gaze that something was amiss. Your confident and indulgent wife was without a blanket, without cuddles and shivering. She bit her lip and held her ears at attention, acting as if someone was waiting in the darkness to leap out and bite her.

“Whoa, what gives, Umbra?” You asked solemnly as the pony scooted forward and buried herself in you. She refused any words or any resistance, not that there was much to overcome in the first place. She knew your body, she knew you better than almost any pony in all Equestria. Rolling into your grasp and naturally falling into you was easy then, as if she was crafted to fit between your arms and chest without issue. Her breaths hitched and her snout flared wide to take in the reassuring, secure aroma of a sleepy human male. You could only lay there as she became one with you, her fur scrubbing into your skin and her firm motions assuring you wouldn’t ever let go.

“Anonymous… I’m cold.” She mumbled into your neck, desperate for a tighter and tighter grip on her human. Fidgeting somewhat and trying to help her calm down, it was highly apparent that you were better off just laying there and letting her be your pillow. Umbra went still as a rock when she finally made herself properly comfortable. Your bicep below her head, your neck against her snout and your hands holding her hips were all she needed to feel right again. Those ghosts, those screaming phantoms of mistakes made so long ago, were beaten back. They couldn’t get through you. A human was just too solid and strong. Every fiber of your being defended your wife.

You relented and embraced her gently, squeezing to make her aware of your love and care. Neither of your mares were ravenous cuddle monsters in the summer, the heat turning your bed into a sweaty mess where each one took their third of the mattress and simply fought to stay asleep. But grasping Umbra now, running your fingers through her fur and feeling her icy hooves wiggle between your thighs shocked you with licks of frigid discomfort.

“Wha-... Umbra? You’re shakin’ like a leaf.” You whispered into her ear, letting your breath warm the twitching flap. Umbra whined and pulled in even closer to treat you as a living, manly space heater. An arm concealed most of her under the thin plaid blanket strewn across the bed, another few swipes and pulls tucking her long mane against her curved back. She adored the sensation of your fingers dragging through her silky hair, especially when nails scraped along her scalp and lit off fireworks within her heart.

“Please… please hold me. Anonymous, I want to be held.” Umbra more whined than whispered to you, confiding a deep and serious need. You weren’t deaf to her desires, though you still grasped gently to the pony and made sure she was never anything but cradled in the most delicate manner. She suffocated herself against your body with nuzzles and kisses and pushes into your face like a dog thrilled to see their master come home.

“What’s wrong, Babygirl?” You huffed through the slow moving and intimate melee.

“Keep me close. Please. I don’t want to be alone again.” She simpered into you with muffled huffs and gasps. All ten fingers combed across her back and neck, crawling up higher and higher until you were holding her head and kissing her cheek lazily.

“Talk to me, Umbra.” You groaned when her fangs nipped at your chin and jaw, her dreary stare sending bolts of lightning through you when fixed so intensely to your eyes.

“What’s bothering you? Tell me, Babygirl.” She refused, instead shutting her eyes and running a hoof along your broad chest.

“Why are you awake, my King?” Umbra’s words were almost inaudible, even in the tiny space between your faces. You sighed and stroked her ear between your fingers, effectively melting the Queen into a slurried mess of gripping legs and twitching muscles.

“Dreams again. Weird ones.” She could sense your exasperation. Through your voice and your weak grip, Umbra could positively taste your lack of energy. She snarled gently at the idea of her own troubling ghosts stealing away your peaceful rest as well. A disgusting thing to do, even for their invisible and intangible forces. If they could not terrify her and disrupt her, then they would attack her husband. A low and dirty tactic Umbra would have to combat.

“Rrrph… come. Come to me.” She mumbled lazily, clamoring higher onto your body and resting her cheek against yours. Despite cutting off some of your air and stealing any sense of personal space you had, it was quite difficult to remove the warm and fluffy mare from your face.

“I will protect you… Just come closer.” Her voice went straight from her jaw bone into yours, shuddering throughout your skull like church bells in an ancient city. A sigh left the both of you as the moon lowered in the sky and refused to bestow either of you with sleep. Your wife remained cold to the touch wherever you weren’t smothering her. Along her back and legs, Umbra’s body lost all semblance of heat and called for your attention. Blankets were completely ineffective, only a masculine and firm grip bringing back her ability to relax. Likewise, you were clearly restless throughout the night. Umbra refused to fall asleep and felt every moment of your fatigue.

Lifeless shifts there, a beleaguered sigh here and a constant readjusting to keep muscles from stiffening. It tormented her to see you so helpless. She was inspired to help however she could, despite most of her efforts hardly being conducive to restorative rest. Laying on your back and staring at the ceiling, she would distract your wandering mind with gentle kisses. Cracking joints in your back invited her hooves to run along the bumpy path of your spine and gently follow the trail toward whichever bundle of nerves complained. Red magic tucked the blankets in against your back and shoulders, assuring that not a single breath of cold air could harm her man.

All night, you two remained tangled in a sleepless and rough mess of limb and fur. Black fluff clung to your entire body from head to toe by the time dawn broke over the mountains outside. You breathed through a mask of Umbra’s all-consuming mane and drowned in her ash flavored, sweet scent. Her fur and hair clung to every bit of your body and made sure you would carry her memory for the rest of the day. Tender and pillowy lips hovered within millimeters of your face during the entire exchange, as at any moment during this sleepless pursuit you might be called upon to comfort and kiss your Queen.

Tides surged inside her, terrible currents ploughed and beat against her heart and threatened to spill out of her mouth at any moment. You could feel it in her, the storage of secrets and regrets growing so mammoth and painful that even stalwart and ancient Umbra struggled to hold them back. When she pressed you back and held you down with both hooves on your shoulders, it was clearly the only way to vent these frustrations without confessing. Kissing and holding and moaning for your wife was never an unpleasant affair, but the deeper and more concentrated portions of your mind wished dearly that she would just speak up.

“Hahhhnnng… mmmh… Anonymous… my King. Mine forever.” She groaned deeply into your face with lips slicked by spittle and sweat. Somewhere in the passage of time, you ended up rolling onto her and holding Umbra down. She flattened into a splatter of a mare, dark fur and mane spreading out like a pattern of destruction as you fought to get some sleep.

“Good morning, Bubby.” A familiar voice whispered to you in the strange realm between sleep and consciousness, another soft kiss on your lips lost in the moment.

“Poppy? Are you awa- oh. Sorry, sorry.” Another said, albeit with a definite distance between you and it. Time and space blurred together until sunlight finally became powerful enough to slice through them both and burn your eyes. Delicate organs singed with the sudden stimulation and made you retreat behind your Queen’s head. She likewise growled in frustration, pushing herself below your arm and whining in protest.

“Uuuhng… art thou still awake?” Umbra grumbled without opening her eyes.

“Yeah… didn’t sleep.” You admitted into her ear, kissing it casually and running your fingers along the bulge of her belly.

“You?”

“No.” She huffed in defeat, covering her eyes with your arm and suckling on the smooth skin there.

“Might as well get up… make some coffee.” Umbra whined particularly loud when you attempted to extract yourself from the nest, a heavy burden of mare butt suddenly pressed against your hips.

“No, no, no… stay with me.” She commanded sleepily, a freedom from your weight letting her whip around quickly and latch onto your body.

“Can we not just sleep the day away, my King? You’ve been such a good comforter I cannot bear to let you be.” Such a notion didn’t really disturb you. Tomorrow you would be back at work and sweating away, yet without hardly a night’s sleep to help you recover. Lounging with Umbra for the entire day and perhaps even snaring Derpy into the mix tickled your heart, but something was still in need of addressing. The irritating nag of responsibility reared its ugly head again when you reached across the mattress and stole the wretched alarm clock from its post on the nightstand.

“You’ve got that meeting with Rose in an hour.” You stated coldly, trying to prompt her into action. Rather than leap from bed and begin to dress herself however, Umbra simply groaned and buried her face deeper into your chest.

“Nnnno, no, no… Later. The morning’s just arrived. She cannot be coming this early.” You huffed and held her head against your firm, flat pectorals with a hand. She enjoyed listening to your thundering heart dearly, thus it was a perfect way to melt your Queen into a more receptive state.

“It’s noon.” You corrected, earning yet another muffled noise from the Queen. Only then did she surrender to the tide of reality. Her body loosened and relaxed beneath you, allowing activity to be forced unto her.

“Ugh… fine. Yes. Okay.” She whimpered, still forcing you to do the heavy lifting.

Rising from the tangle below, you set about preparing your haughty and pretty mare for her simple day. She watched you go with intent eyes nearly hidden beneath her blankets, all the while swishing her tail and huffing your masculine scent from the soft fibers. Her morning regiment was relatively simple, albeit something you had to take immense care in performing. First, she needed to be thoroughly brushed to prevent her enormous stores of hair from turning into a matted mess. The schedule was normally a rotation between Umbra and Derpy, as both required some care to prevent an uncomfortable build-up of feathers and fur.

Sitting her up in your lap with several grades of brushes, you set about the lazy and drawn-out task of combing her mane. First, remove the larger kinks. Then, straighten all the fibers out as efficiently as possible. With a finer tooth comb, run through again to pull out any loose hairs that would otherwise fall out or shed onto the furniture. Finally, a deep and relaxing scalp massage to relieve tension and make Umbra easier to manipulate. You tied her hair into a somewhat manageable ponytail, though its sheer volume and length still made it splay out all across her back and shoulders in curly, silky blooms.

Swooning gently as if she were intoxicated, Umbra was then quickly dressed to reserve some modicum of dignity. You never created a wardrobe or precisely dictated what she was to wear, just threw on the first thing you saw when she was too lazy to do it herself. An old death metal sweater of yours would suit nicely, its logo so worn from age and the fabric so stretched out there was no way one could ever read it again. Not that the scrawling and sharp words were very clear in the first place. Umbra especially liked wearing your old shirts, as if they were tokens of her prideful marriage to show off around town. Your dark wife never wore jewelry, for the ring eternally hanging around her neck was more than enough. Carefully sliding it over her head, she sighed in delight when its weight sat upon her shoulders.

Sloppily dressed, sloppily brushed and grinning like an idiot, your wife was ready to go. Both hands picked her up by the chest and placed her on the floor for a motivational slap on the rump.

“There. Happy?” You asked whilst following her down the stairs. She didn’t need to say anything, only replying with a smug grin and a kiss on your leg.

“Verily.” She quipped, letting you two part ways for the day. Umbra stole whatever leftovers from Derpy and Dinky’s breakfast she could, you simply took the cold mug of coffee your pegasus wife prepared and set off for the few chores left to do. Dinky was already out of the house and off with friends for no doubt rambunctious and childish adventures, leaving a palpable and rare silence in the cottage. Umbra couldn’t help but feel cheated without her morning kiss and greeting, but ultimately that was the fate of a lazy pony who refused to wake up on time. Derpy came clopping into the kitchen with saddlebags about her back and a sun hat hiding much of her gorgeously gilded mane, she and Umbra exchanging looks of surprise.

“Good morning, sleepy-peepy!” Derpy greeted as she retrieved a dented canteen from the sink.

“And good morning to you as well.” Umbra returned with a weak smile, the mares exchanging a customary nuzzle.

“Where are you off to, Derpy? You’re positively dressed for war!” Umbra snickered, catching glimpses of metallic shoes, canvas satchels and sunglasses dangling off the motherly mare’s rotund sides.

“Don’t you remember? The Mares’ Club is taking a hike into the Everfree today. Twilight’s gonna show us some ancient ruins and we’re gonna have a picnic by the river.” She chirped with excitement, failing to impress the dark Queen.

Thankfully, the anti-social and frightening Sorceress never had to pull her civic weight in the household. Since Dinky’s birth and the subsequent maternity leave, Derpy never felt the need to return to work. She enlisted herself into full-time motherhood, something she found herself passionately suited for. By no means trapped however, and often at your own specific behest, Derpy still got out with her friends and into the public to participate. It pleased you to no end knowing that your wife made friends in the town, went on trips and always had something to occupy her mind.

Perhaps it was a learned fear of a traditional family arrangement you had seen first-hand go terribly wrong, perhaps it was years of college drilling into your mind that it was a bad thing, but you always fought for Derpy to have her hobbies and interests. Insanely focused as she was on raising her daughter, you never wanted to be accused of restraining her- nevermind finding yourself actually guilty of it. Today’s outing was another extension of that, a fun pastime to both keep her occupied and extend goodwill toward the town. It was shockingly helpful to have at least one “normal” wife that ponies could interact with and enjoy. Derpy did immeasurable work demystifying your household and assuring the town it was indeed a normal family that just so happened to contain the weirdest weirdos in all Equestria.

“Ah! Yes, yes, of course. It must’ve slipped my mind.” Umbra hummed casually as her eyes fell to the window letting in fresh and blinding sunlight.

“I will be sure to watch Dinky closely whilst you’re gone, Derpy. And do bring me some souvenirs.” The dutiful wife nodded sincerely to her herdmate, giving one last nuzzle in appreciation before making for the door.

“I’ll stop by the pharmacy and get some sleepy pills too. You guys were wiggling up a storm last night!” Derpy chirped from the doorframe.

“Mh, please do. Without natural chamomile around here, I can hardly make a tincture worth the time… and just between us? Perhaps another carton of pregnancy tests?” The pegasus knowingly winked with a warm smile, setting off for the day with a giddy trot. Umbra thoughtfully sipped leftover coffee and munched on her stale bagel with a studious eye fixed on the silly pony. Staring out the window, she watched closely as Derpy trot toward you and acquired her love-tax for the afternoon.

Groggily lumbering about with leather gloves and dirty shorts already on, she interrupted your preparation with a surprising kiss at eye-level. She so effortlessly snuck in on you with beating wings and an infectious smile, begging to be grabbed out of the air and shown what for. The ebony Queen could only watch with pangs of jealousy erupting in the bottom of her heart when you instantly embraced the goofy mare and stole her away as your own prized treasure, as if you intended to keep her for yourself and worship her for eternity. Even from this distance, through the intense heat of the afternoon sun at its zenith and the foggy pane of glass, Umbra could taste the undying and true affection.

Derpy’s was a natural love, one that was effortless and natural as breathing or blinking. Her flavor was that of genuine and unbreakable compassion, unrivaled and thoughtlessly easy to maintain. You didn’t have to think, you didn’t have to try and you never had to question why or what with her. She watched as you two naturally embraced and played with one another. Derpy was allowed to do things to you that would earn other ponies a swift smack in the mouth. She knocked your hat off, nipped at your pants, licked your neck- humiliating things if they weren’t done by your one and only.

But that was the issue.

No matter what you said, no matter how many times it was repeated in hushed whispers and gasps of emotion, regardless of the weighty ring hanging from her neck at that very moment, Umbra knew that your love for her was different.

Perhaps not outright inferior. Just different.

Different enough that she could taste the subtle hints of bitterness at the back of her throat. Devoted and passionate and accommodating as you were for her, you two were not soul mates. Fate had forced you together and welded your souls together into a shapely, if not rather rough configuration. It worked, it was beautifully slapdash and powerful. She knew you would do anything for her. There was nothing in the world that you would deny her.

But her innermost thoughts never let it slide that there was another. Pursing her lips and staring at the idyllic, picturesque scene of you and yours made giggling and kissing in the summer sun, Umbra resented herself not being the center. She had grown accustomed to being the second mare. She didn’t enjoy it, she simply tolerated it. The adult portions of her mind rationalized and accepted it long ago. Her instinctive mind never caught up however and always begged for her to be the epicenter of your world. Just as you were hers. She wanted you to be engrossed by her at all times, everyday and for all days that were to come. In times of weakness, she found herself dreaming of being your only wife. Your favorite and most prized wife that all who looked upon could tell was a spoiled mare.

Ebon lips depressed into a frown when the realization struck her and a flood of introspection washed over the squat mare. Why did she feel the need to take what was not hers? Why was she not satisfied with the lot she had earned? Was your love not enough? Did she really have to have every little bit of your attention undivided and unbroken? What kind of a herdmate would think these things when their stallion tried his very best to never show favor? She distracted herself such that the front door creaking open barely registered in the back of her mind, the summer heat demanding it stay slightly ajar at almost all times. A timid eye peered into the home from behind said door, silently scanning for any wandering shapes nearby.

“Hellooooooo? Anyone home?” A familiar voice snapped Umbra back to reality, sparking her to stand once again and address more reasonable issues. Shaking the delirium from her eyes and taking one last breath to steady herself, the dark unicorn opened her door fully to properly welcome her guest.

“Rose! So good to see you again!” Umbra hummed in delight, gesturing for the prim and handsome mare to make herself at home.

“Ms. Umbra, you’re looking well!” The pony lied, as Umbra looked more like a baggy, squishy, adorable blob of fur and chub. Regardless, she hung up the leather straps that had hitched her to the slight cart left outside and trot into the home to begin her business.

Brown fur warmed deeply by the sun and her pink mane tied modestly back into a tight bundle of hair, Rose carried herself in nothing short of a scholarly manner. Her glasses, fancy vest and tendency to speak quietly outlined her quite obviously in Umbra’s mind as one of Canterlot’s prestigious academics, one who would probably be more at home in one of the silent royal libraries than a little village like Ponyville. Polite and well mannered, Rose had always been a welcomed presence in your home since the very first years you had arrived in Equestria.

“I hope your travels here weren’t too laborious. Goodness knows this sunlight burdens us with dark fur.” Umbra conversed whilst retrieving more coffee.

“Oh me? I can’t complain. Just thankful it was pretty quiet this time around. Not many ponies travelling when it's so hot.” Rose set out her saddle bags and rustled through them for her tools, as this was no simple social visit for tea and biscuits. Pens, pencils, scrolls and maps and pads of paper were her constant company.

Years ago she had been assigned to interview you personally after your arrival, her university hoping that her approachable and gentle nature would come across as more inviting than a panel of stuffy and judgmental professors. She excelled in her friendliness and studying prowess, that very first year in Canterlot’s highest circle of learning turning out to be surprisingly eventful. Some of her findings were still being catalogued and debated over to this day, everything else that was deemed suitable to tell the public was published in several volumes of reports and journals.

Rose had quite a name for herself then and earned almost exclusive rights to study you and your family. Her distinctly uninvasive and gentle approach was welcomed by Umbra especially, thus when she reemerged and grew more receptive to the idea, the very same interview and visitation process was applied to her. After all, the wealth of knowledge stored within the millennia-old Queen potentially held the answers to questions historians had been tearing their hair out over for centuries. Rose specialized more in the journalistic pursuits of interviews and documentation, thus most of Umbra’s complex and detailed recollections of battles and ponies and figureheads were sent to the historical society for review and interpretation.

“Shall I make you something to eat? Perhaps some coffee?” Rose smiled contently and scrawled out another entry in her journal with a flick of her pinkish magic elegantly manipulating her pen.

“No thanks. Believe me, just being around you guys fills me up.” She said with a slight giggle and a wayward glance thrown down either side of the house’s interior.

“I saw Anon outside… no one else is home, right?” Rose asked cautiously.

“Not a soul. You’re free to relax.” Umbra said knowingly, beckoning for the young mare to follow her up the stairs and into her office. Rose beamed happily and let down her proverbial hair, a green flame burning from the tip of her horn slowly down to her giddy hooves.

“Whoo! Finally!” She chirped, grabbing her things and revealing her true form. The changeling shook the lingering bits of arcane dust from her eyes and pushed back the short crop of white mane hanging in her eyes, eagerly following the dark Queen into their preferred meeting place.

The revelation of Rose’s true nature was a secret known only to a very select few, Umbra being one of them. You didn’t even know it, though you most likely wouldn’t have appreciated the full depth of the situation if you did. Rose was keen to keep her changeling habits to herself, hiding among the elite of Canterlot and naturally blending in for years without issue. A shy, reserved and studious mare rarely drew more scrutiny than a curt and serious Professor asking for their latest essay, thus she could happily go about a quiet life without being pestered.

Naturally, trying to fool the Mistress of Deceit, Princess of Lies , the one and only Matron of Falsehoods, was doomed to fail. The very instant Umbra came within range of Rose, she knew her to be a changeling by the smell alone. Intimidated at first, the mare soon discovered that the sinister Queen really couldn’t care less. So long as Rose wasn’t attempting something against her family, then it was of no concern. So long as they maintained this professional relationship and Rose gave no reason for Umbra to destroy her, then the Queen was more than happy to talk to the insectoid pony without a second thought.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to talk about the battle of Ashbrooke hill again. One of your accounts from our last meeting conflicted with the Royal records.” Rose was already laying out the elder map from the battle on Umbra’s desk, her cozy office decorated with paintings and trinkets brought to her from museums and private collectors. Things she had lost millenia ago finally found their way back… or at least things she couldn’t make any use of. Armor and cloaks and flags, just mementos of a time before true happiness and peace.

“By all means. You know my love of correcting idiot scribes.” Rose giggled somewhat uneasily as she unfolded her maps and catalogues of the battle’s events, reproductions of priceless antiques locked away in ancient vaults. These paper copies were always so shocking to Umbra, as she never could've imagined something like a printing press back in her prime. A machine that could so delicately and accurately copy a cartographer’s work. The crisp lines of ink and dots of enemy formations flooded her mind with the memories of that fateful era, back when she was still in charge of something.

“So, we could confirm pretty clearly that you were the lieutenant of the seventeenth archer’s battalion. Records and testimony from the Princesses back you up there. But, there was a slight hiccup with the battle strategy you outlined last month.” Umbra cocked an eyebrow as Rose dragged a pointer across the map, drawing out a path from one point to the next.

“See, you said you were… here.” She chirped, pointing out a particularly dark spot nearby a river.

“And you said diamond dog forces were here.” She said once again, pointing out a point downstream that was clearly marked as an impassable swamp.

“But that doesn’t quite seem right, you know?” Umbra and Rose looked one another in the eye, a faltering look of puzzlement spreading across the changeling's face.

“You speak of the water, then?” Umbra huffed and stared into the map, drawing back on her ancient memories to recall the exact details of the day and moment.

“Right, right! The Princess’ logs from the time state that there was already a small body of water there. And we struggled to understand why you had your troops fire on a position that enemy couldn’t tunnel under?” Sipping coffee from her mug and pursing her lips, Umbra mulled over her answer for a brief moment.

“What doth their accounts accuse me of doing, then?” Rose held her piece, though an attempt to speak was made. Her hoof rose to answer that question, but her better judgement forced her mouth shut the moment she attempted to admit the less-than-savory account given by the royalty.

“Well… ehm… I’m not sure you’d be too pleased with what they said.” The Queen rolled her eyes and placed a small line in pencil across the mouth of the river. Such a simple little mark, but one that brought utter confusion to the historian mare sat just next to her.

“Before we arrived, the farmers of Ashbrooke built a log dam here. You see how the water flares outwards and grows into the lake?” Rose examined it closely, the very gradual widening of the flow backing Umbra up.

“I suppose they were storing it for some manner of irrigation system. What that did for us in the battlefield however, was give the diamond dogs dry earth simply begging to be tunneled through. The lowlands were such a death trap that we were forced to surrender it to them within the first few days of our conflict.” Rose quickly scratched every word down onto a pad, making sure to capture every last bit of material for comparison to more official records that were far less prone to lying than the black mare chugging coffee.

"My plan then was to destroy the dam and let the low-lands flood. Being the worthless simpletons they are, our enemies would never think to come out of their little burrows and escape the water. So, rather than us firing on a swamp- as they claim me to do, my troops fired on a garrison of their grenadiers whilst sappers under my command dismantled the dam." Umbra spoke smoothly and with perfect recollection of the event, as if it were yesterday. She all the while traced the actual positions and firing lines on the map with her pencil, carefully outlining the different units and their roles.

"Well... that would explain why they left it out then." Rose buzzed knowingly, recording and closely examining the map with bug-eyed fascination.

"I don't think the High Command would've given you permission to uhm... drown thousands of diamond dogs." She said with a meek smile, the idea alone so savage she could hardly put it into reality. The horror of a hundred scampering soldiers crawling through a suffocating tunnel, only for it to rapidly and violently gush with icy cold water sent shivers down her spine. Archeologists had spent decades trying to dig up remnants of helmets and spears and bones, but now it was painfully clear why so few corpses were left on the field.

"They refused to see the effectiveness of my strategy. They called it 'barbaric' and tried to remove me from command of my archers." Umbra scoffed at the very idea, cruelly drawing a cartoonish hound struggling to stay above her illustrated waves.

"But, as your history no doubt regales, we were victorious over the savage species and thusly secured out western frontier." Rose finished one last note before staring deeply into the map, losing herself in a worming thought. Her crystalline and serpent-like eye traced the lines and formations back to Umbra, the one so casually relaxing whilst she told her story of unparalleled terror. Most soldiers from that battle had been remembered as scared veterans, lost souls and shattered minds. Some of the most ferocious and brutal fighting in Equestria's history took place at Ashbrooke all those eons ago, blood and guts and metal and fire scaring that land so thoroughly that it still showed to this very day. Rose looked unto the untroubled mind that had seen it for herself, the one who had participated so gleefully in the insane slaughter of young stallions and hounds. Despite her academic restraint, she couldn't help but let a personal inquiry slide past her lips.

"Do you... regret what you did?" Umbra showed surprise at the question, swirling her mug to better distribute the copious additions of sugar and cream.

"Mh? How do you mean?" Rose adjusted her thick glasses, her careful and mechanical mind trying to piece together her question into a form that wouldn't offend her subject.

"I mean, at the battle. Do you ever feel bad for those soldiers?" Umbra considered the question with a silent pout and eyes glazing over her surroundings. Her ears pinned to her head as she chewed on the very notion, as if it were alien and completely new to her.

"Last week we discussed your treatment of the prisoners-"

"The ones who were skinned for treason or the ones hobbled for desertion?"

"No, no. The civilians." Rose said darkly, another tale of untold awfulness sprouting in her mind. She had read about terrible, horrific things in her time as a historian. But to hear it from the mouth of a participant, an active murderer from the scene, was an entirely different and bone chilling experience.

"Right, right. When you need a thousand graves dug, best they do it themselves!" Umbra snickered, catching the rather dower stare her interviewer was giving. Grinding her laughter to a halt and returning to a somewhat easy smile, the Queen once again fell into a state of thought. Gears and cogs ticked along in her mind, attempting to find and process any hint of guilt.

She remembered those faces, those bodies and those haunting noises. Clearly as day, she recalled the lives snuffed out by her own hooves. Their voices, their very last words and the slumping shape of their final positions all stuck with her. Some of their souls were still swirling about within her ethereal being, a hundred individuals forever stuck in that time and place constantly reminding her of the things she did. All of this mixing, toxic and bubbling horror combined in her mind and failed to bring a bitter taste to her mouth. The Queen sighed and sipped one last helping of coffee.

"Hm... the other evening I lay with my husband by the lakeside in the sunlight." She said, seemingly out of absolutely nowhere. Rose could only stare in confusion, waiting for the devious and tricksy Sorceress to get to the point and address her question.

"He took me so tightly to him... he held me so fast... that I accidently broke wind in his arms." She said with a shocking seriousness. Rose could do little more than stare in befuddled confusion, the waters of this strange mire rising higher and higher as Umbra’s refused to reveal a joke. The longer she held that deathly cold stare, the more apparent it became that this was a real, serious point somehow connected to their conversation of mass-slaughter.

“Once I took a cinnamon roll that my herd mate intended to eat for breakfast the morning after.” The silence after another statement so mundane and drab nearly dragged Rose across the floor like a struggling insect, her skittish mind fighting to put this puzzle together into any shape that somewhat resembled sense.

“Last week I went so far as mistakenly to pack one of my Husband’s cider bottles in my precious little Gem’s lunch pail instead of a juice box… all these things fill me with more regret than anything that happened on that day.” She said with a hushed whisper, like a secret not meant to be revealed. Rose listened instantly, her hole-pocked ears turned like satellite dishes.

“I can’t tell you how many times I try to make myself feel differently. How many times I watch children play, ponies walk by with groceries… birds fly above in healthy trees. It reminds me of the times I destroyed that beauty. Not only destroyed it, but buried and burned it. Stomped on it and sullied it until it was so hideous none would dare describe it.” Umbra’s eyes fell to her rough cartoon of a suffering diamond dog once more, the far-off hollers of painful death in war humming in the very periphery of her thoughts.

“Yet I feel nothing. How strange, you think? That I may press myself so far back from what is happening, what I’m doing… that I feel no connection to it? I think about it from time to time.” Rose could feel her expression soften in light of this revelation. In Umbra’s voice was a distinctly cold note of uncaring, a casual recollection of things long since done and buried. Not guilt, but some burden of remembrance that pressed her into introspection.

“Perhaps those Princesses are right about me. Mayhaps this new life is changing things that were once concrete and eternal in this old bag of dust. In those old days, t’was so easy to dismiss the dead and the weak.” Umbra dragged a hoof across the table thoughtfully, her little interviewer stepping closer to best hear her near-silent speech.

“Those diamond dogs stood between me and my promotion to first officer. So what difference to me doth it make if they drown or bleed on my spear? Those hamlet farmers I buried threatened to reveal our position to the enemy and compromise my campaign. So I had them all executed one by one and piled in the town square until they swore silence. My ambition stood above their tiny lives and their tiny goals and their meaningless deaths. And I stand by that to this very day.” Rose shuddered silently, her pen remaining still on her pad until the ink soaked through several pages.

“So please. If they ask. Tell them to dig here, here and here.” Umbra stated concisely, circling small patches of what was considered boggy and swampy wasteland around the map.

“Your archeologists ought to find whatever trash bubbled up from that deathtrap bivouac of caves around these areas downstream.” Rose watched as she did so, but any interest in that topic faded quickly as rising steam wafting into the air. Tracing her stare along the confidently posed and coffee-slurping mare, she tasted the insecurity oozing off her.

The love was potent in this house. Thick and nourishing and sweet like syrup, Rose could survive off one visit for several days afterwards with just the grouchy Queen present. The emotions in the air were unfiltered and raw, a rather passionate love for a mare married for several years. Derpy’s was at least somewhat tempered, a controlled love that had aged with time into an ultra-stable force. Her affection flowed like water in an unquestioning and unstoppable path straight to you and her daughter, some channels and tributaries even reserved for her brooding herdmate.

But Umbra’s tasted of the bitterness in doubt. The slightest pang at the back of the throat questioning whether or not this was eternal and true. Rose could drown herself in a gushing flood of passion if she needed to, you and your wife put out such waves of desire and need and devotion that half a hive could gorge themselves on you without concern. Much like a gullywasher running in a frothy and uncontrollable rush however, there was concern that one day it might deteriorate to a pitiful little puddle.

"Have you ever felt regret? At least before your marriage?" Rose asked with her curiosity cautiously piqued. Umbra drained her mug whilst she spoke, staring into the empty cup in vain hope of more invigorating drink.

"If I may answer your question with my own?" The changeling nodded to the Queen, allowing her rhetorical exercise.

"Hath thou ever felt regret for being a parasite?" She asked rather bluntly, visibly offending the little mare before her. Rose's snout scrunched into a tight frown, her eyes narrowing to a rather sour- if not intrigued stare.

"I never... thought of it that way?" She replied with palpable frustration in her sweet, almost musical tone. Her thick glasses had to be adjusted once more, the smoothed black plastic moving easily across her velvety and dark-colored skin.

"I have to do what I need to eat. I can't help it if I'm dependent on somepony else." She said defensively, tensing up at the thought of how many hives simply took their "nourishment" from the populace.

"And I've tried for a long time not to 'steal' my nutrition. All the love I've ever gotten, I've done my best to earn." Umbra grinned at the suddenly sharper and colder tone of the young mare's voice, a certain nerve touched in her as it had been in Umbra. She crooned to herself in thought, her hooves lazily kneading her mug around.

"Ma'am, I don't mean to offend you. But I don't think we're very comparable in that respect." Rose huffed accusingly, her eyebrow raised in waiting for some smart remark.

"Oh I would disagree." Umbra shot back quickly, though without a hint of agitation. She spoke in her old scholarly tone again, as if she were addressing a hall of students in no position to question her vast stores of knowledge and wisdom.

"Certainly the severity is out of the question. I doubt even the most mad would ever say you've hurt a pony in your life. Whereas I have... well. I've done my part." Umbra said with a toothy, sick grin.

"But it is a question of nature, isn't it?" Rose didn't respond immediately, her look communicating a definite need for a quick elaboration.

"You are what you are. There is no changing that. There's no reason to change that. As naturally as the divine rule above, so it is. Why can the same not be said about me?" Rose stared in a silent and prolonged attempt to understand the Queen, crimson eyes wandering across the room to her trinkets and ancient war memorials.

"Surely if one handles a dangerous spider, they expect to be bitten at some point. Ponies trifling with your kind understand in some respect that they'll be deceived, no matter their intentions. And those that stood in my way? I like to think they always understood the lengths I would go to." A cutting silence fell between them, Rose soaking in the poisonous words and justifications like a sponge drowning in vile run-off.

"I made no bones about my ways. All who came before me and knew my name- what excuse do they have? Why should I begin to apologize for their arrogance?" Umbra huffed with an increasingly offended voice.

"Ma'am, I think we all know what you were capable of. But that's no excuse."

"I'm not excusing a thing." Umbra answered curtly, her lips pursed into a serious expression of reflection.

"I'm simply explaining what many think is beyond explanation. It is my nature to destroy my opposition. Just as it is yours to feed on the emotions of ponies foolish enough to fall to your charms." Rose processed the intense and rather brutal ideals put forth by her subject, chewing them down to their component parts in an attempt to understand them better. Their mutual deep breaths were the only sounds rhythmically interrupting the crushing silence until Umbra moved from her cushioned seat and took hold of her mug in her magic.

"We place the blame on those who've done wrong. T'was not my will to destroy and to ruin and to-... it was just the natural order of things." Umbra hummed to herself and stared into a banner she once carried into battle so long ago, its stretched canvas now so faded and worn the red insignia could hardly be seen.

"If they hadn't challenged me, they would have continued living however they wished. It's that simple." She turned again to her interviewer, the college mare refusing to move in the wake of this sour exchange.

"It's that simple. I've told myself everyday for millennia."

"Do you still feel that way? That your 'nature' means anypony could trigger you?" Umbra shook her head and tossed locks of her barely-contained mane from her eyes.

"Things are different now. Those that fell before me long before came between my desire and myself. Now that I have all I could ever want? I only intend to keep them close." Her eyes drifted to the window nearby, the clear frame nearly blocked by half-finished paintings and other pieces draped over with linens.

"My husband... my daughter. They're all that matter to me, now. Any pony that threatens them will find my human quite the impossible foe to face anyway. I need not lift a hoof to defend him." Rose perked up for a split moment during the speech, her lips clearing into a weak grin.

"Your 'daughter?' Oh! You and Anonymous finally conceived?" She asked with a bubbling excitement, the Queen blushing beneath her fur and smiling warmly to herself.

"Damn it all. Pardon my misstep. I meant Dinky." Umbra corrected, staring outside as that very filly crept from the bushes toward her father. You were slaving away with a pruning saw to trim down a tree hanging over Derpy's little garden, the new branches obstructing too much sunlight and threatening her lovely squash crop. Staring up at the sun and mindlessly sawing away at the fresh wood, the filly had ample opportunity to surprise you and initiate a game.

"She is as good as my daughter, if I might insist." The dark unicorn hummed to herself, hardly noticing her changeling compatriot coming down from her perch and approaching.

"I've noticed the attachment. You've really taken a shine to her." Umbra continued to smile as you chased the much faster and more agile filly around the yard.

"She is my gem. She is greater than any throne I've ever held." Perhaps speaking about more than she intended, Umbra silenced herself quickly. Thoughts and ideas forced their way to her already churning mind, the only pony she trusted to answer these questions conveniently standing just next to her.

"Tell me, dear Rose. Would you... hate your mother if she were as wretched as I?" Her white-maned interviewer held her breath at the question, mulling over the answer she would have to craft in order not to offend the Sorceress.

"Well. I don't have a mother, really."

"You know what I mean, mare." Umbra snapped back without a hint of patience.

"Should you discover that your caretaker, the mare who loved you since your birth, was a pony like me... could you still bring yourself to be with her? To stand by her side and speak pridefully about her?" Rose cast her shining eyes to Umbra rather than the wholesome scene below, carefully reading her expression.

This vulnerability was especially rare in the Queen. She hardly ever showed a soft underbelly to anyone she spoke to, let alone Rose. Their relationship was somewhat more than friendly, as Umbra often found her to be the only pony educated enough to understand her deeper troubles. Given her only other audience was a man, a child and a goofy mare, there was indeed much for her to talk about when an open adult came around. Rose awas lways conflicted between brutal honesty and sparing the mare's feelings however, for she never wanted to be unwelcomed in the house and shunned by such a treasure trove of historical insight.

"If we assume that I was more associated with my Queen and I found out she was a murderer? I can't be sure. Honestly, I'd think it would be pretty shocking for any pony." Umbra shut her eyes tight in denial of that answer. In truth, she desperately wanted to be assured that such a thing could never ever happen to her. Despite all reason, all justification and justice in the world, her own (half)flesh and blood would never judge her so harshly.

"What about you? Could you do the same for your mother?”

“I cannot say. I don’t remember her.” She huffed through flaring nostrils. Both her deep and unnaturally colored eyes glazed over in the chugging and deep process of trying to remember that singular being. That face so familiar, so precious and dear to her heart from the very beginning of this long life. She knew the final expressions of so many, their last words and the lamentations they made in a moment of weakness. But not her own Mother, the one that had brought her into this world. Atop the body of a perfectly healthy, beautiful and full mare, there was just a blur. Nothing more than a smudge of fog where gorgeous perfection once sat. Umbra gasped when reality suddenly filled the vacuum left by her mind, a staring Rose waiting for an explanation for her heart-rending answer.

“You don’t remember your own Mother?”

“No, no. It was so long ago that we parted.” She said with a dry mouth struggling for comforting moisture.

“I left for a campaign on the eastern shores when she was a very old mare. The cataracts had taken her sight, bone spurs her legs… she had become so grey I hardly recognized her.” Rose stared on in forlorn fascination, as if she were watching a horrible train crash slowly repeat again and again to properly accentuate its horror. The dark unicorn sat in utter stillness as you tossed Dinky around outside, the range of emotion in the area shockingly drastic. Rose huffed deep breaths contemplatively, gritting her teeth to try and put this talk on some manner of direction again. It was unprofessional and rude to steer any talk to the most impactful and painful memories one held, thus she fought to find something to ease the suffocating weight in the room. Scanning across the tapestries hung about, her savior came when new piece caught her eye.

Blue armor, a broad sword rather than a spear and a far away stare of stoic confusion. This portrait was of you, but dressed in a highly distinctive manner. An untrained and ignorant mind might’ve confused it with the myriad of other paintings Umbra created to show your “glory” to the world, for it was so similar that it hardly roused immediate suspicion. To Rose’s educated and inspecting stare however, the distinctive armor style and striking colors communicated a very specific time, place and stallion.

“I haven’t seen this before.” She interjected with an oddly up-beat hum to slice through the overwhelming tension. Umbra thankfully yielded to the shift in tone, her gaze following the changeling quizzically as she approached her latest work.

“Hm? Oh. Yes.” She said dryly, removing herself from the window and regaining some semblance of respectable charm.

“I imagined my husband could use a new ‘form,’ so to say. So I clad him in an old set of finery… is it pleasing to you?” Umbra said with a tiny grin forming on her lips. She always loved to show off her work, a double-whammy of narcissistic satisfaction and pride fueling her when both your appearance and her skill were praised at once. Staring at the intricate and fine brush work put into the piece above the brim of her glasses, the young changeling closely examined the armor your sullen, dire and serious body was dressed in.

“It’s certainly different from your usual work. So little grey and brown, that must've been a real departure for you.” Umbra shrugged and bashfully tossed a cloud of dark mane from her eyes.

“Inspiration struck me when I spotted my Anonymous smoking a pipe last month. He felt so regal that I simply had to capture his glory.” She hummed in memory of that tiny moment between you both, though in the painting you held a royal seal between your fingers rather than any tobacco.

“You know, besides the original wood prints from his illuminated manuscript, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a depiction of Emperor Stoic Stone. I'm surprised you know about him.
Let alone know what his armor looked like.” Umbra hummed contently and stared into the depiction with an almost worshipping interest. You and the Emperor shared such a presence in her mind that combining you both was hardly a struggle for her creativity.

“He was long before the time of many. I doubt the Princess’ even remember their ‘Uncle Stone.’”

“Maybe if he hadn’t had half his empire destroyed, we’d have more records about him.”

“Until then? My memory will have to suffice. I suppose we could have an entire session about him alone.”

Umbra stared into your visage, a dark grin forming on her snout as the memories and sensations with the blue, crystal armor flooded her mind. She washed in the warmth and the familiarity of it, the far-off nostalgia of such a time and such a person like a warm drink in the winter. The deep blue of the protective shell was almost as reflective in oil paints as it was in real life, some legends stating that the old Emperor's armor let one see right into their own soul. The deep cerulean however, brought the Queen to an altogether different memory within short order. Perking up with a sudden hit of excitement, Umbra's magic gripped the bottom of a linen covering that obscured another painting.

"Oh! How could I have forgotten? I have something for you, dear Rose!" The changeling's attention shifted quickly to follow the dramatic reveal of her gift, a sudden rush of glee overwhelmed by a jarring shock to her senses.

"Mrs. Umbra? You didn't have to- OH MY GOODNESS?!" She shielded her eyes and averted her gaze from the scene, her prideful Queen grinning wide and marveling at her art.

"Viola! What doth thou think of that?! Quite magnificent, no?" Umbra beamed smugly as the image of a spread, eager and needy Luna shimmered in the afternoon sun. Wet paint still glistened as her marehood might in this excited state, further adding to the incredible detail and attention put into the depiction. The quivering and aghast student had to fight in order to look on her leader in such a way, for the demigod Princess had never been depicted in such a profane manner. All the respectful, harrowing and ancient art of the royalty followed the strict themes of reverence and praise, the contrast in this shameless painting even more shocking to an educated mind that had examined those olden pieces in agonizing detail.

"Oh please, Rose. Feel no shame in looking! If anypony were to be scorned for this, it would surely be I." Carefully bringing her attention to the "fine detail" of the painting, Rose found herself immediately lost in its composition. She wished to be sucked in, but she fought to stay composed and distant as she was with all material brought before her. But plump lips, winking openings and rotund cheeks forced her to stare with wide and hungry eyes.

Split down the middle to reveal just the slightest flash of pink paint, Luna's marehood beckoned to the viewer. The very center of the canvas held an almost life-sized rump for all to marvel at, the texture of fine fur and rippling muscle perfectly captured in the deep blues and stark black. Beads of shining sweat and oil ran down the curves of the Princess, accentuating her smooth feel and her perfect form. Expert uses of white and grey offset the colors and the tears of moisture from the dark background, making the Princess appear as if she had just stepped out of the steaming wonder of the royal baths. Sea-foam eyes looked down on the viewer, curled lips making the soul and body gravitate toward her. Just like the real thing, Rose was nearly struck dead by the lusty beauty of Night Ruler in her most vulnerable position.

"I... ehm..." Rose babbled stupidly, a slight hint of drool forming at the corner of her maw. Umbra snickered to herself and pressed her closer to the portrait. Almost close enough to kiss the flat lips of the painted princess.

"I recall you being quite the fan of the royalty. So, I present a reward worthy of your efforts."

"Wha- what am I supposed to do with this? I don't think the Canterlot authorities would appreciate it?" Rose asked with a distant and distracted tone, unable to rip her eyes from the needy folds of the alicorn.

"Hang it in thine bed chambers. Put it up in your office- burn it if you'd like. It is my gift to you." She chirped happily, turning the painting about on its easel to show off the distinct signature on the rim.

"For illuminating the truth, I illuminate the Princess! -Your Queen."

Rose couldn't hide the heat building on her face, a huffy and deep breath pushing some confidence back into her shuddering and needy body.

"I love it." She said simply, nuzzling Umbra in the shoulder cautiously to show her appreciation. The Queen crooned deeply to herself, licking her razor fangs in satisfaction.

"I always aim to please... and that does remind me. Have you found another buyer for my work?" Rose nodded with a dopey smile, searching across the room to quickly find another portrait.

"Actually, yes! Lord Igneous had his eyes on this one right here, but there was some concern about price in his letter." Rose selected a well-dried and somewhat dusty depiction of Dinky in olden princess garb, the washed-out colors and ultra-serious expression of the young filly commanding a forlorn and heavy respect.

"What worries does a Lord have about money? He bought the last 3 at auction without a second thought."

"Right. That's his problem. Last time he had to fight tooth and hoof to get it. Bids got up to forty-thousand bits." Umbra beamed with an arrogant and snide pride, adoring the image of drooling nobles battling one another for something as simple as a painting. She wasn't sure if it was the quality of her work that sold the at such a rate, or the infamy behind her name that propelled them to success. Ever since Rose had offered to bring her pieces to Canterlot and sell them for extra cash, Umbra had been regularly handing over her works to the highest bidders and the most stodgy ponies in all Equestria. Naturally, her favored and most treasured paintings stayed in the office or hung in her home. Family portraits, pictures of her husband and herdmate embraced and most pieces of Dinky were reserved for her own private collection. Those she saw fit to give away however, greatly enriched both she and Rose when they moved. Whether a direct sale, or a trade with the Canterlot Auction House, both mares benefitted immensely from the Queen's abundance of free time.

"He's hoping you won't charge as much for this one. Of course, he didn't pitch a price, but he wanted me to see if you could 'please be reasonable.'" Umbra cocked an eye brow and let a sly growl echo deep in her throat, a tiny portion of her ancient evil peeking its head out to connive and plot.

"Did he wish for you to tell me that?" Rose shrugged with a warm smile, her magic already seizing the painting off its wall.

"If he wants work worth forty-thousand? Then he should be able to pay, right?" Umbra and her shared a laugh, both fully aware of just how ravenous the Canterlot Elite were for meaningless trinkets and bragging rights. By now, the dark Sorceress was convinced she could wipe her rump with a canvas and Rose will still find a buyer willing to give their skin for it. Just so they could hang it over their fire place and boast to their friends and colleagues how they owned an original "Queen Umbra Work."

"Same rates as last time?" Rose asked with a peppy grin, watching as Umbra once again approached her window to watch her family delight in the summer heat.

"Give another five percent to yourself, Dear. Gods know you deserve it for doing business with those sub-pony, blue-blood scum." Umbra hummed, her scathing words communicated through a conversely sweet tone.

Any sugary enjoyment in her voice was quickly snuffed out however, for her eyes beheld a sight that stole the warmth from her blood. Pupils shrank to pin-pricks of violent crimson when she spotted you exchanging words with another mare below. A certain mare that had the unbelievable gall to approach her after what she had done.

"Hm... Rose?"

"Yes, Ma'am?" The changeling politely asked as she wrapped the latest work in a sheet for transport. She stepped out of the stiff and frustrated Queen's way, noticing a sudden stilted gait in her walk and pursed lips holding back an ocean of wretched words.

"I will be back in just a moment. Make yourself comfortable while I sort out this trash."

~~somewhat earlier~~

"Poppy! Poppy, throw me!" You shook your head in preparation and heaved your daughter from your powerful arms once again, tossing her haphazardly away like she were a log filled with stinging ants. After chasing her around, wrestling her to the ground and hollering like maniacs in the blistering heat of the sun, you could only wonder how on Earth she was still going with such insane speed.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-" She squealed before disappearing into a cloud of yellowish smoke, the ear-splitting pop cracking through the air before returning once again a moment later. Turning quickly and holding out your arms, you just barely caught your flying girl as she careened out of another magical portal from your opposite side.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"HRF! Gotcha!" You grunted, joints popping in your back and tired muscles straining when the fifty-pound equine slammed into your front. Dinky cackled like an absolute maniac all the while, her legs flailing all about and her horn shimmering with yet more energy.

"Again! Again!" She demanded as the exertion drew more and more sweat from you under the accursed sunlight.

"Aw jeez, okay! Here we go!" You groaned and heaved her to and fro a few times, helping her stocky little body build up inertia and speed.

"Higher! I wanna go higher! Toss me, Poppy!" She all but screamed right into your face in the blinding excitement seconds before she shot off into the air again in a tumbling parabola. At the very height of her arc, Dinky burst into magical aether again and vanished from reality. Expecting her the very next moment, you turned and received her caterwauling form when it came screaming out of nowhere in a shower of yellowish and powdery residue.

"WHOOOOO! Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!" She giggled uncontrollably and prepared for another throw, though her expectations were quickly dashed when you set her on the ground with sweat dripping from your brow.

"Urgh, that's enough of that. Run off and have some fun." You said sternly with a foot pushing on her lithe little butt, the filly grunting and holding fast to her grin of extreme excitement.

"Oh come on, Poppy! One more! Throw me straight up!" She begged with hooves pawing at your legs, the needy little lump of grey matching your warm smile with beaming eyes of hopeful youth.

"Huh-uh. Lemme get some work done, then we'll talk." You said firmly, patting your baby daughter on the shoulder to get her off you.

"Then hurry up and get done! Slowpoke!" She berated before taking off back into the brush, her skittering hooves propelling her at insane speeds you'd only ever seen in greyhounds before. Listening to the beat of her hooves on the soft dirt for a few moments as they slowly died out in the thick weave of vines and weeds, you relaxed somewhat and returned to your labor. Sawing at a branch and freeing it from the tree above, you deftly avoided its falling mass as it hit the ground and let a powerful beam of sunlight stream through. Undiluted by clouds or particularly messy skies, Equestria's intense warmth shone down and warmed your front surely as a raging campfire held inches away. For you, fully dressed in pants, shirt and boots, it was an almost unbearable heat that coupled with the latent spring-time moisture for a boggy and thick atmosphere. The light struck more of Derpy's motley little plot of dark loam and blooming tomato vines, illuminating both their beautifully healthy stems and yet another visitor to your business. Casting your eyes down to retrieve the still-living hunk of wood, a waiting shape spooked you into a slight recoil as it stood there in perfect silence.

"Huh- oh, hey!" You greeted warmly, smiling without showing your sharp and aggressive teeth.

"Been a dog's age since I seen you!" Zecora returned the hospitality with a smile and a wave, her hooves kindly side-stepping your burden so you could more easily move it aside.

"It's sadly true, my human friend. And might I say, for the summertime you're looking grand?" You snickered the zebra's unique manner of speaking, patting her head and receiving a most welcoming knicker of satisfaction.

"Thanks, stripes. Not lookin' so bad yourself... far as I can tell."

"River water, seeds, leaves of the earth and spiritual knowledge are the best diet. You ought to try it."

"Without meat, I'd go insane. And I can't take care of all these four-legged ding-a-lings... ehm... without a brain... how was that?" Zecora rolled her eyes, unable to banish the amused look from her face.

"Practice for twenty years and you won’t be bad at all. But... I'm sad to say that this is not a social call."

"Oh?" You asked, propping yourself up on your pruning saw and wisely stepping into the bits of shade you had yet to cut off.

"If you don't mind, I need to speak to you about your wife and child. They've come around my home making trouble and running wild." You instantly regretted scoffing at her complaint, as that was the first thing you did to drain positivity from her expression.

"You mean like trespassing? I thought you lived in like... a shack? Is there a zoning law for shacks in the woods?" Zecora gave a frustrated huff at your half-dismissive response.

"A 'shack' it is not! It is a hut, built on an approved lot!"

"Okay, okay. My bad." You said fiendishly to her somewhat childish pout.

"I'll talk to Umbra and the little gremlin. I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it, but if you don't want them coming around I can work with that." You said, recalling the many ponies that had come to you in times before about this exact issue. Thankfully, no business turned your dark wife away, but some particularly stubborn residents of the town still refused to allow the Queen anywhere near their home. To you it was all the same, as those that wouldn't accept your wife after all this time weren't really the kind of ponies you wanted to associate with anyway.

"Were they too close to your... 'hut' or something? I mean, where exactly do you live?"

"She is not welcomed in my wood. Wherever she sets hoof there can be no good. You wouldn't understand, Anonymous. But show sympathy, you should." Again the phrase "you wouldn't understand," hit you with the same irritating strike it always had. Ever since you arrived in this insane dimension of horses and magic and princesses, ponies had qualified whatever nonsense they were spewing at the time with that phrase. Especially when Umbra was concerned, you were treated to "you wouldn't understand" anytime someone spoke about her past misdeeds and ways.

"I respect that not everyone's the biggest fan of my wife. But you know she's not like that anymore, right?" The zebra only cocked an eyebrow in response, her lips now flattened into a deadpan frown.

"Maybe you could talk to her and we can resolve this whole thing? She's inside right now, I bet you she's got a sec-"

"No.” Zecora answered sharply, her voice deadly serious as her sour expression.

“You are a good stallion, Anon. But any chance of forgiveness, Umbra is far beyond.” Stepping closer, wearing a dower expression almost like mourning, Zecora put a hoof to your thigh. A touch that caused the slightest twitch in you, but one that tried its very best to be reassuring in some sense.

“She is not worthy of my sight. But I always welcome you, if you’re in need of insight.”

“I don’t think I understand.” You said, hands raised to try and avoid any lingering accusations of being perhaps “too friendly” with the otherwise unknown mare.

“An offer of assistance. If you ever find yourself succumbing to her whims and persistence. Please, don’t hesitate to-”

“GET YOUR DIRTY HOOF OFF OF MY PRECIOUS ANONYMOUS.” Both you and Zecora were broken from the moment and forced to look toward your backdoor. Standing there, threatening as a pony in a sweater could be, your dark wife wielded a spatula in her magic like it were some great and ancient saber. You saw it as adorably threatening, like a puppy showing its tiny teeth and snarling at a much larger predator. Zecora responded with an instant and twitchy pull away from you, watching your wife closely as she approached in a huff and swatted at her rump with the plastic flipper.

“Back, BACK! Naughty zebra!” She hollered and yipped, pressing herself in front of you like some manner of squishy and ebony wall.

“Don’t you dare dirty my stallion with your filth! Back I say! Back!” Zecora was less hurt by the slight spanks against her side and more offended by the obnoxious nature of your wife’s intrusion. Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a disgusted scowl, all the while both ears pinning to her skull to avoid the high-pitched snaps of a threatened mare.

Standing there in shock and confusion, it was really quite difficult to filter information through your racing mind. Zecora, one you hadn't seen in years, was now being attacked and banished by your wife as if they had just spat in one and other's eyes the day prior. You had never seen these two together- let alone realized they spoke- yet here they were acting like wild animals. High-pitched hollering and shouting was traded between the parties, quickly wearing down your already thin and exhausted patience.

"Think I would not notice your lingering stench about my own home?! You are not as clever as you think yourself, zebra!"

"Hostile, just as one should suspect! Not even an apology for me to reject!"

"I shan't ever apologize to the likes of you! Assaulting good mares and their fillies like a pervert in the night! I ought to have my husband pull your legs off!"

"Just when I arrive to sew the seeds of peace, you trample my efforts again, beast!"

"Oh I'll show you beast, striped one! I'll-" Both of them were made silent by the monstrous grip ceasing their rear legs, a yanking force subjecting them to a dizzying pull up and off the ground. Standing with your arms outstretched and held high above your head, the mares were made into your captive audiences with braces of powerful fingers strapped about their hooves. In one swift, fluid and practiced motion you hoisted them up and kindly reminded them of just how freakishly strong you were compared to their tiny equine forms. Staring at you with stupefied and wide eyes, both pony and zebra wisely held their piece and struggled only somewhat for a proper purchase.

"Both of you. Shut up." You huffed, jiggling them like naughty babies in need of having any and all sense shaken back to their heads.

"You. Start making sense." Umbra was allowed to speak first. Her privlege as your wife might not have saved her from this rather humiliating restraint, but it certainly granted her more rights than the reclusive mare in your other hand.

"Anonymous! Put me down! Put me down this instant, fool!" She blubbered, swatting at you ineffectually with her hooves and whining like a babe.

"Ten seconds." You qualified, shaking her again to drive your point home. Pouting and drowning in her own mane, the unicorn snarled through clenched teeth at her striped adversary.

"This vagabond attacked me in the forest with harmful wards and threw corrosive powders in my face, Anonymous! Without any provocation! And now she's come to do it all again, simply because I enslaved her tribe millennia ago and she still won't get over it!" Staring at your seething and grunting wife for a moment or so, taking in her words and swirling them in your mind, you chose to believe her. Umbra would certainly fluff the truth if it served her purposes, but you trusted her to never lie. Given the circumstances and your lack of reason to really doubt someone wanting to harm your wife, you quickly let her down and brushed stray strands of hair from her face.

"Ugh, thank you!" She snapped, letting you both return your gaze to Zecora.

"You are hurting my hoof." She said coldly, hanging naturally and waiting for you to speak without a care.

"What's this about throwing stuff on my wife?" You asked darkly, squeezing tighter around her ankle.

"I told you before. She and her kind encroached on my land. If it weren't for your daughter, I would've done more." That was certainly the wrong thing to say. Holding back the bubbling indignance of having your wife so callously attacked behind your back, you huffed with flaring nostrils and lifted the zebra higher.

"I don't know who you think you are, but that's my wife. You. Do not. Touch her." Umbra beamed at your imposing dominance, the harsh and cold tone of your voice so rarely seen in these peaceful days. Ragged and scratchy words were like music to her ears and scrawled a devilishly smug look across her.

"And she does not come near. That much I must make clear." Neither of you were ready to back down. And though Zecora hung upside down in the claws of a predator she had clearly upset, her stoic expression still expressed a certain control. She was metered and calculating, pushing her own agenda and refusing anything less than compliance. It was immediately clear that you weren't going to get anything out of this little equine, for both of you were equally serious about the circumstances.

"She won't." You said simply, letting her down to her hooves in a rough drop that nearly toppled her over.

"Get outta' here and don't come back. Now."

"I will still-"

"Umbra won't be back either." You interjected, shooting the dark Sorceress a sour twitch.

"I'll make sure. But if I hear you so much as breathed on her? I'm gonna break your legs." Zecora and you exchanged intense glares of disapproval, the unmoving object crashing against the unstoppable force. Her eyes narrowed at you accusingly, scorning you for sticking by the side of a wretched slaver and tormentor. You returned it with wide and predatory eyes of defensive posture, assuring that you would protect what was yours at any cost. Zecora could not help but mentally note that similar expression in young Dinky. This was surely where her standoffishness came from.

"Enjoy your dangerous life and halfbreed wife, Anonymous." Zecora huffed indignantly and made her leave, turning her back to your unwavering stoniness and trotting off from where she came. You watched her go all the while, a single bead of strenuous sweat running down your brow. You hated threatening ponies so very much. They were already a rather fearful and herd-minded bunch. Your influence could easily send them into a tizzy, thus you had to be exceptionally careful with your emotions around them. This moment was a rare time when your ability to snarl and bite came in handy, as you had seen off this foe and were left to deal with the other threat standing right by your side.

Standing there, shivering with rage and gritting her teeth hard enough to crack her jaw, Umbra's eyes flared. She stared at the leaving zebra with just the tiniest string holding her back. Palpable anger, so thick and sweet it could stop the heart, poured out of her readily as honey from a bee-hive. In the split second you turned to speak with and scold her, the weak shimmer of her magic had already taken your pruning saw like a spear and hoisted it off the ground.

"Rrrrgh... RRRRG!" She growled childishly, the light red of her energy darkening further and further until it was almost its full and old crimson. Gentle sparks and crackles rung out from the inhibitor strapped about her horn, the worn and iron-colored band jittering when subjected to such a monstrous wave of magicka. You watched as she helplessly jabbed at the air with the pointed end of your tool, her stance becoming more defensive and battle-like as the agonizing seconds ground forth.

"Umbra..." You interrupted, grabbing the saw from her and taking it swiftly. Your voice broke her trance somewhat, letting her cast a furious gaze toward you as purple tendrils crept from the corner of her eyes.

You hadn't seen her this dangerously ferocious in years. This wild, drooling, snarling and unstable anger that prompted fear in everyone around her. Especially those that trusted her. Umbra wasn't thinking straight, she wasn't capable of making sound decisions or rational thoughts. You could see it in her, that single word bouncing off the inside of her skull again and again like a bullet in a long hallway. No normal creature would approach her like this, for they would surely invite a swift chomp to their neck and a fruitless effort in calming her. You, on the other hand, were forced to approach. Unreasonable and aggravated as she was, it would be of no use talking to your mare now. Getting anything short of a pair of fangs sunk into your flesh was a far-off fantasy.

So, pushing all your burning questions and frustrations down, you knelt by your wife's side and ever so gently ran your fingers across her coat. As badly as you desired answers for what she had done and context for why on Earth Zecora would be so aggressive, it would have to wait. You sighed and felt her calm slightly at your touch.

"Umbra. Babygirl? Come down... nice and easy." You said, closing the distance cautiously as not to spook her. Umbra at least put her teeth back in her mouth, holding herself in a shuddering and outraged position.

"She... that filthy mongrol-disgusting-foolish-"

"It's okay. You're alright." You huffed, carefully running your fingers up her shoulders and grabbing them sweetly. The Queen whined and scraped at the ground with her hoof, defiantly trying in vain to chase after this unbelievable monster that had disrespected her.

"Anonymous! You let her go! She insults me and you let her go?!" Umbra gnashed her teeth when you kissed her cheek, her instincts shouting for her to rip your face off but her better senses restraining her. Her eyes shut tight to banish the sight of Zecora's shape disappearing over the horizon, but that word waited for her in the back of her mind.

Halfbreed.

"Babygirl, come back. Come back down." You repeated into her neck, trying your very best to calmly retrieve her. Umbra fought against your wishes at first, kicking and wiggling as arms wrapped about her barrel and brought you two close.

"We'll talk about it later. Okay? You have to calm down, Umbra. You have to." She shook her head and stomped her hoof in protest, but it was too late. Umbra was forced to swallow her pride and take it on the chin, the full force of this humiliating blow burning to her very core. She tasted bitterness on her tongue, a shocking and dark flavor of failure to defend her honor. Your touch and reassuring words helped to cool it somewhat, but her racing mind couldn't let it be.

"C'mon. Let's go inside and get you something to drink. Okay, Babygirl?" You coaxed her back toward the house, a most worrisome and helpful figure waiting in the doorway. Glasses askew and her hair hanging down her neck, Rose watched as you walked the unicorn back to the house and pressed her inside like a dog. She held her head low in humility, letting a wash of ebony mane cover her shameful gaze.

"That's it. There we go. C'mon in and get settled. I'll take care of you." Ushering the mare inside, Umbra accepted a pat on the shoulder from the academic before crashing on the nearest couch. Just like she always did in fits of rage in the past, the sorceress forced herself to relax. Regaining her composure through crushing a pillow to her chest and breathing deeply, she bit her tongue and refused to be bothered further.

"There... all better. I'll be back in a little bit, alright?"

"Rrhn..." She replied bitterly, pressing her face into the couch like a sassy child refusing to hear you.

"We're gonna talk about this later. Right now, just relax. Alright?" She refused again to hear you, turning away and clawing at the cushion below with aggravated and scraping hooves. Sighing at her barely-restrained defiance, you turned your back on her. Putting trust into the grouchy and devious mare once again, you hailed the watching and shifting Rose toward you. Umbra may not have been in any state to speak truthfully about what was going on, Rose would never withhold information from you. At least not for long.

You silently led her out the back door, latching it closed to assure Umbra wouldn't be further incensed.

"That was... intense." Rose quipped, her little joke failing to make you smile even slightly.

"I don't have a clue what all that was about. Please tell me you do?" You huffed in frustration, watching the invisible gears tick in the little mare's mind. The chocolate-colored pony chewed her lip thinking through the long, long catalogue of things Umbra had done and the enemies she had made. Over such a long period and with so many names to remember, some tended to blend together into a warped and melding mess.

"Well... ehm... what's the best way to put this?" She mulled to herself, a polite and reserved tone taken in the face of your skewering gaze.

"The fastest way." You commanded, crossing your arms and peering through the nearest window to assure that your wife remained in place.

"She might have enslaved that zebra's tribe at one point or another. And maybe brutalized them for a hundred years until they revolted and she scattered them across Equestria to wander aimlessly forever." Both eyes closing in that moment of realization, you took her words and held them close. You sighed deeply and forced your initial, thoughtless response back down. Words wanted to leap forward from your mouth and let your grievances be known, but now was neither the time nor the place. Rose watched you grind through the motions in your mind, clenching fingers kneading at your sweating muscles in angsty rhythms.

"Crap... sometimes I forget I'm married to a maniac." You grumbled, tired eyes meeting the caring gaze of the little mare before you. She stepped forward and pat your leg, an assuring- if not somewhat demeaning- gesture you couldn't help but appreciate.

"You don't need anything, do you? We could take the issue to Twilight and-"

"No, no. I don't want that spaz getting any more involved with us." You declined with a tone you wish hadn't betrayed how fed-up you were with that particularly neurotic alicorn.

"I'm gonna make sure this doesn't happen again." Rose didn't appear all too convinced, watching you with cautious and scanning eyes trying to pick apart your posture and stance.

"I didn't think name-calling could set her off that bad." You mentioned off-handedly whilst staring into the window.

"I mean, jeez. You'd think a mare that gets called a monster and an evil witch every other day wouldn't be bothered by that kind of thing?" Rose shrugged, adjusting her glasses.

"She's always been a bit touchy about being called 'halfbreed.' Used to be that anypony calling her that would have their hooves split." Cringing at the thought, you banished the horrific and bloody image from your mind quickly as possible.

"Any idea why? She's never talked about this."

"No pony that's alive knows. Except maybe the Princesses."

"Should I even ask?"

"If she's not bringing it up? Maybe not."

"You think I wouldn't like the answer or something?"

"No. Nothing like that." She huffed, shifting on her hooves uneasily.

"Just that... well. Sometimes things are- in so many words- better when no pony knows about it." You cocked an eyebrow at such a cryptically vague sentiment, sensible as it may have been. There were plenty of things Umbra either didn't bring up, or didn't want to talk about in her past. A horse like her with such a sordid history would surely resist souring your opinion of her. You would love her no matter what, but you knew well enough that some of the things she had done would change your view. Umbra was a good mare now and only now. She was your wife, your nasty and bratty little Queen that treasured you and your daughter more than anything else in all the world. She was family, more than that even. She was one of the few things in this world you could call your own.

And so, you couldn't help but agree with the unicorn standing before you.

"Right... makes sense to me." You grunted in defeat, pushing the door open and welcoming Rose back into the house.

"Sorry to interrupt. C'mon in, lemme get you mares something to eat." She accepted your invitation, trotting with ears perked and smile somewhat restored.

"Oh that's alright. I'm full already."