The Bewitching Hour

An entourage prepared itself to guide the princess into the arid desert. The mission would be spearheaded by White Shadow Penumbra, supported by his wife and fellow commander, Lily Longsocks. A small army waited under their command. The couple in question returned to the marketplace, where a few stalls could reopen while citizens made repairs and replaced their damaged goods. Sweat dripped from his turban when he opened up his coin pouch with a clink to purchase supplies for an arduous journey ahead.

Penumbra’s face twitched, lost in thought and worry over his siblings. Especially his sister, who, despite being the eldest, was still treated as the baby of the bunch. Inky Rose had overly pampered Cerise in worry she would be lost, like so many had been to the Eldritch invaders. While the last of them were extinct, their legacy had scarred the world, still rivaling the devastation caused at the hands of Zeloph the Fallen One.

The pegasus bristled his feathers when a hand touched his plumage. “Whoa, take it easy, sweetheart! It's just me,” said Lily who frowned.

“Ahh.… Forgive me, my love,” he apologized with a small bow, smiling thinly at her.

She moved closer. “You doing okay, hun?”

“Just an ill premonition of what lies ahead.”

She pressed close to him, her muscles felt below those soft curves. “You’re overworking yourself, like usual. The Pony of Shadows couldn’t do in our nation, nor could that arrogant messiah. You need to lighten up more!” She teased and smacked his ass, gripping a meaty buttock.

He tensed up further and blushed, the more conservative of the pair still unused to such blatant displays of public affection. He kissed her temple, gently cleared his throat, and withdrew from her warm embrace. “You’re right, Lily. Still, we should make our final preparations.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lily sighed in disappointment and released her hold on his butt. “Always business with you first. You’re lucky I married you because of how noble you are.”

Penumbra chuckled, brushing her witty compliment off by responding, “I simply do what I think is right.” The pale pegasus helped his lovely wife load more goods into a wagon, not that she needed the support, since the Amazonian earth mare could easily lift the entire vehicle and its contents on her own! "My sister will arrive soon."

“Oh! There they are now! Hey~!!” Lily beamed and waved once Cerise, Midnight, and Moonlight flew down to meet them. They landed and kicked up dust in the streets amidst a flutter of wings that flapped hard, a few loose blue feathers left to drift from the hyper-stallion's mass span.

Midnight boyishly smiled at the couple with a clipped salute. “Everything in order?”

“Pretty much,” replied Lily, who tossed a heavy bag into the wagon, which shook under the impact. “Usually, we'd only take the absolute necessities, but Ashen Dunes sent a message asking us to load up a few extra goods, so...”

Cerise laughed warmly, stars in her pink eyes. “Sounds like him! No doubt another opportunity to make a deal with someone!”

“He sounds like an unusual fellow. I can't wait to meet him,” admitted Midnight, holding his lovers close to his fluffiness, his chest puffed up.

Moonlight surveyed the wrecked stalls ahead with a frown. “Hard to believe a riot broke out here! I still don't understand what that was all about. But, at least your little striptease put an end to it,” she teased and brushed Cerise's rump.

Cerise's cheeks flushed, and she sheepishly beamed. “I-it was necessary! I don't think anyone complained! Heck, they probably wanted more!”

“Course not! Anyone would kill to have a piece of this~” Moonlight squeezed the dancer's thighs, feeling the taut muscle below. “You know, before Midnight and I came here, I was a member of the Lunar Guard. Thestrals were pretty rare in our world. It's nice to have another one to chat with!”

“I mean, I was born an earth pony,” reminded Cerise, who traced her own slender arm, her head lowered. “Still haven’t gotten a good understanding of these new powers. My parents couldn't tell me much. Doubt Ashen can, either…”

“Hmm,” Penumbra pondered before an idea popped over his head. “Perhaps we should locate Somnambula and Stygian? I’m sure they’re out there somewhere,” he suggested to his sibling. “They've crossed the wastelands with the Necronomicon in tow, determined to find a suitable resting place for the accursed grimoire. Surely, they’ll have some form of insight.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” chirped Midnight, who smiled like a boy scout. “Let's-”

The smash of wood and a shrill, alien cry drew their attention. One of the standing stalls was reduced to wooden planks instantly, its wares tossed everywhere, a thick shadow from the creature cast over the onlookers. It appeared to be an amber scorpion the size of a small house, its exoskeleton covered in numerous eyes, down to the stinger that dripped curled from its tail.

Midnight narrowed his eyes and immediately readied his lance. “What the heck is that!?”

“It looks like a leftover experiment of the Eldritch,” Penumbra answered, taking wing and unsheathing his saber. “They bred them specifically to claim control over the dunes. But they've never dared wander this close before!”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not going anywhere,” Lily spat, cracking her knuckles. “Everyone ready?”

“Let's do this!” Called Moonlight, strapping on her claws when the monster skittered closer, snapped its pincers, and drooled from its wide maw. Its saliva steamed on the street. “Any chance another striptease will stop it, Cerise?”

“I’m not sure this thing comprehends beauty,” Cerise shuddered. “Even then, I won’t feel comfortable entrancing it!” She zipped out of the way when the scorpion leaped at her, the earth shaken as dust clouds blossomed below them.

They assaulted it from all sides, but attempted to keep their distance. A series of darts flew from Moonlight's leather wings, which harmlessly bounced off a carapace hard as steel closed to protect its many eyes, its pincer raised to protect its main eyes when missiles zipped at them.

“Darn it!” Cried Moonlight. “The thing has good instincts!” She dived in, slashed with a claw, and left scratches over its surface. Its tail darted out, only to be seized from behind by Lily, who grunted and strained to hold the beast in place.

“Grrgn..! Damn monster,” wheezed Lily, whose muscles rippled to try and hold the creature in place. "This is your chance, everyone!"

“There are small rents between its carapace!” Penumbra shouted. To demonstrate, he swooped in, twisted to evade the clamp of a pincer that could easily cut him in half, and struck true with his blade. There was a brilliant flash of white, and the scorpion shrieked once its pincer fell loose.

A spray of a discolored fluid shot from the wound. Penumbra cried out as a small splash struck his chest and sizzled, its discharge eating through his tunic to sear skin and fur. He sailed unsteadily but didn't crumple under his wound.

“Bastard!!” Cried Lily, who twisted the scorpion's tail so hard she snapped it off. She leaped backward to avoid the splash, a venomous ooze pooling before her, while the crazed monster thrashed and wildly snapped at her assailants.

“I got it!” Midnight grabbed the disembodied tail, hurled in the sky towards the scorpion, and drove the stinger through its skull, aided by his hyper-strength. The life faded from the scorpion's eyes, sunken into a pile that continued to twitch.

Lily ran up to her husband. “You okay, honey?”

“I’m fine. This is.... Hggn! M-merely a flesh wound.” Penumbra insisted and leaned on a building to support him. His wife fetched supplies from the wagon and immediately tended to his burns with a balm she spread. “There are lots of hybrid specimens like that in the dunes.”

Midnight checked on his mates once they landed wiith him. “Are you two okay?”

“Eh, it could have been worse!” Moonlight shrugged, her snout pursed. “It’s a shame my weapons aren’t much use on these things!”

“Yeah, I’m not much help either,” admitted Cerise, who pouted and kicked the severed pincer. “Really don’t wanna just hide behind you guys...”

“You won't have to,” assured Penumbra, who wheezed, his face lined in sweat. “In the Eldritch War, the Dragon Lord had numerous weapons and armor prepared to deal with such threats; my sword being one of them.” He brandished the white blade, which shimmered, lined in runes that hummed in resonance. “Rarity and Sweetie Belle wove these enchantments for us.”

Midnight peeked into the wagon and opened up a footlocker. “Oh, I see! Take a look!” Around him crowded his lovers, their faces glowing under the runes that had yet to be attached. “I recognize these symbols! Shining Armor wore them!”

“They enhance the attributes of what they're attached to,” explained Penumbra. “Thickens armor and sharpens the edge of blades.”

Moonlight nibbled on her lower lip with a fang. “Can we...?” He nodded, and she eagerly took one of the runes, touched it to her bracer, where it immediately attached. “Sweet~!” Her eyes lit up when the steel claws turned a pale white.

Cerise and Midnight placed some of their own weapons and his armor in the stud's case. “Wish we could take this with us the next time we helped out Beatrix,” the dancer said.

“I’m afraid these will only be useful in our timeline,” mused Penumbra. “But perhaps a Rarity in other worlds, or someone who mastered similar techniques, could replicate the effect?”

“Pft! Like I’ll ever choose armor over my own clothes,” scoffed Cerise, who pulled on her booty shots then let them snap back onto her plush posterior with a loud clap. “I'd prefer to stay nimble, especially when I have to strip down~!”

“I never said the runes could only be applied to weaponry,” Penumbra stated with a cocked grin.

Her bat ears twitched in curiosity. Another protective rune was taken by Cerise, one attached to her top and another to her bottom piece, which momentarily shined. Gasps rose, and her soulful eyes shot wide open as she tugged on the fabric, which proved almost indestructible under her pulls, yet it also felt lighter and more malleable, almost like she was nude! She stared back at her rump and shook it.

“O-oh wow! This feels amazing!” She danced a little, the air filled with the tinkle of tiny bells.

Penumbra chuckled with a shake of his head. The pale prince stopped to make sure the merchants were okay and paid out of pocket for the damages. He needed to keep in the people’s good graces, to assure them their rulers could protect them from such savage beasts that roamed the wastelands. However, his army had another agenda on this trip; attacking the scorpion’s nest which rested by the border.

Each year his army helped whittle down their numbers this season, but had never wiped them out. Perhaps these travelers from another world could help with that? He hobbled into his wagon, then slumped his head to rest on his wife's lap.

*****

The procession moved out. A small army crossed the roads used by merchants for trade that cut towards the border. While the actions of Zeloph the Fallen One had claimed many lives, a byproduct was that a once uninhabitable area, known for its constant sandstorms, had calmed down to the point where they had been able to build a new civilization from the devastation.

Guards in thick armor and cloaks lined the walls that overlooked the deserts. They helped to keep the scorpion populace down, and welcomed in the prince and princess who crossed in. The wagons rattled when they rolled by, Cerise at the forefront, who cheerily waved at the patrol.

Penumbra hadn't woken up since he slipped off in his wife's lap. Concerned, she had later carried him to their private cabin and placed him atop a bed of blankets. Her palm smoothed over his sweaty, oily face while he uneasily tossed about.

She stripped him down completely, placed a cool, wet cloth on his forehead. Perspiration rolled down his wiry muscles, fur matted and sticky. His wings and face twitched, constant low, distressed moans arising out of his drawn snout.

Lily could only guess he was delirious, but the medics assured her any poisons hadn't invaded his bloodstream. Her fists balled up, helpless in the knowledge that whatever troubled him, she couldn't simply punch it back into submission!

His skin was cold and clammy to her touch when she smoothed a palm over his lithe muscles. Then, wanting to ease his burdens and comfort him, Lily tossed off her clothes and underwear, pressing her toned but shapely denuded physique against her lover's. She nuzzled him, shared her body heat which radiated off her contours, and caressed his cheek. “C’mon, Penny. You'll make it through this! You always do!”

Her supple breasts crushed against his chest. Her fingertips danced over his feathers, carefully preened them, something that he always appreciated after a long, tiresome day.

Hushed murmurs uneasily rose from Penumbra's dry mouth. “Father...no...”

*****

The Crystal Empire had been rebuilt, more incredible than ever. Yet rather than a return to its former glory, its ruler retook the throne, the stallion encased in armor, a crown on his head.

“I am the God-Emperor of this world,” his baritone voice boomed throughout the chamber when he stood and waved a gauntlet-covered fist at his followers. “Who dares to oppose me?”

Any resistance had been beaten into submission through a combination of swordplay, the dark arts, and brute strength. The crystalline streets were filled with crystal pony slaves, chained together and nuzzled, their heads bowed low. He drew strength from their submission; the Crystal Heart tainted and blackened while it pulsated and filled him with its now obscene power.

Few in his court dared speak. His guards wore masks and black suits of armor, ready to die for him at his command. Cadance and Shining Armor had been banished to the dungeons below. He'd taken their favored maids, Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse, for his own, the pair on their knees beside the throne, naked, collared, and chained until he wished to make use of the broken breeders.

Boots echoed down the steps when he approached his latest captures. “How disappointing,” he mused with hands cupped behind him on his approach, crimson cape trimmed in white swept after him. “As if I hadn’t suspected my own blood would betray me-”

“You're the traitor,” shouted Inky Rose, trembling with her hands cuffed behind her. The masked guards restrained the prisoners, Cerise Silhouette at her mother's side, her head lowered in defeat and her face stained in choked out tears.

“It hardly matters. My word is absolute!” He nodded to his followers, who, to complete the humiliation of his conquered foes, demanded they face a similar punishment to the twins.

Rough hands seized their clothes from all sides, easily ripped apart their garments, and left them fully naked. Mother and daughter shivered in the cool interior, bodies illuminated by torchlight while he leered at them and licked his chops.

“Don't do this,” begged Cerise, whose large eyes met his own. “If there's any mercy left in you-”

“Mercy died long ago,” he assured and approached them. His cold gauntlet reached out, took a moment to grope the bared breasts before him, and the pair shuddered. “I’ll put these bodies to fine use once I’m bored with the twins.”

Rather than explain himself, he simply raised his palm, which glowed bright. His followers backed away, a scream frozen on the faces of his latest slaves once a black crystal expanded around the pair and encased their entirety within seconds.

Their last cries echoed through the chamber. He stared into the reflective surface of crystalline.

The twisted face of Penumbra stared back.

*****

“Nooooo!!”

Penumbra's cry made his wife jump when he shot up, and unfurled his wingspan like he was ready for battle. It was a similar nightmare that had haunted him for years, only more vivid than ever, a subconscious dread that he was destined to end up like his father. That the darkness had touched them all and, unlike innocent Cerise, he would one day surrender to baser temptations.

“H-hey hey! Easy, penny, easy!” Lily soothed him, hugging her husband tightly to her plush nudity. “You’re okay. It was just a bad dream!”

“Yes…y-yes, of course.” He'd seen some of his men experience similar hallucinations after they had been stung. Most had died before the poison could be sweated out, another sober reminder of those who had given their lives to aid him.

“You shouldn't beat yourself up. We all know the risks.” She rubbed his cheek and smiled. “C’mon, let me help you feel better.” She slid her hand down his abdomen, teased at his sheathe, and felt him swell into her palm with a murmur.

“I-I…a-alright,” he nodded with a slight smile, subsiding to his wife’s charms. Compared to him, she was far more open and honest.

Sure, his troops needed him, but he knew deep down he’d feel more like a burden until the pressure passed. So he returned her kiss, breathed in her sweet scent, savored the pliable tit which his warm palm closed around. Gently she pushed him back and straddled him.

She took his member and guided it to her entrance. Slid down and moaned when he filled her. Powerful hips rocked atop him, one hand still on her breast and another rested over her wide rump. She started to bounce, and the cart rocked.

“L-Lily, careful,” he hissed through his teeth and paled despite a deep flush. “They'll hear us!”

“Oh, let them hear! We're a married couple expressing our love! I'm sure Midnight's getting it on with Cerise and Moonlight as we speak~” She laughed and slammed him into her harder until the cabin started to creak, and her titties bounced wildly each time he skewered her.

“I’d prefer not think about my sister's sex habits,” he answered with a heavier blush. His plume wrapped around her once he sat up to meet her, their maws locked in a hungry kiss, positioned so that he could hit her most sensitive spots. Often told by his wife he should let himself loose more, he sheepishly smirked and landed a hard swat on her ass, which made the plush flesh wobble.

“Ooh, look who's getting bolder? Me likey~!” She winked and grinned back at him, only for him to spank her some more. His fingers teased around her puckered asshole, rubbed the heated ring of raw flesh while she nibbled at his lower lip.

“I-I'm close,” she wheezed. “Together?”

He nodded, face drawn, when he started to pound back harder up into her. Her pussy drooled down his cock and balls, soaked his crotch while he sucked on one of her perky nipples, spread her ass cheeks wide, and fingered her pucker, whatever he could think up to get them both off. Then, finally, she clawed into his chiseled back and ass when her sopping cunt started to squeeze around his darkened shaft.

Their climaxes arrived one-after-another, hers first once her squirts washed down him. Her twat gripped its invader and milked it hungrily until he howled with her. Then, finally, his tip battered past her cervix, where it flared inside her womb and once locked in fired directly into her core.

Cum painted the slippery chamber. Were it not for the potions he took, she would have been knocked up for sure. Inky was apparently hoping they would give her a grandchild, but the married couple resisted, their duties to protect the land far more critical until true peace arrived. They shuddered and held each other, rode out a climax that dulled minds, focused on each other.

The couple panted, and she laid exhausted atop him, his erect member still trapped in her. “I love you,” he whispered and played with her mane.

“I love you too,” she answered and cuddled him back. “Take all the time you need, hubby.”

He reached back, slid open a curtain slightly, and peeked out. “It looks like we're well on our way.”

The nearer they came to the border, the riskier it became. The scorpion nests ran rampant out in the wastelands, some buried deep below the earth, ready to swallow up hapless travelers.

Yet this was the season to strike a decisive blow. To drive the monsters back into their lairs, and cull their out-of-control numbers!