Simplified

The airships hold their position, seeing a bright light shining at the center of their formation. To the eyes of the others who are nowhere near the vessel, they only see the brightness of a second sun, bound to the water's surface. But to the princes in their fearful confrontation, the true form of the equine demoness stands far too imposing to approach further. They back away not just from her demeanor, but also the heat she gives off. Her aura is a burning red in her horn, her field of heat far more lenient for the stallions to truly endure, yet she entertains the idea of their resistance, allowing them to face her without much obstacle other than what they currently endure. It is a bare minimum of her power.

"What? You're telling me neither of you have the goods to stand to me, contest me, or are you that stunned from my fabulous form?" She calls to the pair. "Stand proud! YOU'RE ALICORNS! Surely you have a form for moments such as this! My six year old niece could at least freeze the north! You should be more than happy to have a chance to unleash your true selves! COME! MANIFEST!!!"

The scarred prince tries to shield himself with his magic, a failed bid to avoid the scorching air she radiates around her. He makes a plea for his older brother to take action. "Xerxes, she knows you! Say something to calm this heat!"

"Does it scare you?" The demoness screeches with a cackle. "Is it too hot to handle? I haven't even touched you, much less you wanting to mate with me! I'll at least be willing to accept your proposition, if you dare prove yourself worthy enough to worship my succulent flanks!"

"Cool off for a moment, will you!" Xerxes complains, but to no avail.

"We need to get out of here!" Agamemnon urges.

She mockingly calls to the scarred prince, walking slowly towards him. "Oh please, sir prince! My body is so hot, I can't stand this heat!" She cries sarcastically. "Stay a while, help me quench this flame! Douse me this instant!"

Xerxes quickly looks around the deck for a means to alleviate themselves. His eyes wander to the sight of a pool of water, looking to take the opportunity to give them a better chance of not getting cooked alive. "The pool!" He hollers, making a dash for relief. However, as he dives in, he instantly surfaces in screaming pain, his hooves frantically reaching for the ledge for escape from the boiling water.

The demoness mocks Xerxes for his failed bid. "Surely you'd be so willing to be my next meal, to offer yourselves to my broil!? I welcome it!"

His skin reddened from the burns, he screams to his brother that's being stalked down. "Agamemnon!"

"AWAY!" The silver-eyed prince demands, summoning a pistol and firing a pellet towards her.

The lead pellet quickly melts into an orange slurry, only being held together by the mare's magic aura surrounding it. She also grabs at his back holding him in place as she approaches even closer. She mockingly returns his comment. "That handsome face of yours begs a scar to sully it!" Her jagged grin reveals itself to the captive prince, the molten blob being held closely against his face. "Have another!" She screams as she plants the molten slag to his left eye. A sizzling noise is drowned out by the agonizing scream of Agamemnon, his eye being cooked through his eyelid. She releases him, watching him writhe wildly against the ground. She holds her face with lustful admiration of his pain. "Oh to finally be touched in such a manner, it brings my blood to a hell of a boil! Surely you feel the same?"

"Brother!" The lightly boiled prince yanks his sibling away from the crazed demoness, trying to take him to the ship's edge, just remembering the fact that the railings are glowing orange from the heat she's giving off.

Still wanting to satiate her lust by whatever means, she hails to the pinkened prince. "XerXer, your fair princess stands before you! Give me the praise I'm due!"

Xerxes flaps his wings in a bid to cart his brother to the safety of his airship. The uneven weight disallows them both to take off. "Carry your weight and fly, you idiot!" He screams at his younger sibling.

"I can't fucking see!" The maimed prince howls in pain.

"Don't run! I burn with the desire to be adored!" She hollers at them while they make their frantic escape. "Behold! Cheer me! Love me! FEAR ME! I AM THE DAWN THAT BREAKS!"

In the course of their retreat, Xerxes drops his pace to let them fall into the ocean, a quick-fix method to briefly address their burns. Agamemnon howls in pain from the salt stinging in his fresh wound. The pair take a little bit before landing on the deck of the main dreadnaught. The second in command approaches, at last seeing the poor condition the princes have been made into. "Your majesty! You're─"

"FIRE AT THAT SHIP!" Xerxes screams at the top of his lungs. "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!"

At last, the first reports of cannon fire sound across the empty void of the sea. But as the large metallic orbs reach closer to their target, they turn orange and melt into a slurry. In doing so, they fall short of their intended mark due to the increased air resistance. More of the mounted batteries sound out, this time from neighboring ships, each gaining no better traction. The second in command announces in disbelief. "Nothing's hitting them!"

A stunned Xerxes watches helpless as all of their attempts fall as melted scrap hitting the water's surface. The other officers watch in mortified silence as one whispers to himself. "It's all melting!?"

Another yells, uncertain of what else to do. "What the hell is that thing!? Why did it appear now!?"

A bright flash shows in the direction of the vessel, only to disappear in an instant, leaving only the meandering vessel. But a fiery dart streaks past them, showing nothing more than a trail of it's passage. "Incoming entity, moving starboard!" One shouts before an explosion sounds next to them. The crew of the dreadnaught stares as another of a similar class billows with smoke. A shrieking voice pierces the air, a proud command issued to the surrounding airships.

"Burn! BURN, FOR ME!"

Xerxes shudders in fear, seeing the image of the burning mare smiling across the way, even with the considerable distance, her face jolts chills down his spine. He screams at his crew to retaliate. "Shoot her down! Shoot! Her! Down!"

The second in command pleads with him to reconsider. "She's on one of our airships, sir!"

"If she lives, we all die!" The prince is far too inundated with fear to care for the friendly vessel. His concern is to send her off by any means. He issues the order to his communications. "Fire! Fire everything! Send that ship to the waters, I don't care! Kill her now!"

On the neighboring vessel, the demoness summons her halberd, easily carving through the metal of the hull, cleaving whatever poor soul stands near her impact. The railings and chains along the side she flies by melts, sending more molten metal falling into the sea. Her aura defends the ship she stands on, only giving her the room to sabotage the vessel herself. She laughs with complete abandon to reason and sanity, her blade reddening with every sweep, the crimson fluids boiling into a dark husk of ash before falling from her weapon.

She dives off the side of the ship, free-falling to the water below, tilting to avoid the waves and angling for yet another swipe of the airship. The cannons of the other vessels fail to keep track of her, the other crews watching as a white beam ascends into the blue sky. A large explosion appears from the middle section, revealing a clean cut through the entire dreadnaught. She descends from the sky, gliding back down to her new target: The flagship of the fleet. She makes a firm landing, crushing the back of the second in command under her hooves.

"Help me! Help meeee!" He screeches with desperation and pain inflicted upon every inch of his body. His cries are amplified as his body is immolated before the princes' eyes. Xerxes pants wildly as he gathers his brother, quickly taking to another ship nearby. Agamemnon holds to his brother, fearing that their ends are soon to be met while she cries to the fleeing pair.

"You dare chase me to the ends of the earth!? Fine, I welcome it!" She swipes her blade, it's strike so profound that even the air becomes an extension of her reach. The flexing slash severs the front bow of the flagship dreadnaught, revealing some of the inner-mechanics and engines to the outside air. Some who stood in the blade's path are cloven where they are. Body parts, ships pieces, and ammunition tumble into the sea below as she pokes fun at the pair. "CHASE ME DOWN! BUT DON'T YOU DARE DESPAIR OVER GETTING TOO CLOSE!"

She hears the sound of a whimpering witness to her carnage. Her head turns slowly to see the terrified communications expert at his station. He holds his hooves to the air. "I yield, I yield!" But it's too late, her heat is already at work in cooking the air going into his lungs. He suffocates almost instantly as his last words fall to silence.

"Yield to the flames of my heat! ONLY THEN WILL I ACCEPT YOUR SURRENDER!"

A second airship explodes in the distance. Much of the cannon fire directed at us comes to a halt, refocusing their attention on the issue that's all the more immediate. All of us stare out the window, slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the destruction manifesting before us. The only one who doesn't seem bothered or even remotely surprised is the one sitting at the table nonchalantly eating his breakfast. The comparative silence to the fireworks above is jarring, how peaceful the occasional clattering of forks clashing is to the falling ships and tiny flailing figures descending from the sky. The outside deck appears only slightly damaged, a feat that has us all wondering how the hell that's even possible with the heat that she gave off.

Hestia is the first to question the matter. "...That's Princess Celestia?"

"Yup." He says taking a fork full of food to his mouth.

"The Princess Celestia?" Amor marvels.

"One and the same." He wipes the side of his mouth.

Even Kalimba is shocked over the powerful display, probably having seen this for the first time herself. "So this is what Umbra feared?"

"Oh yeah." He takes a sip of coffee. "Ahh... Arabica blend, you won't believe how this shit is made. But it's a damn good cup of joe."

Even I chime in with my commentary. "I knew a lot of the guards feared her, more than they do Twilight. For years I never understood why. Now I know, didn't know she could be like... that."

"Oh yeah, the history books don't tell much of it other than the fact that Equestria went through a civil war that drastically eradicated the male population. It's the main reason why you see such a skewed stallion-to-mare ratio in many places."

"Because of that?" I point my thumb out towards the third airship explosion.

"Oh yeah, anyone who's been a captain of the guard can tell you that she's not one to fuck around when the going gets rough." He chomps down on another bite of food. "If you come at her, you may want to bring sunscreen, something like SPF a billion."

"I don't think there is such a sunscreen." I comment.

"No there isn't."

Zenobia, who's already borne witness to the losses at the hands of the man at the table, shudders at the violence taking place. "So now I see why you don't want to argue with your wife."

He nods in respone. "At this point, there's very little that can kill me effectively. And she's about ninety percent of that 'very little'."

I have a sensible chuckle at the idea of accuracy of his claim. "I'm more surprised that she's been hiding this side of herself, considering all the threats Equestria's faced so far."

"She's humble... not right now in that form, she's not. But she likes for others to discover their own way to deal with the problem. If I could bring up another example of that approach, look no further than Discord."

"But that's not the real reason, is it?" I point out.

The man chuckles back at me. "Spike, you clever bastard." His smile fades for a moment, having a thought to himself. "You ever look in a mirror and hate what looks back at you? It's fine if you never had a moment like that."

"More than a few times in my life." I confess. "Sometimes I used to do it after getting rejected. Really started doing it after my first big breakup."

"I mean have you looked in a mirror and hated what used to be you, and I mean to spite the past you, the smile you put on for others to see, the part of yourself that you try to hide away that stares back at you when you're in that room alone."

Zenobia looks down, closing her eyes for probably some reason pertaining to her past. I also confess that I've had my moment of indignity, a moment I also reference heavily while looking back to this trip. "Yeah, but I don't see why you brought that topic up."

He takes a sip of his coffee and clears his throat. "She hates that form. I mean she really hates that form, not just because of what she turns into, but what she does and how she acts while taking it. If she's in that form, that means that she's vastly outnumbered and she's looking to even the playing field. At one point in time, that would be a daily practice, fighting against thousands after her forces are all but wiped. Blueblood did tell me that he managed to stay by her side during those times, but fighting against the lords and dukes of Equestria itself means they had to be facing off against tens of thousands on some days. The royalist forces at the time could be outnumbered three-to-one, but when her own forces thinned to just her and him, she popped that form you see out there to compensate the losses. If she loses all but one of hers, you're losing all but one of yours. Can't claim a victory when there's a statistical stalemate."

"And you married her knowing that?" Amor asks.

"Dude, I haven't once shown you the definition of what my shadows are. It's a collective down there. For me to be what I am and not embrace that would make me the hugest fucking hypocrite, considering how many died under my watch... or even those who couldn't rest peacefully after." He stands from his chair, finally watching the mayhem taking place in the distance. "She's my yin. I'm her yang. We both keep each other in check... but she obviously clears me by a cosmic lightyear."

"So you just keep that side of her tamed?" Hestia asks.

"Only because she allows me to." He replies, pausing for a moment before telling yet another side of the truth. "That and it happens to be a kink of hers. She's about half a masochist, the other half is absolute sadism grown well-hidden for the better portion of a millennium. And if you look out to that airship currently being nuked, that's the sadism side taking over in earnest."

The noble-blood princess sighs, expressing relief somewhere inside of herself. "If that's what she's like in battle, then I fear I got off easy."

"Ma'am, all things considered, you got a love tap." Nondis responds before another explosion goes off in the distance. "Ooh, more fireworks."

Amor shrinks as he counts the ships that have gone down at the hooves of the fiery ex-princess. "That's five airships now."

"And she's running for that high score." Two ships start to careen towards one another, smoke billowing from the pair as they collide. Following their impact is a violent plume of flames and smoke, then a subsequent slash of their hulls. The image of a fiery comet streaks across the sky in an erratic path, probably avoiding all sorts of cannon fire en route to it's next point of impact, cleaving yet another ship in effortless fashion. "Damn, the wife is feeding right now."

"So are we going to pretend this isn't the start of a war at this point?" Asks Hestia.

"Oh yeah, it's been a war since one of our airships got immolated along with it's crew." The man cites. "You thought I have a penchant for violence, but I just look after my guys. Celestia's the one who doesn't take too kindly to lost units. And if you don't trust me, Kali will tell you."

The zebracorn cosigns him without a moment to be reminded of it. "Whole rescue operation for just one, him."

The man starts to scratch at his neck, prompting Kalimba to pull his hand away again. "Oh yeah, since you're trying to protect me from scratching an itch, mind using that magic for something more important, like keeping a shield up over the ship?"

The hybrid mare contests his request with an argument. "How many times must I be subject to intense magical stress?"

"Nah, I don't think you'll have to keep it up for very long... besides, you're just guarding against shrapnel. And besides, I'm been keeping a barrier up the entire time, you just never noticed it until she stepped off the deck." He points out while popping his neck, much to the chagrin of his former partner in crime. "I should probably go get her before she cooks the ocean."

"You probably should." I agree.

The man sighs and snaps his fingers. "Alright, babe. Time to reign it in."

*snap*

As quick the sound echoes in the room, he disappears without leaving a trace. The Ponyland imperial trio are startled by his sudden disappearance, rather astounded over the fact that he's able to teleport at will. "Did he just─" Amor asks.

"He does that." Kalimba deadpans. "You'll get used to it."

The two imperial princes tire from their frantic ship hopping, avoiding the living missile known as the Sunkissed Scourge, the demoness of the dawn, Daybreaker. Far outclassed and outmatched, they depend on their tired wings to see them through the assault. But their energy is far spent from their various retreats, and their minds tire from watching each ship they board ending as nothing more than a falling ball of flames and hewed steel. The phoenix-like figure doubles from her most recent claim, landing to the deck of the same ship the two now decide to flee from.

The air is so stifling in her approach that many start to watch as their uniforms spontaneously combust into flames. One of the unfortunate victims is the captain that volunteered to house the fleeing princes aboard his ship. He screams out to the pair in desperation before they leap from the railings. "Put me out! Put me out!"

"Gladly!"

His calls for mercy go unanswered, his pitched howls of agony gradually wane as she steps even closer to her cooking victims. She snickers with every step, taking enjoyment in her chase of the frightened imperials. She turns around to swing her weapon at the air behind her, only for the polearm to strike at her husband's arm. He winces from the burn, but bears the blow proudly. "Damn, look at you being all sexy in red."

"HONEY!?" As though an off switch is flipped, so too are the flames and heat. The weapon cools to normal temperature as she easily reforms to her normal self. Her eyes catch the sight of the bone in his forearm touching the pole of her weapon. "Oh my goodness! Your arm!"

"Ah this thing?" He holds the blade of the weapon, carefully removing the pole that cooked itself into his flesh. "You of all others should know this will heal, nothing that magic and time won't fix at this point."

The mare shakes her head, trying to gather what's taken place. "I blacked out a bit. What happened?"

"Well, you sank like eight airships, by yourself." An explosion sounds in the near distance, both of the married pair glance to see the nearby ship spew flames from a cut stopping short of reaching it's bridge. The ship starts to fall into the briny waters below. "Nine. Count is at nine airships you've put down."

"I did what?" She moves her husband aside, seeing that much of the sky has become cleared of the airships trying to pursue them. Instead, there are a number of wrecks still clinging to the water's surface before submitting into the depths of the sea. "Oh no! Oh no, honey! I'm so sorry, I didn't─"

"Hey, it's cool. I know why you did it." He reassures his wife. "Besides, the sexy one really came out today. And your hair grew all the way back."

"What? How did my─" She pulls a hoof through her mane, getting more than enough of a tug from considerable length. "Ugh, dammit! I'm going to need to get more than a trim-down on the next grooming day! It takes hours to get this thing disenchanted enough for the dressers to cut through! I'm going to have to clear my entire day when I get back!"

"Till then, I got more to pull on." He comments, running his fingers through her lengthy ethereal mane. "It'll be just like our little dungeon sessions back when we had our posts in Canterlot."

The moments of their past skim across her mind, her body already triggered from the transformation. He lightly slides his fingers along the curves along her neck. She melds into his touch, lost in pleasure before remembering where they aren't at the time being. "Honey, not now!"

"Wanna clear out this airship and make it an even ten , that way we can catch a little post-battle action?" He whispers in her ear.

"Seriously, now's not the time for this, Nondie." She grumbles, knowing her body is clearly saying otherwise.

"Why not? Scoot some of these guys off the deck, and we're alone to ourselves. We can make for a good ten minutes. Or we could go for a danger run, see which can last longer, me or the engine."

"Fuck, the thought of you winning that just makes me─hold on. Who's shielding the ship?"

"Kali."

The mare breaks herself away from her husband. "If we're both here, then who's protecting the ship from invaders?"

"They can handle that." He shrugs.

"Mr. Valkyrie-Haines." She scowls at the man looking to scratch her inherent itch.

"Fine." He lifts his right arm, showing her the burn to his ulna bone. "But I expect some kisses to make the hurt go away." She turns around to continue, but a light yank of her tail causes her to shriek in response. "And I'm not asking for the lips on your face either."

The mare gasps in response. "For fucks sake, hun, I just put the demon away, don't do this to me."

He lets go of her tail for the moment. But as he runs past her to dive off the side, he smacks her flank and gives a two finger salute as he leaps overboard. "See you on the ship!"

"Really gunning for the munchkins, aren't we? Attempt 586... pending." Her body starts to heat back up, her hair initially flashing to pink before being engulfed by flames, but her eyes remaining their normal color. She snarls at the man who's cast himself a pair of gossamer wings to fly back to the yacht. "Dammit, he's lucky he can last as long as he does. Let's make this quick before my estrus triggers past this form. Don't need the others traumatized by me screaming while he's pulling my mane..." She looks back at her regrown mane, currently enflamed. "You know what, bubble of silence spell, because he pulls hard."

She leaps off the side of the ship, repeating the nosedive for her momentum. She tilts back up to the air to make for another swipe at the airship. The impact isn't as profound as the results applied to the prior vessels, but the engine blows in response to her pass. She watches as the tenth ship takes to the water, thinking to herself aloud.

"Who am I kidding, l totally love that kinky-ass shit. Let me go after him."

The fiery demoness reverts mid-flight during her return to the sea-fairing vessel meandering in the waters below. As her interest in the pair of male alicorns fade, the pair share mutual relief in seeing the mare lose all ambition in hunting them down. However, their victory in that field is a pyrrhic one. The losses to their aerial fleet are far too substantial for the pursuit they ambitioned would be one-sided.

The captain of the vessel gives a report to the prince. "Your highness, we've lost many of our forces. What do we do now?" The captain instinctive cringes, waiting for an order to pursue. Under most circumstances, a defeat as ghastly as this one would usually result in the prince looking to make a daring attempt to finalize the fate of his subordinates, possibly themselves if the shame is far too overwhelming.

However... "We fall back. We're not winning this skirmish until they get back to their shores. Too little collateral for them, far too much for us." Even both of the princes show mutual agreement in the words Xerxes speaks. They know that their powers are vastly outclassed by the one who laid waste to all but a quarter of their fleet. The prince still shows discomfort in the burns from his misguided dip in the boiling pool. "What are our casualties? We are but two."

"Five frigates, two dreadnaughts, three scouting vessels, all totaled. A scouting vessel fully staffed holds normally around 250. Frigates hold 800. Dreadnaughts hold 2000." The captain looks overboard, seeing a few swimming figures avoiding the suction of the sinking airships, some unfortunate to be taken under along with the wreckage. "We can conduct rescue operations with the ships we have remaining. Our supply ships will serve as immediate life rescue. But in total losses, we're looking at 4500 souls at least."

"They lose forty, and we're already staring at over a hundred times that." He mutters as a medical crew checks in on Agamemnon, who has fallen unconscious from the strain placed on him. "My brother's status?"

"Exhausted. He'll have the sight of one of his eyes. The other, I fear, is now lost."

"To think we scheduled a bout with the rogue apostle and the divine princess of the sun herself." Xerxes whispers with regret. "Father will not be pleased. We shouldn't be too hasty to make comment of this until we have reached our shores. Perhaps I can postpone this announcement by saying that we've elected to pursue them into their boarders, that they've escaped by some means. I mean, it can't be wrong if there's truth in the matter."

A lanky stallion working in communications approach the captain. "Sir..."

"What?"

"The emperor hails. He wishes for an update from Prince Xerxes."

"What!?" The crown prince shouts back towards the communications expert. "Why does my father hail us!? Why such a time!?"

"He says the orb he's been trying to hail hasn't been responding. So he's gone from each one throughout our dreadnaughts. The telegram says that he wants you to report your status."

"What does he know?" The captain and the stallion over local communications stare at the shocked prince, who lashes out at them again. "What does he know!?"

"...I'm sorry sir, the remaining dreadnaught have started to report our losses to the emperor directly."

A twisted sensation grows in the stallion's stomach, a sickness that hails for the relief of all things coming to an end. The scalded prince stares back towards the empty horizon, seeing nothing but the waters ahead of him. Grief and shame drives him to lust for the waters below.

"So... this is how I lose it all?"

"Huh, guess they're done with losing over seventy-five percent of their guys. Now begins the search and rescue." Nondis illustrates as his gossamer wings dissipate. "Looks like the wife is done with her run too. She's coming in hot." I also take notice that his shirt is partially ripped from the hem, the missing fabric seemingly wrapped around his arm.

"This was a massacre." Amor groans. "So many lost souls."

"You shouldn't be too upset." The man returns. "If it wasn't them, it would definitely be us. Magic barriers can only go through so much when you've got so much pressure applied."

"But how do you know that for certain?" Hestia asks. "We could've done this defensively─"

"Little miss princess, have you seen what enormous physical pressure does to a magic field after so many hits? It shatters like broken glass, and whoever's holding the field can be subject to possible death if it breaks. At best, they'll be unconscious with severe magic strain disabling them from using magic for a period ranging from half an hour to a few days. And all it takes is a minute for those cannons to bombard us before we start swimming." The man opens the door, expecting his wife to fly in. "Trust me, that's an event you don't want to happen. I've seen what that looks like."

Celestia trots through the door, immediately taking her husband by the arm. "Honey, please sit down, we need to tend to your arm!"

"Tia, I told you, it will heal."

"Absolutely not! I don't care!" She insists as she sits him on the couch. "Let me see it."

Her magic undoes the make-shift bandage, revealing a missing chunk in his arm revealing the bone. A familiar smell immediately triggers my gag reflex, a haunting memory surfaces in my mind. Zenobia covers her mouth in disgust over seeing the wound. "Ew."

"That's a fourth." Kalimba points out. "Under most circumstances, that will never heal."

"Most circumstanced, you'd be right. But in my case, give it two hours." He replies, wrapping his arm back up.

He gives his injured arm a flexing motion of his fingers, seeing that three doesn't close all the way. "I'm shocked your tendons still work somewhat." The zebracorn watches.

"Kali, you of all others shouldn't be surprised. Besides, it's not the only time I've seen the inside of myself, nor is it the only place I've seen of myself." He pats his neck.

"All due respect, sir, both you and your wife scare me." Amor meekly confesses to the man.

"Don't be. She's on your side, and I'm the exception, not the norm. Most humans would lose their arms after this."

Celestia expresses her remorse. "That is going to scar really ugly."

"Nah, it won't be that bad." He writes off.

"Honey, I am so sorry. I lost control─" He flicks the knuckles of the non-functional fingers against the top of her head. "Hey!"

"You know our deal. Hard head, keep that."

She stares back at her husband, only to roll her eyes at him. "The monster I married."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just happy you didn't swipe at me with the blade. I would've been scooping myself up out of the ocean after that one."

More resentment is displayed from the former princess. "Maybe pulling her out wasn't in our best interest."

"Aww, but I love the little Daybreaker in you." He tries to reassure her. "If it wasn't for that, the parliament would've ran you over centuries ago."

"Had I not embraced that side of me, think of who would have never came to power."

"Then there's the likely chance you would've never met me."

As the pair go through the hypothetical butterfly effects, Celestia shows vexation from the idea. "Oh please don't scare me like that."

"You know me, ever the 'useless weed giving praise to the light you give'." He quotes. Celestia doesn't stare back, merely yanking at his uninjured arm and dragging him into the hallway. "Ooh, dommy mommy."

"Please, let's just go." She urges as she shoves him into the hallway. She briefly addresses us over the matter. "...I'm sorry, my husband and I need to have serious talk. Can we have a moment? We'll be with you in about an hour."

"Sure. Have fun." Kalimba answers.

Celestia's ears run red as she forces her husband down the hall. Their voices gradually disappear as they walk. Amor questions the development between the two. "What's going on? Are they really about to have an altercation over this?"

"For the name you have, you aren't that bright when it comes to cues." The zebracorn comments. "They are going to engage in what can be described as a married conversation, a conversation involving intense debate and equal physical interaction."

"What do you mean?" The prince questions.

"Oh, for the love of─They're going to fuck, you idiot." Zenobia answers.

"Oh, okay."

Hestia shows discomfort in that revelation. "Eugh... Please tell me we don't have to hear that."

"Trust me, you won't." I answer.

"How do you know that?" She asks.

"There are spells." I respond. "...And Twilight uses a few."

"Uh... for what?"

The door closes behind the married pair, the man glancing down to his wound. A moment of concern falls to his mind, periodically jumping back to a moment in his past. He shakes the disturbing thought and tends to his wife, who lays quietly in the bed. "You alright, babe?"

The mare glances once towards the approaching man, but looks away after seeing his arm. "...Hardly."

"Babe, c'mon, look at me."

She levitates a pillow over her head in shame. "Do you not see your arm?"

"Sure it looks ugly, but I got it wrapped." He shrugs back at her.

"Ugh. You're missing the point─"

"─No I'm not─"

"─I hurt you again! In that form!"

He places a hand over his wife's side, lightly brushing against her feathers. "Babe, it was nowhere near our first estrus period together."

"I know, but still─"

He yanks the pillow from off of her face, pointing a finger at her. "Nope, you shut up, I'm kissing you all over your body for what you did today. You did an enormous good, to hell with a little mistake you made."

Just in the moment her husband leans down to reward her, she pushes him away. "I literally slaughtered thousands."

"Yeah, and saved our collective asses in doing so." He taps her horn with a finger, knocking her magic into a shutoff. "That many airships, that many cannons, our magic defenses would not have held."

"Hestia was right. We could've still tried─"

"Tia, Cella, babe, that demon needed to come out." He emphasizes with a kiss to her forehead. "And I love her just as much as I love you, fangs and all."

Gradually, her regret shows signs of fading against his touch, with the growing number of kisses he adorns her face with. "You really shouldn't make me feel good after committing heinous atrocities. What will others think of you?"

"Fuck 'em. I know what the fuck I married. And you talk as though I haven't committed my own form of genocide. The changelings are still mad as shit at me for what I did."

"You did that for defense─"

"The prison situation?" He recalls.

The mare's cheeks puff as she admits her husband's transgressions. "...Okay, I'll give you that."

"Yeah, I'm not exactly blameless either." He says as he kisses his wife in the nape of her neck. "Now scoot over, I'm gonna do stuff to you."

The mare accommodates her husband's request, also giving him a word of warning, "You better have a bubble up. You know how much I scream, and we can't afford to let the others hear what we do."

"Oh yeah, you're gonna do the screaming part now that you got all that pullable hair." He says as he uses his two working fingers to create a field of silence around the room.

She giggles as she makes another request. "Do me a favor."

"What?"

"Pull it hard."

"Shit. Say less." He whispers with excitement. He gazes down to his beloved wife, the mare who gives him not only purpose but love in times when he doubts himself. He takes great pride in choosing her, as well as being her emotional support. His cheeks rise with elation in seeing her eyes lock to his from her compromising position. "I love that subtle kinky smile of yours. No one else knows the treasures you hold behind those lifted dimples of yours."

"And I love that you love even the demon inside of me."

After intense rescue operations yield minimal results, many centuries who were stationed to the dreadnaught ships were lost due to sections being flushed with water, the crews along with them. There were also the many that fell to the water before the ships crash landing, they too died upon impact. With such quantifiable losses, Xerxes hopelessly chalks it to a total defeat, the only Equestrian losses incurred being those he's managed to oversee well over a week prior.

In the meeting, the emperor slouches in his seat. He furrows his brow towards his defeated sons, disgusted at the total losses and lack of result. Meanwhile, Eros shows he is humored in the combined incompetence of the two. "Failure... from you both, of all else?" He giggles. "And Agamemnon, you don't quite look the shape of imperial lineage today."

The one-eyed prince bears his rage towards his younger sibling. "If I wasn't blind in one eye, I'd stare you down with every intent to see you dismembered, Eros."

"Well you can't even see the vision halfway through at this point. It's a shame that you've sullied the Hestia branch so terribly with your incompetence." He mocks his older brother openly, turning his attention to Xerxes. "Seeing that both of you have made pursuit on the matter, and how both of you have also lost more than half of the fleet assigned, I trust there is reason for this. And you best come with it, otherwise father may elect to have you both assigned to the wall upon your return."

Agamemnon makes no provision to spare details. He blurts the truth as a means to keep his own skin. "Father, forgive us our failures. The rogue apostle has a travelling partner, one that was not only unaccounted for, but visually unassuming."

"High Princess Celestia." A wrapped Xerxes answers, his burns beginning to blister all over his body. "She caught us unaware."

The emperor lifts his brows at the revelation, growing interested in who they found accompanying the group. "Tell me again, who did you two cross?"

Xerxes reiterates his answer. "Princess Celestia, she looked nothing of the royal splendor we've grown used to seeing in the past. While taking a plainly appearance, she's far more dangerous than anticipated."

"She melted our bullets! And branded my eye shut with one of them!" Agamemnon adds as he points to his destroyed eye.

"You were the one who threatened to put a scar on her face!" Blames the mummified prince.

"I knew nothing of who or what she was!" The one-eyed prince defends himself.

As the pair of wounded siblings bicker amongst themselves, the emperor scratches his chin with his memories of the former ruler starting to cycle through his mind. He quietly displays approval of their circumstance. "Ah, the sun-kissed princess, the one capable of raising the sun. An interesting trial this has turned into, I must say that I am amused by the results... but also disappointed in their effectiveness."

"Father, what do you speak?" A pain-stricken Xerxes grimaces through to the emperor.

"For generations, we have sought the power of true alicorns. For many in our line, our only hope to achieve such parameters would have been to marry one, to reproduce. But my attempts at her only grew stale as separation grows disinterest." The emperor stands from his seat, a first for many who watches in the room. Basileus walks forward with his orb in tow, speaking further. "Do you know why I never once disregarded Amor's aspired proposal to High Princess Twilight Sparkle? It's because of many things, but mainly that she shows similar promise in power. A unicorn fledgling taught and instructed by Celestia herself. Her young resume already boasts empirical accomplishments, and she already has the approval of the legends of old. To sire an heir of male key would be the ideal foundation to our power." Basileus turns to Xerxes, seeing his wounded state. "You must understand now the difference between us and them. If Amor is to sire a prince with that line, then that colt would be the high key."

"But father─"

"If your brother were to ever bear fruit with that one, the halcyon days of Ponyland would truly be before us. And your powers would simply be annulled. You of all ponies should understand that your position is simply a ceremonial one. Make no mistake, if tragedy were to ever befall me, you would be claimed emperor. However, if that boy is born with the abilities of the Sparkle lineage, the imperial family charter predates that you should be made defunct as such."

"Should he ever become of age, I understand that─"

"Then you should make use of your position, much like Zenobia has for all these years."

"Are you saying that I should be made less than what I am now!?"

"Do you blame me for your decisions, Xerxes?" The emperor argues back with his son. "I've been made aware of your account. You escaped the vessel, then ordered the formation to fire. You triggered the skirmish knowing full well what you were up against. Your lack of judgement in that arena has cost us the lives of THOUSANDS WITHIN THE HOUR!... And you speak as though your foley will be so easily forgiven because of who you faced. Not even Zenobia has failed in such capacity. Each time you've made a decision, you've made it to the detriment of us!"

A silence grows in the room, the princes all looking to one another with hardly anything to say, not even a simple quip about each other squeaks from their lips. Only the standing emperor makes a sound, and it's to walk back to his throne to reseat himself.

Basileus draws a sharp breath. "Your mission remains the same, Xerxes. But your brothers will be more involved. I will speak with Militades on the matter."

"But father─"

"SILENCE!" The emperor shouts his son down, making him silent for the duration of the conversation. "I will have you return to Cloud Castle. From there, you will be reassigned a specialized scouting frigate to continue your pursuit. You will no longer risk our dreadnaughts on the gamble of this engagement. And you will not risk the well-being of vast quantities of our centuries again. You will claim the holy mother, and nothing else. This failure will not be repeated! Have I made myself transparently clear!?"

Silenced by the emperor, Xerxes merely bows his head with acknowledgement. The emperor's eyes drift towards his other son, who bows with a verbal response. "Yes father."

"You will take leave to Cloud Castle at once, your new vessel will be ready in a day's time. Eros will sortie with you there. He will be in charge. The three of you will set out and make your trip to the heart of Equestria, where you will begin your search in Canterlot. That is where the holy mother resides. And in this, you will be moving in covert. That means absolutely no hunting, Xerxes. You will bring no trophy other than the holy mother, and she will be alive and well." He points his hoof to the mummified prince. "Now you may speak."

"Your majesty, your word is law." He whispers in submission.

The emperor dissipates his presence from the sphere, leaving only Eros to speak with the injured pair. "Great, now we have the whisperer, of all of our siblings, to join us."

Xerxes groans with distaste, knowing that he'll have to submit to the orders of his flamboyant younger brother. "I have been shamed enough already, what more do you want, Eros?"

"I just thought that I should disclose a fun little treat to you about some renovations." The lavender-streaked prince replies. "You know how much you said you hated Zenobia's ship, how small it is, how logistically challenged it is in it's weaponry and output? Well we'll be remodeling it to acceptable standards for our mission. I'll let you come here and see the improvements for yourself. They're sure to improve to your mood." The prince stifles a chuckle as he concludes his transmission. "Now with all that said, I'll see you when you get here."

The disfigured prince grimaces from seeing his younger brother smiling back at them. "He mocks us."

Xerxes replies. "He's your younger branch sibling. You of all others should know that's all he does."

Later That Night...

Following the chaos of earlier today, Celestia advises that we'd run the engines and make a beeline for Silver Shoals. Nondis cites a risk of running empty on fuel before reaching the shoreline, but agrees under the premise that we'd avoid further conflict out at sea. I also notice that she seems to have a gait about her as she assumes the responsibility of steering the ship this evening. I suppose their 'serious talk' went about as well as it should've.

The sun gives off a red glow over the water. The air is a bit chilly. And other than the waves of the infinite ocean, there's a lingering silence. The world is much more peaceful, even the waves are easy on us at the moment. And the sky is a warm contrast of orange and red. The general mood of everyone on board is pretty mellow, except for a loud altercation taking place in one of the other rooms that result in Amor getting disrespectfully tossed out. Poor guy can't catch a break, can he?

I go after him to check up, seeing that he's staring off into the sea. But I also notice a rather sizeable reason why he's to his lonesome. Turns out he's just pent up. And he's not trying to use his magic to solve the issue, he's using the cold breeze to entice himself back into hiding. Unfortunately he's in a bad rut, occasionally beating against his own underbelly while he stands in wait. I can tell he's trying not to go off, but his body obviously have other plans. My natural inclination is to just leave him be and hope he gets the matter resolved one way or another. But sadly he's very adamant in not finding a quick resolution.

Maybe I should talk to him. "Hey there, Romeo."

He jumps, almost out of his own skin. "Spike, you startled me." He glances down and remembers his compromising situation and covers himself by sitting down and planting his forelegs out front, clumsily squeezing himself before getting it right the second time. "Oh... sorry for the... uh... you know. I was just cooling off. I-I figure I need the time to keep inventory, if you know what I mean. Well of course you know what I mean, it couldn't be anymore obvious. I'm just... Sorry."

Poor guy, he's really going through it. "Ah, Twilight's on your mind?"

His constant veering elsewhere is an indication that he's been caught. "Well, a lot is on my mind, past and present. I draw from pretty much anything these days."

I turn away from him, offering some semblance of privacy. "Yeah, it's like that."

"Not for you, you have Zenobia."

"Nah, not really. I don't see how think things will work out with us." I deny. "Much less me getting myself back into that situation."

He scoffs laughingly at my response. "I beg to differ."

I try not to look at him as he tries to get himself together. "Amor, I'm in what you would call a polyamorous relationship, a 'herd' if you will."

"Ohhhhh... not sure if she's willing to accept a lesser role." He adds cautiously. "Dealing with dad, that's probably either a huge turnoff or the start of a serious competition."

"She won't be the only one I'll try to keep at a distance."

"You're avoiding someone else?"

"Oh yeah. Her name's Ember, she's the current dragon lord."

"YOU WHAT!?" I hear his hooves shuffle against the hardwood. "You're mated to the dragon lord!"

"Hardly!" I correct him. "She keeps asking me for fights and shit, whoops my ass, then gets mad about me losing, then makes the dumbass demand to get better and do the shit all over again! Like I already told her I don't do fighting for sex! Like I know it's dragon culture to do that, but it's not the culture I'm used to."

He nods sagely. "That's right, you were raised around ponies your entire life."

Just the thought of both Zenobia and Ember running into each other makes me want to shrink into a ball, and I thought my watching Thorax and Ember meet up for the first time would be a rough sell. "You'd think she'd catch the hint after the first time, but she hasn't."

The stallion clears his throat, then does so a second time while being a bit more forceful. "You know... you should probably tell Zenobia that you're already involved in something."

"I'd much rather tell her that I don't have interest in more than what's already transpired. And even with that, I'm smart enough to know that telling her out at sea is a bad idea in contrast to telling her when we hit land. Lest I keep the drama to a minimum."

The glass door slides open, Nondis walks through having overheard our conversation. "To be obsessed. Sometimes they don't take 'no' for an answer. That's just how it be sometimes."

Amor's face blushes all the more as he watches the human get closer. "Oh hey, how the arm?"

"Good as new." He answers, holding it up to reveal an ugly scar. "Heard a bit of a fuss-about earlier. I talked with Hestia, she clued me in on why she kicked you out of the room, she said you got a little too romantic under the sheets."

"I took a nap, I had a dream, then I'm woken up from my sleep and thrown out of the room. I can't help that my body does guy things, but she doesn't seem to care. It's all intentional in her eyes." He sighs dejectedly. "The idea of sex disgusts her. I don't get how she's even related to our family at this point."

"Her preference, her choice. It happens." Nondis shrugs. "Though I understand the boundaries. I actually had to buy this ship because of a dispute between me, Tia, and Luna. We all shared the house together up until we married. Luna wasn't too thrilled at the idea of having lovebirds making various messes in the house, so she'd interrupt us as often as we could get the time. We all lived together for a month before I had enough and just said 'Fine, I'll buy a boat, we'll travel a mile or two out, and have our fun that way.' To this day, that investment has came through for our relationship."

"What was the real reason why Luna did that?" I ask.

He wags a finger at me. "Can't say that. The wife will erupt into flames if I dare to speak it out loud."

After today's revelation of her, I can't blame him for keeping his mouth shut. "Yeah, solid copy on that one."

The man summons a chair from his shadow, plopping himself down for a seat to talk with the young prince. "So... you wanna get up with Twilight, huh?"

"Not that I'll ever have the chance you've had." Amor answers.

"You do. Just stick around. She'll get used to you. The more you do together, the more familiar she'll be with you, the more the walls break down." He advises. "But I will say this, if anything happens as a result of you two getting close, don't for a second say out loud that you resent it, no matter what the consequences are for her."

"Also, don't let herself get into comparisons. She'll never stop talking about it, and you'll only get broken down to the point where she has some stupid evaluation of how you won't be a good match for her." I add.

"Look, the moment she starts talking about me, just walk away." He motions with his fingers. "She can't stand that shit, and would probably chase you down to talk to you more. At that point, you play hide-and-seek."

"She gets annoyed easily, and she's OCD."

"She's high maintenance in attention, low maintenance in gifting. Try not to shoot for the stars when looking for something to get her. Don't go for a bouquet of roses, just start with something like a dandelion. It'll be the thought that counts."

"In speaking of thoughts, keep this one in mind: Chocolate and books. If she's reading an erotic novel, which she usually slots in around 9:45 on a Thursday night, wait till 9:52 before you interrupt. By that time, she's annoyed but hot, and probably bothered enough to maybe do something about it."

Nondis cranes his neck towards me, amazed over the bit of information I've just provided. "That's a little too specific sir, how did you pick up on that one?"

"You did the deed with her, I lived with her for my entire life. I've had to clean up after her whenever she got done, and that was before you came along."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He mutters to himself.

The stallion starts to cover himself again, probably getting a bit interested in the topics of Twilight's various triggers and tendencies. "I guess I should be taking notes then?" He chuckles nervously.

"Nah, I already got you." I say. I blow my breath, summoning a scroll and a quill to jot things down for him. "So next after that, you'll want to read up on the following books. She gets a lot of her ideas from the books she reads. So you'll want to start with a few of her preferred 'warm-up' stories. The Valet in Vanhoover, Night in the Rye, the Curious Captive of Chrystanople."

"The smutty stuff she likes on Saturday nights. Fifty Shades of Neigh, the Broken Court, the Last Evening, and don't get me started on the Miscellaneous Misadventures of Fair Charity, a very hard to come by tome, but one that was kept in the Royal Archives for private reading. Get her on that one, can't possibly lose."

The prince tilts his head at me. "Uh... the fire thing... how did you─"

"My fire's enchanted. I can send and receive letters this way." I briefly explain.

"Hey Spike, fun question." Nondis asks. "So if you can receive letters that way, why didn't Twilight try that with you earlier?"

For a moment, I try to come up with a reason of why. But then I find myself asking the question to myself, wondering how the hell haven't I thought to reverse this equation and communicate back. I get that it would've taken some time for the spell to ride the winds and inevitably get to her, but the thought completely went over my head. "...Huh."

The man laughs sensibly at my expense. "Yup, pretty much on brand with her, forget the simple solutions in her face for the more convoluted bullshit workaround."

"Ugh, and I might be picking up on that habit too." I admit.

Amor clears his throat, showing how anxious he is to get back on topic. "Sirs, could we... realign?"

Nondis smiles as he answers. "Sure thing. The sooner you do your research, the sooner you get to break her down."

"So... even she has moments of... stress relief." He asks.

I quickly reply. "Are you kidding. She's probably got it to a scheduled time block for later tonight. Might even be doing it with Nondis in mind."

"That would not surprise me." The man mutters. "What would is if she's got someone else in mind."

In the halls of Canterlot Castle, the many guards remain on post, heavily fortifying the halls due to the increased security alert recently issued. Two guards wait quietly as they stare at the clock, waiting for the moment when they are allowed to change post with that of the morning detail. Usually the latter group would be in charge of waking the princess with her usual pre-dawn slate of tasks and activities.

However, their princess is far from needing a wake up call, as she is very much awake.

"Hah... ah... no..."

In fact, she's quite active.

The princess stifles her increasing cries as she hides herself under her sheets. Her back curls as her hips grind back and forth. A soft magenta glow forms a phallic shape between her legs, resting between the pillow and the creaming folds of her sex. A foreleg wanders against her chest, another anchoring herself as her eyes glance to a brightly-lit screen. Drops of sweat and drool patter onto the image as she shows her immense dedication to her imaginative scenario.

"Dammit... right there... yes... yesss... I'm there... Nnnnn...Ah!"

Her pace increases, her eyes clench shut as she takes in the image on her screen, frantically manipulating her magic as she rushes to her early morning climax. A vulgar swear halfway leaves her lips as she clenches her haunches together, her magic manipulation surging, then breaking into nonexistence. Upon crossing the threshold, she shudders and jolts from the intensity of the moment. The creamy stain on her pillow grows, her eyes slowly opening to still see the stars that litter her vision from her climb. She looks back to the picture situated on the screen, quietly crawling back down to her present circumstance.

"...Why did I even do this?" Angry with herself, she slides the phone off of the bed, not caring that it falls to the carpeted floor. "I'm so disgusting."

She dismounts her pillow, staring at the mess she's made over her early morning measure of stress relief. Her ears pin back along with the thoughts of growing resentment. But instead of letting the moment wallow in her mind, she gives herself a smack on her cheeks with her wings and straightens her demeanor from disappointment to indifference. What's done is done, and there's no changing it.

"It's not too early to raise the sun. If so, who even cares?" She mutters as she makes her way towards the balcony.

The magic around her horn dissipates, a purple aura in the shape of a bubble quietly pops from around her bed. As she walks away, a message pops up at the top of the screen from Rarity. It's a simple wish of good morning with a trio of smiling faces. The bubble persists on the screen for a moment before being sent back to the background, bringing back forth into focus the image that drove her imagination.

It proves to be the source of not only her imagination, but also shame.