Bow Down Before The One You Serve

Dazzle Feather carefully brushed her mane to the side and worked through her nerves. She had been part of the Zephyr Heights news team for years and years, but every once in a while her worries got the best of her. She quickly ran through her tongue twister exercises and switched from her natural country drawl that she had off air to the accent most newscasters had. It was lesson number one in newscasting- while accents can be nice and cute to the general populace, its more professional and less distracting to have a Breezy Continental accent. She smiled briefly in her hoofmirror and ran through the prepared questions that Canterlogic had provided.

She sighed at how safe and boring most of them were. This interview and news story was about the rumors of Mrs. Cloverleaf hoarding yet more dangerous weapons of war. Not some fluff piece where the Heights learned what made her weep tears of joy. Dazzle had read her biography and some smuggled Canterlogic materials from before the Unity kick of theirs, she doubted the mare had many emotions outside of major blow ups or the like.

She would use the questions as a guideline, guide her into a nice sense of familiarity and then open up with the multiple ClipTrot videos of the Bay itself on that day 'the gas lines' exploded. Due diligence and all that.

"Three minutes, Miss Feather, we've just hit the commercial break."

***

Sprout eyed the guards around the Zephyr Heights palace, noting that a fair few of them looked back with a mix of worry and confusion as he and Posey passed. "So why are the guards looking at us like we grew a second head? I thought I was being really nice with the whole 'we may be guests, but don't mind us' routine I told Zoom and Thunder about." He had explained to the pegasus pair that he wanted to be as loose and free with the vacation as possible. With how structured his mom had done his "I'm Sorry for Being a Dick-tator Tour"- not the name his mother called it, just all the less reputable media outlets loved calling his redemption arc that- he wanted to let him and Posey have a sort of vacation that could be rather calm and collected.

Posey looked up and shrugged. "You know why. Going by their faces, the whole guard corps knows exactly how good you are in bed." The yellow earth pony cantered through the halls and fished out her shopping list. "Okay, so we can check out a few food places when we're here. And probably do some photos. You're on that since you know the town way better than I do."

Sprout nodded. "Sure. But I can't have been that bad. I was trying to keep it quiet with all the. . .sex."

Posey smirked. "That was you keeping it quiet? You broke a bed the first night we were here."

Sprout carefully stared at the bag that Posey held in her hooves. "What is that?" He hadn't seen her leave the store or anything, though he had been confused on what to do in Zephyr Heights. This was supposed to be a sort of vacation, but a small part of him saw it as a honeymoon. The pair of them had been together for about four months- he wasn't entirely sure but going by Posey's ever advancing pregnancy, it had to be close and he had to probably marry her at some point.

Having halfbreed foals would kill his mother, having Posey carry the future of the Cloverleaf name and bear them out of wedlock would double kill her. Sprout grimaced. He didn't want to do it because of his mother, but Posey had become a big part of his life and he wanted to show it.

“Equestria to Sprout, heIlo? I got you your own panties so your dick doesn’t keep stretching out the elastic on mine. It is hot and all but it just makes them hard to wear after. Since unlike you I don't get random boners while wearing them. Not that I mind seeing you tent out some small underclothes, but sharing my stuff is a bit hard cause I like black and you look like a goof trying to pull off the dom look. Not that you can't, its just your natural vibe is more being a cute sub. You pull off pink far, far better. Which is why I put these in there." Posey fished out a pair of panties that left little to Sprout's imagination. "The store said it should work. They have ponies that do stuff like this all the time."

Sprout blushed, the thought of marriage still there, but Posey had a way to pull him back to reality with just a few words. "You can put those away. I get the picture. Plus I am not bad at. . .taking charge. I do. . .stuff. You weren't complaining the multiple times we did it here on vacation, especially not when we broke the bed."

Posey shrugged. "True, but there's levels of sex with you. I love both, but there's huggable squishy you where I'm in charge and angling your massive cock all over the place every which way. And then there's you doing the hard stallion attempt and it always feels a bit put on. But that one is also fun cause there's a chance you activate your earth pony magic and hulk out a little bit. Super hot though." Posey ruffled through her bag of goodies. " Either way, I like you for you. The sex is just a fun bonus." She looked at the collection of things she had thrown in her bag. "Neat, I thought they threw in ball gags, that will help the royal guards here be chill. We can use those so we don't make them think you're murdering me with sex. I'm not fully into exhibitionism, but having Zoom and Thunder kick down the door to check on us was a fun way to feel you go soft inside me in an instant."

Sprout didn't want to remember the heavy blush on both of the pegasi as Posey had got up from the bed and started listing off the slight problems with the room. There weren't many and, at the time, the major one was having a bed break in half under the force of two earth ponies going at it. It didn't stop them from having more sex, it just led Posey to get more and more creative with the positions. "Most ponies in that situation would swear off sex for a long while."

Posey grinned and grabbed a nearby dildo from a shelf. "Weak, are pegasi this small or am I just jaded? Like this is a third your size easily."

Sprout facehoofed. "Posey, we might be in a sex store because you thought it would be fun, but I don't think they want you to rate the merchandise."

Posey rolled her eyes and flipped through the lingerie, quickly sizing up Sprout and his rather impressive physique. Sure, he wasn't Hitch and his six pack abs of smugness, but Sprout was perfect in Posey's eyes and his plush softness helped keep him hers. To most ponies, he wasn't all that special. A seven out of ten, perfectly average. But after nearly four months of off and on screwing and a focused diet of pizza and ice cream balancing out the raucous lovemaking so as to not have him appear a shredded pinnacle of stallion performance, she could see the beginnings of muscle throughout his frame. She smirked as she noticed that most of his excess padding went to either his cute tummy or his rather nice butt. That was her butt and maybe it was the hormones or her extreme possessiveness or even that she was carrying his ever growing spawn in her own burgeoning middle, but she was rather fond of Sprout and she didn't need more ponies finding out that he was actually a perfect specimen of sheer virile stallionhood.

She would totally fight off a cadre of mares for that fifth leg of his.

She flipped through the lingerie faster to hide her own blush. She was only a mare and it had been only a few hours since her need for him had been sated. Quickly grabbing what she assumed was his size and a few below and above it to be sure, she gripped him by the hoof and whisked him off to the changing rooms. She wanted him to have a couple choices for the bedroom and sometimes clothes were weirdly sized depending on a whole bunch of things.

She wanted him to look presentable when he presented his family jewels to her before she pulled out the Equalizer.

***

"Good morning, Zephyr Heights, this is the Morning Flight and I am Dazzle Feather. Skye Silver is preparing for another hard hitting news story about the importance of preening and making sure your. . .Float Magic. . ." Dazzle Feather smiled ever so briefly at the silly name for pegasi magic. She would love to pick the brain of Equestria's newest, and probably only, alicorn and her propensity for naming things so blasé. "that your new pegasi magic that lets us fly in the sky and walk and clouds and control the weather. . .all of that works properly. He will be talking to Professor Sunny Days and that will be illuminating. For now, we have the leader of Maretime Bay over Zipstream and I will be asking about the reports of odd occurrences in the town." Dazzle looked over to her flight crew and other backstage ponies to see their signals. By the excited flapping of their wings, she could tell that the interview had been fully approved for release. Wonderful. "And it looks like she's coming up on the second monitor there, we have Phyllis Cloverleaf on the line. Are you there?"

Phyllis' face popped up and Dazzle could see the earth pony mare looking already uncharacteristically flustered. "I am. Though I was thinking this was going to be a phone interview. My assistants both had a terrible time trying to connect to your pegasi internet. . ." Phyllis' eye twitched. "But we are here now. On your news. Live."

Dazzle Feather nodded. "That is what an interview usually is in theory. Okay, let us start off with a nice simple question since most pegasi here only know of Canterlogic through unfortunate circumstances. Tell us about the company, some fun history bits, whatever you like. This may be an interview, but unlike the hard hitting journos at Channel Flyve News, here we have more a discussion about you. Your wants, dreams, what makes you tick."

Phyllis' smile was large and completely fake. Dazzle Feather had read the file on Maretime Bay's dearest leader and that snake grin was prominent. It showed what the public needed, but it also said that pegasi and unicorns were inferior and fine targets for culling. Dazzle Feather had read all the reports. "Wonderful, Dazzle, well Canterlogic was started by my dearly departed father Sprig and he had a dream to connect the world with electricity. . ."

***

Haven tapped out a quick text to Alphabittle as she waited for Sprout and Posey to appear for this little meeting the red stallion had practically begged her for. Sure it was royal prerogative to accept or decline meetings but Haven decided to move a few meetings around to make time for him. Sure the well to do ponies of Zephyr Heights might complain but it wasn't everyday a Cloverleaf came begging her for help.

Maybe it was her age breeding sentimentality but Posey helped too. Haven smiled as she wondered what Skyflower would think of her daughter. Probably think she was too nice. Haven hadn't thought of her first guard in nearly a decade and tere was a pang of guilt at that. She had thrown herself into the job of ruling and had slowly drifted from catching up with her.

With how Posey briefly mentioned what happened to her family, Haven knew she was completely unable to talk to Skyflower again. Haven wistfully drank her tea and tapped a hoof on her desk. "If I had a bit for every time I wished I could redo parts of my life, I'd have only a few, but they'd be precious."

Haven heard a slight buzz in her ear and she tapped the two way mic to see what it was about. "Zoom? Pray tell there's good news."

Zoom sounded flustered. "Thunder's dealing with Posey's shopping bags, don't ask, but be ready cause Sprout looks like he means business."

Haven had kept abreast of Posey and Sprout's shenanigans in her town, hard not to, what with Pipp's podcast being the talk of the town and Sprout already doing an Equestrian wide redemption tour. The two earth ponies were highly noticeable even with her and Alphie's push to mix the different kinds of ponies. Sure there were earth ponies around the Heights but they were insular and kept to themselves due to conditioning. Posey and Sprout on the other hoof garrulously found ways to make a scene.

In short, there were parts of Zephyr Heights that found the pair's near constant rutting quaint or at least impressive. Haven never was one for the internet chat rooms but Thunder mentioned that the pair each had their own little fan club cheering both of them on.

"I am sorry about being almost late, Queen Haven, Zephyr Heights is easy to get lost in." Sprout bowed carefully as he took a seat, Posey following close behind with a nod. Sprout flipped through a stack of papers that he had grabbed out of his bag. "Okay, so I have a mock up of Canterlogic's finances. . .not exact since my mother keeps the general expenses close to her chest but at least an idea, then we have the payments you and Bridlewood give to Canterlogic, and the business code I have had to scour through to figure out how to fully oust my mother from her position." Sprout passed the papers over to Haven and waited.

Haven took one look at the graphs and figures that dotted the report and wished that Alphie was here with her. He had a better eye for figures. Not that she was deficient in balancing a budget but she was more focused on aesthetics and the arts and she had a cadre of advisors that helped her figure out how to keep Zephyr Heights managed and thriving. "So run me through this. Like I was completely in the dark about what Canterlogic has."

Sprout breathed out and gripped Posey's larger hoof in his. He nervously worked through the graphs in his head and began talking. "So first graph is R&D costs. Mother prints those all the time so I can track roughly how much she put away for projects. Now realizing that she built a whole second giant robot I didn't know about, that probably pushes up the expected development costs by a lot. Or at least a fair margin. And the table below is all the donations that Canterlogic sends out to both Maretime Bay and the greater Equestrian area. Those donations are usually under either rare direct personal donations or, more often than not, shell companies donating large sums of money that are only traced back to Canterlogic via the internet paper trail that is far too complex to fully outline here. Most of those internet wallets can be traced to her personal assistant, Sweets, her general manager, Toots, or the community outreach manager, Dahlia. I know how much those three make- they shouldn't have that much money to throw around."

Haven wished Zipp or Pipp were here. They were far more tech savvy than her and she was decidedly lost in what this "crypto currency" and "digital wallets" were. "Okay so they have more money than they should? What of it?"

"My mother is not an easy pony to get along with." Sprout heard Posey chuckle and he sighed. "She's kept Canterlogic afloat by generous donations sure, maybe some strong-hoof tactics, and propaganda but I know enough about Canterlogic's finances that its built on sand. And with how readily her most loyal attendants seemed to flock to me the moment I. . .kind of went mad with power. . ." Sprout grimaced at the memories that flooded back to him. "Well, I think we have a good chance of swaying them or at least a few of them. And we start by having a nice interview with her A hard hitting one that starts out soft to lull her into a false sense of security and boom."

"That's it?" Haven raised an eyebrow. "That sounds way too simple."

"Go through the rest of the graphs on your own time. Canterlogic's so deep in weapon development that I think the business is a bit of a paper tiger. Looks impressive but I can vaguely tell when my mother is under a lot of stress. Now part of it is because I chose somepony she definitely doesn't care for."

"That is an understatement of the century, Sprout." Posey grinned and rested a hoof on her stomach. "She definitely hates me."

"But she's beholden to the shareholders and I doubt they know everything. All the expenditures Canterlogic has doesn't match their incoming funds. So there's some internal bookkeeping error or something she's hiding."

Haven crossed her hooves. "Sounds like something she'd do." Haven never liked Phyllis Cloverleaf, she did try multiple times to like her thanks to her husband that could always see the best in ponies, but there was no getting through to her. "I think I have an interviewer in mind. She's rather good at things like this and I trust her."

***

Dazzle Feather smiled as she listened to Phyllis Cloverleaf regale her about how wonderful Canterlogic was- their philanthropic efforts, the way they were supporting Unity, the whole nine yards of debunked stuff that she had time over weeks and weeks to study about. Their philanthropy was nice but tied to disunity efforts through keeping the most important jobs in Maretime Bay for earth ponies. In short, other races were still second class citizens one they aged out of mandated school programs. Thankfully the crime department was rather lax or at least semi-incompetent or Canterlogic's Unity campus would have a major jail right in the center full of what Phyllis used to call on a good day "undesirable breeders." On a bad day Dazzle Feather would not print the obscenities that Canterlogic used.

The rest of the speech that Phyllis had prepared slowly wrapped up, the mare was used to having each and every word followed, dissected, and applied in her community and she had a horrible habit to ramble and ramble without actually saying much of note. Or that is how Dazzle clocked her. She was used to celebrities doing the same- her original coverage of scandals and news were more akin to gossip mags and the like, but it was about a decade since she broke into the more respectable news outlets- thanks to one Queen Haven taking a shine to her after the new widow had chosen her of all ponies to do an interview for the Heights.

Queen Haven even on her worst day wasn't this talkative. Dazzle Feather smiled and counted to ten until she could take no more. "Okay, okay, very nice. Though I have some new questions of my own. Now I know that 'new questions' weren't exactly on the docket. But that's how we run interviews here in Zephyr Heights- which my viewers are primarily from ZH. They expect something of a give and take session than whatever this is." Phyllis stared dumbfounded through the computer screen. "First of all, there are rumors that there were some sightings of a new giant robot terrorizing your wonderful town. Which should be impossible since you have written down in your new yearly manifesto that R&D would pivot into things like. . .small engines and planes and cars. I don't know what most of those are but they aren't high grade military things? They don't sound like it."

Phyllis breathed out and smiled. "Whatever you have heard is just internet speculation and conspiracy theories. We've taken a hard line on any production of weapons and there are no new customers that would even want that. None that I would even sell to anyway. Unless you want me to sell to things that are only heard of in ancient texts and old mare's tales."

Dazzle shrugged. "Okay, fair. But what if I say there's a ClipTrot video that shows in detail something a little more suspicious than the agreed upon gas line explosion you have mentioned without much definable proof?"

Phyllis cocked her head ever so slightly. "What is ClipTrot?"

***

Sprout sighed and kicked his hooves as he tried to stay calm. It had been a long few weeks in Zephyr Heights and while it was a blast not to deal with all of Sunny's friends- or his mom- he had one thing he really wanted to do here. He stared at the jewelry shop in front of him and balked at the prices. Sure, months ago he would have told his mom to put it on his tab or beg her for the newest hottest thing in stores. But now he had his deputy income and Posey's to use and while they weren't poor, getting two rings was pretty much out of the question. He didn't want to crater their finances just to fully commit to Posey. Though in hindsight, she was the only mare who he had had sex with.

Still he wanted to show how much he cared for her in a way. She was carrying his future family inside her.

"Hey, Sprout, why the long face?"

Sprout turned and noticed Alphabittle coming towards him. He knew of the stallion since he had to apologize to Maretime Bay, Bridlewood, and Zephyr Heights for nearly causing a war. Hard not to forget the unicorn stallion since he was rather imposing at first glance- Sprout only came up to his shoulder. "Just thinking about things. And trying to figure out why pegasi rings look all weird." Sprout pointed at the twisted bands that some might call a ring. He wouldn't since it didn't fit the ideal earth pony aesthetic of straight lines and little ornamentation that Canterlogic preferred.

Standing out with something like that would have been ill advised for anypony not part of his family.

Alphabittle scratched his beard with a hoof and smiled. "Haven explained it to me once. . .or twice. There's some ancient pegasus mating ritual where two pegasi would exchange feathers to show their attraction to one another. Carry that down however many years between then and now and add in Zephyr Heights' proclivity towards high fashion." Alphabittle saw the younger stallion roll his eyes when he mentioned that. "-add in some techniques to keep said feathers last forever and voila. . .rings honoring tradition while staying modern."

"I tried explaining to one of these shops on the earth pony style and they looked at me like I grew a second head." Sprout had the ringing words of the shop clerk in his mind- 'unfashionable nonsense' and now it made some sense why. Though it still hurt since looking at the gold filigree and jeweled exterior of some of these fancier rings, he'd have to sell two of his legs to afford the astronomical prices of the hoofwork. "though its probably not every day a pegasi shop has an earth pony customer."

Alphabittle nodded. "Haven does her best in promoting Unity between every race but its been a while since Equestria was actually united and some ponies' minds might never fully be changed- but we can try." The older stallion weakly smiled. "I get why pegasi love their outward fashions and their flashy jewelry. They look nice. But Bridlewood has a far more simple way to propose."

Sprout's ears perked up. He hadn't ever heard of unicorns proposing. His mother had cast them as ponies with magical sticks for brains that crushed their enemies under their despotic hooves without a care in the world. He groaned and quickly tried to stifle that notion down- Posey had taught him how much his mother lied about reality. "What is it? The proposal, I mean."

"It's simple. Bridlewood loves games. Card games, games of chance, tabletop games. . .a couple finds a game they like and they play it. Through hoof signals, body language, and notes they find out the both of them are attracted to one another and by the end of the game they have an idea on their future."

"That sounds incredibly vague."

Alphabittle shrugged. "I'm generalizing a tradition. One that is unique to each unicorn couple. They could propose via a joke competition, a dance off, blackjack, pool. The sky is the limit. The winner proposes and that's that. Once they say a few words and commit to the marriage, it's seen as completely legal in Bridlewood law."

Sprout stared at the pegasi rings for a moment. "That sounds way more fun than buying a ring. . ."

Alphabittle laughed. "Haven thought it was a magical idea. Though I should have warned her that tabletop games were not the best idea for a proposal. She's not bad at it- hasn't rerolled her character sheet yet, but we've played Cyberpony Requiem for nearly six months and I don't think she fully remembers it was supposed to be a proposition for marriage. . .still fun though and taking it slow is the best for the both of us. I'm focused on Bridlewood and my tea room. She's focused on Zephyr Heights. We can't just announce a marriage without thinking about the consequences."

***

Posey watched Sprout with a close eye as the stallion had been acting really oddly for the last few hours. Not that he didn't normally act a little odd, that was part of the charm he had that attracted her to him in the first place. Well, the massive dick too- but most of it was his personality. And now he was pacing around practicing card tricks like he had been infected by some dumb unicorns. "Sprout, what are you doing?"

Sprout jumped and the cards he had been shuffling scattered on the floor. "Nothing."

Posey raised an eyebrow immediately at that. Sprout wasn't an idiot, far from it, but he had awful tells when he was trying to tell an outright lie. Sweating profusely? Nervous? Terrible posture? He was definitely hiding something. "Okay, but what's with the cards? You hate stuff like that."

Sprout looked down for a moment. "Fine, I was going to attempt to propose to you."

Posey glanced from the scattered mess of cards and Sprout a few times as she tried to piece together what he meant. "I don't follow."

"It was going to be this whole thing. I had looked up easy card tricks on the net to help me figure out how to rig a card draw and each card had a different letter so I could spell out the proposal." He blushed as he recounted his ruse. "In hindsight, it sounds really, really stupid."

Posey rolled her eyes. "So you listened to Alphabittle of all ponies on how to propose? I thought you'd be at least a bit smarter than that."

"It was cheaper than a pegasi ring. Those things are stupidly expensive, like thousands and thousands of bits just for one. And he made it sound special. Like a whole thing. I mean there was something about a dance and emotions and couples knowing exactly what they both want. It sounded nice and all."

Posey groaned. "You wanted to propose to me? I'm honored, but if you haven't noticed. . ." Posey motioned to her gravid middle and ever expanding teats for a brief moment. "-but I think we already passed the whole proposal thing. Though I guess our little play sessions could just be mind-blowing sex. The way the dumb unicorns talk about their chance proposals just sound like they are having sex while playing games. Us earth ponies do the slightly easier method and cut out the games."

Sprout tapped his hooves together. "So you don't want to get married? I don't really know what you are-"

Posey held up a hoof. "Fuck no, Sprout. I want to get married. Partially just to stick it to your dumb mom, but mostly I just want you to be my husband and we can just gloat about how fun and awesome it is to everypony while eating terribly cause we are adults and at a certain point nopony can tell us what to do." Posey got up and slowly walked over to her cute red stallion. "And after this hoofful of joy pops out of me, I can get stuffed with another one. . .and another one. . .and maybe a few more." She flicked her tail across Sprout's chest as she passed, letting him stare directly at her lower bits for a couple seconds as she did so. "Just fill me up with pizza, your cock, and ice cream and I'm happy. Well, relatively speaking. Maybe some flowers and dates beyond the "fuckstorm special" and I'm still going to be annoyed at things other ponies do- but overall I'll be content. And fuck the rings, I wouldn't be with you for this long if I didn't see something I liked. You're already the longest relationship I've had by a whole mile. Just make me happy with a simple wedding and we'll be good."

Sprout blushed as Posey pushed him ever so slowly to the floor. "Oh. Sweet."

The yellow mare smiled. "Just count this as our little proposal game if you want." She straddled Sprout and kissed him as she guided her stallion home.

***

"You don't think this tux makes me look like a dork, right?" Sprout fixed his bow tie as he stared into the mirror. "I mean it was made in haste and relatively cheaply. . ."

Thunder rolled his eyes. "It's not my job to comment on that kind of stuff. You look fine, you're just nervous." Thunder had planned for a whole two days off with Zoom where they could relax and watch random movies and do stuff together. Those simple plans had been hastily thrown out the window when one focused yellow earth pony mare had kicked in the throne room door and announced to the court that she wanted to get married. Cue Zoom and Thunder's wonderful staycation getting cancelled last minute and Thunder was sitting here coaching Sprout about not having a panic attack. "Breathe out, dude, just put one hoof in front of the other, probably say yes. You do want to say yes, right?"

Sprout nodded. "Of course I do."

"Then do that and its good."

"If he somehow backs out of this, I'm going to be so, so very angry." Posey tried to stay calm by counting silently to ten but it wasn't helping. "Why on earth does a pegasi ceremony keep the bride and groom unable to see each other? I know every single inch of him and I know what he looks like in the dark by touch alone, I don't need an assurance on if I find him attractive or not."

Zoom rolled her eyes. "Didn't need to know that, but its so pegasi can be like trapped birds and the moment after the ceremony ends they fly off and do it in the sky. Makes for a very fun and enjoyable time, plus its some old pegasi proverb that doing that makes pregnancy happen faster."

"Non-earth pony practices sound so. . ." Posey blinked for a moment. "Wait, you pegasi couldn't fly until Sunny and her dumb friends brought magic back."

Zoom smiled. "And I wondered when you'd get it. But chill, I can hear Thunder through this little mic-" Zoom tapped her helmet with a hoof. "-and he's working through your soon to be married husband's hang ups. And if you two say no, we still have an alternative wedding situation we could do." Zoom flexed her wings ever so carefully and her wingblades popped into view. "You don't know how disappointed Thunder gets when we spend nearly an hour before work putting these babies on and we've still not used these. We could have a Wingblade Wedding. Wouldn't that be exciting?"

"I don't think so. Also why am I wearing a blue dress? Earth pony rituals do white."

Zoom shrugged. "Blame the color wheel. No self-respecting pegasi tailor would put you in a white dress. It was either blue or maybe a green one. There are mentions of a few yellow pegasi wearing green dresses in ancient times. . .blue just works the best. Be glad you aren't one of the rare ponies that have the recessive gene for rainbow manes. Those rare few are a real headache to color match."

Posey grumbled. "I don't feel much better and if I needed fashion advice, I'd ask Pipp."

"Is it the helmet that throws you off? I'll have you know I know how to put together a good outfit for cheap when I'm not attached to the Royal Family's hip. I could probably make that dress for like a hundred bits- with the short time frame you gave Haven. . .props by the way, I haven't seen her this excited to put on an impromptu wedding in ages, I'd say that's a thousand bits easily. Just give me some cheap silk, some polyester, and a bit of brocade and done. Heck, I could use old curtains and give you a better everyday dress."

Posey cocked her head. "Okay, didn't expect you to know how to sew. You look. . .stallionish. No offense."

Zoom shrugged. "Dress code. Used to have a mane that went down my back when I was off duty. Rather liked having it cause it made me look like a completely different mare and sometimes Thunder would forget who I was. It was cute when he did, could rock up in a whole new ensemble and he'd blubber about how he was already seeing somepony and poof, I'd take off my disguise and we'd just laugh about it later. I just got tired of putting my hair in helmets designed for stallions. And you never asked if I could do anything besides be a guard." The blue pegasus shifted in her seat. "Pipp gets her guard from her backup dancers. Every single one of them can spring to action if there's any rowdy or dangerous fans. It's surprisingly useful and while I wasn't good at the choreography- Thunder was the dancer- I was one of the many seamstresses that made everypony's costumes. Then I went to actual guard training and realized I was far, far better with a blade." Zoom leaned back. "Everypony has their place and skillset. And your hair is a mess again because somepony can't keep still when she's worried about a certain red stallion." Zoom patted the couch seat. "Come over here and let me fix it or Pipp will never let me live the fashion faux pas down."

***

Sprout nervously cantered into the small chapel that was connected to Zephyr Height's castle. He stared up at the stained glass that depicted some old Equestrian pegasi legends that he had never heard of or really even cared about. He could at least give the artisans some kudos because Canterlogic deemed anything not built with form and function in mind as pointless endeavors. At least he could see actual art in the glass- all he had to do was look down and see the rainbows of light that littered the carpet.

He grimaced as he wondered if anypony noticed he was acting odd. Maybe they thought it was just wedding jitters- it wasn't entirely wrong since he felt like a colony of butterflies were doing tricks in his stomach, but he was more nervous about having an accidental clothing malfunction. . .Posey had whispered in his ear that she would find it incredibly hot and memorable if he wore the pink panties she had bought him. He had tried to say how terrible an idea that was, but she was an incredibly persuasive speaker when she wanted her way. It didn't help that she also knew exactly how to press each and every one of Sprout's buttons and find new ones he didn't know he had.

And so underneath the black formal pants that he would probably never wear again due to Maretime Bay not seeing the use of formal pants for formalwear- he wore the panties she had talked him into buying and he had to slightly admit that they fit perfectly. She had even had him try them on when he was fully hard just to see if they worked. They did and Posey had marveled for minutes on how he looked.

He gulped as he watched Posey walk in slowly, led by Zoom, and he could see Posey's mirthful grin through the light blue veil that covered her face. It was hard not to see her slight lust as she stared directly at him, or more likely, directly at his crotch as he imagined her having x-ray vision and seeing his secret that nopony else knew about.

Posey walked up slowly and looked out to the rather empty chapel- due to it being a wedding with very little planning at very short notice and the both of them knowing in their hearts that Sprout's mom would never allow the marriage on so many legal grounds, there were only a hoofful of guests. Most of them were random ponies that worked in the catle who had time between their shifts who wondered what nonsense the Queen was excited about today, a few journalists who had heard thorough the grapevine about some rather interesting news that Maretime Bay would just freak out over, or Zoom and Thunder who were pulling double duty as honorary best ponies and guards.

Queen Haven smiled out at the small crowd as she stepped up in front of the two earth ponies she was gladly going to marry. "I am glad to see that the group text for the castle worked. Zipp had set that up trying to make it as simple as possible, but I worried I had sent that to Reply All. . .which would have caused a fair few problems." Haven had sent a few too many accidental texts out that way and had caused a bit of a kerfuffle by announcing budget cuts or equally terrible things. She was still worried about the rent hike riots from a decade ago. Those had been a real mess. "Well I had tried to get either of these two into choosing a marriage reading or something but we had come to an impasse. Pegasi propriety didn't seem to connect with Earth pony sensibility in that regard. . .so we can just go with the simple one. May your marriage last and be blessed with many a happy day. May the ones filled with rain be bearable together and may the sun come out again." Haven bowed. She had pushed very hard for something a bit more unique, or at least some song lyrics- she was definitely particular to any Dreamlands pop ballad or even she could tolerate Electric Blue if she had to, but Posey had said the simple pegasi greeting worked.

As long as the both of them were happy that was the point. It just felt weird not to have a wedding be hours upon hours of touching meaningful speeches and the like. Haven looked down the hastily written script in Posey neat, clipped hoofwriting. She had little clue what a hoofbinding ritual was- possibly some Earth pony thing she surmised- but at least it was easily worked through. "Now, if you may, step forward so I can perform this next bit."

Posey and Sprout stepped forward and placed their hooves on top of one another.

"Let's see. . .I will now do the hoofbinding ritual." Haven nervously rummaged through the box of thread and grabbed as many random colors she could. She had looked up what the colors all meant in their own unique way but now doing this, the different meanings had all slipped her mind. She decided that a rainbow knot would be the best one. Then she wouldn't have to worry about leaving out a color and causing some odd accidental faux pas. She carefully tied the two hooves together. "Let the both of you see each other as a shoulder to cry on, celebrate with, and a lover you can depend on. May you be faithful, caring, and wise and be the fortress that stands against those that dislike you. With this I pray that you form an unbreakable bond that will last all your days." Haven dared not chuckle as she said that. With how Zoom and Thunder described the pair of earth ponies in front of her, she imagined that it would take a natural disaster to break apart these two from their loving embrace. "With that I deem that to be an acceptable vow of intent and therefore with the power vested in me by the former Kings and Queens of Zephyr Heights, I say you can kiss.

Posey raised up her alternate hoof. "Uhm, I'm totally down for that, but I think Sprout and I have short vows to exchange. And no, just in case, I am not objecting to marrying him- I wouldn't have gotten this far if I had."

Haven breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. I didn't want Cloudpuff to miss out on being ringbearer. He always loves a bit of excitement."

Posey rolled her eyes and pulled out her short list of demands. "Sprout. . .I expect that you will do everything I say to the best of your ability. That includes anything you know we do in private." Posey briefly smiled as she noticed a fair few ponies in the pews and Sprout in particular squirm as she spoke that one. She wanted to get married on her own terms and if that technically involved hinting that she wanted to get railed, that would be fine to her. "This marriage is already kind of moot anyway- you and I both know why we are doing this. Also let's see. . .sickness, health, richer, poorer, all that junk. I mean you live in our shared house and eat our shared food- I could have kicked you to the curb whenever. But I didn't. And that was because you were the pony that I crushed on since I was little and even though we got here in a rather unconventional way, I didn't hate most of the journey." Posey and Sprout shared a look. They had spent hours and hours debating each and every one of the vows both could say to one another. Posey breathed out and tried to stay calm, but if she found where those three mares were that hurt Sprout, she'd do things that were unspeakable to show her love for him.

Spout mouthed a silent "Love you" as he didn't want to ruin the last bit.

"And with that I hope our future gets even better cause we can do so much together. It may be a bit cheesy but I think we can change the world and I would love every minute with you." Posey wiped away a tear as she spoke. She wasn't very emotional usually but she can let her other emotions besides annoyance and anger shine at least for this. Sprout deserved as much..

Sprout carefully fished out his glasses that helped him read small print and his short list of vows. Public speaking wasn't his thing anyway- his mother had raised him to be the next Canterlogic president and had run him through the wringer when it came to speeches, board meetings, public announcements, news broadcasts and on and on and she had drilled into him not nerves of steel but of paper. He could speak in public, rather well, but there was always a part of him that seized up when he stared out into the crowd and saw all the ponies staring back at him. He breathed out and stared directly at Posey to calm his nerves. The words were for her. "Posey, I don't know exactly what to say. Maybe I'm a romantic or just brutally sheltered but I am glad that you were my first and will be my last. You came on strong and fast and sometimes you feel like a bonfire with how hot your moods can be, but that passion and drive made me do and see things that I would have never thought possible if I had stayed exactly how I was. You brought me out of a funk where every day was exactly the same and we are in this together now. And I would not have it any other way. I love you to the moon and back and I will be happy to call you my wife once this is over. Even if my family might not approve. That doesn't matter- only you do."

Haven brushed away a tear and quietly put her hoof in Alphabittle's for a brief moment before realizing that she was officiating the wedding and ponies were looking at her to finish off this exciting wedding. She whistled to Cloudpuff- the winged dog was wonderfully trained in all aspects of royal duties- and the flying Pomeranian flitted in in a cute little red tux. Haven had tried for Cloudpuff to wear black or even blue to match Posey and Sprout in some aspect, but the small dog wanted at least a taste of the limelight and had chosen by doggy decree for his ringbearer outfit to stand out.

Cloudpuff looked exceedingly pleased with himself as he flew towards Haven, the dog staying aloft for a brief moment when he reached the spot right behind the soon-to-be married couple. Then with a quick pirouette, the dog sat and presented the two rings that were on the tiny pillow- two earth pony rings- Haven had been insistent to the jeweler that it was important that two basic gold rings- no adornments, no places for entwined feathers to lay- just two normal rings were made.

The jeweler had relented and decided that while it wasn't fashionable, they couldn't refused a royal request. It would just be bad for business.

Posey and Sprout grabbed one ring each and draped the silver chains that held their rings over each of their heads. The golden rings sat proudly over their hearts- ancient earth pony custom had made a sort of marriage necklace the norm- it kept hooves free of any easily lost rings and with Posey working in the dirt so often due to her job it just made sense. Posey touched the ring for a moment with her untied hoof and felt the importance of the shimmering metal. It was such a small, nearly insignificant thing since the baby- or babies she surmised- were the real bond between her and Sprout, yet the ring resting firmly on her chest for all to see held this special meaning to her.

It was hers and with that Sprout was truly all hers to cherish and adore.

"You may-"

Posey didn't let Haven finish the sentence as she nearly pounced on the red stallion. Images of her ripping those pink panties off him flashed through her excited head as both of their tongues danced in a kiss that that lasted seemingly forever.

***

Sprout stumbled into the room where he was staying with Posey following right behind. "Wow, that was a par. . .ty." He had to give Zephyr Heights a round of applause for their alcohol. Sure, Maretime Bay had its own alcohol brands from Comrade to Our Town, but those all had a similar issue. They all tasted awful until you got drunk enough to stop caring about the stale taste of fermented swill that Canterlogic deemed good enough to sell. It was a profitable business, not a tasty one.

"Sprout, you are super drunk." Posey carefully sat Sprout down and he melted into the comforter. "I knew I should have watched you a bit more carefully, but I kept eating that cake and-"

Sprout rolled over to stare lovingly at Posey. "It's okay. Everything's great." Sprout prodded Posey's side and felt the swell of her stomach. "I didn't want to leave cause everyone was having such a great time and I have to learn what the stuff they gave me was. It was like water but like alcohol. Fantastic."

Posey rolled her eyes. "It was Everclear. These pegasi drink like fish." She wondered about Zipp for a brief moment as she said that. Sunny's friend had a bit of an alcohol problem and Posey had scratched that up to stress. With how she noticed how easily Haven threw back Bridlewood Iced Teas without a second thought, she wondered if pegasi royalty was just conditioned to drink. "Either way, I think as your new wife and who is much smarter than a handsome stallion who if I remember right said 'I am the best drinker here' and immediately fell over. . .I think no hard liquor for you."

Sprout groaned. "So that's why my head is killing me."

"Well that and your probable hangover that you'll get in a few hours."

Sprout stared up at the ceiling. "Earth, I'm horny, Hey, Pose, you wanna fuck. As like husband and wife now cause we can do that now. Like normal sex."

Posey chuckled. "I don't think that would-" Posey glanced at Sprout's still formal pants expecting that Sprout was all talk. The stallions she had flirted with before were nearly unable to get hard once they drank. She was gravely wrong once she noticed that Sprout's dick was threatening to pop the seams of his pant leg as it snaked its way out of his sheath. She guessed that pegasi tailors didn't have to account for a fifth leg all too often. "Oh." She blushed as she realized Sprout definitely didn't have an issue getting randy while drunk. She was going to enjoy this. "This makes this far simpler." She gingerly took his pants button with a hoof and finagled her way into letting it free, pulling down his zipper quickly soon after and she watched the pretty pink panties she had teasingly bought for him as a gag wedding gift strain to contain his stallionhood- her personal stallionhood since she wasn't going to let Sprout cheat on her. She wasn't that kind of mare to allow such open dealings. She had tried once and found out the hard way that she was just far too possessive of her mates. Sprout, for all his cute foibles, balanced out her crazy.

She looked up to his pleading eyes and grinned devilishly as she traced her hooves over his body, gently feeling every inch of him again like he was a new planet she had discovered instead of the stallion she had come to know in the last few months. In a way he was new. He was her husband and to her that meant something- legally it meant the 'demonspawn' that she was carrying was far more terrible in Phyllis Cloverleaf's eyes. The baby, or multiple babies, she had within her were not bastards but just some normal ones. Heirs to the Cloverleaf name in all forms. It was thrilling and sticking it to Sprout's shit mom would brighten her day until she died.

Posey shifted and slid her way up the bed to stare at Sprout's cute face for a brief moment, she stared deep into his dark green eyes and kissed him again on his lips, not wanting their first kiss as a married couple to be the last she would do today. She would do many things today, but the idea that she could make out with Sprout in Maretime Bay in full view of Canterlogic and they didn't have fuck all to say about it? It was glorious.

Sprout moaned into her gentle touch as he kissed her hard back, grinding his panty clad bottom half into his new wife's nethers. "I love you, Posey."

Posey felt her heart flutter for a moment. "I love you too, Sprout." She leaned into her red stallion's ear and whispered. "Now I'm going to rip these tight panties off you carefully with my teeth. . .so be a good colt and we can break this bed in the right way. Cause I'm not getting out of this bed until I can't walk."

Posey felt the hairs on Sprout's slightly pudgy middle stand up and she slid herself down, as slowly as she could to accentuate each and every second to increase both of their caged lusts for one another. She breathed in as she ran her pussy over the hard rod that was begging for her attention and slid down further to rest her weight between his legs so she could marvel at her stallion's impressive equipment. "Too bad about the bed, I rather like these sheets. Might have to ask Haven for a pair as a wedding gift." She gingerly fondled Sprout's melon sized balls and kissed the pair of them before eyeing her true prize. She gripped onto her cute stallion's confining underwear with a hoof and yanked them down as quick as she could, the pink fabric tearing as it couldn't handle the strain of containing a wild beast like Sprout's stallionhood when Posey wanted a piece of it. She watched it spring to attention, the sheer size of his endowment causing it to slap soundly on his stomach before rising up like a pillar to worship. Posey licked her lips and dug into her true dessert. It wasn't the wedding cake she had been looking forward to after the wedding- it was Sprout she wanted.

Sprout moaned as Posey began enjoying the large black dick right in front of her. She'd savor the taste because she imagined the moment the two of them got back into Maretime Bay, Sprout would focus entirely upon this corporate takeover plan of his. Maybe a quickie or two to keep his mind on work, keep Canterlogic from suspecting anything..

They had agreed that was probably for the best.

Posey sighed and imagined the sex after winning would make up for any quiet nights and what could have beens.