Night held the ring out. “Here’s the game, then. This ring, for better or worse, is a symbol of love. It’s a symbol of my devotion to my wife, Twilight Velvet, and the promises we made when we were married. It sealed some hard times, some good times, some acts of kindness and some of wickedness. But through it all, our love and our marriage has remained true and pure, symbolized by this ring.”

Cadance blinked in confusion at his sudden theatrics, but didn’t say anything.

“If you want to prove that your love’s strong enough to survive anything, then it at last needs to be as strong as Velvet and mine. This ring is a symbol of us. It’s our bond and our seal.” He stared at her with a sudden fire in his eyes. “Can you break it?”

She blanched. “What? No! I’m not going to destroy your wife’s wedding ring!”

“Why not? Isn’t your love stronger? Isn’t ours wicked and evil, as you’ve said? And this is just a ring, regardless. A simple piece of jewelry. Velvet and I would be fine.” He eyed the ring, turning it slowly in his hooves.

Cadance stared at the ring. “That’s wrong. Love isn’t destructive. I don’t like what you’ve done, frankly I think it’s horrendous, but that doesn’t mean I want to hurt you and Velvet. As you said, for better or worse, you’re the parents of my true love.”

Night laughed. “You can’t hurt our relationship. That’s the lesson here. You don’t have the experience, or the tools to. Even if you did destroy the ring, nothing would change between Velvet and I. There is nothing you could do to change what we have.”

“So? How does that prove anything?” Cadance stared at him in disgust. His pretentious, preaching speech was growing stale. Where at first she’d been cowed by his presence, now she was tired of it. He could shout about how strong his relationship was, and nothing would change. She knew hers was stronger, because hers was true love.

He seemed tired. “Everything. I could destroy yours.”

She stared at him obstinately. “You couldn’t hurt us either.”

He chuckled, muttering to himself. “Like a bicycle.”

She tilted her head. “What?”

“If you’re so confident that you’ll never be swayed by somepony like me, then back it up. We’ll play a game for the ring, the seal. If I win, I choose where it goes. Back in the box, on Velvet’s horn; anywhere I want. It won’t matter. Because the seal is just a symbol.”

He floated the ring back into his hooves, and longingly looked it over with a strange adoration.

Night’s voice was slower when he continued, still marveling at the ring. “If you win, you choose where the ring goes. You can keep it for your wedding, toss it in a fire, or give it back. But we’ll play for keeps. If you get the ring, it means that your relationship with Shining is definitively stronger than mine and Velvet’s, and I’ll even approve the marriage. If I get the ring then I won’t let you marry Shining, but only because your relationship wouldn’t survive anyways.”

She snorted, “Our love will last forever. Even if you don’t approve, he’ll still marry me.”

He didn’t look up. “Maybe. But the ring can prove which of us has the stronger relationship. It can prove, without a doubt, that experience is more important than love. Or, maybe you can prove that love always wins?”

Cadance didn’t hesitate, almost spitting her response in anger. “Of course love always wins!”

Night held the ring out in between them. “Then prove it. We’ll play a game. Whoever quits loses. If either of us, or the ring, leaves the closet, then whoever is responsible loses. We each get turns, one after the other. No wings or magic allowed. Whoever has the ring at the end wins.”

Cadance couldn’t figure out why he was proposing such a physical game. She was pretty sure that he’d forgotten that she was an alicorn, and she could easily floor him if she needed to. “How do we get the ring?”

His eyes flickered to hers, and then back to the ring. “We say exactly what we’ll do, then we have do it. You get as many tries as you need, but you have to do it the way you said you would. The other pony doesn’t have to help, but can’t stop you from getting to the ring, or prevent you from placing it.”

His explanation cleared up that it wasn’t a physical contest, but a mental one. Still, it felt hollow somehow, so she tried to get him to explain further. “What do you mean?”

Night shrugged, then held the ring forward in his hoof, right in front of her. “The best way to learn is to do. My first move will be to hold the ring in my hoof. Your first move may be to grab the ring, and put it in your own hoof, or it could be something else. It just needs to be some kind of getting, and some kind of keeping. I can’t stop you from grabbing it, but I also don’t have to lower my hoof, and I can’t stop your hoof from holding it. Once you have it, I can’t interfere with how you intend to keep it until it’s my turn.“

Cadance raised an eyebrow, confused by how childishly simple the game seemed. It reminded her of schoolyard games where a foal would make a pretend move, and another would imagine a countermove. “This hardly measures the strength of our relationships.”

Night smiled confidently. “I promise that it will. But if you quit right away, then I guess I win?”

She squinted at him in confusion before a slight anger reddened her cheeks. “I never agreed to play!”

He continued to smile, then winked as he fawned a concerned frown. “I wasn’t asking. If you aren’t agreeing, then you must not be confident enough in your ideals. If you beat me, it will prove otherwise. Hitherto my ideals are proven stronger, and I won’t approve your marriage to Shining.”

It was dumb, but if she played then maybe he’d agree that Love was all that mattered in a relationship, “… Fine. I’ll take the ring.”

He blinked. “And? You take the ring, but what do you do with it?”

She stared at him blankly, and her answer was just as flat as her disappointed gaze. “I hold it.”

He smiled calmly. “Sure. A simple move, but a decent opener. As expected for somepony with no experience but complete confidence. I’ll take the ring back, but hold it very far away.”

Cadance scoffed as Night took the ring and held the ring behind him, but otherwise didn’t move. “Like yours is much better. I take the ring back… and hold it above my head.”

Night made a disapproving clicking noise as he watched her grab the ring and hold it above her head. “Poor move. I’ll climb over you to get it with my hooves, then put it in my hair.”

Cadance was aghast as he placed a hoof on her shoulder, preparing to pull himself up. “Wait! You’re going to climb me? Why not jump or something?”

He paused with a hoof on her shoulder. “If you don’t like my answer, you can quit and I’ll win. That’s why I have to tell you first. So you have the opportunity to back out before I do it.”

She glared silently at him as he swung his other hoof around her back, and clambered up to her shoulders. He was heavy, and his hooves hurt as they scraped slightly against her side while he climbed. He quickly grabbed the ring, then awkwardly climbed back down her shoulders. Something about the way he put his hooves on her back made her hair stand on end. She didn’t like that, she didn’t like it at all.

Her silent stare turned into an angry glare. “That was crude. I reach into your hair, grab the ring and… I… hold it?”

Cadance internally cursed to herself. She couldn’t think of what to do with it. She didn’t want to put it above her again, him climbing on her was terrible.

Night tilted his head in surprise and disappointment. “You’ll have to do better than that. I grab it with my hoof and place it in my tail.”

Cadance stared dumbly at him. This was stupid. Incredibly, unbelievably stupid. “I don’t see how this game accomplishes anything, Night.”

He frowned in mock contemplation. “You know, you’re right. Maybe we’re missing something? It has been a while since I played for a seal… perhaps I forgot a rule. The new rule should be simple. If we both make the same move to retrieve the ring in a row, that move can’t be used again. We have to clearly specify how we are getting the ring. So climbing wouldn’t count, but getting the ring with my hooves would. That should fix this right up.”

Cadance could see a layer of strategy suddenly form. How you got the ring, and how you kept it just became much more important with that new rule. She intended to test it right away. “I agree. I grab the ring with my hoof and hold it above my head again, this time at an angle. That makes it twice grabbed with hooves.”

“So now I can’t use my hooves to grab it, and it’s above your head.”

Cadance smiled evenly. “Correct. So I win?”

Night snorted a short scoffing laugh before continuing. “Hardly, I climb you, slapping the ring free once I am on top. I then hold it right in front of your face to taunt you.”

Cadance snorted angrily in return. “Slapping? Wait, do you mean hitting my hoof? Doesn’t that use your hooves? And wouldn’t it hurt?”

Night shrugged. “Well, yes, but I’m not grabbing it with them. I’m slapping it out of your hooves. And I suppose it might hurt if I hit you too hard. Remember, you aren’t supposed to impede me, but you don’t have to help. You can’t hold it so tight it won’t come free, but you don’t have to just drop it, either.”

Cadance blinked as she thought about it. She didn’t like it, but it could be in the rules. If Night could add rules, then so should she. “Fine, but punching, slapping and kicking are all the same thing, regardless of which limb does them. I don’t want this to get violent.”

Night tapped his head, smiling. “You know, that’s a good rule. We don’t want to hurt each other. Now, assuming you don’t have any other conditions, up I go!”

Cadance grumbled as he stepped on her shoulders again. This time she tensed her muscles a little harder so his hooves couldn’t dig in. Once he was on her, he sat comfortably back on her back for a moment, with his hind legs dangling over her wings.

“Get on with it.” She growled.

Night’s response was, perhaps, a little too mirthful. “I’m just getting settled so that when I slap your hoof, I don’t fall off!”

Cadance waited a second or two while he shifted back, then forth, his weight settling heavily on her. This whole situation was incredibly awkward. Here was a stallion easily thirty years her senior, her potential father in law, climbing on her back like they were schoolyard foals playing knights and dragons. There was something utterly surreal about the situation when he swung his hoof over her head, and her own hoof was smacked just hard enough to send the ring flying into the corner of the closet.

She was quiet as he gently climbed down, trying to ignore when he slipped and his head fell into her mane. She was incredibly uncomfortable about the way he had been sitting on her, but couldn’t place why. As far as she could tell, it was harmless.

Night walked calmly to the ring, picked it up with his hooves, then walked back and held it in front of her face.

She stared at the glittering ring, wondering if it was worth all this hassle. “I’ll slap it free like you did, then I put it in my feathers.”

Night clicked aggressively, then waggled the ring like she was in trouble. “Ah! No wings.”

Cadance rolled her eyes. She’d forgotten that rule. “Fine. I hold it in front of your face as well. Then no slapping or hooves will be allowed.”

Night didn’t have time to blink before Cadance had slapped his hoof hard. She smiled, deeply satisfied as he clutched it in surprise and pain. Smirking, she sauntered happily to the ring as well, and held it in front of the somewhat off-put Night Light as he cradled his still stinging hoof.

“I’m stronger than I look.” She waggled her eyebrows as she held out the ring to his face. Ponies forgot that she also had earth pony powers, and rarely did she have a chance to remind them in such a satisfying way.

Night grit his teeth and sucked in a breath. “I forgot you were a princess for a second there.”

She waggled the ring like he had. “So I win?”

He put his hoof down gingerly and shook his head. “Not a chance. I use my horn to retrieve it, and I keep it there as a horn ring. While I pretend to be someone you know.”

Cadance sighed, quickly deflating as she let out a disappointed whine,“Fine…”

Night easily speared the ring with his horn, then tilted his head up and stood like one of the royal guards. “Ready to serve, Princess.”

She stared incredulously at his terrible posture as he completely failed to do a proper guard pose. “Really? That’s the best you can manage?”

He glanced at her briefly, then stared forward. “Yes, Ma’am!”

She held back a chuckle at how ridiculous he was being, but paused when she realized she needed to come up with a plan. “I… I guess I’ll use my horn to scrape it off yours…”

He stared straight ahead this time. “Yes, Ma’am!”

“I’ll leave it on as well? Like a horn ring. And this time you can’t use your horn to get it off.”

“Yes, Ma’am! Understood. I will get it off.” He quickly saluted with his uninjured hoof, then put it back down.

Cadance couldn’t help but crack a smile. He wasn’t very good at pretending to be a guard, but the absolute silliness of his flailing was amusing. She had the odd thought that Night could probably make a good comedian.

As she got close, she tilted her head to scrape the ring gently off his horn. She had to be careful, she didn’t want to really hurt either of their horns. As she gently pressed upward, she felt his snout pass awkwardly past her ear, and Night gave a hot breath out. She paused, momentarily distracted as a chill went down her spine and her ear flicked backwards. His hot breath was oddly wet, and the realization made her purse her lips tightly. She slightly spread her hooves to stabilize herself while her delicate horn was so close to his.

Maybe she picked the wrong way to do this, she didn’t want to damage anypony’s leylines. Still, Night was surprisingly calm about this. She could easily scratch, or even spear, his horn like this and he didn’t seem to mind at all. If anything, as she raised her head slightly so that her eyes were even with his, he seemed to be just barely smiling.

She paused again, staring into his large, amber eyes as they were almost snout to snout. He was looking directly at her, and his pupils were practically twinkling. The look he was giving her as their eyes locked was enough to make her shiver. He was intensely focused on her. Something about his eyes seemed deeper, more intense than just a second ago. She was reminded that Night was, unfortunately, quite handsome.

The shiver ran from her neck, down her back, and to the base of her tail where she felt it give a little swoosh. This strange, almost electric sensation from his intense gaze caused her to pull slightly away as a deep, unknown anxiety bubbled up within her. The ring slipped down as she lurched away, and she had to quickly swing her head to catch it, preventing it from falling too far.

As a result, her head was tilted sideways, with her ear right in front of his mouth. Night took the opportunity to whisper to her, his lips just barely not touching her ears as his voice rolled through her spine. “Ma’am, I need to report that I just noticed that you are alarmingly attractive.”

Cadance froze, completely unsure of what to say. The warm air over her ear felt almost nice, but a little primal voice in the back of her brain filled her with fear. It wasn’t the cloying, shivering kind of fear she as used to occasionally feeling. It was a light, antsy sort that made her want to run, but she wasn’t sure what from, or where to. It made her hair stand ever so slightly on end, and her ear flick forward, brushing against his surprisingly soft lips.

She swallowed it, choosing to ignore his comment and the fear as she carefully slipped the ring up and off his head. She made extra sure not to look into his eyes as she lifted past him again; the thought of him sending another shiver down her spine made her tail swish again. Why was she warm? Why was her… tail warm?

The ring clanged on the ground, startling her, and she stared at it like it was poisonous.

Night chimed in, still doing an awful guard impression as he saluted. “Mission accomplished, Ma’am!”

Cadance shook her head, clearing the odd sensations. She needed to focus. “Drop the act, Night. I’m going to put it on my horn now, and you’re out of ways to get it off.”

Night tilted his head in confusion, then laughed, “Oh! That’s what you meant! No. Princess, we are just getting started. You’re going to need to expand your imagination.”

She ignored him to spear it with her horn, picking it back up. It slid down smoothly and felt oddly cold around the base of her horn. The heavy metal ring was strangely uncomfortable. Cadance huffed, still feeling lightly anxious. Her heart was beating a little too fast as Night’s amber eyes focused on the ring that was now seated firmly on her head.

Cadance goaded him, maybe a little too loudly. “So if this isn’t the end, then how are you going to get it?”

Night shrugged, clearly contemplating something. “You’re still taller, so I might have to climb you again.”

Cadance took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. “Yes, but how do you propose to remove it?”

Night’s eyes glanced to hers, and they made eye contact. Her tail gave a little tingling swish as he smirked, and she squeezed her legs together to stop it. “With my mouth, of course.”

She froze. Putting your mouth on another pony’s horn was taboo. “That’s absurd.”

He firmly held his gaze on hers, unashamed and unabashed by her supposed beauty. “So do you quit, and do I win?”

She thought about that. It wasn’t something explicitly taboo, it was just something ponies never did. Maybe it was one of those old fashioned rules that everybody knew but nobody followed? Like no hats at the dinner table? She wasn’t particularly worried about it, but she wasn’t going to let him steal her victory so easily. “No… Fine. What will you do with it?”

Night’s smile grew devilish. “I’m going to sit on it.”

She couldn’t believe this. “What are you, twelve?”

He laughed, “I’m just enjoying the game, Cadance. You should too.”

She ruffled her wings. “Night, this is important to me. Is it just a joke to you?”

Night put a hoof on her back as he prepared to climb her. “Oh, it’s very important to me. But I have the experience to know how to enjoy what I’m doing. You don’t just yet, but maybe you’ll get there. That’s one of my points, Cadance. I don’t want Shining married to a loving sour puss that doesn’t know how to have fun.”

Cadance grumbled, widening her stance and tensing her muscles to support the now familiar weight of Night Light as he prepared to climb her. “I’m not a sour puss… I’m just taking this seriously.”

He hoisted himself up over her back, and she felt the odd sensation of him shifting to get comfortable again. He slid slightly forward and backward, gripping her torso firmly with his legs and her neck gently with his hooves, just enough to keep him steady. She was growing used to the sensation of his weight on her back, and was learning how to support his body without him having to dig his hooves into her side.

Something about his fur still seemed uncomfortable, but she couldn’t place it. Somehow he was making her skin crawl, as though it was trying to get away from him. There wasn’t any reason for it, he didn’t appear to be doing anything untoward, but the sensation was still distracting.

Night seemed to be settled, then he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, with a particularly low voice. “And that’s why you’re going to lose, Princess.”

He let out a long, slow breath over the back of her ear and she froze. Cadance felt the tingle again, the one from when their eyes met, and this time it sparked from her ear to her hooves, then back up to her tail—which swished in response. She couldn’t close her legs to stop it, she needed the leverage to stand steady.

The uncomfortable feeling in her fur began to feel different. Instead of a strange crawling, it felt warm where he touched. It almost felt like a hug, but he was on her back with his legs around her. It wasn’t comforting, it was just… tingly and warm? Especially in the middle of her back.

She shook her head just slightly, flicking her ear forward so he couldn’t blow into it. “I’m not going to lose.”

She couldn’t see his face, but she imagined him smirking and about to gloat. Instead, she felt another hot breath over the back of her ear. Her back tingled, and her swishing tail slowed down to a crawl as he did it again. This time he leaned forward, and wrapped his hooves around her chest in a reverse hug. The feeling of his breath so close to the back of her neck, coupled with his hooves now wrapped around her body should have made her uncomfortable.

She should be panicking somehow. There was a small voice in the back of her head telling her that Night shouldn’t be touching her like this. But that voice was very quiet, and the comforting warmth from his not a hug was very loud. She shivered as she realized that the reason her tail had stopped swooshing was that it settled to the side.

All the way to the side.

Cadance was absolutely mortified as she stiffly and almost painfully forced it back into place. Hopefully Night hadn’t noticed; she wasn’t sure what he would do. She found her mind reeling in panic as she wondered how he was going to respond. Would he taunt her? Harass her more? See it as an invite—Which it most definitely was not.

Instead, he blew on her ear again, this time with a whisper and a loving stroke down the underside of her neck. “That’s a good little princess...”

Her ear flicked backwards out of reflex, and the warm air rushed into it. Her whole body froze, and she felt things she hadn’t known she could feel—things she had no words for. Cadance’s voice cracked as she fought to keep her tail in place from the lightning he’d just poured down her spine. “Aren’t you going to get the ring?”

She sucked in a quick breath, forcing out a second desperate question before he could answer the first, refusing to acknowledge what he’s just done to her. “Or do I win?”

Night sighed, his voice still low but sounding disappointed. “I was just having some fun, Princess. Of course I’ll get my ring, if that’s what you want?”

His question lingered in the air.

She didn’t think about it. She definitely didn’t pause to think about what she wanted. “… Yes!”

Night shifted forward slightly, and she felt an awkward weight on her back as he slid up to put his mouth near the base of her horn. He paused, ostensibly looking at her horn and the ring. “Now, let’s see… That is one tight fit. I could bite it from the side, but if I mess up, that might hurt you.”

She waited, wondering about the strange pressure that was growing near the base of her neck. It felt warmer than the rest of Night’s weight for some reason, and was oddly distracting for her as it pressed seemingly under her mane.

“Hurry up,” She complained.

Night seemed to shrug. “All right. Just gotta loosen it up a bit first.”

Cadance felt a warmth near the base of her horn, then a soft tug as something grabbed at the ring, then a slight wetness. Night was gripping her chest tightly so he could stay secure, and his legs were almost painful in their squeezing. The warm, uncomfortable pressure near the base of her neck felt like it was pulsing.

He lifted the ring a little, and it slid roughly up her horn for maybe a quarter turn of her leylines before he dropped it, and it slid back down. Night muttered to himself. “Well, that didn’t work. This might take a few tries.”

Cadance shivered as something warm surrounded the horn just above the ring, and let out a surprised squeak as magic was drawn up into her horn without her willing it.

Night stopped, letting the ring drop again. “Did you say something, Princess?”

She hoped he couldn’t see her face, it was burning right now. Embarrassed by the noise, she panicked just a little. “No… I mean, yes! It’s just, uh…”

He waited patiently as she tried to come up with something, and the warmth on her back seemed to grow.

Cadance shivered. “If you can’t get it off, then I win?”

Night chuckled. “Oh, I can get it off, princess. It might take a few tries to, uh, get it off, though.”

She awkwardly widened her stance just slightly so she could be more stable. All his shifting around was off-putting and she wasn’t sure why. “Then… just hurry up.”

Night didn’t answer, he just went back to trying to get the ring. Come to think of it, Cadance began to wonder exactly what he was doing up there. Was he nibbling it? Biting it gently? Or maybe that warm thing was his tongue?

The warmth slid up her horn, spiraling with her leylines and pulling another surge of unbidden magic. This time she grit her teeth, holding back the noise of surprise. Instead of a squeak, it came out more like a grunt. Night didn’t comment, instead sliding the ring up just slightly.

She felt him shifting on her back again, and mentally groaned in frustration. This shouldn’t be hard. All he needed to do was gently grab it with his teeth and lift it. What was he doing that was taking so long, and was so warm and…

She eeped as more magic surged up her horn, completely derailing her thoughts. Sucking in a breath, she focused on the tingling magic currently soaking in her leylines. It was too raw to be a spell of any kind, she hadn’t put thought into forming it. It still felt like it was collecting for a cast, though. Strangely, the gathering magic felt different than any she’d used before.

It was making her spine tingle almost as much as his stupid breathing over her ear. She realized that she was entirely focused on her horn and she hadn’t noticed her now flagging tail. Her body felt hot now, and she was sure her face was flushed. What was he doing to her? Was this some spell? Everything felt far away, and everything felt so warm and tingly, and now she was feeling… so…

Cadance’s whole body shivered, and the little voice of panic in the back of her mind found purchase through the strange storm of sensations. “Wait!”

Night stopped, and the ring fell back down her horn, all the way to the bottom. All his hard fought progress has been lost, but he didn’t seem to mind. His voice sounded almost smug. “Yes, Princess? Did you need something?”

Gasping for breath, she stuttered, “I… I just need a minute.”

She struggled to regain her faculties—calming her beating heart, relaxing her breathing, and forcing her tail back into place. She wondered when her hind legs had slid so widely apart, and then decided not to think about it.

Night stayed quiet, but rubbed up and down her soft chest fur with his surprisingly firm hooves.

Cadance ignored the wandering hoof, she had bigger concerns. She let her little, panicked voice finally speak. “I… we… we should be doing this, Night. This… I don’t know what this is, but I know we shouldn’t be doing it.”

Night let his hoof trail up her neck and to her chin as he leaned against her back, whispering into her ear again, “And exactly why shouldn’t we be doing this, Princess?”

She shivered, wishing the lancing pleasure from his whisper was painful in some way. Unfortunately, it was very much not, and her tail slid slowly to the side as her body shook. His hoof on her chin felt so oddly demanding, and she knew she had to answer.

“This isn’t a game anymore. You’re… I’m…” She wasn’t sure how to put it into words, so she settled on what she knew. “You’re married. I’m with Shining. I don’t know what this is, but it’s wrong.”

Night pressed his lips softly against the base of her ear, and his whisper was so quiet she had to struggle to hear it. “That’s the point, Princess. This is supposed to measure the strength of our relationships. The strength of our willpower. What I’m doing to you isn’t sex, it’s just a… special type of magical expulsion—hardly different from learning a new spell. Something like this is nothing between Velvet and I, but for you...”

Cadance opened her eyes wide and stared blankly at the closet wall with the slowly dawning realization of the true nature of this game. Maybe she already knew. Maybe that’s why that little voice had been so upset by this. It was obvious in hindsight. He’d told her it would measure their convictions. She bit her lip, unsure of how to reply.

Night continued, her ear turning to face his mouth so she could better hear his barely audible whisper. “You can quit any time you like, but that would mean I win. Is your love strong enough to see you through? Or have I won this game?”

Cadance’s heart raced. She felt like an idiot, and anger welled up inside of her. Why had she agreed to this dumb contest? She’d known it was wrong. Night had been incredibly open with his designs, she just hadn’t thought them through. She knew he could do something like this, but she hadn’t considered that he might actually do something like this to her.

How could a pony she’d known and respected for so many years, a pony who was in many ways one of her father figures and mentors choose to do something so cruel to her? To his own son? She hadn’t considered the reality of how much of a terrible pony he could be, even though he’d literally just told her.

She’d been naive, and that had been his point, hadn’t it?

Now her and Shining’s future hung in the balance, all because she hadn’t considered all the ramifications of what he’d proposed. In short, she’d been an idiot.

He pressed her, gripping her chin firmly in his hoof and forcing her to tilt her head slightly up. The exact, controlled motion pushed her ear into his snout, and he softly nibble at it while he spoke, “So, do I win, or are we going to get back to getting it off?”

Cadance almost collapsed from the nibble. It wasn’t some sly breathing, or an excusable stray hoof. It was deliberately sensual, and her whole body understood exactly what it meant. Her wings struggled to spread, but his tightly squeezing legs kept them firmly in place. They ached strange and warm underneath him, as though this was deliberate on his part.

She tried not to think about how her legs had spread again, or about how her tail was firmly and inexcusably flagged. Even the strange magical energy in her horn was distracting, pulling her mind another direction as she felt it pulsing, pressing to escape.

She was being pulled apart by Night.

She’d never done something like this. Shining and her had kissed a few times, maybe even made out. But it had never felt like this. Nothing she’d done with him had left a burning in her gut that felt like a sickening ache of pleasure.

She couldn’t betray Shining. That’s why she had to do this. This was a measure of her love and their relationship. She would prove that her love and devotion outweighed whatever sick thing Night was trying to prove to her. She just had to believe in the power of love, and it would carry her through.

Cadance steeled herself, trying hard to force the blush out of her cheeks. She would prove that she was stronger. She tried to put mettle in her voice by adopting a more commanding tone, hoping the fake confidence would manifest somehow. “I’m not losing. Get the ring.”

Night didn’t say anything in response, instead holding her firmly by her jaw as he pressed his lips to the base of her horn.

This time she was ready when the magic was forced into her leylines. She tried not to think about the sensations it brought, focusing instead on the end goal. She would prove to Night that her love was the real thing.

The little voice in the back of her head told her to run, and some small part of her body agreed. This wasn’t sex, but it was something intimate. Something she hadn’t done with Shining, and the nagging weight of guilt fought against the acidic pool of pleasure as both grew with Night’s increasingly aggressive licking.

It was clearly licking now. He was slowly lifting the ring with his bottom jaw while his tongue wandered salaciously around her increasingly sensitive horn. The weird part was his drool pooling down her forehead, and the increasing sensation of dizziness as her magic was pulled again, gathering in her now almost painful horn tip.

Cadance’s mouth hung open as she forcibly gasped for breath while her eyes unfocused against the closet wall. She forgot most of her senses; the overwhelming sensations being simply too much for the young mare. Her world narrowed down to the moist, firm tongue bathing her horn. She focused on the juxtaposition of the heat from the tongue and the cooling sensation of Night’s breath over the lower part of her horn as his own heavy breathing washed across the spit covered length.

The increasingly common pulses of magic that his tongue seemed to pull up felt more and more natural as her leylines grew accustomed to this new spellwork. Blinking dumbly, she basked in the surreal experience as the sedative and pleasurable magical pressure grew.

How would this end? Her ragged mind couldn’t comprehend anything more than a few moments ago, let alone something in the future. All she could feel now was that pressure, an overgrowing mass of pure euphoric magic that was consuming her thoughts. Desperately, some small part of her fought for control, but there was none to be had.

Her legs were locked stiffly out, her tail was flagged hard to the side, her head was held firmly in Night’s strong grasp, while the rest of her body was preparing for the inevitable. She wasn’t sure what the coming inevitable thing was, but she felt a pulsing heat from under her tail that matched the hypnotic rhythm of Night’s tongue with the heady waves of magic.

Night made it to the tip, and when his tongue scraped over her sharp personal spell focus, a small flick of magic arced from his tongue to her tip and she realized that she’d never let somepony else touch her casting point.

Ever.

The realization dawned on her as his little spark of magic turned into a fire. He slid up her back, pressing something long and hard against the back of her neck as his legs shifted to over the front of her shoulders instead of across her sides. Her wings flew out, painfully spreading to a full feathered display of arousal in a movement of cathartic physical release. They stretched to their absolute limit, painfully so, as he slipped his mouth over the tip of her horn and used his spark of magic to cast a spell from her horn.

Barely able to put together enough mental focus to recognize what was happening, she dumbly accepted that he had commandeered her horn. Her personal casting point had been co opted by another mind entirely, and she was too shocked at the violation to do anything about it while he sucked on her horn like a straw.

The mass of unformed magic found purpose under Night’s guiding ministrations, and the inevitable was made clear in a moment of pure, euphoric helplessness.

The little voice inside her head was momentarily paralyzed as her entire leyline network triggered to cast the first spell of her life that was entirely someone else’s will, all focused through her now alien casting point.

Cadance was completely, utterly at the mercy of Night in that moment. Her front legs gave out, but he had been ready. As she fell down, his back hooves landed smoothly on the floor and he held her head up with his front hooves. Her wings fluttered helplessly, already fully extended but trying desperately to find more room. Her legs felt warm as something leaked from her now burning pussy. She’d never felt like this.

The best part was the spell. In a moment of final, ecstatic release, the magic coalesced into a raw spurt that tingled everything it touched. Night hadn’t cast a complicated spell, but rather a simple one. The gooey manifestation of her magic caused intense physical pleasure wherever it touched. As it oozed out the tip of her horn, Night pulled away to let it drip down her face.

Cadance’s mouth was locked in an impossible smile as the glittering spell-plasm dripped down her face. She stared blankly, serenely forward as her mind was captivated by this new experience. The spell burned as it ruptured from her horn, an uncontrolled fountain of pure neurological bliss while Night held her head up with his hooves. Vaguely, she was aware that he’d pressed his hips forward and groaned as he tilted her head backwards and let the spray run down her back and across his stomach.

Night shivered around her. “Fuck… that’s intense. I gotta remember that you’re a princess.”

Cadance dumbly stared forward, captivated by the spell as Night used her for something she simply didn’t have the mind to comprehend. The warmth on her back, the pleasure across her neck, all of it was so much that she couldn’t recognize the oddly balanced weight that was slowly being thrust between his stomach and her magic soaked mane.

The world seemed to blur, fading and coming back in strange pulses of reality until Cadance found herself laying on the floor gasping. She blinked a few times, unsure of what had happened, or what state she was in. Night was crouched in front of her, his face eerily close to hers. As their eyes locked, she realized she had been crying in blissful joy. He was watching her intently, soaking in her vulnerable state.

She felt wet. Her tail felt moist and uncomfortable, and her mane felt weirdly sticky. Even her fur was covered in a light sheen of sweat. A strange cool chill ran through her body, almost soothing her. She was still so happy.

And then, it faded, leaving Cadance to blink the tears out of her eyes as her mind slowly began to think again.

What the absolute fuck just happened?

Author's Note

Night Light used to be a stage actor, back in the day. He has a penchant for performances, and has an unexpectedly eloquent vocabulary--when he is in character. When he's playing himself, he's a bit of a crass asshole. Night knows how to read his audience and put on a show just for them. He also enjoys entertaining quite late.