Walking down the quiet halls of the castle, the heavier hoofsteps of Twilight seem to dominate that of the smaller Amor. His presence is clearly half of hers, both in sound and shape, The purple mare glances over to see the prince, walking with a nervous turn away, his inside hind leg picking up and staying raised for a considerable limp. His cheeks are a rose red as he tries to hide his youthful excitement.

Twilight takes notice, her eyes buck wide for a moment to quietly acknowledge that the young prince appears to be very well-endowed. A vulgar string of swears jolts across the forefront of her mind before she shakes her head to distract herself from the bumbling mass of meat serving as a quinary leg. "So."

The prince takes notice of her occasionally distracted gaze and lingers a little further behind to unwittingly hide behind a bust of her brother. "Sorry." In the process of his trying to stay concealed, his eyes fall to the plaque with the emperor's name on it. His embarrassment is magnified even further. "I just never thought I'd get the chance to speak to you actually."

The princess sits herself, folding her forelegs as she avoids looking at him altogether. "Well..." She begins slowly. "Spike pulled at my tail hard enough, and now I'm here... speaking to you."

"Tail pulls are rather painful." The prince lightly jests. "I hope he didn't leave any bruises."

"I'm tougher than I look. I can handle a bit of punishment."

His intrusive thoughts string towards his current state of awkward arousal. "I'm sure of it." He slaps himself to course correct his own words. "Is everything okay with you, your highness?"

Seeing the extremes he's going through to maintain a cordial approach brings a slight chuckle to the mare, at least before the present circumstances compile in her mind. She can already imagine Cadance trying to cheer her towards the young prince and his earnest show of approval. "Hardly."

"Unfortunate." He says as he settles for keeping his forelegs planted closely to his chest and undercarriage, hiding himself from the world's view. He tries to distract himself from the arousal by indulging in a sobering topic. "I know my current display is hardly the show for it, but I apologize on behalf of my nation for what's taking place."

"You're a lesser blood. I know you don't have much of a say in what your country does." Twilight points out.

"You're right about that." He says. Hearing the mention of his inferior status leaving her lips does much to quell his state of firmness. "Not that anything I do would matter in the first place. My father has made certain of that."

"I beg to differ." She rebuts. "You could've stayed in Ponyland, avoided all of this. Why didn't you?"

"Long story, actually." He begins to say before reeling back his words, not wanting to go into detail of his family history. "My older brother would probably roll over in his grave if I did stay. I mean there was some part of me that looked forward to going back home, but a lot of me wasn't as eager."

"Any reason why?"

In the moment of her inquiry, his eyes replayed the stress of being stood over by Xerxes upon his arrival in the throne room, the whispers spoken down to him as his chin was held in place before a unrequited lean was subsided by curious eyes. "There are reasons... I just can't say."

"Is your life in danger?" She questions.

The memory of an inebriated Xerxes stumbling into his room reignites discomfort. "In a way, yes."

"Assassination, maybe?"

The passing memory of his elder brother squirming on the ground replays in his mind. "I don't think so. But then again, not every threat has to be a lethal one." It plays out to the last second his brother's limbs twitch to a fading responsiveness.

"Does your father abuse you?"

A cloudy visual recalls the moment of an intervention, a scowling mare cursing at him for his presence. All while she was sent away to convene with others, the emperor barreled a glare of penance towards the young colt that he was. "My father doesn't care for me. He never did. The only time I was ever rebuked was when I was younger, that was like nine years ago."

For a moment, the mare's approach softens considerably as she starts to identify certain responses and his corresponding glances away from her. "How old were you then?"

A silence festers for a small window of time. "I was... I was ten."

"You seemed to be greatly formed from that experience. Should I... kinda veer elsewhere?"

"...Yeah." He whispers. "It would mean a lot."

Twilight nods with a bit of guilt starting to hang on her shoulders for the manner of how she's treated him and his enthusiastic advances. "So... why me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean it, why me? It's not like I'm asking this out of arrogance, but I'm just curious as to why you just took one glance at me from the world conference two years ago and said 'yup, that's the one'... or something like that."

"I'll admit, it was a first sight thing." He replies with a light chuckle. "Just the way you handled Xerxes then was pretty inspiring. I never knew there were world leaders who would actively show that kind of steadfastness. I was impressed."

"So you just took that and ran? How did you know I was even a good mare to begin with? You don't even know me."

The young prince loosens his forelegs, feeling confident that he's back into being well-hidden. "I guess at the time I was just reacting to you. Then I started to do my research on you, your beliefs, your discoveries in magic, your heroic accomplishments, your attention to detail. I pretty much started falling right then and there."

"Yeah, I can tell you don't know the first thing about me." Twilight replies with a scoff.

"Well... not personally. But I was told a few things."

The mare cuts her eyes to the ebony-shaded prince. "Well whoever told you what you think you know, you can go on ahead and dismiss them and whatever they said."

The young prince remembers the conversations that he and Nondis had the night out at sea. Wanting to verify if his playbook is still valid, he brings up a topic of interest that she couldn't contain her passion on. "You know, I actually enjoy reading 'The Pillager's Providence'. It's a fairly good mystery novel of trying to understand who among the tribe is the active traitor selling them out."

"That twist at the end was pretty meh." Almost as though a switch has been flipped, Twilight dives head-first into the discussion of the story. "The fact that it was the forager's apprentice was such an easy catch."

"Yeah, I was rather disappointed towards the end. Had it been the baker, it would've made for such good writing. But the build up, the tension, the journey I feel was what made the experience an unforgettable read."

"If you want the unexpected, you should read The Broken Alter. It's about a priest discovering an illicit affair taking place behind the walls of the abbey."

The corners of the prince's mouth turn downward. "I've started that one some time ago. But then when I realized what direction the romance was going into, I fell out of it. A devout archdeacon with a fatal attraction for a teenage castrati in the abbey choir isn't quite hiding the abusive undertones. Granted, the archdeacon was being blackmailed into the relationship, but I'm not interested."

Twilight's ears sharpen upwards with abject disbelief. "What!? That's the good part! The taboo of it all is so captivating, so risky! The story is so deep and dangerous, you can't help but to keep going to see how it all falls apart! You got out of it just when it started getting good!"

"I'm sorry. I'm just..." He looks away from the excited mare. "...Not interested."

"Ugh! That was such a good read! I could be on all night talking about what happened when the clergymare discovers the hidden journal behind the─" The overeager princess plugs her mouth closed with her hoof, realizing that he hadn't gone that far into the story. "You know what, I can't spoil that for you."

"I wouldn't mind it." The prince replies.

"Well too bad, you'll have to read it or it's your loss!" She mocks.

A smile starts to weave itself onto the stallion's lips. "Now I will say that I do enjoy a feel-good adventure. Something that makes me forget about the world I'm in at times. You know how it can be."

"Oh, so you're an escapist reader." Twilight groans, not of disgust but of the idea that he didn't seem the type to be so invested in surface-level material.

"Come on now, don't you have moments where you just like to turn off your brain and let your mind go along for the ride? I think it's fun, much better than trying to be serious all the time."

"Oh gosh." Twilight rolls her eyes at that thought.

"Okay then, miss-dark-and-dangerous. You tell me what you like." He cuts his eyes back to her with a sarcastic tone.

"I like my stories with weight and consequences, relationships that have twists and winding turns, sometimes tragic endings."

"Why tragic?" He asks.

"It's just a thing I like, I feel I relate to it more."

"You relate to tragedies?"

"Not like in the character death type of thing, but more like when a long-built relationship gets undone by some external factors, followed by the main character having their moment to get their feelings out there. Maybe they find hope for the future, or maybe they're doomed to relive their failures in varying ways." The purple mare glances back to the prince. "It's pretty normal to have that ending. And I feel that if I could meet each of those characters, we could all learn something from one another, you know?"

"I suppose that could be a great thing, to interact with the characters you love reading up on." Amor replies. "If I had to meet a character, I'd like to see one from a fantasy world. Can you imagine a place without magic, where technology is the primary solution to all of equinity's problems? Like a world without magic, how would the sun and moon operate!? How do they get their days, their nights, their weather!? So many unknowns, and yet technology is capable of seeing them through,! The main character of that world, that's what I would kill to meet."

"You meet those all the time, they're called humans." Twilight replies.

"Really, they don't have magic?"

"None. There is no magic in their world at all."

"But what about the two that were in the castle? That one specialist of yours and Mr. Nondis? They have magic."

"Those two are special cases. They were bearers of the elements."

The brief image of the six human statues in Corrotto Square rings true to his mind. "Right, the Elements of Harmony." Yet another image flashes in his mind, the orange dragoness and the turquoise changeling. "I know that Spike did say that Ocellus and Smolder were element bearers."

"They still are." She replies. "And I'm sure that's the reason why he'd invite those two to come by this weekend."

"Well he also alluded to that too."

Twilight tilts her head with a quiet curiosity. "Huh, so did Spike also allude to the idea of bringing you along?"

"Surprisingly, I didn't know anything about this until today when he invited me and the others to come along."

"Figures that you haven't been as persistent." She points out. "Normally when you expect a visit, you tend to let that build for some time and imagine the things you'd do or say to win someone over, carefully planning your approach and appearance. It's typical of many to act that way when infatuated, I'm no stranger to that practice."

The prince's cheeks warm to a rosy complexion with a few implied thoughts. "I'm sure... we all are."

Twilight looks over to the young prince and smirks. "Actually, you're not that bad. I see why Spike has been trying to push us together."

The prince hiccups on a choke of air, his head snapping to the princess beside him. A brilliant shine fills his eyes as he feels a warmth grow in his belly, but that quickly subsides back into embarrassment as he feels himself growing excited in other ways. "You do?"

Twilight can easily see the issue he's hiding and glances off to avoid staring. "I mean it would be feasible... but..." She clears her throat and finally confesses her thoughts. "Amor, I don't know you. And because I don't know you is why I don't trust you. I don't understand the system you're brought up with, I don't like the religion of your country, I don't like how your country hunts other creatures outside of ponies, I don't like how everyone else in your family seems to stir confrontation at the first thought, I don't like idiots who can't take hints, and especially I don't like anyone who seems to have a playbook on how to get my attention, especially when I don't know or can't trust them." The alicorn grimaces with an added breathy comment. "It makes me feel like I'm being tossed around like a sample platter."

The young prince looks to the ground in shame. "I... I can understand that."

"Like I know that I have some level of emotional codependence, I'm not shying away from that! But if I want that to be fulfilled, it has to be someone I've gotten to know or grow into, someone I can trust! You just simply show up at my front door with flowers asking if I could be interested! And to be honest, I wouldn't see myself doing that with the comfort of knowing that I wouldn't just jump right to the physical part like some teenage filly in heat! Like I get it, you're good looking, you act nice, and you're packing some serious ordinance! But if I told you all of that, spent one night pretending you were someone else, would you really be satisfied!?"

The prince's forelegs presses tighter against himself. "For you, I'd be whatever you want me to be. Just as long as I get the chance to be with you and call you mine, I'll be more than happy with that."

"And that's another issue." Twilight frowns deeply towards the flustered young stallion. "I don't need you to be anyone else, I don't need you to be so low on your own stock. Like what confidence can I look to have in you when you have none for yourself? What could you say to encourage me when I turn to you, and you can't even look at a mirror with any sense of pride? At least pretend to be firm on yourself instead of showing me that! Like seriously, fight back!"

The prince's eyes widen at her words, a scathing rebuke of his character from the very mare who he harbors his fondest affections for. His eyes continue to turn downward as he hears more of her valid criticisms.

"The timing of all of this is pretty terrible anyways. Like seriously, I am the ruler of a nation at war, a war which your nation has started. Your family has literally ignited the powder keg of violence that has resulted in hundreds dead, thousands injured, including my sister-in-law being placed in intensive care! That leaves me with a brother who has to pick up the pieces while defending his home, and a niece who's innocence is all but devastated. Tell me, what part of that should I be willing to accept?"

The prince admits defeat. "None of it."

Twilight shakes her head, taking her leave from the ebony stallion. "You know, somewhere inside you have the confidence to stand up to almost everyone for anyone else..." She looks to the prince one last time. "But you don't stand up for yourself enough, especially when power is involved. I'm already twice your size in both height and weight, and eight years your senior. What makes you think you can take me on when you don't believe in yourself enough to do it?"

She walks down the hall, not turning back another time to see the prince shrink in her passing view. Amor feels himself shrink against his legs, knowing that his approach was unappealing for the mare to see him as anything but a nuisance. He walks the opposite way, hearing a fading comment from the purple mare.

"All the hardware in the world, with nothing attached. I don't need that anymore."

Sitting in the silence of the room, both Zenobia and Hestia look away from one another, neither wanting to engage with the other. Zenobia grumbles with discomfort as she squirms in place, thinking of the dragon that she's been denied access to. Hestia remains silent as she reads an acclaimed romance novel. Her attention is fully divested in the characters that can't seem to clarify their feelings for one another, the frustration building in her mind as she reads up on how the two lovebirds can't seem to remember their foalhood promise to one another.

"Nnngh... Seriously? Can you not see that this is the guy you fell in love with when you were a kid!? Why do you have to be so stupid!?"

The alicorn huffs out a puff of air in frustration. "Spoiler alert, she goes for his best friend."

Hestia shrieks as she sets the book aside. "SERIOUSLY! DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN MY STORY!?"

"It's not even the main twist! It's just some shit that happens about a third of the way through. You're a member of imperial royalty, learn to fucking skim the pages already."

"Not everyone has a perfect ability to speed read past the finer details! Nor am I that impatient to where I sacrifice the small moments for big reveals!" The pink mare groans. "Always looking for the instant gratification, never satisfied in being patient!"

"I like what I like, and I don't like to wait. So fuck you, you pompous bitch."

"Sir Spike should've just left you in Foalsom, don't even know why he carried you on the ship."

"Oh I'm sorry, I haven't yet discovered how to not have unicorn magic and still accomplish the anatomical feat of burning milk!"

"THAT WAS ONCE!"

The door opens, the two finally remain silent as they watch Amor walk into the room. He staggers past the door, barely closing it behind him. His eyes never leave the ground as he trudges towards the bathroom. Zenobia sees his slow lumbering and comments on him. "You look pathetic. I take it your crush didn't let you down too easy."

Hestia questions him, glaring back towards the albino alicorn for her crass approach. "You okay? How did it go?"

"Good news, I know what books she likes to read. Bad news... I never had a chance." He replies, giving off a brief chuckle of disbelief. "I guess I should go take a shower, wash all this ugly off of me."

"You're not─"

"Leave him be!" Zenobia shouts down a concerned Hestia and commanding Amor. "Go in there and wash that face of yours, you're already gonna be all doom and gloom for the weekend, might as well be clean."

Amor trots to the bathroom, halfway closing the door behind him. The shower instantly comes on. Hestia leers back to the seemingly dismissive mare. "You are─"

"Let him have at it. He's just coming to grips with what I've been seeing of him."

"Oh!? And what's that?"

"A lack of confidence is the first thing a mare sees. You should know that more than anyone." As she finishes her explanation, sounds of sniffles come from within the bathroom, a sharp juxtaposition against the white noise of the perpetually running shower. Hestia's ears fall flat with sadness for her brother. "Chasing after his brother's ghost, gaining nothing but losing himself, Xerxes' antics, losing his main protector and friend, it ends all the same."

"Poor Amor."

The alicorn walks over to the bathroom door, closing it fully so that the cries of the stallion are lessened. "I know you mean well in his case, but you can't shield him from the truth. Sure he needs help, but more importantly he needs to discover for himself what he's made of, and how to have confidence in what he knows and does. Without any of that, he'll never be seen as anything outside of a nice rug to step all over." The mare trots back to her bed, pulling the covers over herself. "You can't protect him from growth, only from himself."

A mournful wail sounds behind the closed door, leaving the two mares to remain in silence for the remainder of the night.

The Next Morning...

Having stayed the night in a hotel further in town, Ocellus and Smolder spends much of the dew-kissed morning in the presence of the crystal equines, the denizens of the city who harbor mixed feelings for the humans inhabiting many of their social spaces for military operations. Many accept it, some with exuberance, but others hold valid concerns that these places where they occupy will be seen as targets. And while the relief efforts have proven substantial, the signs and symptoms of hearing how many humans have lost their lives in service grows unease amongst their ranks. And some have made it known that the smaller equines put them on edge because of their inability to tell the difference of who is friend or foe.

Both Ocellus and Smolder take an early morning out and about, obtaining many of these accounts for their own perspectives. In their passing through town, many of the notable tourist attractions are under heavy watch by the occupying humans. Parents grab their foals to sometimes prevent interaction with the lanky creatures. Adolescents approach them, making unfair comparisons to the most notable of their ilk; the retired captain who's built a legacy on achieving the impossible. Some of the humans shrug off their tales as fantasy, others show fatigue in what they perceive as a propagandized lie to make them look bad.

In their journey, the two make their way back to the castle, trying to reach out for Spike. But they are held up by the sound and sensations of rumbling stomachs. The changeling stays behind, watching as the morning fly-by's hastily bust the clouds above. In watching the air-bound equines break the obstructions to the morning's light, a light poke gets her attention. Smolder hands her a white paper bag. "I brought you a fruit salad and yogurt with crumbled oats. Saturday special."

"Aw, you always get me." She says as she's hugged and given a kiss on the cheek.

Smolder takes out her own breakfast, a steaming hot cherry strudel with a side of emeralds. She glances around the street, noting how little ponies walk the avenue leading towards the castle. "I know we've been here once or twice before, but never did I imagine seeing the streets being so empty."

"Everyone's afraid. I don't blame them."

As she makes that observation, a pair of humans on patrol walk by. They seem to be on the younger side of the many stationed. They warmly greet the female pairing. "Good morning."

Smolder nods back at them with a wave. "At least some humans have manners." She turns back to see Ocellus hardly touching her food. "What's the matter?"

"I just... I just don't know anymore." She confesses as she watches the two that walked past, their greeting more of the other denizens that they run across. "I thought that I'd feel some hatred towards humans, but then when we went to their world, they were the nicest creatures we ever ran into. Now when they cross over, it's like they change, they just feel so cold, so distant... so cruel at times."

"That Alex guy, I don't like him too much." Smolder adds.

The changeling gives pause to the man mentioned. "To me, he seems the coldest. Everything about him makes my changeling instinct scream 'fight or flight'. And the fact that he was there to help kill off my species is more than enough to validate that. I know that Thorax doesn't like him either."

Smolder, seeing that Ocellus is hardly touching anything, elects to feed her the bits of fruit personally. The changeling opens her mouth to receive the sweet offering. "I remember when we attended the wedding from last year's Summer Sun Celebration, King Thorax never said much to the groom, but spoke often to Celestia. I wonder if that was a huge factor in his not allowing human technology to fester as much as it has with the changelings as it did with other creatures."

"It is." She confirms mid chew. "I just don't know how to accept the idea of those humans getting killed. Some part of me wants to celebrate... but then I look back to Celestia and see how happy she is with her husband. If I wanted to see the ones responsible for that pain suffer the most, then she'd lose out on that. If justice was done like it should've been, then I'm sure we'd have a necroterrorist still wandering the streets of Canterlot. Some of our most modern conveniences come from their world... facilitated by the one who didn't think twice of wiping out my kind, or killing my sister."

"And it doesn't help that Spike just quietly placated like he did. Even if that pilot didn't mean it, it was still said. He knew it was wrong to say it, and he still did it anyways." The dragoness gives an exhausted sigh. "Great how we came for a friendship summit surrounded by weapons of war, we could've just stayed home and played around with each other like usual."

Ocellus smiles as she nuzzles into the dragoness before her. "I know we both want attention from Spike, but I'm more than just glad that you're here with me. You came first, after all."

"Yeah, keep the mush down, you lousy lovebug. We're still in public." Smolder replies as she gently kisses the changeling on her forehead. Her eyes shift away, looking down the road to the towering castle. "Sometimes I wonder about him. Spike's really starting to lose his balance here. I understand there's a lot you try to do to keep international relations harmonious, but why does it have to be at the cost of personal stuff?"

"I think that's what Gabby was always on about. Think we should talk to him, try to help him out some?"

"I'd say yeah. Maybe it would cheer him up a bit if we did." The orange dragoness replies before something passes by them, immediately grabbing her attention. A human sits in a wheelchair, pushed along by another one of his ilk. On his face appears a distant gaze into infinity. "Hey... Olla?"

"I'm looking where you are right now." The changeling mare responds, gazing at the bandaged legs of the human sat in the wheelchair. "Usually they'd walk everywhere on their legs. But that one's not walking, and I don't see much of it's legs either."

"A human in a wheelchair. Never thought I'd see that one." The man's distant leer drifts to the direction of the interspecies couple, prompting Smolder to look back off.

Catching the recoil of the two creatures trying not to stare, the soldier looks down at his missing legs. "You're good, bro. We'll just get you back home so you can get fitted. Right after that, you can go right back to running your life how you want it to be. It's not the end of your life, it's just the first day of your new one."

"I must be a joke to them." He comments. "Lo and behold the mighty man, who no longer has his legs."

"Hey man, enough. I told you we're gonna get you to the boss for your waivers for your medical. Then you go home, get your prosthetics measured out, and you'll be fine." The assistant continues to reassure the injured soldier of his outlook.

"They're staring at me."

"They're not staring, bro. They're probably not used to us being around." The assistant replies.

"Every time we go somewhere, you know we hear that bullshit story of the human who did the impossible and saved the world. I wonder if he's even alive right now." The wounded soldier mumbles. "If he's still around, why the hell hasn't he pulled some miracle out of his ass and helped us?"

"I think we need to take your mind off of that. It's just some stupid story the locals spun up."

"You ever think he felt our pain, know our loss? Some hero he is to let all of this shit happen."

"Hey!" The assistant interjects. "Can it. Let's get you cleared by the boss so we can get you out of here."

"Yeah." He says as he glances back to the interspecies pair silently shifting their attention to and away from him. "They're staring at me again."

"Dude, relax─"

"Bro, I know what I'm seeing." The man replies angrily. "They're staring at me. They ain't gonna stop staring either."

"Fine. I'll go over there and deal with it and okay." He flicks the brakes on the wheelchair and leaves him on the other side of the road. In doing so, he walks over to the dragon and changeling with a polite greeting. "Good morning to you both."

Ocellus sees the smaller firearm at the human's waist and grows sheepish. She looks towards Smolder, who speaks out for her. "Morning. Anything we can help you with?"

"Actually yeah. My friend over there's been pretty down because he lost his legs early yesterday morning. Now he's kinda hard on himself for how it happened, and... you know." The man shrugs as he tries to word his request in a way that doesn't offend. "So, he's a bit self-conscious right now and he thinks everybody's staring at him. Now I know you two are your own kind, but could you help me out a bit and look the other way for a quick sec?"

Smolder, already feeling a bit attacked by the request, argues back in return. "So what, your guy messes around and now he's wanting the world he's not even a part of to placate to him?"

Ocellus sees another soldier briskly walking up to the man in the wheelchair, she lightly tugs on Smolder's tail. "Let's just do what he says. We don't want trouble─"

"AAH! SONOFABITCH!"

The assistant immediately turns around to see a bit of a scuffle taking place between one of the soldiers and the wounded man. The soldier looking to help the legless man seizes up and moves slowly with his hands raised, his right hand appears bloodied from a vicious bite. "What the─"

The man in the wheelchair points the standard issue M17 towards the man offering his assistance, the very same man he maimed. The assistant calls out from across the street, trying to reason with the hyperventilating man. "Paulmann, put that down!"

"You guys wanna see some shit! Oh I'll show you some shit!" He hollers out as he quickly mouths the barrel of the firearm.

"PAULMANN!"

*PLECK*

The man's arms files taught against his chest, the stubbed limbs of his legs stretch taught, and the weight of his body listing to his right unbalances his wheelchair, causing him to land against the ground. A weak gargle sounds from within his throat, blood slowly pools around his head from out of his mouth and nose. Slowly, his body eases into a relaxed posture, never to move on it's own accord again.

The assistant appears to signal that he's about to pull his hair out, but recants and contorts out of his own discomfort. "Son of a... Paulmann."

Other guards and soldiers come from around the square, hearing the gunshot ring loudly in the area, "What happened!?"

The newly injured soldier gives his account. "Paulmann bit me, took my gun, shot himself."

The assistant immediately runs over to help, trying to do what he can to help offer the dead man whatever dignity they could afford to give him for the time being. "Jesus Christ... Notify command. We need an angel wing evac for one more. Tell them to make room."

Both the two girls, who were attempting to avert their eyes before, could barely do so at the current sight. Ocellus's stomach turns as she covers her mouth with abject horror. "Smolder... what did we just see?"

The dragon quietly replies. "We need to get back to the castle. Like, now."

Meanwhile in the Castle...

"Wow, so they really did all of that shit to you while you were there?"

"Yeah, pretty macabre." I tell Alex, regaling him of my story of visiting Ponyland, all while we have a quick round of target practice using bb guns. "I didn't think that he would go that far, but then again, he hauled me in a cage on the way to their castle."

"Yeah, that couldn't have been me." He chuckles as he takes a few shots of a paper target across the room. "The fact that they did all of that should've been your first sign to let the prince go and haul your ass back out."

"You know, that was the plan. But..."

"But what?" He asks, walking over to the paper and pulling his result.

"Well, let's just say crazy ran into me and demanded that I stick my dick in her if I wanted to live."

The man laughs at my response. "Oh wow! This iteration of 'crazy' seems interesting. What does she look like?"

"She looks like she does demonstrations for exploding spears."

"Ah, gotcha. That'll do it, that'll do it alright." He nods sagely as he places a new target sheet up. "So she kept you there, and how?"

"Drugs, sex, promises of better security against her brothers, that sort of deal."

"And you just took that?" He quirks a brow at me.

"Yeah, hence why you see this collar on my neck." I point out.

"Why don't you just take it off?"

"Tried to. Rest of my body falls numb each time I reach for it. It's imbued with spells that notify the owner of my intentions to remove it, it numbs the nerves throughout my body, I fall limp in seconds. And from there, she dictates what happens to me."

"Not you being a forced sub." Alex responds. "And she's not taking it off either, is she?"

"She's made no such attempt to this point."

"I could just cut it off for you." He offers.

I wince at his proposition. "That would risk me getting paralyzed. Plus I need her to stay docile for long enough to make some stuff happen in the political theater. Maybe I could tilt the tide in my favor and have her play as the regent of Ponyland, turn their whole system inside out."

"And you believe she'll do that?"

"It's my dick that's making it happen thus far." I shrug.

The man shakes his head in shame. "Damn, I feel like a terrible influence."

"For what?" I ask. "It ain't you going for rounds with some lade who's double your age."

"That part, no. But the rest, yeah." He elaborates, handing me the faux weapon to try my own skill. "I had a playbook in high school, please the girls and take advantage of their connections for better hookups. Nondis tried my playbook, didn't work very well in our world, but it worked wonders here. And now he's got you working that same format."

I take aim at the paper and fire off a few shots. "Politics is a game of take and give. It's just that this one is a little more giving than taking."

The man takes notice of my stance, as well as my fairly concentrated groupings. "Ah, you're improving. Back when you first started you could barely use your sights, and you kept your weapon too far away from your chest. Now it's like you have the confidence to make the shot."

"I learned from one of the best." I lightly bow back to him.

He laughs at my humbling gesture. "You can say that, but there are a lot of these guys who can blow me clean out of the water."

"Yeah, but did they help save two worlds in a week?" I ask.

"No, they didn't quite do that." He answers with a smirk.

"Then take that and run with it. That's something you've got over them. Hell, I'm willing to bet that none of them would even be here to help if it wasn't for what you and the others had done back then. I'm sure their families would be going through nightmares and horrors untold."

"Yeah, point taken." He replies with a sobering sigh.

As he walks over to grab my marksmanship results, the door swings open with both Smolder and Ocellus entering the room with urgency. "Hey Spike!" Ocellus shrieks as she looks at me. Smolder's eyes widen before she puts on the speed to knock the bb gun from out of my claws. "PUT THAT THING DOWN NOW!"

While the smack was considerably painful, I'm more in surprise by the sudden show of panic coupled by her aggressive condemnation. "Ow! Smolder, what the hell!?"

"ME!? What the hell do you think YOU'RE doing!?"

The changeling runs from out of the room, visibly upset. I hail to her to see what's wrong. "Ocellus!"

Smolder angrily snags me by my tail, going as far as to pull it to painfully draw my undivided attention. "Do you even think about what you do these days!? You know Ocellus doesn't like those things! And here you are holding one of them! You don't even know the trauma we just had to endure!"

As Alex eases over to pick up the fake weapon, I give my apologies to him. "Sorry about that. I don't know what's going on right now."

"No worries, man. I kinda understand with the changeling situation. And don't worry about the gun, it's really more of a toy anyways. Just count our lucky stars that it wasn't a real one, had the safety been off, it could've been pretty rough."

Smolder goes from yanking my tail to vehemently confronting the man over his casual response. "You do know that one of your subordinates is dead from using one of those, right!?"

"Wait, what?" His mood quickly shifts to being a lot more serious. "When and how did that happen!?"

"One of the humans was getting pushed around because they didn't have their legs! So they took one of those things from the other human walking them, stuffed it in his mouth, and it went pop!"

"He committed suicide!?" Immediately, the man pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling overwhelmed. "Oh God. And you saw that live. Fuck." He shows expediency in going after the situation in town, leaving me alone with Smolder for the time being. "Hey Spike, I'm gonna go check with what happened and then I'll have a committee with my officers. If Twilight starts the session without me, let her know what's taken place. I should be late coming in if I'm able. I'll get back to you." He disappears out of the room, understandably at a brisk pace.

A human committing suicide, just the thought of it really highlights the stress that they experience on their own accord, but also the similarities of emotional weight they carry in contrast to many other creatures of this world. Their technology may be beyond us, but their minds are just as vulnerable as ours.

But that's not the only thing I should have my mind on right now. "Smolder, can you tell me where did Ocellus could have ran off to?"

"She's a changeling, Spike! She could be anywhere, anything, or anyone!" She replies with a frustrated snarl. "You just stay here, I'll go find her." She says as she's about to take off after the distressed creature. However, she gives me a brief staredown as she points her claw at my face. "But you, you stay away from human weapons. They do their job a little too well for my liking. You can take what I give you, you can't take that."

I close my eyes, and take a deep breath, wondering if this would somehow get any worse.

Later that Evening...

After yet another subtle yet contentious encounter with the high princess of Equestria, the Ponyland counterpart walks back into the room as frustrated as the night before, knowing that the access to her intended is continuously denied with petty intent.

Hestia comments on her appearance. "Wow, that meeting had to be intense. You never let a strand of your mane fall out of place over political conversations."

"Oh, I'm sure you feel just as frustrated as I do now." She retorts.

"No, not really. I have this wonderful thing call 'self-control' that helps me not want to act as feral as you often do." The shaded comment elicits a grumpy pout from the alicorn as Hestia continues. "Though you should be careful, this isn't like back home where you can just grab a random century and perform unmentionable horrors upon him to relieve stress."

"Don't think I haven't entertained the idea, because I surely would at this point. But knowing that purple prick, she'd fucking use that against me within the minute of!" Following up after her entrance, Amor walks in with complete despondence. Having attended the meeting himself, he offered little to no input, not even as much as a question raised. He's been quiet the whole afternoon. "And you, what's all that moping about? Can't you say something, some concern? At least try to be of some use in these discussions."

The crestfallen stallion replies with a lifeless tone. "You of all ponies showing care?"

"No, I'm just pointing out you're acting strange as hell. We already share a room, and that's just dangerous enough. Don't need you sharpening things in the dead of night and finding the voices in your head telling you to plunge them in whatever snores."

"So you think I'm crazy or something?" He mumbles.

"To be fair, you are the one who's the most likely to snap in that manner of all three of us."

"Zenobia!" Hestia calls her out.

"What!? I'm just saying it! He's acting off! Ever since that conversation last night, he's been like... bleak! And I don't know him to be bleak, nor do I trust him to be that way! I know our genetics far too well to ignore that behavior and what it could possibly turn into!"

"Zenobia, he's just depressed!"

"And there you go, defending and shielding for some bastard who'd probably wouldn't think twice about pulling a desperado and shanking you in the middle of the night! Both ways, might I add!"

Finally, the young stallion offers some resistance against his elder sibling. "That's not what I'm going to do, I'll never do that. Her royal majesty has simply elected to not make plans with, nor does she wish to entertain me. That is all. I'm just processing that defeat."

"Oh well thank you, captain baggy-eyes." The alicorn replies with sarcasm.

"Do you really have to trample on my spirits right now?" He asks before settling himself back into his bed, pulling his head underneath the covers. "I just wanted to try to be what she wanted, whatever she asked for in the moment. Now I'll just have to accept that I'm nothing like what she's looking for. Like seriously, she responds to nonconforming behaviors far more than she does anything else. I'm really starting to believe that being somewhat of an asshole, or maybe an eldritch abomination is the way to go."

"Eldritch abomination?" Zenobia laughs heartily at the suggestion. "Fuck, are you really that pathetic!? All she wants is for you to be more assertive! And your response is to curl up in your bed and mope? Such a profound show of character, if you ask me."

"Okay, you've proved your point." Hestia intercedes on behalf of the downtrodden stallion. "But you can't seriously expect him to undergo a paradigm shift overnight. That's not fair."

The older mare hears a knock on the door, she quickly addresses her sister before answering. "He's not Adelphos, that's obvious. But he should still find some place in him that he's comfortable with. That will come in due time, but emotional maturity is always a time-nurtured project that requires an intercession of self. It requires you to embrace your weaknesses and failures, leaning into your own mind and beliefs. Knowing that you can't please everyone is one of the first steps of that road. Grow to accept it, and you'll finally grow into some character that would be desirable for some. Some realize that earlier than others."

"Not a bad lesson." A voice calls from behind the door.

"Pet!" The alicorn rushes over, greeting me as I look down to her. Her face is washed with relief. "Surprising to see you wander back over my way."

The covers shift on the bed as the prince offers a grumbling complaint towards his eldest sister. "Get over yourself."

"Oh... Yeah, Twilight told me that she finally gave you her honest evaluations." I say while walking over to the bed. "I don't think she was very... accommodating with that. I came around to check in on everyone, so you good?"

"Not in the slightest." He answers in a low voice. "But at least I can accept what my life will soon turn into."

"Amor, don't say things like that." Hestia tries to reason with her brother.

"Oh, don't worry too much over this. He's starting what I would like to call his 'crush-recovery arc'. I've been there before, it takes some getting used to, but those first few days are rough on the mind. We'll set up a little regiment to help him work some of that off. Blowing off steam is the first step in the process of healing."

"So when you mean your 'crush-recovery arc', do you mean your process after Rarity?" Zenobia brings up.

"Wait, you seriously had a crush on her?" Hestia asks with a quirked brow.

"I'd rather not talk about it." I dismiss.

"Huh, no wonder you two seem to have such a close connection." The young pegasus responds. "In speaking of relations, aren't you supposed to be with Ocellus? This was her day, and it's the only real reason why you've elected to bring her along so that she doesn't get cut out."

I draw a sigh, knowing that this morning was the only time I had gotten to see any bit of her. Ever since, neither she nor Smolder have been around. "She's upset with me. I was holding a BB gun that looked a lot like one of the real guns the humans use, and it just so happened that she saw one of the human soldiers take said gun and kill himself this morning."

"They what!?" Hestia's ears jolt up at the news.

"You're joking, another one died?" Zenobia expresses genuine shock over the idea of hearing the tragic update.

"Yeah. Turns out that this environment is far too stressful for what was intended, plus some of these guys may have some inert PTSD from their prior conflicts back home. Alex wasn't even able to drop by today's meeting, so that was a total wash on that end. Twilight's assigned our next session for tomorrow after the sendoff ceremony for the four deceased, they're slated to return back home with full honors."

"A sendoff? They're celebrating a sendoff for soldiers when they've got some who are killing themselves?" Zenobia questions. "Usually in our land, we simply label them as cowards and leave the family to cover the costs of burial."

"Not the case for these guys." I explain. "Alex made sure to all families of the deceased that they'd be treated as heroes, no matter the manner of expiration. And the sendoff is really more like returning the bodies back to their world. They're getting flown back out on some specialized aircraft, and that can take a day or two to prep, which is why they're flying them out tomorrow instead of having it done sometime yesterday."

"Okay, now that makes sense." Hestia comments. "It's interesting to see how each faction deals in the manner of their dead, I'm sure for Equestrians, suicide is a middle ground of controversy. Our country sees it as an act of surrender unless when done with the intent to take the lives of the enemy, then it's an honorable act. But with the humans it doesn't matter how they died, they served with the intent of knowing that it would be possible, and are treated as such."

"It is a bit of grim topic, but it's one that brews curiosity. 'Tragic as the circumstances may be, our inherent interests in the macabre always steers us in the direction of pursuing knowledge'." As those words leave my mouth, I feel a bitter taste knowing that even the books I've read up to this point reinforces our own interests. In truth, while the necroterrorist was a sadist maniac, he was right about that. "Damn. didn't think I'd be quoting him of all things."

Seeing the expression of my face turn sour, Zenobia tugs at my tail to get my attention. "So... dear pet. I see you've been lacking company. Perhaps you'd might wish me to indulge you a bit on tonight?"

"That does bring up a thought." I say as I turn around. I lean down towards her with my neck exposed. "So yeah, this collar, let's talk about it."

The mare's brows shoot up for a moment, her eyes shifting in every way but to me. "Oh... right... that thing."

"Would you mind removing it, please?" I ask.

Her shifting eyes continue to bounce around, never once holding to me for more than a second. "I mean... I could... I mean you could, technically─"

"No seriously, I've had an itch there every now and then, but I can't scratch it because my body goes numb every time I reach for it. So yeah, can you get on that for me?" The mare covers her muzzle with both of her hooves, her hind leg tapping against the ground as she expresses a growing nervousness. Immediately, I can tell something's wrong. "What?"

"I know this is a bit of a wild one, but can I ask you to be patient with me?" She whimpers. "Please?"

"What for?" I ask.

"So... the collar..." She takes her hooves and places them over my claws, rubbing the top of them gently as she speaks. "So what I can tell you that it will come off on it's own. But only after the period in which the enchantment's strength will eventually subside. I intended to... originally... keep you around for a little while before getting bored of you. But as it turns out, I've grown more interested in you than anticipated. So I thought that it would take me a little while to... you know... assimilate you into your... new home."

I skip completely past her dance around the subject and hit at the core of her issue. "Are you telling me that I can't take it off?"

"Well, you can... just not right now, this instant."

"Then you should be able to take it off, right?" Her rubbing against the back of my claws intensify. "Right?"

She purses her lips and look up at me. "This is the part where you'll have to bear with me a bit."

2 Minutes Later...

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Alright! I'm coming!" Twilight's voice sounds agitated as she makes her way to the door. She quickly opens up to see me standing in the doorway. "Spike?"

"I'm coming in." I grumble a bit frustrated after hearing what Zenobia had to say.

"Wait, you just can't just barge into my room─"

"This isn't even your room, this is Cadance and Shining Armor's room." I remind her.

"Well... yeah, bu─"

"Can you imagine all the kinky things those two might have done in here?" I tease, further stressing that point. "A married couple with absolutely no boundaries outside of maintaining the established trust of remaining true to one another. Sounds a lot like mama Velvet and papa Crescent. I heard that they even had a few swing-arounds with some of the staff to really spice things up─"

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" The mare shouts, already starting to get compulsive over what else she touches. "What those two do in here is their business, not mine! Now why are you here annoying the living shit out of me!?"

"Look, long story short; I need you to conjure up a spell to remove this collar, and I need it gone now."

"It's not that bad of an issue, Spike. Just take the damn thing off." She replies ignorantly.

"I would, if it wasn't completely synced into my nervous system."

"Then have Zenobia take it off! She's the one that put it on in the first place."

"Such a genius idea!" I'm quite overflowing with sarcasm. "Yeah, about that. There's a time restriction on the damned thing. When she had it put on me, she apparently had it timed for three months before I can even take it off."

"Three months!? What the hell did she plan on doing to you for three months!?" Her eyes widen at that question and her mind flashes back to the uncomfortable moment of watching me dominate the albino alicorn from behind. "Never mind, not that I haven't already seen a glimpse of what you two have done already."

"Look, you got a spell for this or what?" I deadpan back to her.

She rolls her eyes and point me over to the bed. "Sit down. Let me take a look at it."

As soon as I plop down, her inquiring eyes start glancing at every aspect of the item bound to my neck. She uses her magic to turn my head in her examinations. Upon the activation of her magic for the purpose of investigating the collar, a number of runes glow on the black leathery strap. As she does that, I verbalize my complaints. "I can't believe she did this stupid-ass shit. Like I know Rarity's been on my ass about taking the damn thing off. But now that I can't, I can already bet that this is going to turn into some drama."

"Not even going to deny that. She's very protective of you." She says as she studies the item. "So this is a class-seven motion inhibitor, enchanted further by timer-bound runes, several layers of incantations, and even a few sensitivity enhancers that make the slightest touch seem amplified by a factor of up to three times the normal amount." She freezes for a moment, seemingly lost in a thought before she shakes herself back to the present. "Either way, I'm going to have to look into this a little more. So hold still." She presses my head to the side, lightly tapping her hoof against the bottom. But in doing so, my whole body falls a bit numb and my head drops back down. She complains as my chin lands on her cheek. "Hold still, Spike!"

"I'm sorry that I can't be bothered to not hold my own weight when all of my fucking body starts to slump from you fiddling with the damn thing."

"Do you want to stay wearing this for three months?"

"Two months now, it's been a month since she's put it on." I inform her.

"Are you sure it's been that long?" She asks.

"One week since we met up, another week when we were on the run, yet another week when we were out at sea, and then another week after that dealing with both Zenobia and Ember taking up space in my house and nearly burning my shit down. It's also been a week since Ember's left. So yeah, five weeks, a little over a month."

The high princess sighs as she gently places her hooves on my shoulders, politely guiding me into the pillows of the bed. "Okay, just lie there for a bit. Don't need you jolting up and falling over to the floor on me."

"Thanks for warning me that you'll be fucking with my nervous system." I reply.

The mare taps her hoof on the side of my collar, causing my right arm to jump upwards. She taps the other side, easily causing my left leg to kick out. "This isn't normal, this is a total neuro override. Was she planning to make you do anything outside of being her sex slave?"

"At this point, it wouldn't surprise me."

"These enchantments aren't imbued to be exclusive to just one pony's commands." She expounds further. "Spike, anyone who knows the spell could make you do whatever the hell they want you to do. That's how dangerous this is!"

"Oh yeah, I'm knowing. I've been there." Again, I can't deny how perturbed I am at this point.

"You're still underplaying how serious this is for you?"

"Me, underplaying a situation and instead coping by dishing out sarcastic remarks? It's almost like you've known me for some years."

Twilight takes a deep breath and looks back at me. "Okay, I'll be the first to say that I know little to nothing about this kind of stuff. It's not like I had a use for any of this, namely this combination here. The only one I'd know to put this chain of magics together would be Starlight Glimmer. I have to research this further just to get a better understanding of how it works, and what can be done to counter it."

"Apparently Rarity knows the spell too." I add. "She used it when she dragged me off with you and the others yesterday."

Twilight glances to me before lightly tapping her head with a hoof. "Figures. I sometimes forget that Starlight and Rarity have some particularly explicit conversations about magic utilization in areas of intimacy. Maybe..." She acts on her first mind, pulling out her phone. Her magic holds the device firm as her feathers tap away at the screen, quickly drafting a message before she places the item aside. "There. I just sent a text to Rarity, she should be here in a moment."

"Oh yay, send in the source of all my emotional and sexual neglect for the better part of eight years over the issue of a kink gone wrong. That can't possibly be awkward in any way."

"Quiet you." She says before a knock sounds at the door. She walks over to answer, allowing the aforementioned fashionista to enter. "Thank goodness you came as quick as you did."

She barrels towards me with anger set upon her face. "I only came because you said it was stuck on the poor thing. Now let's see about it." She gets in close to me, squinting as she and the high princess both examines the collar on my neck. "This thing isn't just enchanted, it's fully loaded. What a terrible thing to witness." Her anger swaps for a brief moment to sweetness as she addresses me directly. "Spike dear, do you mind holding your head up for me?"

I do my best as she cranes her head closer to me. I can't help but to notice the rather fragrant smell of grapefruit-pomegranate with a slight hint of musk, a prime example of her trying to be presentable whilst popping away from her work. I hold my breath, trying not to take her in out of knowing my own body's response to such an alluring combination. If only she were this close to me for any other reason but this, at any other time but now...

Twilight takes one look at my face and teases me in a bitter tone. "If only I can get that kind of obedience out of him. He'll purr like a kitten when it comes to you. But when I tell him to do something, oh boy is it like I'm pulling teeth─"

"Twilight wants you to teach her the control spell for the collar so she can know the ways to counter it." I cut in, slicing her rant short.

The fashionista more than willingly obliges. "Oh! If that's all you needed, then I'll be more than happy to provide a quick instructional." Her magic presses at my shoulders, holding me in place as she guides the purple mare alongside her to the other end of the room. "Alright now, do you see that loop there beneath his chin? I want you to imagine yourself tethering your magic to it, almost like drawing a lead from you to your... well... let's pretend you have a pet dog."

"I never had a dog. I had an owl."

"Irrelevant, dear!" She barks back. "So let's think back to simpler examples, do you remember the times when you used to drag Nondis about in the castle in Ponyville?"

"Oh for..." There's not one ounce of purple that can escape the blush blooming from her memories. They run wild about her times with him, the man who she purposefully kept on third base until her own jealousy made her break that boundary. A thick red line that got her into considerable trouble, not that she minded giving herself to him. But having it brought back up surely does cause frustrations to resurface, indicated by the shuffling of her hind legs. "Really, that's how that works?"

Rarity taps her chin, accumulating her own findings. "So to compile matters, what we have now is a combination of a neural override, a timed release of the bind, so on and so forth." She points Twilight to me. "Alright, get him to stand up."

Thinking simply of the matter, Twilight asks me to do so of my own accord. "Okay Spike, stand on your feet."

Just as I start to, I feel a press against my shoulders. "Aht! No, not you! Stay down, this is a demonstration!" Rarity's magic keeps me pinned to the bed as she chides the purple princess. "You, make him stand. Don't ask him to do anything, speak it into your authority. Like so." A sapphire aura clasps itself to the loop on my collar, matching the same glow of Rarity's magic. She calls in a strong voice, "Get up, now." My body falls numb, however my limbs move according to her given word. Not that I had much of an issue obeying her, but now it feels as though I have absolutely no control.

Her voice doesn't just claim my mind, it hails down all of me. Any more of her demands and I might just show myself to her by no fault of my own. And I can only wish it, if Rarity has any thought to make me claim her like Zenobia would, I would be more than proud to embarrass myself in front of Twilight a second time.

But Twilight doesn't show her usual disdain. Instead, it's... captivation? "Just completely obedient."

Rarity plays it out a bit further. "You've been awfully out of term, Spike! You should learn where you are right now, in the presence of royalty! Have you no shame!? You will bow before me this instant!" Her words, as scathing as they may be, they are singing the melodies of my heart's desire. In a way, I hate how easily she controls me right now, only because she doesn't even think to use me for her desires. I bow my head in a refined posture, awaiting further instructions. "See, total control." She illustrates. "Now it's your turn."

Feeling the connection break, I'm back to having most of my own free will. It'll be a few seconds before I'm back to being calm, but I've avoided a moment of total shame in revealing myself. Still, I point out that I have my own will, a rebellion of sorts. "I'm not a toy here. You two shouldn't just do things like that."

"Still waiting, dear." Rarity calls to Twilight. "I know you to be an observational savant. It's nothing for you to replicate."

The purple alicorn shows some timidity at first, but applies a very weak bond to my collar, the magenta aura appearing as no thicker than a fishing wire. "Stand up."

My body doesn't fall limp, not like it would for Rarity. Instead, I'm still fairly passive. "Not exactly feeling much but a light tingle right now."

The mare still shows hesitation, but Rarity steps in to coax her into participating a bit more. "Twilight, do you have any ounce of authority in that celestial frame of yours?"

"Of course I do! But─"

"Then act like it!" She shouts.

In the moment of distress and frustration, Twilight's lead bulks not into a firm leash, but rather a thick row of chains, my limbs completely drop dead to the touch. I fall flat to my face, her eyes still showing resolve as she commands. "To me, now!" Such an oppressive presence, I can't help but to watch as my body barely shows any strength outside of my limbs weakly dragging me along the floor, having me scrub the ground with naught but my abdomen. As I finally realize the efforts of making my way to her, she gives yet another oppressive command. "On your knees!" The chain rattles, her eyes part from me, indicating that she's having a hard time watching me act so helpless. "Look at me."

The chain starts to weaken, tapering down to a smaller size. But the dominance still remains over my body. The remnants of her power disallows me to even speak, my jaw is slacked, my tongue not even able to articulate anything but to loll lazily from my mouth. My eyelids are barely open, everything falls to a relaxed state. "Authority, dear." Rarity reminds her.

The chains gather strength once more, her voice shouts down to me. "Spike, look at me!" My head lifts at last, my eyes locking to only her, my body uncontrollably allowing everything to be revealed to her. Her eyes trail downward, seeing that my relaxed state allows little to remain hidden. The drool cascades from the corners my mouth, my tongue draws lazily from my jaw, and my head draws in closer...

Wait... why do I feel the need to... please her?

Steam rises from my throat, my eyes draws up and down her body, the purple legs that once towered above me becoming a slight bit appealing. A pair of lips remain ajar, the motion of her neck indicates she's swallowing a surplus of something, a cold rush unites us as she takes a simple breath.

'Fuck' is the only word that permeates my mind before all the numbness is dropped clean from my system, along with the chains from my neck. Twilight turns her head away, trembling while doing so. "I can't do this. He's suffering."

"Spikey... Spike?" Rarity gawks at me for a moment before clearing her throat and focusing back to the present task. "Well, now you understand how it works. As I once said to a certain cretin of a mare, my knowledge of the spell comes with a lot of experience with pushy stallions thinking they can just force the issue of a good time. I mainly use that as a means of self-defense, that and a bit of foreplay. I'd often like playing the dominant one."

"It shows." I grumble as I wipe my mouth, feeling a heap of embarrassment as I turn away, trying to hide the obvious side-effect of having undergone that trial. "I'm not usually used to being like this."

"You have Ocellus and Smolder to attend to, take your fanatical frustrations out on them." She brings up, her magic at my back and pushing me out of the room.

Twilight quickly rises to start writing her observations down. "I-I at least know the formula of the control factor. So I should be able to work things out from here. Thanks for your help, Rarity."

"No problem, darling. Just give me a ring if something else pops." She says as she continues dragging me out of the room. "Oh, and Spike, did you ever put that ring to use?"

"For what?" I ask.

"Well turnabout is fair play, darling. I suggest you go about understanding that before you involve yourself with that mare again. Now I will tell you that Smolder and Ocellus have returned to the castle, they're in the room six doors down. Do be a good partner and keep them entertained, maybe even work out that frustration of yours." She shoves me out of the room, closing the door behind us, then teleports to the room three doors down the opposite way. "Have fun!"

The door slams shut behind her, leaving me to wander the halls with a very visible show of arousal. But the main thing that's on my mind is that chain Twilight summoned...

Maybe the aphrodisiac is also in the collar itself? That would explain some things.

Meanwhile...

Twilight pants heavily as her pen scratches out yet another perverse sentence written in her notes. Her hips stir as she looks to her phone, knowing the one thing she resorts to using in her time of peak state. A tremble draws in her throat, her eyes hungering for the mental image of her number-one assistant being devolved into a drooling subordinate, obedient to her every command and desire.

A throbbing itch develops beneath her tail, forming a dull pain deep within her. She grits her teeth in realizing her place. "Try to remember who's bedroom you're in, Violet. This is not the time nor the place."

Settling in for the night, she makes the executive decision to sleep off the arousal instead of acting on it. But as her eyes close, her mind only replays the sight of the dragon she used to take good care of, the one that grew alongside her, staring back at her with a promised response to her innate desires.

Her hind legs tighten as she tugs her tail firmly between them. "Dammit... that's twice this weekend."

While I'm pacing back and forth outside of the room Smolder and Ocellus have been seen going into, I can't help but to take a moment to clear my head, at least make it seem like I'm not walking in with a raging erection with one thing on my mind. That would probably be the quickest way to piss the both of them off.

But that's not the only thing on my mind.

I just completely broke down, I almost became as bad of a sexual deviant as I was back in Ponyland under Zenobia's concoctions of perfumes, aphrodisiacs, and incenses. All I can feel right now is the terrible guilt of knowing that even for the one instance, I considered Twilight as an object to relieve my lust.

Just the idea of me and her together, like that... it's off-putting. And thankfully, it's just so much that I have grown back to a calmer self who can roam the halls without thrill nor shame of standing out. I knock against the door, sounding out to the ones within. "Hey, it's me." I don't get an immediate answer. "I wanna try to apologize for earlier. I know that what happened out there in front of you guys scared you off pretty bad. But had I known you just saw that, I would've been more careful about what I was doing. I can't say that what I was doing wasn't what it was, because it was. I was taught to use firearms, mainly because I needed to be able to defend myself if I were in a situation where humans were involved. But I see that can also be a source of concern. And I do understand that you'd probably want no part of that right now." I hear a slight shuffle behind the door, but I also finish my statements. "So if it makes you feel any better, I'll just stay out of your way tonight."

The door opens, Smolder being the one to look back up to me. She stands in my way for a brief moment, stepping aside to let Ocellus look at me. The changeling smiles as she quietly beckons me within. "Mind parking it next to me? Please?"

I do as she asks and seat myself beside her. "Ocellus, I want to say that I'm sor─"

She cuts me off with a hoof planted on my lips. "I'm a lovebug above all else. All I want is to know that you're you, and that those things don't change who you are and what you do. But more importantly, I want you to be safe."

Smolder closes the door behind us, emphasizing where she left off earlier today. "Those weapons the humans have are clearly dangerous. Just one wrong move and that accident could be fatal, to you or someone else. Now we understand that you might know how to use that stuff, but..." She breaks for a moment to better articulate her thoughts that doesn't seem aggressive in any way. "We don't want you to get too involved with the humans here. We know how many of them can be peaceful, but these guys aren't built that way. They're a dangerous breed, to others and more so to themselves."

I know that we still have another meeting with Alex tomorrow, but I can at least assure them that I'd minimize any contact while they're around. "I'll do my best. I know this weekend wasn't anything close to what we had planned."

"I'm here for her. So it's no problem." The dragoness replies as she walks past me, giving the changeling a kiss on her forehead. "Now before you think to walk out on us, we could still have you around. Besides, it's Olla's day, we don't have to always get physical to make the best of our time."

"Oh, I was just thinking that you two needed the space─"

"No, we need you to connect!" Again, the changeling plants her hoof on my lips to keep my quiet. "After all, that what these days are for. Maybe you need to spend more time connecting with us on top of getting involved in your so-called homework."

"Not just us though." Smolder adds. "Gabby too. She's been feeling pretty left out with all of this. And I think she might need a little reinforcement that we can all make this work. Trust me, she'll be more than happy to share. Just keep us in mind."

I nod in response. "I'll try to do better, you two. I promise."

"Good." Smolder yanks me down and scoots over to leave a space for the changeling to fall into. "Now, let's give our little lovebug a good old dragon sandwich."

As she fits the gap between us, Ocellus looks at me with a smirk. "So... I'm feeling some tension in you."

"Just a little." I reply. "I'll worry about that later. Right now, let's focus on you."

The constant sounds of a heartrate monitor is contrasted by the continuous hum of a ventilator. A tube runs from the hissing breathing machine into the mouth of the pink alicorn empress. Bloodied gauss and bandages cover the face of the mare, her remaining hoof lies limp on her chest. The missing wing shows a slow growth, a painful process for the mare bound to her bed. Not even the constant drip of morphine assures her of complete ease from the agony, only a sense of drowsiness, further exacerbated by the use of the ventilator.

Shining Armor sleeps heavily, his eyes slightly aglow with every moment he stirs. Even as he turns to adjust himself, the spell activates and he's brought back to complete slumber. Every now and then, there are soft whispers that he speak in regards to his family, but they trail off soon after.

Flurry places a blanket over her father, a slight smile forms on his lips. The young princess hovers up to kiss her father on the cheek, knowing that he's been needing sleep since everything had happened. She's aware of his unwavering dedication, almost worried that in her absence that he vehemently chose not to sleep. In knowing, she keeps a sleeping spell on him to keep him under.

The young princess turns her attention to her mother once more, seeing the number of blood-stained bandages and medical supplies lying in the bin beside her. She takes the plastic bag lining the bin and ties it up to leave for the nurses to collect in their next visit in the coming hours of the night.

The empress stirs from her drowsiness. "Uhheh... Uhheh uh eh? (Flurry... Flurry, you there?)" Much of her jaw is still broken, the ventilator denies her the ability to speak clearly.

But that doesn't deter the young filly's sense of understanding. "I'm here, mommy."

"Eh... uhh oh urreh. (Oh, I'm so sorry.)" Flurry remains by her mother's side, holding the hoof that remains. "Ah hahe huh, he ahuh (My baby girl, Mi Amor.)"

"I'm here, mom. Please rest." She urges.

The sounds of the monitor continues to disrupt the silence. Her vitals read critically low numbers, 49 bpm. Other silent alarms continue to give signals to the nurses down the hall, they wait for the more critical signs of the even lower numbers, fearing that the empress could pass at any moment. However, her mind isn't on herself. "Ehh uh haahur heehe (Is your father eating?)"

It takes her a while to understand what her mother is asking, but she pieces it together regardless. "...I don't know. He's been smaller than normal." She looks to the stallion, seeing his unkempt and disheveled appearance. "I don't think so."

"Eh... eh uhaahh. (Oh. That dumbass.)"

The young filly complains to her mother. "Momma, I thought you said princess don't curse."

"Eh eeh ah hah ho haeh, heeehah. Hu hah huh... heh hu heh haeh (I'm in a lot of pain, sweetheart. You can curse... when you're in pain.)"

"Do you need me to clean your bandages?" She asks, lining the bin beside the bed with a new sanitation bag.

"Eh... eehhah, hah ha hu haah. (Oh... Sweetheart, that's not your job.)"

"Anything to help you, momma." The filly reassures.

Cadance understands that her current condition is only this persistent because of the manner in which she is being kept, a cruel but sobering realization stirs in her heart. She's gradual of the message it sends her, but she warms to the fact that her daughter is far stronger than anticipated for her young age. However, she still wishes to shield the little filly of the ugly reality in some way. "...Hohh huh hiih. (Close your eyes.)"

Flurry knows what her mother intends to ask. "You need to take the bandages off?"

"Heeh. Huh ha hu... ha hu huu hee heh, hah hih hiih (Yes. But I don't... want you to see me, not like this.)"

"But I love you, momma. I don't care what it looks like." The filly pulls up the bin and places it on the table beside her mother's bed. "All I care is that I still have you."

"Huuhe hu haahuh hiihh. (Truly your father's child.)" Cadance mutters as she feels the compression around her chin lessen.

Flurry's eyes are well open, she keeps a piece of tissue by her side to keep her tears from falling into her mother's open wounds. She chokes back any sobs, making sure that her mother doesn't hear her. She slowly unravels the bandages around her mother's head, revealing the horrific damage done to her. She works slow to undo every layer, guiding the used bandages to the bin beside her. One of the mare's eyes dangle from her sockets, causing the filly to seize in distress. But Flurry holds her breath and keeps going. She braves the sight of her mother's exposed workings and tries her best to work in spite of.

"Haa hu hiih hoh, heehe? (Are your eyes closed, sweetie?)" Cadance asks.

"Yes ma'am..." At last, her breaking voice gives her away. "They're closed."

Seeing that her daughter is lying from the luxated eye, she feels an immense sadness welling in her chest. "Hu haahuh hiihh. (Your father's child.)" Flurry continues to work diligently, keeping her emotions in check aside from the brief break she experienced. She puts forth a concentrated effort to raise her hoof to touch her darling little princess. "Ha hee hih haah... hu hi hih huh hohih. (I'll be right back... to it in the morning.)"

"Promise?" Asks a teary-eyed Flurry Heart.

The wounded empress confidently responds. "Heh, heehe. Huhehh. (Yes, sweetie. Promise.)"

In the silence of the night, Alex walks the darkened hallways of the castle. Crystal bulbs decorating the ceiling dim to a considerable amount, leaving just enough light to be able to navigate the way while also not disrupting those who are sleeping.

He works on his phone as more preparations are set up for the final sendoff of some of his soldiers, also overlooking the details of the more recent security breaches. There's a list of operatives, many with green checks by their names. Even the ones that are killed in action are checked in blue. However, those that are in active assignment are highlighted in yellow, with those in active assignment but also checked for missing in action designated a red x.

A fist covers his mouth as he plays through the many ways he could try to search for the missing squadron. As he turns a corner, he listens carefully at the sounds of hooves clopping in the distance, a fair distance behind him. However, it's been a reoccurrence that's been tailing after him for a few turns now. He gives a sagely nod and backtracks to one of his previous turns, carefully keeping phone in front of his face.

Without fail he reaches the intersection and calls out with a calm voice. "Just an fyi, ponies aren't always a stealthy bunch. Especially when they have a heavier frame." He swipes at his screen, revealing a feed of his current position, registering two heat signatures in his space. His own, and a larger equine shape hiding around the corner. "Also doesn't help that the security system I installed at the request of a certain stallion picks up heat signatures. So whoever you are, you've got wings and a big frame. Which means to me that you're an alicorn." Realizing that she's been easily compromised, the mare steps out of hiding, her shadowy figure revealed to the man. "Huh, didn't expect you to be the one following me around."

The mare looks at the human's posture, seeing his left hand planted on his waist, a holster positioned just beneath it. "I come to you with no harm intended." She clarifies.

"That's nice of you to say, but you don't just approach me in a dark hallway expecting me to believe that. Much less of you sneaking around at that."

She lowers her head in apology. "Forgive me for my abruptness. I spent a good deal looking around for you. It's just that I did not quite know how to approach you. Both of the other humans I've seen in Canterlot were powerful and intimidating all the same."

"Powerful and intimidating, huh? Must run in the family." He mutters. "And what reason would you need to see me for, ma'am?"

"Just a business proposition."

"For who or what?" He asks.

"For me." She says as she steps further into the light. Her fuchsia eyes glances back to him with a subtle sadness. "I wish to coordinate with you. Please."

Alex eases his hand away from the holster at his hip, placing it to his underarm. "Pretty bold to be asking the enemy for coordination, ain't it? I don't think your folks would appreciate that very much."

"I know the mind behind these attacks." She replies. "He prefers the unorthodox, as well as the aggressive. You'll need to be more than passive in regards to his advances. He's not going to waste time in calling for reinforcements. And my father won't ignore him either."

The man types in the mare's name into his device, pulling up a few browsing results and headlines. "And this is coming from someone who apparently disavowed violence in search of a peaceful alternative. Hilarious."

"Sometimes, in order to make peace, war between blood is necessary, and often times inevitable." Zenobia replies, causing the man to quirk a brow at her retort. "My father's ideology, a pitiful means for our existence. But it does cultivate strong leadership in some aspects."

"It can also cultivate weak leaders. Entitled brats with strong figures beneath them looking to uproot at the first opportunity." He replies. "Leaders like those are only fortunate to be given power out of convenience, not by work and merit."

"Then consider me fortunate enough to not be loved by my father." She answers in kind. "I am nothing more than a thorn in his eyes. Might as well be the such."

The man chuckles at her answer. "...Okay then. I'm listening."

Author's Note

And that's the last of them. I hope all of you are having a Happy Holidays, and if not I pray that better times will come ahead. I want to say that we've finally caught up to each other, but unfortunately a lot of my time writing has been more dedicated to drafting chapters as opposed to completing them. To safely calculate matters, I've drafted at least 23 with one more completed for WAAAAY later on. Connecting matters and trying to spool things to it's definitive conclusion is what's in my master plan now. So don't be surprised if I have some extended periods of time where I don't post on a regular schedule, that means I'm just locked in on drafts. But that concludes the releases for the year of 2024, 2025 will be somewhat fun, I can't wait to bring you up to speed on what's in store.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and let's hope that 2025 ain't gonna screw the pooch like last year.