"How tawdry." Rarity wrinkled her nose. "Really..."

Luna smirked at the disgusted expression. "Unlike the last, this is thoroughly in our house, as they say. Some horned creature is seducing and draining creatures, leaving them smiling, but lessened. We must act against this."

Applejack inclined her head with a huh. "Horned creature? We know they ain't a unicorn?"

Luna turned to Sweetie, who cleared her throat. "They have two horns. Unicorns are not in that habit. They are also bipedal, with a naked tail. This is not a unicorn." She reached up and pulled down a tab, revealing a picture of their target.

Bright whistled at the image. "Hot damn..." He leered at the image of the sultry demoness. "That's a succubus. I'd know them from a mile away."

Rarity swatted her familiar gently. "You'll make your mistress jealous, salivating over some strange lady like that."

"I can appreciate art even if I'm not reaching." Bright hugged Rarity firmly from the side, nuzzling into her fur. "You're my mare."

"You're my familiar." She hugged him with one arm around him. "Now, I need your head in the game, hm? I don't want my precious being drained by some occult hussy."

Luna raised a hoof. "The mares of the party should not assume they are safe by nature of their gender. Reports indicate that won't protect you."

Sweetie nodded firmly. "This fiend can alter their apperance, not unlike a changeling." She curled a hoof to her chin. "They may be related to a changeling, considering both are shapeshifters, and both can feed on an emotion. It's just a different emotion."

Bright waggled his brows. "Changelings want love. Succubi want lust," He clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Similar, but different."

Luna turned her gaze on Bright. "You seem to know much of our quarry. I won't ask how, but I will ask that you share this information with us."

Bright flushed under suddenly intent gazes of all three mares and alicorn fixing him for details on their mysterious succubus target. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking off-balance a moment before Rarity gently took his paw supportively.

"No need for discomfort darling - 'tis only natural such...arcane avenues would attract an adolescent boy's avid curiosity during those lonely nights." Her tone held no judgment, only kindness glancing his way.

"Suppose we regard whatever you gleaned as simply...research lending us advantage, hm?" Rarity smiled indulgently as Bright nodded, steadying himself to deliver debriefing.

Applejack frowned pensively. "Only thing that rightly concerns me - exactly what's yer definition o' 'research' regardin' these stuff huh?" She arched one brow skeptically. "'Specially what with all this magical monster mayhem jumpin' lately?"

Bright waved his paws placatingly. "Hey hey it's not whatever you're thinking - I just know lots of crazy mythology and junk from back in my world!" He put hands on hips with playful pride. "So I can totally serve as an occult consultant for anything weird we run into probably!"

Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Very well Sir Bright, We shall provisionally accept your proposal..." Her tone cooled subtly. "But tread transparently lest Our trust find itself misplaced." Dark ears tilted back towards the corkboard displaying their alluring assailant. "Now then, divulge details on what drives demons to deprive through deception!"

Sweetie's quill hovered expectantly over parchment ready to transcribe whatever insight Bright offered into handling their latest bewitching burden before irreparable intimate injury occurred.

"Well..." Bright rocked forward and back. "That depends on which kind of succubi we're dealing with. Is this the demonic variety, the dream type, or--"

Luna scowled. "It is not a dream monster. I'd know that."

Bright snapped his fingers. "That narrows it down a little. It could still be a demon, or just a monster. Are demons a thing?"

Sweetie arched a brow at that. "That depends on your definition? Demon is a word often used by ponies to refer to any creature of unnatural origin and foul intention. It's a catch-all term. The way you're using it implies a far more... specific... use. Color me curious, how do you define a demon?"

Bright tapped his fingers. "Okay... To start, is H-E-Double Hockey Sticks a thing around here?" The ponies all gazed at him with wonder. "Hell?" The staring continued. "That's a resounding no. Is there a place, another world, full of fire and malice? Maybe it's not called that?"

Luna nodded faintly. "There are countless other worlds. One like you describe surely exists. It is our job, in part, to keep such interlopers away from our ponies. Let's worry less of the world of origin and more of how to stop them from causing harm."

Bright nodded, taking a deep breath to carefully sort relevant details about their shape-shifting seducer from broader interdimensional mythology. He began sketching a rough diagram separating key succubus traits by subtype.

"Okay, so putting aside exactly where they're from, main thing is some types magically metabolize lust energy, right?" He tapped the crude drawing. "Like psychic vampires almost. Or kinda like Rares except spicier snacks."

He winked up at gently smirking Rarity before continuing. "Now the ones actually from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks use that to tempt mortals into literally damning decisions dragging souls down into darker dimensions." Bright shivered dramatically before moving down the chart.

"But other varieties just cause general chaos for kicks without the contracts. Either way, they siphon off the, uh, peak energy from their, let's say, 'donors', leaving them drained." Bright flushed slightly under Applejack's continued stern gaze. "Not that I'd know firsthoof or anything!"

He cleared his throat self-consciously. "Anyway, that's why we gotta stop this one fast before ponies get hurt." Bright tapped the alluring image Luna had revealed. "So, uh, what exactly makes you guys certain she's in town already somehow?"

Luna levitated a report over. "Because the royal guard already detained someone matching the image you see there. She is being held below Canterlot as we speak."

Rarity and Bright shared a concerned look.

"Beg pardon, Your Highness." Rarity drifted the folder closer. "But if this creature...feeds on lust, keeping her confined below virile young stallions seems rather perilous for their discipline and safety..."

She noted locations on the detention level diagram with growing dismay. "Why, most quarters shown here seem outright designed for discrete indiscretions!"

Elsewhere, a stallion woke from their slumber. He didn't sleep with his armor on, leaving him undressed, and pinned beneath the form of a mare gently sliding against him. "Good evening," she whispered in the dark. "You looked so lonely..."

"Um..." The stallion wrestled with the twin urges to shove the mare away and draw her closer. "Who are you and why are you in my bed?"

"I'm Sasha." She fluttered her lashes. "And I'm here to make your night a lot better." She slid up against him, grinding her groin against his in a wanton invitation. "Want to play? I won't tell a soul. Just you... and me..."

He grabbed her by the hips with a sharp inhale. "Y-yeah... That sounds fun."

He was another victim, quite willingly. He gave his vital essence to that mysterious mare, flopping back, heaving for breath. He fell limply from her delightful grasp. "Can... we play again." He huffed for air. "Maybe... tomorrow?"

"Poor thing." She kissed his cheek. "You can only go once and you're done? Work on that stamina." But she nuzzled at him anyway, her curiously naked tail flicking with satisfaction. "I'll let you rest."

She vanished away from the tired stallion.

Applejack tilted her hat back. "Well, they're barely a few steps away. We'd best get movin'!"

The rest of the crew cheered in unison and they moved from their HQ to descend the stairs towards the basement and the jails hiding down there. Bright snorted as they went. "They shoulda just brought the monster to us in the first place. Don't the royal guards know we're here?"

Luna turned an ear. "As ideal as that'd be, most of them are not aware of what we do, exactly. We are a secret orginization."

Sweetie sighed dramatically. "I've had to wrestle with royal guards before. One arm has no idea what the other arm is doing. Now I'm part of two secret orginizations, and am forbidden from bringing either up to speed on what the other is doing. It's a mess, but for security..."

The group hurried down shadowy stairwells towards underground holding cells, hoofsteps echoing urgently against cold stone. Torches guttered in iron sconces barely alleviating creeping claustrophobia.

Applejack shivered as dank castle depths swallowed fading traces of wholesome sunlight above. She sidled subtly closer to stolid Sweetie's sturdy earth pony presence amidst unnerving alien architecture.

"Right unsettlin' digs fer any decent creature..." Applejack murmured under her breath. "You city folks actually lock ponies down this fer below?" She glanced back uneasily half expecting to glimpse leering wraiths trailing their tightening formation.

Sweetie's mouth quirked wryly. "I forget you've seen little beyond Ponyville's cheerful bounds." She nodded discreetly towards light-furled Luna and midnight-maned Rarity scanning shadows ahead without concern. "For those attuned to umbral energies, dungeons pose little dread - 'tis but stone and torchfire's dancing..."

Applejack nodded pensively towards their vampiric vanguard striding confidently onwards even as Bright visibly shivered scurrying closer against familiar mistress.

Sweetie leaned in gently. "Some need brighter bolsters braving alien turf - no shame there." She smiled softly. "Luna's lean but not cruel - We all adapt in time." Hooffalls echoed answered by Applejack's sigh through stout heart. however stifling the strange became, together they’d manage meeting whatever came next waiting below.

At the final gate stood two guards, clapping hooves to chestplates seeing Luna approach. "Your Majesty! Apologies no escort attended your descent given sensitive contraband contained below currently..."

Luna nodded curtly through the barred archway towards stairs visible descending further still. "Indeed such potentially perilous prizes demand utmost vigilance at every post." Her piercing gaze lingered on each stallion in turn. "Have either of you stood direct watch over the entity held below?"

Both armored unicorns exchanged tight glances before the senior captain responded. "Ah, not as such Princess... Procedure prescribes containment via layered wards and round the clock rotating patrols." His eyes narrowed warily. "Has something happened?"

Bright raised a lone finger. "Hopefully not. Let's find out!"

The band advanced past the guards, to the small cell designed to keep all spells in check, strong enough for the strongest earth pony around. A pity it had no creatures inside. Luna scowled at the empty chamber. "Well..."

Sweetie sighed, making a new note. "If only it could have been that easy. Our succubus has broken free. We're going to have to hunt..." She paused. "Are they a she? They can be whatever they want."

Rarity snorted at that. "Is this really the time to be pondering their gender, darling? We can ask them as we slap hoofcuffs on them. Whatever gender they prefer, they need to be captured, again."

Applejack turned from the empty cell. "Reckon Rarity's on the money here. Shoot, how far away could she have gotten?"

Bright went to the guards. "Hey! Any of you suddenly call out, feeling super tired?" The guards looked at him with confusion and suspicion. "This is official business, really!"

Luna rose from behind Bright, looming over everypony there. "He is not incorrect. Tell him."

The guard rubbed at his cheek. "Apologies, ma'am! Um. I'm just a guard, ma'am. You'll want to talk to the shift captain, ma'am!"

"Very good." Luna narrowed her eyes as she marched past. "We have a target then, a place to begin our quest."

Applejack nodded as she followed. "Right better than nothin'. If that varmint's toyin' wit' the guards, at least that's a place to start."

Together, they closed in on the captain's office. The mare saluted sharply at Luna's appearance. "Your Highness! Abscences have increased." She brought out a clipboard. "It feels... random." She offered it towards Luna.

Luna took it in her magic, looking it over. "It appears our monster doesn't care if you're a mare or a stallion... I think they're still close, or at least operating close at hoof..."

They just had to catch it.

Author's Note

And right into a new one. Hi, Sasha. We're gonna catch ya! Or so is the plan? She may eagerly try to catch our agents instead.

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